Thursday, May 1, 2014

To all my readers, I apologize for my absence. Last month, I was sick for the Metro Journey (MJ), and I wasn't able to make it, but I'M BACK with the 10th and final MJ, which was pretty awesome if I can say so myself.
In honor of this MJ, Ms. Anna, our instructor, gave us riddles that we as a class had to unfold to figure out our task for today.
Riddle #1: 28 IS THE NUMBER OF OBJECTS YOU WILL FIND HERE. THE OBJECTS FLY & THE OBJECTS SIT. THE OBJECTS GORGE.  FIND THEM BY SOLVING THIS: THIS NORTHERN STATE & THIS HISTORICAL (27th) MAN HAVE A COMMONALITY.      Hmmmm? The 27th man? Hmmm? Well, naturally, we first looked up the 27th President of the United States, who was in fact from Ohio! A NORTHERN STATE! Although we thought we were finished, we were not.  We still had to find the commonality.  Well, in DC there is a bridge, called the Taft Bridge located on Connecticut Ave.  Wait, hang on? Connecticut is also a city in Ohio! There's the commonality! So our first stop is the Taft Bridge located on Connecticut Ave. in Woodley Park, a neighborhood in DC!

The Taft Bridge, also known as the Connecticut Avenue Bridge or William Howard Taft Bridge, is a historic bridge located in the Northwest quadrant of Washington, D.C. It carries Connecticut Avenue over the Rock Creek gorge, including Rock Creek and the Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway, connecting the neighborhoods of Woodley Park and Kalorama. On July 3, 2003, the Taft Bridge was added to the National Register of Historic Places. The Classical Revival bridge, the first name for the bridge,  was fashioned in 1897 and ended in 1907.  Constructed by engineer George S. Morison and architect Edward Pearce Casey,  it is an arch bridge with unreinforced concrete arches and a reinforced concrete deck. The total length of the bridge is 274.5 meters (901 ft), and it has been called an "engineering tour de force" and the largest unreinforced concrete structure in the world.  In 1931, the bridge was renamed in honor of U.S. President William Howard Taft. 

Now you might be wondering why we would find 28 objects on the bridge that fly, sit, and gorge. Waittaaminute! Gorge, you ask. What does that mean? It means to eat a large amount greedily; fill oneself with food. Now what you now what 'gorge' means, let's get back to the 28 objects. Once we found the bridge, this one was quite easy. Positioned on the bridge are 24 lampposts and 2 lions on either side of the bridge! 24 plus four makes 28!

Riddle #2: ON TO NEXT CLUE. à pied seulement. (FIND 2) OF 1 OF SAME IN #1. THEN ENTER.
This clue was really confusing. Let's first start out with the french word, which means 'on foot only' or 'walk.' So, we had to walk somewhere, but where? Find two of one of the same in #1? This meant we either had to find 2 birds or two lions. At the entrance of the National Zoo, there are two lions! So, walk to the lions, then enter the zoo! Second riddle solved! The National Zoo was founded in 1889 to preserve, teach, and conduct research about the animal world. The zoo opened in Rock Creek Park in Washington DC in 1891 on a site designed by landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted. Over the years, the National Museum has hosted a myriad of events including Easter Monday. Have you ever wondered why Easter Monday is not celebrated in all states? Well, that history, explained Chuksorji-Keefe, is more than 100-years-old and was created for African-Americans who were not allowed to attend the annual White House Easter Egg Roll.  "This holiday has a very dubious and shameful history," said Chuksorji-Keefe.  Because blacks weren't allowed to attend the White House, they made their own on Monday at the zoo.  Now, with segregation presumably conquered, the Zoo made this day into a holiday for everyone, which is why schools are out in this area but not everywhere.   

Riddle #3:  Find 7 very still gatherers from Uganda. Now go to gatherers & go in building behind gatherers. spend 10 minutes at least here; maybe more?
Positioned in the zoo are seven life-sized chimpanzees sculptures in bronze, by acclaimed Maryland arists Bart Walter. It is a famous attraction at the National Zoo. Named "The Gathering," this sculpture sits in a garden near the Zoo's "Think Tank," the building behind the statues. In this building scientific investigation about orangutan's brains is explained.

Riddle #4: Look up, up, up and find a cheeky forest friend. Monitor & watch & talk to this friend for 15 minutes. Look up y'all.

At the Zoo is this awesome attraction called the 'O Line.'  It was sooooo cool to see the orangutans traveling on the Zoo's Orangutan Transport System. The O Line gives the orangs freedom of movement, an expanded living area, and choice of location. Orangutans are brachiators, which means they can swing hand over hand from branch to branch. Kiko, an adult male, often demonstrates this form of locomotion on the O Line. The other orangutans, however, usually walk or shuffle along the cables, holding on with two or more limbs.   

Riddle #5: FIND THE UNCLE (WHO'S WORTH A LOT OF BUTTER) ON THE ISLAND FROM THE BOOK. Go to the uncle & check him out.

The Uncle, who's worth a lot of butter? That was a pretty funny riddle once you figured it out.  "Uncle Beazley," a fiberglass triceratops is a life-sized statue named after the dinosaur in the children's book The Enormous Egg. by Oliver Butterworth. Haha, get it? Worth a lot of butter...Butterworth? *slaps knee* This statue is found on Lemur Island, which is the island in the book.  

Riddle #6: MUST BE @CIRCLE @10 +3 (13) TO SEE THIS: (share the story of B.L.A.C.K. w/the people/person you see there & interview them.) First off, 13 is military time for 1pm.  So, we had to be at a circle at 1pm.... well, at the zoo, there is a circle called the Great Cat Circle.  What do you think is here? Lions, and tigers, and... not bears... OHMY! These are amazing and majestic animals.  They were so beautiful!
CEGT CS TFFKFLZ EZ CJF UFFA KLSQDAF FWILDRJXFWC DCFXZ CS CJF RSIZDWZ SU RELERFGZ.
You read that twice, didn't you? Maybe she had a typo. She should have given it to her mother to check before she published this. That was in fact not a typo. It is a cryptogram, a type of code, which when deciphered means, TALK TO KEEPERS AS THE FEED PROVIDE ENRICHMENT ITEMS TO THE COUSINS OF CARACALS We were to go to the lions', cousins of the animals called the caracels, and interview the keepers there. This was really fun! We interviewed a keeper there and she showed us lion fur and teeth. She explained behind the scenes of becoming a 'show' lion, and the different tasks lion cubs had to accomplish to be able to be displayed. There were 3 majestic lions, 2 females, and one male. We even got to hear the male lion, Luke, roar! It was so beautiful!

Riddle #7: LUNCH MUST BE CONSUMED under the vines of the circus flappers who are near the moon worshippers.
Pretty pretty easy! AAARROOOOOO!! *failed wolf sound* The moon worshipers are wolves! And the circus flappers ARR ARRR ARR *failed seal sound* are the seals! The seals are the cutest show-offs ever! They're cuties, and they know it!

Riddle #9 : Find 10 african things of which at least 7 countries must be represented.  
Cheetahs (Algeria): Built more like greyhounds than typical cats, cheetahs are adapted for brief but intense bursts of speed. They have wiry bodies and small heads. Their coats are golden or yellowish, embellished with many small black spots, and their tails are long with a few black bands and sometimes a white tip. Black stripes run from their eyes down to the corners of their mouths. 
Zebras (Kenya) : Big heads, large and rounded ears, and thick, erect manes make the Grevy's zebra appear more mule-like than other zebras. In fact, many experts consider Grevy's zebras to be striped asses that are not closely related to other zebras. Their coats sport dazzling narrow stripes that wrap around each other in a concentric pattern and are bisected by a black stripe running down the spine.
Dama Gazelle (Chad): This large gazelle has a slender neck and legs, and somewhat S-shaped horns. It is white with reddish-brown coloring, but the pattern varies by region. Dama gazelles in the western part of their range are more reddish-brown than those in the east. Coloration also varies by age and season. The head is typically pale.
Scimitar-horned oryx (Egypt): mostly white with reddish brown necks and marks on the face and a long, dark, tufted tail. The white coat helps reflect the heat of the desert.
African Clawed Frog (Namibia): This is a unique family of frogs that lack a tongue and a visible ear. The males also lack vocal cords. Instead of moveable eyelids, a horny, transparent covering protects their eyes. The body is flattened and the head is wedge-shaped and smaller than the body.
Caracel (Northern Africa): Sometimes called "African lynx" or "desert lynx", these tufted-eared cats are about three feet long, with a tail about a foot long, and reddish brown fur, except for a white chin, throat, and belly, and a black line running from each eye to the nose.
Kori Birds (Botswana): The chin, throat, and neck are creamy white mixed with black bands. The underparts of the bird are buff colored with dark brown vermiculations. The tail has wide bands of grayish brown and white. The primaries, or flight feathers, are also similarly marked. The shoulder area has a checkered black and white pattern.
We finished our journey with heading back to the Woodley Park Metro Station to embark home. This MJ was so much fun, and I loved seeing the animals! I can't wait to come back to the zoo again! 

Saturday, June 7, 2014

"It takes one generation to forget, and it takes two generations to forget they forgot." 

On June 7th, I had the opportunity to embark on an Egypt on the Potomac Tour.  This "field trip's" objective was to familiarize tourists with the symbolism, architecture, philosophy, and mythology of Ancient Egypt, properly known as Ancient Kemet, and show them these disciplines implemented in the construction of Washington D.C.

We began at the Thurgood Marshall Center .  This building was former home to the first full service YMCA for African Americans, founded in 1853, and it was actually designed by one of the nation's first African American architects W. Sydney Pittman.  Building began in 1908 and ceased in 1912, and for 70 years hosted young African Americans as they learned about leadership and responsibility through sports, camping, photography, and many more activities.  

Thurgood Marshall, a young attorney, was a frequent visitor as he fashioned legal strategies for the civil rights movement. In 2000, the building was reopened as the Thurgood Marshall Center in honor of the first African American Associate Justice to serve on the Supreme Court.  This center now serves as a community center for residents along the U Street Corridor and Shaw neighborhoods and the starting place on the Egypt on the Potomac "field trip."  

While riding the bus to our first stop, we learned about the meaningful construction of Washington DC.  Washington DC was first constructed as a ten mile square/ diamond.  When you look at the map now, you probably will notice that a part of the square is now Alexandria, Virginia, so DC is more like a shoe, or an awkward triangle, or whatever comes to mind but long story short, it's not a square. (If you want to learn more about why DC is no longer a square, you should scroll down to the Metro Journey where we went to Historic Alexandria.) Washington DC was first mapped out by Andrew Elliot, a Caucasian man, and a famous African American scientist, Benjamin Banneker.  Banneker was the nation's first black scientist, who also made a living as a mathematician and farmer.  His grandfather was named Banneka, and it is believed that Banneka was from Mali where he studied in depth the stars as he was a descendant of royal lineage.  During the construction of DC, Banneker alongside Elliot was to start in the North, walk 10 miles to the East, walk 10 miles to the South, walk ten miles to the west, then walk 10 miles to the North to where they started making the 10 mile square using the stars for direction.  Isn't it weird that Benjamin Banneker played a monumental part in the placement of our Nation's Capital being an accomplished astronomer and all, yet he isn't recognized properly as the main designer of our famous city?  However, Christopher Columbus so- called 'founded' America, even though people were already positioned here, and he accidentally stumbled upon this land, and he gets a National holiday? 

Before we continue, I would like to point out that in a name is power.  Changing something or someone's name destroys the meaning, symbolism, and strength of it so on the field trip, our facilitator introduced us to the proper names of Ancient Kemet's symbols, and what they mean.

Common Name	Proper Name	Meaning/ Symbolism
Egypt	Kemet	The Black Land
Pyramid	Amir (AMR)	N/A
Obelisk (Washington Monument)	Tkn (Pl.-Tknu)	N/A
One (1)	N/A	God
Two (2)	N/A	Man and Woman
Three (3)	N/A	Child/Trinity
Four (4)	N/A	Foundation
Five (5)	N/A	Man/Mind
Six (6)	N/A	Death
Seven (7)	N/A	Heaven/Spiritual Resurrection
Sun East	Kepra	Birth
Sun (highest point)	Ray	N/A
Sun West	Amen	Death

From this point on, we will be using these names when we talk about these artifacts, so please refer to this chart whenever needed. Also before we go to our first stop, I want to point your attention back to the 10 mile square of Washington DC. Why did they want a perfect square? Well, a square has 4 angles and sides, correct? When we look at our chart, the number four signifies the foundation, right? DC is the capital and 'foundation' of our nation. (hey, I rhymed!) That's why it was constructed as a perfect square! Cool, right? 

Now we can  go to our first stop, which is Meridian Hill Park on 16th street.  This park's symbolism is going to blow your mind! First let's look at 16th street.  1+6=7. What's the meaning of seven according to Ancient Kemet? Heaven or Resurrection! Did you know that this street is sometimes called Avenue of Churches? But that's not all; this street is exactly 7.7 miles long and ends at the White House.  Also, did you know that DC is positioned exactly on longitude line 77? Crazy, right? 

Before we go back to Meridian Hill Park, I would like to tell you the Ancient Kemet story of the Ancient god Osar.  This god married a woman named Auset, or commonly known my the Greeks and Romans as Isis.  Osar was a very successful ruler of Kemet, teaching his people laws, education, architecture, and other prosperous skills.  He was adored by his people, but his evil brother, Set, was jealous.  Set murdered his brother and managed to cut his body into 14 pieces scattering them all over Egypt.  Auset managed to find all of them, except the 14th, which was the phallus.  She assembled the 13 pieces of his body making the first mummy.  

At the time of Osar's death, he did not have any children, but mystically Auset was impregnated by her husband, and she had a son named Heru, or Horus according to the Romans and Greeks, and who was raised secretly to protect him from his Uncle Set, who was now the ruler of Kemet.  

As soon as Heru grew to be a man, he challenged his Uncle for the throne, and after many battles he avenged his father and regained the throne of Egypt.  During the many battles, Set snatched out the Eye of Heru and threw it into the celestial ocean where it was found later and used as a guide for Osar to find his way to the afterlife.  The Eye of Heru was used to signify protection on mummies' journeys to the afterlife.  The End.  

Have you ever noticed that the number 13 is seen as a curse? Friday the 13th, which just passed, was feared by many across the nation.  It is nationally seen as an unlucky number.  Why would society teach us that if they don't believe that number's cursed too? "What?" you might ask.  Let's evaluate this. If you have a dollar bill nearby, go and get it.  America started with how many colonies? 13! E Pluribus Unum. How many letters are in that Latin motto? Look at the eagle on your dollar bill, how many arrows is he clutching? How many leaves are on the olive branch? How many olives are on the olive branch? How many levels on Amr? Wait, wait, wait...how many of her husband's body parts did Auset find? 13! What's positioned at the top of the Amr? An eye? Mummies are normally buried in Amrs, so it can be concluded that the 13 levels of the Amr on the dollar bill signify the Osar's 13 parts, and the eye on top represents the Eye of Heru, protection.  

Also the Cascading Waterfalls found in Meridian Hill Park has 13 pools. Whaaaaaaaat? So many 13's considering that 13 is an unlucky number.  

Next we went to the Masonic Temple located on 2800 16th street at the intersection of the 1500 block of Harvard and Columbia. Free Masonry is all about a free spirit, a builder of consciousness.  It takes between 40-42 years to become a priest, and this time is spent "building your character."  Priests are trained for the good of the nation.  In fact all of our Presidents were free Masons.  Fun fact about where this temple is located.  What's 28 plus 16? 44. What president went to both Harvard and Columbia? Barack Obama, who is, mind you, the 44th president.  Pre- planned or nah? Masons all study in Africa, and when they become a 33rd, or highest degree Mason, they are considered African.  Yes, even Caucasian Masons. On this temple are two signs at the entrance; on the east, there is a picture of a sun and on the west is a picture of a Jewish Star.  This signifies on the east (Kemet) comes knowledge and on the west, (America) comes the law.  

A block down the street is a 33rd degree Mason Temple.  It has 33 columns and is 33 feet high.   The two sphinx positioned outside of this temple are a copy of the original sphinx originating in Kemet.  The head of the sphinx represent feminine energy, in other words looking within, while the body of sphinx, a lion, represents masculine energy; knowledge is power.  There are 13 blocks between these two temples, the white house, and the monument.  There's that 13 number again.   

 Riding several blocks down you will arrive at the end of 16th street where the White House is now positioned. Did you know that a slave market was positioned in Lafayette Park, right in front of the White House? 

Behind the White House is the Washington Monument.  This symbol is what? A tnku, symbolizing Osar's phallus.  It is 515 feet high, and each side of its base is 55 ft.  What does the number five represent? The concept of man or mind.  Did you know that every king in Kemet was given 5 names, 5 representations of themselves?  Inside the monument positioned on the elevator is a Heru Badette, a symbol representing knowing thyself.  It is pictured as a sun disc with a serpent's head.  

Our second to last stop on the tour was L'Enfant Plaza.  This plaza obviously was named after Charles L'Enfant.  He was a french man hired to design the interior of DC.  Apparently, the nation had problems with this man.  He had a temper and was an extreme alcoholic.  He was eventually fired, so my manz Benjamin Banneker was hired to finish his work.  Don't you think Banneker should have received homage for his work on DC? If it wasn't for him D.C. would not have been established. Do you know that Charles L'Enfant got a metro station as well as a plaza named in his honor, and Banneker received a cul-de-sac with a fountain in the back of the plaza? How deliberate is that? 

After riding through the plaza, we journeyed back to the Thurgood Marshall Center to find symbolism on the Library of Congress.  Around the doors of the library there are symbols telling a story.  Basically, the story starts in Africa and moves to America.  It shows how everything began in Africa, and it is right in front of our eyes, but we do not pay attention to that.  Furthermore, surrounding the building are 44 heads representing the believed at that time 44 races of the world.  In the east are the 4 African races, and on the west of the building are the 4 Caucasian races.  That sounds familiar.  In the east is knowledge, and in the west in the law.  

With Anthony Browder
Author of several books including
Egypt on the Potomac and Nile
Valley Contributions to Civilization,

Our Field Trip Facilitator,
J Pourzal 

This Metro Journey showed me that I come from a long line of scientists, architects, astronomers, and many more.  It showed me how my race of people have had their history stolen and been brainwashed in the process.  We have forgotten where we came from, and until we know our history we will be living in ignorance, even if the clues are right under our noses.  Wake up!                

Anthony Browder's Daughter, Atlantis Tye.