Addendum for 4/8... Check this out (Click on the tilte "Tibetan Hip-Hop...")...
April 8th, 2011 Just saying... Okay, so what's been up? Let me start with Ladies Night. Last Saturday night about 20 of my friends met at a restaurant on Randolph. My sister, Tracey and a really good friend, Andrea set the whole thing up. We met to celebrate my recent wedding - it was a sort of after-the-fact bridal shower. The restaurant was beautiful, the food was good, and there was a belly dance show that ended in folks, including us, dancing to an unusual type of Middle Eastern Hip-Hop groove. We had a blast! There were a couple of women from each of my walks of life - all from different age groups, professions, and sides of town, but all from the same world of Woman-ness. It's a very empowering experience to stand in and celebrate the woman-ness gift. Yes, ma'am!
Malcom X: A Life of Reinvention (Kelly read it and filled me in, but it didn't change my core opinion)... this is the new book about Malcolm X by Manning Marable. Unfortunately, Marable passed last week a few days before the book was to be released. May he rest in peace. He worked years on this book. I wish he was here today to set me and others like me straight, make us understand. I'm so bothered by our incessant need to find and reveal dirt on folks. If there is a pressing issue that can be helped or healed by finding and sharing intimate personal details of someone's life, then maybe deep exploration about who was in whose bed, for how long, and what they did and how well, would be warranted; however, for the most part who cares? Did he molest somebody? Kill someone? If he committed adultery, then we might question his character and that resolve and conviction he seemed to possess, but how can we be sure of his guilt? Why tarnish this dude's reputation with creative analysis that might be totally off point? No one knows what happened. Malcolm is long gone. He can't refute the info. Folks who are providing the info weren't the folks in the bed, first hand participants, or even Malcolm's confidants. Dag, bruh. Why go there? I hope when I die researchers don't give me a life. Trust that all there is worth knowing has been told by ME. Maybe that's why I tell it all, huh? House hunting... We're looking for a new house. We need more space. Books are everywhere but in the tub in this joint. :-) What a task. I like the suburban feel: the community calmness, space, lawns and curvy streets... but... have you seen the taxes out there. Most of the houses I like have taxes in excess of $10,000 a year. The home I liked most had annual taxes of $14,000+. There was a pond in the back, and peace all around the spot, but good Lawd! We can pay it, but shouldn't; that's just commonsense math. So then, we began to look in the city. I saw a half million dollar house with taxes of only $5k/yr... better, but who will pay the $500k for the home with homes right all up on it - passing sugar from the window of your house to the kitchen of your neighbor’s house... not good. Ahhhh, the pains of reality... the search continues. Now the good stuff... my daughter graduates from 8th grade this year... my son is a senior in college and will hopefully graduate in the fall... these two chillins are extremely bright and self-motivated when it comes to school and studies - I love it! I am very proud of them. On another note, my mother (who has been deceased since 4/09) sent me a wedding gift - go figure - the woman never ceases to amaze me. One of my students, a young lady who was pregnant at the beginning of the semester told me she would be out a week or two at some point during the semester, but assured me she would keep up with the assignments and return to complete the class... this student has been present and more punctual with her work than most of the other students... I love her drive and conviction and I plan to help her in any way I can for years to come. Black Star and TUCC schools, two organizations with which I volunteer, paid me money for services I have and would gladly render for free. I splurged on bras, which I found out needed to be bigger ;-), and towels, which are much softer than I knew towels came, and several other things I didn't realize could use upgrading. Most important, though, is the lesson of affirmation: Don't look to be rewarded or compensated for each and everything you do... just do what you do - do what you can just because you should, and trust that God will provide all that you need, and more. Heeeyyyy! Somebody say "Amen!" Be good, be smart, be easy, Kim D.
Author/Educator. |
