FEEL GOOD FRIDAY

T.G.I. MuthaF-kin' F.!! LOL! I don't know about you guys but it has been a LONG week for me, so I am very happy it's Friday (and I'm ready to swing, pick up my girls and hit the party scene, tonight, ohh it's alright, mmm!) Sorry, was just feeling it for a second...I am in SERIOUS NEED of the girls day I have planned on Saturday with two of my closest homies (manis, pedis, sushi, wine, and shopping, what more could a girl ask for?!!)......Anyway, below I've posted a very interesting clip explaining how our eyes perceive and interpret the world around us. It's a very interesting and interactive clip. Check it out!...And for your further enjoyment I posted two of my favorite songs by my girl Jill Scott just because it was what I was feeling at the moment. Also because I feel they best represent me at this moment in my life... Hope my post helps you make it through your day, or at least something to enjoy on your lunch break...have a safe weekend!!

What Do You Think Wednesday

So Google is in the testing phases of their newest user interface, the Google Wave. It's pretty hard to explain, so for your convenience I've attached a clip from CNN that is discussing the new app. Take a look...





Does this look like something you will want to use? Or does it look too confusing?? Are they trying to do too much? Or does it look like the best app ever? What do you think???

MAKE THAT CHANGE!!!

If you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself then make that change! The only man that really spoke a universal language and brought all races together through his music...RIP MJ!!

~MONDAY MORNING MOCHA~

Are TV and Video Games Raising Our Children??

Long gone are the days when children would be outside, playing in the streets, when you drove through a neighborhood. When I was growing up in the nineties we played outside. Our parents did not let us come in the house, except for a water break. Especially during the summer, we would stay outside all day and wouldn’t return until dark. We played all kinds of games, everything from hide-and-go-seek to games that we made up. It was only on rainy days that we would congregate at one house and watch TV and movies or play video games. But even on those rainy days, we’d play board games or make up games to play in the house. We were creative, we had vivid imaginations and we LOVED to explore!

Now-a-days, it seems as though children just wait to be entertained. They have access to so many stimuli that they have no need to entertain themselves. TV and video games have become the tool that most parents use to entertain (or distract) their children while they are busy doing something or when they just don’t want to be bothered. It’s nothing wrong with a little bit of TV, but it seems as though the only thing children know is TV, video games and what’s on the radio. Children are being robbed of their precious imaginations. And having a limited imagination does not nurture your creative and logical thinking skills as it should. Therefore, they are being robbed of their MINDS and their ability to THINK. And I wonder why this is?? Because the powers that be, don’t want a functioning society that can THINK and are aware of what’s going on in the world. They want a society that stays in their little bubbles of TV, Internet, iPods, video games, cell phones (yes, cell phones!), etc. so they can continue to “pull the wool over their eyes”. I worked at a school for a few years and I was quite disheartened to find out that most children did not know how to spell their name, recite the alphabet, or count to ten when they started school. They did however know the latest songs on the radio and the newest shows on TV. When I would take my group outside for recess, they really didn’t know what to do. They would just stand around and talk. I had to TEACH them how to play!! I couldn’t believe it.

Something is wrong with the parenting in this country. I am not a parent but I do want children some day. And every day I observe parents around me and pick up on things that I will or won’t do with my children. I know parenting is hard work, and that’s why I am not having children until I know that I am ready to truly give up my selfish ways. I think the problem lies in the fact that parents feel like their job stops when they get home because they work so hard during the day. They want to sit back and relax and watch TV themselves. But even though you work so hard all day, you real job starts when you get home. And that job is the most important of them all: raising your children.

Talk to your children, play board games with your children, do puzzles with your children, READ to your children!!!!….I am really scared for the generation of children that are being raised today. These are the children that will be taking care of my generation in the future. And personally, I don’t think they are being prepared at all. Why do you think so many children are A.D.D.? Because they are over-stimulated and over entertained and then you ask them to sit in a classroom for eight hours and pay attention?? First of all, the education system is truly screwed up and needs to be completely revamped (but that’s for another post!), but secondly parents need to start talking to their children; reading to their children; interacting with their children in ways that don’t involve TV. My parents used to read to me and talked to me about things. We would have discussions! I could watch TV, but what I watched was very limited. When I got home from school in the evenings we played outside! Children hardly do that anymore. Playing outside involved some of the best memories I have from childhood.

Now I‘m no expert on parenting or anything like that, but I am worried for our children and it’s not their fault. It’s ours. And I say “ours” because it truly does take a village to raise a child. These are just my observations, things that I think need to be addressed in our communities, especially the black community. We just need to invest a little more time in our children because, I know its cliché, but they are the future. We need to be teaching them how to THINK and make good decisions. We all know that saying: “you can be anything you want to be if you put your mind to it.” Well they CAN’T be anything in this world if they don’t have the MINDS to do so. And those minds have to be developed!! And who has to develop them?? WE DO!

So this concludes your wake-up call in this edition of Monday Morning Mocha! I look forward to a great discussion for “What Do You Think Wednesdays?” and as always, do CREATE a good day…hope you have a great Monday….PEACE!

Feel Good Friday

HAPPY FRIDAY!!!! We made it through yet another week...So this post is gonna be under the category of "Feel Good Friday" and every friday I will post things to make you laugh, or at least make you smile. Because, hey it's friday and we all need a break from reality every now and then :-P ...So here are a few clips I found, you may have already seen them before, but if not enjoy! Have a great day and a great weekend, see you on monday for your Monday Mornin' Mocha...


4 year-old hip Hop Dancer on Ellen...ssooo cute!!


Grocery Store Musical


Finally, this is for my fellow Richmonders: "River City: A richmond rap" (hilarious!!)

Interesting Article on CNN

Ok, so I am a secret science geek at heart...Well I like to understand the way things work and that includes the universe and the world around us. So I stumbled across an article today (on CNN.com) that is about a new telescope that NASA is building that is supposed to see 13 billion light years away. So essentially, this would allow us to see into the past as it would take the light from those stars 13 billion years to reach us. So we would be seeing the stars as they were 13 billion years ago. And scientists are claiming that the “Big Bang” happened 14 billion years ago. So we would be able to see almost the edges of the universe?? My question to scientists would be: Who made you God to say that the edge of the universe is 14 billion light years away. Also, if the light takes that long to reach us, then how are we already here? Did matter speed up and pass light?? I'm confused...science contradicts itself constantly. Maybe we should learn to take a look into our souls and take look around this beautiful earth we are destroying to find the answers. They are all around us, we just have to slow down, listen and observe and stop acting like we are the most superior beings. If we were so superior we wouldn't be destroying our home, we would be living in harmony with it. Most psychologists agree that we only use like 10% of our brains. So imagine what we would know and what we could do if we were able to tap into the other 90% of our brains that we’ve been cut-off from somehow? Maybe that part that we’ve been cut off from is our connection to the knowledge of self and essentially God. That which is of essence in you is that which is of essence in me. We are one and the same… I’m just saying…It’s possible that the Earth is beginning to rid itself of us with the floods, tsunamis, etc…; we have mutated into the cancer that is killing the bigger organism that is the Earth. The Earth has rid itself before, i.e. Ice Age, so I wouldn't be surprised if we are headed in that same direction again, this time it probably won't be ice! But I digress!!...Check out the article below though, it's pretty interesting. It made me think,as you can see I went off on a tangent, lol; maybe it will make you think too...You can’t take everything for a grain of salt…look deeper!


http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/space/08/18/new.generation.telescopes/index.html

Network

Clips from the movie Network, which came out in 1976, if you haven't seen this movie, check it out!! Well atleast check out these clips...

Our Celebrity Obsession

Why are we so obsessed with celebrities? Is it because of the insecurities they make us see within ourselves? Or is it because watching their downfalls and chaotic lifestyles essentially makes us feel better about our own lives? Or maybe it’s because we like to see their insecurities because it makes us feel better about our own. But have you ever thought that it’s our obsession with celebrities that essentially creates the insecurities within ourselves? They SEEM like they have it all, the fame, the money, the beauty, the confidence, and the list goes on. But I have to think that watching these celebrities and constantly admiring them, has to have an effect on us subconsciously and even consciously.

We all sat back and watched Britney crumble under the pressure. Somewhere along the way her mistakes became our entertainment. But the real question is: Does being entertained by these things/people make us shallow individuals? With all the other issues going on in the world today, why do we care about the lives of celebrities? Why do I have to have the E! Entertainment News app on my phone along with the CNN app? Why do we care so much!?

On the flip side most celebrities seek out the fame, they WANT it, and then can’t handle it when it comes. They are attention seekers and they are addicted to seeking that constant approval. I never would want to live in the public eye for the world to critique, criticize and judge everything that I do. But I think that’s why we are so obsessed with celebrity culture because we are all voyeurs in our own way. We love to look at others lives without being an active participant, hence the popularity of reality TV. We love to be judgmental of others, although we don’t like to admit it. Celebrities allow us to be judgmental without feeling bad, because they are people that we don’t really know. But we do know almost everything about them!

Focusing our constant attention on the lives of celebrities gives them a power over us. It gives them an influential power of course. The media knows how influenced we are by celebrities, as they are the ones that are constantly pushing them in our faces…why do you think this is? Well for one they are walking advertisements! And they also keep us distracted from the real issues that are going on in the world (but that’s another blog post). They influence what we wear, where we go, what we eat, etc.

To me celebrities are like the “popular kids” in high school, except they are the “popular kids” of the WORLD. They have everything that you want and wish you could have. Everybody wants to be them or be like them. So we strive our hardest to be similar to them, and we look down on those of us who have broken from the mold and walk to the beat of their own drum…Every day I face the constant battle of trying to break free of the influential hold that celebs have over me. I try to be different, but some days I fall short of that task. Sometimes it’s so much easier to just be like them…So I pose this challenge to you and myself. Let’s DARE TO BE DIFFERENT and break free from the influential hold that celebrities have on us. Let’s open up about our personal insecurities with each other. I think we will find that most people share the same insecurities. Let’s stop passing judgment over people we don’t even know, it’s truly a waste of time when there are more pressing issues at hand!

Thoughts, questions, answers.....????

Something to Ponder...

My next post is coming guys, I've been super busy with school and work, but here is something to read and contemplate in the meantime.... Below are the lyrics to one of my favorite songs (that I'm sure you've all heard before), "Forgive Them Father" by Lauryn Hill. Lauryn has always been one of my favorite artists, not because she was talented (which she was!) but because she wasn't afraid to speak the truth. I purposely didn't post the link to the actual song because I feel like you have to read Lauryn's words first to really grasp the depth of the song...I wonder why she isn't around anymore? Maybe spoke too much truth so the powers that be had to shut her up?? So who do you think she is talking to in this song? I don't think she is generalizing at all. Enjoy!


"Forgive Them Father" from the Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those that trespass against us
Although them again we will never, never, never trust
Dem noh know weh dem do, dig out yuh yei while dem sticking like glue,
Fling, skin, grin while dem plotting fah you,True, Ah Who???

Forgive them father for they know not what they do
Forgive them father for they know not what they do

Beware the false motives of others
Be careful of those who pretend to be brothers
And you never suppose it's those who are closest to you, to you
They say all the right things to gain their position
Then use your kindness as their ammunition
To shoot you down in the name of ambition, they do

Forgive them father for they know not what they do
Forgive them father for they know not what they do

Why every Indian wanna be the chief?
Feed a man 'til he's full and he still want beef
Give me grief, try to tie off my piece
Why for you to increase, I must decrease?
If I treat you kindly does it mean that I'm weak?
You hear me speak and think I won't take it to the streets
I know enough cats that don't turn the other cheek
But I try to keep it civilized like Menelik
And other African czars observing stars with war scars
Get yours in this capitalistic system
So many caught or got bought you can't list them
How you gonna idolize the missing?
To survive is to stay alive in the face of opposition
Even when they comin' gunnin'I stand position
L's known the mission since conception
Let's free the people from deception
If you looking for the answers
Then you gotta ask the questions
And when I let go, my voice echoes through the ghetto
Sick of men trying to pull strings like Geppetto
Why black people always be the ones to settle?
March through these streets like Soweto
Like Cain and Abel, Caesar and Brutus, Jesus and Judas,
Backstabbers do this!

Forgive them father for they know not what they do
Forgive them father for they know not what they do

It took me a little while to discover
Wolves in sheep coats who pretend to be lovers
Men who lack conscience will even lie to themselves, to themselves
A friend once said, and I found to be true
That everyday people, they lie to God too
So what makes you think, that they won't lie to you

Forgive them father for they know not what they do
Forgive them, forgive them
Forgive them father for they know not what they do
Forgive them, forgive them

Gwan like dem love while dem rip yuh to shreds,
Trample pon yuh heart and lef yuh fi dead,
Dem a yuh fren who yuh depen pon from way back when,
But if yuh gi dem yuh back den yuh mus meet yuh end,
Dem noh know wey dem do,
Dem no know, dem no know, dem no know,
Dem no know, dem no know wey dem do

HELLO BLOGOSPHERE!!

I finally made it. This is something I have been talking about doing for some time now. I even set up the page a few weeks ago and had been putting off posting my first entry when I told my girlfriend Tisha today that I was going to go for it and start blogging. What I hadn’t told her was that I had decided in my mind that I would post my first entry tomorrow, yet again putting it off for another day…Needless to say, she then proceeded to send everybody in her contacts an email telling them to check my blog out!! LOL, I love her for that because it gave me the push I needed to just do it and stop putting it off! I didn’t want people to be checking it out and there was nothing posted…So here it is!! This is my blog and it is a blog like the description says: For those of you who want, need and like a healthy dose of reality every now and then…I want this to be a site where we can dialogue about any and everything from current events to race issues to gender issues to politics to relationship issues and the list goes on…I feel that healthy conversation and communication is missing from our society, especially from my generation (generation Y that is; those born between 1982-2000). This generation, aka Generation Next or the Millienials, needs to stop walking around in our little materialistic bubbles (yes, I’m guilty of it too!) and start talking about the issues that are affecting us and this world. Because WE ARE NEXT and we are inheriting a world filled with corruption, hatred, violence, etc….

In my eyes and in my mind, communication is the key, because it is the key to any healthy relationship. And until we start to understand each other and each others’ different perspectives our issues will continue to grow and get worse. So I ask you to take this journey with me in understanding each other and thus understanding ourselves. I have a lot of topics I have been gathering over the last few weeks that I feel need to be discussed. Being somewhat of a conspiracy theorist myself, I consider myself a person of deep thought. I’m not saying in any way that my thoughts are right, but thanks to my father, one of my favorite past times has always been a healthy debate. A man who can not only make you laugh, but can also make you THINK is a truly powerful person…so understand that some of the topics I post may be controversial, some may make you laugh, some may make you cry but isn’t that what you do with all your closest friends and significant others? So, let’s work on loving each other despite our differences and maybe, just maybe a change truly will come….Stay tuned…PEACE!

“When the Power of Love Overcomes the Love of Power the World Will Know Peace!”
-Jimi Hendrix