September 6, 2005
More Katrina Relief Info
Mood:
a-ok
Now Playing: Still Pissed At G.W.B
PLEASE READ EMAIL IN ITS ENTIRETY and PLEASE POST and or FORWARDJoin KEVIN POWELL and special guests as they present a BENEFIT for New Orleans
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2005 at CANAL ROOM
285 West Broadway, at Canal Street
downtown Manhattan in New York City
7PM-11PM
21 and over with ID, and please RSVP to cher_harrison@yahoo.com
Admission is FREE but you MUST bring one or more of the following items for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. These items will be loaded onto a big truck in front of CANAL ROOM and driven directly to Claiborne County Health Center in Port Gibson, Mississippi, run by Dr. Demitri Marshall. It is one of the closest rescue and help centers in the New Orleans area and in a position to really get these items to people in need. PLEASE make sure clothing and shoes and sneakers are new OR clean and in good condition....
Clothing for children and adults
Adult shoes and sneakers
Adult socks
Children's shoes and sneakers
Children socks
Bottles of water
Diapers
Baby wipes
Baby food
Baby aspirin
Aspirin
Vitamins
Toilet paper
Sanitary napkins
Portable radios with batteries
Plastic forks, knives, and spoons
Cotton balls
Cotton swabs
Hydrogen peroxide BUT NOT rubbing alcohol, because that is flammable
Band aids
Shaving cream
Male AND female razors
Blankets
Air mattresses
Sheets
Pillows and pillow cases
Gift cards for gas
Wal mart gift cards
Garbage bags
Cleaning supplies
Soap
Toothpaste and toothbrushes
Flashlights
Batteries
Candles
Books for children, including coloring books
Books for adults
Magazines
If you are placing donated items in a bag PLEASE LABEL. For example, Children's shoes or Adult shoes, or Children's clothes or Adult clothes.
We will NOT be taking monetary donations. See information below on where you can send financial contributions.
CANAL ROOM ownership is generously donating the space but there will be a CASH BAR ALL NIGHT.
Guest deejays, musical performers, and corporate sponsors to be announced shortly
Monetary donations can be sent to these outlets, which we have confirmed are REALLY delivering services to folks in need.
BlackAmericaWeb.com Relief FundPO Box 803209
Dallas, TX 75240
OR you can make an online donation by going to
www.blackamericaweb.com/reliefThis fund has been set up by nationally syndicated radio personality TOM JOYNER
NAACP Disaster Relief EffortsThe NAACP is setting up command centers in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama as part of its disaster relief efforts. NAACP units across the nation have begun collecting resources that will be placed on trucks and sent directly into the disaster areas. Also, the NAACP has established a disaster relief fund to accept monetary donations to aid in the relief effort.
Checks can be sent to the NAACP payable to
NAACP Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund
4805 Mt. Hope Drive
Baltimore, MD 21215Donations can also be made online at
www.naacp.org/disaster/contribute.phpFYI, the NAACP, founded in 1909, is America's oldest civil rights organization
www.teamrescueone.comSet up by native New Orleans rapper Master P and his wife Sonya Miller
You can mail or ship non perishable items to these following locations, which we have confirmed are REALLY delivering services to folks in need....
Center for LIFE Outreach Center
121 Saint Landry Street
Lafayette, LA 70506
atten.: Minister Pamela Robinson
337-504-5374
Mohammad Mosque 65
2600 Plank Road
Baton Rouge, LA 70805
atten.: Minister Andrew Muhammad
225-923-1400
225-357-3079
Lewis Temple CME Church
272 Medgar Evers Street
Grambling, LA 71245
atten.: Rev. Dr. Ricky Helton
318-247-3793
St. Luke Community United Methodist Church
c/o Hurricane Katrina Victims
5710 East R.L. Thornton Freeway
Dallas, TX 75223
atten.: Pastor Tom Waitschies
214-821-2970
S.H.A.P.E. Community Center
3815 Live Oak
Houston, Texas 77004
atten.: Deloyd Parker
713-521-0641
Alternative media outlets where you can get a more accurate and balanced presentation of the New Orleans catastrophe....
www.diversityinc.com
www.alternet.org
www.blackelectorate.com
www.npr.org
www.daveyd.com
www.slate.com
www.bet.com
www.allhiphop.com
www.democracynow.org
www.blackamericaweb.com
PLEASE VISIT all these websites.
Five things you can do to help immediately
1. Duplicate what we are doing elsewhere in New York City, in your city or town, on your college campus, at your church, synagogue, mosque, or other religious institution, via your fraternity or sorority, or via your local civic or social organization.
2. Cut and paste the information in this eblast about
Items needed by survivors of the New Orleans catastrophe
Monetary donations
Where you can ship non perishable items
Alternative media outlets
Five things you can do to help immediately
and share this information, as a ONE SHEET, with folks near and far, via email, or as a hand out at your event, religious institution, and with your civic or social organization.
3. Voice your opinion to local and national media, and to elected officials, via letter, email, op ed article, or phonecall, regarding the coverage of the New Orleans catastrophe, as well as to the federal government's on going handling of the situation.
4. Ask the hotel you frequent, such as the Marriott or Holiday Inn, to give your hotel points to an individual or family in need of a stay for a night, a few nights, or longer, depending on how many points you have. Be sure to get confirmation that your points have been applied in that way. Encourage others to do the same. Also inquire if your airline frequent flyer mileage can be used for hotel stays as well. Finally, either offer to pay for hotel rooms, or encourage others to do so, including your place of employment or worship or your organization.
5. Dare to care about other human beings, no matter their race, gender, class, sexual orientation, religion, geography, culture, clothing, hairstyle, or accent or language. Like September 11th, the New Orleans catastrophe is a harsh reminder that all life is precious, as is each day we have on this earth.
AND REMEMBER that our attention and response to the New Orleans catastrophe needs to happen in three stages...DISASTER, RECOVERY, and REBUILDING. We need you for all three stages.
Media inquiries for BENEFIT for New Orleans....
APRIL SILVER, Akila Worksongs pr.media@akilaworksongs.com
September 4, 2005
I'm Slightly Pleased
Mood:
cool
Now Playing: Corporate Responsibility
I am pleased that the big coroporations I listed in my last entry are doing things to help with the Katrina Relief Effort. I am curious if they are doing more than the U.S. Government at this point.
It is becoming clearer to me that if this type of natural disaster had happen in Texas or someplace where 67% of the population were not black and poor, the current government would have reacted faster in their rescue response. And why does it seem that the only help the government is providing is the deployment of the U.S. National Guards. The national guards are being ordered to shoot on sight armed looters and roving gangs. If the government had reacted sooner, perhaps this type of situation would not have developed. I suppose this is what Wal-Mart and KMart deserve for selling guns. :-/
Is there some law that says that the U.S. Military cannot shoot Americans on American soil? Or did I just make that up from too many U.S. Espionage movies.
more later, I'm sure...
September 2, 2005
HELP WITH THE KATRINA EFFORT
Mood:
hug me
Now Playing: HURRICANE KATRINA WAS A MUTHA
I know we are all concerned about the lack of speed in which federal help is being provided to the victims of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. I did some research, and came up with a list of things you could do to help. Every small bit helps. Have a great weekend and keep yourselves healthy.1. Pray (Mostly, I like to say a little prayer for myself before I start praying for others.)
2. Visit
http://www.networkforgood.org/ for a directory of all organizations involved in the the relief effort and how you can donate to them. Or visit
http://katrinahelp.info/wiki/index.php/Main_Page for general info on helping.
3. Write your favorite AND your less favorite congressperson and senator. Encourage them to hurry federal aide and rescue efforts to New Orleans. You can write the president too, but his helper monkey might not know how to read either.
http://www.house.gov/writerep/ and
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm3. Encourage friends and associates who are looking for family members to search the International Red Cross family registry at
http://www.familylinks.icrc.org/katrina4.
The Red Cross discourages donations of collected goods and individual items for disaster relief except from major corporations who may have a large and nearly unlimited supply. All American Red Cross disaster assistance is free, made possible by voluntary donations of time and money from the American people. You can help the victims of this disaster and thousands of other disasters across the country each year by making a financial gift to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund, which enables the Red Cross to provide shelter, food, counseling and other assistance to those in need. Call 1-800-HELP NOW or 1-800-257-7575 (Spanish). Contributions to the Disaster Relief Fund may be sent to your local American Red Cross chapter or to the American Red Cross, P. O. Box 37243, Washington, DC 20013. Internet users can make a secure online contribution by visiting .
5. Visit
http://www.mercycorps.org/ or
http://www.feedthechildren.org to make donations. Google.com, Yahoo.com, and Amazon.com all have relief effort links where you can make donations.
6. Don't have money but time? Call the Red Cross and see how you can donate your time.
http://www.redcross.org/where/chapts.asp7. See how you can help lost and displaced pets and animals: http://muttcats.com/ ; http://www.kittico.org/ ; and http://www.hsus.org/ (The Humane Society)
8. Write, call, and e-mail the big corporations and ask them how they're going to help with the relief effort. Go to www.hoovers.com to find contact information on your favorite companies. I'd suggest companies like Wal-Mart, Target, McDonald's, Kellogg's, and the oil companies.
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. 702 SW 8th St.
Bentonville, AR 72716 (Map)
Phone: 479-273-4000
Fax: 479-273-4053
http://www.walmartstores.com====
Target 1000 Nicollet Mall
Minneapolis, MN 55403 (Map)
Phone: 612-304-6073
Fax: 612-696-3731
http://www.target.com====
Kellogg's1 Kellogg Sq.
Battle Creek, MI 49016-3599 (Map)
Phone: 269-961-2000
Fax: 269-961-2871
Toll Free: 800-962-1413
http://www.kelloggcompany.com====
McDonald'sMcDonald's Plaza
Oak Brook, IL 60523 (Map)
Phone: 630-623-3000
Fax: 630-623-5004http://www.mcdonalds.com====
Exxon5959 Las Colinas Blvd.
Irving, TX 75039-2298 (Map)
Phone: 972-444-1000
Fax: 972-444-1350
http://www.exxon.mobil.com
August 27, 2005
If I Have Everything I Want, Why Am I Not Happy?
Mood:
sad
Now Playing: Kiki's Self Pity Party
I feel really fucking bad, but not in that suicidal bad way that I felt in 2000-2001. I feel like I need an extreme change. I want to burn all my clothes and shoes. I want to cut off all my hair. I want to lose 100 lbs (that is not a typo I weight 215 lbs and summers are torture because humidity doesn't like big and round). I feel stressed all of the time. I need more money. I need more time at home. I don't like my work schedule. I don't like coming home at 10 o'clock two nights a week. I need a day to myself. I need my eyebrows waxed and my chin waxed and a decent pedicure. I'm angry because a work five days a week and, soon, sometimes six. I'm married with a child, but I might as well be single and childless for all the time I don't see them.
I miss my friends. I miss my old drinking pals from my old job. How can I say what I'm feeling without being judged as being overdramatic or overreactive or a bad mother because this what I should expect? not even the brightest lipstick can make me feel pretty anymore. I'm mad because I'm in the same financial situation I was in ten years ago, but it hurts more because I make twice as much.
I don't know how to cut corners and still make life bearable. Would my life be fun if I got rid of cable completely? Or cut our grocery bill in half by eating egg noddles and kidney beans (although egg noddles with butter is really tasty) every night for dinner or generic Tasty Os and Corn Flakes for breakfast? Should I go back to drinking regular milk that makes me sick because lactose free soy milk costs nearly $4 for a half gallon?
I work in a library but I don't get to read. I want to but I can't.
August 25, 2005
What Is Stealing My Joy Part 2
Mood:
sad
Now Playing: America Is Making Our Girls Stupid
I sincerely believe that each marginalized group in the United States is being distracted by tons of false issues thrown at them by the media to prevent them from rising up and taking their place, as equals, beside white upper class men. There needs to be revolution.
I've come to loathe this teen-youth pop culture "marketing campaign" the media is aiming at the U.S.'s children. Most of the paperback books that come in are trashy, homogenous, and passes through the mind like olestra through the colon. Children come into the library looking for books based on characters from their favorite Disney, Nickelodeon, or Cartoon Network shows (and have a tantrum when they're not on the shelves due to theft). Not everything has to be wholesome or thought provoking, but there has to be a balance. There is no balance. The culture is becoming to one-sided. Children are becoming stupider, and we're feeding into it lock, stock and 2 smoking remote controls.
I'm freaking out because I never thought too much about these things until I became a mother. I'm serious when I say that I'm blocking MTV, BET, and ten out of the 15 cable channels geared towards children. (On a side note, I don't recall watching that many cartoons as child except on Saturday mornings and perhaps an hour after school if an hour...)
I'm off my soap box now. Read the Wall Street Journal article below.===
TASTE COMMENTARY It's, Like, So Totally Cool Or WhateverGirls' magazines are filled with bad grammar, but their content is even worse.BY MEGHAN COX GURDON
Friday, August 19, 2005 12:01 a.m.
Last summer a polite, articulate 11-year-old friend of my daughter's went off eagerly to a week of summer nature camp--and found herself ridiculed and ostracized for what the other children considered her peculiar manner of speech. "She was mocked," the girl's parents recounted, "for speaking in complete sentences."
I had largely forgotten this sad little anecdote until I happened on an online edition of Girls Life Magazine. "Girls Life?" thought I, all innocence. "Why, that must have something to do with the Girl Scouts." An image of wholesome do-goodery, of scrubbed cheeks and Norman Rockwell freshness, rose obediently in my mind--only to sink instantly under a deluge of inane headlines: "Too cute suits!" "Guys, Life, Friends, Body: Real Advice Just for You." "Wanna sound off about GL mag?" "Win FREE stuff! Feelin' lucky? Enter now!"
Guys? Wanna? Feelin'? Ugh! Yet it turns out that Girls Life is indeed the magazine of the Girl Scouts of America (GSA), that high-minded organization originally modeled on Britain's Girl Guides, which itself sprang from the rib of Lord Robert Baden-Powell's turn-of-the-century Boy Scout movement.
Girls Life is a successful stand-alone magazine ("From liking boys to 'like-liking' boys, Girls Life has it all!") and a five-time recipient of the Parents' Choice Award; the copies that Girl Scout subscribers receive contain a special four-page GSA insert. Yet isn't it piquant, even painful, to consider that an organization created to promote children's spine-straightening moral and physical development has devolved into one that through its magazine asks: "Poll Party: Favorite nail polish color?"
"If an article comes in and it's a snore, and just needs to be funned up a little, I fun it up," the executive editor of Girls Life, Kelly White, told the online writers' magazine, The Purple Crayon. "I inject it with words like 'swank' and 'stoked.'" Girls Life, Ms. Kelly emphasized, is "not condescending. Still, we try to speak our readers' language."
No wonder my daughter's friend had such trouble at summer camp. When adult editors talk of "funning up" the English language, when the vast panoply of info-tainment aimed at children parrots and reinforces the cheesiest pubescent vocabulary and preoccupations, what chance does a well-read, well-spoken child stand? In the terrible, gleaming world of adult-facilitated teen culture, talking calmly in complete sentences marks you as a freak.
Teen People asks, "How Sexy Are You?" and "Gotta Hottie Next Door?" Cosmo Girl hosts a "Battle of the Boys: Who's the Hottest?" and Bop magazine online offers a male-as-sex-object game called Frankenboy: "Build your dream boy and e-mail him to a friend!"
But magazines are only a part of it. Watch television aimed at the young and it is difficult to escape the disquieting sense that too much children's programming exists to--well, program children. Nickelodeon and the Disney Channel teach children through precept and relentless example how to preen, how to diss and how, if dark-skinned, to talk Ebonics. Virtually every girl sashays in heels, miniskirts and lipgloss; virtually every adult is an easily outsmarted villain or an eyeroll-worthy chump.
And always, coiled beneath the amped-up happy talk of cool stuff, mean girls and cute guys, is sex. Children groomed within an inch of supermodeldom, with flashing teeth, gleaming hair and sexy clothes, are shown having crushes, yearning for dates and trying to act cool so as to get dates. Though for the misery that often results from too-early dating and consequent backseat fumbling, you presumably have to switch to Lifetime . . .
It used to be that adults talked about bringing children up, of raising them. Today the mass media, with the tacit support of parents, has largely abandoned any effort to lift children up and instead crouches ever lower to what it thinks is their aesthetic and linguistic level. Slam poet Taylor Mali's witty cri de coeur "Totally like whatever, you know?" aptly laments the pandemic brainlessness this fosters:
Has society become so, like, totally . . .
I mean absolutely . . .You know?
That we've just gotten to the point
where it's just, like . . .
whatever!
So actually our disarticulation . . .ness
is just a clever sort of . . .thing
to disguise the fact that we've become
the most aggressively inarticulate
generation
to come along since . . .
you know, a long, long time ago!
Clunky bottom-feeding language is, of course, an expression of clunky bottom-feeding thinking. And when you "fun up" language, you trivialize thinking, fueling the already unhelpful suspicion among young teens that someone who talks seriously is ipso facto boring. So what we have is this extraordinary wave of empty, glittering, funned-up teen culture that rushes children into an ersatz maturity--chiefly sexual--and where the only reward is a jaded heart and an empty head.
The natural defense, of course, is that the purveyors of mass culture are only giving young consumers what they want. Yet it is also true that magazines, Web sites and TV shows do not just minister to taste; they create taste. And here is where adults are grievously culpable, for it is not children who pitch ditzy show ideas, write facile scripts, edit funned-up, dumbed-down copy or crop photos to make Lindsay Lohan's breasts look melon-esque.
It is worth mentioning that this awfulness applies chiefly to girl-consumers. Boy's Life, the magazine for Cub and Boy Scouts (and published by the Boy Scouts of America), is fully of goofy jokes, puzzles, jazzy photos of boys swooshing on surfboards or white-water rafting--even a Bible Heroes comic strip--but there is not a girl to be seen, or alluded to, except a few little-sister-types in the ads. But then, lip gloss, hip inarticulateness and sashaying in heels don't really have male counterparts. So perhaps there is no consumer demand.
When a girl recites the Girl Scout Law, she promises to respect herself and others. Somehow I don't think the founder of the American Scouts, Juliette Gordon Low, would have dreamt this to include having "beach-perfect hair" or "crushing on a Momma's boy." And when there is scarcely a stiletto-height's difference between the magazine vehicle of the Girl Scouts of America and, say, Cosmo Girl, something is rotten in the culture--not teen culture (that goes without saying) but adult culture.
Mrs. Gurdon is a columnist for National Review Online.Copyright ? 2005 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Ed Note: A surprisingly good teen magazine, Teen Vogue.
The Democrats Are Wussies and Other Things That Are Stealing My Joy, part 1
Mood:
irritated
Now Playing: Conneticut Sues Federal Government
State is first to sue over 'No Child Left Behind' law
HARTFORD, Connecticut (AP) -- Connecticut filed a federal lawsuit Monday challenging President Bush's No Child Left Behind school reform law because, it says, no money is provided to cover expensive testing and required programs.
The state is the first to go to court over the law.
"The goals of the No Child Left Behind Act are laudable," said the state's attorney general, Richard Blumenthal. "Indeed, Connecticut has pursued these goals for decades, but the federal government has failed in implementing them."
Blumenthal announced plans for the lawsuit this spring, after the federal government repeatedly refused to waive some of the requirements of No Child Left Behind. The law aims to have every student in public schools proficient in reading and math by 2014.
Mandatory annual testing has been Connecticut's chief complaint. The state, which has been administering its own mastery test for 20 years, wants to continue testing every other year.
"This mindless rigidity harms our taxpayers, but most of all our children," Blumenthal said.
Standardized testing in grades three, five and seven is scheduled to begin this school year.
A recent report projects that the state will fall $41.6 million short in paying for the law's requirements through 2008, but federal officials question that estimate. A state law prohibits state money from being used to pay for the federal law's requirements.
In Utah, the state legislature passed a measure defying the federal law, and it was signed by Gov. Jon Huntsman on May 2. The law gives state educational standards priority over the requirements of No Child Left Behind.
The nation's largest teacher's union, the National Education Association, joined with school districts and union chapters across the country to file a lawsuit this year challenging the law. Connecticut's union chapter is part of that lawsuit.
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Find this article at:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/08/22/nochild.lawsuit.ap/index.html?section=cnn_latest
I have never been a fan of the No Child Left Behind Act because it is a thinly veiled attempt to funnel federal funds for public schools into private, mostly religious and parochial schools. By offering parents vouchers to send children to private schools, the government is denying money to the poor public schools and causing them become even poorer. I am also against it because most of the private schools are of a religious and/or Christian nature, and using federal funds to fund Christian/religious organizations is a blatant attack against the separation of church and state. President Bush and his right wing Republican cronies are trying to force a Christian theocracy on the United States, where everyone must be straight, Christian, pro-life, pro-abstinence before marriage, and pro-using the Ten Commandments to govern the land.
The United States is not homogenous and has marketed itself as a heterogeneous nation where people of all races, nations, religions, and creeds can come to worship freely and practice Capitalism. To go against that is a sin against everything this nation has supposedly built itself upon. To turn the United States into a Christian Theocracy where free thinking is considered an act of treason is a bait and switch. Somebody call the Better Business Bureau. Fuck it! Here’s my receipt, give a me a damn refund.
***
I’m really pissed at the Democratic Party because they are a bunch of pussies. They claim to be against everything the Republican Party and George W. Bush stands for, but they don’t do anything to stop him. They don’t shout loud enough. They don’t make a big enough fuss. They fight each other and continue to act rational in the face of irrationality. Stop leading by quiet, meek, rational examples, and go crazy like the Republicans. Get on television and say what you stand for and don’t back down. Don’t be afraid to take a stand and not waffle. The Republicans do it all the time and they don’t back down. Have some fucking convictions and stick to them, whether or not the press may think you’re wrong. Who gives a damn about the press thinks? Give a damn what your patrons think! Give a damn about what your donators and supporters, like me, think! Be loud, be bold, be brash, and be united in front of and behind the cameras. Don’t gossip about each other like a bunch of mean pre-teens. I refuse to give another dime to the DNC until they show a back bone, and that doesn’t mean pushing Hillary Rodham Clinton as our next presidential candidate. Nobody likes her.
***
To the horror of no one but myself, I have decided not to vote in the NYC Mayoral elections because I don't want any of the candidates to win. I don't like the Democratic nominees because they are professional Mayoral candidates. They have all run at least 4 our of the last 5 elections, and I still don't know their positions. I like Mike Bloomberg but his overzealous and singleminded drive to bring a football stadium or basketball stadium to NYC keeps me from voting for him. We don't need any more people, tourists, cars, pollution or buildings in NYC except some affordable (below $1000 a month)and rentable apartments.
August 17, 2005
Bend Me Anyway You Want Beckham
Mood:
amorous
Now Playing: David Beckham
Who is David Beckham?
I'm not even going to waste your time by telling you who David Beckham is, because you should know him by now by the sheer force of his enormous celebrity. He plays soceer in Spain, but I've never really seen him play. I heard he's good but not that great. I don't know and I don't care. In all seriousness, all I know about David Beckham is that I'd like to fuck his brains out. Or, he can fuck my brains out. Either way there will be some fucking and some brains leaving. :-D
It's been a good month for us stateside, Bechkam but not soceer lovers. He was on the cover of Details and on the cover of ESPN magazine. The stories both say basically the same thing. David is married to Posh Spice and is hounded by the UK media. David really wants to break into the U.S. David is really sweet, humble, and pleased by his success. David isn't arrogant. David is so handsome he intimidates male reporters. David is the world's most famous metrosexual. David Beckham is just so perfect.
Yes, David Beckham is perfect. Reportedly, he wore Posh Spice's panties. Normally, not my bag of tea, but I'd let him wear mine. *blush*
I like David Beckham because he's as dumb as a bag of rocks, but genuinely sweet. I like him because he doesn't seem to care what people think, and seems to be a regular bloke under all of the bling. Finally, because his body and his accent are really sexy.
I hope he does make it in America though because I'd like to see more of him. ;-)
August 10, 2005
The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things--The Book, Not Me
Mood:
bright
Now Playing: Carolyn Mackler's Young Adult Tour De Force
Topic: Book Reviews
As a former undernourished-looking child and a current plus-sized 213-lb woman, I loved
The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things by Carolyn Mackler.
Don’t take a look at the title and lump this book into the Teen Bridget Jones-Chick Lit category. Although it resembles one of those books of the ever fast growing genre, The Earth…is remarkably insightful, introspective, multi-layered, and well written. Carolyn creates a wonderfully multi-dimensional character in the form of Virginia Shreves.
Virginia is a blond-haired and overweight 15-year old who does not fit in with her over-achieving, athletic, slim, and brown-haired family. Virginia is not only an outsider at school, but an outsider at home as well. Like her mindless eating and magazine reading, she encourages the isolation as shield. If no one can notice her, no one can criticize or tease her about her weight. Virginia even dabbles in self-mutilation to deal with the pain she feels about being a fat girl in world where being thin is in.
Unlike other plus-size heroines, Virginia has a grasp of her sexuality and takes a firmer grasp of it as the novel progresses. Virginia makes out with her unofficial boyfriend, and enjoys it even when the size of her body makes her nervous. She also masturbates and is not ashamed feeling arousal towards boys. Mackler writes these scenes, there are a few but not too many, with careful wording. It is never vulgar or sappy. It is plain and unobtrusive.
A tragedy in Virginia’s family forces her to take charge of her mental, physical, emotional, and social health. By the end of the novel, which I read in little over a day, you’re feeling as energized and as unstoppable as Virginia
. The best thing about the book is that Virginia’s boost in attitude has absolutely nothing to do with her weight. (I won’t spoil the ending by tell you whether or not she slims down.)
This is the best book featuring a plus-sized teen girl since Life in the Fat Lane by Cherie Bennett. I recommend it to all teens, regardless of size, struggling with body image and self esteem issues. I also think this book, like Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, would make an excellent choice for a Mothers-Daughters Book Club.
August 8, 2005
THIS IS A BETTER REVIEW OF DIARY OF MAD BLACK WOMAN
Mood:
not sure
Now Playing: ARMOND WHITE'S REVIEW
Topic: Movie Reviews
BV Reviews: 'Diary of a Mad Black Woman'
By Armond White, AOL BlackVoices
"Everybody needs love," Martha and the Vandellas sang back in the '60s. That knowledge is the key to the successful Tyler Perry phenomenon. Writer, performer and entrepreneur Perry combines humor and soap opera, expressing the need to be loved in the new movie 'Diary of a Mad Black Woman.' His winning formula has been seen in the seven stage plays he has toured across the United States and in several direct-to-video releases. So far his productions have grossed nearly $75 million. Black music video veteran director Darren Grant now confirms it for a new medium.
Break It Down: Perry's comic gimmick is downscale but delightful.
'Diary of a Mad Black Woman' feels like the first black-movie soap opera because love stories geared to the experiences and ideas of the black community are rare on the big screen. Nothing in either the blaxploitation movement of the 1970s or the hood movie movement of the 1990s fulfilled the popular taste that Perry sets his sights on in 'Diary.' The story of how Helen McCarter (Kimberly Elise) pulls herself together after being thrown out of her Atlanta home by her cruel, cheating husband (Steve Harris) makes an appeal to a totally different set of audience emotions.
Previously, successful black filmmakers have concentrated on action genres aimed at black male ticket buyers. Perry realizes that there is a vast audience of black female ticket buyers who want another approach to storytelling. 'Diary of a Mad Black Woman' capitalizes on romance the way 'Superfly' or 'New Jack City' capitalized on crime. Helen McCarter's story is about a black woman's personal fulfillment and self-realization, not a black man's egotistical demonstration before the world that he can control his own finances and destiny. The stage plays Perry has written, produced and performed in prove that his concept has grassroots appeal. But what makes it unusual -- and universally successful -- is that this appeal isn't limited to gender.
Part of Perry's secret is that women and men both share the same desire, as Martha and the Vandellas knew -- even if men and women rarely confess it to each other (and certainly not in public). 'Diary of a Mad Black Woman' makes those feelings public cinematically. It starts out like a psycho-dramatic version of 'Waiting to Exhale': Helen narrates about her rich lawyer husband's infidelity like Eve recounting how she was thrown out of the Garden of Eden.
Grant directs the early scenes of paradise lost with a sure knack for soap opera extravagance and pity. No episode of 'Dynasty' or 'The Young and the Restless' is more shamelessly compelling. The image of Helen in a red evening dress being dragged across a marble floor and tossed between the columns of a Southern mansion is so full of drama it verges on being irresistibly campy.
Perry's show biz expertise is in knowing how to maintain that careful balance. It is just at that point -- when Helen's heart can break no further -- that the movie shifts tone. 'Diary' stops being a pity party and becomes a comedy of self-resurrection. It is no accident that this shift is accomplished by the introduction of a new character, Madea, who is Helen's grandmother and the community Big Mama. Large breasted, loudmouthed, strong willed and with a pistol packed in her purse, Madea almost emanates from Helen's subconscious. But she is also a mythic figure from the bosom of the Southern black family.
Madea is bodacious, outrageous and courageous. She is also played by a man -- Tyler Perry himself -- in an audacious act of showmanship. This black Mrs. Doubtfire is Tyler's tribute to the black matriarch as well as to the tradition of black drag performers. He brings both traditions together through the good-hearted notion of celebrating everyone's need to be loved. Helen learns how to respect herself, earn the devotion of a good man (Orlando played by Shemar Moore) as well as the proper handling of an abusive mate. Madea guarantees that these lessons are learned through humor but Perry is sincere when he backs Madea up with another matriarch figure, Helen's wise mother Myrtle played by Cicely Tyson.
In 'Diary,' Perry realizes that the emotional torments used to sell millions of black romance novels also have a restorative, comic flip side. His ingenious gimmick as a cultural impresario is to tickle that funny bone by going back to the roots of folk culture -- the front porch story, the chitlin' circuit revue, the gospel epiphany. 'Diary of a Mad Black Woman' is not profound art, but it combines the great pleasures familiar from the most popular forms of black public expression.
Break It Down: Perry's comic gimmick is downscale but delightful.
Feb. 18, 2005
Find
Armond White's Review by clicking here.
I Guess I'm Not Really A Bougie Black Woman After All--Maybe
Mood:
quizzical
Now Playing: Diary of a Mad Black Woman
Topic: Movie Reviews
To get a better understanding of this post click:
What is BOUGIE?
Today I saw
Diary of a Mad Black Woman on DVD. It is based on one of
Tyler Perry's highly popular "chitlin' circuit/gospel" play featuring his most infamous/famous character, Madea (played by Mr. Perry himself). In New York City, all of these so-called "gospel plays" are shown at the
Beacon Theater. It is almost a joke among Black New Yorkers, because the plays/musicals follow a very traditional pattern. It usually stars a former B-list R&B singer (like Christopher Williams or Me'lissa Morgan) or B-list Black TV star (like Malik Yoba). A woman is usually extremely wronged by a black man. And said black woman usually learns a lesson from the wisdom of her female peers and this lesson has a big walloping dose of God and Jesus in it. Most times, the men are also redeemed. And they always most certainly will play at the
Beacon Theater.
It is also a joke, most secretly and sometimes not so secretly, because Black folk associate those who see these plays as "ghetto" or too poor/ignorant to see something more highbrow (so-to-speak). Half my heart believed this although I saw the last of the
Mama I Want to Sing trilogy nearly ten years ago. (Oddly enough it wasn't at the Beacon Theater but an off Broadway theater in the Village.) Somewhere, somehow, or something convinced me that I was beyond "Chitlin Circuit" plays, musicals or movies (i.e.
Soul Plane). Maybe it's because I never flocked to them to begin with or maybe I started to believe that once a Black man or woman reached a certain educational or financial status, he or she became less ghetto, more white, and thus Bougie and was or should above these things.
I can't go in "da hood" now where I grew up , and expect to somehow be down with folk. I'm a woman with a graduate degree and a seemingly middle class existence that clashes with where I grew up. I often have conflicts within myself on definitions of what it means to be Black or Bougie. I also have conflicts about whether or not growing up in the ghetto makes me ghetto. I don't fit into any pre-determined category. I fit into many yet I don't fit into any. This, on occasion, bothers me.(More posts on this later, I suspect.) No one wants to be the oddball.
And speaking of oddballs, lets get back to
Diary of a Mad Black Woman...It is not your typical middle-class Black movie genre (see movies like
The Brothers, The Wood, The Best Man, Love Jones...) of the past ten years that are geared toward Black people who don't see themselves in the gangster, inner-city, tough reality films like
Menace to Society or Boyz In DA Hood. These "hood" Black flicks and "bougie" Black flicks have a tendency to be extremes of how Black people either see themselves or wish to see themselves (
Love and Basketball may be the exception). Diary...somehow brings both elements together into a cohesive and entertaining film without beating one over the head with its "I'm so Street" or "I'm so Middle Class" pathos. It also retains all of the characteristics and charm associated with the Gospel plays, but it is done so with a light hand.
My favorite part of this movie is its blatant Christian and/or
Moral (by Webster's Definition) moral message about
Forgiveness. It is wonderful that this message is delivered in such a non-Pollyanna fashion. It also is delivered without being a conservative, boring, dull or condemning flick. It serves the medicine with a bit of sugar. I think Diary is a movie that can appeal to nearly all Blacks despite their actual or perceived socio-economic-cultural levels, and appeal to Christians or God-believers who don't consider themselves Holy Rollers.
With all that said, you still probably won't find me up in the Beacon Theater anytime soon. :-)
July 29, 2005
No Jeans, No Polo Shirt, No Birkenstocks, No Service
Mood:
d'oh
Now Playing: The Retirement of the Wannabe Fashionista
As I hitched my knapsack onto my shoulder and re-laced my sneakers, I realized that becoming a parent has both its advantages and disadvantages. On the plus side, you get to tax write off. lol. On the second hand, you cannot dress hip, cool, or very fashionable anymore. And I'm not just talking about the cost of clothing either. It doesn't help either that I'm at a job working with the public and have to be on my feet often.
Last night, I was cleaning out my closet. Rather I was sorting out my closet. Heels, pointy-toe boots, and platform flip-flops? Hell no! How can you balance yourself on those shoes with a 15-lb baby dangling from your front carrier? Forget about the children's library...you cannot do the hokey pokey in a pair of stilettos. (I actually need a sports bra to do that, now.)
Forget about dangly earrings, long necklaces, and ruffled blouses. If you like them you need to forget about them, because a 5 month old baby doesn't have the release reflex. A 5 month old baby has the grab, pull, shake, poop, pee, and drool reflex. A torn earlobe, a broken necklace and a ripped blouse is not worth the pain and repair of trying to look cute.
White pants? Ivory skirts? Fancy hose? *Sigh* It's all in the past now. Dirty books, sticky hands, and bookcases with snags put those dandy items in the hope chest. Also, try carrying a baby in one arm and trudging a dirty-wheeled stroller up 3 flights of subway stairs in white pants, an ivory skirt or fancy hose. There will be rips, tears, tire skid marks, and dirt splotches.
Showing cleavage? Better zip it up or baby will pull the girls out. Even worse, teenage boy patrons will keep looking down your blouse. The worst, you'll make the Hokey Pokey the most obscene song ever with your boobs bouncing up and down with every shake. Can we say "put your left tit in?"
Six years ago I had no style. I dressed corporate. I changed jobs, reinvented myself. Navy blue slacks, pinstripe blouses, wool blazers and black oxfords were given to the charity
Dress for Success. Over the course of 5 years, I paid attention to fashion and make-up. By last count, I had over 60 pairs of shoes including 4 pairs of faux Ugg Boots, 3 pairs of black heeled boots, 2 pairs of mock-croc loafers in pink and red, a pair of bright green pumps, a pair of tweed pumps and a pair of leather kitten heel sandals with a yellow seahorse patchwork. I don't know what happen, but aside from the sneakers, none of those shoes are relevant to my lifestyle anymore. Neither are my purses because they can't fit baby baby bottles, diapers,
and the least issue of In Style magazine.
What should I do? Do I need to simplify my wardrobe and donate all my fancy shoes to Dress to Success or another worthy charity? I dunno. It's a slippery slope. I don't want to be that dull dresser I was before. Yet, how stylish can you be in sensible shoes and wash-n-wear shirts?
At least I can still rock my eye glitter and red lipstick.
July 26, 2005
My Bizarre Hatred of Random Celebrities, Part 1
Mood:
cheeky
Now Playing: Been Long Time Shouldn't Left You...
Topic: Celebrity News/Thoughts
Yesterday, I was watching MTV Hits channel (you know, the one MTV channel that actually plays music videos) and I saw the video for Justin Timberlake's "Senorita" all the way through for the first time. All of a sudden, I found myself in a quandry because I really liked Justin's album
Justified. I like his little blue-eyed, Usher cum Michael Jackson style of R&B/Pop. I'm also looking forward to his new album if he can get up from under Cameron Diaz long enough to do it. However, I hate Justin Timberlake. Currently, he's number 1 on my Bizarre Hatred of Random Celebrities List (BHoRC).
BHoRC:1.
Justin Timberlake because he turned out be such a poseur. He so lusted after and idolized Janet Jackson so much that he let her swing after the Tittygate fiasco. Also, he's supposed to be so diverse and so real that once he went Hollywood, he gets himself the 100% embodiment of your typical Hollywood beauty--tall, skinny, blonde, and airheaded--as a girlfriend. I'm speaking of Cameron Diaz folks.
2.
Cameron Diaz because she's not that pretty or that hot or that great of talent yet she's the highest paid actress in Hollywood? I don't get it.
3.
Toccara, of
America's Next Top Model and Celebrity Fit Club 2, because she's a silly chickenhead. CFC2 has shown and proved it to me. So much for getting another plus-sized model for all us big girls to look up to. Here's a tip for Toccara, girlfriend, get a sport bra.
***
My celebrity ex-boyfriend, Ricky Martin wants to stop the stereotyping of Arab children. Bless his goodwill doing heart. I also like his new song, "I Don't Care," which sounds an awful like it should be on Usher's damn-near-if-not-already-Diamond-selling album,
Confessions.
Ricky Martin Seeks End to Arab StereotypesDiversityInc.com news briefs are purchased from The Associated Press or written by the staff of DiversityInc.com. They cannot be duplicated or reproduced in any way. Our in-depth articles, published six days a week, are reported and written by our staff of full-time journalists.On his first visit to the Middle East, Ricky Martin declared he will try to change negative perceptions of Arab youth in the West.
"I promise I will become a spokesperson, if you allow me to, a spokesperson on your behalf. I will defend you and try to get rid of any stereotypes," the 33-year-old singer told youngsters from 16 mainly Arab countries at a youth conference on Monday.
The children, ages 14 to 16, expressed concern about being labeled as "terrorists" by the West.
"I have been a victim of stereotypes. I come from Latin America and to some countries, we are considered 'losers,' drug traffickers, and that is not fair because that is generalizing," said Martin, who was born in Puerto Rico.
"Those comments are made out of ignorance and we have to sometimes ignore the ignorant, but we also have to educate the ignorant. You have me here as a friend," he said.
Martin, who is a United Nations Children's Fund goodwill ambassador, said he wanted to get to know the youth and their cultures better.
He said he planned to do a concert tour of the Mideast and North Africa, including Jordan and the Palestinian territories, tentatively scheduled for May 2006.
Martin, whose hits include "She Bangs," "Shake Your Bon-Bon" and "Livin' La Vida Loca," posed for photos with fans, at one point draping over his shoulders a traditional Arab kaffiyeh headscarf with the slogan "Jerusalem Is Ours" written in Arabic on it.
"I had no idea that the kaffiyeh scarf presented to me contained language referring to Jerusalem, and I apologize to anyone who might think I was endorsing its message," Martin said in a statement released Monday by his New York–based publicist, Ken Sunshine.
"My role is entirely humanitarian, and I will continue to promote the elimination of stereotyping anyone—be they from Latin America, the Middle East, or anywhere across the globe," he said in the statement.
Martin attended the silver jubilee of the Arab Children's Congress set up 25 years ago by Jordan's Queen Nour, King Hussein's widow, to promote creativity, peace, cross-cultural understanding and tolerance. He said he would like to promote a similar youth congress for his native Latin America.
Martin said he would travel later Monday to Thailand where his organization, the Ricky Martin Foundation, had built 225 homes to protect children orphaned by the Dec. 26 tsunami that swept through South Asia.
"I couldn't stay at home with my arms crossed," he said.
Martin said his foundation also is working to combat child pornography and prostitution worldwide. (AP)
More On Ricky's New Single: I Don't Care
July 16, 2005
I'M ABOUT TO HAVE A GEEKY MELTDOWN
Mood:
happy
Now Playing: The Fountain and Love for Darren Aronofsky
Shut fuck up! My secret celebrity boyfriend's movie is starting to get good buzz. Read up. Comic-Con 2005: The Fountain Trailer First Look
Con attendees get a glimpse of Darren Aronofsky's next.
July 15, 2005 - We love Darren Aronofsky. With just two features under his belt (Pi and Requiem for the Dream), he has established himself as an impressive visual stylist with slavish devotion to story and concept. For the past six years, he has been toiling away on what he calls his "personal passion," the amazing looking The Fountain.
The film has had a rocky start, almost lifting off in 2002 with Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchet in the title roles, but was shelved due to the good ol' standby: "creative differences." Aronofksy seems to have found the perfect cast though with Hugh Jackman as Tom and Rachel Weisz as Izzi. Praise for Jackman has been effusive. Says Aronofksy, "You haven't seen anything from Hugh Jackman yet."
Set in three time periods, 1500AD, 2000AD, and 2500AD, the film follows Tom and Izzi throughout history as they experience love over 1000 years, gaining strength presumably from a fountain of youth represented by a tree. OK, we may be off there, but that's what we gathered from a trailer. Aronofsky himself said to the crowd: "Confused? Well, there's 90 more minutes of the film."
We cannot wait for this one. The few minutes we've seen has some truly iconic imagery, some brutal battle sequences, and an absolutely transcendent moment when Tom (Jackman, bald) is meditating in front of a tree while floating in space. The 5500 or so people in the auditorium became absolutely hushed during the sequence, as if they knew they were watching something special. The film during that sequence recalls the quiet space of Kubrick's 2001, Zemeckis' Contact, or even Douglas Trumbull's Silent Running.
The film should be releasing this fall. Keep it on IGN FilmForce for more information. Check out our exclusive interviews with Darren Aronofsky and Rachel Weisz.
-- Steven Horn
http://filmforce.ign.com/articles/634/634299p1.html
What's With Me and Hospital Shows?
Mood:
celebratory
Now Playing: Scrubs
Topic: TV: The Soft Blue Glow
Last night, the hubby and I rented the first season of
Scrubs, the NBC show with Zack Braff. Talk about being four years behind. We has watched an episode here and there and thought it was funny, but never watched it regularly. We still might not watch it regularly during the season, but doggoneit we will be renting the other seasons when they come out on DVD. It is a funny show. It cracked me up. Also, it's nice to see Donald Faison in a good show. I feel like I've seen him in stuff since 1990.
Now I also hope
House comes out on DVD before the second season starts, because I'd like to check it. That's one show that kept my interest piqued every time I saw the commerical. However, I never watched it. When there's nothing on between 8:30 and 9 p.m., I have a tendency to not remember what I wanted to watch at 9 and cede to my husband's remote control flipping.
You know what should come out on DVD?
St. Elsewhere. OMG! The first three years of that show was off the chain. I'd buy that lickety split. Also, I'd rent Trapper John MD. My whole family would watch that show. My aunt and I had a crush on Gregory Harrison aka Dr. Gonzo Gates. My grandmother on Pernell Roberts aka Trapper John. (What's surprising is that I can remember both of their names yet I can't remember what I had for breakfast yesterday or what I spent my money on.)
I'm Addicted to Books and I Work in the Library
Mood:
amorous
Now Playing: A Trip Down My Bookish Memory Lane
I'm having flashbacks to parts of my elementary school years, when I hung out in the school library during gym--I was permanently excused from gym because of my severe asthma. I'm also flashing back to parts of my high school and college experiences when I got immense joy out of wondering through the stacks--the height of them blocking out the dim flourescent lights above. Especially in college, when I has 12 floors and two sub-basements at my disposal, and I would have three and four hours between classes to kill. Deep down, I was a library geek. Deep down I was that guy from the
Twilight Zone who wanted the world to stop for a little while so he could read without being disturbed. You're reading the blog of a woman who looked forward to 9 months of bedrest during a pregnancy so I would have nothing to do but read.
(Sidenote: I lost the pregnancy--it was ectopic and not viable.)Even before I started working at the library or considering becoming a librarian (which, incidentally, had nothing to do with the fact that I liked to read), I'd hang out at the library at lunchtime. I'd browse the adult fiction--first mysteries (Robert P. Parker's
Spenser novels are my favorite), then the audio books (all the "Classic Literature" my high school was too broke to own), and finally I'd drift into the sociological memoir books (like
Sex and the City by Candace Bushnell or Susan Kaysen's
Girl, Interrupted.) I also had a penchant for "women's studies." In high school, I read mostly romance novels and plays. It was during that gawky era that I became a fan of Tennessee Williams' plays. Until this day, I've yet to read anyone who can capture the human frailties like Mr. Williams.
At work, when I'm helping parents find books for their young children or helping teens find books for themselves, I have to reel myself in because after I help them I can (and will) browse books for myself. Worst yet, I borrow 10 to 20 books at a time. WHEN CAN I READ ALL OF THESE BOOKS? The library is too busy to read at the reference desk, and my commute is too short to really get into a book on the ride to and from work. At home, I'm a wife and a mother of an infant. Not to mention, I have tons of magazines at home waiting for me. Yet, somehow, I squeeze in the reading.
After a near-spat with a patron sent me to the loading dock to cool off for 30 minutes, I was able to finish up the last 75 pages of
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. Surprisingly, I enjoyed the novel very much. I liked the four girls and their character arcs. The book tried to have more depth and food for thought than the current crop of teen chick lit books. When I finished the book, I was both sad and proud of myself. I'm always proud when I finish a book because it is such an Herculian effort on my part to actually finish a book, and I was sad because I wanted to know more about these girls.
Today, during my lunch hour, I browsed through the Young Adult assignment section to look at the hundreds of books that high schools and middle schools have often assigned to their students. I picked up several today--skinny ones so I can get through them quickly.
I picked up Avi's
A Place Called Ugly,
Forged by Fire by Sharon Draper,
The Snows of Kilimanjaro by Hemingway, Brave New World (which I vaguely remember reading but not finishing nor understanding in high school but I blame the teacher for that),
Flip-flp Girl by Katherine Paterson,
The Island by Gary Paulsen (an author wildly popular with both teachers and kids),
Lisa, Bright and Dark (which sounds an awful like
Charolette Light and Dark, the ficitional book about the character Brenda Chenoworth on
Six Feet Under) by John Neufeld, and
The Beast by Walter Dean Myers (also an author wildly popular with both kids and teachers). I'm looking forward to reading them all. That geek that I am.
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