I have decided to commit to my craft and no matter what life throws my way I am going to work diligently on a novel. Beginning on November 1st I will join thousands of other participants in the National Novel Writing Month campaign.
If you're not familiar with this concept it was designed for people like me who have to have deadlines or life will just get in the way of completing some tasks. I'm sure there are other reasons as well, but I prefer to us life as my excuse.
I have several ideas floating around but I have not determined which I will tackle for November and it has to be new - that is not in progress so the two chapters I have of "Daddy's Girl" don't count.
Wish me luck!
Saturday, October 28, 2006
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
It's too early for SNOW!!!!
October 23, 2006 and what do I look out my window and see - SNOW!!!Normally weather changes don't bother me, but fall is my favorite time of the year and here in C-Town that season has been MIA!
Yesterday's snowfall sent me into a real Funk!
Monday, October 09, 2006
Michael Baisden hits Cleveland airwaves!
It seems that Radio One has stirred up a little controversy in Cleveland with the addition of the Michael Baisden Show weekdays from 3-7 p.m. The self-proclaimed "bad boy" of radio has brought hot and steamy to local airwaves. From the Kama Sutra to multiple sex partners, Baisden's show is aimed at the "Grown & Sexy".
When I first began this post I was unsure of whether I liked the new addition to the Cleveland radio scene for a number of reasons:
As an example when discussing swinging and plural relationships one of his arguments is that we have to stop the cheating that seems to be pervasive in some circles and thus if everybody is honest from the beginning this will decrease the number of cheaters. While I'm not sure I totally agree with this opinion I can see where one might believe this would help.
On the other hand I believe that often times men and women cheat for the sake of cheating. For the thrill, the adventure that is associated with trying not to get caught. Thus they may practice swinging with you, and still cheat on you because the thrill is in the cloak and dagger, the undercover and not getting caught. There are also people who just live for drama, it is what adds spice to their lives.
One segment was "Men Cry In The Dark" and featured Dr. Jawanza Kunjufu and they discussed the fact that many black men are taught that it is not macho for men to cry so they harbor their emotions and manifest them through drinking, drugs, violence etc. One thing that Kunjufu stated was very true and that is that women have a number of avenues to vent - their girlfriends, journals and God. We will dish all the dirt to our best girlfriends and tell even more in our journals and most importantly when we%
When I first began this post I was unsure of whether I liked the new addition to the Cleveland radio scene for a number of reasons:
- The content seemed a little risque for the time slot
- It was totally uncharacteristic for Cleveland's urban radio
- I wasn't sure if we really need to be talking about "swinging, plural relationships etc." on the radio.
- Was the show coming to any conclusions or were we being presented "shock" for the sake of entertainment.
As an example when discussing swinging and plural relationships one of his arguments is that we have to stop the cheating that seems to be pervasive in some circles and thus if everybody is honest from the beginning this will decrease the number of cheaters. While I'm not sure I totally agree with this opinion I can see where one might believe this would help.
On the other hand I believe that often times men and women cheat for the sake of cheating. For the thrill, the adventure that is associated with trying not to get caught. Thus they may practice swinging with you, and still cheat on you because the thrill is in the cloak and dagger, the undercover and not getting caught. There are also people who just live for drama, it is what adds spice to their lives.
One segment was "Men Cry In The Dark" and featured Dr. Jawanza Kunjufu and they discussed the fact that many black men are taught that it is not macho for men to cry so they harbor their emotions and manifest them through drinking, drugs, violence etc. One thing that Kunjufu stated was very true and that is that women have a number of avenues to vent - their girlfriends, journals and God. We will dish all the dirt to our best girlfriends and tell even more in our journals and most importantly when we%
Saturday, October 07, 2006
Blue Angels
I've never been a big fan of Air Shows but this year I will admit I got caught up! Not enough to pay for a ticket mind you, but enough to venture outside my office on several occasions to shoot some photos of the spectacular planes as they did a regular "fly-by". Here are a couple of the images I captured.Not the greatest shot, but a pretty good shot utilizing a digital camera without a true zoom lense.
I must say that the thought of free falling in an airplane never looked more peaceful to me. I don't know if it is all of the chaos that has been my life of late or what, but I could imagine myself thousands of miles away soaring with the clouds and being totally at peace!
Thursday, October 05, 2006
Catching Up
It's time for me to catch up on my posting. It's been a while because as always - life gets in the way of my writing. This is a dilemma I have got to find a solution to and soon. It's been so bad lately that I haven't even had an opportunity to catch up on reading some of my favorite bloggers. Even worse a couple of my friends new to the blogsphere have caught the bug and are regular posters. If you're interested in Hip Hop and want to get the inside track you have to check out Indy Hip Hop World where my girl Kim is keepin' it real! If you're looking for some interesting beats of the literary kind, you must hop on over to Lori's Old School Mix. Lori is a wonderful writer and soon to be published author. Her work has a lyrical flow and a lot of down home flavor, so check her out!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Learning to say NO!!
I'm really working on this, but boy is it hard. I have a number of interests and work/life just continues to get in the way of me pursuing them. My first passion has always been the written word - both has a writer and as a reader. I have been an avid reader since I was a very young child and that has continued throughout adulthood with the only real hiatus coming while in college when text books took the place of novels.
In my previous full-time career I was a journalist which meant writing on a regular basis and it was and is something I enjoy, however now I have to schedule the time to do it. Today I handle marketing and public relations for Cleveland Public Power (CPP), a municipal electric company in Cleveland.
Over the last several months this has drained me of any energy to enjoy reading, writing or anything else.
As the old adage goes "There is a light at the end of the tunnel" and boy can I see the light! We (CPP) are winding down on our Centennial celebration so I should have a little time to do other things soon.
While in the throws of putting on a week of Centennial celebrations I received a call asking if I would be interested in doing some freelance PR work for a play opening at Karamu House Performing Arts Theatre tomorrow. I said yes of course. Why, because I really have a fondness for Karamu, which just so happens to be the African American performing arts theatre in the country and I'm always looking to branch out into other areas.
Well, little did I know! The principles involved in this production are heavyweights in this industry. The production, Gospel! Gospel! Gospel! was written and conceived by Otis Sallid who is an award-winning choreographer, director and producer. The co-producer of the play is a Cleveland native and Karamu alumnus - James Pickens, Jr. of "Grey's Anatomy" fame!
The long and short of this is - when you already have your plate full, accept it and decline offers that will tax you even further. I learned this the hard way, but along the way I did have the opportunity, however short lived, to meet some amazing people and have a small role in helping them spread the word about this wonderful production. So if you're in Cleveland now or anytime before November 5th, you must experience Gospel! Gospel! Gospel! it's an historical look at gospel music from slavery through the present!
In case you didn't get it - the moral of the story is DO NOT put too much on your plate. You loose your creative juices, energy and the possibility to flourish at something new.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Learning to say NO!!
I'm really working on this, but boy is it hard. I have a number of interests and work/life just continues to get in the way of me pursuing them. My first passion has always been the written word - both has a writer and as a reader. I have been an avid reader since I was a very young child and that has continued throughout adulthood with the only real hiatus coming while in college when text books took the place of novels.
In my previous full-time career I was a journalist which meant writing on a regular basis and it was and is something I enjoy, however now I have to schedule the time to do it. Today I handle marketing and public relations for Cleveland Public Power (CPP), a municipal electric company in Cleveland.
Over the last several months this has drained me of any energy to enjoy reading, writing or anything else.
As the old adage goes "There is a light at the end of the tunnel" and boy can I see the light! We (CPP) are winding down on our Centennial celebration so I should have a little time to do other things soon.
While in the throws of putting on a week of Centennial celebrations I received a call asking if I would be interested in doing some freelance PR work for a play opening at Karamu House Performing Arts Theatre tomorrow. I said yes of course. Why, because I really have a fondness for Karamu, which just so happens to be the African American performing arts theatre in the country and I'm always looking to branch out into other areas.
Well, little did I know! The principles involved in this production are heavyweights in this industry. The production, Gospel! Gospel! Gospel! was written and conceived by Otis Sallid who is an award-winning choreographer, director and producer. The co-producer of the play is a Cleveland native and Karamu alumnus - James Pickens, Jr. of "Grey's Anatomy" fame!
The long and short of this is - when you already have your plate full, accept it and decline offers that will tax you even further. I learned this the hard way, but along the way I did have the opportunity, however short lived, to meet some amazing people and have a small role in helping them spread the word about this wonderful production. So if you're in Cleveland now or anytime before November 5th, you must experience Gospel! Gospel! Gospel! it's an historical look at gospel music from slavery through the present!
In case you didn't get it - the moral of the story is DO NOT put too much on your plate. You loose your creative juices, energy and the possibility to flourish at something new.
Sunday, August 13, 2006
The More Things Change The More They Stay The Same
Kudos to Kiri Davis for producing a thought provoking film short "A Girl Like Me" about the biases that continue to exist in our community as it relates to skin color. Hello! This is 2006 and we (black people) are not comfortable in the skin we're in.
While viewing the short I was brought to tears because we still haven't learned, but at the same time I wasn't shocked because I witness the racism we exercise on our own people daily and the way many of our women are so unhappy with their hair that they regularly spend hundreds of dollars to have "human" hair braided in, sown in and glued in so that they can have bouncing and behaving hair.
I'm also confronted regularly with the statement "Well you have good hair". I don't think it's good - it's just what was passed down in my gene pool and heaven knows their are many days I would prefer thicker, coarser hair.
I have a relaxer in my hair to manage it. For many years I overprocessed my hair as many of us do going to the Shop every six weeks for a touch-up, but then I changed hair stylists and Tammy and I constantly battled over the chemicals. She would greet me with "I'm not putting any chemicals in your hair" to which I would retort, "Well I guess you're moving in, cause I can't get up every morning blow drying kinks out of my hair." We eventually reached a somewhat happy medium and limited the number of touch-ups to about 3-4 a year.
Over the last four years Ms. Ericka has been keeping my tresses in shape and she taught me the importance of using the right products on my hair which has probably cut me down to about 2 relaxers a year along with color which also helps to get rid of the waves.
My problem now is I want the waves. I want to be able to put a little creme on my hair and get up and go but it doesn't work quite the way I would like it to so only on extremely hot days in the summer do I revert to this.
The most heart wrenching part of this piece however was the doll test. Why in this day and age have we not taught our children that black is beautiful and it is not bad. White is not always right and it sho' ain't always good!
I often believe that I write these little ditties to release some of my frustrations and that no one is really reading them, but if you are reading I implore you to hug and beautiful dark skinned black girl or boy today and tell them how beautiful they are. Help to eradicate the negative thoughts that are permeating within our children.
We are all God's children and we are all beautiful in our own skin!
While viewing the short I was brought to tears because we still haven't learned, but at the same time I wasn't shocked because I witness the racism we exercise on our own people daily and the way many of our women are so unhappy with their hair that they regularly spend hundreds of dollars to have "human" hair braided in, sown in and glued in so that they can have bouncing and behaving hair.
I'm also confronted regularly with the statement "Well you have good hair". I don't think it's good - it's just what was passed down in my gene pool and heaven knows their are many days I would prefer thicker, coarser hair.
I have a relaxer in my hair to manage it. For many years I overprocessed my hair as many of us do going to the Shop every six weeks for a touch-up, but then I changed hair stylists and Tammy and I constantly battled over the chemicals. She would greet me with "I'm not putting any chemicals in your hair" to which I would retort, "Well I guess you're moving in, cause I can't get up every morning blow drying kinks out of my hair." We eventually reached a somewhat happy medium and limited the number of touch-ups to about 3-4 a year.
Over the last four years Ms. Ericka has been keeping my tresses in shape and she taught me the importance of using the right products on my hair which has probably cut me down to about 2 relaxers a year along with color which also helps to get rid of the waves.
My problem now is I want the waves. I want to be able to put a little creme on my hair and get up and go but it doesn't work quite the way I would like it to so only on extremely hot days in the summer do I revert to this.
The most heart wrenching part of this piece however was the doll test. Why in this day and age have we not taught our children that black is beautiful and it is not bad. White is not always right and it sho' ain't always good!
I often believe that I write these little ditties to release some of my frustrations and that no one is really reading them, but if you are reading I implore you to hug and beautiful dark skinned black girl or boy today and tell them how beautiful they are. Help to eradicate the negative thoughts that are permeating within our children.
We are all God's children and we are all beautiful in our own skin!
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
Giving Thanks for Blessings
Today started with a huge dose of blessings from up high! Now let me start by saying that is not what I thought as I made the trek to the Cleveland Heights Municipal Courtroom to appear with Mr. Wonderful. I was not really miffed at him for this appearance but two weeks ago when he was stopped by CHPD and given four citations including one for driving under suspension I could have danced a jig on his head. Why, you ask? Well a few days prior to this I made an inquiry as to when he was going to take care of a previous ticket which led to the suspension and received a vague response.
On the date of this last encounter with law enforcement he was performing a good deed - albeit a dangerous one as he drove our neice and nephew along with their father in a vehicle without the proper car seats. That ticket alone is $110, but today the Lord was shining down on us in the form of Acting Judge Russell Bacon.
Judge Bacon is a gem and anyway who has to appear in Cleveland Heights Municipal Court should pray that he is the presiding judge.
During the hour and a half that I observed his courtroom he treated each defendant with some level of dignity and attempted to pass on his wisdom.
I truly hope Mr. Wonderful was paying attention because Judge Bacon dismissed all four tickets and we went away only responsible for Court Costs.
God is a good God which I have known since forever, but today the blessing was extra special after the crises filled last three weeks.
Today be sure to take a moment and thank God for the many blessings - both large and small he bestows upon you daily.
On the date of this last encounter with law enforcement he was performing a good deed - albeit a dangerous one as he drove our neice and nephew along with their father in a vehicle without the proper car seats. That ticket alone is $110, but today the Lord was shining down on us in the form of Acting Judge Russell Bacon.
Judge Bacon is a gem and anyway who has to appear in Cleveland Heights Municipal Court should pray that he is the presiding judge.
During the hour and a half that I observed his courtroom he treated each defendant with some level of dignity and attempted to pass on his wisdom.
I truly hope Mr. Wonderful was paying attention because Judge Bacon dismissed all four tickets and we went away only responsible for Court Costs.
God is a good God which I have known since forever, but today the blessing was extra special after the crises filled last three weeks.
Today be sure to take a moment and thank God for the many blessings - both large and small he bestows upon you daily.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)