Air Jordan

I never have been a big basketball fan. No offense to the U of L diehards or the UK fanatics, I just don’t get the point of sports. A male friend of mine tells me that’s why I don’t have a man. I tell him to kiss off. Okay, I saw this Air Jordan commercial. I’m not sure if it’s old or new or what, but it’s fantastic. They show tons of men and boys (I’m not sure if there any girls) doing some of Michael’s greatest and most infamous moves: Tongue poised in concentration, flight from the freethrow line, mid air mid dunk hand switch off. It was amazing, because you’re not sure what they’re advertising. You think I’m sure it something to do with sports: shoes, Gatorade, something. After the sequence of scenes, you begin to recognize them like famous paintings or popular songs. It’s truly phenomenal the impression he has made on all of our minds. He’s like a god. (little ‘g’ don’t worry religious types) I mean he literally flew through the air like an angel. Hundreds of years of from now (if Iran or North Korea doesn’t blew us all up by nukes) there will be myths of a man that could fly and jump through the air carrying a handheld treasure while dodging enemies across a battlefield with millions of spectators cheering him on to victory.

Listening to my babydaddy Prince: Black Sweat.

Dr. Jones go back to Georgia

It’s time for him to pack up the Vaseline he shines his head with and move back to the state of a thousand peaches. I swore I wouldn’t be catty, but sometimes you gotta be who you be. I’ll leave the intelligent and eloquent responses to my sisters. I know they have tons of great things to say. I’ll just say what everyone says behind closed doors. If you don’t know what I’m referring too, don’t waste your time reading any of his dribble. But to put this tirade in perspective: He said he was “tired of the strong Black woman.” You know, I was done. So here goes: How dare this pseudo-Black-power phony, voice such a negative, ridiculous, inane, ignorant belief. He showed he is classless, clueless and missing something else, but I won’t say that in mixed company. He thought he could disguise his bitterness and hatred in a tribute to Coretta Scott King. A tribute to her legacy surrounded by his inadequacy and obvious personal failures in relationships with women. I find it extremely interesting that a person who calls himself an expert in Black Studies seems to want to superimpose the decaying white family paradigm onto the people of African descent in America. Black people come from a matriarchal society where strong women are not suppressed or oppressed. They are encouraged and they are sources of wisdom. Now the funny thing about all this is, he suffers from an extreme lack of serious reflection of American stereotypes. You would think an academic would know how to deconstruct American society. There are boxes the four dominant people in American society fit in: White man (master of his fate/dominant over all); White woman (weak princess on a pedestal); Black man (weak, shiftless brute); and Black woman (strong, sexless or hypersexual woman, the complete antithesis of white womanhood). (Please excuse the absence of Latinos and Asians, you all were late to the American party.) These stereotypes serve no purpose. They are destructive and evil. They cause people to lean toward the tendency of pre-judgment of all they meet. White men can be subservient. White women can be strong and assertive. Black men can be hardworking, productive law-abiding citizens. Black women can be weak and delicate. But these stereotypes are so ingrained in this society, no one is willing to examine the part they are assigned to play and break free from them or how they continuously perpetuate them. Dr. Jones you make me sad that you have so little insight and you are shaping young minds.

If you didn’t know what the heck I was talking about in the previous, it’s okay. You can take away the most important thing: Free yourself to be yourself. Have a Happy Valentine’s Day.

Listening to My Life by Mary J. Blige. (a cd for us lonely chicks)

I love music (thoughts).

I’m watching the Grammys. (John Legend in a black & white…classic greatness in classic colors!) The real awards show. There should only be the Grammys, the Oscars, and the Tonies. All the others are silly. Some celebs don’t even show up for the rest of these “awards.” (OH MY GOD. Mary is singing with U2. Hot.) There is so much great music that goes unappreciated. I’m thinking of the people that never get airplay or airtime on TV. It’s a shame. I love Mary. Mariah. Alicia. The White Stripes. The Gorillaz. John Legend. Beck. Bluegrass. Rock. Blues. It’s all good. But, do you know about Jonny Lang? Jamie Cullum? Citizen Cope? (O, Lord, Kanye is sooooooo unbearable. Is he serious?) Some of you may, but the general public is missing out. We all know there is the still the pay to play going on in the radio world. You can’t convince me of otherwise. How else does a song get 40 plus spins a day? My God, that’s more than once an hour at times. (Anyone, noticing the Grammy commercials are better than the Superbowl ones? Mariah on that boy’s lap singing—product---Centrino/Intel----Great!) Of course, no music musing is complete about mentioning the Mafia like grip of the business side of this industry. One word to the music artists: Union. It works for actors. If you are a small time actor or a big time, you have a pension…do you understand me. A pension for an artist. (Gwen is a cute pregnant lady.) It will never happen. The Mafia is real. (Um, Mariah could have calmed down in the weave chair….but she’s still precious.) Since an American Idol won two Grammys so far, is that the sign of the Apocalypse?? Ok, I just took two Benadryl and I’m getting sleepy …..ROCK ON! (One last thing….Teri Hatcher needs a sandwich.)

Racial Issues are not Black and White

Okay, okay, I know that’s little pun, okay a BIG one. But it’s true. Racial issues and dating are really not black and white. Which brings me to today’s blog. I love the idea of the new Sanaa Lathan movie Something New. Let me be the first to tell you, that the educated, professional woman of any race has trouble dating. Ask any double or triple degreed woman who works hard in corporate America or the legal field or in medicine. Men have fragile egos. Now add in slavery and racial oppression that has lasted approximately 500 years in the Americans….and you have a REAL fragile ego. It’s hard to relate to men who feel they have a lot to prove besides the regular stuff men feel that have to prove. Life is too short to wait for an IBM (Ideal Black Man) as mentioned in the movie. What is an IBM? A black man that is educated, well-read, active in the community, your religion of choice, kind, gentle, strong, works hard everyday, loves his family, the People, and wants to make a difference. See Nationally: Tavis Smiley, Tom Joyner, Ed Gordon, See locally: Olu Stevens, Robert Douglas, Adewale Troutman. But these IBMs are as rare as real boobs in LA. There’re just not enough of them to go around. All but two of the above mentioned men are married. My point? We black women have to think outside the box if we want to have a marriage and family. If we wait for the ideal black man, we could be missing out on the ideal man of any race. We have to broaden our horizons or we will be old, alone, without a family. Past child bearing age with dusty, dried up eggs. Black women have to start putting themselves FIRST instead of upholding this imaginary “black family” that only we care about. We deserve to be happy and if that means being with a white, a Latino, or an Asian man, we should go for it. Being limited has only hurts us. Black men definitely aren’t limiting themselves, remember that ladies. While you are holding on to the bleak and unraveling Black family ideal, black men are marrying outside the “race” at record numbers and leaving that ideal in the dust. Life is too short. Grab all you can with gusto with the time you’ve been given!