Part 2 – Growing up and living in the South

I’ve lived in the South my whole life. I started out by being born in Wilmington, North Carolina. When I was very young my family moved to Franklin, Virginia.

Franklin is a small town located in the Western Tidewater area of Virginia and about an hour’s drive West from Virginia, Beach. When I was growing up in Franklin it was a small town dominated by a paper mill that employed probably 75% of the people living in the area. My father worked at the paper mill, and we were a typical middle-class Southern white family.

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Current Events

We the people [Police in America]…

June 13, 2020June 17, 2020 by Bruce Gilbert

Part 1 – police are out of control, and have been for a long time

I have always believed in the power of the people. The United States of America has always been about the people who make up this country. The
U.S is a melting pot consisting of Blacks, Whites, Hispanics, Asian, Indian, Men, Women, Transgender, Gay, Straight, Religious, and non-religious. We are all a part of America and all equal. Well, at least we should be in the true spirit of what America was intended to be.

Recent events are showing that most Americans are not satisfied with the America of today and are taking their opinions and voices to the streets with demonstrations and in some cities riots and looting. I am too old to be put protesting and with the pandemic, I don’t feel safe being close to so many people, but I still have strong feelings and this is why I am writing these blog posts.

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Current Events

Reflections of 2017

December 31, 2017January 4, 2018 by Bruce Gilbert

It is December 30th as I write this. 2017 is almost over and as with a lot of people, the last few days are a time to reflect on the year that has been, and to make resolutions for the year to come. In this blog post, I will write my thoughts as well as share some of my New Years resolutions.

I’m going to come out and say it, 2017 has been brutal. I thought 2016 was a down year, but 2017 said to 2016 “hold my beer”. I mean this year has been challenging to say the least. I truly believe that what doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger, and this has been truly been put to the test this year.

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Current Events

Sorry, but I won’t be joining you in your protest or boycott

October 19, 2017September 8, 2018 by Bruce Gilbert

Protest

It seems everywhere you turn your head these days there is a protest of one sort or another. Let’s see… there are the NFL players protesting the National Anthem, there are people protesting the NFL because of those NFL player protest. There are people protesting the Confederate statues and also people who are protesting the people protesting the statues (pro-Confederate/Old South values). Additionally, there are many businesses that people boycott for one belief or another.

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Current Events

The death of grunge

June 5, 2017 by Bruce Gilbert

The early 1990’s were an interesting time. The economy was bad. America was at War in Iraq with the gulf war, George H.W. Bush was President, and I was a young adult recently out of college and struggling to find myself.

I was young, unsure of what I wanted in life and my career, and I was confused. I was not unlike many other Gen X’ers during that time period. I struggled, but I pulled through. I wasn’t sure of who I was or what I wanted to accomplish in life (in some ways I still don’t). I knew I wanted to change the world. Instead, the world changed me.

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Current Events

College Basketball: One and Done – The Pros and Cons

May 5, 2017May 13, 2017 by Bruce Gilbert

I am a big college basketball fan. I live in arguably the best area for college basketball in the country, the Raleigh/Durham area of North Carolina. In this area, we have powerhouses in Men’s college basketball, Duke University and the University of North Carolina. There is also NC. State University, who used to be more of a powerhouse than they are now.

I am a Duke basketball fan, thus I dislike the UNC Tarheels, and I wasn’t overly thrilled that the UNC Men’s basketball team won the championship. Duke and UNC are staunch rivals, and Duke, while having the more talented team didn’t live up to expectations and lost in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

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Current Events

House Bill 2 a year later – now even dumber than ever

March 9, 2017April 29, 2017 by Bruce Gilbert

It’s been almost a year since the North Carolina general assembly passed the controversial, stupid and discriminatory House Bill 2 (or HB2) also infamously known as the “bathroom bill”.

Since the bill passed in late March 2016, millions of lives of innocent bible thumping North Carolinians have been saved from evil transgender terrorist attacking and harrassing our women and children in bathrooms. Think goodness HB2 was passed by the Republican majority in the house and senate and signed by then governonr Pat McCrory to keep people safe! All is good and merry now in North Carolina thanks to the passing of the overwhelmingly popular bill!

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Current Events

Welcome Roy Cooper, a governor for us all!

January 7, 2017April 29, 2017 by Bruce Gilbert

The Good

Roy Cooper was recently elected the governor of North Carolina and he is the best choice to get the state back on track after helping to repeal HB2, bring back businesses and entertainment events that left the state due to HB2 and overall his leadership will make North Carolina great again (MNCGA).

My favorite part about North Carolina is the pro-economy, the diversity of the people of North Carolina and the over-all friendly-ness and progressive nature of the State. We took a hit from the last four years of Pat McCrory and the Republican legislature, but as Roy Cooper himself said, he will make it a priority for businesses, events, and people to “Come Back to Carolina” after the disaster that was Pat McCrory.

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Current Events

so long 2016, welcome 2017!

January 1, 2017April 29, 2017 by Bruce Gilbert

2016 was not the best year for me. In a lot of ways, 2016 was like taking a step backward as opposed to moving forward.

2016 was also a bad year for my home state of North Carolina. A discriminatory law was passed by the state legislature early in the year called HB2. I felt this bill was wrong and stupid from the beginning. The fallout from this bill made North Carolina a joke to the rest of the nation and also resulted in lost jobs due to companies such as Paypal and Deutsche Bank deciding not to expand. There were also scheduled entertainment and sporting events canceled such as Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam and the NBA All-Star Game. If that wasn’t bad enough a damaging Hurricane Matthew blew through in October and caused major flooding in the Eastern part of the State.

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Category: Current Events

We the people [my perspective of racism]…

Part 2 – Growing up and living in the South

We the people [Police in America]…

Part 1 – police are out of control, and have been for a long time

Reflections of 2017

Sorry, but I won’t be joining you in your protest or boycott

The death of grunge

College Basketball: One and Done – The Pros and Cons

House Bill 2 a year later – now even dumber than ever

Welcome Roy Cooper, a governor for us all!

The Good

so long 2016, welcome 2017!