getit2g

I'm writing a book...yes that's right my new endeavor is a book. So instead of pouring it all out in my blog I've been pouring it out all over the place: notebooks, scratch paper, my computer, leaving voicemails to myself. Yes, i'm serious. Be on the look out for it. I don't know how long I'm gonna give myself but it's in the making!


So in the meantime, I've been thinking about really funny shit that I've heard so far this year (and I think part of last year-shit time be flying) pulling from everyday life, reality shows, friends etc.

VH1 Charm School - "She didn't even talk about all the good things I had done while I was here she just said, 'you're a WHORE peace!'"

Old Man on the street walking past me - "I need a kodak camera cause you're picture perfect"

Theme of the year-Dope fiend lean--I have seen some very vicious leans this year but by far the one that tops the cake is the one I saw today. This guy was holding his bike as if he was either about to get on it or push it down the street. But before he ever took a step he was bobbing forward and backward from being so high, so he never quite made it onto the seat. Too much!

Ok so I tried to read Souls of Black Folks by W.E.B. Dubois and I hate to say it but I was lost. I mean I was reading paragraphs two and three times just to understand. The language that he uses is so antiquated that I found myself getting really frustrated. After a few weeks of reading it I got used to it but I haven't managed to get through it all. All I can say is two major things about the book so far: it is a chronicle of his life in the south as a teacher, researcher, and young adult and he highlights the major failures of the emancipation of the slaves. If you have patience you should check it out.

Oh yeah I also read Krik!Krak! again by Edwidge Danticat, its a compilaton of fictional short stories that pull from her experiences as a child growing up in Haiti. I really enjoyed it. I always really get into her work because while it is fiction it also serves as a small history lesson. And it is also cool to see the parallels in African-American and Haitian culture; the superstition, the food, the roles of family members and such.

Speaking of history I read Stupid White Men by Michael Moore, hilarious! But before you get to thinking that this book is all fun and games, it's not. It's really informative and for all you Bill Clinton lovers out there, especially African Americans, before you start signing up to put your head back up him and his wife's butt you need to pick up this book. I won't divulge too much, just go pick up the book, I'm sure you'll enjoy.

So in other news...I'm back in the NY!!! I'm so happy. I was complaining too much in Detroit. I don't like myself like that. I think I complained every day that I was there, such a shame. Anyhow, I crashed with my old roommate for a while, now I'm living in Brooklyn. I was definitely an uptown girl to heart and was antibrooklyn at every step, but I'm beginning to grow a great appreciation for Old Bk. Well til next time. Peace in the Middle East...One Day!

Before I forget the next book to be read by the club is going to be Aedipus (I know sooo high school right?! LOL!)

Day to day my ideas about family and the value of family changes. I don't know if I should have the old school views of, "blood is thicker than water" and "the family bond is the strongest" or if I should start being cold and just start dealing with my family from a distance. It's just that sometimes family doesn't act like family or at least like the typical definition of what family is supposed to act like. And if I really want to get honest oftentimes my family members can really depress me.

I can't even begin to talk about the drama that transpires within my family on a daily basis. The fights and arguments, incidents that result in trips to the hospital, job loss, financial instability and just a bunch of mayhem. Yes this is life and it happens among any group of people not just families, but for some reason, in a matter of two months I've experience more drama than a little bit.

I have this great fear of getting old, looking old and feeling old. Just writing about it scares me. I know that I shouldn't fear and if I become overcome with the fear than it will just age me sooner. LOL. However, I feel like dealing with my family will only stress me out which will in turn make me look older.

More recently, I've been thinking about my mother's health and how she doesn't take care of herself. For years the whole family has been telling her that she needs to eat a better diet, maintain a stressful lifestyle, exercise and just be good to her body. And for years she hasn't listened and now her health is worsening. And sometimes me and my sisters talk about my mother's future: who's gonna take care of her, who she'll live with and who will take over her finances. It's all very scary. I love my mother but I feel that you can't take care of someone who doesn't want to take care of themselves. And this is yet another thing that I don't want to be stressing out about.

I know it sounds selfish but it's plain honest. The people in this world who should be selfish aren't. Right now I should be somewhere practicing yoga, working out, reading a book, or watching a movie and not stressing out about my crazy ass family!

I'm back in my hometown. Several people ask me why I came back and even though I say for several reasons, honestly there are only two. Number one, my boyfriend is here and I didn't want to do the long distance thing, especially not in our financial state. Number two, I really love the city and I always dreamed that I would help out in the city's revitalization, so I have this big plan to start a dance company here.

Wow, things are really not going as planned and I'm starting to feel some kinda way. I miss the hell out of New York. I mean I really, really miss it. Here I feel so dependant on everyone and I need a car to go everywhere. I have access to a car but I hate driving and gas is ridiculously expensive. I've been back home for almost 2 months now and I've spent a little over $300 on gas. WTF! I'm about to start researching bus routes...which I should've done a long time ago, shit!

I haven't landed a job yet, I haven't completed the revisions to my thesis, I've run out of money and I'm getting fat.

Sooooo what do I do? What really tops the cake is my boyfriend just asked me a few days ago, what I thought about relocating? Are you serious...and he then suggests that we move to New York. Thanks.

So I have a new addiction: The Boondocks

On episode 9, a hypothetical scenario is set up, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., dosen't actually die from the shooting at Loraine Hotel in Memphis, Tennesse, he just goes into a 40 year coma. When he awakes and takes notice of the state of African Americans he is set off and begins to rip black people a new one...I took it upon myself to transcribe...lol. (I told you I was addicted)

Good stuff-transcription of Dr. King's comin' out of a coma speech-

"Is this what I got all those ass whoopings for?

I had a dream once, it was a dream that little black boys and little black girls would drink from the river of prosperity, freed from the thirst of oppression. But low and behold some four decades later, what have I found but a bunch of triflin’, shiftless, good for nothing niggas. And I know some of you don’t want to hear me say that word, it’s the ugliest word in the English language--but that’s what I see now, niggas. And you don’t wanna be a nigga, ‘cause niggas are living contradictions; niggas are full of unfulfilled ambitions, niggas wax and wane, niggas love to complain, niggas love to hear them selves talk but hate to explain, niggas love being another man’s judge and jury, niggas procrastinate until it’s time to worry, niggas love to be late, niggas hate to hurry.

Black Entertainment Television, is the worst thing I’ve ever seen in my life!

Usher, Michael Jackson is not a genre of music!

And now I’d like to talk about Soul Plane...

I’ve seen what’s around the corner. I’ve seen what’s over the horizon, and I promise you, you niggas have nothing to celebrate. And no, I won’t get there with you--I’m going to Canada!"

(c) Aaron McGruder :-)

Untitled

Let me take y'all on a mission to bring our people back
In fact--let's talk about how we stop annihilation
Education of our folk is beyond pitiful
Get your kids, sit 'em down show 'em what we fightin for

What you know about the red, black, green, pain and bloodshed, torment, hate, the lies, tears and the bodies spread--across Carribean waters the West better yet
Go get your brother let him know, that
That shit can't fly no more
Nigga was the name that we once died for
Now we let any mothafucka call us what they want
What is that? Take it back and subtract--what? 500 years of the lashes on our back
Men penetrating wombs or our mothers, hosing daughters, using dogs and the rope to take hope from the young ones

They saw the strength that lied in our hair, the nose that was thick, the skin far from fair

Communities, tribes and clans, families and the strong hand
Split like an oak tree--sap spilling over
And no, we don't know what to do
I guess it aint nothing new
Sankofa. Sankofa!
Learn from the past y'all
Ancestors tryna to school you

Not by Chance by Purpose

My life, enhanced and made wonderful, beautiful, exciting, just by the thought of the future with that One.

All of the history and enchanting moments that will be created.

That One has words of gold, thoughts and dreams of a crusader, of a king. That One takes me places that I prayed I would visit. Never did I imagine those small ventures from this world into heaven would be placed into my hands, on my lap, on my lips, upon my eyes and in my heart.

I don’t have to wish and hope that this One is everlasting. I am reassured of this One’s adoration by the touch of his hand, the deep penetration of his gaze, the exhilaration in his smile and the passion and intensity of his love.

Oh from the Almighty this One has been placed into my life not by chance but definitely for a purpose. That purpose is to take his One and my One and create an abundance of Ones that will take all of the love, joy and happiness that we possess and permeate the world for centuries to come.