Fortress Of Freedom Board

[Maurice Ali]

Here I am with Yung Spot in the cafeteria at Stong College at York University. Nothing has changed in almost thirty years - great stuff! All this in preparation for the upcoming talent night and a plan for things in the new year. Yes my life revolves around an office and running around talking to people. I barely have enough have time to post this on the blog as I wait for hot water for a coffee. But it was fun to be back at York U - and you did not get to see all of the garbage that was left on that table above - somethings never change.....

Here is some information on Yung Spot's talent night:

[Maurice Ali]

We are enabling the old newspaper forum that will now deal iwth all types of print. This has not been used for years so if you want a peek at the old organization then check it out.....

[Maurice Ali]

[Maurice Ali]

We welcome some new faces and hope they stick around. Above is Stephanie who is helping us with promotion. Although it seems like a revolving door with the models, realize that most still keep in touch and continue to help out when ever they can. In other news we are getting some of our gang finishing up on first reading of Tabitha's book. So when you step back we really are a bit of a beacon for creativity here. I pour almost every extra hour I have into this place and it is nice to see that it is populated with creative people participating in new forms of our culture and in the end, becoming a part of the fabric of what makes human society what it is. Not a bad thing to have created.....



Goodnight.....

[Maurice Ali]

I just keep running around doing things and more running around. Anyway I am pleased to see that our own J L is back from maternity leave and easing herself back into the organization.


JL Meneses

She comes back a mother of a beutiful baby girl and ready to have at it for our organization! So from all of us - Welcome back J L!

[Maurice Ali]

Every person has a story. These stories play out and are lost in the sands of time. Some of them are quite entertaining, and some are just more of the same old..... While I am still active, I am trying to reconcile my live as best I could. How much time do I have. Where will "this" story play out..... I will be honest with you here and tell you that it is kind of unnerving being in this state of flux - emotional and rational - with the future open. The future is open. Some would give anything for that feeling. But I should tell you it is unsettling as you live with it. You leave security behind and play your skills and luck and hope and..... And it is there for all to see..... Like all my projects after the fact you sit back and reminisce. But this story is not over and it is tiring and stressful and no matter how hard you prepare your life always comes down to a little bit of luck.

I know I am whining but what the Hell. If the rant is confused it is because this situation is like that. We are trying things that have not been tried before. Most things we do are new to us. The young people find this exciting but us older folk see this as a gamble.

Once again it is partly back to lady luck.


You have heard the above before, the difference is the impact of the luck when you really think about it. That lady luck - more and more as I see it - plays a larger part in most big events has some consequences. I guess it means that having all the variables under control just does not give you the rush in some project as does the variable of luck. From major battles to our concert last year, the weather was constantly on the mind. Then there are the small bits of luck. But just how drab would these things be without the unknown element. We don't have a choice in it, but a lot of success has to be partly attributed to luck.....

[Maurice Ali]

It is finally snowing in Toronto and finally some time to get paperwork done. There are so many things on the go I have to write them down - a change from what I thought it would be like last year.....

One thing I have to do is organize these work spaces here. It is true there is less stress on you if you see organized places of work. Another thing is to get most of the paper and file them away. Yes I have a filing cabinet, and in this digital age you appreciate paper stuff and will even pay extra for it. This does not go unnoticed by the banks who now want to charge two dollars for statements. You get the idea, my life this weekend is paperwork and there is nothing more mind-numbing than paperwork. But we are at the stage where we are noticed and now the paperwork has to be in order. So the idea is that we have moved up a notch. Still no money for more office staff.....


More later as we have the IAIJ meeting later on in the day. The contact info is correct but the "617" number gets me direct if you have to call.....

[Maurice Ali]

The IAIJ General meeting was a success! From the people I met in person, those I talked to by phone and on-line we were able to update and plan for the next year.




Most important was the plan for further expansion. We now have a plan and the resources to implement global expansion through offices set up and run by the IAIJ-FOF Group. The satellite offices will be ours and not addresses of members. All phone numbers go through the Toronto offices first and all data is stored in cloud or our servers in British Columbia, Canada. The idea is not to give any information detrimental to members in Third World countries that may still not adequately protect journalist rights and freedoms. Instead any queries about our organization point to IAIJ in Toronto. Aside from the global view is the immediate and practical which is the soon to be printed Fortress magazine and books published by IAIJ and FOF. The Fortress magazine is a go for this one issue and possible on-line issues after that under a new name. The Fortress returns to paper newspaper distribution after that. Other matters were membership and banking information and other practical matters like that only shown to members.

The association is active. One of the more disconcerting parts of it for me is the emails from journalists telling how things are in their neck of the woods. They don't specifically ask for help or membership, they just tell me and show me what things are like where they are. That is very sobering stuff coming over my Blackberry or iPhone out of the blue. Look, I am the talent scout at Tyrone's venue on Wednesday and at the same time I have this stuff coming at me. Maybe it is better this way, with one ounce of fun and then the reality punch to the groin.

I really would like to know where all this leads. Where does all this take me..... We are still bush league but we are in another realm from most of the other orgs. I spent the whole weekend devoted to IAIJ/FOF and there is just more and more. It just continues.....

[Maurice Ali]

Slowly I am getting a handle on all assorted things that I have to do in my life. Now I am getting back to good old introspective me.....

First of all I want to tell you guys I am really yearning to have a go at recording one song by myself. Probably something like Telly Savalas but I would not mind putting one decent song by myself on this label of ours. Apart from that it is the usual. There is that war between my DNA screaming at me to procreate as millions of years has gone into getting things to where you are now - as opposed to - my cerebral self saying hold on DNA, I have loftier goals and have taken my corporeal self to this other plain to do good for all human DNA. If that makes any sense to all of you. I said it before and you have to feel it when you get my age. Simply put: If you never met anyone better than you when you were in your prime. "You Will" find yourself morally obligated to make a play to grab that tiller and steer that ship of fools called "Humanity" to its proper course. You have to "feel it" and know just how fragile the fate of this large group of people really is. And when men of good conscience take their eyes off that tiller, we get things like WW1 or WW2 and so on. You have to feel it in your bones, that moral imperative to stop your selfish activities and do your part for your people. That is how I got here. I truly wish I had met someone better than me in my youth, then I could sit back and relax knowing it is his detail to baby-sit humanity. Sorry, but that did not happen and that created this bizarre double life I lead. This life that still offers me the chance to help guide humanity in the best direction. I can not turn my back on this. If only things went really bad and we got nowhere. But they keep endorsing us to go forward.....

Enough of this rant, but that is what is going on in my mind.


Goodnight.....

[Maurice Ali]

I have to find some more pictures of my Oma. I have one on the server and this is it:



Thing is I used to spend the week with this German family and weekends with my actual family. So I actually spent the majority of my time with the Germans. These were displaced people from Germany and surrounding area after WW2. Although not advertised, many were former members of the Nazi party, quite literally one step away from full goose-stepping Nazis. Anyway Canada - believe it or not - welcomed them in after the war. So when my dad was going to the University of Manitoba studying Civil Engineering, I stayed with them. The woman above was my surrogate mom who fed me, changed my diapers and taught me how to talk. So the first words out of my mouth were German and stayed that way until about three years of age. I actually have memories of those times, being in the cradle with my mother or sleeping in the same bed with another German girl from that family. These people took me in as one of their own, I knew it as a child - children pick up on these things. So in a way my mind was shaped early on with these people. I don't have an inferiority complex with White folks like others like me that grew up outside that society. This history is important to note because it would have inhibited me ultimately in doing things as I have seen with others that grew up in Canada at that time, some are real "head cases" if you want to know the truth. Anyway that is a bit about my childhood. I never supported Nazi ideals but wanted to note that these people - nevertheless - were color-blind with me. And I call them as I see them. My real racial issues started with Canadians and Canadian society - isn't that a strange one.


And I will park this one just for me. I got back a few more years and my metabolism is running faster as usual. I kind of enjoyed slowing down and being like everyone else for the last few years. But this is where I need to be to be effective mentally. Not quite as hysterically a fast metabolic rate as when I was in my twenties but I can control it fast enough to get the mental effect without going overboard. I don't expect this to mean anything to you guys. But it is important to make note in this blog of sorts .....

Ok. Wednesday is Yung Spot's talent night at the Underground at York University from 9:00pm to 12:00pm - Be There!

Update: On second thought the event has been rescheduled to March 9. Sorry, these things happen.....

[Maurice Ali]

Well yesterday had its ups and downs. The talent night was rescheduled at the last minute and the guy who is entrusted to fix my aluminum wheel seems to have skipped town. But aside from that I want to say this. We are creatures of those who brought us. Children are empty vessels and those cultures and beliefs are what make humans what they are. Anyway, when I was a young man trying to figure out where I fit I ran into this community that took me in as one of their own and put up with me. In return I was comfortable with what they believed in, people with beliefs that stood for something, people whose word was gold and looked you in the eye when they talked. Most of these guys are dead now, remnants of WW2, the Korean War and even Vietnam. I and other middle-aged folk are the last of the breed. Cold War children, and the last to carry on the cause. In a similar way I hope the young people of this organization do the same in our different crusade. All men die and it will happen to me sooner or later and all that will remain of me are the people in this organization that follow. I really hope they do for me what we did for those elders in our lives. You have to stand for something or you stand for nothing. To all those friends of mine that are no longer with us. We are you eyes, ears and witness. This one is for you!

[Maurice Ali]

[Maurice Ali]

Just a quickie. I really want to finish up Yung Spot's album this long weekend here in Ontario. Also paperwork and getting ideas on how to package Tabitha Blair's book. Then there is the Word On the Street stuff and The Fortress - magazine version. Too much going on and I am starting to make headway but not much time for reflection on this blog of sorts. Funny that I constantly struggle with how much to open up to you guys here. How much personal life do I open up. That is far more illuminating in the end when you look back and see what has happened. But as we get bigger things get more complicated. I know the majority of people here are women and love that stuff and I don't mind opening up. So we shall see how it goes. Maybe I will let you girls see how I handle my attempt at writing a song..... Always a laugh a minute when I mention that. But we shall see, always thinking about you gals. Every night I find myself in front of this computer punching out words alone and during the day there is always some interested women within arms reach wondering what is going on in my little universe. They keep telling me this is exciting. Really... I guess you get used to this after a while..... Anyway - It is just a strange way to go about life, but that is my life. Last week I was bugging some of those women about my life choices and the opinion seems to be that I would be crazy to try to get into a family type of lifestyle, giving up all this - whatever this is. No worries as it is all full steam ahead at FOF and IAIJ. Time has dominion over all and there are no second chances. There is only one way - all the way.....

[Maurice Ali]

[Maurice Ali]

I actually got about half an hour to watch a bit of Robot Chicken and the movie "War of the Worlds" so how about that. The rest was work, I must be insane.

I take my orders from the younger Maurice Ali in his twenties. He is no longer with us but I am his humble servant doing his bidding from beyond the grave. A bit of an experiment here. Creative people all die - literally mostly by suicide or just by old age. Old age meaning in their thirties. I read that Kurt Cobain's last note before he killed himself was that it had been a while since he was creative.


"I haven't felt the excitement of listening to as well as creating music, along with really writing . . . for too many years now"


Well if you are really creative the ideas just keep igniting in your mind constantly. It is a great sensation. I kept a log for ideas as they came around. But I also knew that this thing was temporary and that my creativity would start to go, about twenty eight and just get worse. So I tried to do all my creative stuff by then. The creativity did go but I goes like an athlete - good days and bad days.

When you are in your prime they are all good days. Each day is creative and you are used to it as you never new better. Then in your late twenties that first grey hair appears - the first sign of senility. That is funny as girls in their late teens often say that they could not imagine having sex with a guy in his late twenties. Yes they say that, but they know that 28 years old is getting old. Anyway, you start to get a bad day where it just is not working no matter what you do. But then you get a good day and all is back to normal. Then another bad day and maybe a string of bad days and then back to the good times. Now, the weird thing about all this is that when you have a good day it is as good as any good day. You are just as creative as you ever were. There is no real gradual decline - just good days and bad days. Then the bad days become the norm and when you get that rare good day you want to take that day off from work and do something creative before it is gone again. Then it is all bad and then it is lost forever. And you realize that you are no longer "you." So much of who I was, was connected to that extreme amount of creativity and you are lost when it leaves. I think this is the point most creative people connected with "bad habits" usually off themselves. Think about it. You are at your sexual peak, your creative peak, your intellectual and emotional peak. You are as healthy and almost as strong (though this does get a bit better as you get a little bit older) as you will ever be. Then you start to lose it all. There really is no advantage to getting old.

So if you stick it out after this turbulent time you really are a different person. Most scientists have a second creative spike in their fifties which is nothing other then the old farts following up on ideas they had in their prime. Sort of what I am doing here to a degree. I am going a bit further by risking more, being a bit more dynamic, a bit more daring. That actually makes you more attractive to women as those are characteristics of a younger man - because I took my marching orders from a twenty something year old. If I did what comes naturally to old farts - like the playing it safe and not trying anything new or risky - well then what is attractive to women about that.....

So some of the psychology and physiology behind all of this.....


Goodnight.....