I got music on my mind....

I am so excited I can hardly contain myself. It's such an exciting and invigorating time for music these days! There have been quite a few quality albums to drop over the past few months, including Finding Forever, Eardrum, Graduation, and the highly anticipated The Real Thing: Words and Sounds Vol.3 (I'll discuss her later). I originally was going to start off talking about music in general and throw in a couple of my honorable mentions. But I'm absolutely ecstatic about the new Keyshia Cole album Just Like You, and I'm compelled to use up my personal space to talk about her for a few reasons. The first reason is that her album is just DOPE! The music is amazing (her producers did the damn thang), the beats are hot, her voice is beautiful, and she does a great job at bringing a since of realness and vulnerability to her songs. She amazing at what she does, and what she does is bring heart and soul to her lyrics. Keyshia wrote all of the lyrics on this album and her voice conveys the set of emotions that are associated with her lyrics. The second reason I want to talk about her is because she does not get nearly the Kudos or exposure that she deserves. I honestly believe that with time she will be the next MJB. Yeah I said it. She has heart and she has talent. I honestly don't know anyone else on the scene right now that brings the integration of soul and hip-hop like she does. With some professional development (she needs to check her attitude sometimes, lol), a label change, and someone who truly can work to get her some decent gigs (106th and Park ain't IT) she can become a superstar. GET HER ALBUM!

I also listened to the new Jilly Album, The Real Thing: Words and Sounds Vol.3 . It's hot stuff. It's not anything we haven't heard before, but the music is certainly enjoyable. She brought a whole new meaning to sex with this joint. I couldn't believe my precious ears....but I won't lie...that ISH got me hot. It's definitely worth adding to the collection. But don't expect any songs like "Lyzel in E Flat" or "Cross My Mind"...they're not there. But there's a whole lotta baby makin' music to keep you preoccupied.

And last but not least, I am TOTALLY DIGGIN' Lupe's sarcastic jab at the retarded music industry. "Dumb it Down" is fiyah and he's doing us true music heads all a favor by shouting from the roofs everything all of us want to say to the corporate execs that insist on feeding us garbage. The Cool comes out soon...it will be mine when it drops.

Michael Vick: Justified Tar and Feathering? I think NOT!

As a black woman I feel that it would be wrong and irresponsible not to comment on the Michael Vick fiasco. I won't write a long blog about this because there just isn't enough room or time for me to express the level of emotions that I have about the situation. But I will take the time to say that as much as I love dogs (I own one), the amount of torture and humiliation he is experiencing is nothing compared to the acts he is being charged with. Vick represents my brother, my father, my uncle, and my friends. He is a young black man who is being lynched (yes I said it) for something that is being practiced all over the country (predominately by white people). He made a mistake. He made a dumb decision. We all do. And he is paying a huge price for it....and doesn't deserve it. "Castrate Vick" is what their signs say.... Are you SERIOUS??!! HELL NO! THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE!!!

No matter what anyone says, we have not progressed that much in this country. It truly IS hard out here for black men (educated or not) and my heart goes out to all of them. Today my mother told me how she always told my brother that if he gets pulled over by the police for him to keep his hands on the steering wheel at all times. This is a reality for our men. How many white parents have to warn their sons about this? Asian parents? Who was there to warn Vick?I love our black men. I cherish them, I empathize with them. And more importantly I SUPPORT them. Interesting how all of this is happening on the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina....Keep your eyes wide open folks.

Professionally Unprofessional

There is a strange phenomenon going on that seems to be plaguing America's corporations. Some companies are failing to take the time to contact the candidates they have interviewed. Why is this? Why is it that so many companies are leaving many of their potential candidates wondering what happened? Does the extra 30 seconds to call or send an email to say "we picked someone else" or "you're not a good fit" really that difficult?

I've had a few people tell me stories within the last week related to this. In fact, it happened to me earlier this year. They go a little something like this (names have been changed to protect the offended):

Story 1: Jane interviewed with a large global financial company and received a phone call two weeks later from the representative who stated "we are still deliberating and plan to call you with results this coming Friday". This coming friday turned into....never. The candidate called about 3 weeks later and the same representative said "Didn't I talk to you already?" (clearly not otherwise Jane would not have called back). She continued to say" I'm sorry, I don't know where my head is these days. We decided to pursue other candidates". What would have happened had Jane decided not to call back?

Story 2: Bob also interviewed with a large corporation and received a couple of interim
phone calls stating that Bob would be notified shortly. The notification never came. In fact Bob sent a follow up email asking about the status of the position and also asked about a weather incident that occurred in that location. He received an email response about the weather. But no response about whether or not he got the offer. In fact, he has not received a response about it to this day (and this was 2 months ago).

Story 3: At the end of Peter's interview, the representative told him "you did a very good job! You should expect an offer. But we'll get back to you". The company never called Peter back. Peter called back 3 times to check on the status of the position and each time they said "We're still working on it but we will call you as soon as possible". Mind you, peter is expecting to get an offer based on what was told to him at the end of his interview. Peter ended up receiving an offer from a different company and before accepting it, he wanted to see if the previous company would still make him one. Peter contacts his friend who works in the department that he interviewed for, only to find out from the Senior Manager that they did not wish to make him an offer. Poor Peter...he had to find out from his FRIEND that he was rejected.

These are true stories and I am sure that there are several others out there like this. And granted, not every company behaves unprofessionally in this way, but It seems as though I am hearing a lot of complaints about this these days and would really like to understand the rationale behind it. If any of you work in recruiting or some HR/ managerial function please comment and help me understand why companies do not have an extra 2 minutes to simply say "no".

All in the name of Jesus??

Ok people....it was only a matter of time before I wrote something like this and I'm a bit emotional from a recent situation so I will try to be as rational and reasonable as I can while writing this. The issue of Christianity and "church folk" is a sensitive spot for me for several reasons (which I won't go into in this post). My conviction and belief in Jesus as Lord is one that will never change, no matter what anyone near or far perceives. There is no doubt in my mind that he is every reason why I exist and why I am blessed the way that I am . And if it weren't for my personal encounter with him, I would convert.... (I can hear gasps from miles away...even the faint sound of oil pouring in a jar as someone waits eagerly to lay hands on me).

If anyone is authorized to talk about "church folk" it's me. Why? Because I used to be one, of course. And now that I no longer am, I can clearly see the flaws that so severely plague believers and, more importantly, non believers. I am not here to discredit the Bible or its contents, but to seriously challenge the interpretations and the corresponding approaches to this religious lifestyle.

"Church folk", in a nutshell, are self proclaiming Christians (more specifically, protestants) who spend most of their time enforcing and upholding the Christian doctrines/values/structures/traditions of other people than they do actually enforcing and upholding these things for themselves. Many of them are self appointed judges while residing in glass houses. If you do not fit their mold of a Christian you are "out of order", "in sin", "disobedient", and the worst of all NOT SAVED (or not Christian). And mind you, their ideals differ depending on which church or denomination you are. They each have their own set of rules. But generally this seems to be the practice across the board. The focus is more on the "works" of man than the actual deity of Jesus (which stifles the works they seek to observe). Ironic isn't it? I've listed a few more characteristics below:

1) The term accountability is used as an excuse to control and manipulate people into living righteously without allowing room for the individual to receive conviction, understanding, or spiritual wisdom on their own
-i.e. Showing up on the doorsteps of someone's house to prevent them from going on a date because it is after 9pm (yes this did happen...and it happened TO ME).

2) Once you get saved (the act of receiving Christ as Lord with no requirements accept to believe), you must start to continue to work and live according to the Bible in order to maintain this salvation (the very thing you DIDN'T have to work for to receive).

3) They highly encourage the giving of your money to the church, but find fault when members ask to see proof of the budget and how money is being utilized.

4)Doctrine is more important than the Biblical teachings
i.e. No Secular music
No Drinking
No dating
Must stand up/sit down/sing/don't sing/pray in tongues/don't pray in tongues to be saved

5) Their idea of evangelism is to convert the outside appearance and behaviors before simply leading people to a better and more peaceful lifestyle and allowing God to transform them how he sees fit.

6) Churchy cliches are often used in regular conversation, regardless of the audience.
"Glory to God"
"I'm blessed and highly favored"
"I plead the blood"
"The devil is a liar"

Wanna know the funny part about all of this? These people don't even realize they fit this list.


I heard on the radio the other day that there is a church in Minneapolis who is coming out saying that the bridge collapse is God's judgment on the city for supporting homosexuality (the same thing was said 6 years ago about 9/11). Really? And again, even if per chance God was judging them and decided to allow the bridge to collapse, wouldn't Jesus want you to show LOVE and use that as an opportunity to show them HIS love? And there are many Christians who love to judge in that way because it validates who they are and makes them feel more secure about their heavenly seat-the seat that they themselves did not work to receive. Oh how quickly we forget where we came from, and how close we are to falling........


The point I am trying to get at is this: judging and striking people (believers and non believers) with the religious rod is ineffective and irrelevant. Everyone has their own approach to Christianity and if they differ from yours, that's fine. But please stop trying to make everyone look like "you". Stop assuming someone doesn't know the Lord just because you heard them curse. Try talking to them instead of handing them a track. Find out what's going on with them and why they are cursing/stealing/sexing/fill in this blank. Get to the heart of man, learn his spirit, and study his soul and point him to a better way. Know when to say when and leave well enough alone. LOVE him. Now THAT is what Jesus would do........


writers note: This post is in no way an attempt to excuse or support anything currently written in the Bible, but to expose the error of our ways and to illuminate and hopefully eliminate the ironic perversion that takes place in the Christian community.

I'm beginning to smell the scent of field turf......

I am so incredibly excited right now! This is the time of year when I change my home page to www.espn.com and I begin to talk trash over IM about how my precious Carolina Panthers will overcome one more season. Yes folks, it's the dawn of football season-the greatest time of the year (besides my birthday of course ;-) ). Unfortunately my boyfriend is not a big fan- he sold his soul to the NBA devil. So it's my turn to hog the remote and make incredibly loud noises on Sunday afternoons. There's nothing like the sound of colliding helmets and whistle blows...and the sight of those pants.....sigh. I digress. I must admit that as much as I love the sport, I'm not into it enough to play fantasy football for money. I still get some names mixed up and I don't keep track of statistics that often. But I damn sure know a good game and a good team when I see one. Are the Panthers where they need to be? No. Will Eli Manning have his day of glory? I hope so. But they both have a shot at redeeming themselves this time and I can't wait to see it. This will be a great season...as long as the Cowboys don't make it to the playoffs..........

Welcome To My World

This is the first of many many posts and serves to give you a glimpse into what you can expect going forward. My blogs will be extremely random and will cover a plethora of things. Hopefully you keep up with current news, otherwise you will have no idea what I am talking about. But to guide you along where I may be going with some of my topics, I thought I'd make a top 10 list of my thoughts (in no particular order...except for #1):

1) George W. Bush=Bubbles
2) Global Warming is Real- WAKE UP and GO GREEN
3) HBCU's need to step up or shut down
4) Capitalism is the new opiate of the masses
5) Corporate America is our new slave drivers
6) "Church Folk" are no longer relevant (not Christians...but "church folk"...there's a difference)
7) Domestic abuse is real and not nearly discussed enough
8) There really is a difference between black people and niggas
9) Paris Hilton Coverage=Proof of America's demise
10) Successful Black Marriages DO exist

As I said, you may be offended. You'll either love what I say or hate it (like liver and onions). Until next time people.........

Note: I am human and am open to correction and am receptive to opposing view points. Feel free to comment in a RESPECTFUL and VALUE-ADDED manner. Cuz if it's not, ya ISH get's deleted. Enjoy!