Just a Thought...

You know, with all of the terrible music coming out these days, I can't help but to think that one of two things is happening:

1) It's the end time.

AND/OR

2) All of these rappers are covert psychologists.

Reason 1 is viable because in the last days, Earth is to be plagued with unfathomable terrors that the world has never known... if this rap garbage isn't a plague, I don't know what is.

Reason 2 is viable because I'm convinced that a good percentage of these rappers may have solid educations and are recording whatever comes to their minds in an attempt to see how our culture responds to it. In my mind, I can see Ron Browz, B-Hamp, and whoever created "Stanky Leg" sitting at a round table and poring over statistics about society and its reaction to mindless lyrical rhetoric. From there, they purge a gauntlet of foolishness that's so ignant it's genius. After gauging the public's reaction via SoundScan and radio spins, they take those stats and use them to pen scholarly articles. This may be far-fetched, but I'm praying there's some sense to it as I don't know what other grounds I can justify this on.

B-Hamp: So, Dr. Browz, how should we celebrate our publication?
Ron: Pop champagne, HOOOOOOOOH

Food for thought... PEACE

Song of the Day

Ursula Rucker's "Lonely Can Be Sweet." I love this woman. She always seems to have words for the way that I feel at the moment.

Sweet... PEACE

Privilege

Today I finally completed my graduate school applications. After much time spent gathering transcripts, articulating personal statements and hounding former profs and employers for recommendation letters, I dropped the end result into the nearest USPS mailbox, thereby taking them out of my hands and placing them into God's. Thankfully, the only things left to do now are to wait, pray and be grateful. I must wait because it is in this period that patience is strengthened. I must pray because I want God's Will for my life. I must be grateful because many women were not and are not privileged to pursue higher education in the way that I have been blessed to do.

I'm in the process of reading Lalita Tademy's "Red River," the sequel to her first novel "Cane River." Both novels expound upon events that occurred in the histories of her father's and mother's families, respectivey. Her writing has inspired me to research my own family's history, which is proving itself to be an arduous yet fulfilling task. In this process, I've come to fully realize how valuable education was to those who were forbidden from obtaining it. As a race, Blacks have bounded from not being able to read, write, or reason without fear of retribution to a place where we are now fortunate to (and in many instances, expected to) pursue bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees. This ancestral research has led to my feelings of regret for choosing to sit out a year after graduation and also once viewing my bachelor's degree as the endpoint of my formal education. Beyond ancestry, I feel that I also have an obligation towards the millions of women globally whose governments and societies prohibit them from attending school. After reading this story concerning young Afghan girls who had acid thrown in their faces while walking to school, I felt like I was committing a strong disservice not only to myself, but to all of those historically and presently who have been denied such a great and wondrous opportunity for betterment and empowerment.

In this period of acceptance letter anticipation, I choose to be grateful for privilege. Not just for the privilege of obtaining education, but for the privilege of being able to express my own ideas and thoughts, the privilege of being able to make declarations about my faith, and the privilege to oppose my government without fear of imprisonment, torture or worse. I hold on to this gratitude because I really know how fragile privilege can be; at any moment what I hold to be an inherent right can be taken from me at any time. Until that day, I will be thankful. I will praise God for the ability to go further and abound more greatly than those that have come before me. Beyond that, I am grateful that I can expect my daughter to surpass her mother's level of capability. Ain't that good news?

Indeed it is... PEACE

Song of The Day

One of my favorite songs from one of my favorite bands... Sweetback's "Lover."

Happy Singles Awareness Day

So Saturday is Valentine's Day, or as I like to call it, Singles Awareness Day. On February 14 of each year, singles around the country are reminded of just how lonely they truly are. I've never been one to bemoan being single because, in all honesty, I think I like it better than being in a relationship (blame it on my being a commitment phobe). Despite the propositions that I have received to become someone's Valentine, I've decided to sit this one out. Literally. This year I think that I will find greater solace in curling up on my couch with a great movie as opposed to going out on a date for the sake of being on a date. Of course, I love the idea of being in love; I can't wait until I get to experience it for real. But until then, I choose not to engage in the frills, bells and dings of pretense that heavily saturates a day that was initially established to honor a martyr. Anyhoo. I'm not going to ruin it for those that are in love. By all means, celebrate with your complement. When God blesses me with the opportunity, I am sure that I will do the same.

Now I feel all tingly inside... PEACE

Song of The Day

Sade's "Feel No Pain." How apropos.

PEACE

Barackcracy

I want to start this post by saying that I love my president. Economic duress or no, he's doing a great job. Granted, he has been in office only three weeks and there are times that I feel he looks in over his head, but who wouldn't with the condition that our country is in. I just finished watching the Presidential News Conference and even though I feel that he answered some questions better than others (I'd still like to hear less ambiguous solutions), I appreciate his calmness and ability to think on his feet. And the cool "Black Man Swag" to and from the podium doesn't hurt, either :)

But, with all of this discussion about bailouts and stimuli, I can't help but to side with my commander-in-chief on the topic of passing a bill that will create more jobs for our struggling economy... on the one hand, I'm skeptical as $827B is a LOT of money, but on the other hand, I'm open to the stimulus package as our unemployment rates are somewhat embarrassing. With the national unemployment rate at a little over 7% (African American unemployment at 12.6%), I'm wondering why a debate is even taking place. Weren't my tax dollars volunteered for the outlandish bailout that rescued businesses and CEOs who irresponsibly misappropriated funds? I guess the biggest argument is that the last economic stimulus package was a "failure" as people pocketed the money or paid down debts as opposed to flocking to the mall (myself included), but honestly, won't an ability to pay down personal debts contribute to shopper confidence in the future? My logic makes me think that the person who knows that they have little or no debt will feel more comfortable making purchases than the person who is inundated with debt and knows it is entirely unfeasible to treat "free" government money as an excuse for a second Christmas. Beyond a stimulus check and job creation, I see nothing wrong with a plan that not only supports the repair of roadways and bridges that pose threats to human life, but also seeks to provide a more solid education to our children and guarantees tax cuts for college students and middle class families. Perhaps I need to read up more on these issues (self-education has dropped majorly in the past few days), but right now I'm not seeing many viable ones... some say that passing an $800 Billion package is fiscally irresponsible, but passing a $700 Billion bailout isn't any less absurd. Especially when the beneficiaries earn $1M+ in three weeks. Only God knows how this is all going to pan out and whether we'll see the effects of our financial illiteracy.

Yay for superficial politics... PEACE

It Was The Best of Times, It Was The Worst of Times...

I had several sporadic thoughts while watching the Grammys last night. For some people, the Grammy is an award given to musical artists who have received a certain pinnacle of success during a particular year. For me, the Grammys is more or less a ceremony where the popular are celebrated while the truly talented are acknowledged but not awarded. Granted, some of the truly deserving earned the coveted golden gramophone, but many of the winners last night honestly earned the award based on the fact that their ubiquitous images monopolized television and radio venues or because they were board favorites, others were winners regardless of the fact that their work was widely unknown by the masses. Anyhoo. Here we go (in no particular order):

"Big ups to Jennifer Hudson for performing."

"Why is Justin Timberlake singing the majority of the Motown tribute while Al Green diddy-bops across the stage and Boyz II Men holds it down as background singers?"

"Whitney Houston looks fabulous... is she high?"

"I enjoyed the Jay-Z and Coldplay piece. I really don’t mind Jay doing all of this music with rock/alternative bands."

"I’m glad that Sugarland won, they’re one of the very few country groups that I can listen to."

"Totally didn’t pay attention to Kid Rock’s performance."

"I really tried to listen to BFFs Miley Cyrus and Taylor Swift and just couldn’t. They’re both adorable girls, I just don’t think that they’re talented."

"Why is Stevie sharing a stage with the Jonas Brothers. They officially sucked the soul out of 'Superstitious.'"

"Did Katy Perry’s performance set reinforce the homosexual derogatory term “fruity?” Ms.Perry, please have a seat."

"I wonder what else is on."

"Yay Estelle & Kanye... “American Boy” was one of my fave songs of ’08."

"Kinda sad Jazmine didn’t win, but at least the Brothers Jonas didn’t win… go Adele :)"

"M.I.A. is pregnant?! That is so not a maternity top… She’s my girl, but I’ma need her to be near a hospital on her due date!! Thank God the water didn’t break…that would have been tragic."

"Adele is a great singer."

"Lupe won nothing."

"The New Orleans tribute was great. Makes me wonder how the new administration is going to rectify this ongoing travesty."

"This is kinda boring."

"Did they just interrupt Stevie's performance to run credits and a Delta Airlines spot?!"

"Last year's Grammy's were better..."

If I had to assign a grade to the Grammy's, it would earn a solid C. Good enough to hold my attention, but questionable enough to make me consider boycotting it.

Music might not be dead, but it sure is on life support... PEACE

Thoughts, Words, Actions.

Thus saith the Lord, "Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches, but let him that glorieth glory in this: that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exerciseth lovingkindess, judgment, and righetousness, in the earth, for in these things I delight," saith the Lord. -- Jeremiah 9:23-24

Today at church, I finally accepted something that I've been trying to ignore for the past few weeks. For a while now, I feel as if I've been maintaining some facade that I can no longer keep up. In attempts to gather a deeper understanding of people and world events, I feel that I have compromised my own beliefs in hopes that I could convince others that I'm more liberal than I actually am. In all honesty, I'm a Christian. Ever since my mother compromised her elementary school teacher salary to put me and my brother through Christian parochial school, I've been weaned on Christian principles that place limitations on what I can and cannot support. If one were to examine the beliefs that am passionate about, it would become apparent that they closely parallel those held by Christian conservatives. I've been hesitant to accept the title of "conservative" due to the many negative connotations associated to the term and the many political and religious models that have given it a bad name. I mean, I'm contemporary. Not all of the music that I listen to is gospel, and I am in the process of learning how to be disciplined when it comes to praying and reading my Bible daily. After hearing today's sermon, I am hereby refusing to dissociate myself from something that I believe is inherently attached to my morals, values, and beliefs. I just might be conservative.

Now that I am accepting this title, I feel that it is my responsibility to clear up the misconceptions that are intrinsically linked to it. Something that I feel has been terribly amiss from conservatism is the concept that we are to love, not tolerate. If we approach love as a noun, we know it to be patient, kind, not boastful, envious or proud as outlined in 1 Corinthians 13. However, if we choose to approach it as a verb, love is, at its core, do unto others as you would have them do unto you and love others as you love yourself. Recently, Oprah aired a segment that featured a comment that many people had trouble digesting:




In the above clip, Reverend Ed Bacon makes the declaration that being gay is a "gift from God." His basis for his statement is that each individual is equipped with God-given talents and capabilities that are intended to make the world a more livable place. This is true. But in Christianity, homosexuality is a sin as evidenced in 1 Corinthians 6 and God's reactions to Sodom and Gomorrah. In my book, biblical substantiation overrides public opinion. Informing people that what God considers sin is in actuality a gift is fallible and dangerous. Now, if we recognize homosexuality as a sin, that does not give Christians a license to hate in the name of protecting and preserving Christian values. In John 13:34, Jesus commands us to love others as He has loved us, which means that we are to treat each other with unconditional love and respect. No one is inoculated from sin. We are all faulty and have fallen short of the grace of God (Romans 3:23). Therefore, in the midst of these questionable times, it is imperative that we pray for each other and hold one another accountable in lieu of judging one another for their imperfections.

In being conservative, I cannot truly say that I agree with the political views held by individuals who claim themselves as such, so I have decided to become an independent. In the last election, I voted for the person who I felt was the best presidential candidate, but due to a lack of self-education, I hastily voted a straight-democratic ticket for the other government hopefuls without conducting proper research. As a result, I could have very well played a part in electing some incompetent tyrant to office (let's hope not). From a religious viewpoint, I cannot support gay marriage or abortion. My faith doesn't allow it. In doing so, I would feel that I am denying what I hold to be true to the inerrant word of God. Therefore, I will hereby make more conscious efforts to ensure that my thoughts, words, and actions are in accordance to what is true, just, virtuous and of good report. If the world doesn't like me for it, that is fine. I just can't keep lying to myself or my God any longer.

Grace... & PEACE

God Bless The Child

God, please bless Israel and Gaza. This fighting is getting old.

After weeks of bombs, terrorism and civilian casualties, I'm looking forward to the day when one of the many peace treaties that have been proposed and dissolved over the duration of this entire ordeal will finally stick. Politics aside, it would be nice if we could learn how to coexist peacefully.

PEACE