For weeks I’ve been trying to avoid the enivitable: watching The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl and falling in love with it.  After my computer conspired against my first four attempts to watch the series, I finally watched all seven today and I died.

And then I had to acknowledge that I am probably more awkward than I thought and it’s ok.   I love it and I wanted to share. ( Although it appears that I am crazy late to the party since my facebook feed has been full of links to the latest episode.)
On the site, they also have a little segment about why shows like this are important.  I was having a discussion the other day about how women are portrayed.  And while we were discussing the lack of happy Black women on the television, I will happily accept awkward Black women on the tube.  So I’m asking you to support her and the show (ahem financially). And if you haven’t checked it out, do yourself a favor and do it right now.

You might as well start from the beginning.

peace,
e.

I just got this phone today and I am in love with it.  I wanted an iPhone for a long time and was ecstatic when I heard rumors that it was finally coming to Verizon in June.  However, a quick chat with a sales representative quickly squashed my dreams of having an iPhone and staying with Verizon.  So I got the next best thing (or maybe it’s better?): the Droid Incredible.

Ok so what can I tell you about the Droid Incredible?    Unlike its predecessor the Droid, the Droid Incredible is touch screen only.  That’s the hardest thing for me to adjust too, but I suppose I’ll get the hang of it sooner than later.  Much like the iPhone it has a ton of applications, pinch and stretch, and you can flip through 6 different screens by wiping your finger across the screen.

It comes with 8GB of memory (I also got a free 2 GB memory card) and a sweet camera.   I’ve already watched a few videos on the phone – super fast – it beat my Dell (ugh don’t get me started on my Dell).  With all that memory, it might replace my iPod.

It’s fully supported by Google, so you get all of Google’s cool apps and they all sync together perfectly.  After activating my phone, I just signed onto gmail and I had all my contacts on my phone.  It was really easy to sync that info with facebook, in fact, the phone had pretty much done the hard work, I just had to confirm if they matched the correct people.  After that I was good to go.  I added all the apps I had on my blackberry, plus a few more (how fun is

And since it’s a phone I suppose the most important part of this review is how good of an actual phone is it?  Well it’s from Verizon, so I get service pretty much everywhere (sweet).  I can hear people clearly and it doesn’t drop calls.

From experience, your best bet is to buy the phone online and get the $100 rebate instantly.  If you’re up for your free upgrade (new in 2) you get an additional $50 off.  In some cases it might be cheaper to get it from a different website from Verizon, but if you’re up for the new for 2, stay with Verizon.   If you get it in the store, you have to pay $300 up front and then mail in the rebate.

You can find out more about the Droid Incredible here and here.  Does anyone else have one?  Is anyone else thinking of getting one?

peace,
e.

I know, I missed posting the review of I Will Teach You To Be Rich last Friday.  School is actually way more time consuming than I anticipated.  I’m working on my time management and will be back in the groove soon.

peace,
e.

I feel for Caster.

I mean, dang, she didn’t even know they were testing her gender.  She found out the results of the test the same time the rest of the world did.  And now she is in trauma counseling.  I almost can’t believe it.

For a minute, think about how you would feel if you found out that you weren’t (exactly) what you thought you were.

Gender is confusing.  For most of my life I was taught you were either a woman or a man.  Then I went to Smith and learned of this vast gray area between.  I learned about people born with too many x’s or y’s and what happens when a child is born with ambiguous sex organs (it’s not pretty, doctors and parents pick the gender…yikes).   I was fortunate to learn this from people who were changing from one gender to the other or from people who did not feel they were either, from professors and advisers who had patience with my ignorance and in complete privacy.  I was able to grapple with what it on my own time and in my own way.  Caster did not have that luxury.

The whole situation was a circus.  Look what this woman went through before the tests.  Undid the braids, put on some makeup, jewelery and a dress to “show” us that she’s a woman.  She literally had to say the words “I am not a man.”  Who has to go through this?  Who has to go through this because they are talents?   At this point it was crazy enough.

This whole situation reeks of ageism, sexism, classism and racism.  If Caster Semenyawas some rich, White middle aged man, the world would know the results on his terms.    It blows my mind how IAAF could conduct a gender test and not explain what they were doing to Caster or her parents.  And what in the world did the IAAF think was going to happen when her results were released? It was devastating and degrading enough to have to go through more gender tests and then for the results to be leaked?!  Are we really surprised Caster had a meltdown and is now on suicide watch?  She’s just a kid.  Jeez.

I’m happy South Africa is really ride or die for her.  I’m glad she’s getting support.  And I’m even glad that we’re all getting a lesson about gender.  But it’s all not worth the cost to Ms. Caster Semenya.

peace,
e.

The video is really upsetting but the reaction was problem more upseting.  Maia Campbell, of In the House fame, is apparently now a prostitute.  In the video she mentions a daughter that was taken from her – no doubt because she can’t get a handle on this mental illness or drug addiction.  She ends the video talking about how she about to get beat up.  I’m assuming the man who gets in the car and yells at her is her pimp.  I can’t really tell what’s going on in the video, I mainly hear swears.  She was most likely in a manic stage in the video.

I’ve read conflicting reports that  Maia is suffering from bipolar disease or she is is suffering from schizophrenia.  These two disease are not the same but are  both incredibly to handle when the person refuses to take their meds.  Her mother wrote the novel, 72 Hour Hold, which chronicles a mother trying to help her bipolar daughter.  Even through the book is a novel, Bebe Moore Campbell has stated it is based on true events.  This leads me believe that Maia is bipolar, and clearly off her meds.

She is apparently also a drug addict, which is like adding gasoline to a fire.  Again, conflicting reports of crack or meth.  People suffering from bipolar mood disorder use drugs to self medicate.  If Maia was using lithium, she’d be calmer.  I think because we so rarely identify someone acting wild as being in a manic state, we have don’t often connect mental illness with behavior.  All that yelling and cursing and mumbling, that’s a mental illness staring you in your face.  That’s someone who can’t afford, can’t remember or outright refuses to take their meds.

Some people thought the video was hilarious.  The men filming it clearly did, they laughed through the whole thing.   A lot of people were sad when they watched it.  Thankfully Black Web 2.0 wrote a post urging others to write about Maia’s Truth.  Although Maia Campbell’s not a top trending topic on twitter today, #Maiastruth still has some tweets coming.

The more I read about Maia, and see even more crazy videos and photos, the more my heart hurts.  Yes, it is really difficult to live with/deal with/help someone with a mental illness, but they do need help.  They need patience and forgiveness.  I feel for her late mother, who tried so hard to bring mental illness out of “our collective closet.”  I feel for her daughter.  And mostly, I feel for her.  I  hope that she gets the help she needs, gets back on meds, talks to a therapist and gets her life back together.

peace,
e.

update: Maia’s family has found her and she is currently in treatment.  Her family has also released a statement. I hope she stays and gets the help she needs.

The other day I wanted to write about Kelis and her fall from grace among men – from men I actually know to anonymous commentors on gossips blogs.  Talk about anger, you’d think these dudes were paying the child support order themselves.  Jeez.   And how before the ink dried on their divorce papers, men were calling Kelis the b word – and no I don’t mean bitch (although I’ve seen her called that a lot more recently too).  I mean the dreaded baby momma.  I wanted to write about the huge different between a wife and a baby momma. About how baby mommas are constantly disrespected and degraded because they don’t have a ring on their finger.  I figure if men don’t like/respect/love a woman enough to not marry her, why have a child.  I guess that’s a different post.   But the change in the public opinion of Kelis these past few weeks has been incredible and very disheartening.

And then it got worse – yesterday Kelis asked for more money.  Every gossip site had the monthly breakdown of Nas’s earnings and what her new spousal and child support orders should be.  And all hell broke lose.   Men across the country collectively sighed, as if paying $89,935 a month to your ex wife was the norm.

Now I have no idea what in the world Kelis is going to spend on that money on and I really don’t care.  This is a consequence of divorce, especially among celebrities.  And while I can see where men are coming from with regards to paying such a large amount in spousal support, we need to sit down and think how much would he have been spending less on Kelis if they were still married.  Probably more than what she is asking for.  And as for the child support, that is his child.  He should be paying some child support.  And again, if he was still living with Kelis and the baby, chances are he’d be paying more, not only in dollars but also in time spent with the child.

If you want to learn more about spousal support, click here.  To learn about child support, click here or here.

peace,
e.

let’s do this

Tomorrow’s leaders. sounds positive. i like this already

Letoya and Jeromy and BK and the salvation army.  Journey for Change sounds awesome. Two weeks of volunteer work in South Africa will definitely give you some perspective.  I hadn’t thought about travel building confidence before. Interesting concept.

OF COURSE THE BOYS DON’T WANNA GO. they wanna play basketball. and here go the stereotypes.  his backup plan is to be a lawyer but he has bad grads. OF COURSE.

… and his father is in jail. and now we’re back in black in America 1.

I’m glad Malaak is looking at more than grades to determine who should come.  As it’s already been stated, the drop out rate is 50%.  We can imagine what the grades are like before these kids drop out.

poor Letoya

i love it. “You can solve the problems with a big ole check.” -Soledad. “No you can’t.” -Malaak  Thank you.  Throwing money at a problem does not solve it.

i like that she doesn’t give up on the difficult boys. Jeremy and Jonathan would definitely have been written off by a less patient and understanding person.

(wait why is the chris brown photo framed?!?!)

Sweet they are learning zulu.  So they won’t be ignorant to this new culture. I love it.  I really wish more kids could have an experience like this.  I’m glad I got something similar when I was in college.

Competition is the way to get these young men out of their shells.  I wonder how this concept could be expanded to get young black men to engage in other arenas *cough* education *cough*

I hope that these kids can understand that even though they have it rough in America, people have it much worse (and are still hopeful).

dang that was a long day

Jeremy’s father is in jail and Jeremy doesn’t want to talk to him.  Reminds me of my brother.  He gets that he doesn’t want to turn out like his father but doesn’t want to talk to him to understand where his dad went wrong.  I’m glad that the father wants to be involved but it’s unfortunate that being incarcerated is probably a big reason why he’s in touch.

i hope that this experience stays with them when they come back to the states. i hope they can remain hopeful for their future. i hope they can appreciate what they have, even if it isn’t much. i hope they do a follow up so we can see where these kids are in a year or so.

but are these kids gonna see Black people who are middle class or rich or HIV- in South Africa?  I mean, let’s show the real south africa.

a one year commitment? word? how will they serve others? something meaningful perhaps. aw they’re helping a south african girl. i wonder why they couldn’t help other americans.  give back. i mean it’s good that they’re helping someone, but it would be helpful if they learned to help themselves.

so Jonathan improves his grades so he can get a basketball scholarship?!

And Jeremy is still not doing well in school. failing math and social studies and science.  jeez. Malaak stop making excuses for his poor academic standing.  All these experiences are not improving his grades.  And now we blame the father in jail.  It’s frustrating when children who have potential to shine don’t.  Why doesn’t this show examine how to get Jeremy back on track?

And Letoya sores.  I mean we already know girls are more likely to go to college, so we assume girls are more likely to gradate from high school.  CNN, this is nothing new.

it would be nice if we could empower our kids on US schools.

I’d appreciate a switch to focusing on America now.

Steve Perry and CT. whoot whoot.  oh wow a personal greeting each morning? wow. Capitol Press is impressive already.  How did I not knw about this school.  The details do matter. thank you.  it’s important to have high expectations and hold students to them. “every child that goes to capital prep goes to college. period.” let the church say amen.  with all that school, i can see why they have an 100% graduation rate.  And the partnership is so important. it’s nice that they can get a sneak peek into college life.  let them see that it’s not soo different.

yes standardized test scores do not predict college grades. thats been shown many times already.  their grades in a college class is a much better measure.

kicked out of preschool? and now a principal. wow. “it just came to a point where it wasn’t cool any more.” a lot of kids don’t get to that point.

i’m glad to see a success story.  thank you CNN. oh a MSW! holler!

“the only way to win is to play longer and harder than anyone else.” -Steve Perry.  that motto could work for everything.

well it takes a lot of work to run a school like this. he wakes up at 4 and drives kids to school.  this is crazy.  that is dedication.

pubic school funding with a prep school attitude. i love it.

i had no idea the education gap was so large in CT.  so sad and frustrating.  you would need to go to school every day to bring kids up to their current grade level.  dedicated teachers are important.  it’s also important to give those kids of teachers appropriate funding as well though.

oh yes, parents do need to be involved.  yes i know they are busy working but this is your kid’s future. make the time. and go to the freaking pta meeting.

wow he does all this and then takes care of his kids. dedication. glad to see a positive portrayal of a black father.

the principal as a father? i like the idea but i wish that the parents would be more involved.

arg now the drug abusing mom and alcoholic dad. arg. dangit CNN.  so the principal saves the day and the parents just sit and chill? such frustration.

dang i’m stressed watching this interview.  wow she is being so candid.  she took abuse to protect her younger.  and she got into college! yay.

that’s so unfortunate that her family gets in the way of her success. teens should not have stress like that. i’m glad she preserved in spite of her family drama.  i’m glad that she had the support to succeed.

well at least we can see some middle/upper class black folks. this dude isn’t accepted anywhere.  the black afluent. an inside look! the tuxedo ball. uhm lady be for real, it’s exclusive. and i guess that’s fine. but just accept it. of course racism affects rich black people, they’re still black! whomp.

Mia Jackson – changing the game?  successful black woman.  now we see where a mentor could have been very helpful.  she was successful but didn’t know what to do next. so she quits her job to do an internship program so she can learn to become a CEO.  John Rice is teaching these young people the skills they won’t learn in school.   “You can never use race as an excuse or as a band aid.” preach.  management leadership for tomorrow. wow.

step 1 – know your story
step 2 – articulate your goals/your passion
step 3 – build important relationships

they’re doing all this in 4 days? I’m confused.  Is this an ad for this program or a documentary on Black in America? [this segment continues until 11]  I’m glad Mia Jackson got into business school.

and now we’re talking about John Legend? i missed something.

final thoughts: This was ok.  I’m glad that they showed some middle class and even affluent Black people.  I wasn’t digging the rich kid’s ending talking bout “I didn’t ask to be born rich!” dude just stop right there, accept your priveilege and don’t act crazy.  I like the focus on education and the things we’ll do to get it.  Towards the end it really was an MLT commercial and I was not digging that.  Maybe if they had shown other pre-professinal degree programs that would have made more sense.  I don’t know.  To be honest, it was just really random to me.  Tonight’s segment didn’t really flow, i wasn’t really sure what was going on until the end.  this segment was supposed to show who’s shaping future leaders.  I guess that’s an interesting premise, but they should just change the title of the show because when i hear black in america i’m expecting something on black people in general.  I think perhaps, this is CNN’s attempt to provide some solutions to all the problems they discussed in BIA1?  Overall, it was pretty meh to me.

What did you think?

pics by Brei E.

Enjoy this gorgeous weather and be safe!

peace,
e.

alternate title: We hate you BET.

Ok, I know there’s a lot going on in the world right, but the fact that I’m still pissed the next day means I just have to say something.  What in the world was going on with the BET awards last night? That was not a tribute to Michael and it was just 3 hours of foolishness.  It seems like the only people paying tribute were Jamie Foxx, Neyo, Ciara and Janet Jackson.   Joe Jackson was up in there with chillin with Al ‘do Sharpton.  Beyonce was acting like it was her concert.  People who never met Michael talking about their favorite MJ memories.  Being forced to watch the commercial for the new Tiny show.  Ugh.  But the worst was Lil Wayne and co talkin’ bout “I wish I could *bleep* every girl in the world” with preteens on the stage.  Just gross.  I just cannot.  BET do better.

I think best response I’ve read in response to the BET awards was “I wish BET died and that Michael did a tribute to it.”

At any rate, I didn’t post anything right after MJ died because there aren’t any words to say.  I still don’t have words. We lost a legend.

My ultimate favorite video.

peace,
e.

p.s. Did you notice the Boyz in this video?! I just died.