One thing that I've done my entire adult life is take long meandering drives. Those drives relax me and give me time with my thoughts. When Imani was about 20 months old, she became part of these drives. Her participation began in June of 2008, when she started waking up on Sunday mornings at 5:30am. For some reason she'd leave her sleeping mother alone and wake me up and say, "Daddy what we doin?" So the easiest thing for me to do was dress her, pack a snack and be on the road by 6:15am or so. Fortunately she's simmered down this summer, so I'm getting more sleep.
Nonetheless, I do need those drives, and what I've recently started doing is twice a week after I pick her up from pre school, we drive through the hills of Mercer County. Recently we were in Skillman. I like the Skillman drive because there are so many huge houses on big lots, that my mind starts to wander and I imagine what it would be like living there. Don't get me wrong, I love our place in Trenton, but I'm thinking we may need more yard space, so why not an 8,000 square foot home, on a 10 acre plot of land? As we passed one of the more beautiful homes, I stopped and asked Imani if she liked that house. She said, "Yeah". Now the moment of truth came. Did Imani like that place better than ours? I had to know. Children don't lie. They speak from the heart. If she said yes, then I'd have to seriously think about leaving Trenton in the next couple of years. How could I pose the question? The best I could do was ask, "Imani, do you want to live in that house?". Imani didn't miss a beat, "No. Our house is big and tall". Not only was I touched by the passion of her response, but since I'm short a couple million, I was relieved. But one thing did concern me. If Imani thinks our house is big and tall in comparison to that Skillman home, maybe I need to get her eyes checked out!
Reverse the Charges
Skillman Sojourn-Imani Files #4
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Back Off Obama
I don't mean to be overly defensive of President Obama. Actually, I have quite a few criticisms, but I just read a Richard Cohen article in the Washington Post that lauds the President for his stance on Iran, but then at the end of the article accuses him of being dispassionate.
What do people want from the guy? He's working his butt off to make the country better, and in order for him to conserve his energy he can't just be jumping around, poppin off at everything that bothers him. But here's the thing, President Obama does show emotion. Just recently he directed his annoyance at Fox News. But more to the point as a biracial child growing up in the seventies and eighties, I'm sure he has his fair share of scar tissue on his psyche. It's a credit to him that he doesn't expose it during these stressful times.
Also, let us not forget, that for all of his talents, this is the first sustained position of leadership that the President has held. It's going to take him time to find his stride and his voice. That's good news for all of us, because look at what he's done already. Imagine what will happen when he really feels completely comfortable in the role.
What do people want from the guy? He's working his butt off to make the country better, and in order for him to conserve his energy he can't just be jumping around, poppin off at everything that bothers him. But here's the thing, President Obama does show emotion. Just recently he directed his annoyance at Fox News. But more to the point as a biracial child growing up in the seventies and eighties, I'm sure he has his fair share of scar tissue on his psyche. It's a credit to him that he doesn't expose it during these stressful times.
Also, let us not forget, that for all of his talents, this is the first sustained position of leadership that the President has held. It's going to take him time to find his stride and his voice. That's good news for all of us, because look at what he's done already. Imagine what will happen when he really feels completely comfortable in the role.
Honey In The MIST
Major props to Nathan Burrell and the Honey Project. When My Image Studios (MIST) comes online and it is at all feasible, we will get all of our honey from Burrell's venture. This is truly inspirational!
The Imani Files #3-Slave To Fashion
Ok, I'm not gonna lie, I like looking sporty as much as the next guy, but in a round the way, rugged style. Metrosexual I am not.You'll never see this brotha arching his eyebrows, or perched at a Clinique station at Macy's. So here we go. Last week, we were at our friends Kenya's and Byron's baby shower( it was a blast by the way) and proto-Obama, i.e. Dr. Randall Pinkett walked into the joint with his wife Zahara and baby girl Amira by his side. I call Dr. Pinkett proto-Obama, because when he won the Apprentice back in 2005, many of us lost our collective minds. We got a Black Apprentice yall! LOL.
Joking aside, Dr. Pinkett is a real nice guy and gets props for that accomplishment. In some miniscule way he was kinda the John The Baptist to Obama's you know who (apologies up front to my fundamentalist bretheren. It's just an analogy though. No blaspheme intended).
Where was I? Oh right, so Pinkett and crew rolled through, and the good Doctah was sporting a very "hip" shoulder bag, that seemed to be the envy of all the women in the room. As shoulder bags go, it was masculine, but yo, it was a frickin shoulder bag, so how masculine can that be? Anyway, Randy (that's what everybody called him) explained that it was his diaper bag. When he said that, all the women were like, oh that's great, my husband should get one, it's so "fatherly". Again, it was a shoulder bag yall. Women wear skirts and carry bags. Men carry bags too, but if I'm sporting a shoulder bag, I assume I'm just going to get caught in a bad pose. I'm not gonna front like I ooze testosterone from every pore of my body.
Nonetheless, the women were cooing about this bag, and of course my betrothed chimed in, "That's a great looking bag, Roland you should get one (it's a shoulder bag yall!!!!)."
Hearing this Randy went into Apprentice mode and asked me, "What kind of bag are you carrying?"
To that I responded, "It's a crimson and cream bag with circles".
Randy actually frowned and said, "Oh brotha, we got to get you straight."
Not sure what he was implying there, but then he handed me his bag and showed me the brand name--Baby Innovations.
I humored him and asked him where he got it, he told me online. Cool.
But here's the thing, and what I didn't say to Randy. The diaper bag I sport was picked out for me by Imani; so don't get it twisted, I'm not wearing a diaper bag to make any type of fashion statement or proclaim my masculinity, I'm wearing it because I'm proud to be a Daddy and just like the clip below, I'm proud of some of the ridiculous things that I wear and do to make my baby girl happy. That's it. That's all the masculinity I need.
Joking aside, Dr. Pinkett is a real nice guy and gets props for that accomplishment. In some miniscule way he was kinda the John The Baptist to Obama's you know who (apologies up front to my fundamentalist bretheren. It's just an analogy though. No blaspheme intended).
Where was I? Oh right, so Pinkett and crew rolled through, and the good Doctah was sporting a very "hip" shoulder bag, that seemed to be the envy of all the women in the room. As shoulder bags go, it was masculine, but yo, it was a frickin shoulder bag, so how masculine can that be? Anyway, Randy (that's what everybody called him) explained that it was his diaper bag. When he said that, all the women were like, oh that's great, my husband should get one, it's so "fatherly". Again, it was a shoulder bag yall. Women wear skirts and carry bags. Men carry bags too, but if I'm sporting a shoulder bag, I assume I'm just going to get caught in a bad pose. I'm not gonna front like I ooze testosterone from every pore of my body.
Nonetheless, the women were cooing about this bag, and of course my betrothed chimed in, "That's a great looking bag, Roland you should get one (it's a shoulder bag yall!!!!)."
Hearing this Randy went into Apprentice mode and asked me, "What kind of bag are you carrying?"
To that I responded, "It's a crimson and cream bag with circles".
Randy actually frowned and said, "Oh brotha, we got to get you straight."
Not sure what he was implying there, but then he handed me his bag and showed me the brand name--Baby Innovations.
I humored him and asked him where he got it, he told me online. Cool.
But here's the thing, and what I didn't say to Randy. The diaper bag I sport was picked out for me by Imani; so don't get it twisted, I'm not wearing a diaper bag to make any type of fashion statement or proclaim my masculinity, I'm wearing it because I'm proud to be a Daddy and just like the clip below, I'm proud of some of the ridiculous things that I wear and do to make my baby girl happy. That's it. That's all the masculinity I need.
Rippin Obama, Rippin Dyson Rippin Obama
As I said, I'm a staunch President Obama supporter. That doesn't mean I can't criticize or can't be moved by compelling criticism. Two critiques from Michael Eric Dyson and Bill Maher did in fact move me. At a later date I'll chime in with my thoughts on their points.
Here's Dyson's clip.
Unfortunately HBO pulled the Maher clip off of YouTube before I could do my video wizardry. Maher was particularly indignant about the President's health care plan. I'm critical too, but for different reasons. Hopefully I can find the clip, and we can rap on it.
Also, though I've included Dyson, he is somewhat of a question mark to me. The following clip to what Star and Buc Wild had to say about Dyson hatin' on President Obama made me laugh out loud. Please note, the language at times is offensive (and profane).
Here's Dyson's clip.
Unfortunately HBO pulled the Maher clip off of YouTube before I could do my video wizardry. Maher was particularly indignant about the President's health care plan. I'm critical too, but for different reasons. Hopefully I can find the clip, and we can rap on it.
Also, though I've included Dyson, he is somewhat of a question mark to me. The following clip to what Star and Buc Wild had to say about Dyson hatin' on President Obama made me laugh out loud. Please note, the language at times is offensive (and profane).
