Octavia Butler Tribute Video::Thanks Hanifah

My closest friends know that the recent passing of the monumental author Octavia Butler shook me quite a bit. I was a follower since I was a child, her shocking imagery, groundbreaking concepts, and bravery for venturing into genres that few Black women dared made her an instant and lifelong heroine of mine.


On Hanifah Walidah's SUCKA FOR LIFE Blog archive Lookit: Octavia Butler Tribute, sis is good and kind enough to share a clip from a documentary being made by Invisible Universe. Hanifah is always good and kind enough to spread some soul-full, spiritual, life healing, slap-a-smile-up-onya sh*t on her site, so if you have yet to be SUCKA'D in, go do so now.

Thanks, again Hanifah.

See previous post: Little known facts about me and why this video is bloody fabulous!

Just Blowin' Smoke

Last week the trusty and ever reliable folks over at the Food and Drug Administration released one of their handy-dandy reports. Somehow they have mysteriously, without providing any documented testing or research, made a report materialize out of thin air that states that it had "definitively established that marijuana has no medical use or value." Really?

I think somebody's high.

Yes, to all of the eager minds who have been asking for so long, then again, some of you might have forgotten the question quite some time ago, the never political FDA has said they have made their absolute, positive, locked-up-tight-in-the-vault decision about the medicinal value of marijuana. Put away your bong grandma, the FDA said you're not fooling anybody.

According to Slate.com article All Smoke,

The FDA's statement implies that the agency reached its conclusion about marijuana after conducting a new serious analysis of the existing scientific literature on the drug. But of course no such analysis was reported in the medical literature and, in fact, no identifiable official at the FDA took responsibility for last week's advisory. It was just put out there as a statement of fact.

They go on to provide this link to a 288 page report of actual in depth documented medical studies and research conducted by National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine (an organization chartered by Congress to provide independent, nonpartisan scientific and technological advice).

Nonpartisan scientific advice. I like the sound of that. About the only thing the FDA's oh so stern "Inter-Agency Advisory" is useful for is backup rolling paper.

Puff.
See Article: Slate.com article All Smoke

Orgasmic Immune Boost

"Hhmmm, the weather is changing and I'm so stressed out I know my immune system is probably a wreck. I don't want to start feeling all run down or end up with the flu, so I guess I should pump up my daily vitamins, fruits & veggies, and orgasms."

Dontcha just love science!

Forget to have your flu shot? Light some candles and put on soft music. "Sex stimulates the immune system," says Dr. Deborah Anapol, PhD, author of The Seven Natural Laws of Love. Recent studies show that regular sex makes you less vulnerable to colds and flu. And for romantic types, tell your partner that prolonged, deep kissing has been shown to lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels in the long term.

Six Ways Sex Is Good for You - iVillage Health & Well-Being

See previous post: Celibacy and the Bitter Barrier

Have The Best Easter Ever !

I'm not a big holiday person, never have been, except for the obvious fact that I get to stay home from whatever job or school I'm probably not enjoying at the time for a day (or in this case a very long weekend, YAY!).

My favorite holiday is Halloween and oddly enough I don't even get a day off for it. Like Halloween, Easter is interesting because it's filled with lots of confusing ancient and modern symbols and more yummy candy than you can shake a stick at.

The warped minds at CRACKED Magazine combined these images into this dainty little animated cartoon (NOT INTENDED FOR KIDS!!) called:

The Best Easter Ever



HAPPY EASTER, Y'ALL!

Impost This!

I just woke up after a restless but well-deserved nap about an hour ago, just to finish the final stretch of this year's fiscal hell called tax filing. I usually don't procrastinate like this, since I've long since accepted this as the annual governmental punishment for being a single renter with no children (as if the monumental deductions from my bi-weekly paychecks and parental reminders weren't punishment enough) and I prefer to just get it out of the way. But my temporary stay out of the country put it out of my head, I guess.

Oh hell, I just didn't want to do it, who am I foolin'?

Anywho, I just completed everything as much as I feel like completing it (I am making a promise to myself here and now that this is the LAST year I do this god awful task myself), I do my little happy dance, and I think I'll read a blog or two even though I know I have to go to work in a few hours and I should go to bed.

The first blog that I open is for A.Word.A.Day and the word is
Impost:

1. A tax or a similar mandatory payment.

2. The weight a horse must carry in a handicap race.

.....That's not fair. I'm going to bed.

Bad Pussy: When Good Kitties Go Bad

Help me, support me, show me LOVE!! Read my **first published short story** on Associated Content!

  It's an epic thriller about this very devious animal here, called Bad Pussy: When Good Kitties Go Bad. Okay, so it's nowhere near epic but it's quite thrilling, really.



If you dig my story PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE send email it, link it, refer me to others!! Others will follow in the near future. Thanks a million!

By the way, do you have stories, poems, songs, videos, art...pretty much anything that you want to publish- AND GET PAID FOR IT? Publish on Associated Content and you can get paid for your original works!

April is National Poetry Month

If you didn't know, ten years ago The Academy of American Poets established April as National Poetry Month! HOORAY!! We can celebrate our calling in the open, we are POETS, no longer the bohemian outcasts from society! No longer shall we tragic poets dwell in the depths of dark coffee houses, shrouded in black and anguish, desperate for the opportunity to share a secret word with a solitary soul such as ourselves.

Then again, black is rather slimming and if I do like me some java...

Anywho, take some time out during this April to visit The Academy of American Poets website and check out the huge variety of poetic resources they have available, including a searchable "Poetry Near You" page and the "POETCAST", a podcast that will regularly showcase selections from their expansive Poetry Audio Archive, as well as new work by contemporary poets.

So fellow poets and poetry lovers, it's safe, really, you can come out now. You're amongst friends.

Wonderfully Twisted Video to Welcome the Week!

Once again, my odd little mind prompts me to post an equally odd little video.
"Genre" by Don Hertzfeldt

So I replaced my morning coffee with some cartoon gore and giggles.

Happy Monday!

Win a Chance to Tour with KRS-One!

THAT'S WHAT I SAID!

Poets, lyricists, spoken word artists, whatever title you give yourself, you have the opportunity to tour with a verbal legend, KRS-One! You or your group can Compete to Tour with The Poet, The Teacher: KRS-One!



Friday, April 21st, in Baltimore, Maryland KRS-One is looking for rappers, and dancers to tour with him in the US and Europe. Your audition will be personally judged by KRS-One, Chief Rocker Busy Bee and other special guests. So bring out your rap skills and your dancing moves, men and women welcome.

For details, including location and registration price, visit Poetology.com

Quit the Bitchin

“Quit the Bitchin’”

“What’s the problem with women?” Don’t look at me like that, you heard me, what’s the problem with women? Someone asked me that recently, I guess assuming that since I am a woman, a Black woman at that, they were going to get a rise out of me and instigate the innate head-whipping, finger-snapping hostility of the angry Black woman that would ordinarily rain down on anyone that would dare condescend to say something was wrong with women. The problem is, I think there is often something terribly wrong, or maybe just terribly lacking, in way too many women.

It can often be hard to say whether or not some women are never taught this trait, or just never learn to fully accept it, but I believe that one of the biggest problems with many women is that they simply do not know how to be, or even appreciate the concept of being independent, and this becomes the focus of their lives. And when you never learn to develop something as basic and necessary as your independence, your ability to fully function as an individual and make your own judgments, no other path in your life can ever be clearly defined. You can never truly know if your choices, decisions, and goals are born from your desires or from those of the people around you because a lack of independent thought has shielded you from yourself.

Too many women are still guided by the need to have someone take care of them either financially, emotionally or physically. We spend countless hours, dollars, and minutes on our cell phones stressing over clothes, hair, makeup, what places to go to, who’s available, and how to hook ‘em. Opposite sex or same sex, the game doesn’t change much.

Some women put all of themselves out there just hoping someone will look their way, even if it’s only for a night. The more flesh and flash they show the better, and they usually go for someone who reciprocates in kind (but often anyone will do). Other women play hard to get and add some mystery, giving the impression not to care but secretly begging someone to catch their eye.

Yes, there are an honest lot who really stand alone, strong, proud and solid in their independence. Whether they are in or not in a relationship, they are self-aware and self-assured and more than capable of a content and stable life on their own.

Most women tell ourselves and others that we don’t need anyone in our lives or beds; we can pay our own bills, take care of our own babies, and do anything else that we need physically just fine all by ourselves. But that doesn’t stop us from stressing or spending or mourning over our dreadfully lonely lives. We read about it, watch movies about it, drink about it, cry about it, and insist we are just fine all by ourselves.

It also doesn’t stop us from bashing and tearing down the character and integrity of the very catch that we are fishing for. We are all still looking for our version of Prince (or Princess if that’s the preference) Charming and using so much energy being angry at the world that (s)he doesn’t exist that we can’t see a true king or queen when (s)he’s presented to us. We still want to believe that the ideal person, the breathtakingly gorgeous, millionaire, financial genius, with the mansion on the hill, summer home in Europe, man with the perfect personality, no baggage, no kids, no ex’s, just all the love in their heart for you (and a wedding ring too!), is waiting right around the corner to just sweep us away into heaven on earth. Screw everyone else, they’re just not good enough.

And we pass these lessons on to our children. Our daughters see us giving our lives and selling our souls rather than stand strong alone, and our sons see what a woman is willing to do and sacrifice for his future affections. They learn young, hard lessons that shape their behavior, for better or worse.

Women need to re-learn and re-embrace some lessons that we tend to forget. First of all, don’t be a hypocrite. How can you ask for a person to come into a relationship with no baggage when there isn’t a single one of us who hasn’t been in a relationship, or family, or childhood who doesn’t have baggage? We all have our issues, and if you think you don’t have issues then that’s your issue.

Along that line, how many of us are breathtakingly gorgeous, millionaires, financial geniuses, with the mansions on the hill, and summer homes in Europe? How many have no kids? It’s just an unrealistic request. It’s asking someone to pick up your slack really.

We need to stop looking someone to fill in the blanks and correct everything that we think is wrong in our lives. We need to learn that we have everything that we need in ourselves to do that for ourselves. Women have the power to start revolutions and movements, lead governments and corporations, be the top in their fields and strongest in their leagues. Women are pioneers and trailblazers, and we have to forge ahead three times as hard in a male dominated society, which just shows our individual and collective strength.

I could list names of female abolitionists, teachers, CEO’s, civil rights leaders, political heads, doctors, religious leaders across nations, cultures, races and generations that have proven that all it takes is the inner motivation first to know that one woman can lift, move, or demolish mountains, but the list would never end.

And last, once we have come to appreciate, respect, and reassert our independence, we need to appreciate, respect, and reassert our opinions on some of the men we may have previously overlooked. I take comfort when I look at my younger brother and nephew. They are two of the youngest new fathers in my family (my brother is also a new husband). They are trying very hard to be good men. My brother actually talks to me (I mean he talks to me, the way a man needs to sometimes but we, as women, don't let them often enough) when he is having problems. Then he feels comfortable enough to go home and talk to his wife. They have a child now and a child on the way and they are happy.

My nephew has two boys in two states that he is taking care of, one that is medically fragile by an equally medically fragile woman, and he moved to another state to be with her and the baby. He travels for hours on the weekends to be with his son and to make sure his sons get to know each other.

These are the Prince Charmings that we were looking for. Yes, they came wrapped up in packages that may have been overlooked by the average woman; intelligent thugs, with their own baggage, but they were just diamonds in the rough. And luckily someone took the time to notice.

And they both have sons....more good men in the making. See how quickly the world can change if we are willing to make the change with it? If we are willing to take pride and strength in our true and natural independence, we might find that what we thought was missing all along was never actually missing. Just buried under a heap of distractions and self-pity.

And for those who just need that hope, think of it this may; maybe, just maybe, if you take the time to focus on building yourself up to your personal standard, then it will be noticed and admired by the person who is meant to compliment your life. Like in the movie, “If you build it, he will come.”

This Ain't Another 'Brokeback' Joke

I am not Bahamian, I'm American. I want to make sure that's clear. I'm only here for the moment, I'm a traveler, a consultant, an explorer of sorts, so just consider me an observer.

As an observer I can say that for those fellow liberal US citizens that feel you are being so terribly smothered by the current Rebuplican administration that is so harshly overrun and overburdened with conservativism, racism, sexism and every other -ism that we spend our lives trying to seek out and destroy, you don't know squat til you do some time in The Bahamas.

The 'Christian Nation'. Land of the Christian Council.

And as such, The Bahamas, along with Jamaica and apparently China, even though director Ang Lee is Taiwanese and highly acclaimed and celebrated in China. Odd. Yes, The Bahamas is amongst the handful of homophobic countries that feels that banning "Brokeback Mountain" will cure or end gayness. However, they aren't quite sure (could be the unusually high number of gay people here) so the movie was released into theaters, ads were released, people went to purchase tickets, then anti-homo-Christian minds were changed, and movie-goers were disappointed.

The Nassau Guardian Online Guide - Brokeback uproar

But then, as wise as ever The 'from the mouth's of babes'....

The same 'young' adults that they want to keep from seeing the movie show a great deal more maturity about the nature of the film and tolerance for diverity and true Christianity than the supposed 'mature' adults. These are the same 'mature' adults that protested and rallied at the docks when Rosie O'Donnell's gay-family friendly cruise visited Nassau for a day, and the good Christians felt that their gay presence and tourist dollar would somehow again convert the population to homosexuality, which of course instantly damns them all to hell. Of course the rally, in the middle of downtown Nassau, only served to scare off Bahamian shoppers (not here, queer, and used to it American Gays!), and upset Bahamian store owners who rely on the business on a busy Saturday. Hmph, that wasn't very effective.

And all the while, bootleg copies have of course been going around the country since the day the movie was released, so it's not hard to get your hands on a copy anyway (and in a couple of days the official DVD will be released so it won't even be one of the crappy copies where they have to keep focusing and some guy is whispering in the background "Now, see, if we were just honest with people we wouldn't end up like them!"--ok, so I had to throw one bad 'Brokeback' joke in there!).

Little known facts about me and why this video is bloody fabulous!

You wouldn't know it to look at me but...

Between high school and college I studied four years of Russian. I still remember a lot of it, although how often does a Black woman get to speak Russian in this day and age.

I absolutely adore vampire books and movies (preferrably books). I like a lot of horror, gore, and thrill actually, have been a fan ever receiving a copy of Stephen King's "Carrie" as a 10th birthday gift, then stealing a copy of Octavia Butler's "Kindred" shortly afterward. Reading material needs a certain edge after that.

And, well, I love rock music. Not all, but a great deal of it. Hell, I'm a child of the 80's, gimme a break.

I haven't seen this movie yet, but I'm going to because this video called to me.... don't be concerned, I'm ok, really. This is the massively speeded up version of the cult russian vampire Horror "Night Watch", the entire movie in 2 minutes.

"Nightwatch"

You just got so much information in such a short time.

YourSpace - MySpace - TheirSpace

You know that I'm there.

Maybe you're there...?

But most definitely they are there. Two groups that the average adult always wants to place in the protective 'cone of silence' for extended periods of time, sometimes years; children and racists. The same two groups that always manage to find the fastest, easiest, and...well, let's face it, most eye-popping, jaw-dropping ways to out-smart and race pass the average adult every single time.

And yet some average adults still insist on acting horrified that 13 year olds and hate groups are pimping the web in daily droves right along with marketing execs and singles looking for love. Geez, it's the internet! Of course, with just a click, they are all up in YourSpace, and like everything else, if it has buttons your kids know how use it better than you do! And if it can be used to further hate or violence, then some militant or martyr on a mission will know how to use it better than you do!

Why am I off on this tangent? Well, as I was reading this in yet another unending series of articles about the growth and filtering of online networks, I realized that while my current 'actual' social life has dwindled horridly (should I dwell on this I just might whimper...Really), my 'virtual' social life is much more active than ever. This is mainly because my present job and freelance work forces me to be on the computer for the majority of the day so I've just gravitated to an 'online life'. (Yeah, it's almost as sad as it sounds, so I'll accept a bit of sympathy if you like.) And in the 'actual' world, when we put "Explicit Lyrics" labels on CD's, have lewd sex scenes in video games, young girls of different colors (Lamb and Lynx Gaede along with Autum Ashante are only a few currently making headlines) barely old enough to have lived in this world but apparently old enough to have been taught a searing rage for it, we have to realize that no amount of sanitizing, website removal, blocks, or guards are going to keep the world all clean and white (no pun intended li'l Gaede girls).

We must adapt to the technology we live in and either roll with it or be rolled over by it. Get with it, it's not YourSpace, and sorry Tom, but it's hardly even MySpace, as usual it's TheirSpace (damn, their 'They' go again!) so just deal with it people.

It's just that new world order.