Friday, January 22, 2010

HOPE FOR HAITI NOW

Text SP to 85944 to donate $10 to Samaritans Purse...
Text GIVE to 50555 to contribute $10 to Hope For Haiti Now...
You can even try calling 877-99-HAITI (42484)...
Make donations online at hopeforhaitinow.org...
And, check out hopeforhaitinow.org/maps to views messages from around the world...
Let's go ppl!

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

LeToya Luckett's "Lady Love"

"Lady Love" is THE best R&B Album of 2009!

The album is presented from the perspective of a mature woman who's been there and done that: been in love, hurt by love, grew tired of love, and grew from love.

I LOVE this album and I've been playing this album non-stop since I got it on Sunday, but if I had my favorites, I'd say:

Lady Love - Expresses the reality of the do it all/be it all woman.

She Ain't Got... - This is the "oh Hell NO!" anthem where she effortlessly taunts her cheating boyfriend and proclaims her superiority above the competition.

Not Anymore - She rejects the notion of accepting underappreciation and mistreatment in her relationship and moves on.

Lazy - Depicts the burn out that some people feel with relationships that leads them to ultimately grow weary and lose hope in finding love.

I Need A U - Describes the yearning of wanting "that man" in your life (more specifically, your bedroom...)

Take Away Love Feat. Estelle - Borrows the advice that I've heard from older women that "if you want to end a relationship with someone - STOP HAVING SEX with them!"

Don't Need You - Reaffirms the decision to pursue real happiness and leave a toxic relationship.

Album also includes: "Good To Me", "Over", "Regret" Feat. Ludacris, "Tears", "Matter", "After Party", "Drained", and "Love Rollercoaster" which featured LeToya.

As I said, the whole album is great and If you enjoy Real R&B you'll love it!

It's Been A Long Time...

Damn, I did not realize it had been such a long time since my last post. It's not like I didn't have tons to say, but sometimes life gets so busy, fast, and whatever else to make time for sitting at the ol' computer.

I'm definitely going to try and do better though.

Quickly:
American is too politically motivated and greedy to make any real changes that will benefit its citizens and EVERY Senator & Congressman who is stalling and ultimately votes against health care/insurance reform should NOT be re-elected!

Furthermore....OBAMA better STRENGTHEN his damn SPINE! I'm a supporter but he is getting on my nerves with his "let's hold hands and be friends"passive aggressive approach. He needs to be forthright about what he wants and get it done!!!

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

My Reaction to "NOT Born In The USA?"

There is NO doubt in my mind that the majority of "Birthers" are individuals who are angry that America elected a person of color to the highest office in the world. Some may be racist, but I'll hesitate to generalize on that scale. These people are genuinely frightened and desperate to hold on to what they feel has been taken from them and on the verge of being destroyed. I will say that if there was an individual born to an Irish father attending Harvard University and a mother from Maine, this would be a non-issue. This is the basis of their argument (once people began calling them idiots)....he isn't a "natural born citizen" because his father was a Kenyan in America going to school, which doesn't make him a US citizen, and therefore makes his child Non American because you have to be born to two AMERICAN parents. Are they serious? I don't know the percentage, but I would think that that would make an enormous chunk of the American population Non American. Someone born abroad to foreign parents who moves here as a child, grows up to marry someone born in America to American parents - their child(ren) aren't American? ....which would mean that their grandchildren wouldn't be American either? It's crazy and reckless and dangerous. This careless rhetoric perpetuates hate and breeds anger and fear, which is what happened in the case of Timothy McVeigh and what George Wallace did during the Civil Right Movement.
This is America....this is not behavior becoming of the most powerful and influential power in the world. I don't even know what to say. I'm angry, disappointed, ashamed, and maybe even a little scared. This is supposed to be America - the country who unfortunately consistently falls short of its ideals.

Is this America?

NOT Born In The USA?

The Birthers' stance is that Barack Obama is not a natural born citizen of the U.S. of A. and therefore was NOT even eligible to become President of the United States.
It's been going on for a while - people....Americans willing to bet their homes and would probably swear on the lives of their children that the 44th President of the United States of America is NOT A CITIZEN of the country he is leading. I mean, really??? Okay, let's go back to the US Senate, the Illinois State Senate, the IRS, employers - you're going to tell me that no one knew until now?
His birth certificate and statement of live birth, the announcement in two Honolulu newspapers, and the conformation by Hawaii's Dept. of Health just don't appear to be enough. Factcheck.org, along with many other journalists and organizations, looked into the matter and concluded that Barack Hussein Obama is indeed a US citizen. Hopefully the chatter is coming to an end.

Thursday, July 23, 2009

The American Dream or Fantasy?


I was listening to NPR. They were playing listener responses to this this question: What is the American dream? Of course this made me think about various opinions that I've heard, such as my FAVorite political junkie, Bill Maher who once said that the American dream was really a fantasy. I thought this was very interesting. So, think about it. What is the 1st image that comes to mind when you here that phrase? Mom, dad, two kids, maybe a dog, a house, and a picket fence, right? And how's they get there? Working hard and playing by the rules, maybe going to college even. Well this isn't how most Americans live these days. Divorce rates at 50% and many people are raised in single-parent households...The majority of Americans do not own their own home, and going to college, earning a degree isn't a guarantee of anything except you'll more than likely have student loans, and other dept. Not to mention the millions of Americans that work at least 40-hours a week, maybe more, and can't afford to supply themselves or their family with health insurance. Since the old playbook doesn't seem to apply anymore, what's the new American dream, and who decides?? As far as I'm concerned, the American dream means having the opportunity to determine my own success or failure. It means being able to pursue a career and provide a happy, healthy, productive life for myself and my family. This is the best country in the world because of the possibilities that exist. The opportunities may not be readily available for everyone (that's a blog for another day) but they are out there. I saw a quote somewhere that said (I think) I dream my painting then I paint my dream. The American dream is no longer narrowly defined, it lies on a blank sheet for each individual to write his or her own life story.
What does the American dream mean to you?

In A Perfect World...

And, while I'm thinking about music, I HAD to give "Miss Keri Baby", Keri Hilson, a shout-out. Her album, In A Perfect World is dope! I saw an interview where she said that she wanted to represent for all types of women and give real talk, I think she did just that.

My favorites....."Tell Him The Truth", "How Does It Feel", "Alienated"....like I said the whole album is really nice, I didn't even name the singles.

Her album was pushed back for a couple of times, but it was worth the wait (and I'm still late getting hip to it). She is amazingly talented with the pen and her voice is nice too, not to mention she seems really cool (I even saw a youtube video of her juggling - lol)

Anyways, go check it out.