Breaking the Ice

Forethought: It's not an original thought. It's not an original speech. It's been argued scores of times and the horse has been beat to death thrice over. I'm a conservative man and I rather not see a horse wasted so I apologize to the equestrians in the house.

Africanus steps up to the microphone and begins to serenade the streets.

"Y'all act like you never seen a mafioso before
Jaws all on the street like TrouserSnake, like Blasterboy just burst in the door
and started stealth'ing her ass worse than before
they first were divorce, attemping her over furniture
It's the return of the... "Ah, wait, no way, you're kidding,
he didn't just say what I think he did, did he?"...

The boo's echo and AFRICANus stops his ill-fated serenading. He clears his throat, regains his composure and begins to speak.

               Nothing wrong with a little ice-breaker their lady and gents. There is plenty of ice to be broken. If it wasn't for the latest activity in a particular city, you'd mistake this place for a cemetery. This place I'm referring to is the streets. The epicenter, where the haps are happening, the platform for speeches, musings, articulations and thought. While we make our earnings by means illegally, we aren't infallible and it's good to discuss and work things out am I right? Like civilized men or women? Right ... right?

               I believe the current state of the streets can be summarized as follows:

How about another?

See the trend?

When the void is perturbed, the silence isn't broken for long.

               This is what I gathered from a recent speech. New Orleans crewleader The_Civilian was recently promoted to Don. Hot_Lips one of The_Civilian's members made a congratulatory speech - which is an especially kind jester. The position of Don is a benchmark to treasured and he worked hard to gain it. It should be noted that only seven people participated in the congratulatory speech. Seven! I'd expect the entire city of New Orleans to be there or at least the majority of Civvie's family! I'm hearing a whole lot of.*cricket chatter* and "..." and unless you belong to the Premier bloodline, you shouldn't be throwing ...'s around.

               Let it be noted, I'm not attacking the fine city of New Orleans, I'm just simply using instance as an example and by the way - congratulations Civvie. ;-) The street these days are especially cold and it's not any one cities, or leaders or individual's fault. It's everyone's fault. The streets as I said earlier are the epi-center of our thing. We need to nurture the street and figuratively water the pavement with our thoughts and ideas, and you know what? There are some folks speaking out, but it has to be a communal effect and honestly, gauging the streets and the (OOC: 60 second list) you would of never thought that NPM's were done away with. The good Lord gave you a voice (two hands and a keyboard) for the love of God use it!         

I have got to say that this is a rather bold statement. BOLD but honest... As a new orleans member I have to be honest its quite a shame to see such posts put to waste when someone from your city gets bigger or is promoted to a crew leader. I also hear alot of crew leaders are starting to ask for more activity in the streets before given a new rank so would say it would be wise for one who is new to start haning out with us our here on the streets. I know its winter and cold but I promise i will lend you my coat if it gets you out here and chatting with the rest of us 

Sinfest gets off the soap box and waves at a friend he hasnt seen in awhile

First and formost I want to say, it takes a strong man to come forth in this thing of ours and point out an injustice to our world. Silence is indeed an injustice, make no mistake about that!

Secondly I want to say The Monkey suit epidemic is getting out of control, it is time the Leaders of our fine world take a stand, shed the monkey suit and become part of our world. Hiding in an HQ is hardly what I call leadership!

Walking along the street and hearing the speech of a ranked Boss , he listens well , studies and contemplates the meaning of each word being uttered.

Thinking what could have made this person stop and talk boldly at the street and raise questions to all those who wanted to listen and speak their mind.

Dear sir, I will say that you have walked bravely and speak your mind to all of us who wants to listen and ponder on the thoughts that you wanted to share . Before I came here and speak my mind, I look at the streets and see which topic had the most outcome when it comes to debate.

Surprisingly its the gossip and intrigues that have the most responds, and things like these thoughts are the ones that are neglected and poorly responded. It just tells us that people would rather go and dilly dallying to things that are un-important to the day to day issues.

Sometimes one will notice a Don will suddenly spring up here and talk and make post and threads like tehre is no tomorrow all of a sudden just to have their necessary err points ( units ) . Rather than just be a natural orator and enlighten us to what could their plans be.

The young man looks around and drinks a cola before he left the streets.

It's a double edged sword really, is it better to have a plethora of speeches which have limited merit, or to not have those speeches at all? Anyone who knows me will know I am a staunch advocate of street presence; but street presence for it's own sake is frankly pointless.

I'm not talking about every 2 bit goon here, I'm talking about those who in the positions of authority. Crewladers, Godfathers, Slanties, even Sponsors, arguably! Street presence in these people is of vital importance for they are the ones who should be shaping and leading la cosa nostra.

Street presence in these people is a valued and underrated tool; for a recent example you can look at Grin. I wouldn't mention this when he was alive because the egotistical arse was quite bigheaded enough as it was, god rest his soul, but as much as he wasn't univeraslly liked he was pretty much universally well respected. Why? Because even if you only visited the streets once a week, you would be able to see his opinions on the contentious issues and generally how he conducted himself. He built his reputation with words as much as with his actions, and when so much business takes place behind closed doors, that is a smart thing to do.

When I see Leaders talking about extending their HQ, or making a public announcement that they absolutely must make; that to me is not street presence. Street presence is forging yourself a persona, and making people step up and take note of who you are. Street presence isn't about being so vocal and verbose that when people see you're 'up on the soapbox' again they'll just groan; but it is about making it so you're vocal enough that when people see your name, they know instantly who you are, where you're at and what you're about.

Sadly, there's quite a few people who obviously don't share my point of view here, as there's a few in positions of power whose city I cannot even remember offhand without double checking.