The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

What's good?
I did a "Biggest Loser" competition and went to the finale. The sister who won lost over 40 pounds in 12 weeks!!! Impressive. It was a great night of sharing success stories and eating tasty, properly proportioned food. It's always a tense situation when I go to a church. Somehow there's always a negative Muhammad or Allah speech. But we were right at home and they praised
God without tearing down His other names. Shout out to LeDatta, an excellent writer, who was the first runner up and lost BIG poundage. You look GOOD girl! The other good news is, I'm still going with the weight loss and I'm still feeling motivated.

I'll combine the bad and the ugly for this...it's THAT bad and THAT ugly!
Last year I reported a story that was so sad because some teenagers made a bad judgement call and found themselves in trouble with the law. The mothers of the children were clueless as to how to get help and no one around them had sound advice. After we put thier story in the paper a pastor offered to help. It came with a few requirements for the boys but the mom's took the help, because it was the only help offered. As I was covering the case it seemed like a lot of "weird" things were going on so I called 3 "soldiers" and asked them to attend a meeting that the pastor was having with the mothers to make sure he wasn't leading them in the wrong direction. The soldiers suggested picketing in front of the court house to draw attention to the case. The pastor said no, "We're doing this God's way". Did this dude just presume that the soldiers were not with God??? Then all sorts of drama erupted when the pastors wife got up and talked about how she didn't want anything to happen to her husband if they started calling out judges, etc. "The Lord just sent me this man and I'm not going to let anyone take him away from me!" Pu-leeze! Then a scared member of the church started talking about how she saw the police put dogs on people for picketing. Yes, she did!!! Dog's...sicked on people....in Big City Wanna Be,KY .....in 2006!!! Then the pastor talked about having hundreds pack the court room as a show of strength. He couldn't get 15 "protestors" there on any day. So that was a busted idea! Well, needless to say there was not a protest, no public awareness of the case, and the boys were mistreated by the system and were sentenced on Friday to 15, 16 and 17 years in prison. NOW the pastor wants to hold press conferences and have a justice panel with local judges, etc. NOW the pastor is callling in to radio shows that are giving out misinformation and calling for the boys to get the maximum sentence. TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE.

This is both BAD and UGLY and SHAMEFUL. I feel so bad for those boys, that sometimes I want to put down my pen and take to the streets, but someone has to document this crap and I'm glad to do it with as much "slant" as I can. But really, I'd much rather report something PROACTIVE instead of always getting the REACTION.

Why are people afraid to defend the defenseless? Why don't people become involved based on principle instead of based on relationship to the victim?

My unexpectedly wonderful birthday

Considering this is a press week for us I didn't expect to do much for my birthday. But....I guess my wonderfully insightful husband saw that I needed a break. He reminded me that we don't have anyone to answer to except each other and Allah and that we should push our deadline back so I could slow down. And I did...it was a relief. The weather was georgeous and even though I stayed in all day I get the afternoon sun and sunset in my living room. We have sliding doors in there so there is a huge view and I feel as if I'm outside. My husband let me give him directions to cook our dinner and he had ordered german chocolate cupcakes from Brown's Bakery (highly recommended). After dinner I took a nap and awoke magically in the nick of time for on of my two hours of guiltless pleasure on TV, Grey's Anatomy. (I fool myself into feeling that somehow I'm supporting the sister who created it, but I'm so hooked on her writing skills.) So now I'm back to reality and doing some editing but thought I'd stop in here to give thanks to Allah for giving me this wonderful life and giving me another year to try and get it right.

How REAL radio could change this town!

***Caution--Uncensored music lyrics below***
OK, just 2 days into my XM adventure and I've had a revelation. In my opinion, radio in Lexington is only filthy R&B or country or conservative talk. So there's nothing to listen to except Key Conversations every Sunday at 6pm on 630 AM (that's somewhat of a joke, if you didn't know that's my radio show!) Well, with XM I feel like I am back in The D. I can hear new soul, old soul, Black talk, jazz, world music, everything! It gives me a feeling of connectedness too. Knowing that I am hearing what people all over the country are hearing makes me feel good for some reason. When I listen to the local "urban" station I feel manipulated. Like someone is telling me what to listen to and deciding what Black music is for me. OK, I'm rambling but HERE IS THE REVELATION.
A few years ago I was telling someone that we are all going to pay a price for feeding the youth this diet of filth and disease we call music. Can you imagine going to see a doctor who just finished listening to "Wait'll you see my dick"? What about your child's teacher listening to "Pop that coochie" during lunch? Or worse, your daughters date coming to get her with Akon's un-cut CD playing "I want to fuck you" as they ride to the movies? This diet of music is changing how we see each other. Wouldn't you rather the teens hear Cameo singing, "We're going out tonight" or Jaheim's "Put that woman first"?
Since getting our radio, my husband and I have been sitting around sharing memories associated with certain songs. We're just feeling normal again. We can turn off the TV and listen to some good music on a real sound system. Not just the Internet radio we were forced to settle for and to me this is easier than trying to make my own playlist for an iPod. I like having a dj and if I don't like what's playing I can switch stations, unlike locally. As you can see, I could do a commercial for XM. But I really think the lack of "diversity" in music and talk choices for Blacks here is playing on our collective psyche.

Why a blog?

I know, I know, I hear you talking to your screen.

Yes, I write and talk for a living. What else could I possibly have to say? LOTS! Mostly, I get tired of being neutral and need to let some things out.

And I want to give perspective on being a working Black woman. I think we give too many excuses for what we don't accomplish. The truth is; if it is important to us, we get to it. If we really don't give a damn, but it's important to someone else, we make excuses. If we don't give a damn and no one else gives a damn, we just skip it.

Now before you judge me and say that I'm trying to be superwoman, just calm down and keep reading.

I'm saying that I am 3 days before my 38th birthday and I'm being reflective and honest. Honestly, I need to lose some weight. I've lost 16 pounds but I haven't really tried hard. I could do much more. I have a company that is not where it could be but I'm doing other stuff with my time like doing this blog and programming my new XM radio. It's almost 1 a.m. and I still haven't finished cleaning my kitchen. But I know this and I'm about to do something. I guess what I'm trying to say is, let's keep it real people.

Most of us can do way more than we are doing and I'm looking to be inspired by those who are living their best life or at least striving.

I'm looking forward to this...join me!