ammarmali:

“People are distracted by objects of desire,
and afterward repent of the lust they’ve indulged,
because they have indulged with a phantom
and are left even farther from Reality than before.
Your desire for the illusory could be a wing,
by means of which a seeker might ascend to Reality.
…

faineemae:

UW-Madison student who drowned in Lake Mendota identified

A UW-Madison student who drowned Thursday morning in Lake Mendota, John “Vietnam” Nguyen, was a fledgling rap artist from Chicago who sang about multiculturalism and identity.

Nguyen, 19, had been swimming with several friends when he went underwater and did not resurface, according to the Dane County Medical Examiner’s Office.

The drowning took place a short distance from a pier in the 600 block of North Park Street, said Barry Irmen, director of operations for the Medical Examiner’s Office.

The incident was reported at 6:49 a.m. in front of the UW-Madison Limnology Building, 680 N. Park St., according to the Dane County 911 Communications Center.

The Madison Fire Department’s Lake Rescue Team was called to the scene and pulled Nguyen out of the water less than 15 minutes after the search started, according to spokesman Eric Dahl. Witnesses said he was under water for several minutes.

He was taken to a local hospital where resuscitative efforts were unsuccessful, Irmen said. Preliminary results from an autopsy conducted Thursday were consistent with an accidental drowning, he said.

Nguyen was scheduled to speak at a conference of the Union of North American Vietnamese Student Associations (UNAVSA) last month in Minneapolis.

His workshop was on social media, social justice and hip-hop in a larger topic of culture and identity, civic engagement and sociopolitical issues.

Nguyen’s bio on the UNAVSA website said he was a student at UW-Madison pursuing a marketing degree. “His art is defined as expression, therapy, and resistance rooted in hip-hop culture,” it said.

The bio said he was the son of a Vietnamese refugee and a Vietnam War veteran. “Working and volunteering in local community organizations have nurtured his passion for the synergy between arts, academics, and activism — especially concerning multiculturalism and identity,” it said.

In his most recent post on his Facebook page Aug. 22, Nguyen quoted the German theologian and philosopher Albert Schweitzer: “In hopes of reaching the moon, men fail to see the flowers that blossom at their feet.”

On Twitter Thursday, UW-Madison posted, “We’ll deeply miss the enormously talented John “Vietnam” Nguyen, who passed away this a.m.” Posted with the Tweet was a medley of videos of Nguyen rapping and break dancing against various Chicago backdrops.

In one video Nguyen raps “with all my people unified, but others say we dissidents” and “still hope for better days, and remember how the summer felt, I hope it never fades away.”

Rest in Peace, John. It was honor to have shared a stage with you.

viciousminuteshour:

‘Still I Rise,’ a poem by Maya Angelou, read by RM. 

viciousminuteshour:

‘I Like My Body,’ a poem by E.E. Cummings, read by RM. 

"To be lost is only a failure of memory."  - Margaret Atwood, from “A Boat” (via airportsbannedme)

viciousminuteshour:

‘The Raven,’ a poem by Edgar Allan Poe, read by Rm. 

rashadsays:

Sylvia Plath was one disturbed soul. Undeniably talented though, much like Poe.

Mad Girls Love Song brings back memories of when i performed this.

sahpoetry:

My Concrete poem for Palestine

vladislava:

1
when i saw
an old woman
on all fours
in the ruins
of her home
looking under
floor tiles
for medicine
i did think
what would i say
if it were my grandmother

2
we must bring whiteout home from the office
and paint our eyes while watching tv, we are
killing semites, notice;…