Dear Joe Paterno - 1/23/12

Dear Joe Paterno,

Now that you've passed on, your legacy will be debated. Some will say that your gridiron merits are untouchable, that what you accomplished outweighs all. Others will always remember that you were markedly passive in the face of sexual abuse of boys. What will get lost is the man that you were. An entire football program was placed squarely on your back, and you carried it for decades, despite the landscape of college football changing greatly and frequently. You carried yourself with class, gave the program a reputation of class, molded classy football players, and gave each class at Pennsylvania State a football team to be proud of, even if there weren't so many wins to cheer about. You were a consistent and insistent man, sticking with your style of football for as long as you coached. No matter how big your legend grew, even with becoming the winningest coach in NCAA football history, you were always the same guy. That alone resonated at the highest levels of the sport, and will continue to do so. As the allegations came out last year, your reverence faced tarnishes that it had never seen, the likes of which may never be expunged. It's even more unfortunate that we won't be able to hear your full side of the story from your mouth. Whatever the case may be though, no one can take away all that you gave State College, all that you gave those young men you coached, and all that you gave to NCAA football. May your soul find the peace that it so earnestly yearned for amidst the allegations, and may your side be revealed to us, good or bad, to help that peace find you.

Sincerely,

A college football fan.

[A. Lewis]

Love Notes - 1/19/12

"Do you like me? Check yes or no. What ever happened to the days of love notes? Before the complications of puberty, it was all so simple. There was much less going on between our temples. More than that, our bodies weren't developed...our organs weren't so enveloped in what they were designed to do. All that was needed was a sign or two, a wink or a wave. Then we'd act like we didn't know how to behave, running to tell someone else about what was going on. Now, we just rush around to tell what's going wrong, who's cheating on who, who we want to steal away. Back then, we didn't have so much angst to peel away. Honesty was easy; motives were years down the road. You wrote the question down, then sealed it with a little trepidation down the fold. Out of nervousness, you made someone else hand the note off. Now, we aren't even nervous when we take our clothes off...it's crazy how things change with time; if we still gave love notes out, we'd need a box for 'yes,' a box for 'no,' and a box for 'I reserve the right to change my mind.'"

-A. Lewis

Late Night Rambling, Vol. 14: Believe, but Beware - 1/19/12

"Nowadays, a lot of people want to be prodigies of their religious theologies, ignoring factual oddities in favor of who a book says they ought to be. It's not that exploring one's beliefs shouldn't be an odyssey, but why take the trip if the directions are sold with impunity like black market commodities? Make no mistake, I believe in the power of faith; it's what gets most people through to another day. I'm just saying that while religious figureheads often teach one thing, spirituality shows another way. Knowledge of the world through myself is what I pursue, picking up Mother Nature's cues by being a young man of virtue. Rather than read and practice mimicry, I choose to believe that happiness comes from spiritual symmetry between understanding what's going out and appreciating what's coming into me. Peace is a condition of the mind; when one can find balance between space and time. The heart is ironic; it is the common thread that sets us all apart. We're all on different paths with different beats. Love is hearing one song with two different beats, forging one path with two different streets. Believe in what you will, there's no right or wrong. Just beware of those who use faith as a way to procure money alone."

-A. Lewis

Late Night Rambling, Vol. 13: Existential - 1/17/12

"There's a universe in every one of us. We are microcosms of existence; the universe and nebulae are macrocosms. Just as there are suns and moons, there are mothers and fathers. A planet is a planet despite colors and rings; a human is a human, despite colors and features. Every second is an instant of creation and destruction. We are fortunate organisms to have consciousness to be aware of what's occurring, even if we aren't able to fully understand it all. Autonomy is our distinction, though it has become our bane. We choose not to concern ourselves with the symmetry that lies between the planes of our existence, but rather with the material (socioeconomic/political) differences and idiosyncrasies that make us one and the same. Galaxies are akin to our spirits and imaginations, yet we argue and quarrel over what we believe in; what is there to gain by overlooking our inherent divinity? No matter who or what created us, it is undeniable that there is a geometry to our existence, a vibration that runs through us all. In focusing on that, we will find a great deal of love and enlightenment, which are as necessary as sunlight and water to the photosynthesis of our minds and spirits, encouraging growth."

-A. Lewis

The Making of an Invisible Man - 1/17/12

"When you have the power to give a man what he already has by birthright, you then have the power to take away what he can only lose at death. The man does not at any time cede this power; it is in place long before experiences it. What is worse is that in giving a man what he already has, he assumes that he never had it, and that your are magnanimous for giving it to him, when in actuality you are an oppressive force that in control of something that should be free to every man and woman. Then, in regulating what you have given, you make the man believe that it wasn't truly his to have, and that he must fight for the piece he was given, rather than for the whole that was his before even knew it existed. Throughout all of this, the man has been led to believe that the power lies in the 'hand that feeds him,' though the true power lies in self-determination. He doesn't believe in his own power, in himself; he loses faith in the world, and either spends time trying to regain it, or simply gives up. Either way it goes, he was never able to realize his potential, being disadvantaged from the incipient moments of his decision-making ability. Feeling as though there is nothing he can do to combat the power of the greater entity, he concedes defeat, fading as an individual to become just another body in the sea of the masses. This is how you break a man, how you make him invisible. Word to Ralph Ellison."

-A. Lewis

The Most Valuable Resource on Earth - 1/17/12

"Time is the most valuable resource on this Earth...so if I'm trying to spend it with you, you should know you're worth a lot to me. You've got to be, if that's what I'm spending. Time may be neverending, but it's also impossible to regain. Every moment is its own, and there'll never be another like it again. These instances of intimacy often engender intimations of forever. We won't exist that long, so we'll have to be more clever. Between love and memories, our energies can intertwine and form a line, a connection that spreads in any direction that allows for reciprocity and reverberation. When our love echoes in the hearts and minds of those that bear witness, we will have our own bits of immortality, we will momentarily defy the laws of reality. Imagine the grandeur of it all, but prepare for the arduous road that lies ahead. A lack of communication is like a snake in the grass: with truth at the tail, a body filled with uncertainty, and lies at the head. Sure, every heart loves when it falls, but there are pitfalls and the risk of breaks, so lets be certain about ourselves with every risk we take. Time is the most valuable resource on this Earth...so if I'm trying to spend it with you, you should know you're worth a lot to me. You've got to be, if that's what I'm spending. Money, at its root, is just paper with an ascribed value. If peace is mental prosperity, love is the universal currency of the heart, and happiness is spiritual symmetry with the world, then I'm beyond wealthy if I simply have you."

-A. Lewis

Late Night Rambling, Vol. 12: About Walls - 1/10/12

"It's not a matter of how many walls I'm willing to knock down; the concern is how many you're willing to rebuild. If you're going to clutch so tightly onto your past and enclose yourself in a space filled with the pain and scars that remain as relics from a darker time, then I won't put in the time and effort to help you escape. It's just as hazardous for me as it is for you; the vacuum of darkness knows no discrimination, and I run the risk of projecting your failures onto other young ladies. Instead, I can place that ambition on a far different path."

-A. Lewis

A Message for the Readers

First of all, thank you for reading. It is so greatly appreciated...I can't even put it into words. Secondly, I apologize for not posting anything for the last 3 weeks...I've been doing a lot of beat-making, and that's where my creative focus has been. I just posted the last three writings of '11, and the first piece of '12 likely isn't far away. I did lose my mojo at the end of last year, and that's the main reason I haven't been writing. However, it has been recovered; I'm back and feeling better than ever, so get ready for whatever my mind's about to start putting out. The quality of my instrumentals has gone through the roof...I can only imagine what's going to happen to my writings. Thank you again for reading, and I'm ready to make this your most fulfilling year yet. More than ever, I want you to be glad you came to the blog, and I'm working to make that happen!

-A. Lewis

Wisdom for the New Year - 1/10/12 (from 12/31/11)

"Good and bad are separate conditions, with perfect and nightmarish at opposite ends of that spectrum. However, we learn more in transition than we do in stillness at any point. ...or at least we should. When we do, we often adapt, refitting our behaviors. Through adaptation and a commitment to self-amelioration, we can change, which is when we refit our minds and shift our paradigms. The greatest hindrance is fear; change is billed as a monumental, one-time moment when life is no longer the same, which sounds frightening. Change is actually a process of small steps that increasingly reinforce one thing over another, and is most akin to random acts of kindness; it's about the minutia, it's about sincerity, and it's about meaning. A small smile can mean the world; the fixing of a small habit can change a lifestyle. Kindness for the right reasons warms the heart; change for the right reasons feels lively and natural. When it's important to you to brighten the day for anyone you come into contact with, it will happen; when you're seriously out to better yourself and it means something to you, it will happen. It's important to always remember that when we change for the better, we take a step closer to becoming our best. The most important thing to remember though? It doesn't take a new year to change, only a new mindset."

-A. Lewis

Your Beautiful Darkness - 1/10/12 (from 12/31/11)

"How are you so young-minded, but your body's so grown...partying here and there, but you're always so gone? You keep your girls with you, but you always feel so alone...breaking every guy's heart just to cope with your own? So much for being a model; your claim to fame is how much you quaff out of a bottle. As soon as you drink too much, you're going full throttle. Trying to get to a bedroom; you say 'YOLO's the motto.' You only live once, and you're living in scenes. Pasting together actions to 'cut' while nothing is as it seems. It's all just a blur and you could care less. You feel most special when the guy is careless. Peerless you are, in terms of disregard. It takes a certain amount of disdain for self to let it get this far. But that's just the darker side of lust. If we can't exercise our beautiful darkness in others, it festers in us. It becomes a grotesque monument to our carnal needs. You seek to escape to greener grass, though you keep pulling at weeds. That monster is yours, your beast to contain. Breaking hearts is a dangerous game and you played it, now deal with what you created, and don't complain."

-A. Lewis

Memories Over Diamonds - 1/10/12 (from 12/31/11)

"Young men are taught to give gifts as tokens of love, with jewelry as the inexorable number one on that list. As it stands, jewelry is the only sacrosanct gift, impervious to even the deleterious hands of Father Time. I see it differently though. There's a gift that can be given every day, even multiple times in a day. It never gets old, can never be given twice, and is always available to created. It too is out of the reach of the hands of Father Time, and also cannot be destroyed. Unlike jewelry, it is intangible; there's no true limit to how many we can have. What might this be? A memory. More of a treasure than any diamond we could give, a memory is a wonderful moment frozen in time, a sequence of actions, feelings, and words that can stick with a young lady and give her a special feeling whenever it comes to mind. I'm all for material gifts, but I'd rather create a memory any day. Find a young lady that can appreciate that and you just might've found a real keeper. Just a tip from one young brother to the rest."

-A. Lewis

Mojo - 1/10/12 (from 12/29/11)

"All of these lines come to mind but they can never form a grid...a few rhymes at time, that's really all it is. Manifesting in rambles while my mojo is in shambles; my creativity is roaming while my hardiness ambles. Gambles with the heart are of the russian roulette variety. Staying true to said heart is as paramount as piety. Putting it on table is the ante of faith, believing that some force of love will keep one's core in place. I'm not much of one for the club, and I'm not fond of spades. Don't own any diamonds, so my heart's my only play. There's no card counting here, and patterns don't account for the actions that take place with causality in low amounts. It's just one-hand game, either you win or you lose. When their trump card is played, it's liable to leave you singing the blues. A win is a rarity, but it's a jackpot worth the odds. Only once-in-a-lifetime do you find true love, a gift from the gods."

-A. Lewis