Author: Ranada

What do black people read?

What do black people read?

by Ranada ♥ 3 Comments

So… I’m in the midst of reading the Twilight series (which is one of the best love stories I’ve ever read, probably because I see so much of myself in it), and after I finished book #3 Eclipse, I decided to run to Walmart and pick up the final book of the series.  Now, I chose Wallie World because I wanted to get a particular brand of taquitos, which my Kroger does not carry, so getting the book for a few dollars less would be a bonus.

Now, generally, I go to the Walmart near my job (and my last place of residence) because I know it well and because there are lots of other places around it in case I need to run any more errands.  But not too long ag0, my friends asked why I go to Midtown West rather than just go to the one on the Southside, which after a certain point, I just feel is too far–probably just for the mere fact that it goes outside the perimeter. Eek!  haha  They’re actually about the same distance/or at least the same time to get to.  Anywho, so I said, since I’m always the one preaching about shopping in your own area and supporting businesses in black areas, I decided to go to the other Walmart, rather than MY Walmart.

After being sorely disappointed in finding NO taquitos, I drag myself to the book area, to find that there was a full formal setting for a ROW of Twilight books, and half of it had been replaced by MICHAEL JACKSON TRIBUTE BOOKS!!!  WHAT??!?!?!  I wish I had taken a picture.  These three Michael Jackson books had their own setting, and Walmart decided it needed extra space I guess.  NOTE TO WALMART: MJ’S TWO WEEKS ARE UP!  Only late scragglers are buying those books now, so either you were late getting on the gravy train, or you ordered way too many in the first place.

So since the 1st and 4th books were totally missing, I decided to ask an employee if they had any stocked away.  Surely, if the books were selling to the point they sold out, they wouldn’t just not order anymore and completely replace them with MJ books that they already had.  Well, evidently, that’s exactly what happened.  The associate said, “Huh? Black people don’t read Twilight! But I’m sure once we sell these MJ books, we’ll order more Twilight.”  As I stood there peering down at my skin color and looking back at him to study his face and decide if he was being serious, he asked me if I really was into the books like that.  UH YEAH!  So I informed him that I have several friends reading the book, and that I was disappointed.  We then had a conversation about what the books were actually about, since he turned his nose up and dismissed them as books about vampires biting people.

Of course, I just went on to the Kroger next door and found both my taquitos and my book.  But it left me wondering, what do black people read?  Are we really so limited in the books that we read that purchasing managers in black neighborhoods would leave the fact that they sold out of a book as a fluke and that noone would miss a book because they’d be ecstatic about an overflow of books that were clearly created as a ploy to make money from a man’s death?  I have some friends who read black romance novels only, some who read black literature as a whole, others who like nonfiction books, others who don’t read for fun at all, and others, like me, who just like good books, even if we have particular preferences.  What do YOU like to read?

Blogworthy: Commentary about “Air II” McNair

Blogworthy: Commentary about “Air II” McNair

by Ranada ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

One thing I’ve been a smidgeon sad about is the fact that I, and most people, can’t be as upset and dismayed about the death of my homestate hero, Steve McNair, as we would in normal circumstances because of all the shadiness surrounding it.

I found this commentary very very thought provoking and interesting–it’s from a male’s perspective, one who doesn’t care at all about the cheating aspect.  It brings up a good topic–the importance of fathers in their children’s lives.  Please share your thoughts.

Don’t be so quick to make McNair a hero
We can quit calling Steve McNair a great leader now. Leadership starts at home.

And I’m no longer all that interested in hearing about the community service work McNair did in Tennessee and Mississippi. Service to community begins at home, too.

If you read this column regularly, you know I’m not the morality police, you know I’m far from bothered by McNair’s May-December romance and you probably should’ve surmised I get my “Becky on” from time to time.

Stop reading now if your preference is sugar-coated, politically-correct, phony-ass pontificating. You can find plenty of that garbage littering the Internet.

I’m going to get knee deep in this Steve McNair tragedy and what it really signifies.

Until the police wrap up their investigation, I’m only willing to acknowledge four victims — McNair’s four sons.

I don’t know how to classify the adults in this saga — McNair, his wife Mechelle or his 20-year-old girlfriend, Sahel “Jenny” Kazemi.

The kids, they’re victims of two horrific crimes: 1. the murder of their father; 2. their father’s apparent abandonment so that he had time to wine, dine, vacation and shack up with his jump-off.

Let me repeat, I’m not some sanctimonious moralizer.

Personally, I prefer June-December romances, but a blossoming May flower certainly could be fertilized into a special, 28-year-old bouquet by a patient and attentive gardener.

As for the life-experience, station-in-life disparity between a retired millionaire quarterback and a Dave & Buster’s waitress, well, let he who has never Captained cast the first hoe.

Every man I know has a little Captain in him. We see a pretty young thang working her way through nursing or cosmetology school and it’s just in our nature to pay a cellphone bill, a car note or get her nails done.

It’s what we do. And if you’ve earned a chunk of change in professional sports or in corporate America, you might buy a big black Escalade in her name, fly her to Vegas or go parasailing over the ocean.

It’s not a black or white thing. It’s not an athlete thing. It’s a man thing we haven’t been able to shake since Eve gave us an apple.

The look of pure, unadulterated joy on McNair’s face captured as he and Jenny parasailed is one every real man recognizes as the uncontrollable feeling of elation that gushes through the male, middle-aged body when he finds the Tenderoni Bobby Brown sang about.

Do not read this as me condoning McNair’s extramarital affair. I’m not.

But we don’t know the nature of Steve and Mechelle McNair’s relationship. We don’t know what made them happy, what agreement they reached or what was transpiring in their marriage.

What we do know is that McNair had four sons. And based on the observations and comments of Kazemi’s neighbors and neighbors at the condominium McNair rented, McNair spent so much time with Kazemi over the past few months that people assumed they lived together.

You see, this is my problem with McNair, with American men as a whole.

We shirk our responsibilities as fathers. We don’t have time for it. We think it’s a part- or no-time job. We think our career is more important. We think charity work is more important. We think some young tail is more important.

We foolishly believe we’re unnecessary in the rearing of children. This mindset must die.

I pass no judgment on McNair kicking it with a woman 16 years his junior. I don’t agree with it, but I pass no judgment on McNair “cheating” on his wife.

However, I think it’s ridiculous and embarrassing that he spent so much time chasing after a Nashville waitress that he created the impression he lived with her.

Many have tried, but you can’t maintain two homes, two families. If HBO has shown us anything, it’s that kids are the losers when it comes to Big Love.

You can’t live with a waitress in a condo/apartment, take her parasailing, clubbing, to Vegas and raise a brood of boys living in a home on the other side of town.

Kids are game-changers. Kids require sacrifice. Kids are a daily and sometimes hourly responsibility. You don’t properly raise them in your spare time with money, fame, gifts and glowing newspaper and magazine stories about your courage to play on Sundays despite injury and pain.

Steve McNair sounds like a warrior who fought the wrong war. He won a public-relations battle.

He was so popular in Nashville that when his under-drinking-age “Becky” got popped driving her mistress ransom while drunk and/or high the police called a cab to give McNair, the Escalade passenger, a ride home.

This is the privilege of fame and inclusion in the boys club. We’re so mentally diseased that we instinctively feel empathy and envy when we see a married father of four liquored up with his near-teenage girlfriend.

You know what the cop was thinking:

But for the grace of God, two-tenths of a second on my 40 time and the high school coach who made me play tight end rather than receiver, there go I.

Steve McNair was flawed in the same way as most American men.

Too many men think financial success is their primary and most important contribution to a relationship with their kids, wives and/or girlfriends. A grown woman has the right to settle for that. Children shouldn’t have to settle for anything less than their father’s very best effort.

News We Can Use

News We Can Use

by Ranada ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Kentucky State University President Mary Sias says the school is trying to find funding to open a boarding school for Black males. Sias told The State Journal of Frankfort that the proposal is part of an initiative to increase the number of Black men who earn college diplomas. She says high school students would live in campus dorms, have their own teachers and an on-site principal at the historically Black college in Frankfort. The pilot program could start in the fall of 2010 if KSU receives enough federal and grant funding. Sias says there would be room for 30 to 50 high school students to participate.

http://diverseeducation.com/artman/publish/article_12689.shtml

I think this will be a great endeavor–maybe a best practice.  Will definitely try to keep my eye on future developments!

America We Are

America We Are

by Ranada ♥ 3 Comments
Ranada's Reads and Reels after the exhibit!
Ranada's Reads and Reels after the exhibit!

Some of the participants of Ranada’s Reads and Reels visited the America I Am exhibit Sunday afternoon, and it was definitely a real treat!  If you haven’t already, go check it out!  You can get discounted tickets from the customer service counter at Walmart!

This exhibit, the brainchild of Tavis Smiley, was full of learning points.  I have a list of items I plan to research.   Walking through this collection of black historical artifacts definitely served as a reminder that we come from a rich background of ingenuity, determination, and intelligence.  As one of my friends said — “It flows through our veins.”

One thing I took away from it that I never overtly thought about was that the slaves not only provided the free labor that made the United States grow into a super power–they also supplied TECHNIQUES.  It wasn’t just about their physical attributes.  They had the knowledge to go with it.  They weren’t trained once they got here.  They were exploited for much more than how much they could lift.  It’s funny because you know things like Eli Whitney and his cotton gin, but it wasn’t until I walked in there that I really thought about how creative and smart we are as it relates to the success of this country.  For goodness sake, we turned RICE into BASKETS.  With my fist pumped in the air, I gladly accept the torch. 🙂

I’ll leave you with a quote.  “The value of slaves was greater than the dollar value of all America’s banks,  all of America’s railroads, and all of America’s manufacturing put together.” -Dr. James Oliver Horton

We all know the answer, but it never hurts to keep asking the question–Would America be what it is without black people?  NOPE!  Now go check it out!

P.S. Ironically, I’ve been reading Tavis Smiley’s Hard Left and here are two quotes that resonated.

“Every race and every nation should be judged by the best it has been able to produce, not by the worst.”  – James Weldon Johnson

“The tragedy of life does not lie in not reaching your goal.  The tragedy lies in having no goal to reach.  Not failure, but low aim is sin.” – Benjamin E. Mays

Reach for the stars, friends!

What we can learn?

What we can learn?

by Ranada ♥ 1 Comment

9/10/09

What Single Women Can Learn From Michelle By: Jenée Desmond-Harris

Would most Type A, professional women have dated Barack when he was a broke, big-eared organizer with a funny name?

I think some would.  And not because they have fortune telling abilities.  My commentary later…

<UPDATE***6/19/09>

Ok, finally.  I’m back to speak my piece on this article.  I’m not sure what single women are supposed to be learning from this particular article…  Let’s see here: Mr. Obama was handsome (geek or not, which I’m not sure I agree with, but either way you must admit he’s attractive), he was in law school at an Ivy League institution, the first black editor of the well-recognized Law Review at said Ivy League, and I’m sure he was charming because guys don’t grow charm over night.   Uh… yeah, I’d have dated him, intern or not.  What is she talking about?!?!  Whether or not he ever seemed like he would one day be president (especially when Mrs. Obama has stated that she wasn’t gung ho about the idea anyway so it’s not like she “took a chance” on him hoping that her dream of his potential would be realized).

Yes, we single ladies do sometimes have very stringent regulations; however, most of us all have those non-negotiables and those things that we can wane on if the right guy comes along with the non-negotiables.  As far as the author quasi-stalking some guy, let’s break that down in Dejoi standards.

a. Noone should ever think that I’m going to be running down some dude in a parking lot.  I don’t care how cute he may be — but that’s the old-fashioned southern belle in me.  Do your thing, but that’s YOUR thing.

b. He works for a nonprofit.  So what?

c. He drives a rattling, rimless Mazda.  Ok… I need more info.  I could care less about the lack of rims as long as he at least has some hubcaps on that mug.  Now as far as rattling?  Er… why were you chasing him down again?

d. The kid doesn’t do high waters.  Tailored or not.  A man needs to have on some pants that fit.

e. I like hair as long as it’s groomed.  I’m not finding at all attractive dreads that haven’t been “done.”  If a guy is going to have long hair, he needs to maintain it.

All that to say–he may have done it for her, and that’s cool.  But that doesn’t mean I’m doomed to singledom for life because he wouldn’t have done it for me.  And she’s not guaranteed a life of love because she looked over things she clearly isn’t necessarily okay with.  As far as Obama goes, I personally like guys who are vested in community activism and are passionate about what they do for at least 8 hours everyday.  I’d rather date a guy who works for an… OMG… nonprofit (wth) or who’s a teacher or whatever and LOVES it than a guy who’s a doctor or an investment banker and loathes going to work everyday.  But that’s just me.  There’s a fine line between reasonably relaxing requirements and throwing standards to the wind.  Women need to know what they want–those non-negotiables–and be open to the other possibilities.  It’s okay to know what you don’t want.  We just need to be cognizant of when we’re just looking to sabotage a possibly good thing because of our own insecurities.  And that’s another post for another day.

It’s Juneteenth!

It’s Juneteenth!

by Ranada ♥ 2 Comments

Today is Juneteenth, a holiday I first learned about as a kid growing up in Mississippi with very “conscious” parents.  As I was pondering the meaning of this day, two thoughts hit me.  Because it took over 2 and a half years for the word to get to the slaves that the Emancipation Proclamation had been signed, it is my hope that my people, in 2009, realize that:

  • We’re no longer slaves–we need purposefully to free ourselves from the shackles of all the things that we can control that we allow to hold us back.  This includes modern slavery–debt/living above our means, selling ourselves short because of externally imposed ideas of what we can or should be, feeling like we’ve “made” it and missing the need for continued community activism, addictions (pick one), and the like.  We’re a resilient and creative people, and we need to continue working together and helping each other to keep moving on up.
  • We need to take advantage of access to information.  Back in 1865, there wasn’t internet or libraries stacked with years and years of books with all sorts of things to learn and to know.  One of the causes of market failure, according to economic and contract theory, is information asymmetry.  Guess who’s usually on the losing end of that failure…  You got it.  So while we still aren’t always on an even playing field as far as information goes, we need to be proactive in our quest for knowledge.  Keep up with current events; know what’s going on in your local area; if you’re interested in something, go find out what it takes to make it happen.

Now, as the day goes by, be thankful for 144 years of knowing that by law, we are free.  Now, we just have to continue making sure we set our minds and souls free.  Happy Juneteenth!

The Souls of Black Girls

The Souls of Black Girls

by Ranada ♥ 3 Comments

I started a book discussion club earlier this year, and the current topic is self image.  We started with watching The Souls of Black Girls, a documentary that is a great way to start a conversation about self-image, especially of young black girls who grow up to be black women with complex self-esteem issues.  The viewing sparked an array of thoughts and subtopics, and it’s so amazing the identity crisis that many black women are in, whether consciously or subconsciously and only realizing various issues while self-evaluating out loud.

One of the most resounding quotes in the documentary for me was from Michaela Angela Davis.  While on her soap box, she said that when people say we need to redefine our own sexuality, we can’t redefine it because we never established it in the first place.  And so we grasp at random examples to set our standards of beauty, decorum, self-worth, etc.  Before I keep rambling on about my thoughts of our discussion, it is really important to me to encourage any of you out there reading this to be intentional in letting a young black girl know she’s beautiful.  And not, oh she’s a cute little black girl.  Or she’s pretty to be a dark skinned girl.

Our subtopics were wide-ranging.  From our hair to color complexes to where we formulated our ideas of beauty to what we think guys think about beauty to the way we carry ourselves (and what’s acceptable and what’s not) to our responsibility in all this to the media’s role in it all.  In this post, I’ll talk about hair.  Color next time.

“I AM my hair.”

Although India.Arie says she is not hers, many of us are.  One of my friends is very vocal about how co-mingled her hair is with her identity and self-esteem.  But she’s not alone.  The same goes for me.  When my hair isn’t in tip top shape, I feel subpar.  It is what it is though.  Our hair, for many of us, contribute to our femininity.  Ok, so once we’re past that—what looks good?  Straight, curly, nappy?  And who says what’s acceptable.  Well, we know in the corporate world, nappy isn’t what’s up.  So if you’re Corporate Christine, even if you’re “natural” and “afrolicious,” chances are you’re pressed Monday through Friday.  So are we assimilating?  If so, is that a bad thing?  Should we be wearing our fros and naps as much as possible so that we can disprove negative stereotypes about people who wear natural styles?

I have several friends who do not get relaxers, but their hair is always straightened.  Not because of their jobs necessarily, but because they like the way their hair looks when their hair is straight.  Does that make them “fake natural” like I’ve heard on so many occasions?  Or do they have the right to want to keep their hair harsh-chemical free and still wear the look they think compliments them most?  And my friends who do get relaxers?  Does that mean they want to look white?  Or do they just want to take advantage of the creamy crack that Madame C.J. Walker (or Garrett Morgan, I don’t know) so brilliantly created to make combing black hair a little less tenuous?

Who is making up these rules we follow?  And what happens when we’re following different rules?  How should my friends and I feel when we’re judged by how we wear their hair??  One of my favorite scenes in School Daze is the Good and Bad Hair scene.

Well, you got cuckabugs standing all over your head.

Well you got sandy spurs, rather have mine instead.

You’re just a jigaboo trying to find something to do.

Well you’re just a wannabe, wanna be better than me.

So are we forever banished to choosing to be either a wannabe or a jigaboo?  Or can we set our own standards of versatility and just simply liking the way we look without any underlying self-esteem issues?

More later.

Update

Update

by Ranada ♥ 1 Comment

I’ve not been posting as I should.  Just haven’t had the unction to do so!  Lord knows I have plenty to say.

Honestly, I’ve been having some inner conflicts lately.  The trials and tribulations of leadership, I guess.  I’ve been facing negativity at so many turns, and I was really contemplating saying screw it to everyone.  But thank goodness for positive people.  My friends have been reassuring, and one in particular gave me a pep talk the other day.  Then, last night, my pastor said during Bible class that when we give our strength to the world, it repays us by rending us.  But our joy is in the Lord, not them.  So I’m back to my old self.  I do what I do because I want to, not because of anyone’s opinion.

So!  My time at Starbucks is running out, but I suspect I’ll have some time on my hands later today.  So I’ll try to be back!