All The Single Ladies

In church on Sunday we had a fabulous message delivered by guest pastor Phil Pringle of the Christian City Church International entitled "7 Elements of Faith". It was a wonderful message and he is indeed an entertaining man of faith. While his message was insightful and engaging, there was one crossroads in the morning where he inspired a few say what now's or at the very least some shady side eyes. I don't recall now why he asked, but at some point in the service he requested that all the single people stand (please know that I can't utter the phrase single ladies without wanting to wave my hands about). That seemed a simple enough request. But was it?

Apparently, not! Upon his initial request no one stood (including me). After some lighthearted teasing from him and another request, we all stood. Some of us (yep, including me) sheepishly looked around to see who else was standing. For me, it wasn't that I was scanning the room for candidates so much as I was truly nervous about standing and putting my single status on blast. Por que?

Continue ruminating...

It Always Comes Down To Race

I admit that I'm a Michelle Obama stan. But my admiration of her does not render me incapable of speaking out against things she may say or do that I don't agree with. I assume any person of color is able to express their pride in the achievements of the First Family as well as their dismay with some decisions they've made or will make. So why is it a question as to whether trained journalists can be objective in their dealings with the East Wing? A columnist for the Washington Post poses this very question. When white journalist cover white politicians and celebrities is unbalanced reporting a threat? If Laura Bush gave Katie Couric an interview would it raise an eyebrow? Quite frankly, I'm sick of people acting like African-Americans can't be balanced in their views of the First Family. Heck, there are plenty who didn't vote for Obama and quite frankly can't stand him (trust me his smile didn't win everyone over). We are not a blind people nor are we all thinking with one collective brain. News flash: contrary to what BET will have you to believe many of us are capable of thinking on our own, forming complete sentences, shunning Ebonics, being consummate professionals at our crafts, and the list goes on. See, we're just like everyone else.

Howard Kurtz's column

He's Back

Most people who personally know me, know that there exists a man I must pass on the route home from the train station and we'll call him "Baby Love" as that's his name for me. Of course, I neither openly acknowledge nor answer to his call. Well, it seems that Baby Love was missing for a few weeks. Those were happy peaceful weeks. My peaceful walk home has ended and Sugar Hill is now a scary place for a young innocent woman.

Last night as I carried two grocery bags home, Baby Love approached and here's what he said...

"You know you should let me carry those bags home for you. A woman needs a man who will meet her at the train after shopping and carry her bags. One day you are going to be coming home to me. You think I play with your girl. I'm serious what I say." All words must be said with a thick gruff Jamaican accent!

First, I'll never ever come home to him. There is no amount of despair that could drive me there. No laws in the land that would make that permissible and no human who hates me enough to force me to do it. Just not gonna happen. Secondly, this isn't the first time he has expressed contentment to let me come home from a day's work and shopping to bring something home to him! Why? Why? For the love of God why?!

Separate But Equal

Growing up in South Louisiana in the '90s I experienced the effects of a state still trying to find remedies for the disparages in education amongst majority and minority groups. I ended up in what was loosely known as the Transfer Program. Although where I lived had decent to good schools, I was still required to be bused to another school outside of my neighborhood. It wasn't a simple process. I would rise to catch a bus that took me to a sort of bus depot where there were hundreds of other kids and we would all "transfer" to another bus that would then take us to school. Often times, you passed back through your neighborhood from the transfer stop to get to school. It didn't make sense that I had to rise an hour earlier than everyone else so I could go to school. Many times the school I was being sent to was only 15 minutes from my home and the quality of education was about the same. All of this was an effort by the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board to integrate their school system and provide equal education to all students. Check out this video on the NY Times Blogging Heads site as they debate the notion of modern day segregated schools. I found it interesting. How about you? 

Blogging Heads