Coming Down the Pike

I never have time to actually post any coherent thoughts here anymore. In fact, it's 8:53pm right now, and I have one more hour to work before I need to get some sleep. I'm already starting to fade out, so I thought I'd post a quick overview of a few topics I plan to blog about over the next few days. This way when I actually get around to blogging about them, maybe I'll already have my thoughts outlined in my head.

Women of Faith Conference 2009 I attended this with one of my best girlfriends. It was held this past Friday and Saturday at Philips Arena here in Atlanta. She invited 9 of us to attend with her. This event changed my life in a way that nothing ever has before. And I just have one more word to leave you with: Luci. :-) More to come.

General Election I have never witnessed anything like this in my life. Of course, none of us have; this has been a time of history being made at every turn. A co-worker of mine pointed out recently that no matter who wins the election, I will have a historical moment to be proud of. I never thought of it that way before, but it's true. Either a woman will be vice-president or a black man will be president of the most powerful nation in the world. Yet, this has been one of the most stressful times I've experienced socially.

Race, Race, and...oh yeah, race I have a few things to share that I've experienced recently that have actually given me a different outlook on how race affects our daily lives. And no, I'm not talking about the election this time.

Keeping Secrets I've never been asked to keep a secret this huge, but I am a woman of my word. It will eventually be revealed to others, but in the meantime, I am carrying somewhat of a burden. Not just by keeping the information to myself, but for other reasons as well.

We'll see how I do about getting this all posted over the next several days. Until next time!

Don Imus: First and (hopefully) Final word

Update - 4/20/07

I found an interesting article about John Kerry a few days ago. First off, he is a liberal, which is synonymous with a general, unwavering support from blacks. Yet, he agrees with me regarding the Don Imus situation. He doesn't think that Imus, who is also a known liberal, should have been fired. If I were a liberal, I would probably be offended. Thankfully I'm not. :-)
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I've read so many opinions about the Don Imus "controversy". The assortment of views regarding this situation has been somewhat comical to me. A few such ramblings:

"Don Imus only used that phrase because black rappers use it, or variations of it all of the time."

"Only certain people are allowed to use the certain phrases."

"Don Imus was only fired because of the way that Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson overreacted."

And the list could go on based on everything I've read/heard over the past week. Here's my feeling about the matter in a nutshell, albeit a rather sizable nutshell. Don Imus is not the leader of the free world. He is not my father. In other words, his existence doesn't have a huge bearing or direct effect on the outcome of my life. The words he said were very ugly and uncalled for. I felt a horrible disgust at the thought of what these young women must have felt when they first heard that this statement was made about them. But I stand by my feeling that Don Imus should NOT have been fired from CBS.

He's a shock-jock for crying out loud. That's what shock-jocks do! They keep pushing the envelope to get a reaction out of people. Don Imus was essentially fired for doing what he gets paid to do: offend and insult. Here's my caveat though. If Imus ended up losing his job due to the fact that the sponsors that pay for advertising on his show all decided to disassociate themselves with him, oh well. That would have sent a better message. The sponsors have as much of a right to associate with whomever they wish, as Imus has to say whatever he wishes. But to have notorious race baiters incite a lot of the misplaced anger onto Imus was ridiculous and unfair, in my opinion.

Basically, a huge can of worms has been opened. La Shawn Barber makes a very good point: When did blacks become so fragile and easily wounded by words? Michelle Malkin lists lyrics from current music that spews phrasing similar to what Imus used. But I think that my husband, Chris, put it best of all. He reminds us that no person should ever place an expectation on another to treat him/her better than he/she treats him or herself. Excellent advice for all situations!

Trainwrecks A' Plenty

This has been a busy week. Let's start at the beginning shall we?


Crystal Gayle Mangum - Infamously known for accusing three members of the Duke University Lacrosse team of raping her. This is one of those cases that everyone knows is a farce almost immediately, but no one wants to say it and risk sounding harsh or uncaring. The charges against the three men were finally dropped yesterday. Immediately afterward, the stripper's name and picture were plastered across mainstream media television. That wikipedia picture of her is horrible; surely there's a better picture of her somewhere. But if I had gotten to see that photo from the moment these allegations were first brought to life, I could have told you immediately how the rape situation actually went down.

Mike Nifong - After months of race-baiting, and going after the three young men mentioned above with no evidence to support his case, not to mention hiding actual evidence that was damning to the prosecution, the North Carolina District Attorney finally gave up and removed himself from the case. After the NC Attorney General announced that the charges were dropped yesterday, Mike Nifong stepped forward this afternoon with an apology to the Lacrosse players.

Don Imus - Don, Don, Don...come on now. What on EARTH were you thinking? No, you don't have to be a politician to get raked over the coals for misogynistic, racially charged insults. I have a separate post coming tomorrow about Don Imus. CBS fired him today as a result of the outcry that captured headlines.

Howard K. Stern - Well, he had hoped that he could intimidate everyone into just giving up and going away while he gained sole custody of Baby Dannielynn Money Bags Nicole Smith, as I call her. He was all "lawyery" ( a word I made up) and was pretty convincing until everyone saw a picture of Dannielynn for the first time. She is Larry Birkhead with a smaller body. The announcement on Tuesday that he is the father came as no surprise. I hate to be crude, but does anyone want to start countdown clock ticking down until the moment someone finds Larry Birkhead keeled over on a sofa at Starbucks, or something, from an accidental overdose? Just sayin'.

Congratulations Indianapolis Colts!

What a great Sunday this has been.

I went to church this morning and taught Sunday School by myself, since Chris has been really slammed with writing papers and briefs and getting little to no sleep. After Sunday School while still at church, I ran into my friend Lisa, and we decided to go grab a coffee from Starbucks. We had a wonderful time!! Sitting in a cafe in the middle of downtown Vinings on a beautifully crisp, sunny afternoon with a great friend. I wish I could do that more often!

Once I got back home, Chris and I had a great afternoon together. We have so much fun when we can just focus on one another! We eventually woke up the kids from their naps and Chris went to get an array of items for us to devour later that evening for our Super Bowl viewing.

We watched the 1st half of the Super Bowl while munching on hot wings, hot dogs, chili, french fries, pita chips, and hummus. So I will be hitting the gym extra hard this week! I spent the entire halftime show wondering who to write to and send my vote to have Prince perform the halftime show EVERY FRIGGIN' YEAR. That gorgeous purple guitar he used during "Purple Rain" greatly contributes to the rocking of my world. Best performance ever!

Oh, and Chris faded out by the beginning of the 3rd quarter. He started getting all 'serious law student, gotta be up by 5am, responsible parent' on me. We cleaned up downstairs, got the kids into bed, and 20 minutes later Chris was sound asleep. You know he was tired if he fell asleep on his Chicago Bears during the Super Bowl!!!

I stayed downstairs to watch the Colts finish whipping on the Bears. The happiest moment I've had in quite some time was the postgame show. I watched two of the nicest guys I've ever seen (Tony Dungy and Peyton Manning) give glory to God for both tonight's victory and for this team's entire journey together. As Tony Dungy pointed out, this was a chance for the world to see two Christian, black coaches (Bears Coach Lovie Smith is a Christian also) do things the Lord's way. Amen, brother!! I love it and I'm just seeping with pride right now!!

The only thing that worries me is the fact that Olan and Cassie were still awake about 5 minutes ago, and Chris and I will be waking them up at 5:30am sharp! Based on this alone, tomorrow may not be such a good morning; lots of prayer will be necessary for us to have another shot at the Best.Week.Ever. :-)

"Attitude reflects leadership". - Remember the Titans