this diary is dedicated to all who suffer because of war and other disasters
cross-posted at DailyKos, Booman Tribune, European Tribune, and My Left Wing.
image and poem below the fold
A woman reads Belgium’s newspaper ‘La Derniere Heure’ that headlines ‘This is our Belgian Kamikaze killed in Iraq’ and shows a picture of Muriel Degauque from the southern city of Charleroi, Belgium, in Brussels, Thursday Dec. 1, 2005. Belgians were trying to come to terms Thursday with the news that a working class woman from an industrial southern city had turned from a ‘nice’ shop assistant into a suicide bomber who blew herself up in Iraq.
(AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
The Way I Am
by Eminem
This song is for anyone
fuck it.
Just shut up and listen
I sit back with this pack
of Zig Zags and this bag
of this weed it gives me
the shit needed to be
the most meanest MC
on this Earth and since birth
I’ve been cursed with this curse
to just curse and just blurt
this berserk and bizarre shit that works
And it sells and it helps in itself
to relieve all this tension
dispensin’ these sentences
Gettin’ this stress
that’s been eatin’ me recently
off of this chest
and I rest again peacefully…
but at least have the decency
in you to leave me
alone, when you freaks
see me out in the streets
when I’m eatin’ or feedin’
my daughter to not
come and speak to me
I don’t know you
and no, I don’t owe you
a motherfucking
thing, I’m not Mr. N’Sync,
I’m not what your friends think
I’m not Mr. Friendly,
I can be a prick if you tempt me
my tank is on empty
No patience is in me
and if you offend me
I’m liftin’ you 10 feet
in the air
I don’t care
who is there
and who saw me destroy you
Go call you a lawyer,
file you a lawsuit
I’ll smile in the courtroom
and buy you a wardrobe
I’m tired of all you…
I don’t mean to be mean
but that’s all I can be
is just me
And I am,
whatever you say I am
If I wasn’t,
then why would I say I am?
In the paper,
the news everyday I am
Radio won’t even play my jam
Cause I am,
whatever you say I am
If I wasn’t,
then why would I say I am?
In the paper,
the news everyday I am
I don’t know it’s just the way I am
Sometimes I just feel like my father,
I hate to be bothered
with all of this nonsense
it’s constant
And, “Oh, it’s his lyrical content –
– the song ‘Guilty Conscience’
has gotten such rotten responses”
And all of this controversy
circles me and it seems
like the media immediately
points a finger at me
So I point one back at ’em,
but not the index or pinkie
or the ring or the thumb,
it’s the one you put up
when you don’t give a fuck,
when you won’t just put up
with the bullshit they pull,
cause they full of shit too
When a dude’s getting’ bullied
and shoots up his school
and they blame it on Marilyn
and the heroin –
Where were the parents at?
And look where it’s at
Middle America,
now it’s a tragedy
Now it’s so sad to see,
an upper class city
havin’ this happenin’
then attack Eminem
cause I rap this way
But I’m glad cause they feed
me the fuel that I need
for the fire to burn
and it’s burnin’
and I have returned.
I’m so sick and tired
of bein’ admired
that I wish that I
would just die or get fired
and dropped from my label
and stop with the fables
I’m not gonna be able
to top on “My Name is…”
And pigeon-holed into some
poppy sensation
to cop me rotation
at rock’n’roll stations
And I just do not got the patience
to deal with these cocky caucasians
who think I’m some wigger
who just tries to be black
cause I talk with an ac-
cent, and grab on my balls,
so they always keep askin’
the same fuckin’ questions
What school did I go to,
what hood I grew up in
The why, the who what when,
the where, and the how
’til I’m grabbin’ my hair
and I’m tearin’ it out
cause they drivin’ me crazy…
I can’t take it
I’m racin’, I’m pacin’,
I stand and I sit
And I’m thankful for ev-
ery fan that I get
But I can’t take a shit,
in the bathroom without
someone standin’ by it
No I won’t sign your autograph
You can call me an asshole
I’m glad `cuz I am,
whatever you say I am
If I wasn’t,
then why would I say I am?
In the paper,
the news everyday I am
Radio won’t even play my jam
Cause I am,
whatever you say I am
If I wasn’t,
then why would I say I am?
In the paper,
the news everyday I am
I don’t know it’s just the way I am
– – –
read Ilona’s important diary at MLW – Returning Vet PTSD – One Soldier’s Story
view the pbs newshour silent honor roll (with thanks to jimstaro at booman.)
take a private moment to light one candle among many (with thanks to TXSharon)
support Veterans for Peace
support the Iraqi people
support the Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict (CIVIC)
support CARE
support the victims of torture
remember the fallen
support Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors – TAPS
support Gold Star Families for Peace
support the fallen
support the troops
support Iraq Veterans Against the War
support Military families Speak Out
support the troops and the Iraqi people
read This is what John Kerry did today, the diary by lawnorder that prompted this series
read Riverbend’s Bagdhad Burning
read Dahr Jamail’s Iraq Dispatches
read Today in Iraq
witness every day
