Dotting the ‘’I’’ and Crossing the ‘’T’’ of ChrisTmas

‘’Chris, what do you intend to do this season?’’ asked his friend, Tmas.
‘’Well, it’s a season we need each other’’ responded Chris
‘’What do you mean?’’
‘’In life, particularly this season, it takes two to tango’’
‘’Please explain more’’ Tmas said, looking more anxious
‘’look at us. We can join forces to make this holiday worthwhile.’’

‘’How!?’’
‘’We have what it takes to make the celebration a memorable one’’
‘’What’s it, Chris?’’
‘’It’s simply Dotting the ‘I’ and crossing the ‘T’ of Christmas’’
‘’Chris, there you go again! I’m lost in your explanation, right now’’
‘’You see, my name is Chris. Yours is Tmas. Right?’’
‘’Yes’’
‘’If we agree to work this season out together, you would see that the ‘I’ in the name ‘Chris’ and the ‘T’ in the name ‘Tmas’ means a lot’’

‘’So what?’’
‘’The ‘I’ being dotted and the ‘T’ being crossed will bring about you and I to tango’’
‘’Meaning???’’
‘’If we decided to put our names together, we would savor the season’’
‘’I see’’ Tmas responded, having a clue where Christ is driving at.

‘’Chris, my name. Tmas, your name. If we joined our names, it would be ChrisTmas!’’
‘’Wow’’ exclaimed the fascinated Tmas. ‘’It’s interesting to know how the dotting of the ‘I’ of your name and crossing of the ‘T’ of my name can make a befitting ChrisTmas!’’
‘’That’s the spirit!’’ Chris assured. ‘’You see dotting the ‘I’ and crossing the ‘T’ of our names as we practically tango, or should I say, ‘work together?’ will earn us ChrisTmas!’’

‘’That’s thoughtful of you’’, Tmas reasoned. ‘’Let’s get into the business of working together or like you’ve just said, ‘let’s tango’’’
‘’Tmas, that’s what I’ve been saying about Dotting the ‘I’ and Crossing the ‘T’ of ChrisTmas!’’ Chris Concluded.

Arti-Blog: Amanful Disastrous Deluge – ADD

            On Wednesday 15^th June, 2022 around 5pm the drizzles of rain which commenced with seemingly no intentions to cause havoc in the suburban community where I grew up turned disastrous deluge outlook in the Amanful West. Slowly by surely, in the 6pm hour unpaved paths started engulfing drops of rain which later affected pavement portions of the area. It’s crystal clear visibility, refrigeration repair shop, kebab selling structure ,seamstress as well tailor shops, provision shops, backyard garden, building hardware shop, pharmacy, mini bars, hospital and various houses within parts of Amanful locality had become like a lagoon or river as a result of such torrential rain. Initially, whilst writing some new songs on paper there’s bit writer’s block so I paused and reached out of the parental room which is having some stubborn disturbing bed-bugs… Oh, gosh, ouch!

They pinch like unseen pins in the living room chairs and the carpet. Among other things, many fell into gutters and holes they couldn’t see due to such massive flood situation which affected cars on the roads here on Amanful West suburban community in Takoradi. Although floods have been taking place more often in the Western Region of Ghana in the wet season, this time around it exceeded previous years of such rainy magnitude. Based on research done, Southern Ghana records two rainy seasons; major season from April to July and minor from September to November. It’s evident that the rate of this recent Amanful Disastrous Deluge #ADD supersedes the happenings which have taken place over a decade. Of course, when I was trying to rescue some items moving away from the house, it’s seen that height or level of flood was around my neck. Thus, it’s capable to cause drawn or death even as it’s seen some birds such as fowls, hens and ducks died because there’s no shelter for them in such a typical flood zone.

            In relation to one-on-one interaction as vox-pop, some of the neighbors’ or folks revealed that the Interchange project taking place on Principal Street of Takoradi at the Kwame Nkrumah round-about has also been the major cause of such disastrous deluge in the area. Indeed, due to the block of water-flow in the huge gutter, aside it’s hard to have appropriate or proper tunnel to ensure movement of rain-water. Another cause as fact is bad drainage system and sanitation because some indecent folks put garbage in gutters causing chokes at the long-run.

Aside, improper architecture planning of the suburb in terms of settlements has various effects whenever it rains cats and dogs. According to some elders of the community where the flood i.e. (deluge) took-place. It used to be lagoon about a century ago so your guess is as good as mine.  Terribly, it’s about 5 hours of non-stop down-pour and those of us using ground-floor facilities were adversely affected as some experienced sleeplessness due to flood invasion. Indeed, some of the spoiled and missing items include the following: television sets, laptops, electric fans, study desks, sound speakers, bed mattress, pillows, shoes, bags, hall tables, chairs, clothes just to mention but a few. It’s quite obvious the rate of disaster cause by such deluge made folks clean almost every part of houses, especially as witnessed at the Amanful West for days. Heaps of rubbish and other broken items seen on the aftermath were refrigerators, television sets, electric irons, stoves and others. 

            Surprisingly, on 18^th, 19th and 20^th June, 2022 those who have traveled and returned to see such mess done by the deluge, they’re still cleaning and putting their items in order. Another point to note in this Arti-Blog at the time of completion it became crystal clear as video recorded in the midst of torrential rains and the deluge had been sent to the Member of Parliament for Takoradi Constituency as well being the Western Regional Minister, Honourable Dr. Kwabena Okyere Darko Mensah to ensure possible assistance to the folks affected. However, there’s no rapid response to aid the Amanful West community. Well, his verbal statement to help construct another pavement path on the other side of the flood zone has not been done, thus over seven years since making promise to the electorate of Amanful West in Takoradi, Ghana. It’s obvious, some political leaders in Ghana are often concerned about making their families rich whilst majority of the citizens suffer in times like this due to poverty. Factually, as a leader people look up to you in terms of honoring words you voice-out or state in ensuring fulfillment. 

It’s so unfortunate and sad, even the Assemblyman of this Amanful West by name Nana Baiden has not even come to visit or see the rate of damage caused so as to find long-lasting solution to this bane. Even my private message to him about meeting-up to share communal development related ideas with him never yielded positive result. Well, are people elected to leadership positions in Ghana worthy to be called Honourable if they’re not honouring the words of promise to the masses? Indeed, this Amanful West has got lots of issues and problems with the youth in relation to reckless living and such disastrous deluge has compounded it environment bitterly. Obviously, solutions of fund support can only come from the outside world like USA, UK, Canada, Australia, Germany and other great nations. Its estimated $3500 is needed to assist the rate of damage caused in the Amanful West suburban community so as to ensure our lives turn around in goodness.

Kindly, make use of the attached pictures as proofs or evidences with regard to this Amanful Disastrous Deluge #ADD in order to bring about support. Thank You.

Ike Boat writes from Takoradi in the Western Region of Ghana, West Africa.

Synchronized Chaos International Magazine – SCIM Regular Contributor

Email Address: ikeboatofficial@gmail.com

Artiste WhatsApp: +233 267117700

WhatsApp Biz: +233 552477676 <—> MTN Mobile Money Number.

Registered ID Name: Isaac Adjei Boateng

Freedom Or Freedumb

There isn’t a simple answer to what freedom means to me.  There are things that it is and there are things that it isn’t.

I have freedom of movement, but that doesn’t mean that I get to drive a Cadillac or take a cruise around the world if I can’t afford it.

I can believe or not what I want.  That doesn’t give me the right to force people to believe as I do, or do as I want them to do.

I can own a firearm with limitations according to whatever local law and the Supreme Court is saying on a given day.  I’m not in a regulated militia and don’t want to kill, so I avoid gun ownership.  As I am writing this, fourteen people were killed with a gun or guns in a school in Texas.  Revision – nineteen people.

I can support or vote for the candidate of my choice, but for several years I’ve had a choice between different losers, so it doesn’t do much for me.

I get an education, but it is up to me to evaluate it and use it.  Many ignored or forgot most of what they learned in school and now depend on conspiracy nuts, talk shows, and celebrities for their information.  The loudest, craziest, and most partisan are responsible for most of the noise.

I get health care, but if I weren’t on Medicare, it might not be good.  While many in the USA get inadequate health care, some get too many tests and waste doctors time.

I can live where I want if I can afford it, but it might not be a pleasant place and I might not be wanted.  Depending on my race, religion, and looks many places that are technically open to me are not practically available.

I have freedom from want, but it isn’t guaranteed, it depends on my bank account.

None of us have freedom from fear because of hateful people who might want to kill us because of our race or religion, or some other reason.

I can live and love with the person of my choice if that person agrees to it.  Unfortunate people end up with abusers or alone.

I have freedom of expression within legal limits (plagiarism, libel, perjury), but no one has to offer me a venue or listen to me.

I have the right to pursue happiness, but I’m not guaranteed of attaining it.

I have the freedom to try for the occupation of my choice, but nobody would pay me to play basketball or sing.

I can’t speak of other countries, but in the USA freedom is frequently unused, misused, and abused.

To appear in Written Tales

What is Life About 
By
Linda Hibbard

Problems and Change
Change and Problems

Is Life a series of solving Problems?
Is Life a series of Change?

Is solving Problems creating Change?
Is Change creating Problems?

Is it a Problem?

An Autograph from Mingus

	Charles Mingus was my first jazz obsession. When I was an adolescent, my older brother Bart worked in the mailroom at Columbia Records and was often able to bring home swag from the label. I glommed onto Mingus Dynasty, the follow-up to the landmark album Mingus Ah Um. I was especially taken with the tracks that went beyond the jazz I was familiar with, the ones that had adventurous compositional structures, “Far Wells Mill Valley” in particular, which combined influences of classical composition with wildly swinging jazz. This wasn’t the somewhat forced and stiff “third-stream” music I’d later learn about, it was a consummate artist putting all his influences and resources at the service of his music.
	
Mingus’ earliest recordings as a leader tended to lean heavily on his classical compositional proclivities, and then, around 1955, he took a wholly new tack, eschewing written arrangements for a looser approach, where he’d talk his band through arrangements in rehearsal, aiming for greater spontaneity. By the late fifties he’d started bringing both approaches together, along with liberal doses of blues and gospel, forming the style that would characterize his music for the rest of his career, a brilliant tension between the composed and the spontaneous, emphasizing the individual sound characteristics of his sidemen (something he learned from Duke Ellington, one of his mentors), creating a repertoire that drew upon a wide variety of influences to make music that was both eclectic and idiosyncratic.

	After hearing Mingus Dynasty, I started buying other Mingus albums, and then, in 1972, when I was just short of 16, I saw him live, one of my first jazz concerts. It was a New York homecoming for Mingus. He had been only intermittently active since 1965 and had just released his first major-label album in 8 years, back at Columbia after more than a decade, Let My Children Hear Music. The concert at Lincoln Center, like that album, featured a large ensemble playing new compositions as well as many of his career classics. It was also my live introduction to a number of other jazz greats who appeared as guests to help celebrate the return of Mingus, including saxophonists Gene Ammons, Gerry Mulligan, and Lee Konitz. Mingus and Friends in Concert, recorded that evening, is the first of a number of jazz albums to include my applause.

	From then until 1977 I saw Mingus many times, in concert halls and clubs. A Carnegie Hall concert in 1974, featuring a number of Mingus saxophone alumni in a jam session, was released by Atlantic. On Mingus at Carnegie Hall, the discerning listener can hear how much more self-assured my applause had become in just two short years.
	
I caught Mingus at least one time each at The Five Spot, The Village Vanguard, and The Bottom Line, and numerous times at The Village Gate, where he had two-week or month-long residencies. Most of those times at the Gate it was Mingus with his tightest quintet in years, featuring tenor saxophonist George Adams, trumpeter Jack Walrath, and pianist Don Pullen. During those longer engagements other musicians, like singer Jackie Paris and trumpeter Tommy Turrentine, would often sit in. 

	At The Village Gate, Mingus performed at the upstairs space called The Top of the Gate. Most of the time I’d sit at the bar—which was just outside the main room with the stage, but from which you could still see the band—because there was no cover, just a drink minimum (and back then 18 was the legal drinking age in New York). But one time a friend and I splurged for a table. We had arrived early and got great seats right by the stage. Shortly after we sat down, as Mingus was setting up, tuning his bass with his back to the audience, he let out a big, brassy fart. Next thing we knew, Mingus turned around and graced us with a big shit-eating grin. 

	It’s the closest I ever came to an autograph.
	

clusterfuck
 
sitting in the dark
 
scribbling poems
by an old flashlight
 
listening to the silence
 
power has been out for
about two hours now
 
this is when you wish
you had a front porch
and something to
smoke in a pipe
 
trying to figure out
what in the pantry
can pass as dinner
tonight
 
good thing mom isn't
on oxygen anymore
 
what a clusterfuck
that would be
------------------------------------------------------------------
the longest line of whatever
 
it is very tempting
to just check out
of this world
 
snort the longest
line of whatever
and hope that the
light is a fucking
train
 
the lousy cards
you were dealt
 
you played as
well as possible
 
old fucks like you
aren't supposed
to be around this
long
 
and sure, there is
always a debt to
be paid to the
demons
 
but you chose to
become their leader
 
a spokesperson
 
a restless soul
defying the
odds
 
until you can't
stand another
day of it
-----------------------------------------------------------
never cool just effective
 
an endless
amount
of paperwork
 
death is
as painful
as living
 
of course,
 
you don't learn
that until it is
much too late
 
life is wasted
on the young
and it has been
that way since
someone decided
that time existed
 
and simple
was never
cool just
effective
 
i checked out
of the rat race
years ago
 
never had the
money to play
those games
anyway
-------------------------------------------------------------------
tearing at the seams
 
chasing death
like tomorrow
may never exist
 
the fabric of the
family tearing at
the seams
 
how could we
ever forget the
rich are never
wrong
 
the old skeletons
start to dance
and all the young
alcoholics already
know what is
waiting for them
on the other side
 
it is a slow trickle
of good news on
a cloudy day
 
the woman of
your dreams
was burned
at the stake
 
imagine those
poems
--------------------------------------------------------------------
maybe these demons
 
five in the morning and the
neon queen dances across
my mind
 
all these miles between us
fade as time seems to stand
still
 
no matter how much i love
you, i can't help but think
disappointment is only a few
seconds away
 
you have a way with your
smile to calm these old nerves
 
and eventually, i'll get out of
my own way
 
hopefully, you'll still be alive
or even fucking interested
 
maybe these demons will finally
let the old fool win one for a
change

J.J. Campbell (1976 – ?) is old enough to know better. He’s been widely published over the years, most recently at Terror House Magazine, The Beatnik Cowboy, Horror Sleaze Trash, Misfit Magazine and Mad Swirl. You can find him most days on his mildly entertaining blog, evil delights. (https://evildelights.blogspot.com)