Wakowwwww!!!!!

That's my battle cry... u like?? =)I started a new martial arts class last night. You know how I take trapeze, right? Well, they are shut down for the summer and I need to get a jump on physical activity before the first day back. I'm so weak!!!

I'm taking filipino stick fighting! bitches! =op I've wanted to learn a weapon for some time. I have taken in the past kempo, fencing (sabre and foil), tried capoeira, hurt myself in muay thai and fell asleep in thai chi. Trapeze is currently the love of my life. We'll see how a feel about stick fighting in a few weeks. -mel

Wakowwwwwww!!!!!

Rats vs Man

In the News....

In Mumbai rats seem to be making a power play for the city. :)The city is being over run by the small creatures. There aren't enough rat catchers to slow the tide.

I like rats. They're smart. I think they are the smartest of all the rodents. When living in Indiana, I saw a rat slyly walking along the side of a building. It had to be around 7 in the morning, and he was taking his time. I thought he looked like a guy sneaking away from a woman's apt after a night of anonymous sex. ;) A few years later, in Chicago, I was downtown late. It was around 9. And I see a rat about to cross the street. He was standing on the empty side walk, looking both ways nerously. When he got the all clear, he bolted. He reminded me of a guy out for a night on the town who parked really far from the bar. ;)

I read rats are very similar to us behavior wise. They’re surprisingly self-aware. They laugh when tickled, especially when they’re young, and they have ticklish spots. I read they know what good sex is, they know what bad sex is. (That has to be the funniest thing I've read in ages.) And when they have reason to anticipate great sex, they give you every indication they’re looking forward to it. They wiggle and paw at their ears, hop and dart, stop and flash a come-hither look backward.

Metacognition, a talent previously detected only in primates has been seen in rats. They recognise what they know and what they don't know and size up their odds. When presented with unfamiliar situations rats for the most part err on the side of causion.

Rats don't have a size. They grow according to the food supply. So in theroy they can get huge. The biggest I've heard of got to the size of a cat, and took down pigeons. I want to see a rat take down a pigeon.

Anywho...all that being said, we should respect our neighbor the rat. One day, who knows, they might figure out how to use the internet, start wearing pants, and take over the world. They already have Mumbai. -mel

Rats in India!!
Rats are people too

What 'Black' Looks Like

In The News....

Just heard a great interveiw on NPR about Colorism in Latin America.
Audio File

It brought up very interesting things about Afro-Latin people I didn't know. For example, in the Dominican Republic blackness is determined by hair texture and not so much by color. But one thing is universal, no one wants to be called 'black'

Growing up in the time and place that I did. Being black wasn't the big issue. Being dark was. No one wanted to be dark. At the same time, no one wanted to be light. Being too light was just as bad. There was a safe place in the middle, a brown place that was safe for me as a child to sit. And I needed that place, because my cousins were cruel little heffers. I remember thanking God I was brown. My mom was light and my dad was dark, that left me with a color that fell in the middle of the black people spectrum. I have family that didn't.

My cousin Barbara is and was dark. Her younger sister was very light. The fights they would get into would always end up with one being called 'black' fill in the blank or 'yellow' fill in the blank. The daggers they threw were harsh. They would yell..."you black spook!' and "you yellow dog!". I'd sit very still and try to be ignored. That shit hurt and I wasn't even in the fight. 'You're so black you bleed tar' and 'You're so yellow you glow in the dark' Attacks on something you have no control over stays with you.

It's worse for girls. Being light is thought of as fem and dark masculine. Someone's color can determine if you date them or have kids with them. From the interveiw I heard it's very similar in Latin countries with lots of black people. But one thing is different. Since they don't have the black American history of black pride and general mild distain for white culture, being really light is ok.

I feel for the little girls in Cuba or The Dominican Republic or Brazil or any other coutry that has a color class war going on. I imagine they are praying to be lighter and have stright hair, like I was thanking God I was somewhere in the middle. -mel

In The News...

Oh...My...God

I just read an article that slaps of white arrogance and money privilege. The longtime chairman Ralph Papitto, of the Roger Williams University board, admitted Monday that he had used the N-word during a board meeting, saying it "kind of slipped out."He apologized, and I guess when asked about it again said, 'I apologized, what else can I do kill myself?' Ha! This old buzzard has balls. He's 80.

Papitto became irate when he discussed pressures to make the board more diverse, at one point using the slur to refer to black candidates. Anywho, he recently stepped down not because of the slur, but because of his age. If the story had ended there, I would have been content, no anger. But it went on.

He later said he had never used the term before. AND THIS FUCKING QUOTE."The first time I heard it was on television and then rap music or something," Papitto said. Now see... this is where I get angry. Why the fuck is he lying??? He is 80 years old, my ass he's never heard the word before!!

And the reason I'm not as upset about him saying 'the n word' is because he was born in 1927. Back before we were colored people. I think we were negros or negras or something like that. I'm guessing he got angry and had a 1950's flashback... I can't get mad at old people who say inappropriate things when they're angry, you see I have grandparents.

More specifically I have a grandfather who says things I close my eyes to and shake my head at, but he's 85. Wha'cha gonna do. He's been saying Oriental and Chinamen all his life, you think I'm gonna get him to say Asian?? Nope. Espeacially when he's mad.

The arrogance and gall it took to say he never used the word before, AND he never even HEARD the word before he saw it on tv or heard it in rap music gets me boiling. He must think everyone but him, is either stupid or crazy to say that shit with a straight face. This guy was eligible for social security before rap music was even invented. He's so the guy who gets caught cheating, mid sex act and then says, 'It was an accident!' This man needs to own his bigotry. It's not like we're gonna be all shocked. To him I may be a nigger, but I'm not a stupid nigger. And he's an old privileged bigoted lying bastard. Yeah, I said it! I own my words.

Article

In The News...

Yey!! Naked People!!

Did you know that in Vermont, the are no laws against public nudity. I say, 'Good for them!' =) But appearently some people are less than amused. Teens have taken to lounging naked downtown. Old men go to art fairs wearing nothing but a fanny pack. Ha! The town this all is happening in is thinking about creating a new law to ban this behavior. Boooo.

I say...It's cold there what, 9 months out of the year? And after being snowed in forever.. whats the harm in a little naked stroll?

There hasn't been a need for a law in the history of the state, lets let this one go. =) It might even help tourism. I know I'm seeing Vermont in a whole new light now. - mel

The Naked

Can I Get a Break?

last night mel and i received a business card covered with images of in/famous black lesbian and bisexual women. on the far right side behind bold lettering was a picture of what strongly appeared to be nell carter. i pushed it aside, ignored it. we talked about the other women on the card, who they were, "that doesn't look nothing like bessie smith"...but nothing about nell. time passes. mel points and says that looks like nell....
von: I don't know what you're saying.
mel: but von, why is nell car....
von: I DON'T KNOW NOTHING ABOUT WHAT YOU'RE SAYING.
mel: von, that is ....
von: I DON'T....
mel: Nell....
NOTHING 'BOUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i remember watching gimme a break as a kid. i loved nell carter. i so desperately wanted to be that fucking joey-from-blossom kid. i wanted her to grab me and place my head deep within her busting bosom as she held me and told me it was going to be alright....before vacuuming my bedroom floor. when i was driving home, mel called to tell me that yes it was nell carter and as she googled her, despicably whispering 'nell carter LESbian' as she typed, it was not NEW news to me that she had died poor and had 2 adopted children with her secret lesbian lover. i realized i had read that when she passed several years ago. but my mind just couldn't wrap itself around the idea that nell fucking carter, yo feets too big nell fucking carter, white boys nell carter, give me a muthafucking bitch ass g-damn break nell carter was a lesbian!! WHY IS THAT!??!?!?!? her presence to me is warm like a mothers. even though i have a wonderful strong courageous mother whom i adore greatly, i still wanted to be a part of nell's tv family. i wanted her to give me that shocked look, vibrant laughter and sing to me when i was down.

in a related side note, i saw a MOST AMAZING BLACK GAY TV SHOW last night entitled The DL Chronicles. Now, initially going into this i already had my arms crossed, lips pursed ready to be pissy as a baby beyotch. however, this episode was the best written black material i have seen in almost ever LET ALONE it's achievements as black GAY material. the acting, the story, the REALNESS!! the sexy love scene. wow. there was also a storyline in this episode that correlates to my feelings for nell carter's queerness. a father was closeted from his college aged daughter. his ex-wife knew before they married but they both believed his gayness could be cured by staying in the marriage. before he acted out in his homosexuality during their married years, the father shared with his wife the situation and they split up. BOTH agreeing never to tell their daughter. well, of COURSE the now college aged daughter sees her father giving his secret boyfriend a kiss on the forehead and questions the boyfriend about his relationship with her father. she was upset, torn, everything wasn't okay. and when her father and she finally sat down to discuss it, he said that he was trying to protect her, but she in turn said no, he was trying to protect himself. protect himself. he lied. and that is the issue at hand. for so many years she believed her father was one thing. she felt sorry for him that he never dated after the divorce thinking he was still hung up over her mother. so she treated him with a gentle approach of kindness and understanding not normally provided a father at all times. however, their relationship could have gone in a different direction had she known of her father's gayness and the real reason he never dated women after her parents' divorce.

nell, it is with a similar heart i approach thee. why didn't you say anything sooner? i would have still loved you. i do love you. and i love what you provided me in my youth and as an adult by being a fucking amazing actress and singer of the stage and screen. however, i feel such an emptiness that i never knew you as you truly were. so many years were removed from the deeply prolific faux relationship we could have had. it would have been so much more amazing to have known a black lesbian existed, you didn't have to be out of the closet with a flame attached to your ass. but you could have just been here. in the irreverent words of ms. celie from the color purple. i'm black. i'm a woman. i may even be ugly. but i'm here. I'M HERE! damn it nell, i wish i knew you were there.

-von

In The News.....

People are Dumb!!!!!

More specifically, this one guy is dumb. He has to be one of the dumbest people I've ever read about in the news. An attorney in California sued somebody, I don't know who, about the trademarked name, 'Dykes on Bikes'. His reasoning being the name was "disparaging to men" and "scandalous and immoral." The judge ruled the guy didn't have the right to be offended. Because he doesn't. Dumb ass.

O.k., everybody's entitled to their own opinion, but how on earth is the term 'Dyke' disparaging to men???? I have no clue how that conclusion was reached. Baffled!! I personally don't like to use the word 'dyke'. I don't use the word, 'nigga', unless I'm driving home a point. But I respect the notion of minority groups reclaiming ugly words as their own. It takes power away from mean people who use words to hurt.

It's kind of obnoxious that this guy is jacking 'dyke'. When has the word 'dyke' EVER been an offensive term towards men??? Did I miss something??? Did 'dyke' change definitions??? Did I miss the memo?? Maybe that's it. Dyke is no longer slag for lesbian. Dyke's new definition is old, ignorant, balding, bored, pasty, stupid, homophobic, idiot. And with that being true, this lawyer guy should be offended. They are obviously talking about him.

Park Here Over My Dead Body

A parking spot in NY can run you $225,000. Crazy, yes. Exspected, yes. I use to work for a real estate office in Chicago, parking wasn't included in the condos we sold. Want to buy a spot, 50 grand please. And that was in the suburbs. I personally paid 40 bucks a month for a spot a block away, on an overpass. =) My boss would search the paper every week to see who was renting out space in their garage. She would have liked to buy, but couldn't afford it.

I imagine once you pay between 50 and 225 thousand dollars for something, and you come to it and see another person using it, you might get angry. It's kind of like your house. I can imagine someone getting shot over a parking spot. I had someone towed from my spot once. The next day, my fucking windshield was cracked. Parking is no joke!! Big city living. - mel

Parking Problems

Hollywood/Argyle

Spent about an hour on the corner of Hollywood and Argyle last nigh with Von. Yup, just standing and talking. Something happened that, that really shook me up. A teenage girl called me ma'am. I'm a victim of a walk by ma'am-ing. She said, 'excuse me ma'am'. Wow. I'm a ma'am. **choke** That being said, I really need to stop ogling teenagers.

In the drive-thru bout 3 days ago, a guy/boy, about 19 offered to hop out of the drive-thru window for me, but my car was in the way. I responded by saying, 'i can back up'. Ha! And yesterday, I mentioned the laundromat in a blog post... and an Armenian woman build like a brick house. I imagine I got 8 years on her. Yeah.

I'm 28 years old. This is not new...I've been doing this for years. BUT as the years keep progessing, I soooooooo need to stop. I remember getting attention from older people when I was younger. The guys kinda creeped me out, but the women were usually pretty sweet to me. =op Old guys offering to take me on trips, pay my bills (i never accepted)...the women just making efforts to take care of me.

I think it's a cycle, or at least I'm gonna blame my habit on a vicious cycle. hehehe. As a young person I was subjected to attention from older people, now I do the same. =op... Now that I have recognised the problem I can address it and maybe take steps to fix it. The first step is admitting you have a problem. ;o)

A Sad, 'In The News'

I was going to blog about Rosie and Ellen today, but sad news popped up. Lady Bird Johnson, the wife of former President Lyndon Johnson passed away today. I'm sad. From everything I read and from interveiws I've heard she was a sweet, even tempered lady, with tons of patience.

She was given the nickname 'Lady Bird' by her black nursemaid as a baby. She was pretty as a 'lady bird' the woman thought. She had a genteel way about her that most southern ladies of her time had. The pauses in her speech, were as moving as her words.

Her husband, President Johnson had a rough go of it. He was a rough and tumble kind of man. He was the only Southern congressman of his day, to vote for an anti-lynching bill in 1938. He was President during Vietnam and all those race riots during the 60's. But, he did pass the most sweeping civil rights legislation in the history of this country. Lady Bird, after the legislation took a 4 day tour of the south, campaining on her husbands behalf.

As the train drew deeper South, the crowds grew menacing. In Mississippi, the Ku Klux Klan tried to blow up a railroad bridge. In Columbia, S.C., Klansmen burned a cross and thousands of hecklers assembled before the state capitol to jeer. Signs read: "Black Bird, Go Home," and "Johnson Is a Nigger Lover." In Charleston, 10,000 people gathered to shout her down. "Today," Lady Bird said, "the South, like the rest of the nation, is at a crossroads ... It is the choice between a new progress -- and a new nullification. Here in Charleston, once the hub of the Old South, you have to make that choice."

On one of her stops she said this, "I am proud that I am part of the South. I'm fond of the old customs," she said. Then she quoted Robert E. Lee's injunction after Appomattox, "Abandon all these local animosities and raise your sons to be Americans!" And she urged acceptance of the Civil Rights Act. "There is, in this Southland, more love than hate."

Although she suffered a mild stroke in 1993 and in her mid-80s was declared legally blind, she remained active at the L.B.J. Library.

“It has been a wonderful life,” she said in 1992. “I feel like a jug into which wine is poured until it overflows.” -mel

Civil Rights Article
Article: Lady Bird dies at 94
NPR article

Can't Right Now

I should do a, In The News... but I'm too tired. Brown vs. Board of education was kind of challenged recently...but I can't tackle that right now. Talk amongst yourselves.

I wanna talk about my trip to the laundromat. The next date I have, I wanna do it there. It's so nice. You can talk, and eat and get a little house work done. It gave me time to think. Why are Armenian women built like brick houses! damn. What else did I think about?? Oh yeah. My friend told me she considered giving blow jobs the same as handshakes. Wow! Wow! She's my sweetie, my twink! We were kittens together in our past lives. We slept in a kitten pile together, quite proud of our round kitten bellies! I thought we were so in sync. But we are on different planets when it comes to this. That's my face! There has to be love there, or something damn near to it... Sex is a different story. That's not my face. haha. Shout out to Twink!! In the words of Puss in Boots, 'You are the love of my life'. =)

Might see 'Wicked' tomorrow. Wish me luck. Now I'm sleepy, might go to bed early. Wish me sweet dreams.

-mel

Things you don't know about von

I came across this meme (yes i had to look it up) at Angry Black Bitch and thought it would be interesting for mel and i to partake in. The rules require the following, however, we've decided that with our extensive friendship, we'd try to stump each other as well AND IT CAN'T BE BULLSHIT like "my favorite panties are the ones i'm wearing right now"..... so, here we go...

And the rules are:
1. We have to post these rules before we give you the facts.
2. Players start with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
3. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
4. At the end of your blog post, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
5. Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them they're tagged, and to read your blog.

8 things you don’t know about me…
1. Although I admire her greatly and adore her mere existence, I've never read anything by Octavia Butler.
2. My favorite board game is Clue Master Detective.
3. Only 1 person outside of my family has done my hair...I was 12.
4. I own 4 Mary J. Blige albums. I know, I can't believe it either. How the fuck did I get 4?!?
5. I couldn't really hear until I was 3, which prohibited me from speaking until then as well.
6. In 9th grade I read The Color Purple in 1 day. Oddly enough, I never finished any assigned reading from my English class that year, including Romeo and Juliet.
7. I genuinely desire to be a morning person (before 8am).
8. I used to beg my sisters to pick their scabs. They were so hard, and crusty, and ripe for the pickins!!

OKAY!!! seeing that mel and i are the main readers of our blog, and we don't have many blogging friends, I challenge 1 ms. szu-hua!! D'ARTAGNAN!!
-von

In The News.....

People are crazy.

In Kansas a woman died after being stabbed in a convenient store. Sadly, thats not news. What's news, is that fact she had been ignored and stepped over by other shoppers after being stabbed. One person reportedly took time to take pictures of the dying woman with her cell phone, but didn't help. Crazy.

Having said that, lets look at the situation from a class/race standpoint. The whole deal took place in what looks like a lower to lower middle class area of town. Most of the people in the store, from the clip I saw, were black. The victim was black. Would the same thing have happened if the store had been in a nice white area?? I doubt it. I'm not screaming racism here, just reflecting on the culture of, 'mind your own business' that less than affluent black America has. I'm not excusing the behavior, it was outrageous. But when I heard that a woman had been ignored to death, I knew the victim was a black woman or a poor white woman. The mind blowing part is that she had been stabbed, wasn't she bleeding??? Honestly. Ignoring blood reaches a new level of apathy. I see the situation kind of like an environmental contaminant. It effects the most vulnerable first. Apathy is poison.

ABC Primetime did a segment on something similar. They put 2 couples in a park, and had the guy abuse his girlfriend in public and watched who stopped to intervene. One couple was black, one couple was white. Oddly enough, more people stopped to intervene on the black woman's behalf. BUT... the kicker is, it wasn't for her wellbeing, it was more because the scene they were making was unsightly. Lots of other black people just walked by, said nothing. The people who stopped for the white woman, all tried to protect her, and asked her if she was o.k. This made me sad. What?! It's fine if my guy beats my ass, just do it at home?? One woman stopped to actually help the black woman, and she was white. Yey!!! She asked about the black woman's wellbeing. Yey!!

Black and white women haven't always been the closest of allies. Rarely a 'sisterhood' is mentioned when speaking of the 2 groups. Personally I've never had any issues. I love white women. **Whoa** For a moment there, I think I was channeling my father. ;)

Anywho... maybe the spreading apathy can be slowed, if not stopped, by people you'd never think to ask for help. Wanna read more: ABC Primetime
-mel

In The News.....

I'm thinking of a few sub-headers for this section of the blog. 'In The News' is the official header. Depending on what I'm talking about, I'm playing around with 'America is Dumb'. If I go more specific, maybe, 'People Are Crazy'. And last but not least, my personal favorite, and the sub-header I will most likely use the most, 'That's Why I Don't Like Black People.'

Let's start with my favorite... =)

The NAACP had their newly appointed president Bruce Gordon resign not to long ago. That was a shame and a blow to progressive thinking within that large and powerful organization. I found this quote:

"I think he saw his job as remaking us to make us more effective,
but his job was to do what the board and management wanted,
He was not a good fit for us, but he could have been."

Can you believe that a man was forced out of his job because he was trying to make his organization more effective??? He didn't want to play step and fetch-it with the board. Insanity.

Gordon also clashed with board members on his vision for the organization. Where board members wanted to retain social justice activities, Gordon wanted to implement social service efforts, including programs to help African-Americans build wealth.

That's where the real work needs to be done. Encouraging black business and entrepreneurship within the community would strengthen it so much. There is a major lack of self-sufficiency within our community. It's not lacking because of laziness, it's lacking because of absence of know how. Will someone please teach a Negro how to fish, anyone, anyone??

Perhaps Mr. Gordon's willingness to make large changes to move the organization forward was what caused the conflict.

Gordon was also apparently trying to move the organization to include public service and assisting in minority business development. The board of the NAACP wanted to remain primarily a social-justice organization. This is where I see the major problem. I am concerned about the relevancy of the NAACP in an ever changing world, one where the power of single issue interest groups is waning and the power of the grassroots over the internet is growing. The Social Justice approach is important, and the NAACP must remain an advocate for the rights of Blacks. However, the NAACP must also be willing to change and to grow in the ways that the community demands. I don't see how it could be a bad thing for the NAACP to expand into realms such as public service and minority business development.

I don't understand why the NAACP can't do both. The advancement of colored people doesn't just involve protests and rallies and press conferences and banquets and fund raising and award shows. They should be helping us move forward as a people in every arena. RACISM ISN'T OUR ONLY PROBLEM.

What is most troubling is that the NAACP seems to be rejecting grassroots organizational tools like public service and business development. Now is not the time in history for the NAACP to constricting their mission.

Oh!! And speaking of award shows... I haven't forgotten about you nominating fucking R. Kelly for a fucking NAACP Image Award. Advancement of colored people indeed. That man is on a sex tape with a naked little girl, and she is peeing on herself!! Yeah, I saw the tape. Shame on you NAACP. Black people, humph. - mel

It Finally Happened

Had a conversation the other day about a vacuum cleaner I hold dear to my heart. It's the Dyson. That vacuum, or should I say work of art and modern science, has put some sort of spell on my heart. When I see the commercials, I stop and stare. I think I may even sigh a bit. I shared this with a friend...and yes, she felt the same way. She went even further. She said the particular Dyson commercial I spoke of, made her dick hard.

This statement gave me pause...lol. Ummm, no Dyson didn't make my dick hard. The bond we shared was more emotional than physical. And I don't have a dick. But then again, neither does she.

A few weeks pass, another friend of mine, very into cake decorating, kept sending me pictures of cakes. She wants me to take a cake baking class with her. She wants to make fondant icing and edible flowers and sugar glass. The pictures of cake kept coming, they were her cake porn. Then she told me, she wanted to buy a spray paint cake finisher. Her words, 'My dick is so hard for it'. O.K, now it's an epidemic. Her dick is hard too??? What dick?? No dick. And adding insult to injury she owns a Dyson!! I went to her house to touch it and hold it in my arms.

Skip ahead a few days. I'm reading, seeing what's going on in the UK. Do you know whats going on in the UK??? The television show, 'Wire in the Blood' in premiering this week in the United Kingdom. I fucking love this fucking show. It only airs 4 episodes a season, each being 90 mins long. It has two of my favorite UK actors in it. They don't do film for the most part, so I never see them in movies. Simone Labib , the lead actress, has a Scottish accent. OMG. That's the best accent to have. The show won't air in the states for at least a few weeks after it airs over there. But, I know how to get advanced copies.

I'm at my computer screen, and I'm experiencing joy, excitement, anticipation, I'm giddy. Then, my body starts to tingle. I get goose bumps, then a hot/cool feeling spreads. Is this what it feels like? I think...I think, yup. My dick is hard. My dick is rock hard for this show. I take a deep breath and enjoy the feeling. Today I am a man, shalom. - mel

It's Been A long Time, I Shouldn't of Left You....

Without a dope beat to step to...step to, step to =)

Yeah haven't been blogging for a while =) Sorry bout that. We are going to start again!! Right now!! yey!! Much has happened, much to talk about. I guess I'll start it off. Von will be around later with her tales and Condi Rice and New Jersey t-shirts. If we're lucky, maybe a little bit of Oprah. =op