Self-Dickmatization, Another View of Great Sex and Poor Judgment
In her 2011 album “The Light of the Sun,” my girl Ms. Jill Scott put it down, as usual. Hitting her audience with that sweet, sultry voice with sobering words and cadence, Scott not only grabs attention of your ears but your heart. What I’ve always appreciated about Jill, as a poet and a singer, is her ability and willingness to express the unadulterated truth of her experiences with life and love. Her lyrics are so honest that they tell the kind of stories we can all understand, even if we don’t want to hear them.
The carefully embedded and powerful term “dickmatized” in Soctt’s lyrics caught the attention of fans and critics alike and for no other reason than the fact that it resonated with those who heard it and could be honest enough to recognize the wrong reasons they have stayed in dead-end relationships. In short, the conclusion is that good sex can cloud your judgment and have you doing things, saying things and going places that you know are not aligned with who you really are and what you really need. Read the rest of this entry
A Memo To Whites Who Wonder Why People of Color Need Community
Dear White friends and family, if you don’t understand why people of color have their own organizations and initiatives geared toward people who look like them, you don’t understand race relations in our country. You can argue that it’s not fair that we have created our own networks and communities when our nation gets to a point in which you yourself are continuously called to investigate your own privilege and the racism that continues to permeate the major facets of our society. As long as we have people of color who are forced to navigate a largely white-supremacist society and culture, the support and community we receive from those who are like-minded and like-colored remains invaluable for most…
White With a Capital “W”
Several years ago I took a course on the life and work of Malcolm X. I studied Brother Malcolm in the context of the Civil Rights Movement and studied the intellectual, political and spiritual transformation under which X had gone. His radicalism especially in the earlier phase of his activism has certainly cast a large shadow over some significant parts of his legacy leaving him an often unmentioned figure in not only popular American History, but the history of the Civil Rights Movement that is celebrated in mainstream society. Understanding my political ideals, a dear friend of mine recently said that had I grown up in the 50’s and 60’s she believes I would have been marching with X before King. Read the rest of this entry
Spring Cleaning In Summer
the rug that sat in the center of my living room is now downstairs in the dumpster. it was and still is a large beige area rug that i purchased from ikea last year when i got this apartment. at the time i was swiping my visa card left and right purchasing the things i thought i needed to make my apartment a home. that area rug along with many other items i purchased served a purpose for me in that moment. those items were physical manifestations of my desire to have a complete living space and i accomplished that… Read the rest of this entry
Taking Flight
i’m running… and not because i’m afraid of being here but because i’m afraid of becoming comfortable in this life. i feel like i’ve been doing what i expected to be doing. sometime ago i created a plan for myself with accomplishments and goals that sounded impressive and seemed to be something i could strive for. i was young, black and looking for instead of looking at myself in a world that seemed perfectly immune to the creative spark that hid within me. i write poetry but i don’t share it and behind closed doors i dance and sing and act and think of ways to express my belief in human good and compassion through the arts, but you wouldn’t know these things because they’re not the kind of things that i was taught to put on my resume. Read the rest of this entry
Burning Bridges
The past, when it is ugly, can be a weight too heavy for one to carry into the future. Abstracting a much needed lesson from the darkness can bring us into heavenly light. However, the source of such darkness can be laid to rest. I’ve been walking around with steady footsteps wondering why occasionally my legs grow weary; why I sweat when it is cold outside; why I struggle to breathe at moments when the present and future are standing right before me. Read the rest of this entry
A Liar in Scotland: Comments on “A Gay Girl in Damascus”
The use of blogs has become incredibly popular over the past decade as a forum that allows the common citizen everywhere to express their views and share their experiences with anyone who has access to the internet. While some use this space as a sort of public journal and others provide tips and advice on topics ranging from baking to managing stress, some folks have taken full advantage of the wide-reaching community of bloggers and viewers to entertain themselves. Tom MacMaster takes sadism to a whole new level. Read the rest of this entry
On Adele’s 21 at 24
I’ve never written a piece about music specifically, but Adele’s sophomore album “21″ calls for celebration. With it’s heart stopping beats and pure lyrics, Adele strings together vocals and instrumentals into an authentic tapestry of fine art. It isn’t hard to find good music these days if you know where to search. While the radio has been taken hostage by popular artist who rose to fame because of their ability to throw a few rhyming words together, real artists like Adele remain committed to producing music that flows from the heart and a mind rooted in more than simply what may sound good to audiences. Truth and purity are appealing to the ears of music fans across the world, making artists like Adele appreciated all over the globe. Read the rest of this entry
Crybabies: American Politics In This Age of Emotionalism
Anyone who watches the news at least once a week should agree that the script for our complex international community has played out like a witty, sarcastic, gut-wrenching, and mind-boggling dramatic sitcom so far this year. Natural disasters have become far too common, which is only partially outside of the human locus of control, and the war in Libya has once again encouraged at least part-time rational Americans to question the true intentions of the Obama administration in their “humanitarian” efforts. Let’s not forget that as soon as you think the season just might end, the screenwriters got together and decided to throw in a possible government shut down. Read the rest of this entry
Lupe Fiasco’s Socially Relevant Illogical Proposition
It’s hard to find “socially relevant” artists in general, but especially within the music industry. I use the word artist with a fairly narrow scope considering the fact that most people who would call themselves artists are in actuality money hungry entertainers with little to no values as their principle guides in their work who fit perfectly into the industry’s precut frames. In any case, among the slim selection, one hip hop artist whose music I have a great respect for is Lupe Fiasco. In the year 2011, anyone who can lay thought-provoking lyrics over hot beats that will make you at least tap your feet while your eyes are opened by each bar separated by precise intentional pauses that make you hungry for more knowledge deserves a huge round of applause. Of course standing out isn’t difficult in today’s entertainment field. All you have to do is sound vaguely intelligent and be able to touch on at least two current events during an interview. Read the rest of this entry
