My Favorite Things

"Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favorite things..."
^ My Favorite Things, Rodgers and Hammerstein musical 'The Sound of Music' (1959).

So after watching 'The Sound of Music' and listening to Maria sing about her favorite things I feel like sharing some of my favorites too. So here goes:

Favorite books:
Waaay to many to name but...
*The Art of War by Sun Tse. My guide to life.
*Anything by James Patterson-specifically the Alex Cross series. James Patterson is a monster with a pen. I kid you not.
*The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon. This one is serious...discusses the effects of colonization on the psyche of a nation. I re-visit this when I feel like self-exploration and getting deep.
*Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga.


Favorite movies:
Again, too many to name but...
*City of God
*Oldboy (the cinematography in this one is bananas)
*American History X
*Scarface
*The Godfather Trilogy (classic)
*The Leaque of Extraordinary Gentleman
*The Departed (hip hip hooray for a Boston flick :-))

Favorite musical geniuses:
*I'm a serious Jay-Z fan. He is the truthhh, Adele, Jill Scott, Erykah Badu, Beyonce (she is the baddest bitch in the world-I swear. I'd marry her!),Santigold, Res, Common, Little Brother, Mos Def, Robin Thicke, Goo Goo Dolls, Dave Matthews Band,Raheen Devaughn, Boot Camp Clik, old school Mobb Deep...

Favorite foods:
*french fries & chicken (real steriotypical right? lol), sushi, chocolate, strawberries & nutella!

Favorite drinks:
*pepsi, french vanilla coffee,arizona iced tea, armaretto sours, apple martini, hennessey & red bull

Favorite places to be:
*in my SO's arms when such a person exists, @ a museum discovering something new, lost in my thoughts, out on the town w/ the ladies...


Now comment & tell me what you like.

Her Letter to Hip Hop

Some of this is absolutely beautiful and other parts gave me mixed feelings but I'm gonna share it with the world nonetheless. She's talented. Hip Hop you know I love you unconditionally just like I love the hood-for better or for worse. I mean after all, I was raised by the rhythm and blues...but as usual that's just my truth...

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"I thought Hip Hop was supposed to be a means of poetically expressing yourself. But it seems these days, you'll say anything to get your CD off the shelf. So let's toast with champagne and good blunts for your health, but first..tell me why?"
-Bridget Gray

D'où Venons Nous? Que Sommes Nous? Où Allons Nous?

At the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, in the corner of a painting by Paul Gauguin, are three questions: "D'où Venons Nous? Que Sommes Nous? Où Allons Nous?" In english these three questions translate to: "Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?" So simple but so profound.

Where do we come from?
What are we?
Where are we going?

I've seen the painting many times before but never did those three questions strike me the way they struck me today. Before I thought I could answer all three questions with ease but today I realized that where I'm going is a question that has yet to be answered completely.

This year has been so hard for me ya'll. I mean really, you have absolutely no idea. My father had a stroke in December for goodness sakes and shit gets deeper than that. But though 2008 was marked with adversity it was also marked with success. Despite family problems and other issues I managed to keep afloat. I've shown and proved that I can meet any expectation and face any challenge. My experiences have taught me how to prevail under even the most extreme circumstances. I'm grateful. But how can that be? What is it about us humans that make us so determined? So ambitious? So resilient? I've hipped you to my background in previous posts and given you a little of my story but where do you come from? What are you? Where are you going?

Really sit down and marinate on that-where you were, what you are and where you will eventually be. And then, after you've considered it, be thankful for it. Raise your eyes to the heavens and scream that you're happy to just...be. Tell your parents thank you for their guidance, smile at whoever you happen to be around and then thank all the Gods for what you will eventually become. I'm not religious but I know there's something out there bigger than me-and I know it's just waiting for me to realize what I can be. As for where I'm heading, well, that's a question I cannot completely answer. What I can say is that I'm thankful to have come as far as I have and I know wherever I land success is sure to follow. After all, you don't sacrifice what I've sacrificed to half ass anything and that, my friends, is my truth :-).


So World, consider this my official thank you for allowing me to be a part of you.
What am I going to do with what's been done to me today?

Sea of Strangers

I'm not alone but yet I feel so lonely...
Feeling like I'm by myself even though I'm in a room full of people.
I'm surrounded by bodies but that's exactly what they are---empty shells.
Small talk and casual conversation.
Nigga, you don't know me at all. You haven't even scratched my surface.
Ever feel like you're swimming in a sea of strangers?

Black American Princess

Black American Princess: (n) or (adj.), often abbrev. BAP 1: an African-American female whose life experiences give her a sense of royalty and entitlement 2: an African-American female accustomed to the best and nothing less.


^ An interesting way to describe a woman who grew up in the hood and has worked her ass off for everything she has huh? I don't think so. I hope the world understands that there is a difference between poverty and poverty of SPIRIT. Money has never limited me-I've done everything I've ever wanted to do, my parents made sure of that. I went to the best schools, got my travel on...the world is bigger than dollars and cents. Personally, I believe that education and true love are true wealth. Believe it. As soon I get this first degree we're on to degree number two and then three and then bigger and better things. Stay tuned.

Anyhoo, I digress. This black american princess theme came from a quote a friend sent me yesterday ( I collect quotes) that I've been pondering. Here goes:

"History has placed us all, Northerner and Southerner, black and white, within a common border and under a common law. All of us, from the wealthiest and most powerful of men, to the weakest and hungriest of children, share one precious possession: the name American."
-John F. Kennedy

^ Isn't that absolutely precious?! And not just because I'm from Massachusetts and in love with JFK lol. Location nor race nor economic status can separate us. We are all American and all bound together by the fabric and fundamentals that make this country so grand. How awesome is that? I feel real connected at this moment. Do you feel it?

<3

What's Really Real?

Have you ever gotten the feeling that some of the people you know (online, in person or otherwise) you don't really know at all? Kind of like if you met them a year earlier or in high school they'd be different people? I don't know man...maybe it's just me and maybe it's because I've run into my fair share of nutcases but sometimes I just feel like I'm surrounded by a bunch of fakers and pretenders.

I know ya'll know what I'm talking about. The snotty nosed, mute kid from high school all of a sudden transformed himself into the boss on your college campus or some random comes and tells you that your acebooncoon is a jazz afficionado and you ain't never heard the fool listen to a second of jazz.

It just really begins to bug me after awhile listening to people sit behind computers or on the celly-telly and just yip yap that ying yang when I know they don't even really feel like that. Be you! Everybody trying so hard to be something special that they end up being run of the mill. You seem cool as shit online...end up speaking to your ass in real life and conversation ends up being dead as hell. You got blogs for days but your actual people skills are worth shit. Get offline and stop trying to be cool on the net-get up and be cool in real life. I love connecting with all of my people online but the truth is that life is meant to be experienced, not just documented.

Is it so wrong to be original? So odd to have a little personality or say something real? Jesus was different. As was Newton, Einstein, Dr. King, Kennedy and Ghandi and all are equally as great in my eyes.

Or maybe I'm the one whose got it twisted. Maybe what matters is not what you are and where you're at but rather where you're going and where you want to be. We all have the potential for progression and growth. Who am I to freeze people in time and decide that who you are today is forever who you'll be. And if you do change who am I to say that what is authentic is who you were when logic would say that what you are now, most recently, is what is improved and therefore valid? What's really real? Maybe 'real' is another one of those ideas that is subjective because what is real to me may not be real to you at all. Notice that my blogspot url/twitter name is 'mytruth' and not 'thetruth.' Shit, the pure and simple truth is never pure and rarely simple.

Just something to think about.