Hello and thank you for reading this post. I am taking a break from writing in my normal parlance — and stepping away from my silly “Bad Penny” persona and discussing predominantly music — to address a far more consequential matter. If you are already turned off, keep browsing.
More than 400 lengthy interviews and album reviews from the past three years — almost all about music — bear my byline. Additionally, I have had the privilege to write some stories unrelated to entertainment for Boise CityLife and Meridian CityLife. They include this profile on my friend and local barber, Neamah Ahmed.
Neamah is one of the most valuable members of the Boise community whom I have met since moving here eight and a half years ago. He is also a parent, a volunteer, a teacher of martial arts to children, and a friendly and kind soul to all who walk into his shop for a trim. He and his family narrowly escaped Saddam Hussein’s regime; Neamah spent much of his life residing less than a mile from the dictator’s compound.
Neamah is a legal immigrant as well. His life story was almost more than I could suffice to relate, much less go through. If you would like to know more about him, read the feature, which CityLife named the best story published by the franchise for January 2022 among its 135 nationwide publications. I am linking to it twice because I am proud to have had the opportunity to know Neamah, and think you should get to know him too, during this devastating time.
I am a proud fan of rock and roll — but I am more proud to stand with Neamah and anyone else who is susceptible to harassment, violence or any other pain or discomfort caused by the shameful yet shameless people who are tearing apart the fabric of our country right now.
If that statement bothers you, take to social media to air your grievances with other Americans, rabble-rousing non-Americans, bots, AI and the like. I choose to express my sentiments on this website instead of that toxic space because I’ve built up this little nook over the years and can say what I want to say, regardless of judgment by others. Some day it will go away, and that will be that.
I pray and hope, and pray and hope, and pray and hope, for the safety of Neamah and all those whose awe-inspiring character and life experiences resemble his — as well as those whose character and life experiences don’t. I do so especially as because one of the former presidents of the United States is blowing yet another clarion call for hate groups to mobilize and descend on a random city, and terrorize the people who reside in it.
This week, when I told a friend of mine that I am deeply concerned about the treatment of people in Springfield, Ohio — not just the Haitian immigrants but all those who live in Springfield — he replied, “Is that affecting you directly?”
Yes, it is. For all my innumerable flaws, I still consider myself to be a proud citizen of the United States of America — and want to continue to feel that way until my last breath. I realize that some of my fellow citizens do not agree with Martin Luther King Jr.’s statement that “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” but those who enjoy and/or embrace violence in this country have gone too far.
As a proud independent who has never affiliated with a political party and likely never will, I am grateful that my friend pushed back, because what he said prompted me to publish this post. Maybe you too will be inspired to take some action, even if it be something as meager as this, at a time when the difference between right and wrong could not be more clear.
Some who read this post, if anyone does, may call it “virtue signaling” or respond, in their own mind or publicly, with a negative remark. They are welcome to feel that way and express themselves as such. As someone who has rarely experienced self-confidence, I am too convinced that saying something or not saying something is more of a matter of conscience at this juncture in our nation’s history.
It’s all too easy to predict how critics of this post might rebut it, so consider yourself already heard. You are heard by those who care about the preservation of our democracy, particularly in Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina and other places currently in the limelight for good reason.
I, for one, have heard enough.
I will most likely have nothing more to say on this matter or any other political issue unless it is related to an artist whose work correlates with that issue. I’ve already been subject to doxxing and swatting, unrelated to this story, and those tactics won’t do any good either.
I pray and hope, and pray and hope, and pray and hope, for the well-being of my friends, family members and fellow citizens generally during the most horrific chapter of our country over the past four decades. God willing, when it ends, we can recognize the place where we live as the United States of America, where no human being should be treated as less than human.
There is so much more to share, but what I’m posting here should suffice. If it doesn’t, then please educate yourself further on what is happening right now in this country.
The Bad Penny (beta) 