Sunset on The Great Barrier Reef

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On Blogging while working

Click on comic for large view

I blog everyday at work, that is I blog surf while working. I don't usually post any thing while I'm at work unless there is some sort of news story. I also usually don't respond to comments at work. I like to take my time responding to comments on my blog, so I wait until I get home.

My blogging pattern from work is usually me going to a particular blog, taking a peek then going back to read a post and then going back to comment. Sometimes I'll visit a blog 5 or 6 times during the workday before I'm able to read everything I want to read.

I have my own office so there isn't anyone looking over my shoulder per se but I have people constantly coming in an out of my office. I don't really want everyone at work knowing I'm blog surfing so I usually minimize the page I'm on when someone walks in.

I used to get frustrated about having to visit a blog 5 or 6 times before I got to read what I wanted. Now though I'm used to it. In fact now that's my pattern at home too. I'm usually doing something else even at home while I blog surf. So I still duck in and out of a particular blog.

Also I get distracted by the links at a blog. So I'll start to read a post then I might see an interesting link and click on it, read a little there and then click on another link. Before I know it I'm 10 blogs away from the original blog I was reading. Then I have to go all the way back and finish reading that blog. But that's a really good way to find interesting new blogs.

I also find new blogs in the comments. If I see a comment that stands out I'll usually check to see if that person has a blog.

No one at work knows that I have a blog. If they did then they would want to see it. And then I'd have to censor what I say on my blog. So since I really want my blog to be a place where I can just be me and be honest, I just don't tell them.

It would be so weird to have someone from work comment on my blog!

And I haven't even told my friends I have a blog. I would feel weird about them reading my blog, it's my little personal space. Also If I want to talk about a particular relationship I might not feel comfortable doing so if people that I see everyday were reading my blog.

What's your blog surfing pattern? Do you surf at work? Do your co-workers know that you have a blog? And do your friends know?

If I wore a burqa...

If I wore a burqa I wouldn't have to hear men on the street make reference to my body parts...

If I wore a burqa I wouldn't have to worry about spending money on the latest fashions...

If I wore a burqa I would feel more safe...

If I wore a burqa men would have to look at my eyes when I speak, instead of constantly glancing at my body...

If I wore a Burqa I would be more modest...

If I wore a burqa it would protect me...

If I wore a burqa I would feel more free...

How would your life be different if you decided to wear a burqa? Would you wear one?

Men, do you think you would relate differently to a woman wearing a burqa?

This post was inspired by a post at the blog Live From Israel by Miriam, read it here.

Imagination - Just an Illusion

Cheesy 80's video alert! This is a great song though.

Debra Laws with Ronnie Laws - Special

Kilimanjaro

Stuff...

-Should Social Security be for everyone? I really don't get why affluent people receive Social Security payments when they retire. Isn't the point of Social Security to provide a safety net for those who need it?

-Why do African American men comprise the largest demographic of homeless people in the U.S.?

- Is it possible that animals such as dolphin think humans are complete idiots?

-Why do people feel the need to defend their religion and their God? Do they think that what ever God they believe in really needs their help?

- Do you think it's a good idea to pay parents to make sure their kids go to school and get good grades?

What do you think?

Fast Food Freestyle

You may have seen this by now (10,357,930 people have) but I think it's one of the best vid's of the year. So as 2007 comes to an end, I thought I would post it. Enjoy!

Words...

Sapiosexual - One who finds intelligence the most sexually attractive feature. The attraction to the same or opposite sex based upon the attraction to wisdom, intellect, wit, etc.

Locavore - A person whose diet focuses on foods grown and produced nearby, typically within 100 miles.

I knew what a locavore was, I didn't know what a sapiosexual was.

Have you heard of these words before?

Songs for a Sunday

Alicia Myers - I Want To Thank You


Alicia Keys - No One

Beautiful Vancouver

Click on photo for large view

On John Edwards

One of my blog sisters is a supporter of Democratic Presidential candidate John Edwards. Honestly I had not given much thought to Mr Edwards until I learned of Tami's (What Tami Said) support for him. Since then I've been listening more intently when he speaks and when there are news pieces about him. Although he does seem to have a tough time getting air-time, Senators Clinton and Obama seem to dominate in that respect.

I have come to a couple of conclusions about the former North Carolina Senator, Mr Edwards. First; I think he will actually stand up for the disenfranchised. Unlike other candidates I think when he speaks about doing something for the poor, he really means it. I think he fancies himself a modern day Bobby Kennedy.

Second; I think he has the temperament to deal effectively with both sides of the isle, as they say. He seems to have the skills not to make more enemies than he can handle. To me that's a really important element of being President. For instance I think Sen. Clinton will have more enemies than almost any other President in history on her first day in office, should she be elected.

So, will I vote for Mr Edwards. Well my first choice would have been Dennis Kucinich, but he's unelectable. Mainly because the media doesn't take him seriously. So as it stands now, John Edwards is number one on my list. There is still much time for that to change, I'm hoping Sen Obama will impress me but so far he hasn't.

The only major obstacle between me voting for Mr Edwards is this video. If I can just get this out of my head he may get my vote.

What do you think of John Edwards?

On Watching Football (For all the wrong reasons)

The NFL's N.Y. Giants Logo

Tonight I'm going to do something I rarely do. That's watch an entire football game. I don't usually even watch the entire Super Bowl. So why will I be watching. The New England Patriots are playing, that's why. And I won't be watching to cheer them. I also won't be watching to cheer their opponent the N.Y. Giants.

I will be tuning in to root against the Patriots. I can't stand them. They are nothing but cheaters! Earlier this year the Patriots were busted red handed having a camera on the sidelines of a game video taping the defensive signals of their opponent.

Nothing really happened to them. They were fined or the coach was fined, I can't remember which. And the team will lose a draft pick, but only under certain circumstances, blah, blah, blah. In other words they got a little, tiny slap on the wrist.

So tonight I'll be having a couple of friends over, we'll have snacks and I will be rooting for the New England cheaters to lose!

Oh and did I mention that the Patriots haven't lost a game all season, if they win tonight they will be the first team since sometime in the 70's to go undefeated.

So you can understand that they must be defeated!

And another thing, for some crazy reason the game will be on three separate TV networks, CBS, NBC and some obscure network called the NFL network.

Pre-game show begins at 5:00 p.m. pacific/ 8:00 p.m. eastern

BOOOOOOO Patriots!

Will you be tuning in to booo the Patriots or cheer for them?

Update: The cheaters won. Oh well, I can root against them in the playoffs!

Music Saturday!

Here are a few songs I love, I hope you like them too. Let me know if you like them.
Just scroll down and enjoy.

Jamiroquai - Space Cowboy

James "D-Train" Williams- Keep On

Enya - Orinoco Flow

Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up

It's still hard to believe such a big voice came from such a little guy.

MC Lyte - Lyte As A Rock

MC Lyte is one of the best rappers ever. I love this song. Although there is one part I don't quite get, but I shant speculate. Enjoy!

Happy Birthday Denzel!

Read about Denzel here.

Who Killed Benazir Bhutto?

Who do you think is most likely responsible for the assassination of Benazir Bhutto?

- The CIA?
- The Taliban?
- A Lone Assassin?
- President (General) Pervez Musharraf?
- Al Qaeda?
- The CIA and Pervez Musharraf?
- Other?

The Boondocks or The Coondocks?

Aaron "I Love The N Word" McGruder

I used to LOVE The Boondocks comic strip when it was in my local newspaper. Now that The Boondocks is on TV, I hate it. I've hated it from the beginning. Once again though I might have been a bit ahead of the curve because most Black people were loving The Boondocks when it first appeared on TV.

I feel the same way about The Boondocks as I do The Dave Chappelle Show, they are minstrel shows. The Boondocks is just an excuse to say the N word 50 times an episode and make use of the same pimp images of Hip Hop and other tired stereotypes.

Do you think The Boondocks has become The Coondocks?




Read the inspiration for this post at the blog The Happy Go Lucky Bachelor.

Fancy meeting you here

So there I am, on some deserted street way in the outer reaches of the blogisphere. Very proud of myself that I've found this really obscure but interesting blog. I read the posts and then decide to comment.

And what do I see in the comments? I see someone from my blog family!

I run into my blog family all over the place. It's really amazing sometimes. I suppose we enjoy the same sort of things and are drawn to the same blogs, no matter how far out in the blogisphere they are.

Do you notice this too?

Dave Matthews Band - Crash Into Me

Did you know that a lot of radio stations stopped playing this song after 9/11 because of the title?

Don't forget to turn out the lights...

A definition from the MDC dictionary

Rapper Cordozar Calvin Broadus, Jr AKA Snoop Dogg

Faux - Heterosexual - Pronunciation {foh - het-er-uh-sek-shoo-uh}
–noun

A male who participates in sexual relations with women but becomes emotionally involved only with other men, ie. homies, boyz, partna's.

A man who is incapable of connecting on an intimate level with women but "has nothing but love for his boyz".

A faux - heterosexual spends as much free time with other males as possible. Prefers the company of men in most situations, except for sex.

Faux - heterosexuals generally treat women as objects. Such as rappers displaying women in videos as inanimate sexual objects. Example; Rapper Snoop Dogg walking the red carpet at an event with two women on dog leashes. (see photo above)

Faux - heterosexuals generally refer to women using derogatory names, such as bitch, whore or hoe, chicken head, etc.

Faux - heterosexuality has been popularized by and is ingrained in Hip Hop culture.

It is difficult or impossible for faux - heterosexuals to maintain long term, healthy relationships with women.

The cause of faux - heterosexuality is thought to be over exposure to hip hop culture as well as lack of true heterosexual male role models.

Faux- heterosexuality is very common amongst undereducated African American men; but is not exclusive to that group. Many faux - heterosexuals are well educated and members of other ethnic groups. Over exposure to hip hop images seems to have negated the benefit of education in some cases.


Do you know any faux - heterosexuals?

What do you think of this definition?

Benazir Bhutto Assassinated

Benazir Bhutto 1953 - 2007

I'm stunned as I've just heard that (Former Pakistani PM) Benazir Bhutto has been killed, reportedly by a suicide bomber. I have admired Ms Bhutto's strength and bravery as she had returned to Pakistan to participate in the up-coming elections. This is such sad news.

Update: According to most news agencies Ms Bhutto was shot prior to the detonation of a bomb by a suicide bomber/ assassin. (12:32 p.m. PST)

Read more about Benazir Bhutto

BBC: Benazir Bhutto killed in attack

Benazir Bhutto (Wikipedia)

Link-O-Rama

The Black Actor is a fun an interesting blog that's about African Americans and film.

Tradition of Excellence is Symphony's (Essential Presence) new blog. If you haven't seen it please do. It's a breath of fresh air!

The 4th Avenue Blues is one of the most honest blogs I've seen. Every post gives insight into the mind and how difficult life can be dealing with mental illness. Thanks to my blog sis Shelly of BoringBlackChick for the recommendation.

2008 is an election year; so this new blog from SheCodes is right on time, it's called Black Women Vote. Check it out!

And don't miss the birth of a great blog! Professor Tracey has a brand new wonderful blog called Aunt Jemima's Revenge. Go Professor Tracey!

Thumpin' Thursday - Women Drummers!

Herbie Hancock feat. Terri Lynn Carrington on drums! (Rockit Live)


Cindy Blackman - Cindy used to tour with Lenny Kravitz. Do you remember her from the Are You Gonna Go My Way video? She had the giant 'fro.


Sheila Escovedo in Paris. Sheila E is the greatest! I love to see her play.




What do you think? Aren't they great!

Bermuda!

Your own private cove!

Stuff...

-Did anyone see The Great Debaters yesterday?

-Was anyone else hoping the "big" Christmas shopping season would be a bust?

-I really hate that Toyota Camry commercial featuring the (sleazy) voice of Terrence Howard.

-Why do people think that TV One is so much better than BET?

-Does anyone else see the parallel between the gossip blog Bossip and BET?

-I think blogs that don't allow comments are weird.

-I had Hormel Compleats Turkey & Dressing for my Christmas dinner yesterday. Don't laugh it only took 90 seconds to prepare!

-My favorite day is Thursday. Mainly because I usually wake up thinking it's Friday on Thursdays and then I'm happy to realize I have a day more than I thought.

-I haven't seen CNN, FOX News or MSNBC in 5 months. (I don't miss them, especially MSNBC)

Can you relate to any of this stuff?

Black Women: Violent and Vulgar

Set It Off (1996)/ New Line Cinema

According to The Entman-Rojecki Index of Race and the Media (by Robert M. Entman and Andrew Rojecki, authors of The Black Image in the White Mind)

In the top movies of 1996:

Black female movie characters shown using vulgar profanity: 89%.

White female movie characters shown using vulgar profanity: 17%.

Black female movie characters shown being physically violent: 56%.

White female movie characters shown being physically violent: 11%.

Black female movie characters shown being restrained: 55%.

White female movie characters shown being restrained: 6%.

Marshall Jefferson - Move Your Body

Classic House! "Gotta have house music...all night long!"

Simon & Garfunkel - The Boxer

I found this funny comment on YouTube; " You old guys get Simon and Garfunkel and we're stuck with Hannah Montana." Although I'm not old enough to have been a Simon & Garfunkel fan when they were young I do feel a bit sorry for kids these days and their choices of music. Anyway I love this song and listen to it often on my ipod.

Brrrr...Antarctica

(Click on photo for large view)

Merry Christmas & Peace On Earth

To my blog family I wish you peace and love and serenity and joy!

La paix Sur la Terre

Frieden auf Erden

La pace sulla Terra

De vrede op aarde

A paz na terra

Мир На Земле

Fred på jorden

La paz En la Tierra
Peace On Earth

Donny Hathaway - This Christmas (By Request For Symphony)

Enjoy!

Amazing Grace: Sung Three Different Ways

Mahalia Jackson


The Neville Brothers


Destiny's Child

Are you warm and cozy?

I hope you'll enjoy a few Christmas Eve music selections I've chosen. My personal favorite is Aaliyah performing live in Washington from 1997 before then President Clinton.

I've also chosen a really nice Christmas song from Luther and a couple of other interesting ones. I hope you like them.

And I hope you are having a wonderful and cozy Christmas Eve!

Aaliyah - Christmas in Washington (1997)

Here is Aaliyah singing so wonderfully, I love this.

Lauryn Hill - Little Drummer Boy (Rosie O'Donnell Show)

Listen to the lyrics. Lauryn has made a few changes.

Luther Vandross - Every Year, Every Christmas

Luther!

The Supremes - Merry Christmas!

At The End Of The Rainbow Is...Mauritius

Photo Attribution: National Geographic

On The Quiet Boycott

(What I won't be driving in 2008)

I visited the blog What About Out Daughters? this morning a saw a post about PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). I have a grudge against PETA for their 2005 ad campaign which juxtaposed pictures of African Americans and Animals. I suppose their point was don't treat animals the way African Americans were treated. Since then I have no use what so ever for PETA. They are on my boycott list.

Gina's post at What About Our Daughters? made a valid point about PETA's ability to get their message out. I agree they can get their message out effectively and quickly. Even when it's the wrong message.

But seeing Gina's post about PETA and how I feel about them made me wonder how many other African Americans quietly boycott companies that offend them racially.

I have a list of companies that I will not under any circumstance patronize. Kentucky Fried Chicken is one. They have been using the racist song Sweet Home Alabama in their ads for quite sometime. And even though there is a KFC just a few blocks from me (which would be very convenient on those days when I don't feel like cooking) I refuse to ever shop with them again.

Volkswagen is another company I refuse to patronize. Volkswagen has an SUV called the Touareg. The name Touareg refers to a nomadic people who live in West Africa that where instrumental in capturing and selling slaves in the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. Even today the Touareg are known to hold slaves and to be very racist against Black Africans.

So Volkswagen will never, ever get any of my money. Not one year from now or 20 years from now.

Another company I refuse to patronize is Viacom. They are the media giant responsible for more stereotyping of African Americans then any other entity. On their cable outlets you can see great examples of Viacom's use of stereotyping for profit on VH1, BET and MTV.

So since ala carte cable is not available, this past summer I cancelled my cable. I refuse to give any money to Viacom. I will not help to pay for the racist programming they put on the air.

Every time you pay your cable bill a portion of your money goes directly to Viacom.

So even though there are no mass boycotts of these companies by African Americans, I quietly boycott them myself. I will never forget these offences by these companies and refuse to cross my own self imposed picket line.

Recently at work we had a luncheon, the group in charge bought KFC. And even though I was really looking forward to eating lunch that day (I was so hungry). Once I realized what they had planned for lunch I declined to eat.

And even though I plan to buy a car in 2008 and would have surely had a Volkswagen Beetle on my list of possible choices. I refuse to even consider a Volkswagen.

Do you quietly boycott companies that have offended your racial sensibilities? If so what companies and why?

War!

So I was stumbling around the blogisphere when I visited a blog called Where The Hell am I?, she posted about visiting a blog called Rachel's Tavern and a comment war that went on there. So naturally I jaunted over to Rachel's.

Over at Rachel's I read a very short and somewhat interesting post about how women who happen to be Asian are categorized. I went on to read the comments, that's when things really got interesting.

Although the title of the post would suggest otherwise, the comments became a debate about the treatment of Black women.

Here is an excerpt of one of the comments;

"Black women have been objectified to being body parts:

Having men of all races look at you as if you are a walking life support system for a vagina, buttocks, legs. Having your beautiful gravity-defying hair degraded. Having your beautiful skin color denigrated as less than because it is not a pale, ghastly white.

Which is why so many Asian, Native American, Latino, white and black men run to the defense, protection, and adoration of white women, while they are stomping, stampeding and grinding black women into the ground to get to those white women. Running past, knocking out of the way black women they know nothing about because those same men have not the guts to get to know the black women."

Read the rest of the comments here; Nice Guys, Feminism and Asian “Women”

Please let me know what you think.

Denroy Morgan - I'll Do Anything for You

This was a really popular song in the summer of 81.

Leela James - Music

Leela has a classic 70's soul voice.

Vikter Duplaix - Make A Baby

Someone referred to Vikter as the male Sade. What do you think? I just found out about Vikter. So I'm still deciding if I like his music.

Rockefeller Center 2007

Happy Winter Solstice!

The winter solstice occurs at the instant when the Sun's position in the sky is at its greatest angular distance on the other side of the equatorial plane as the observer.

Depending on the shift of the calendar, the event of the Winter solstice occurs sometime between December 20 and 23 each year in the Northern hemisphere, and between June 20 and 23 in the Southern Hemisphere, and the winter solstice occurs during either the shortest day or the longest night of the year (not to be confused with the darkest day or nights).

Though the Winter Solstice lasts an instant, the term is also used to refer to the full 24-hour period.

Text Attribution: Wikipedia

Just some questions I have...

-Who the heck is Lauren London?
-Why is Telemundo more interesting than ABC, NBC and CBS? (And I don't even speak spanish)
-Why did Americans waste their time throwing the Republicans out of congress when the Democrats are just as bad?
-Why does Dr. Cornell West pronounce Oprah as Ofrah?
-Is it weird to mid-westerners that their prime time T.V. shows start at 7 p.m. instead of 8 p.m.?
-Are Joe Camel and Beyoncé a real couple?
-Why do I have a hard time remembering how to spell tomorow and yet I can darn near spell Mississippi in my sleep? (see what I mean)


Can you answer any of these questions?

Music Saturday...

Here is some music old and new I wanted to share. I hope you enjoy the vids and feel free to comment on the songs you like!

Goapele - Closer

I love this song and this video.

Giovanca - Joyride

Have you heard of Giovanca? I love her music. Do you like this?

Ciara - Get Up

This is an okay song but I think Ciara is a really good dancer. So I picked this song because it showcases her dancing. Do you think Ciara is the best dancer right now?

Timex Social Club - Rumors

Do you remember this?

Sheila E - A Love Bizarre

Classic Sheila E.

Maxwell - Ascension (Don't Ever Wonder)

Is there anyone who doesn't like this song?

Eve - Tambourine

I've never been a Eve fan, in fact if you asked me to name another Eve song I couldn't. I like this one though. I really like the beat.

Fiji Sunset

On Christmas...

Pagan God Odin AKA Santa Claus

"the Christmas celebration was created by the early Church in order to entice pagan Romans to convert to Christianity without losing their own winter celebrations. Certain prominent gods and goddesses of other religions in the region had their birthdays celebrated on December 25, including Ishtar, Sol Invictus and Mithras." - Wikipedia



Did you know that no one is really sure when Jesus Christ was born? Some churches celebrate His birth as January 6. Other scholars think Christ was born in the spring or summer and yet others think He was born in November.

But everyone generally agrees that Jesus Christ was not born on December 25th.

And did you know that Santa Claus is based on a pagan God named Odin? Apparently Odin was a pagan God in the mythology of people who would today be considered Germanic or Northern Europeans. There were tales of kids leaving their boots by the fireplace and Odin would leave food in them.

So when we celebrate Christmas aren't we mixing Christianity with paganism?

Do you think that most people know the origins of Christmas and that December 25th has nothing to do with the birth of Christ? What do you think about this?

And on the subject of religion; read a great post from BoringBlackChick here.

Here is a little story...

I decided to go for a walk. My friend Eva says walking is the best exercise. What Tami said was she likes to walk in the evening, she's my other good pal.

I think one of the reasons Why Black Women Are Angry is that they don't walk enough.

So I grabbed my ipod, threw a scarf around my neck and headed out the door. Walking makes me feel like I'm Getting A Life! And what a great day for a walk, a sunny crisp fall day. I had to hurry though because I didn't want to miss my favorite radio program which is broadcast Live From Israel. I heard about the show in Los Angelista's Guide To The Pursuit Of Happiness.

As I began my walk I had to cross the street because one of my neighbors has a huge rottweiler that likes to growl at passers-by. Once across the street I picked up my pace. I decided I would walk toward the Bay. I love the bay breeze!

As I was heading down the street a car went by blowing it's horn, at first I couldn't figure out who it was. The I realized it was Just Lisa and I waved. She was riding with a Light-Skinned-ed Girl whom I didn't recognize.

Then I saw a blimp flying really low. It had a message sign on it that read Hochmah and Musar. I wondered what that meant?

I headed west toward the bay and crossed the avenue where I saw a guy bopping down the street. He looked like the proverbial Happy-Go-Lucky Bachelor. He smiled as he passed and said "You look like a Boring Black Chick". How rude I thought! I wondered why he would say such a thing to me. After all he didn't know a thing about me and my so-called FABULOUS Life.

Whatever, it was much too nice a day to dwell on some strangers words. As far as I was concerned he could go somewhere and Eat Mangoes Nekkid! So there.

Why do people who don't even know you think that they can speak to you like they are some sort of Essential Presence in your life?

I picked up my pace. It was colder out than I thought. I was also enjoying my ipod. I decided to pump up the volume a bit but a woman stopped me saying some thing. I guess when a Brown Girl Speaks you just have to listen. I turned the volume down and she asked me if I was trying to lose weight. I said I suppose it wouldn't hurt. Then she asked me for a dollar. She said "Give A Lot, Lose A Lot." I laughed as I reached in my backpack and gave her a dollar.

She thanked me and said here is some advice; " Don't watch too much TV, Just Put The Remote Down! But that's just Things According To Me!"

I decided if I didn't say goodbye and walk away she would talk to me for the next hour. As I walked away she reached into her pocket and pulled out a flag which she started waving. I'm not sure why she decided to display Homeland Colors but why not!

I continued toward the Bay and could smell the salt in the air. As I passed a bus stop bench I saw a book, it was tittled The TransGriot. I picked it up and noticed another book called Character Corner, what an interesting title I thought. I started to put them in my backpack but figured the rightful owner might come back looking for them.

Only a few blocks to go. I could see the Bay now. It sparkled and shimmered in the fall sun. I picked up my pace again. I passed the Pomegranate Queen selling her beautiful pomegranates.

Then I finally reached the bay! It was so beautiful. I sat on a bench and listened to my music and just enjoyed the beautiful view!

(I know what you're thinking; what a silly little story. Well maybe it was but I hope it made you smile! Happy Friday & Happy Holidays!)

Strafe - Set it off

This is one of the greatest club jams of all-time! Am I wrong?

Maze featuring Frankie Beverly - Joy and Pain

A Classic Live!

Central Park at Night

(Click on photo for an amazing panoramic view then scroll right to see full view)

Ghetto Culture = Redneck Culture?

(Ghetto or Redneck?)

Has anyone else noticed how similar ghetto culture is to redneck culture? In fact the two are so much alike you would think that the only difference is that one is associated with Black people and the other with White people.

If Britney Spears was Black wouldn't she be labelled ghetto? If Flava Flav was White wouldn't he be a redneck?

Could it have been hundreds of years of poor Blacks and poor Whites living around each other in the south?

Weren't the Clampetts of the TV show The Beverly Hillbillies the epitome of ghetto?

Do you agree?

Like Leroy said..."I's young, I's single, and I loves to mingle!"*

Last night was my office Christmas party. It was held in a nice little boutique hotel. I was looking forward to it because I hadn't really been out in a while. I didn't go to the one last year so that was another reason I thought I'd show my face.

The evening started really nicely. Some of my co-workers brought friends along so there were some (cute) new faces.

I sat down with my little clique and we of course began to talk about people. Mostly I just laughed. There is one woman in our group who is really funny. So she lead the conversation and most of the rest of us just enjoyed the monologue.

There was some really nice food there too. I was really surprised. I expected pigs-n-a blanket but they had all sorts of interesting things, they even had sushi.

I also had the pleasure of being approached by two guys. One of them was a little "country". The other guy was nice but he started rambling on about his ex-wife. Why do people do that?

I was also approached by a really pretty woman. She was really nice and it turned out that she was from New York, which is where I'm from. So we reminisced about home.

She grew up on Long Island in a town called Wyandanch. A lot of old-school rappers grew up in Wyandanch, which is it's main claim to fame. I think that idiot stereotype Flava Flav is from Wyandanch.

Anyway I spent most of the evening talking to my new N.Y. friend. The evening was pretty quiet until toward the end, when people were "liquored-up".

So that's when things really got interesting. One of my woman co-workers had been downing quite a few glasses of champagne. She then went through the usual stages of drunkenness.

At first she was "happy", smiling and hugging everyone and wishing us all Happy New Years and Merry Christmases.

Then she moved onto the "love" stage of drunkenness. She walked around telling everyone how much she loved them. A few people tried to get her to leave but of course that would have just too easy.

Finally she moved on to the last stage of drunkenness. The 'I'm going to find someone to be pissed off at stage'. That's the stage where the drunk stands in a corner and just starts staring at people with a mean glare. And if anyone returns the stare for more than a second, the drunk says "What the hell are you lookin' at!".

Naturally some other person who has also had a bit too much libation takes the bait and a drunken argument ensues. Which was the case last night. It was a marvel to see my drunken co-workers who are normally very nice, going at it cussing and stumbling all over each other.

After the obligatory few minutes of hesitation someone finally tried to intervene. That never goes well and it didn't go well last night.

That's when the two drunks forget they were arguing with each other and start arguing with the good samaritan co-worker, who's now sorry he tried to break up the fight.

Well you know how it went after that. Finally the fight(s) were broken up. The drunken parties were helped out. One in tears of course.

For the next year when anyone around the office mentions Christmas a certain two people will quietly duck out of the conversation and disappear.

How was your Christmas party this year?




*From the movie FAME

Zap Mama & Erykah Badu - Bandy Bandy

Slick Rick - Children's Story

Lake Powell Sunset

Photo Attribution: The X File

Women: Would you shun men to save African America?

Let's say that a group of African American women got together and decided that the only way to stop the downward spiral of a disproportionate number of African American men; would be to organize a boycott of African American men who engaged in undesirable behavior.

The following behaviors would be qualifiers;

- Any arrests or convictions for any crime, including serious misdemeanors

- Failing to be involved in the lives of their children, including failure to give financial support

- Dropping out of school prior to graduating from high school and failing to make an effort to either; go to college or receive training that would lead to gainful employment, ex., Carpentry.

- Using any illegal or controlled substance

- Violence of any kind

What would a boycott mean?

It would mean no social interaction with men who engaged in the aforementioned behaviors. No dating them, no befriending them even in a platonic relationship. It would mean shunning women who broke with the group and engaged with these men.

It would also mean the older women encouraging young women such as teen-aged girls to follow suit.

My thought is that if men's chances of having relations with women were almost nil if they engaged in these behaviors that they would cease to do so.

I have a vague memory of a group of women doing such a thing in some ancient civilization. I can't remember any details other than it apparently worked. If anyone remembers reading about these women please let me know.

Obviously all African American women would not need to participate. Single woman would mostly be involved. Although Married women could provide support.

Everyone talks about the problems of large numbers of Black men this is an ancient solution.

Questions

Woman

Would you be willing to participate in the boycott?

Do you think that enough African American women could be convinced to do so?

Do you think that such a boycott would work to force men to avoid living a destructive lifestyle?


Men

Do you think this would work?
Why or why not?




Photo Attribution: S. Duarte

Link-O-Rama

Kwanzaa vs Christmas

From The Jamaica Gleaner

Christmas is a time when most people of this majority black nation live out a lie. Many engage in a ritual of wanton spending buying gifts for their children, telling these impressionable young that Santa Claus, a snow-white, dumpy man, flies across the world and places the gifts under the Christmas tree.

Read the rest here.

Toy Maker Tells Stories of Unknown African-American Heroes

Washington, DC (BlackNews.com) - For the holiday season, History In Action Toys (HIA Toys) is offering a series of limited-edition action figures based on three lesser-known American heroes -- the daring female aviator Bessie Coleman, the self-taught mathematician and astronomer Benjamin Banneker and Matthew Henson, the resourceful explorer. Available for purchase at www.hiatoys.com, this introductory line of safe toys was strategically selected to teach African-American children and others about the diversity in American history and to allow their pride in their background to inspire them to dream big.

Read the rest of the article here.

DNA ancestry testing leaves some in doubt

By Ron Nixon, New York Times Via the San Francisco Chronicle

Henry Louis Gates Jr., whose PBS special "African American Lives" explores the ancestry of famous African Americans using DNA testing, has done more than anyone to help popularize such tests and companies that offer them. But recently this Harvard professor has become one of the industry's critics.

Gates says his concerns date back to 2000, when a company told him his maternal ancestry could most likely be traced back to Egypt, probably to the Nubian ethnic group. Five years later, however, a test by a second company startled him. It concluded that his maternal ancestors were not Nubian or even African, but most likely European.

Read the rest of the article here.

Natasha Bedingfield - Unwritten

This is the song from the Pantene T.V. commercial. It took me forever to find out the name of the song and who sang it! Anyway I really like this song and now that I know who it's by I'm going to download it. Do you like this song? Did you know the name of it?

Mary J Blige - Just Fine

For some reason Mary's record company pulled the vid for this song from You Tube. So someone made this video, it's pretty good. But video or not I love this song. I kept repeating it yesterday on my ipod!

¡Ibiza España!

Little boys on the bus

This past weekend I decided to go and buy a few Christmas cards and a few other last minute gifts. I left pretty early, around 9 am. I wanted to avoid the shopping crowds.

I was surprised when the bus came after only about 5 minutes of waiting. That's unusual, especially for a weekend day.

The bus wasn't very crowded. So I settled into a seat and relaxed and listened to my ipod. After a few minutes two boys sitting at the very front of the bus started arguing. I really couldn't understand what they were saying because I had my ipod pumped up pretty loud.

Then almost without warning these two boys started to scuffle. I took one of my ear pieces out to hear. They were 'cussin' up a storm'. And no one was saying anything. Not even the bus driver. One woman got up and moved toward the back of the bus and sat back down.

After a couple of minutes of watching this for some reason I yelled "hey you two quit that and sit your butts down!" And amazingly they stopped fighting. I told one to sit where they had been sitting and I told the other to sit a few seats away.

Oh and after they stopped that's when everybody started mumbling about the 'bad' boys fighting and how crazy and ill behaved kids are these days.

I sat there thinking it's wasn't those boys I wonder about, they were only about 11 or 12 years old. I wonder about that darn adults, men included, who just sat there not saying anything. Those boys were just doing what kids do when they aren't supervised. They act-up!

What was the excuse of the grown-ups on the bus? Including the big burly bus driver who remained silent until after the boys stopped fighting.

Eventually the boys pushed the stop request. One of them looked at me with eyes that said "Is it okay if I get up now?". I could tell that these were not bad boys. Just boys.

They got off the bus and just like kids do began to walk together just as if the fight never happened.

That's when the mumbling turned into conversations and shaking heads. I wanted to yell at the adults and tell them if they couldn't speak up when those boys were on the bus that they shouldn't say anything after they were gone.

I'm tired of people pointing out problems but never taking any action to solve them. I'm no martyr I could just tell that they were little kids and that they were not to be feared.

Did the other adults keep quiet because they were afraid to say something to African American boys? Has it gotten that bad?

When it was all said an done I was disgusted with all the adults on the bus. I spent the rest of the bus ride with a frown on my face that said don't even talk to me.

Darn adults.

Do you think I was wrong to speak up to those little boys?

What If...

If a group of very wealthy African Americans got together and bought a beautiful island and founded a new nation called African America; would you want to move there?

Do you think something like this could ever happen?