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This past week has been nothing but uneventful; I received a copy of Randy Kearse's book, "Changin' Your Game Plan" for my viewing; I am interested in selling his books in the area generating interest. Randy has been in jail and now writes books helping others who have been to jail to stay out of jail. I did my grocery shopping earlier this week and now it's friday and another week is gone. There is one thing that has me interested though. About a month ago, a book came out about a woman who died of cervical cancer yet, somehow, her cells which they took were found to have generated and regenerated so much, a first for the medical research industry at the time because up until then, cells outside the body didn't thrive yet somehow hers did; So, because of them regenerating, the whole medical industry have gone on to do plenty good in the name of medical research. Sadly, the Lack family stayed poor and lacking health coverage. Rebecca Skloot has now written an account of this in the book,The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, which sheds some light as to how this came to be and of the woman herself. I cannot even begin to think of how the family can feel much less grasp what was happening. From what I am hearing, the book is a bestseller and I plan to get a copy as soon as able. If you can, get a copy today. Another book that just came out today and surprising a bunch of us is Bernice McFadden's "Glorious" from the little I read, it spans from the early 1910s until the Civil Rights era about a young African American woman who becomes a part of the Harlem Renaissance. Although a grand era, there were not many women who were a part of that time. Zora Neale Hurston, Dorothy West, Nella Larsen,Jessie Redmon Fauset, Georgia Douglas Johnson and Alice Dunbar Nelson. I believe I just named all the female writers. When rap emerged in the late 70s and 80s,how many women emerged as well? we can name a handful and that adage of if you don't learn from the first time, you bound to repeat it rings true here.
However, I applaud all the African American writers, male and female who are out there; Most I applaud, some I don't. E.Lynn Harris, who passed from us last summer, was a great supporter of his peers and his absence is still felt by the AA as well as GLBT communities. We need to support our African American writers, singers, etc. For example, I have heard of Raheem Devaughn, but had no interest in what he put out. But his latest single, "Bulletproof" that I was fortunate enough to witness on the Mo'nique show is nothing short of beautiful and sometimes I feel that he has a hint of Marvin in him; check him out.
Well, I am done, may your day be a peaceful yet happy one.

Kudos to Mo' and other thoughts.

Yeah!! Mo'nique got that Oscar baby. She won it and just like I predicted because she got all them awards and in spite of the grumbling(You can't ignore talent), the girl went out there and pulled it off. She got a flower by the family of the late Hattie McDaniel for the ceremony; To hear tell, it's the same flower worn by Ms McDaniel when she won, she wore it on her dress. Mo' wore it on her hair. She donned a lovely blue gown and God bless her, she remembered this woman all but forgotten from black cinema history; Twitter trended Ms McDaniel all that night; I was so happy to see that. to know that even though a person lived and died, they still live on and Monique did that when she remembered her in her speech.
Now granted, we have had MORE people in THIS decade to win the Oscars than in all the decades before, but perhaps in our own way, with a black President and all, things are changing. I hope so. I truly do. God bless us all.

Discourse on Culture

Tonight, and to be honest, I don't know how
I forgot this, but I was blessed to see The Mo'nique Show on Hulu via Bet.com and watch for myself Ruby Dee, Sonia Sanchez, Jasmine Guy, Jackie Joyner Kersee get on there and talk about the project as well as touch upon Ms Dee's remarkable life; What I liked right off is the positive energy I felt while watching it. I mean I watch shows all day long, but watching Mo'nique's made me glad I took the time to find it since I have no cable and even more glad that I was enriched by it; The only setback to this was the fact that for the majority of the show, it kept buffering so I couldn't get the meaning of Ms Sanchez speech. There was a lady on there named Georgia Me and the sister was slamming it; if I'm not mistaken, my friend Roberta told me about it and I hope I am not wrong on that. The ironic thing behind all this is just an hour previously, I was watching on YouTube an old film directed by her late husband, Ossie Davis, called Black Girl; now personally, the film itself is a bit disjointed,with a couple stories here and there but the main story shines through and make you like it or hate it one.I truly wish Ms Dee would consider putting that and Purlie Victorious on film; those films are HARD to come by; I mean no harm but that's like Flip Wilson putting the lock down on Geraldine; Tyler Perry shutting down Madea, you get the point. that is our history, our heritage. please hear the plea of one young sister and put those bad boys to film!!!
I believe that God saw me trying hard to see this one thing because now, The Color Purple is coming to Mobile in April and baby, no matter what, I WILL BE THERE.no ifs, ands or buts. and going to try to see Tyler's play when it comes to Mobile next month; Gots to get the culture on. Plus Mobile needs some AA talent come through! well I am gone.

P.S. Purlie Victorious IS on DVD but it wasn't directed by Ossie Davis but he stars in the film and also marks Alan Alda's debut. It can be bought at Amazon.com

Not too much this week; my youngest got herself a job at the same place that I was picking up one of their friends; she's gotten all responsible now with her notebook for keeping up with her obligations. I also got to see in it's entirety, "Good Hair" the documentary on black women's hair that Chris Rock narrated and produced. Although lauded by some, there was those who didn't care for it. I felt it was a good show no matter what. Black women have been having a love hate relationship with their hair from day one just about; reinforced with self image and esteem, as well as what society deems us to be and we're a hot mess. Yet I feel that if we insist on weaves, and those things that make us look good, then by all means, get in where you fit in in the beauty business just like Chris did, by going places and meeting people involved in the game. It confirmed what I suspected: the beauty game is constant, growing and even though the Koreans have a corner on the market, we can get in too. well, I am shutting down; work day tommorrow. Peace.

Mardi Gras

Since yesterday was a holiday, as I also mentioned it was the next to last day of Mardi Gras called Skinny Monday. That is the day that my town, Prichard, AL puts on their Mardi Gras parade. Ever since I moved back to the area, I have taken the girls to the parades. It got so, we was going on the regular and they would have a cookout sponsored by one of the barber shops and their families for the revelers; Sadly, they stopped that here, and we just go to the Prichard and Downtown Northside Association parades. Now folks, going from Prichard into Mobile is nothing. But mega cars going from Prichard into the Campground/Downtown Area of Mobile is another. I have raised concerns about this and it has gotten to the point that most folks skip one parade for another, or don't go or divert. Even with I-165 to help with that, things get pretty hectic; But this year, I was able to check out both parades. I have pictures set up on both my Facebook and Twitter pages. The Prichard Parade did a cool parade with their area clubs and associations. They also get the Alabama Black Mayors, who sponsored that morning's little known Meet the Gubernatorial Candidates forum at Prichard City Hall was on hand to get into the festivities as well. They come each year to Prichard and have their own float. now, here in Mobile, when you do Mardi Gras, folks with different organizations pool together to get on a float. that individual person also is responsible to get their own throws that are thrown at the particular parade, and that is when costs get high; For one, a person has to pay to get on the float, then pay for their own throws. Mardi Gras, folks is no cheap thrill. One float at the Downtown parade got a flat tire and they were taken out of the parade. Talk about ticked and heated. They paid about $100 to be there and about a dozen folks were on there and total of all throws there totalled ball park about $20,000 and were there at 8am just to be in the parade. So can't say I blame them for that. At the downtown parade, there was a guy from Colorado there who just got into the spirit. we split the throws but made sure he left with the lion's share. Had to be a good neighbor. this year though, I got a small bottle of vodka; I don't drink but know someone who'd love it; I begged for another but hey, that's not cheap. I also got a vial of gardenia home fragrance oil at the Prichard parade which would be a great addition to my stash at home. Throws given at Mardi Gras are beads(which can be further used to make crafts with or taken to Krispy Kreme on Wednesday to be exchanged for free donuts),food, usually moonpies, not my favorite treat at all; Little Debbies, ramen(hey, a lot of folks take that),cereal,chips,alcohol and teddy bears; now me,I don't mind a bear. not at all and I got four at the Downtown parades. Plus a good time is had by most and some be or on their way to being drunk.
A lot of folks don't know but Mobile IS the birthplace of Mardi Gras and it is celebrated from Pensacola, Florida to Houston,Texas. Mobile has had festivities dating back just about to the time it became a city in 1702. It died down, but after the Civil War, a man named Joe Cain revived it; The Sunday before Fat Tuesday, they do a big Joe Cain celebration complete with his many "widows" dressed in traditional black from head to toe.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Cain. It's worth the look at the widows procession because folks like to guess who is who. They sit and fuss on ole Joe.
Next years Mardi Gras is in March; It coincides with Ash Wednesday and Easter so the dates do change here. So if your ever in the neighborhood, check out Mobile's Mardi Gras. We'll treat you well.

My Morning at the Meet the Candidates forum

Good Morning fellow Bloggers,
I happened to see a small item in the paper that the Alabama gubernatorial candidates were coming to Prichard City Hall where I live and speak on their various platforms this morning. Well, political amateur that I am and the fact that I am pretty vague on who is running, I went; Now, right now in my area, Mobile is about to wind down on their Mardi Gras festivities. So most of the folks here are off, but their minds are on partying; So, it was only a handful of people, most of them the Black Alabama Mayors who sponsored this and the city employees of Prichard. One of the candidates,Robert Bentley, said that he wouldn't take a salary upon becoming governor until he got the unemployment situation in this state taken cared of. Another issue that came up was the gaming issue that is unresolved. First of all, there is NO gambling in this state bar the Indian casino in Atmore and Shorter, and the neighboring states love to see us when we buy lottery tickets and go to the casinos; shoot, we have buses going down to Biloxi every hour on the hour here! They want to change it so that we can keep our money in Alabama!! oh I was probably the only one who was cheering and Amening that because I think it's a dang shame we need to leave this state to spend money benefiting other states. Yet, Alabama, has little funds to do jack and what they do have they usually do a lot good with so we need results and the ones that showed up, I must say came away mighty impressed; Yet in my haste to take pictures, and texts coming in,my cell phone made some noise and I almost got the boot from the police there; So I happily gave my cell to them because I wanted to be there. The only thing I had an issue with was they took questions from the mayors there and the moderator took only ONE question from the rest of the audience. And I couldn't get mad on that question because it was one I was curious on and that is the prisoner's right to vote, which has been passed but seems to be left under the jurisdictions of the county registrars which I feel is not good. Another fellow named Johnson, I liked him; He works for a state agency called ADECCA, which he mentioned plenty, he talked well, but I won't lie, I was impressed with what he said, and Arthur Davis, man, I was blown; the man speaks well, he talked on changing the state constitution which was done back in 1901. He feels it doesn't benefit many, is outdated and needs to be overhauled; I totally agreed and the others there had to agree as well. Plus the bingo and gaming issues was addressed by the men; but one thing that hurt me a bit was not one mentioned nothing about that tanker situation that is still in limbo in Washington. www.comebackhometomobile.com although I know he is a friend of the President, he also stated that they didn't agree on everything(Cap and Trade one, health care another)but I hope Obama comes to our state and stump for him if he gets past the primary. Well I have to go; I got a parade to hit.

Hello fellow Bloggers!
Hope this Valentine's Day is treating you well. I have a boyfriend, but at present, he's AOL, and though that bothers me on the day where lovers twain and meet, he don't make or break any day of mine. I got on my Facebook page yesterday and told my fellow FBers to love yourself because it comes from you. Well, what you mean? well, when you came out your mother's womb, you came as one unless you was a twin or multiple birth, and still then, you had to come out one at a time. Well, just because this is a LOVE day, it don't mean lovers day, couples day, it just mean St Valentine's Day. So, if you have someone, cherish them; if you don't love yourself; Take yourself out to a spa; buy your favorite drink, meal, what have you and enjoy YOU! if ya must, have a party and the only other invitees are those who are ALONE on this day and make it entertaining; Whatever, however, you choose, just do something; It could be quiet time with nature, or your favorite book; Listening to something great; eating your favorite chocolate; whatever people. Just be blessed. And now, I am going to do just that in spite of things. Get some good chocolate, eat, something good, take a great bath and read these Og Mandino books I have been collecting. Be blessed and Do YOU!!