African.Beautiful.Me. - Blog

And here I am at 34

Sat, 01 May 2010 10:06:06 -0800

Joy fills my heart
Peace rules and reigns there
Love overflows

I am so happy to be alive and breathing. It is enough for me.

Love.Life.

Happy Birthday to me.

The Beat Goes on sigh

Mon, 26 Apr 2010 05:54:09 -0800

Netflix disappointed me Friday night. I couldn't find ANYTHING I wanted to watch. Don't you hate that? I went to my go-to movie, "Monsoon Wedding" and thought that was it for my Friday night. But I needed more and I started channel surfing. Then I came across a show called "2 Kenyan Guys" on National Geopraphic.

Now we all know how much I love my people but something about the title just didn't sit well with me and I got the feeling that this would not be a good show. I mentioned to this to the husband and he assured me that National Geopraphic was educational and not in the business of exploiting culture for ratings.

Uh huh.

From jump this show was a mess. The idea is 2 Kenyan tribesmen who are Safari tour guides are invited to New York to come and navigate life in this new culture. Sounds simple enough right? Well how about they show them coming off the plane in full tribal gear spears and all. Seriously. Post 9/11 this is what you show us NGC?

There is nothing wrong with showing people other cultures but exploitation is never okay. Coming to America for the first time is not easy, there is a lot to navigate through and learn for the first time. There have been excellent documentaries on this. "The Lost Boys" comes to mind. This documentary was respectfully done. It showed refugees from Sudan coming to America and learning everything from the ground up. There is a scene where some of the men are shown how to turn on water faucets. Not offensive at all because they are really learning.

But these 2 Kenyan guys seem like actors to me. Their speech is exaggerated as well as their actions. It feels like they were found in a casting call to do this show.

One of them wants a wife so he is taken to a match maker? Seriously? And we have to sit through him describing his ideal woman that has to know how to build cow dung houses and walk 20 km for water and so on and so so on. This woman must be found for him in NYC where she will be expected to do all these things. Uh huh.

So here I am mad as hell watching this foolishness. This is tomfoolery at its best. New York City is known as one of the most culturally diverse cities in the world and the African population is something to BRAG about. Not once did NGC think to take these African men to Harlem to see people that looked like them?

The only interaction I saw with anyone of color was when they met a HOMELESS BLACK MAN in Central Park!!!!!!!

You would think that in 2010 this foolishness would be over but nope, the beat goes on.

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Such great words of wisdom

Sun, 04 Apr 2010 10:40:52 -0800

An amazing mother and writer whom I highly admire, Asha Bandele, had the following words as her FB status update and I couldn't help but smile.

Martin Luther King Jr. was an amazing man and his words ring true even today. We remember him on this day of his death.

"Love is somehow the key that unlocks the door which leads to ultimate reality. This Hindu-Moslem-Christian-Jewish-Buddhist belief about ultimate reality is beautifully summed up in the first epistle of Saint John: "Let us love one another, for love is God..He that loveth not, knoweth not God, for God is love. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us and his love is perfected in us." MLK, Riverside church, 4/4/67

Jump offs 101

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 09:20:08 -0800

I may not be the smartest tool in the shed but I know that common sense tells me that the golden rule for jump offs should be to SHUT UP!

Back in the day jump offs knew their place and kept shit quiet. These days they sing like a canary and wear the title proudly. They even go as far as confronting wives and making their presence very known.

The percentage of husbands who leave their wives for jump offs is very low so jump offs know the deal going into this. Why then are they speaking to the media? Yeah, yeah they want their 15 minutes too but seriously, over this?

This Hunter chick didn't need to give an interview. Yeah, yeah the couple that helped her cover all this shit up came out with a book and alla that but come on honey, there is such a thing as the high road. I would have respected you more if you said nothing at all and just stayed in the background raising your daughter. And those pictures? Pu-leaze! If a camera is around, common sense says put some pants on.

And then this tattoo chick comes out of the blue saying she had an affair with Sandra Bullock's husband. Okay, so you did. And? I mean really. Why the heck are you coming out with it now? Did he not send you a check this month? If you really wanted fame you're a month late. You should have come out with this while she was campaigning for her oscar. Now, after she has won and declared her love for husband in every acceptance speech, you just look like a pissed off jump off. A month ago you would have got some sympathy and all the heat would have been on him.

Is no one offering Jump off 101 class? $5,000 for a day's worth of lessons, I am positive many men would pay to send jump offs over.

Where's Karrin? She's losing money left and right on this one.

Dear Gabourey

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 08:20:59 -0800

She opens her mouth to speak and you fall in love. That's it. People are sadly mistaking her for the character she played but she is Gabby and she is inspiring to me.

I have watched her in so many interviews and there is no question that she is comfortable in her skin. I read that her mother was approached to play the role that won Monique the Oscar but she declined because she wasn't comfortable with people possibly thinking that she was really like the role she would play. It was because she said no that Gabby got intrigued with the movie and the role. She had always marched to her own beat and she went to the audition and viola, here we are.

She is bubbly and intelligent and so funny.

And she is heavy.

I am amazed at how much attention is being given to her weight lately. It's like we've just been introduced to her and yet it has been a year since she has been in the public eye. Some think it is because she didn't win the Oscar and that makes her fair gain.

I think it is because she is so UNLIKE her character. People want her to be uneducated, poor with no future. Since she isn't, her weight is the next best thing.

Howard Stern, Jamie Foxx, some diet pill company all coming at her HARD!

I pray that she stays true to who she is and doesn't let the machine called Hollywood chip at her soul. I pray she stands firm in her self image and her core. They will tell her that she will book more movie roles if she drops 200 pounds. The will tell her to get a nose job. They will tell her to use skin bleaching creams. All so she can turn into Halle Berry? Thing is, there already is a Halle Berry. The beauty in this life is to accept our differences.

Day after day we hear statistics on how obese our society is getting, have shows like "The Biggest Loser", "Ruby", and "Obese Clinic" yet suddenly Gabby is the poster child for obesity? Come on son! Thing is all these folks talking mess know someone obese who they won't tell all this to.

This is so unfair!

I came across a story this morning that isn't even being talked about that makes it even more unfair. This woman weighs 600 plus pounds (probably double Gabby's weight) and is eating her way to 1000 pounds just so she can make the record books. Talk about priorities. Folks pay to watch her eat. Wow.

Double standards much?

Blah

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 06:13:48 -0800

March 14th, 2010

I didn't go through postpartum depression after giving birth either time.

I'm going through some kind of post surgery depression right now.

My go to food whenever I'm feeling low is a big ole bacon burger and some fries.

Food is my enemy right now.

I feel awful when I eat, when I don't eat..hell I just feel awful.

The oranges, the purples, the greens but mostly the blues.

My Body Says...

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 06:10:26 -0800

March 12th, 2010

Life is something, ain't it?

For some odd reason my boys love to watch reruns of The George Lopez show. I watched it with them yesterday and it was the episode when George wins an award for being a great manager and his mother doesn't congratulate him. It doesn't bother him at first because he believes his mother is incapable of complimenting anyone because it is just not her nature. Cut to his party and his mother is congratulating her boyfriend left and right and takes the spotlight away from her son. He finally gets upset and confronts her and she explains how she believes that acknowledging good things takes them away.

I watched and thought how so many people believe that and moved on to the next thing.

Cut to this morning and I woke up with excruciating pain on my right side. Now I'm as tough as they come but this morning I was crying and calling for my mama 10,000 miles away. I called the Hubster at work and couldn't even get my words out through my tears. He rushed home and we rushed to the ER.

Tests and a CAT scan later and they discovered that a cyst on my right ovary had ruptured.

Seriously?

Wow.

I'd been feeling so good but my body politely told me to have a seat and slow it on down. Guess what? I'm listening cause I never ever want to feel that pain again.

Things happen as they should, I believe that firmly so acknowledging how good I felt didn't bring on today's pain but the universe surely made me take notice.

Just Gypsying On....(March 10, 2010)

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 05:15:19 -0800

If you know me at all, you know I've changed this here blog many, many times. Yup, go on and call me a blog gypsy. I haven't been blogging like I used to in part because I lost my blog mojo and mostly because I wasn't in love with the look of the site.

So here is the new look. I like, do you? I am happy these days. I had surgery 2 weeks ago and the fact that I am typing away right now is amazing to me.

Call me overly dramatic but I WAS SO SCARED to go under the knife. People go under the knife on a daily basis and come out on the other side but y'all, I just wasn't sure. I needed this surgery so I had no choice but still.

Thing is, this was my first surgery after being a Mom. My last surgery involved becoming a Mom. So couple the fear of not waking up to see my children again with knowing that my dear friend Noma died 3 years ago from a simple procedure that left her in a coma in ICU equalled me being a total basket case.

In my head I kept writing letters to my children and sending the universe "please be kind to my sons should I not come back" messages. You just never know with these things. But I let go and got prayed up and here I am!

My theme song these days is "Work To Do" by Vanessa Williams. I really do have to much to do so I'm here better than ever to do this woman's work.

Thank you if you stopped by, sent a card, called, or sent me a message. Your well wishes mean the world to me.