Let Your Blog Be What You Want It to Be
While there’s certainly nothing wrong with seeking and taking the advice of individuals about blogging, don’t let anyone place restrictive limitations on how you blog. When you listen to advice given by successful bloggers, don’t take that advice as being a law. You need to make sure the advice offered is appropriate to what you want to accomplish. When you hear bloggers telling you that you have to limit your blog to a highly specialized niche, you don’t have to do this if you don’t want to do it.
I have read in various places that people have a problem with individuals who are willing to cover any topic on their blogs. They argue that readers will not be able to define what type of blog one has when he or she writes about any topic of choice. Additionally, they contend that search engines will not find the posts on the blogs of those individuals who write about a diverse range of topics instead of topics in a highly specialized niche. Revolutionary Paideia proves them to be wrong. Revolutionary Paideia is a cultural commentary blog providing articles on a constellation of sundry topics. This blog does not simply focus on politics, relationships, sports, education, music, or etc.—it covers diverse topics on all those categories and many more.
Revolutionary Paideia was featured by WordPress as the second fastest growing blog. For those successful bloggers who say not having a highly specialized niche will cause your posts to not be picked up well by search engines, my recent post “Open Letter to Todd Akin” was picked up so well by the search engines that it reached Rebecca Hamilton of the Oklahoma state House of Representatives. She also blogs and “liked” the aforementioned post on Revolutionary Paideia.
I mention those things about Revolutionary Paideia because it’s one of those blogs that’s not in a highly specialized niche. In two and a half years of existence, Revolutionary Paideia has amassed well over 250,000 readers. Therefore, the search engines are picking up the posts quite fine without a highly specialized niche.
Don’t let someone force you to create a relationships, politics, education, sports, music or news blog if that’s not what you want to do. Never be afraid to go against the recommendations of successful bloggers. They don’t have all of the answers. If you have your own innovative ideas, they’re probably going to be best served by not following all of the suggestions of successful bloggers. Instead of concentrating on a highly specialized niche, produce great content. Great content will bring readers to your blog.
Some successful bloggers will try to persuade you into writing pieces that fit only into a highly specialized niche because they’re not talented enough write about a range of diverse topics. Their recommendations for you to not pen pieces on a range of diverse topics emerge from their belief that “some people try to do too much on their blogs.” Just because people are writing about diverse topics on their blogs does not mean they “try to do too much on their blogs.”
For many of these bloggers who attack people because they’re not able to simply define what type of blog people who write about a variety of topics have, I could attack them for not writing pieces that reflect the use of good grammar and punctuation and careful editing and proofreading. However, I choose not to do it at this point.
If you’re going to be a blogger who has real value, then let your blog be a blog that reflects who you truly are and what you truly want to accomplish.
Antonio Maurice Daniels
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Open Letter to Todd Akin
I need education about rape.
Dear Todd Akin:
Your recent comments discussing “legitimate rape” are offensive to rape victims and survivors and women in general. While you have stated that you misspoke, your comments have placed you in a position where you cannot be an effective candidate for the Republican Party and cause many women to lack confidence in your judgment now and if you were to become a U.S. senator. When you make comments that are not carefully articulated in the public domain, you’re not always going to be given an opportunity to revise and extend your remarks, especially comments made on the campaign trail. Comments made on the campaign trail are not always given the “revise and extend” rights those in the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate enjoy. You need to step aside and do what’s best for America, the state of Missouri and the Republican Party.
If you continue to stay in the U.S. Senate race in Missouri, you will demonstrate that you’re not committed to the interests of the American people but are more concerned with your personal ambitions. While I can understand your desire to want to serve as a U.S. senator, you cannot let this desire prevent the people of Missouri from having a campaign about substantive issues rather than about “legitimate rape.” To make such outrageous comments about rape, you prove you’re not ready to represent Missouri in the U.S. Senate.
The comments you made about rape are absurd. You will have other ways in which you can serve the American people and you will have future opportunities to run for elected office. This is not the time for you, however. Your word choice has cost you an opportunity to win the U.S. Senate seat. In your attempt to evince just how pro-life you are, you went too far. Although you have some great ideas and positions on other issues, you will be linked to your “legitimate rape” comments. Do the American people a favor and drop out of the campaign.
Please drop out of the campaign immediately!
Sincerely,
Antonio Maurice Daniels
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Tyrann Mathieu and Albany State University Are a Great Fit
Recently, Tyrann Mathieu, a talented Louisiana State University (LSU) defensive back and punt return specialist, was dismissed from LSU for violating team and university rules. After the decision was reached by administrative officials at LSU, Tyrann Mathieu started looking for eligible schools he could attend. It has been reported that he is seriously considering attending McNeese State University. Albany State University offers Tyrann Mathieu the greater opportunity to demonstrate his talent and get his life together, however.
By attending Albany State University, this will move him a long distance away from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Albany State University is located in Albany, Georgia. In Albany, Georgia, Mr. Mathieu will be situated in a city with good values and in a city with denizens who will not allow him to allow himself to handle his fame recklessly. Mike White, Albany State University Head Football Coach, is a no-nonsense guy and coach who will not treat Tyrann any different than any other player on his team. Mr. Mathieu will have to run through those gruesome sand dunes on one of the practice fields at Albany State University.
Albany State University is the most successful team in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC). At Albany State University, he will receive the right amount of publicity, benefit from coaches who are truly going to be committed to making him better on the field, in the classroom, and off the field, and he will not be looked at and used as a “messiah” to save a failing football team, considering Albany State University is the most successful football team and athletic program in the SIAC. Albany State University’s football team is a perennial National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division II power.
At McNeese State University, Tyrann Mathieu will be expected to be a “messiah” for an average at best team. It simply makes sense for him to select a school with a football program that has a winning tradition as the one he is leaving at LSU. With that in mind, Albany State University would be an excellent choice. He would leave one winning football program and go to another winning football program. Mr. Mathieu must think about the reason why his great talents have been noticed: he’s been on great football teams. By going to McNeese State University or any of the other schools it has been reported that he may select, including Jackson State University, he runs the risk of National Football League (NFL) scouts not gaining the best opportunity to assess his skills and his NFL stock could suffer even more if he’s on a team that’s nothing special.
A union between Albany State University and Tyrann Mathieu makes great sense. Make it happen!
Antonio Maurice Daniels
University of Wisconsin-Madison
The Key to Failure: Secret Enemies
Watch your back sucka!
Make sure everyone you choose to be on your team is really committed to you. Don’t let someone who appears to take sides with you and/or who seems to be friendly with you be on your team. You must go beyond mere appearances—you must know whether someone truly deserves to be on your team in this game of life. Too many people lose in the game of life because they have decided to put people on their team who are not true comrades. You’re going to face situations in your life where you’re going to need only those who are truly your friends.
You can lose battles you confront in your life when you allow those who are secretly your enemies to be on your team. The people you allow on your team can be the very people who are secretly defeating you. While it’s okay to be friendly to people, this does not mean you should include all of these people on your team. You have a choice about the individuals you select to be on your team. Therefore, you have to take responsibility for the decisions you make in the formation of your team.
Your enemies will send people to join your team and disguise them as people who support you and who want to be your friend. When you’re facing great battles, you need to think about the people who have always been there for you—the ones you’ve always been able to count on delivering for you. Those are the people who you need to have on your team. For those “friends” who have been lukewarm towards you throughout your “friendship,” then you need to discard them immediately. Unfortunately, many people are unwilling to muster the courage to rid themselves of those who are truly undeserving of being on their team. A failure to remove these folks from your team guarantees your failure.
If we’re to build winning teams, we have to make sure we have the right people on our teams.
People who are constantly a burden for you are not the right members to have on your team. Individuals who take your focus off of what’s important are not the right members to have on your team. If you have individuals on your team who are always begging for something, those individuals should be removed from your team immediately. You need to have people on your team who can genuinely contribute something to the team.
Individuals who lack a true understanding of the team concept need to be eliminated from your team. On a team, you don’t need someone who is only going to be thinking about himself or herself. If you have people on your team who use “I” all of the time or most of the time, then you need to remove those people from your team. If you have people who never want the conversation to focus on you much, then you need to eliminate those individuals immediately. Additionally, if you have people on your team who think your problems and concerns are not as important as their problems and concerns, then eliminate them from your team as soon as possible.
If you think a conversation is boring unless it’s about you, then you’re not worthy of being on anyone’s team.
Try to identify those individuals on your team who are only interested in the perks of being on and associated with your team. Don’t be afraid to let former team members know why you severed ties with them—your explanation can be just what they need to become better people.
Don’t let anyone keep you from winning the battles and wars you are facing and will confront! You must remember that your greatest enemies may be the individuals you call your “friends.” Your “friends” may be the ingredients in your life and on your team causing you to experience failure. Without question, you must discover those secret enemies who need to be removed from your team.
Antonio Maurice Daniels
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Err on the Side of Caution and Watch Your Words
Individuals can sometimes make statements about someone that emerge from lapses in good judgment. Before you make statements about someone, be sure you have all of the facts about what you intend to say so that you don’t look like a fool in the end. Many people who are so quick to make comments about someone don’t have the emotional strength to handle the backlash their words can engender. When you’re not having the best day and/or have an attitude, err on the side of caution with what you say.
The things you say have power—whether those things you say bring you positive or negative returns.
When you directly or indirectly make bold statements about someone, the person who often really has the problem is you. Many people rather deflect their problems by attempting to attack others. After you finish attempting to attack others, your problems will still be there. What are you going to do about your own problems? Why waste time trying to draw attention to other people’s problems when your life is a mess? Clean up the mess in your own house before you focus on the challenges other people face in their houses.
It can be amazing how people think they know so much about someone when they don’t really know anything about him or her. Don’t be foolish enough to say things to others and in public that you’re basing off an inkling. You damage any credibility you have left when you do things like this. If you feel confident enough to make bold statements about someone, why not ask him or her to confirm your statements? Why not confront the person first about what you have to say before you express it to others? Are you really as real as you’re claiming or pretending to be?
Your words can do damage to relationships and that damage may not be able to be repaired. This may not matter for some or many of your relationships. There will be, however, some relationships that you have damaged that you will regret. Without question, there’s nothing wrong with being bold. We certainly need more truly bold people in America. Let good judgment guide your efforts at being bold and “keeping it a hundred.” A person may never let you know you damaged your relationship with him or her. He or she may seem to act different and you will not really understand why, especially if you thought something you said didn’t get to him or her or went over his or her head.
You will always end up having to pay for your reckless choice of words.
When you call people out about the bold statements they made about you, they begin to become defensive about what they said, as if they’re the victim. Really? You’re the victim? The moment you made the bold statements about someone while you were “keeping it a hundred,” “being real,” and demonstrating how bold you are you should have thought about being the victim then. You should, therefore, own what you’ve said and not try to present yourself as a victim when you are the victimizer.
Yes, there’s nothing wrong with being yourself—just make sure you’re committed to owning up to all you do and say. When you say things about people, they’re going to retaliate—be ready! It’s only fair for those who you attempted to shame to give you a little of your own medicine. Fair is fair, right?
Antonio Maurice Daniels
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Wilcox County High School Boys Basketball Team Unfairly Forced to Forfeit Playoff Game
Superintendent Steve Smith of Wilcox County Schools and Principal Chad Davis of Wilcox County High School in Rochelle, Georgia made a truly unfair decision to force the all African-American varsity boys basketball team to forfeit their first round state playoff game in February of 2012. The decision was made in response to a minor fight between one member of the Wilcox County High School varsity boys basketball team and a Wilcox County High School Black male student who is not on the basketball team. The fight involved one punch and the Black male basketball player received the punch. A significant number of the boys basketball team members were around at the time this minor fight transpired off-campus.
Again, this was a small fight that happened off-campus.
Take a moment and read “Wilcox County Forfeits out of GHSA Boys Basketball Playoffs” to gain more information.
Superintendent Steve Smith arranged a meeting of the boys’ parents, the boys, administrators, and the head coach of the varsity boys basketball team to inform them of his decision to forfeit the game because of the minor off-campus fight where one of the players was involved in the fight and a significant number of the basketball team members were present. Superintendent Steve Smith made this move without much thought and consideration about what was in the best interest of these Black male student-athletes. It’s becoming increasingly clear that Steve Smith is unfair to African-Americans, and he seems to not have a problem discriminating against African-Americans.
The parents of the Wilcox County High School boys basketball team expressed their outrage at this decision and cited racism as being the chief motivation behind the decision of Superintendent Steve Smith and Principal Chad Davis. Steve Smith and Chad Davis had to orchestrate their plan and this decision late the night before the game was scheduled or possibly early in the morning of the day the game was scheduled. By going ahead and forfeiting the game early in the morning, this would not allow the parents and players to have their voices properly heard and would give them the impression that there was nothing they could do about this decision.
Principal Chad Davis stated that “if anyone thinks that he is a racist, then they don’t really know me too well.” The reality is those parents are too familiar with him and were articulating their beliefs based on a history of actions from him that evince for them he’s a racist.
If there would have been adequate time to advice the parents about what they could do to respond to the decision of Superintendent Steve Smith and Principal Chad Davis, they would have been informed that they had the power to have a lawyer to file an injunction, which would have temporarily overruled the forfeit and allowed the boys to play in the first game of the state playoffs that day. By the time a judge would have heard the case, the boys could have been well into the playoffs and possibly in the championship game before the case would have had a chance to be heard by a judge. Even then, a judge could have ruled against Superintendent Steve Smith and resolved that his decision was not proper.
The Black community in Wilcox County must become more organized and active in fighting against injustices, discrimination, and racism. You live in a county where Jim Crow still rears his ugly head daily.
Antonio Maurice Daniels
University of Wisconsin-Madison
You Don’t Call Until You Want Something
Stop calling me only when you want something!
Do you know people who don’t call you until they want something? Do you know people who don’t even want to have anything to do with you until they want something? If your answer to one or both of the aforementioned queries is yes, then you know people like this can become burdensome and exhausting really fast. You don’t have to tolerate those individuals anymore. All you need to do is treat them like they treat you and they will flee from you.
One excuse folks like this will use when you call them out on this issue is “I stay so busy.” However, when they need something from you, they’re able to find all of the time in the world to talk to you. “I stay so busy” is simply a lie. This is language people employ to attempt to camouflage the fact that they only care about what you can do for them and don’t have the slightest concern about you. When these folks don’t need you, you’re nothing more than an afterthought and footnote. You need to know that people like this are only using you or attempting to use you.
You may be busy but you’re not “so busy” that you cannot take a few minutes to call someone you always call when you want something
People who call you only when they need something should be more honest and transparent. Are you afraid to let people know you’re only interested in them for what they can do for you? Stop telling lies about being “so busy” all the time. You can find the time to call someone just to say hello or check on them on your way to work or to the store. Even if you let a person know you don’t have but a few minutes to talk, this will show them you’re interested in them more than just for what they can do for you. It would seem like you would have enough sense to call folks enough so that it does not seem like you’re just using them, even if it’s really your intention to use them.
When people who only call you when they want something call you or text you, stop returning their calls and text messages. Shut down all communication with them. You have to do something to let them know you’re not going to accept this type of behavior from them. If you continue to allow this type of behavior to occur, then you have to take just as much responsibility as they do. People will do as much as you allow them.
Don’t feel guilty when you end all communication with people who call you only when they want something. You have nothing to feel guilty about, considering they’re the individuals responsible for this termination of communication.
If you’ve never given it much thought about when people call you, I encourage you to begin to observe when people call you. You need to begin to seriously observe if people are calling only when they want something. Eliminate these individuals from your life and you will see how much you ameliorate your life.
Antonio Maurice Daniels
University of Wisconsin-Madison
