I too can be brave for once, and my love is as strong as thine. What will not love discover! The Aaliyah Movie produced by Wendy Williams was not a biography, but it was a tale of love, perseverance and determination. The focus was on a young girl, Aaliyah Dana Haughton, and from day one she knew she wanted to sing, and dance and act. Aaliyah has such a light and a passion in her, she was never normal, always a step ahead. Aaliyah had the determination of a newborn baby. You know how they are born and have no idea about the World, but know they want to explore and love and smile, well, that is the essence Aaliyah possessed. As Aaliyah developed, she had a sense of maturity and wisdom, you would not expect out of a child or a young adult. She excelled in school, she knew of things much older than herself, and with such conviction that you knew she was sincere and not being sarcastic, she really and truly knew what she was talking about.   For example, how when Mrs. Diane was talking about Veronica Lake, Aaliyah knew who she was off the bat, and she was an actress from the 1940s, who had her career cut short. Normally when you are recalling stuff you learned from others, you need a reminder. However, this young girl, Aaliyah, knew of Veronica Lake, as if she was a current popular actress.

 This enchanting story of Aaliyah really captivated because it was about a good, solid, Christian family, who had dinner together, played together and they just shared everything and had open communication. The family was also very humble and appreciative of everything, but did not take no for an answer.  I really liked how Aaliyah was just ahead of her time. She crafted her music and changed her image accordingly so the audience would accept her, and it was real! She really developed and grew right before our eyes. Now the focus of the movie was mainly on Aaliyah’s music and love life. Now when she met with Robert Kelly, he would not even look at her, out of respect for the young lady and her family. However, after working closely, the two fell in love. Robert liked her Aaliyah was just down to Earth, she was not after money, she just wanted a friend and someone to talk to and Robert could not help himself and he fell in love. It was a forbidden love because of the age difference, but the girl knew what she wanted. However, after her daddy found out what was going out, he was hot and had words with Robert Kelly, which dissolved Aaliyah’s relationship with Robert. It was a tumultuous time for the young lady—she was at a level of success others could only dream of and her tender heart fell in love for the first time, but like Juliet and Romeo, it was a love that was not allowed. Aaliyah had to split ties with Robert and it broke her heart. She lost her confidence and felt like he made her. However, Aaliyah’s mother let it be known that her daughter, Aaliyah, was young, independent and self-made. This gave Aaliyah the passion to keep going. Yet, not only did Aaliyah want to make a new album, but she also wanted to become an actress.

 This time around, Aaliyah wanted a new style, and no one knows how, but she found two new producers, Missy Elliot and Timberland, and was told not to work with them, but Aaliyah clutched her strings and respectfully let it be known that she makes her own decisions, and this is what she wanted. And yet again, Aaliyah produced another platinum record. Her style went from Rhythm and Blues to a new techno hip hop, and she was the only African American and young girl out there, in the music industry and really paved the way for Britney Spears and Beyonce. Now, Aaliyah also wanted to get into acting, but before the One in a Million album dropped, Aaliyah was told by Hollywood that African Americans women were not really welcomed in Hollywood and consider being in the background in a movie. Again—respectfully, Aaliyah said, “No, I am going to be a leading star in a film.” Once again, she made it happen. Hollywood was beating down her door to put Aaliyah in a movie. Mainstream America saw her, and not only was she African American, but she was The American Dream. No matter your culture, every female could see themselves as Aaliyah and the men loved her because she was real. So Aaliyah took Hollywood by storm and landed roles in the Matrix II and III, Romeo Must Die, Queen of the Damned, Honey, Sparkle and more. Aaliyah had so many movie offers she never for to accept them all, these are just a few we know about. Hollywood had big plans for Aaliyah, and her music career was doing well, but started to wane a little because Aaliyah was calling the shots and not letting anyone talk under her skirt, so people got upset with her and would not play, “We Need a Resolution.” Not only that, but Aaliyah was so busy that people felt she was out of reach, but she was juggling, filming movies, making music videos, recording music, touring, spending time with her family and had a new romantic relationship with Damon Dash.

 It was clear to Mrs. Diana, Aaliyah’s mother that her daughter was very selective, but she also knew that Aaliyah was in love with Damon, not only because he was nice to her, but he also reminded her of her first love, Robert Kelly. It broke Aaliyah’s heart when Robert got married. Nonetheless, she moved on. I really liked the movie about Aaliyah because no matter if you are rich or have a modest life, you can relate to the love story. Then when you watch Romeo Must Die, and Queen of the Damned, and her interviews, you get a full scope of Aaliyah. Another thing people loved about Aaliyah is people used to steal her material, and she would go home crying because that was her work and others were trying to pass it off as theirs and trying to steal her image, but Aaliyah realized that she was a master, and these girls and guys were her students, and she was teaching them how to be good artist, and let it go. Aaliyah was about peace, love, family, God and perseverance, and she was a great person and a full-on entertainer.  And her voice and style, on every album it is different, and it is so real. How does one go from Hip Hop to contemporary music, in just seven short years? Aaliyah did every style of music you can think of, and all of her albums are really an evolution of her style. My personal favorite is the red album, self-titled Aaliyah. It is just different, edgy. However, all of her music is great, a few American favorites are: Back in Once Piece, At Your Best, Young Nation, One in a Million, Are you that Somebody, Never Giving up, I got you Back, We Need a Resolution, Never no More, More than a Woman, Whatever, What if, I Refuse, All I Need, I Care 4 U, Don’t Worry, and many more. Please check this young lady out at Aaliyah.com

 

 

 

In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth—the creation of the World is a problem naturally fitted to excite the liveliest interesting of man, its inhabitant. The ancient pagans, not having the information on the subject which we derive from the pages of Scripture, had their own way of telling the story, which is as follows: Before the Earth, and Sea, and Heaven were created, all things worse one aspect, to which we give the name of Chaos—a confused and shapeless mass, nothing but dead weight, in which however, slumbered the seeds of things. Earth, Sea, and Air were all mixed up together, so Earth was not solid, the sea was not fluid, and the air was not transparent. Now the Earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water. God and Nature at last interposed and out an end to this discord, separating Earth from the Sea, and Heaven from both. And God said, let there be light.  

The fiery part, being the lightest, sprang up and formed the skies; he separated the light from the darkness, God called the light day and the darkness he called night. The air was next in weight and place. The Earth, being heavier, sank below, and the water took the lowest place, and buoyed up the Earth. Here, some god—it is not known which—gave his good offices in arranging and disposing of the Earth. He appointed rivers and bays,  like the Rio Grande, which separates Mexico from the United States of America, and The Bay Area, in California their places, and raised mountains such as Chisos Mountains in Big Bend, which includes 800,000 acres. God also scooped out valleys not one of my favorites, but Sacramento Valley (the people are extremely immature and rude). Then God distributed woods such as the Olympic National Park in Washington, which has red-legged frogs, owls, 300 different types of bird, deer, glacier-capped mountains and rugged coastlines. He created fountains, such as the Kilauea Volcano, in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, and fertile fields like the bush plane on Kahiltna Glacier, and stony plains like Denali in the Arctic National Park. The air being cleared, the stars began to appear, grizzly bears began foraging for food, salmon swam in nearby Brooks Falls and Lake Clark. A bush plain lands on Kahitlna Glacier at the 7,200-foot base camp of Mountain McKinley, which is 20,000 feet tall, North America’s tallest peak. And God saw that it was good.  

And God said, let the water teem with living creatures, and let bird fly above the Earth, across the expanse of the sky. So God created Glacier Bay with harbor seals. However, a nobler animal was wanted, and Man was made. God said, let us make man in our image, in the image of God, and he created him; male and female he created them. It is not known whether the Creator made him of divine materials, or whether in the Earth, so lately separated from Heaven, there lurked still some Heavenly seeds. Prometheus took some of this Earth, and kneading it up with water, made man in the image of the gods. He gave him an upright stature, so that while all other animals turn their faces downward and look to the Earth, he rises his to heaven and gazes on the stars. Prometheus was one of the Titans, a gigantic race, who inhabited the Earth before the creation of man. To him and his brother Epimetheus was committed the office of making man, and providing him and all other animals with the faculties necessary for their preservation. Epimetheus undertook to do this, and Prometheus was to overlook his work, when it was done. Epimetheus Theus accordingly proceeded to bestow upon the different animals the various gifts of courage, strength, swiftness, sagacity; wings to one, claws to another, a shelly covering to the third, etc.  Large flocks of roseate spoonbills, white pelicans, ibis and even the occasional flamingo can be seen in Everglades National Park, along with alligators, lurking in the water or sunning themselves just off the well-traveled path.  

Or you may see a grizzly bear cub walking through the tall grass by Brooks River. However, when man came to be provided for, who was to be superior to all other animals, Epimetheus had been so prodigal of his resources that he had nothing left to bestow upon him. In his perplexity he restored to his brother Prometheus, who with the help of Minerva, went up to Heaven, and lighted his torch at the chariot of the Sun and brought down fire to man,  and as a treat we were blessed with the Aurora borealis. With this gift, man was more than a match for all other animals. It enabled him to make weapons wherewith to subdue them; tools with which to cultivate the Earth; to warm his dwelling, so as to be comparatively independent of climate; and finally to introduce the arts and to coin money, the means of trade and commerce. Woman was not yet made. The story (absurd enough!) is that Jupiter made her and sent her to Prometheus and his brother, to punish them for their presumption in stealing fire from Heaven; and man, for accepting this gift. The first woman was named Pandora. She was made in Heaven, every god contributing something to perfect her. Venus gave her beauty, Mercury persuasion, Apollo music, etc. Thus equipped, she was conveyed to Earth and presented to Epimetheus, who gladly accepted her, though cautioned by his brother to beware of Jupiter and his gifts.  

Epimetheus had in his house a jar, in which were kept certain noxious articles, for which, in fitting man for his new abode, he had no occasion. Pandora was seized with an eager curiosity to know what this jar contained; and one day she slipped off the cover and looked in. Forthwith there escaped a multitude of plagues for hapless man—such as gout, rheumatism, and colic for his body, and envy, spite, and revenge for his mind—and scattered themselves far and wide. Pandora hastened to replace the lid; but, alas! The whole thing only excepted, which lay at the bottom, and that was hope. So we see at this day, whatever evils are aboard, hope never entirely leaves us; and while we have that, no number of other ills can make us completely wretched. Another story is that Pandora was sent in good faith, by Jupiter, to bless man; that she was furnished with a box, containing her marriage blessing. She opened the box incautiously, and all the blessings escaped, hope only excepted. Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God, as he was walking in the garden, in the cool of day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. However, the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard you in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.” And God said, “Who told you where naked? Have you opened that box I commanded you not to touch?”  

Then the man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit and I ate it.” Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent aroused me, and I opened the box.” So the LORD God said to the serpent (man), because you have done this, cursed are you above all the livestock, and all the wild animals. You will crawl on your belly, and you will eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.  To the woman God said, I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you. This story seems more probable then the former; for how could hope, so precious a jewel as it is, have been kept in a jar full of all manners of evils, as in the former statement? The World being thus furnished with inhabitants, the first age was an age of innocence and happiness, called the Golden Age. Truth and right prevailed, though not enforced by law, nor was there any magistrate to threaten or punish. The forest had not yet been robbed of its trees to furnish timbers for vessels, nor had men built fortifications round their towns.  There were no such things as swords, spears, or helmets. The Earth brought forth all things necessary for man, without his labor in ploughing or sowing. Perpetual spring reigned, flowers sprang up without seed, the rivers flowed with milk and wine, and yellow honey distilled from the oaks.   

Then succeeded the Silver Age, Jupiter shortened the spring and divided the year into seasons. God said because you listened to your wife, and ate from the box about which I commanded you to avoid at all costs, cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it, all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow, you will eat your food, until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return. Then first, men had to endure the extremes of heat and cold, and houses became necessary. Caves were the first dwellings, and leafy coverts of the woods, and huts woven of twigs. Crops would no longer grow without planting. The farmer was obligated to sow the seed, and the toiling ox to draw the plough. Next came the Brazen Age, more savage of temper and readier to the strife of arms yet not altogether wicked. The hardest and worst was the Iron Age. Crime burst in like a tornado super outbreak. All hell broke loose. Modesty, truth, and honor fled. In their places came fraud and cunning, violence, and the wicked love of gain. Then seamen spread sails to the wind, and the trees were torn from the mountains to serve for keels to ships, and vex the face of the ocean. The Earth, which till now had been cultivated in common, began to be divided off into possessions.  

Men were not satisfied with what the surface had produced, but must dig into its bowels, and draw forth from thence the ores of metals. Mischievous irons, and more mischievous gold, were produced. War sprang up, using both as weapons; the guest was not safe in his friend’s house; and sons-in-law and fathers-in-law, brothers and sisters, husbands and wives could not trust one another. Sons wished their fathers dead, that they might come to the inheritance; family love lay prostrate. The Earth was wet with slaughter, and the gods abandoned it, one by one, till Astraea* alone was left, and finally she also took her departure. Jupiter, seeing this state of things, burned with anger. He summoned the gods to council. They obeyed the call and took the road to the palace of Heaven. The road, which anyone may see in a clear night, stretches across the face of the sky and is called the Milky Way. Along the road stand the palaces of the illustrious gods; the common people of the skies live apart, on either side. Jupiter addressed the assembly. He set forth the frightful condition of things on Earth and closed by announcing his intentions to destroy the whole of its inhabitants, and provide a new race, unlike the first, who would be more worthy of life and much better worshippers of the gods.  

So saying he took a thunderbolt, and was about to launch it at the World, and destroy it by burning; however, recollecting the danger that such a conflagration might set Heaven itself on fire, he changed his plan and resolved to drown it. The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the Earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The LORD was grieved that he had made man on Earth, and his heart was filled with pain. So the LORD said, I will wipe mankind, who I have created, from the face of the Earth—men and animals and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air—for I am grieved that I have made them. The North wind, which scatters the clouds, was chained up; the South was sent out, and soon covered all the face of Heaven with a cloak of pitchy darkness. The clouds, driven together, resounded with a crash; torrents of rain fall; for forty days the flood kept coming on the Earth. The water rose greatly on the Earth, and all the high mountains under the entire Heavens were covered. The waters flooded the Earth for a hundred and fifty days. The year’s labor of the husbandman perishes in an hour. Jupiter, not satisfied with his own waters, calls on his brother Neptune to help him with his. He lets loose the rivers and pours them over the land. At the same time, he heaves the land with an Earthquake and brings in the reflux of the ocean over the shores. Flocks, herds, men and houses are swept away, and temples, with their sacred enclosures, profaned. If any edifice remained standing, it was overwhelmed, and its turrets lay hid beneath the waves.  

*The goddess of innocence and purity. After leaving Earth, she was placed among the stars, where she became the constellation Virgo—the Virgin. Themis (Justice) was the mother of Astraea. She is represented as holding aloft a pair of scales, in which she weighs the claims of opposing parties. It was a favorite idea of the old poets that these goddesses would one day return and bring back the Golden Age. Even in a Christian hymn, “The Messiah” of the Pope, this idea occurs. All crimes shall cease, and ancient fraud shall fail, Returning Justice lift aloft her scale, peace o’er the World her olive wand extend, and white-robed Innocence from Heaven descend. Meanwhile, now all was sea, sea without shore. Here and there an individual remained on a projecting hilltop, and a few, in boats, pulled the oar where they had lately driven the plough. The fishes swim among the treetops; the anchor of the ark was let down into a garden. Where the graceful lambs played, but now unwieldy sea calves’ gambol. The wolf swims among the sheep, the yellow lions and tigers struggle in the water. The strength of the wild boar serves him not, nor his swiftness the stag. The birds fall with weary wing into the water, having found no land for a resting place. These living beings whom the water spared fell a prey to hunger.  

Parnassus alone, of all the mountains, overtopped the waves; and there Deucalion, and his wife Pyrrha, of the race of Prometheus, found refuge—he a just man, and she a faithful worshipper of the gods. Jupiter, when he saw none left alive but this pair, and remembered their harmless lives and pious demeanor, ordered the North winds to drive away the clouds, and disclose the skies to Earth, and Earth to the skies. Neptune also directed Triton to blow on his shell and sound a retreat to the waters. The waters obeyed, and the sea returned to its shoes, and the rivers to their channels. Then Deucalion thus addressed Pyrrha: Oh, wife, only surviving woman, joined to me first by a common danger, would that we possessed the power of our ancestor Prometheus, and could renew the race as he made it. However, as we cannot, let us seek yonder temple, and inquire of the gods what remains for us to do. They entered the temple, deformed as it was with slime, and approached the altar, where no fire burned. There they fell on prostrate on the Earth and prayed the goddess to inform them how they might retrieve their miserable affairs.  

The oracle answered: Depart from the temple with head veiled and garments unbound, and cast behind you the bones of your mother. They heard the words with astonishment. Pyrrha first broke silence: We cannot obey; we dare not profane the remains of our parents. They sought the thickest shades of the wood, and resolved the oracle in their minds. At length Deucalion spoke: Either my sagacity deceives me, or the command is one we may obey without impiety. The Earth is the great parent of all; the stones are her bones; these we may cast behind us; and I think this is what the oracle means. At least, it will do no harm to try. You noticed the children as not so quick to sale out their parents like Isaac so willingly did in Genesis 22.2. So Pyrrha and Deucalion veiled their faces, unbound their garments, and picked up stones, and cast them behind them. The stones (wonderful to relate) began to grow soft, and assume shape. By degrees, they put on a rude resemblance to human form, like a block half finished, in the hands of the sculptor. The moisture and slime that were about them became flesh; the stony part became bones; the veins remained veins, retaining their name, only changing their use. Those thrown by the hand of the man became men, and those by the women became women. It was a hard race, and well adapted to labor, as we find ourselves to be at this day, giving plain indications of our origin.  

The comparison of Eve to Pandora is too obvious to have escaped detection. More lovely than Pandora, whom the gods Endowed with all their gifts; and O, too like in sad event, when to the unwiser son of Japhet brought by Hermes, she ensnared Mankind with her fair looks, to be avenged on him who had stole Jove’s authentic fire. Prometheus and Epimetheus were sons of Iapetus, which changes to Japhet. Prometheus has been a favorite subject with the poets. He is represented as the friend of mankind, who interposed in their behalf when Jove was incensed against them and who taught them civilization and the arts. However, as in doing so, he transgressed the will of Jupiter, he drew down on himself the anger of the ruler of gods and men. Jupiter had him chained to a rock on Mount Caucuses, where a vulture preyed on his liver, which was renewed as fast as devoured. This state of torment might have been brought to an end at any time by Prometheus, if he had been willing to submit to his oppressor; for he possessed a secret which involved the stability of Jove’s throne, and if he would have revealed it, he might have been at once taken into favor. However, that he disdained to do. He has therefore become the symbol of magnanimous endurance of unmerited suffering, and strength of will resisting oppression.  

Titan! To whose immortal eyes the suffering of mortality, seen in their sad reality, were not as things that gods despise, what was thy pity’s recompense? A silent suffering, and intense; the rock, the vulture, and the chain; all that the proud can feel of pain; the agony they do not show, the suffocating sense of woe. Thy godlike crime was to be kind; to render with the precepts less the sum of human wretchedness, and strengthen man with his own mind, and baffled as thou wert from high. Still, in the patient energy, in the endurance and repulse of thine impenetrable spirit, which Earth and Heaven could not convulse, a mighty lesson we inherit. Or, like the thief of fire from Heaven, Wilt thou withstand the shock? And share with him—the unforgiven—His vulture and his rock? After the last few chapters, I feel you are ready for more understanding, please watch “Queen of the Damned.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNXcXudqzv4

 

 

 

 

The creation of the World is problem naturally fitted to excite the liveliest of man, its inhabitant. The ancient pagans, not having the information on the subject which we derive from the pages of Scripture, had their own way of telling the story, which follows: The Greeks believed the Earth to be flat and circular, their own country occupying the middle of it, the central point being either Mount Olympus, the abode of the gods, or Delphi, so famous for its oracle. The circular dis of the Earth was crossed from West to East, and divided into two equal parts by the Sea, as they called the Mediterranean, and its continuation the Euxine, the only seas with which they were acquainted. Around the Earth flowed the River Ocean, its course being from South to North, on the Western side of the Earth, and in a contrary direction, on the Eastern side. It flowed in a steady, equable current, unvexed by storm or tempest. The sea, and all the rivers on Earth, received their waters from it. The Northern portion of the Earth was supposed to be inhabited by a happy race named the Hyperboreans, dwelling in everlasting bliss and spring beyond the lofty mountains whose caverns were supposed to send forth the piercing blasts of the north wind, which chilled the people of Hellas (Greece).

 Their country was inaccessible by land or sea. They lived exempt from disease or old age, from toils and warfare. Here is a Song of a Hyperborean beginning. I come from a land in the sun-bright deep, where golden gardens glow, where the winds of the north, becalmed in sleep, their conch shells never blow. On the South side of the Earth, close to the stream of Ocean, dwelt a people happy and virtuous as the Hyperboreans. They were named the Ethiopians. The gods favored them so highly that they were wont to leave at times their Olympian abodes and go to share their sacrifices and banquets. On the Western margin of the Earth, but the stream of Ocean, lay a happy place named the Elysian Plain, whither mortals favored by the gods were transported, without tasting of death, to enjoy an immortality of bliss. This happy region was also called the Fortunate Fields and the Isles of the Blessed. We thus see that the Greeks of the early ages knew little of any real people except those to the East and South of their own country, or near the coast of the Mediterranean. Their imagination meantime peopled the Western portion of this sea with giants, monsters, and enchantresses, while they placed around the disk of the Earth, which they probably regarded as of no great width, nations enjoying the peculiar favor of the gods and blessed with happiness and longevity.

 The Dawn, the Sun, and the Moon were supposed to rise out of the Ocean, on the Eastern side, and to drive through the air, giving light to gods and men. The stars also, except those forming the Wain or Bear, and others near them, rose out of and sank into the stream of Ocean. There the sun-god embarked in a winged boat, which conveyed him round by the northern part of the Earth back to his place of rising in the East. Now the gilded car of day, his golden axle doth allay, in the steep Atlantic stream, and the slope of the Sun his upward beam shoots against the dusky pole, pacing towards the other goal of his chamber in the East. The abode of the gods was on the summit of Mount Olympus, in Thessaly. A gate of clouds, kept by the goddesses named the Seasons, opened to permit the passage of the celestials to Earth, and to receive them on their return. The gods had their separate dwellings; but all, when summoned, repaired to the palace of Jupiter, as did also those deities whose usual abode was the Earth, the waters, or the underworld. It was also in the great hall of the palace of the Olympian kings that the gods feasted each day on ambrosia and nectar, their foods and drink, the latter being handed round by the lovely goddess Hebe.

 Here they conversed of the affairs of Heaven and Earth; and as they quaffed their nectar, Apollo, the god of music, delighted them with the tones of his lyre, to which the Muses sang in responsive strains. When the Sun was set, the Gods retried to sleep in their respective dwellings. So saying, Minerva, goddess azure-eyed, rose to Olympus, the reputed seat eternal of the gods, which never storms disturbs, rains drench, or snow invades, but calm the expanse and cloudless shines with purest day. There the inhabitants divine rejoice forever. The robes and other parts of the dress of the goddesses were woven by Minerva and the Graces, and everything of a more solid nature was formed of the various metals. Vulcan was architect, smith, armorer, chariot builder, and artist of all works in Olympus. He built of brass the houses of the Gods; he made for them the golden shoes with which they trod the air or the water and moved from place to place with the speed of wind, or even of thought. He also shod with brass the celestial steeds which whirled the chariots of the gods through the air, or along the surface of the sea. He was able to bestow o his workmanship self-motion, so that the tripods (chairs and tables) could move of themselves in and out of the celestial hall. He even endowed with intelligence the golden handmaidens whom he made to wait on himself. Jupiter, or Jove (Zeus*), though called the father of gods and men, had himself a beginning. Saturn (Cronos) was his father, and Rhea (Ops) his mother. Saturn and Rhea were the race of Titans, who were the children of Earth and Heaven, which sprang from Chaos, of which we shall give further account in our next chapter.

 There is another cosmogony, or account of the creation, according to which Earth, Erebus, and Love were the first beings. Love (Eros) issued from the egg of Night, which floated on Chaos. By his arrow and torch, he pierced and vivified all things, producing life and joy. Saturn and Rhea were not the only Titans. There were others, whose names were Oceanus, Hyperion, Iapetus, and Ophion, males; and Themis, Mnemosyne, Eurynome, females. They are spoken of as the elder gods, whose dominion was afterwards transferred to others. Saturn yielded to Jupiter, Oceanus to Neptune, Hyperion to Apollo. Hyperion was the father of the Sun, Moon, and Dawn. He is therefore the original sun-god and is painted with the splendor and beauty which were afterwards bestowed on Apollo. Hyperion was known for his curly hair. Ophion and Eurynome ruled over Olympus till they were dethroned by Saturn and Rhea. Paradise lost—heathens seem to have had some knowledge of the temptation and fall of man. And fabled how the serpent, who they called Ophion, with Eurnome, (the wide Encroaching Eve perhaps,) had first the rule of high Olympus, thence by Saturn driven.

 The representations given of Saturn are not very consistent; for on the one hand his reign is said to have been the golden age of innocence and purity, and on the other he is described as a monster who devoured his own children.* Jupiter, however, escaped this fate, and when grown up espoused Metis (Prudence), who administered a draught to Saturn which caused him to disgorge his children. Jupiter, with his brothers and sisters, now rebelled against their father Saturn, and his brothers the Titans; vanquished them, and imprisoned some of them in Tartarus, inflicting other penalties on others. Atlas was condemned to bear up the Heavens on his shoulders. On the dethronement of Saturn, Jupiter with his brothers Neptune (Poseidon) and Pluto (Dis) divided his dominions. Jupiter’s portion was the Heavens, Neptune’s the ocean, and Pluto’s the realm of the dead. Earth and Olympus were common property. Jupiter was king of the gods, and men. The thunder was his weapon, and he bore a shield called Aegis, made for him by Vulcan. The eagle was his favorite bird and bore his thunderbolts. Juno (Hera) was the wife of Jupiter, and queen of the gods. Iris, the goddess of the rain bow, was her attendant and messenger. The peacock was her favorite bird. *The inconsistency arises from considering the Saturn of the Romans the same with the Grecian deity Cronos (Time), which, as it brings an end to all things which have had a beginning, may be said to devour its own offspring. 

Vulcan (Hephaestos), the celestial artist, was the son of Jupiter and Juno. He was born lame, and his mother was so displeased at the sight of him that she flung him out of Heaven. Other accounts say that Jupiter kicked him out for taking part, with his mother, in a quarrel which occurred between them. Vulcan’s lameness, according to this account was the consequence of his fall. He was a whole day falling, and at last alighted in the Island of Lemnos, which was thenceforth sacred to him. From morn to noon he fell, from noon to dewy eve, a Summer’s day; and with the setting sun, dropped from the zenith, like a falling star, on Lemnos, the Aegean isle. Mars (Ares), the god of war, was the son of Jupiter and Juno. Phoebus Apollo, the god of archery, prophecy, and music, was the son of Jupiter and Latona, and brother of Diana (Artemis). He was god of the sun, as Diana, his sister, was the goddess of the moon. Venus (Aphrodite), the goddess of love and beauty, was the daughter of Jupiter and Dione. Others say that Venus sprang from the foam of the sea. The zephyr wafted her alone the waves to the Isle of Cyprus, where she was received and attired by the Seasons and then led to them assembly of the gods. All were charmed with her beauty, and each one demanded her for his wife. Jupiter gave her to Vulcan, in gratitude for the service he had rendered in forging thunderbolts. So the most beautiful of the goddesses became the wife of the most ill-favored of the gods. Venus possessed an embroidered girdle called Cestus, which has the power of inspiring love. Her favorite birds were swans and doves, and the plants sacred to her were the rose and the myrtle.

 Cupid (Eros), the god of love, was the son of Venus. He was her constant companion; and armed with bow and arrows, he shot the darts of desire into the bosom of both gods and men. There was a deity named Anteros, who was sometimes represented as the avenger of slighted love, and sometimes as the symbol of reciprocal affection. The following legend is told of him: Venus, complaining to Themis that her son Eros continued always a child, was told by her that it was because he was solitary, and that if he had a brother he would grow apace. Anteros was soon afterward born, and Eros immediately was seen to increase rapidly in size and strength. Minerva (Pallas Athene), the goddess of wisdom, was the offspring of Jupiter, without a mother. She sprang forth from his head, competently armed. Her favorite bird was the owl, and the plant sacred to her the olive. Byron, in Childe Harold, alludes to the birth of Minerva, thus: Can tyrants but by tyrants conquered be, and freedom find no champion and no child, such as Columbia saw arise, when she sprang forth a Pallas, armed and undefiled? Or must such minds be nourished in the wild, deep in the unpruned forest, ‘midst the roar of cataracts, where nursing Nature smiled on infant Washington? Has Earth no more such seeds within her breast, or Europe no such shore? Mercury (Hermes) was the son of Jupiter and Maia. He presided over commerce, wrestling, and other gymnastic exercises, even over trade, and everything, in short, which required skill and dexterity.

 He was the messenger of Jupiter and wore a winged cap and winged shoes. He bore in his hand a rod entwined with two serpents, called the Caduceus. Mercury is said to have invented the lyre. He found, one day a tortoise, of which he took the shell, made holes in the opposite edges of it, and drew cords of linen through them, and the instruments was complete. The cords were nine, in honor of the nine Muses. Mercury gave the lyre to Apollo, and received from him in exchange the caduceus.* Cere (Demeter) was the daughter of Saturn and Rhea. She had a daughter named Proserpine (Persephone), who became the wife of Pluto, and queen of the realms of the dead. Ceres presided over agriculture. *From this origin of the instrument, the word shell often is used as synonymous with lyre, and figuratively for music and poetry. Thus, Gray, in his ode on the Progress of Posey, says Oh, Sovereign of the willing soul, parent of sweet and solemn-breathing airs, enchanting shell! The sullen Cares and frantic Passions hear thy soft control. Bacchus (Dinoysus), the god of wine, was the son of Jupiter and Semele. He represents not only the intoxicating power of wine, but its social and beneficent influences likewise, so that he is viewed as the promoter of civilization, and a lawgiver and lover of peace. The Muses were the daughters of Jupiter and Mnemosyne (Memory). They presided over song and prompted the memory. They were nine in number, to each of whom was assigned the presidency over some particular department of literature, art or science. Calliope was the muse of epic poetry. Clio of history, Euterpe of lyric poetry, Melpomene of tragedy, Terpsichore of choral dance and song, Erato of love poetry, Polyhymnia of sacred poetry, Urania of astronomy, Thalia of comedy.

The Graces were goddesses presiding over the banquet, the dance, and all social enjoyments and elegant arts. They were three in number. Their names were Euphrosyne, Aglaia, and Thalia. Spenser described the office of the Graces thus: These three on men all gracious gifts bestow, which deck the body or adorn the mind, to make them lovely or well-favored show; as comely carriage, entertainment kind, sweet semblance, friendly offices that bind, and all the complements of courtesy; they teach us how to each degrees and kind we should ourselves demeans, to low, to high, to friends, to foes; which skill men call Civility. The fates were also three-Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos. Their office was to spin the thread of human destiny, and they were armed with shears, with which they cut it off when they pleased. They were the daughters of Themis (Law), who sits by Jove on his throne to give him counsel. The Erinnyes, or Furies, were three goddesses who punished by their secret stings the crimes of those who escaped or defined public justice. The heads of the Furies were wreathed with serpents, and their whole appearance was terrific and appalling. Their names were Alecto, Tisiphone, and Megaera. They were also called Eumenides. Nemesis was also an avenging goddess. She represents the righteous anger of the gods, particularly toward the proud and insolent. Pan was the god of the flocks and shepherds. His favorite residence was in Arcadia. The Stayrs were deities of the woods and fields. They were conceived to be covered with bristly hair, their heads decorated with short, sprouting horns, and their feet like goats’ feet. 

Momus was the god of laughter, and Plutus the god of wealth. The preceding are Grecian divinities, through received also by the Romans. Those which follow are peculiar to Roman mythology. Saturn was an ancient Italian deity. It was attempted to identify him with the Grecian god Cronos, and fabled that after his dethronement by Jupiter, he fled to Italy, where he reigned during what was called the Golden Age. In memory of his beneficent dominion, the feast of Saturnalia was held every year in the Winter season. Then all public business was suspended, declarations of war and criminal executions were postponed, friends made presents to one another, and the slaves were indulged with great liberties. A feast was given them at which they sat at table, while their masters served them, to show the natural equality of men, and that all things belonged equally of men, and that all things belonged equally to all, in the reign of Saturn. Fauns,* the grandson of Saturn, was worshipped as the god of fields and shepherds, and also as a prophetic god. His name in the plural, Fauns, expressed a class of gamesome deities, like the Satyrs of the Greeks. Quirinus was a war god, said to be no other than Romulus, the founder of Rome, exalted after his death to a place among the gods. Bellona, a war goddess. Terminus, the god of landmarks. His statue was a rude stone or post, set in the ground to mark the boundaries of fields. Pales, the goddess presiding over cattle and pastures. Pomona presided over fruit trees. Flora, the goddess of flowers. Lucina, the goddess of childbirth. Vesta (The Hestia of the Greeks) was a deity presiding over the public and private hearth.

A sacred fire, tended by six virgin priestesses called Vestals, flamed in her temple. As the safety of the city was held to be connected with its conservation, the neglect of the virgins, f they let it go out, was severely punished, and the fire was rekindled from the rays of the Sun. *There was also a goddess called Fauna, or Bona Dea. Liber is the Latin name of Bacchus; and Mulciber of Vulcan. Janus was the porter of Heaven. He opens the year, the first month being named after him. He is the guardian deity of the gates, on which account he is commonly represented with two heads, because every door looks two ways. His temples at Rome were numerous. In wartime the gates of the principal one were always open. In peace they were closed; but they were shut only once between the reign of Numa and that of Augustus. Then Penates were the gods who were supposed to attend to the welfare and prosperity of the family. Their name is derived from Penus, the pantry, which was sacred to them. Every master of a family was the priest to the Penates of his own house. The Lares, or Lars, were also household gods, but differed from the Penates in being regarded as the Penates in being regarded as the deified spirits of mortals. The family Lars were held to be the souls of the ancestors, who watched over and protected their descendants. The words Lemur and Larva more nearly corresponded to our word Ghost. The Romans believed that every man had his Genius, and every woman her Juno; that is, a spirit who had given them being, and was regarded as their protector through life. On their birthdays men made offerings to their Genius, women to their Juno. A modern poet thus alludes to some of the Roman gods: Pomona loves the orchard, and Liber loves the wine, and Pales loves the straw-built shed, warm with the breath of knife; and Venus loves the whisper of plighted youth and maid, in April (422) ivory moonlight, beneath the chestnut shade. N.B. It is to be observed that in proper names the final e and es are to be sounded. Thus Cybele and Penates are words of three syllables. However, Proserpine and Thebes are exceptions, and to be pronounced as English words. It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. – William Randolph Hearst (Isaiah 50.10-11).

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No amount of education can cure natural dullness or make up for original mental deficiencies. Americans are used to being a nation of immigrants, and even as new immigration sparks public debate about how much is enough, illegal immigrants are now being allowed to get driver’s licenses. With the slowing of the United States economy, 45 percent of America thinks there are too many immigrants entering the country from Latin American countries. Americans have not seen any increase in their economic standing, under this current administration, and the country is $18.1 trillion in debt and only funded until 15 September 2015. Many people believe if we are going to allow immigration, Americans should be seeing prosperity. We are collecting more taxes than this nation has ever collected in history. Taxes are too high and there is a struggle for social, economic, and political dominance in the country. There are currently more than 11.2 million unauthorized immigrants in the United States of America, making up 3.5 percent of the nation’s population. A person who is not a citizen of the United States of America, by birth or by naturalization, but crosses the border, without documentation is considered an unauthorized immigrant. Immigrants can visit, study, work, or make their home in this country, but only with the permission of the federal government. The conditions immigrants must meet in order to enter the United States of America are determined by Congress, and the laws that apply to their admission and residency are enforced by the Attorney General of the United States and the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). Not everyone who wants to enter the United States is allowed to do so. For example, INS refuses to admit people who are mentally ill, who have been convicted of a serious crime, and who carry certain diseases, such as AIDS.

Also, immigrants who want to work in this country may do so, only if they are not depriving American citizens of job opportunities. Mexicans make up about 52 percent of all unauthorized immigrants; there are 6 million unauthorized Mexican immigrants. Sixty percent of unauthorized immigrants live in California, Texas, Florida, New York, New Jersey and Illinois. Unauthorized make up 5.1 percent of the United States labor force, or 8.1 million; and currently the nation is experiencing an unemployment rate of 5.2 percent. And unauthorized immigrants make up about 18 percent of schools population, so they are breaking the law and using taxpayer money, which is adding to the $18.1 trillion deficit. Many Americans are upset because unauthorized immigrants are here unlawfully, and unauthorized immigrants are getting privileges like driver’s licenses, free college education and housing. These factors are what is making immigration an even more problematic issue because many Americans are struggling to pay their bills and send their children to college, but their tax money is going to support a population of over 11.2 million people who are unauthorized to be in this country. What people do not understand is that unauthorized immigrants are criminals, and they are causing ethnic and racial issues in the United States of America. Unauthorized immigrants must obey the laws of this country, even when those laws clash with the customs of their native land. For example, among some communities in Mexico, it is not uncommon for a man or woman to steal a bride from her family. Although this type of behavior is allowed in Mexico, it is considered kidnapping here.

 Maria Saucedo, who was only 31, was a legal citizen of the United States of America, and resided in Arizona. She had a beautiful daughter, age 13, but an unauthorized immigrant, Jose Zarate, age 25, went to Maria’s house and used insolent language with her, before shooting Maria in the chest and killing her because she refused to let him date her daughter. The United States of America has been faced with the problem of millions of people entering the country illegally, most of them coming from the Mexico border. The sheer numbers of undocumented immigrants threaten to overburden state and federal welfare programs. People fear that these undocumented workers will release an orgy of brutality and violence across the United States of America. By 2024, Mexicans will be the majority in New York, and by 2028, Mexicans will be the majority in California and America by 2043, Mexicans will be the majority in the United States of America, due to immigration. Many are worried because Mexican radicals have been discussing their plans to conquer America, which Mexico regards as their territory, which was lost in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hildalgo in 1846. However, Mexico actually stole land from William Randolph Hearst, his father, Senator George Hearst bought 1,625,000 acres of land in Chihuahua, Mexico in the 1886. However, Pancho Villa looted the Hearsts’ giant Chihuahua ranch called Babicora; some say the same people Mr. Hearst hired to work on his land seized it. Senator George Hearst hired one hundred army men to take back his ranch, but it was under heavy attack. Many Americans fear the same thing may happen to the United States of America, and that Congress does not seem to care because they are giving away America for a short-term political gain. This stale excuse of duty signifies bigotry; self-conceit; an insolent curiosity; a meddle some temper; a cold-blooded criticism, founded on a shallow interpretation of half-perceptions; a monstrous skepticism in regard to any conscience or any wisdom, except one’s own; a most irreverent propensity to thrust Providence aside, and substitute oneself in its awful place. These words are trustworthy and true. The Lord, the God of spirits of the prophets, sent his angel to show his people the things that will soon take place.

 

 

 

I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. However, I am not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And God has allowed me to go up to the mountaintop, and I have looked over. And I have seen the promise land. I may not get there with you. However, I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the promise land. So I am happy tonight. I am not worried about anything. I do not fear any man. My eyes have seen the glory of the coming Lord. Those are the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., spoken the day before he was allegedly murdered by James Earl Ray, as he stood on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. His assassination unleashed a torrent of civic rage in the community. More than 125 cities experienced uprisings. By 11 April 1968, 46 people were dead, 35,000 were injured, and more than 20,000 had been arrested. However, prior to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination, the Congress of the United State of America passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, but Dr. King was still trying to sooth a restless nation and spread peace by acting as a psychologist and spiritual healer to he masses.

 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was killed because he was trying to get equal rights and equal protect under the law for everyone, and some saw him as a threat because of this. You see, in the 1960s, America was very racist and poor European Americans, African Americans, Mexican Americans, Native Americans and Asians, women, and others (minority groups) faced a lot of discrimination, and they were not protected by the laws. Certain people could not get jobs because of the color of their skin, sexuality, gender or economic status, religion, and height and weight.  So even if they wanted to work or buy a certain house or rent an apartment, certain people were not allowed to because others did not like the way they looked or who they were, and this caused a lot of people to become poor, homeless or die because they were preventing from gaining resources. However, keep in mind, not all rich men were bigots. Discriminations is unequal treatment of people because of their group membership. Many hotels and restaurants did admit Black people, and many Black people did not venture where they were unwanted or unwelcomed because they were likely to be met with hostility. Many people resented African Americans and others in public facilities, places of entertainment and business establishments, they were believed to be a subordinate race, and their proximity in shops, parks, and on passenger trains suggested an unacceptable equality in public life.

 Discrimination may be personal, legal, or institutional. Personal discrimination includes attacks on minority group members, from social slights and insults to murder. In legal discrimination, minority group members are denied lawful access to public institutions, jobs, housing, and social rewards. The third major and most subtle and pervasive kind of discrimination is institutional discrimination, which is unequal treatment of a group that is deeply embedded in government, schools, the media and some public places. Typically, institutional discrimination includes discriminatory practices and traditions that have such a long history that they just seem to make sense. For quite a long time, a similar logic was used by police departments. During the 1960s, largely due to the efforts of the Civil Rights movement, which was started by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., discrimination declined in the United States of America, but it took him losing his life to get equal protection under the law for all minority groups.

 Martin Luther King, Jr. launched a series of massive nonviolent demonstrations in Birmingham, Alabama, which was long considered an intolerant state. Thousands of people, of all cultures, marched to Birmingham in a show of solidarity. Often times these protesters were met by angry mobs of segregationists and brutal violence, as some local police decided not to defend protesters’ basic Constitutional Rights. It is also important to note that not all police nor European Americans were racist, but the nation was, at the time. However, while in Birmingham, Alabama, the police commissioner ordered his officers to use dogs, clubs (much like baseball bats), and fire hoses on the marchers, and Americans across the nation were horrified, as they witnessed the brutality and abuse heaped on the groups of people seeking their Constitutional Rights. The exercise of freedom of speech lead to bombings and deaths, inflicted, in retaliation, for what was deemed civil disobedience, by the people seeking equal protection, under the laws. Basically, people were punished because they wanted the same freedoms that others had.

 In 1963, President John F. Kennedy requested that the United States Congress pass a law banning discrimination in public accommodations. Seizing the moment, and recognizing the potency of a show of massive support, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. called for a monumental march on Washington, D.C., to demonstrate widespread support for legislation to ban discrimination in all aspects of life, not just public accommodations. The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom was held in August 1963, only a few months after the Birmingham demonstrations. More than 250,000 people participated. The Civil rights demonstrators sought national attention for their cause, and photos in print media, and this was very powerful in swaying public opinion.  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was able to help pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964: Outlawed arbitrary discrimination in voter registration and expedited voting rights lawsuits. Barred discrimination in public accommodations engaged in interstate commerce. The Civil Rights Act also authorized the Department of Justice to initiate lawsuits to desegregate public facilities and schools, and provided for the withholding of federal funds from discriminatory state and local programs.

 In addition to Prohibiting discrimination, in employment, on the grounds of race, color, religion, national origin, or sex, and created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to monitor and enforce the bans on employment discrimination. So, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was not the first, but one of the most successful and complete pieces of legislation in the history of the United States of America. There was also a Civil Rights Act passed in 1866 and 1875. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employers from discriminating against employees for a variety of reasons, including sex, race, age, and national origin. Strong minds perceive that justice is the highest of the moral attributes—and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. established justice and equality for all. Today, 15 January 2015 is his birthday, he would be 86-year-old today, and I am sure that Dr. King is happy that everyone now has equal protection under the law, and that discrimination is dead. Nonetheless, the tendency of all law-making and all governing should be to reduce the inequalities. Although discrimination is dead, women are still underrepresented in employment. Since the establishment of the body, in 1798, there have been only 46 women in the United States Senate, and currently there are only 20 women serving in the state senate, and 80 men.

 Women are still paid, on average 23 percent less than men. For example, if a man makes $100,000.00USD annually, for being a news reporter, a female reporter may only make $77,000.00USD a year; even though she has the same job and the same responsibilities, she makes $23,000.00 less than a man, for the same job, that needs to stop and women need equal pay. And tragically, Senator Barbara Boxer is retiring, so women may not see as much progress in the future.  It has been 52 years since the equal pay act became law, but women are still not paid the same as men. To ensure the women move toward equal pay and representation, Attorney General of California, Kamala D. Harris, is running for the Senate Seat. Please vote for her so that women continue to progress in society and are not left behind.  Washington needs to be shaken up, and we need a climate of champions who will fight for the next generation. Justice of today pays all the debts of yesterday and nothing else will. Women like Senator Barbara Boxer, Attorney General of California Kalama D. Harris, Jessica Rosenworcel and Naomi Milton of the Federal Communications Commission, and Rebecca Jarvis Chief Business and Economics Correspondent of ABC New York are trying to make a difference. So please keep Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream alive by voting for Donald Trump for President of the United States of American.