Staying Together Episode 6 "Raising Our Youth" Part One

Staying Together Episode 6 "Raising Our Youth" Part One

Top #5 Favorite Li'l Kitchen Tools

I hardly remember life before my...

5. Vacuum wine stopper (no spills)
4. Meat Cleaver (for cutting/chopping everything)
3. Bamboo mat (homemade sushi, save a fortune)
2. Rice/veggie Steamer (perfect rice, really what was I doing all these years?)
1. Ceramic Knives (magical buttery cutting) #5 advantages to ceramic knives.

Blonde Ambition

click on a photo for slides

 

Top 5: Is this Real Life 2012?

 He looked SUSPICIOUS

5.  Whitney is dead.
4. Mormonism is the fastest growing faith in US history.  I've studied it enough to JUDGE.
3.   Politics:  It's like living in 60's and 70's again (for the first time.)  
2.  Urkel is back!  DWTS doesn't stand for Down With The System.  I literally thought it did.
1.  Police are allowed to strip search you for breaking a leash law now?  Lunatics

Hurt Village by Katori Hall: Combating the Vilification of African Americans

The details of racism can be complex and inconvenient.  While we applaud The Wire for its nuanced look at the black underclass and many Mad Men fans expectantly wait for the show, to perhaps, paint an accurate look at civil rights and affirmative action in the late 60's, the concept of sympathetic black characters with baggage is still elusive to much of the American public.  Katori Hall's "Hurt Village,” focuses on a poor, black Memphis family that has to move in a week because its housing has been bought up by developers for the purpose of gentrification.  However, at the last minute, the family's application to receive Section 8 is denied because the household income is a few hundred dollars over the limit.  This story mirrors the troubles faced by the characters in Lorraine Hansberry's "A Raisin in the Sun."  Except Hansberry's characters were trying to move on up while Hall's are simply moving on out.  After she returns home empty-handed, Big Mama (Tonya Pinkins), the grandmother matriarch of the family, screams "America Ain't Shit!"  The sentiment is clear. How can a society that is completely open to the displacement of poor black people really care about inequality? 

"Hurt Village" covers everything that could befall a family... from poverty to drug addiction to post-traumatic war stress.  It hits the audience like a flood.  Through 13-year-old heroine, Cookie (Joaquina Kalukango), an enthusiastic student and  rap artist in the making, Hall explores the bleak realities of current day America; characters are aware of their circumstances, the unfairness of the system, but also have  a keen sense of their own agency.  In one scene, a young mother, Toyia (Saycon Sengbloh), rants about a white nurse who had suggested she be sterilized after she gave birth to her daughter.  At the end of the scathing monologue, she quips, "She was right though!"  The characters in the play are all aware of their plight which is not the case for everyone in similar situations.  The fight against racism is still a war of consciousness.   

Like a Sam Shepard play, “Hurt Village” portrays dysfunctional families  whose characterizations are not strictly realistic, but are still somehow very honest.  Hall's characters have names that reflect their troubles like "Crank" (Marsha Stephanie Blake) who struggles with addiction. In the second act, the lights go out and a spotlight hits Crank as she spins in a circle and speaks a beautiful poetic monologue directed to her daughter who is not present.  With the exception of a this time break, "Hurt Village" is not marked by the magical realism of Hall's Broadway sensation, "The Mountaintop."  

Hall does not shy away from mess.  The writing is the perfect combination of tragedy and comedy.  Each actor was superb.  There were also wonderful performances from Corey Hawkins (Buggy), Nicholas Christopher (Cornbread), Charlie Hudson III (Ebony), Lloyd Watts (Skillet), and the brilliant Ron Cephas Jones dressed all in white as the formidable drug boss, Tony C.  The bad news is that  I saw the production of the play the day before it closed.  The good news is it is being made into a movie and that it can always be put up again. 

The Racialization of Trayvon Martin pt 2.

Black kid in a hoodie.  Black kid making a corner store run.  Black kid with a hood drink and candy.  Black kid with a background requiring disciplinary action.  Regardless of past behaviors, he did not deserve to die.  In a world where it is so easy to write off black life, black kids are marked for death.

Hood(ies): The Racialization of Trayvon Martin

I'm sure many people heard that Trayvon Martin's girlfriend said why he put on his hoodie that day on his way from the store back home.  Trayvon was not wearing the hood on his sweatshirt as a fashion statement.  He put it on when he realized he was being followed.  This image of his revelation and desperate act to take cover is horrifying to me.  And to me, it is an important distinction that some people have internalized and some haven't.  I still see people posting that he was wearing his hood because it was raining or just because and that they relate because they do the same thing.  I wore my share of Fubu, Fila, Polo, and Tommy Hilfiger in high school so I do not cringe at the idea of racialized clothing choices.  I even think critics of "sagging" might lighten up.  But inaccuracy is unnecessary.  I realize how important it is for some kids to distinguish themselves culturally through clothing.  Not only was Trayvon's hoodie distinctly not a black thing or a youth thing (as it has been noted that everyone is wearing them nowadays), it was not even a clothing choice, it was his turtle shell, his protection. His hoodie did not seal his fate.  Zimmerman was determined before the hoodie appeared to not let another one (black man) "get away" and his recognition of the hoodie as additionally suspicious was more or less an afterthought.  Nor were the Skittles and ice tea mistaken for weapons like Amadou Diallo's black wallet.  I am overwhelmed with emotion to see people coming together to protest this blatant disrespect of a human life.  And these symbols are helping; and these symbols are fitting; and I think most people get it.  However, I believe that some continue to racialize issues that aren't racial.  It is great to hear people saying this is not a race issue but an American issue, yet at the same time people are racializing the wrong things. That is not to neglect that the whole situation is inherently racial.  The hoodie was not the issue.  Likewise,  the Skittles and the Arizona were not the suspected weapons but sad artifacts from a brutal killing.

Harassment: A Black Boy in the Burbs

Trayvon Martin's Fate Is the Fear of Every Young Man of Color

How the 17-year-old's murder shined a light on the dangers of being Black in America.

March 21, 2012  |  

     The case of Florida teenager Trayvon Martin is an abomination.
Martin, a black 17-year-old who was described by an English teacher as “an A and B student who majored in cheerfulness,” was killed February 26 during an altercation with a self-appointed neighborhood watch captain who confronted the teen for what looks to be the offense of being black in a predominantly white neighborhood.
     Martin’s killer, 28-year-old George Zimmerman (who was described as white in early news reports, but is actually of Latino descent) claims he fired his 9-millimeter handgun in self-defense. Martin’s girlfriend, however, who spoke with Martin on his cell phone in the minutes leading up to his murder, recounts that Martin told her someone was following him--an act Zimmerman admitted to while on the phone with a 911 operator. Zimmerman also told the operator, “These a**holes always get away."
     Though only two people know exactly what transpired that evening, and one is dead, details of the incident only seem to get more discouraging as they are discovered, including another part of Zimmerman’s 911 call in which he is believed by some to have referred to Martin as a “f***ing coon.” Zimmerman’s father, coming to his son’s defense in a letter posted in the Orlando Sentinel, describes Zimmerman as a “Spanish-speaking minority with many black family members," as if that disqualifies him from being a racist. At this point, we know far too little about Zimmerman to call him a racist, but also too much not to consider it.
     Martin’s case came to the nation’s attention almost a month after his murder, with police having neither arrested nor made plans to arrest Zimmerman. While a federal investigation into the case is finally under way, a public awareness campaign is also taking place, causing people to assess much about their country and maybe more importantly, about the things they can believe about it.
     The Trayvon Martin case hits especially close to home for me, a black (and Latino) male who encountered many a circumstance throughout my adolescence like the one leading to Martin’s death. You’d be hard pressed to find many young men of color, of approximate college age, who haven’t at some point in their lives been told that they “fit the description of a suspect” police are looking for. The experience is far less typical for those whom police reports would classify as Caucasian males. But it becomes something of a gag after awhile. It's dark humor—the sort that helps to quell the growing frustration of feeling like you aren’t welcome in the space you were reared in. It was a point of camaraderie for many of us; I can remember feeling especially close to the occupants of my college dorm after one such communal exchange. Our shared misery brought us closer together.
     As a young man coming up in the predominantly white suburb of North Haven, Connecticut, I learned very quickly what it was like to be “behind enemy lines.” I know too well the accusatory glares and the impromptu neighborhood watches and eventual inquisitions that come with traversing the sidewalks of the town whose name stuck out so proudly from the front of your high school basketball and football jerseys. Those jerseys had power, to be sure; not just in the way they stirred smiles from females or nods from other athletes or reverence from nerds, but in the way they brightened the glances of adults, of parents, of administrators, of the neighbor who can barely be made to bob his head while cutting his lawn every weekend. You’re all right with us. You are allowed here. I can remember when I wasn't allowed.
     The deeper in numbers, the worse things could become. Outings to the local movie theater, fast-food joints and strip malls could be too often dampered by self-appointed overseers. Neighboring towns where our faces were unfamiliar were worse, and trips into them were often formulated by way of incentive and patience divided by stop risk. East Haven, a neighboring town whose police chief resigned earlier this year in the midst of a scandal involving long-demonstrated harassment and abuse of Latino residents, was a place we generally avoided. Police showed up often. On one occasion, guns were drawn. I should note that this particular incident, in which a group of five were walking down a well-lit street to a house party, unfolded before anyone in tow had the chance to say word one. And these were police. Our police, and the police of the people who’d summoned them.
     George Zimmerman was not a cop. By all accounts, he fancied himself something of a protector, but his encounter encompasses some of the worst things about America and humanity on the whole, including murder, racial profiling and police negligence. It raises a number of questions baffling to most anyone who trades in common sense. What right did Zimmerman have to be suspicious of Martin? Why would an armed adult feel threatened by a teenager walking away from him? How does following someone who is minding their own business beget self defense? Why was Zimmerman excused so immediately of his transgression? Do these a**holes always get away?
     As many on social networking sites have noted, it is extremely difficult to imagine police handling things in a similar manner if the roles, and more specifically the races, were reversed. Keystone police neglected to test Zimmerman for alcohol or drugs, standard procedure in the instance of murder. The officer in charge of the crime scene was involved in some more controversial dealings in 2010 when he initially failed to arrest a lieutenant’s son who was videotaped attacking a homeless black man.
     For people like me, and our parents and grandparents especially, the aunts and uncles and older friends who warned us continuously to “be careful” even when just going to hang out, the ones who spoke to us with the gravity only years of institutionalized racism can sear into a person’s soul, Zimmerman represents a very specific kind of boogie man. The kind history would tell us may get you, but also who you won’t get back. For the people who must account for this terror, young men of color, and their loved ones by proxy, the Trayvon Martin case is another reminder of the futility of grace. You can give your children every advantage you know, teach them manners and etiquette, good from bad and right from wrong, but you cannot protect them. You can give them the world and with it, instruction. But beyond that, you can pray.

Felipe Delerme is a Brooklyn-based freelance writer and editor whose work has appeared in the FADER, Complex, SPIN, and Pitchfork.

Full Article from www.alternet.org

Must Be Nice

Today I was enjoying my dinner sitting on a stone wall in the little park on 57th and 9th Avenue when I noticed a white man in his 50's training his miniature collie on the tiny lawn that had a sign that said something straight to the point like, "No Dogs on the Lawn."   A little pomeranian walking a light-hearted young couple could not resist the collie and joined it on the grass.  I fantasized about and was nearly tempted to yell, "Can't you read, little white dogs?!"  But I thought the joke might be lost.  And I was the only black person in the park.  I pictured myself and my African American pitbull, Joanie, named after the author Joan Didion, being taken away in cuffs by the police after attempting to enjoy a frolic on the lawn.  This type of thought process did not result in the wake of tragedy although that's what prompts me to share.  There was a recent article that black kids receive more severe punishment in school.  I remember that.  Especially, the little black boys.  Must be nice...

Real People: Sign Petition for Trayvon Martin

You Can Sign the Petition Here

On February 26, my son Trayvon Martin was shot and killed by George Zimmerman, the community's self-appointed "neighborhood watch leader."

"Trayvon was my hero. At the age 9, Trayvon pulled his father from a burning kitchen, saving his life. He loved sports and horseback riding. At only 17 he had a bright future ahead of him with dreams of attending college and becoming an aviation mechanic. Now that’s all gone.

Please join me in calling on Norman Wolfinger, Florida's 18th District State's Attorney, to investigate my son's murder and prosecute George Zimmerman for the shooting and killing of Trayvon Martin."

It's All About The Bottom Line: Medicalization

Be wary of  of "medicalization."  The process of taking normal problems people experience and listing them as a "disorders" in order to sell drugs.  Turning "conditions" into "symptoms."  Tired?  Irritable? Low energy?  High energy?

"Ask your doctor if May Result in Death is right for you."


Female Sexual Disorder (actually lack of pleasureful stimulation or body image problems)
Social Anxiety (reacting to a stressful environment)
Restless Leg Syndrome (huh?)

Fuck out of here corporate sponsored disease creation.  Get your greens on!

 

source: check out this and other topics on the psychetruth youtube channel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zSFSkhXh7I

Too Froward?

Love this word.
(From the makers of creative spelling. Creative etymology.)

Froward

1

: habitually disposed to disobedience and opposition

2

archaic : adverse

— fro·ward·ly adverb

— fro·ward·ness noun

 See froward defined for kids »

1. <their froward pranks are not appropriate in the workplace>
2. <froward students sent to the office for chronic disciplinary problems>

"I'm not bad.  I'm just drawn that way."

"I Am My Father"

Last night I watched the first performance of  the one man show, "I Am My Father" by my comedy troupe's (http://jumpoffcomedy.com/)  Rick Younger.  You may have seen him on every commercial ever.  I am a nosey person.  But I'm too lazy to coax a story out of you.  Give me an hour and a half performance of your life any day!  Is that really too much to ask?  Entertain me!  I keep saying I'd make a shrewd but fair sultan.  And I got to experience the show alongside Rick's wife, his mother, and their friends, and our mutual friends.  That's like crack to a nosey person.  And it was, duh, if you can see where I'm going, amazingly deep and funny.  He told of how his father was his role model and also real coooool.  And how he is becoming his father over time.  Plus he can sang!  The entertainment stars were aligned.  And his wife, Vanessa, a hilarious actress, even made cupcakes for the audience because it was Rick's Birthday.

I got to hear about things I like to say I missed out on growing up, like singing in the Church.  And those I haven't experienced yet, like having a baby.  Look out for this show.

I Ain't Got Shit to Say

Be back soon.

Staying Together Episode Five "Loving Ourselves"

See the movie at BAM Sunday Feb 19th at 9:30pm

How to Get Along with People You "Don’t Like"

A young acting teacher gave me some great advice when I was a teenager.  When you have to work with a scene partner and you don't like them, pick one thing you admire about them and focus on that.  You will start to like them.  Sure they are emphatic, spacey, corny.  But are they brainy, disciplined, happy-go-lucky, or persevering?  It worked.  I became life long friends with this person.  ;)

"Our egos are primitive; if somebody strokes them, that somebody is good, and if somebody kicks them, that somebody is bad."

The next time you run into someone who isn't making your life fabulous, instead of focusing on the negative, focus on what is worth emulating in this person.  Unless they have distasteful characteristics like dishonesty, a lack of integrity, or a tendency to try to bully. 

The effect takes a couple of weeks to kick in.

 

Staying Together Episode 4 "On To The Next One"

Orthorexia: Experiment with Food

Orthorexia: a developed fixation with healthy or righteous eating

Diets have joined the ranks of religion and politics.  Even in the non-secular world.  We believe in them.  We argue about them.  Sometimes prematurely.  I'm not saying there are no absolutes.  Processed foods are the Devil!  But I would encourage experimentation to find what YOU thrive on.  Especially if you think you eat healthy but are always starving or sick.

Slow down and try things.  Puffy face?  Get rid of sodium filled fake foods for a while.  Do you cough a lot?  Maybe you suspect lactose makes you phlegmy or gives you the runs.  Why not find out?  Try removing dairy or eating lactose free (of course grass-fed/organic) dairy for 2 weeks.  Eat whole foods and experiment with gluten, grains, soy, juicing, smoothies, less oil, etc. 

My Experimentation: Sharing is Caring

I'm not against consuming animal products although I admire environmentalist vegans for walking the walk.  And I can admit I did have a karmic dream about a fish with eyelashes 2 nights ago.  Anyhoo!  I eat an almost oil-free near vegan diet (yay me!  jk.)  But this is because since I was little, my body rejected animal foods and even plant oils.  May sound bland, but no more stomachaches and lots of carbs (gluten-free), my fav.  Very energizing.  But clearly some people can digest meat and dairy just fine.  It might have something to do with genes and ancestry.  I mean, if your ancestors milked cows and churned butter... 

Orthorexia vs. Healthy Fear:

If I were to serve meat and/or dairy I wouldn't serve large portions (see China.)  And I would spend the money and buy non-GMO, organic, grass-fed products.  Sick animals = sick people.

Modern vegetable oils (polyunsaturated) are lots of fat and calories but the nutrient payoff is poor.   When using oil make sure it's cold or expeller pressed not chemically pressed.  Use less oil or try cooking with nutrient dense whole food fats like nut butters and avocados.