DOCUMENTATION THAT I EXIST

The feeling of being invisible sometimes hurts,
Inner voices scream at the world,
Only to be blocked by walls of silence,
The feeling of being treated like garbage sometimes hurts,
I try to put out good karma in the universe,
Inner voices scream at the world,
Only to be deleted by those who crush dreams,
I just wanna feel alive,
My inner visions,
Fuel my inner vibes,
Battling the forces of evil,
Just to tell the world my name,
When my life is over,
Will they remember the song I sung for you,
Or the soulful masterpieces I painted,
The feeling of not existing sometimes hurts,
Inner voices scream at a world that isn't listening,
While my cries in the dark go unheard,
Does my life have meaning,
I am a cultural substance,
Demanding my existence be respected,
My umi says,
Shine your light on the world,
So the tattoo on my heart reads "The Mighty I Am".

("JODISM: Documentation That I Exist" opens Friday March 7th, 2009 at 6 pm as part of The Creative Arts Guild's First Friday event.)

infinite JODISM, infinite POTENTIAL

2008 is outta here! These pictures are important to me. These people have influenced my life and helped shaped the person I am today in some way, fashion or form. I read alot and love black history & culture. I love music, art and black folks. I love us and who we are.

The top picture is from the "I want your soul" artshow that Dan The Man put on @ The Eastside Lounge. Yall can check it out at www.manoamanoartshow.com I am a visual artist and my passion for art, music and culture will never die. I have always battled other people's thoughts on what I should do with my life. I recently worked for DFACS as a social services placement worker. Some family drama and interaction with DFACS has caused a conflict of interest. My heart and mind all along was screaming go back and follow your dreams. On december 23, 2008, I was forced to make a decision and I chose to do what makes Jody Harris happy while not giving a damn anymore about what my family thinks, my so called friends and outsiders opinions. In reality, I never listened anyway and never gave a flying fuck. In relation to finding a good woman, I realized that going out looking aint gettin me nowhere. When the most high sees it fit for me to meet my soulmate, then it'll happen so I aint gon sweat that anymore. She is out there!

The people in the pictures above never cared about what people thought about them and I am fully embracing their spirits. I realized my infinite potential is limitless and I can do whatever I want. It has inspired me to move forward and focus on my life, my energy, my universal purpose and my all around well being. Walking away from certain situations sometimes can be hard but if it needs to be done, then it needs to be done. Locally, I am called the renaissance man. I am getting my guitar out and gettin back into my music. I have a blues gig lined up at the blues train cafe in downtown dalton on tuesdays. I will be doing Muddy Waters "Hoochie Coochie Man" and other classics. I am also gettin back into my art and the art scene heavy in 2009. I already got some art shows lined up. I am gonna do what makes Jody happy and let the cards fall where they may.

Yall please stay jazzy! Pray for me and I'll do the same for you! Support the arts!

A puzzle called Black Women.

I am about to keep it real again! I am a single brotha back on the dating scene. I have been working on getting my inner house in order before I really try to get into another long term relationship or any kind of relationship for that matter. I have alot to offer a sista. I have found out the hard way that the dating scene has changed. It is a puzzle trying to figure out women. Throw in trying to figure out black women. When they say this, it really means something else. When she does that, she really means this. Then they get mad at us when we don't figure out whatever message they tryin to communicate. I am a man and I think like a man! Sometimes we don't catch on to things. I admit that I am usually thinkin bout something else like when the game come on, do I need to finish grad school, is the beer cold, should I buy that new king magazine, will I get some this weekend, do I buy bread & milk or some rubbers and when is pay day. On the wigflip, I am having fun. I have only 1 person to take care of and I am taking care of myself just fine. I sincerely hope I put this puzzle together someday and find my soulmate. I know she is out there.

Relationship Quote from The Dalai Lama
Consider the following. We humans are social beings. We come into the world as the result of others' actions. We survive here in dependence on others. Whether we like it or not, there is hardly a moment of our lives when we do not benefit from others' activities. For this reason it is hardly surprising that most of our happiness arises in the context of our relationships with others.
Nor is it so remarkable that our greatest joy should come when we are motivated by concern for others. But that is not all. We find that not only do altruistic actions bring about happiness but they also lessen our experience of suffering. Here I am not suggesting that the individual whose actions are motivated by the wish to bring others' happiness necessarily meets with less misfortune than the one who does not. Sickness, old age, mishaps of one sort or another are the same for us all. But the sufferings which undermine our internal peace -- anxiety, doubt, disappointment -- these things are definitely less. In our concern for others, we worry less about ourselves. When we worry less about ourselves an experience of our own suffering is less intense.
What does this tell us? Firstly, because our every action has a universal dimension, a potential impact on others' happiness, ethics are necessary as a means to ensure that we do not harm others. Secondly, it tells us that genuine happiness consists in those spiritual qualities of love, compassion, patience, tolerance and forgiveness and so on. For it is these which provide both for our happiness and others' happiness. [Ethics for a New Millennium, by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama]