Hillary Rodham Clinton did an awesome job last night in her Convention Address. She made me proud enough to shout from the rooftop that I supported her campaign. What befuddles me, though, is why anyone would expect anything less from her…
Author: Ranada
I’m on the Black List.
Last weekend, I shared with my mentor that lately I’ve been thinking that I want to drop out of all my activities and leadership roles and just be “normal.” Huh? Why? Because I just get tired of feeling unappreciated, unliked, lonely, stressed out, unsupported, etc. Heck, I’ve been told that I can’t expect to meet anyone and live happily ever after doing all that I do. Well, my mentor said to me that in EVERYTHING in life, there will only be 10% of the people involved working. And 10% is in my nature. But if I really want to try to fit in as a 90%er, I could try it, but he suspects I’ll be unhappy since I have the propensity to see problems and try to solve them. He said my best bet was to find other 10%ers to hang out with.
So as I was watching The Black List last night at the Woodruff Arts Center (by myself), I kept thinking to myself, wow I see myself in so many of these awesome people. How in the world do they do it?? And I kept looking at these old black men who spent their lives making a difference and wondered why haven’t I found one of those types of guys… Seriously, The Black List is a must see. From Toni Morrison sharing her view of finding her own little box where she could be free to be herself to Chris Rock and his idea that blacks will not have experienced equality until we can be free to suck to Al Sharpton and his opinion of how the disconnect happened between generations to Marc Morial and his view of the American Tragedy that was the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and how people want the city to be rebuilt without US to Colin Powell and his assertion that for 200 years we weren’t given the job because we were black so why does it matter that now we may be given the job because we are black–just do a good job, I was enthralled by this piece and so thrilled that I was able to make it. I came to tears at least twice, and I think it was more than my just having an emotionally rocky week. I think when I get down, God puts me in these types of atmospheres to give me enough hope to not give up. I do realize that I need to be more assertive about building relationships with people who are like me–that will be able to sympathize with me when I’m feeling the woes of leadership and to celebrate with me when I’ve won those small battles to which people don’t really pay attention unless they’ve been there. And because I am a strong-willed child of God, I need to learn how to use my strong will to further God’s will at all times, not just when I’m tired of trying to make a difference on my own and realize I need Him. I need to stop focusing on what I think is negative in my life and dwell on all that is positive. I mean, even though I’m not where I pictured I’d be at this age, I’m not doing too shabby in the grand scheme… So I’m going to take a retreat, rejuvenate, and get back to it. I am black, I am greatness, and I am destined for everything I’ve dreamed of and more.
Happy Friday!
NBC Heroes Countdown
[clearspring_widget title=”NBC Heroes Countdown” wid=”487774b081fdbde1″ pid=”48a0a6d5508ed63b” width=”360″ height=”405″ domain=”widgets.clearspring.com”]
I’m Black in America
First, before I really get to writing my thoughts that stem from my viewing of CNN’s Black in America, I have to say GO LUPE! Lupe makes me proud–if I didn’t already have his albums, I would buy them after his interview last night. 🙂 Touch that young person, Lupe. 🙂
Ok, so while they touched many more pressing issues than they did in the first installment, I think the slant/focus was really off. First the good: I’m happy they highlighted the young brother who was trying his best to find a job and even used the hidden camera to show what he faced in that quest–that in some places black men with no criminal records were on the same playing field with white men with records. I was happy that they showed how genuinely happy he was when he was offered a part time job just because he would have a way to contribute to his household. I really appreciated them showing that black men are not all deadbeat lazy bums because we know better than that. I was also happy they interviewed guys in prison that really did want to get out and try to do better with themselves. I appreciated Michael Eric Dyson’s brother admitting that it’s not just the environment in which you grow up–it’s also about the choices we make. I need my young brothers (and sisters) to hear that. I appreciated Spike Lee’s interview as well.
Ok on to my gripes… It befuddles me why all the families highlighted last night who were “doing well” were light-skinned and well-integrated in the white community. No, CNN, I didn’t miss that.
While I know that many black people have found their way out by assimilating into what they perceive as white America, I know too many families that have done well without trying to be white under the illusion of exposing their kids to diversity. Last night highlighted a family with two successful black parents, one a judge–the first BLACK woman judge in the friggin state and an assistant superintendent of schools, who spent 10 minutes crying as he told his story of growing up in the one and only Little Rock Central High School and how he was treated. And you mean to tell me that it is okay for him to have moved to a neighborhood where he gets “occasional stares” (in your neighborhood, a stare cannot be occasional… they live there, so they stare every time they see you), a neighborhood whose residents called the cops on him because he’s a couple (and only a couple) of shades darker than they are, and not expose his kids to other black kids who are smart, can talk well, and who are in families grooming them for success. Someone said last night, that maybe there weren’t any other families. Excuse me? Gimme a break. There are plenty of black folks in AR, and not all of them are poor. And in a place where the Assistant Superintendent is black and a judge is black, I know good and gosh dern well, they aren’t the only black folks doing well.
Personal experience: I grew up in a white public school district. YES their academic program was much better than the black public school district in the area. There’s nothing wrong with wanting your kids in the best environment for learning. But part of the environment for learning is seeing people that look like you and knowing that you’re not an anomaly. It’s a parent’s role to make sure a kid knows who they are, how others see them, and how they are responsible for giving back to their communities when they can. If you don’t train a child for civic responsibility, how will they grow up to do so? If you don’t show a child that they have more opportunities than others and that once they take advantage of those opportunities, they should reach back and create opportunities for others, how will they decide that they should when they’ve “made” it? If we don’t instill a sense of community in our kids at an early age, can we really be mad when they grow up to be selfish individuals who don’t look at themselves as an important part of a larger group? Ok, sorry for that digression…
In the 4th or 5th grade, I came home after a weekend with my Odyssey of the Mind teammates (all white except one other student), and I asked my mom why most black people were lazy and why I was smarter. After explaining to me that that was a total fallacy and trying to mask her anger that my being treated as a token black was getting to me, my mom PROMPTLY put me in extracurricular activities that put me around other smart black kids. I participated in science programs at various HBCUs with other gifted kids from around the state, I went to Vacation Bible School at my own church and at the church of one of my mom’s friends. I was in a black Girl Scout troop. My mom took me to Gateway and Salvation Army on holidays to help serve the unfortunate. That undoubtedly has contributed to my desire to give back my community, to leave it better than I landed in it. School is not our only means of education. And if it is, it can be quite dangerous. I could have grown up thinking that I was an exception–that the black folks around me were inferior and that all they needed to do was try a little harder. It maddened me last night to see that out of 3 boys, two were with white girls and the other was in jail… And I’m trying my best not to think that CNN had an underlying message there. As much time as they spent on black men during the black women segment, I don’t get why they couldn’t integrate black women in last night’s segment. Can we just acknowledge beyond showing a picture or two that there are black men out there that want and find black women to build their lives with?
Why didn’t they spend more time highlighting the black “power couple”? During the first installment, they did a better job of celebrating the black family–highlighting the couple that owned the construction company together and were raising their kids to value education. With this family, they said what they did as they were talking about the individual members of the family, then went on without exploring why this black “power couple” didn’t encourage their sons to find women like their mom. I don’t have a problem with interracial dating in general. But I do have a problem with people raising their kids to think that the white man’s ice is colder…
So, after the show, we had a brief discussion. I watched the series with a group of young professionals, and one thing that bothered me was the constant gripe about how CNN was not showing our lives, that of “middle class black America,” all the while acknowledging that we’re the minority of our minority population… I believe CNN (and my friend Dionne) did a good job of highlighting the spectrum. I mean for goodness sake, they showed entrepreneurs, they showed a Harvard economist, they showed that Hollywood single girl, they showed my future friend, Michael Eric Dyson, a professor. Come on. There’s no way they should have spent 4 hours of America’s time talking about black people who think they’ve “made it.” As long as the majority of my people are living without access to affordable health care, access to jobs, access to fresh food and are living check-to-check (which some of us self-proclaimed yuppies are doing as well), then I applaud anyone who wants to educate America, and remind those of us who think we’ve arrived, about our plight. They showed my mom, who works more than one job to make it. They showed my nieces and nephews, who are undoubtedly a part of the phenomenon of test scores lower than those of third world countries. They showed how Crack (versus Cocaine) has had an effect on our community. The documentary for me serves as a reminder. A reminder that the movement should not be over. That we still have a ways to go. That we have not made it and that we need to reach back and do our part to help us all move forward. Someone asserted that this documentary just serves to continue to project negative images of black people. I highly beg to differ. What would be the purpose of a skewed documentary showing the good life of blacks? To make people in America really think that we’ve come a further way than we have? To add to our false sense of security? To add to the rift between members of our own race? No, we need to see the reality and see that it’s not all self-induced. That we are still suffering from our past. We cannot make a difference under a national broadcast of the illusion of success. I hope that YP’s think about what they saw, and focus on what we can do about it rather focusing on why it wasn’t swept under the rug. It is a reality that we have to face if we want solutions.
I really appreciated the Clark Atlanta professor who shared his thoughts about the actual solution. So many times we hear why we need to find the solution, but people rarely talk about strategies. He stated that we need to start now steering the direction of the newest generation as the current young generation has already been steered to a certain extent. It is my fear that the rift between those who are doing well and those who are not is widening beyond comprehension. He said we need to wipe out some of this institutional programming guiding our young people and we need to get back to the basics so that we can reinvent ourselves. It’s time to figure out how to move back into community-thinking and not just me,me,me-thinking. Sigh, we have a long road.
I’ll be back with my take on being part of the 45% of black women who have never been married…
Back to Black
Ok, so I disappeared. I know, I know. I used to be an avid blogger until I realized that my “friends” were relinquishing their friend duties and just attempting to keep up with me via my blog. Then I realized people I discarded from my life were still in a semblance of the know because of my blog. So I slapped a password on it and eventually stopped writing. So I’m trying to start anew, keeping as many of my intimate thoughts within as possible. But when I get to typing…
🙂 So much has happened since I got back from Europe. And I know I still have stories to tell about that experience, so I plan to do flashbacks. 🙂 I just got back from a week-long trip to one of my fave cities in the States, D.C. I went for the coveted Centennial National Conference of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. If I ever thought I had seen a sea of pink and green before last week, I was sorely mistaken! At regional conferences and my first Leadership Conference, I had only seen lakes. We absolutely took over the District of Columbia last week. At about 23,000 ladies, you couldn’t turn your head without seeing some shade of pink or green or more likely, a combination. I am so happy to be a member of the first greek-lettered organization for black women. Celebrating 100 years, I was able to see sisters from my past and present, and I was able to meet really sweet sisters that hopefully I will bump into again. My only personal regret was not getting to meet my pen pal of 4 years!! In the same city, and we still haven’t seen each other. She lives in Delaware, and except for 2 emails, we’ve never corresponded outside of good ole-fashioned snail mail. 🙂
Of course, as conferences go and as groups of more than 2 go, there were points of contention. But overall, I enjoyed myself, and I can’t wait to attend another national conference.
To maximize my time in D.C. and to maximize the worth of my airline costs, I also represented Atlanta as I attended Mississippi on the Potomac, an annual fundraiser hosted by the Washington Metro chapter of Tougaloo Alumni. As I did last year, I thoroughly enjoyed myself, fellowshipping with other alumni and friends of my beloved alma mater and helping out where I could. It also gave me a burst of enthusiasm for my own chapter. The new fiscal year has begun, and I have my eyes on making this, my second term as president, a memorable and successful one. We will put Atlanta on the map this year!!
Well, I have much work to do. Between my new job, school (yes, I’m in a class solely because I was interested in learning, not because I need the class to graduate, never thinking about the fact that I was adding to my already loaded plate), AKA, Tougaloo, and my upcoming housewarming party for which I’ve not begun preparing, I’m swamped. But I’m going to try to share my thoughts and opinions and stories more often. 🙂 Oh, and if anyone is giving away cutesie pie puppies, your girl is in need of a companion. Until next time…
I’m baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!
After a couple of days of readjusting to my time zone, I’m back in Atlanta and the real life of Ranada. I’ve posted two entries I hand-wrote.
I’m already comparing everything to Europe, particularly Paris. For instance… the train system. I’ve always said that MARTA is a disgrace to public transit systems and that it is in dire need of regionalization, but having to wait for TWELVE minutes for a south bound train yesterday to get from the dentist and go only three stops back down to my job, I suddenly wished I was back in Paris again, where I never waited more than 5 minutes for a train and I could get across town without issue, let alone a couple of miles down the friggin street.
My sorors welcomed me home with Popeye’s, pasta salad, booze (lol cuz I had access to plenty of that in Europe), spicy rotel dip, fruit, and cupcakes. That was very nice and made me feel special. 🙂 Tuesday I took myself to see Iron Man, which I thoroughly enjoyed, and I got a shot of creamy crack to make my hair more manageable. Yesterday, I got a mani and pedi. And I’m going to be able to go home to visit the family in a few weeks. So all is grand in Ranada Land. 🙂
Ramblings from the Road
Dear Diary,
Today was another good day in Paris. I absolutely, positively love it here. This morning we did a walking tour of Montmatre, the artsy fartsy part of town (as if the city couldn’t be more art-filled!). I saw where artists such as Picasso, Toulouse-Lautrec, and Van Gogh lived and worked. I saw the still-poppin’ red light district, including the Moulin Rouge (although I couldn’t go inside b/c I’m still a not-rich dreamer). The tour guide said it looks exactly like it did back then inside and that it costs between 79 euros and 179 euros to get in now. Wow! I saw a street where houses cost $1,000 per meter or something crazy like that. Whatever it was, it translated to a place about the size of my townhouse cost $1,550,000. CRAZY!!Â
I saw a beautiful cemetery where ivies were in abundance (ok, ok, ivies are in abundance all over Paris but still). The most memorable thing about that is the headstone/bust on the grave of the psychiatrist of the singer named Davida. He designed it so that he seems to watch you as you walk past him. Creepy. A head doctor effing with people’s heads forever more, go figure!
The music here is awesome. In front of the basilica we passed, we heard the sounds of an accordion, then a violin. Then I had an omelette fromage and a crepe avec fraise et glace vanille. Yum. my.Â
After a full day of roaming and wandering, I’m convinced that I have to come back and spend some more time in Paris. Visiting the museums leisurely, reading books I never knew existed like Le passe-muraille by Marcel Ayme, which is about a disgruntled government worker who discovers he can walk through walls and gets stuck in one after awhile). There is a dedicated monument to the author in Monmatre of him stuck in the wall. I think I could take a Ranada Renaissance sabbatical right here in Par-eeeeeeeeeee. Find a room somewhere like the artists did.Â
Something else I’ve been pondering today. Maybe it’s okay for people to think I’m different or crazy. Pretty much all of the artists except Picasso were crazy, certifiably. I don’t want to be certified crazy, now, but for real, these “loonies” are considered geniuses and fathers of entire artistic styles and movements. So maybe crazy just contributes to genius. Or maybe genius is so genius that it seems crazy at the time. I’ve already pondered this many times. It takes guts and prolly a couple of screws loose or just lack of concern about public opinion to be different and “revolutionary.” The beginning of the revolution never seems glamorous or the next big thing. Heck, a lot of trailblazers don’t even get recognized until they’ve been dead longer than they were alive.
Well, one more full day in Paris. I can’t believe my trip is coming to an end. It was definitely worth my while and worth my entire annual leave bank, lol. I have learned more than I can ever blog about, although I’ll keep telling trip stories on here until I’ve run out. People say when you travel to Europe, your life forever changes. It’s true. The way of life is different. I can count how many SUV’s I’ve seen, but I can’t tell you how many Smart cars I’ve seen. The waitresses don’t rush you at restaurants. They expect people to lounge and talk and stay for awhile at meals. When people here say they speak “only very little English,” their skills are MUCH better and extensive than when I say “Je parle Francais un peu.” Kids get to take field trips to Versaille. Well, diary, I’m getting quite sleepy. Until next time!
We conquered Rome in a day!
I promised more stories! During our free weekend, the black kids went to Rome, Italy. First of all, getting there was an ADVENTURE! First we got bamboozled into sharing a bus to Baden Baden with the group that decided to spend a day in Lucerne, Switzerland. We would have come out better monetarily just using public transportation to get to the train station in Strasbourg and catching one. (BTW, I am a transportation PRO now. I’ve used EVERY form of transportation here except a moped. Walking (and walking and walking and walking), taxi, bus, tram, metro, train, plane, boat!) But it’s ok b/c we wouldn’t have met our friend BJ had we gone straight for the train to the Baden Baden, Germany airport. BJ is from Florida, but he lived in Jackson, MS, for awhile (small world). He’s a radio DJ, and he even remembers my dad’s friend Stan Branson who is a radio jock as well. He’s been living there 6 years and is now a huge DJ in Germany, and after explaining how to get to the airport using a bus (none of us know German), he conversed with us about his struggles as a black man in Germany. Very interesting. And we oohed and ahhed over his fly to death 2 year old son Noah. Oh and before we met BJ, we stumbled upon this cute little cafe where the people were so nice. And since it was Mother’s Day, all the ladies got yellow (my fave color!) roses. And I got a REAL ham and cheese croissant. Like sliced honey baked ham ham, not luncheon meat ham (which I’ve been subjected to for the last week and a half). But Baden Baden was breathtaking. 🙂
You gotta get in where you fit in in European airports. In Baden Baden, we thought we were home free. Nobody was at the terminal so we were chilling. Then they called the gate. Oh my gosh. We had to fight to get on this little shuttle to get to the actual plane. Then as we realized the seats are free for all, 21 got smashed trying to get off the shuttle. Folks were running and pushing. It was like we were in a movie. It was CRAZY. We got on the plane, and they made announcements the e.n.t.i.r.e. time. You can NOT rest on those planes. Not only did they make announcements, they made them in FOUR languages almost every time.
FInally, after we landed in Rome, it was night time, and the guy in our group thought it smart to figure out the Metro instead of just catching a cab. I was quasi livid because I don’t like even remotely feeling lost at night in a strange city, let’s not forget in a foreign country. We ended up walking about a mile from the destination metro stop to our actual hotel. I felt like I was walking through the set of the ghetto in The Wiz. There was graffiti everywhere, and the people were scarce on the streets. Then since it was late, our last chance at food was a Spanish pizzeria, where the pizza had no tomato sauce and they cut the pizza where you want and then weigh it to figure out the price. Mine wasn’t that great, but I was hungry. 
The next day, we got up early and a beautiful day started. On the way to Vatican City, I stopped at a souvenir shop and got postcards for the people whose address I remembered. Then we got stopped by a “tour guide,” but we were VERY wary. The line was super long to enter Vatican City through the museum, so it sounded good. Finally, she assured us that we wouldn’t be paying her but an office and showed us the office, and sure enough it was a great super duper awesome deal. For 25 euro, we jumped the line, got into the Museum, AND had a guide explaining to us highlights of important stuff. Y’all, the Vatican is SO beautiful. Michelangelo is pure genius. I’m still in awe of all that he was able to accomplish. His sculptures and his paintings were just mesmerizing. The Sistene Chapel was amazing. The Basilika was amazing. EVERYthing in the Vatican is AMAZING. lol
After we left the Vatican, we found a little cafe in search of real Italian cuisine. Again, I bombed out. I ordered meatballs, thinking it was the safest thing there. NOT. They were too yeasty and they had peas in them. Luckily, Chris asked the lady could I get something else cuz I was already going through some personal issues that day, and that had tears welled up in my eyes. I ended up with roasted chicken and potatoes, and it was pretty good. Then we jumped on a bus and headed to the Coliseum. It’s so crazy to me that these well known artifacts are just chilling in a regular city. We didn’t pay to go in, but we walked all the way around it and then explored all the other ruins close by. After we were tired of that, we got on another bus and headed to the Spanish Steps. That part of the city looks so romantic. We sat on the steps for awhile as the sun set, and then we found a little restaurant on the side street.
In the restaurant, we all had Sicilian steak. It was ok till I got to the extremely pink center. But I was relatively full by then anyway. Then when Chris and LT ordered dessert (21 and I had capaccino), the British couple sitting next to us inquired what it was, and a pretty interesting convo ensued…
Ok, sorry to keep y’all in suspense, but I gotta get dolled up so I can finally leave this hotel and start exploring!!
Today will be a good day!
I’m still in (hence I’m posting), but I’m not tripping since it’s 21’s bday. I asked the Lord for patience so now I have to use it! I’m already feeling good in the neighborhood today because they had hardboiled eggs at breakfast!! I can’t begin to relay how much I’m TIRED of croissants, ham, and cheese!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That’s all I’ve been eating really for like a week!!!! And I love boiled eggs!!! 🙂 Yeah, I’m simple to please.
Today we’re going to Versailles, then to the Louvre, and then to the Latin Quarters for dinner. It’s gonna be a GREAT day. 🙂 So far so good–incident-free in Paris!
Everywhere they hustlin’
Everywhere I’ve been, my people be hustlin!!! I love my people, for real. At the Tour Eiffel, you will find several people, mostly hued people, selling 1 euro Eiffel Tower keychains and other souvenirs, and in Strasbourg, I saw people of color in the plaza selling umbrellas you put on your head. AND today in the plaza of the Louvre, a guy was “fishing” coins out of the wish pool with a magnet. Please understand that I am not at all hating. The only people who got on my nerves were the ones who were preying on English-speaking people by begging with a postcard with words in English. Man, get you a hustle! They are BALLING selling those keychains!
Today was an awesome day. Started off very very very very slow (I hate being inside late), but we ended up going to le cathedral Notre Dame, which was even extra cool because we got there when mass started. And a black priest was leading the service. I prayed, prayed, and prayed in there. Then we went to the Musee Louvre and got info on when to come back. We plan on going tomorrow evening when it’s tres cheap. 🙂 Then we went and saw l’Arc de Triumphe. There’s SO much to see here. Never a boring moment. I love it here. Truly. I can’t believe I’ll be home in 3 days! Well, I’m very drowsy and I still need to get directions for our plans tomorrow. So… A bientot!
Real Middle School Mom of Atlanta 