Have you heard the one about the woman who walks into a (blog) bar...???

Greetings and salutations...

Hope everybody is staying on that daily grind... Be happy. Some folks don't have a 'grind'.

I thought long and hard about starting this blog. What would I talk about? How much time would it require to maintain, and could I be doing something better with that time? I contemplated, then justified all the reasons not to. It just didn't seem it would be my thing.... Although, I AM a writer, so I guess the writing part wouldn't be so bad. But what would it be about??? I honestly had never really followed anyone's blog, so the need to convert wasn't really there yet... Not until more that one elder told me to write and tell my story. They said would be important for me to write, share my stories, ideas, and give insight into the world of this lil African-'African-American' girl. (yeah that was an intentional double African'ism)... Then a few weeks ago I revisited my friend at marioinhydepark.blogspot.com, and it hit me like a ton of bricks!!!!!! Ah ha!!!! I NEED TO WRITE!

NEED was the operative word. NEED. Like a sick craving for something that feels so good, it feels taboo. I almost feel guilty retreating to the solace of words falling to blank paper like the lips of lovers touching like fingers caressing bodies, like....... Okay you get the picture. I not only love to talk, intellectualize simple ideas, and find hope where there seems to be only gloom and apathy (i love that word!), I LOVE TO WRITE! And now blogging will allow me to think out loud through the open window of cyberspace... whatever the heck that means!

It means my family may tolerate me more now that they can share me with the world, and someone else can shock-absorb my musings.

I luv this piece! Milwaukee Ave, Chicago, just east of Western.

It's all in the Jeans....!

Tee hee! Seems our Commander in Chief just isn't much into the whole blue jean look. Recently accused of wearing 'Mom Jeans', (rofl!!!), he does seem to be denimley challenged.

The last picture here is pretty nice though. :-)

It's okay Mr President.... We'll forgive you.... If you can name 5 Harold's chicken locations, you'll be all good with me.... Throw in the chicken shack #'s and you'll have my vote next go 'round! lol

Step Up... Step Up... Everybody step on up.......!

G'day!

So if you know anything about me... You probably at least know I'm very passionate about social justice, individual empowerment, and thinking creatively... about new ways, to solve old problems... with alternative medicine... divine energy, and somehow figure a way to incorporate hip-hop.

It's all the same isn't it? The natural way to wanna live...? Does not everyone feel a higher sense of connectedness. The same desires to do to right by nature... and right by the universe... and abide by the laws of human kind? ......... Okay, so maybe not.... Too bad. Their loss......

But me, I believe, the true magic of life comes when you learn how to not only synchronize all of your elements in play, and with the most divine precision, strike at just the right time, with just enough force, you cannot miss. From the smallest to largest target... You cannot miss! That is what life is about! Learning how to play the game, master the game, gain new skill levels, and advance your position...

Once you realize your goal, your ambitions become more refined, your success greater, and find yourself truly experiencing life... creating more positive outcomes.

Well, at least I do....

That's why I'm so charged... amped... geeked... (whoa, watch out now....! uh, what else.... c'mon... help me out ya'll... uh... stoked)... about the direction I see my generation moving in. Not what we did, but what we are doing. Stepping back up to the plate, taking more active roles in the mobilization of a movement. A movement of headz who understand our role to preserve the sanctity of a culture divinely commissioned to serve as the voice of a generation.

Taking active roles in rebuilding communities. No longer sitting on the sidelines, but using experience, technology, and the evolution of ideas to promote progressive change. I'm personally happy to have the opportunity to use hip-hop as fuel for my vehicle.

So, if you feel like me and feel a need to be a part of the solution.... even if you don't consider yourself 'hip-hop', find your role in the movement and speak it loud, and proud, and clear... for all to hear! There should be no room in your drawers for apathy! It's a nice way of saying 'lame'! (Well, again... according to me... And who am I?... I am the millions of voices of folks fighting for freedom to live fulfilled....) The oldest and still most valid, reason to be active is still as relevant today, as it was 100 years ago. "You can't complain about something, do nothing, and expect change." .....

Oh! ha, ha, ha you're still waiting for Barack Obama to serve you some fried Change, with a side order of hope (with hot & mild sauce)... Then you interpreted the wrong message, SON! His journey is not to rescue us from despair... Now these are just my words, but I think his mission is (partly) to show us that, even the most 'unexpected-seemingly-impossible dreams' can come true. If we could witness a black president and his black family, move into the the White House, then surely one can dream of rebuilding a community... a neighborhood... a block... a family.

That's why I'm so 'pumped' (ha... there's more. lol) about what I can see from my vantage point. So many people, are apparently not getting a good view of what's going on. They say things like, "Hip-Hop is dead and ain't coming back"... Stuff like "Chicago is the home of haters, cos we don't support each other... blah, blahhhh", or worse "Ain't nobody doing nothing no way!!!!"

AHHHHHHH the blasphemy! Many of us are grinding hard... digging trenches with our bare knuckles.... and I'm not even as hard core as some of my counterparts. Those who have been here on the streets of Chi even before Barack Obama rose through the ranks of grassroots community organizer to president of these here United States.

And It Don't Stop, The Movement Continues this year as we host the continuum of harmonious grandeur to fruition. It's happening right before your eyes.... The revolution is intellectual, spiritual, community oriented and progressive... It is marked by change, and how far the pendulum swings when we are in full action.

We're on the move.... And I'm NOT gonna sit by and just watch....
You shouldn't either...

Moving....

ROFL! I'm sorry but that is hilarious to me!!!!!!!

HELLO new blog world!

Moving is always a challenge.

Sorting through....
deciding what to take...
what to leave behind.

Packing carefully the memories
you want to keep, wrapping the really special ones
in outdated words, and advertisements
finely tucked in boxes... and folders, and notebooks, and
cell phones, and on paper napkins written at nite clubs lit by battery operated candles.....

As I pack, and unpack, I begin a whole new jour... journe.......
I begin a whole new jour... journe.......

Ugh! Pardon me while I puke! It's really hard to stomach Christopher Hill/US Ambassador to Iraq. I don't know why we continue to let fools and idiots get face time, and allow apathy to keep us paralyzed. Okay granted he's not an elected official. But dammit there are a lot of people we elect into office, and we can only shake our heads every time they open their mouths... But this dude is a trip! Maybe it's just me, but I would think at some point someone would for once, jump up and yell, "He doesn't know what he's talking about!!!!", "Get him outta there!!!!".... Okay so maybe you aren't packing at 2 o'clock in the morning, don't have cable, and prefer PBS to music videos and soap operas, any day.... but this man has no business speaking on anyone's behalf, let alone Iraqi citizens. I'm pretty disgusted right now! He says he believes most Iraqis are happier that the US invaded their country...! WTF#1... Charlie Rose asked "How he knew they were happier...." (insert drum roll.....) Hill, responded "Through focus groups...among other things!". WTF#2!!!

Okay back to the rigors of moving... and packing...
Checking in to my new space....
My new digs.....
My
new
BLOG!!!!! Okay yeah, I agree, that was terrible! lol

Pardon my dust while I figure things out here at blogger.com and I'll be back with more juicy insight from the vault. Can I say that? Is that was this place is for? lol.

:-)