WHAT ARE YOU THANKFUL FOR THIS THANKSGIVING?

This Thanksgiving is going to be different than any other I have ever witnessed. I have beautiful kids and grands and I have my Mom still doing the Thanksgiving dinner. I cannot wait to see if she can be bribed into making me my own Sweet Potato Pie and to eat some of her dressing.

This year is different too because I am gearing up for my trip to the Presidential Inauguration in January and cannot wait to get there. It is expected to draw at least 4 Million people at the mall and I will be in the house. And, I bring this up because I know that the atmosphere has changed, and hope has again come into the world.

One thing about the holidays is that it normally brings out reflection on what has passed and who is not with you this year that was there last year. My daughter Tanika's father, William Tyrone Bass, died on December 8, 2007. And, he is truly missed by her and his family, and me as well. We still got along great, through all the new women that came after me, I was still fam. He was a big part of her life although he lived in Maryland, you would have assumed that he resided in Nashville. They talked on the phone almost everyday and usually saw each other at least twice a year. I am happy that I have photos of him with her right before he passed so she will always have her memories.

My brother, Roger Abernathy, passed away on June 13, 2008. He was the baby of the family and it is going to be very hard this Thanksgiving without him there cracking on people and playing Santa at Christmas for all the kids.

I am very aware of how easy someone you love can be taken from you, so you should cherish relationships like you would gold. You don't know when the next time you will see someone or if you ever will see them again. Think kind thoughts, because we are all different and we all have our faults, but at the end of the day, this is your family. So, you better be thankful for what you have, cuz it can leave.

SEASON FINALE OF "THE REAL HOUSEWIVES OF ATLANTA"

OMG, Bonnie Hunt & Niecy Nash does Real Housewives of Atlanta

Lil Wayne goes country in Nashville @ CMA's

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081113/ap_en_mu/music_cma_awards_lil_wayne

Well it was Joe the Strummer and Lil Wayne holding it down for Kid Rock at the Country Music Awards last night in Nashville. Lil Wayne is best known for such hits as "Lollipop" and A Milli". His lasted album "Tha Carter III" is this year's best selling disc with sales of $2.6 million so far being reported. He is been seen at several locations with Kid Rock and I for one was excited that he wasn't ashamed to be seen at a Country Music show.

Kid Rock brought the rapper on stage Wednesday while performing one of his hits "All Summer Long." Lil Wayne didn't rap though, he just stood with Kid and Joe the man Strummer while mimicking him playing the guitar. Now, ya'll know Wayne cannot play the geetar, he's a rapper. But, I did like the fact that Lil Wayne represented and wore a Tennessee Titans jersey that matched Kid Rock's.

Kudos to Lil Wayne for stepping outside the box and getting his man on. I ain't mad at him, it is a recession, make that paper Boo Boo.

The Queen Dwight Eubanks is next to spinoff of "The Real Housewives of Atlanta"

We discovered the Ms. Fabulishous on "The Real Housewives of Atlanta", and he never ceases to entertain. Dwight is an asset, if there is one, on the show. He is always there for NeNe with great advice, and I would love to have a BFF like Dwight.

REST IN PEACE GERALD EDWARD LEVERT

Gerald Levert (July 13, 1966 - November 10, 2006), this was my baby daddy right here. I love me some Levert since he hit the scene in 1988 with "Just Coolin." My favorite song on that album was "Feel Real", it is still one of my all-time favorites.

I sent a friend request to Gerald Levert on myspace and it took about 3 weeks for me to get approved, I was like why is Gerald not accepting my friend request. Then one morning I got to work and his picture was on my page, I was all happy and I put him as my first friend. Gerald died about a month later and the family took his picture down but, left his page active. So, he is still my top friend without a picture on my page and he will remain there.

When Gerald Levert died you would have thought I really knew him and hung around him cuz, I cried like a baby. I went to my daughter's beauty shop and held a wake for him with pictures, blogs and plenty of music. Those customers thought I was really crazy, but then they started talking about their favorite songs too so it was pretty cool. My daughter and her friend Tracy was talking bad about me and then we went to get something to eat and in the car of course, we had to play Gerald, and they started crying and singing...I know pretty sick huh, but I still miss his music and videos. So, when I need a Gerald moment I put on all my cd's and mix them and play him for a while.

Gerald Edward Levert is still my baby and today marks the second year of his death, and I wanted to give a shout out to him. Rest in Peace...

BARACK OBAMA THE 44TH PRESIDENT OF THE U.S.

Wow, can you believe it, Senator Barack Obama is the 44th President of the United States. A lot of hardwork and dedication went into his campaign and now it is finally over. I was fortunate to be one of many who did some ground work and did my share of phone banking at the Nashville Headquarters. It is an exhilarating experience to say the least, and I am happy that I played a part in making history on November 4, 2008.





The Obama Headquarters had the election night party at the Cannery Row in Nashville and a great time was had by all. We screamed everytime we heard a new prediction alert on CNN and knew that Obama was getting closer to his goal of becoming the Commander in Chief. America we have come along way and have even more of a way to go, but I must say that I feel that God trully has Blessed America.

I must say that one of the best things that came out of the election was John McCain's concession speech. It was the first time in the campaign that I truly admired the man, he showed grace and poise in conceding and gave great words of wisdom.

America, we are not the only one's celebrating a victory for Obama, the world has been watching this campaign and they are excited too.

AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL

Tomorrow is election day, for the office of, Commander in Chief of the United States of America. I hope that everyone has voted or plan to leave early tomorrow morning with book, music and food for the long lines that await you at the polls. Do not get discouraged while waiting, just remember what we are voting for. We are voting to keep the freedoms that we all enjoy while living in this great country. We are voting to maintain some dignity when we go to our jobs and send our kids off to school. We are voting to keep the same privileges that we have come to enjoy without someone telling us that they are not needed. We are voting to hopefully get to share in some of the wealth that rich people have.

I am working the polls tomorrow as a poll watcher, to ensure that someone that might not be as voter savvy as me can still be treated fairly. I have already voted and want everyone who so desires to get a chance to be a part of history on November 4, 2008. Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said it best, in his "I have a Dream" speech on August 28, 1963; "One hundred years later, the Negro still is not free."

Leave comments on what you are voting for, and what question, if given the chance ,you would ask the two candidates that are running for the highest position in our land.

BARACK OBAMA A MAN FOR CHANGE

Last night I had the wonderful opportunity to see a 30 minute infomercial by Presidential hopeful, Barack Obama. I was so proud of him and that is rare in a campaign for the Commander in Chief of the United States of America. When all you hear on television is bad things and downing someone's character, Obama wove a story and had me from the word Go.

People if you haven't voted, please go out and vote for the candidate of your choice but, by all means vote. I have heard so many negative things and doubts about whether his infomercial was a success. Just let me go on record that I feel it was well done and hit to the core issues we face in America today. I felt tears running down my face just thinking that maybe we might get this right, this time. Just maybe we will be able to have more money than month, like in the days of President Bill Clinton.

I liked those days, days when shows like Cosby's, Living Single and Touched by an Angel gave hope to the American people. I could sit back and unwind from the job of being a single Mom of three kids. I wasn't rich or even working half the time, but my kids never went hungry or went without the main stables of life. I was still able to take my kids on vacation, always had cable television, and they we involved in all sorts of extra-curricular activities. We need to do what we can to ensure that all American's are able to have the basics like healthcare, food, a roof and especially food. We cannot let America start to look like a third world country with thousands of homeless children walking the streets in the winter without coats, because their family had a setback or lost their job.

Please join with me in celebrating the freedoms that we all enjoy living in America and always remember, "If it's broke,it needs fixing."

OBAMA/BIDEN '08

PRAYER FOR JENNIFER HUDSON AND FAMILY

Julian King





Jennifer singing the same song with the Soul Children of Chicago











Jason Hudson

Darnell Donerson

I would like to take this time to send my condolences to the Hudson family for the triple murders of their family members. This was all so senseless and I pray that these two strong black women can carry on with their lives. I don't know how to begin to tell them to move on and that will be alright, because it's not going to be alright for a very long time.

To lose your Mom, brother and that poor seven year old baby is almost too much to fathom. I can't stop thinking about Julian King, with his big fat cheeks and precious smile. He reminds me of my first grand, Jordan and I know I would lose all my cool points if something happened to him. So, let us take time out of our busy schedules and pray for this family.

Sister Souljah in stores November 4, 2008

Alrighty now, the best selling author of "The Coldest Winter Ever", Sister Souljah, is coming out with another great masterpiece on November 4, 2008. For those who know her work, know that we are in for a treat. Please support this talented sister as she brings the funk one mo gain.

Let me just give you alittle bio on the artist, author and activist according to Wikipedia.

Sister Souljah (born as Lisa Williamson in 1964, Bronx, New York) is an American hip hop-generation author, activist, recording artist, and film producer. She is best known for Bill Clinton's criticism of her remarks about race in the United States during the 1992 presidential campaign. Clinton's well-known repudiation of her comments led to what is now known in politics as a Sister Souljah moment.

Souljah was the executive director of Daddy's House Social Programs Inc., a not-for-profit corporation for urban youth, financed by Sean Combs and Bad Boy Entertainment.

Early life

Lisa Williamson recounts in her autobiography that she was born into poverty and raised on welfare. At age 10 she moved with her family to the suburbs of Englewood, New Jersey, a wealthy suburb of New Jersey with tree-lined streets,[1] which is also home to other famous Black artists such as George Benson, Eddie Murphy, and Regina Belle.[2]

Souljah disliked what she was being taught in school. She felt that she was being taught very little of her history, since the junior high school and high school left Black history, art, and culture for Black Studies Week only once a year. The Englewood school district, however, took an active role with respect to including African studies in the curriculum from the early 1970s. This district also took an active role recruiting Black educators and administrators. The junior high school that Williamson attended was renamed Janis E. Dismus School after the death of a well-respected Black educator in the district as well as the mother of one of her classmates.

Souljah took a very active and special interest in learning everything she could about African history, which she felt was left out of the education curriculum in this country purposely: "I supplemented my education in the white American school system by reading African history, which was intentionally left out of the curriculum of American students."[3] While at Dwight Morrow High School, a school that had a 55-percent Black enrollment, and a majority Black faculty and administration during the time of her studies, from 1978 to 1982, she was a legislative intern in the House of Representatives for the Republican Party.[2]

Souljah was also the recipient of several honors during her teenage years. She won the American Legion's Constitutional Oratory Contest, a scholarship to attend Cornell University's Advanced Summer Program, and a chance to study abroad in Spain at the University of Salamanca—all before the age of 18.[2]

Throughout college she traveled, visiting Britain, France, Spain, Portugal, Finland, and Russia. Her academic accomplishments were reinforced with first-hand experiences as she worked in a medical center in Mtepa Tepa, a village located in Zimbabwe, and assisted refugee children from Mozambique. She also traveled to South Africa and Zambia. She graduated from Rutgers University with degrees in American History and African Studies. She became a well-known and outspoken voice on campus and active writer for the school newspaper. One of her noted campus initiatives was spearheading a campaign to bring Jesse Jackson to Rutgers to speak against the university's controversial investments in South Africa at the time, when divestiture from apartheid-era South Africa was a heated political issue.

In 1985, during her senior year at Rutgers University, she was offered a job by Reverend Benjamin Chavis of the United Church of Christ Commission for Racial Justice. She spent the next three years developing, organizing, and financing programs such as African Survival Camp, a 6-week summer sleep-away camp in Enfield, North Carolina.[4]

She became a controversial figure during the 1990s as a frequent guest on American talk shows. Unwilling to separate her pro-Black stance from her disdain for people of European origin, Souljah shocked many viewers with her racially charged statements. She became known for the line "I'm not saying there aren't any decent white people; I've just never met one."
Sister Souljah is married and has one child.[5]

Career

Music
She appeared on several tracks as a featured guest with the hip-hop group Public Enemy, and she became a full member of the group when Professor Griff left the group after allegedly making anti-Semitic remarks. In 1992, she released her only album, 360 Degrees of Power. Both of her videos, "The Final Solution: Slavery's Back in Effect" and "The Hate that Hate Produced," were banned by MTV because of their inflammatory imagery. Her album sold only 27,000 copies, and so her label, Epic/SME Records, dropped her. It is believed that the album sold poorly due to public backlash from her comments in response to the beating of Rodney King, but it also received terrible reviews in the music press.

Sister Souljah moment

Souljah became infamous for her statements that year about the 1992 Los Angeles riots. In an interview conducted May 13, 1992, she was quoted in the Washington Post as saying:
“
If Black people kill Black people every day, why not have a week and kill white people?
”
The quotation, which was taken out of context, was later reproduced in the media, and she was widely criticized. Presidential candidate Bill Clinton publicly criticized that statement—and Jesse Jackson for allowing her to be on his Rainbow Coalition—thus the Sister Souljah moment was created.

Author

In 1995, at the age of 31, she published her autobiography, No Disrespect (Times/Crown/Random House ISBN 0-812-92483-5). In 1999, she made her debut as a novelist with The Coldest Winter Ever (Simon & Schuster ISBN 0-671-02578-3). The latter was praised by The New Yorker. A sequel of the novel, titled Midnight: A Gangster Love Story (Atria/Simon & Schuster ISBN 978-1-4165-4518-7), originally scheduled for October 14, 2008, is now to be published November 4, 2008.[6]
She also does occasional pieces for Essence Magazine and has even written for The New Yorker.

[edit] Community Activist
As a community activist, Souljah has organized a number of service programs. In 1985, during her senior year at Rutgers University, she developed and financed the African Youth Survival Camp for children of homeless families, a 6-week summer sleep-away camp in Enfield, North Carolina. She has been a motivating force behind a number of hip-hop artists' efforts to give back to the community, organizing major youth events, programs, and summer camps with artists such as Lauryn Hill, Doug E. Fresh, and Sean "Diddy" Combs.
Souljah was the executive director of Daddy's House Social Programs Inc., a not-for-profit corporation for urban youth, financed by Sean Combs and Bad Boy Entertainment. Daddy's House educates and prepares youth, aged 10–16, to be in control of their academic, cultural, and financial lives. The students progressing through the program earn support to travel throughout the world.[7]

Senator Barack Obama draws a crowd of over 100,000 at a Denver, Colorado rally on Sunday, October 26, 2008. This is absolutely amazing to watch unfold.

Freedom Riders get degrees at Tennessee State University

Freedom Riders get degrees at TSU today
Activists were expelled in 1961

By JENNIFER BROOKS • Staff Writer • September 18, 2008

They set out to make the world a better place and paid the price.

Today, Tennessee State University honors 14 former students who risked everything — their lives, their reputations and their educations — when they boarded a bus in 1961 and joined the Freedom Ride.
They challenged a culture where buses, trains and planes had separate white and "colored" seating areas. For their pains, they were beaten, threatened, arrested and finally, expelled from school.

Today's TSU students are too young to remember an America with black and white drinking fountains, or black and white seats on the bus.

For that, they can thank people like Catherine Burks Brooks, Pauline Knight, Etta Simpson Ray, Frances Wilson, Frederick Leonard, Larry Hunter, Ernest "Rip" Patton, Clarence Wright, William Harbour, William Mitchell, Mary Jane Smith, Allen Cason, Lester McKinnie and Charles Butler. Ten will receive diplomas today. Four of them will be honored posthumously.

"One must always give recognition to those who paved the way for successful modern-day African-Americans such as myself," said Greg Duckett, a member of the Tennessee Board of Regents who pushed for special recognition for the TSU Freedom Riders.

Getting the Freedom Riders that recognition wasn't easy. The Board of Regents originally balked and refused to approve the honorary doctorates, but changed their vote in the face of public pressure.
Backlash was intense
Hundreds of young people, men and women, black and white, from every corner of the country, participated in the Freedom Ride. But without the Nashville activists, the entire movement might have faltered when violent attackers torched one of the buses and sent riders to the hospital, beaten senseless.

In the face of such a brutal backlash, even the Freedom Riders' allies were ready to call off the nonviolent protest. Instead, Nashville organizers stepped forward and volunteered to join the ride in Alabama and press forward.

"Without that sort of immediate response, that willingness to get involved after everything that happened, that could have been the end of it right there," said Eric Etheridge, author of Breach of Peace: Portraits of the 1961 Mississippi Freedom Riders.

Etheridge dug up old arrest photos of the hundreds of Freedom Riders who were jailed during their attempts to desegregate the bus stations, train stations and airports along their routes. His book pairs these 47-year-old mug shots with personal accounts and pictures of the Freedom Riders today.

"They faced opposition not only from the state of Alabama, and the Klan and the mobs, but even among their allies in the civil rights movement, the Democrats, the white liberals, there was a lot of opposition to the Freedom Ride," he said. Some worried that the Freedom Riders were doing more harm than good by provoking the segregationists on their home turf. "It was a movement that was nonviolent, but very much about direct action."

For the TSU riders, the journey ended in Jackson, Miss., where they were thrown in jail and chose to remain to fight their case, rather than make bail. Eventually, they would be joined by hundreds of other Freedom Riders who flooded into Jackson's bus terminals, airports and train stations — and were all jailed in turn.
TSU, then known as Tennessee A&I, delivered the students' expulsion letters to their jail cells. Today, the university makes amends.

"If they were willing to risk life and limb to ensure the future for us," Duckett said, "then the burden is on us to take advantage of these opportunities."

Contact Jennifer Brooks at 615-259-8892 or jabrooks@tennessean.com.

WE SHALL NEVER FORGET

BABY, NOT IN YO MAMA HOUSE

OOOhhh WHEEE I am trying not to make any noise, but Eugene is nibbling on my thighs and he is almost to my Honey Spot. He know I'm loud and can't hold it in when he making me feel so good. I can't believe she let us sleep in the same bed and he gone really make her hate my ass for letting him get fresh in her house. She gave me a funny look when Eugene told her it was okay if we slept together cuz he think I'm the ONE and we PROBLY get married...What the hell does that mean? Niggas know they will come up with some shit, wont they? So, he was doing good when we went to sleep, but now its about 4 a.m. and I felt him roll over and rub his monster and I knew my ass was in STRAIGHT TROUBLE.

I am trying so hard not to make a sound but he has made it to Ms. Kitty and is putting a slow suck on my clit and he knows I LOVE THAT RIGHT THUR, YES SIR!!! He curls his tongue on the underside of my pearl tongue and I let out a moan cuz I just couldn't help myself. He thens takes the whole thing in his mouth and kinda pops it, DAYUUUMMM BABY, that's what I let slip out of my mouth. Don't do that baby, not in you Mama house... She is gone get me, and not be mad at you. Eugene then reassures me that his Mama is sleep and she sleeps real hard and wont hear us. I ask him one mo time, if he thought she might be up and of course he has flipped my ass over and telling me to back that thang up...WHEEWWW, not what am I supposed to do because he is MY MAN AND I LIKES WHAT HE WORKING WITH...You know what I'm sayin? Gene is so nassy, he breaks out with, "whose pussy is this?" My face is all in the pillow trying not to make too much noise and he didn't hear me answer him; so he gets alittle louder and asked me again. "LESIA WHO PUSSY IS THIS?" He is grinding in a circle twice and then switching that shit up and goes counter clockwise on my ass, DAYUUUM baby "IT'S YOURS BUBBIE" . He then starts smacking me on the ass hard and fucking the shit out of me and we both release our climax at the same time...That boy know he know how to love me and I aint never gone leave this mofo...

I am lying there trying to get myself together and Eugene taps me on the leg and tells me to go get him a washcloth to wash him off. WHAT? I cant go across the hall to the bathroom, his Mama is surely gone wake up then. So, I have a dilemna on my hands cuz I need to wash myself as well. I rub some titty on his arm thinking thats gone get him to help me out, and tell him to go for me cuz I dont know where my robe is in the dark room, NOT. I search around in the room and find his big shirt and slip that on and try to tiptoe to the bathroom when I get the door knob in my hand I hear his Mama's door swing wide open. DANG, she comes right out of that door and ask me DID SHE HEAR ME PHUCKING IN HER HOUSE? Now, let me stop right here, who did she think I was doing it with? I knew she would think I'm the bad guy when she know her freaky ass child. I am like a deer in the headlights, what am I supposed to say behind that. I just kinda look at her, and she says I know yo little HOT ASS did so don't even fix your lips to lie. But, then she kinda grins and says, "that mess running down yo legs gave you away". I ran in the bathroom like CUJO was after me!!!!

I DON'T THINK YOU KNOW WHO I AM PIMPIN

I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS TRICK, HE GOT ME MESSED UP FA REAL!!! I am sitting here in the car waiting on my girl Natasha to come out of the BP on Magnolia, when I see Eugene kissing some female on the neck coming out of the store. They look all happy and cheesing, so he must have been with her for a minute. He always giving some excuse why we can't go out because he working at the studio, I guess the studio got a name and its this girl right here. But, that's okay I grew up with all brothers and would get a beat down from them if I act like this knuckle head got my head all messed up. I was taught early to handle my buziness and never let a man see me sweat. Just get busy with my own life and dont worry about him.

Eugene is straight foul on this, knowing my family on this part of town. I hear my phone buzzing in my purse and it's my girl Natasha texting me that Eugene and some trick were in the store. See, that's what I'm talking about, I dont want to have to kick Tasha's ass for getting all in my shit about this boy. Why can't men at least not disrespect your geography? But, this always happens, and then his ass be blowing my damn email, phone and sidekick up...I be like, "is this an emergency, WHAT DO YOU WANT?"...And, what he don't know is I already know she is married as hell. Just stupid, does he not think her ass will cheat on him too...She tell him all her business with her husband and then he swear that makes his simple ass special. He gone treat me like an afterthought and be putting her up like she all that..NOT PIMPIN The same way she doing him and wanting you, she gone be wanting another nigga when she get you. She is a cheater DUDE, and you know you want to be HER ALL AND ALL... Well, be careful how you get people and how you start a relationship off, cuz that same stick gone be measured against YOU..

I drop Tasha off and go home so I can hook up with her later at "Club Shakes". I put on some Keyshia Cole's, "Didn't I Tell You" and run me a bubble bath. I know that hot water will help to ease some of the tension in my body from the business I got to handle with Eugene. If he think I'm going to go for this continual disrespect I know HE DON'T KNOW WHO I AM. So, I am standing here in the mirror after my bath and shaking my ass to Keyshia. I do alittle shimmy shake to the part where she says, "WHAT GOES AROUND, COMES AROUND ITS ALWAYS BEEN THAT WAY...DIDN'T I TELL YOU BOY". I keeps booty popping so when I do that shit tonight when my that fine ass Johnathan be sitting there staring at your girl, he will know my skillz are on point. What Eugene dont know is when I take a break between men, I still practice droppin it like its HOT AND gyrating my Kitty Kat to ensure that snapping pussy is STILL FIYAH...!!!! He BETTA ASK SOMEBODY BOUT ME, I'M JUST SAYIN.

Be careful what you do pimpin, that very woman you try to run over is the ONE YOU GONE BE LOOKIN FOR IN THE END....Like Aretha says, "JUST TRYIN TO PUT YOU ON GAME"!!!

Shake Yo Poak Chops

I was surfing the web, as I do everyday and I came across something that shocks the conscience in a way that you have to stop and take notice. The song is entitled, "Poak Chop", and yes I spelled that correctly. I was taken aback by the environment and surroundings in the video. I mean the old house with the people sitting on the porch smoking and drinking in front of the kids was a bit much to say the least. But, I listened to the song and kinda started liking the beat. I then watched the people dancing and couldn't believe my eyes that those kids were gyrating and shaking their butts like strippers. And, then I started to thinking, they dance to other artist, why not dance to somebody that they know. If, you put on Lil Wayne or Jay-Z, they would be dancing just as hard. I was taking to my daughter about it, and she said she was going to start doing the dance and teaching it to her co-workers. She also said, she would have been in the video if given the chance.

Well, my nosey self decided to look a little deeper into this Tamechi, whose name is listed as the owner of the video. Don't sleep on Tamechi, he designed the MC Hammer pants back in the day and has designed clothes for some of the hottest names in television. So, grandmama was right when she said, "don't judge a book by it's cover." You don't really know who you are looking at most of the time. The song is catchy and the rapping is as good as any I've heard from highly publicized artists. So, check out the video and leave comments on what you think. Now, get ready cuz it's alittle unbelievable at best.

MACKENZIE'S PRINCESS TEA PARTY

“Happy Birthday”


Today is da day you arrive

Da Day me and ya Momma cried

Today is da day you eat all da candy you want

Today is da day you age

And, if what ya like was a book

You can turn da page

Today is a day just for you

Da Day your dreams come true

Today is da day you get gifts

From new shoes a new bike to a new outfit

Today is da day you turn six

And, every party you have

You have you can enjoy every moment of it

Today is da day you smile

And everybody buy you gifts like you they child

Today is da day you act bad

Da Day me and ya Momma spent all we had

Today is da day you get spoiled

You get that toy

When I was your age I could not afford

Today you get the first piece of cake

And you don’t have to get up no mess you make

So on this day we sing “Happy Birthday”


From your Dad,


Love You

Saartjie Baartman this one is for you

Saartjie "Sarah" Baartman (1789 – December 29, 1815) was the most famous of at least two Khoikhoi women who were exhibited as sideshow attractions in 19th century Europe under the name Hottentot Venus—"Hottentot" as the then-current name for the Khoi people (see further discussion of this now offensive term), and "Venus" in reference to the Venus figurines.



Life

Africa
Saartje Baartman was born to a Khoisan family in the vicinity of the Gamtoos River in what is now the Eastern Cape of South Africa. She was orphaned in a commando raid. Saartjie, pronounced "Sahr-key", is the Afrikaans form of her name; it translates to English as "Little Sarah", where the use of the diminutive form commonly indicates familiarity or endearment rather than a literally short stature. Her original name is unknown.

Baartman was a slave [1][2][3] of Dutch farmers near Cape Town when Hendrick Cezar, the brother of her slave owner, suggested that she travel to England for exhibition, promising her that she would become wealthy. Lord Caledon, governor of the Cape, gave permission for the trip, but later regretted it after he gained a complete understanding of its purpose. She left for London in 1810.


Great Britain
Saartjie travelled around Britain, showing what to Europeans were unusual bodily features, thought to be typical of her people. She had large buttocks, a condition known as steatopygia, and visitors were permitted to touch them for extra payment. In addition, she had a sinus pudoris, otherwise known as the tablier (the French word for "apron") or "curtain of shame", all names for the elongated labia of some Khoisan women. (Although "sinus pudoris" refers only to the labia of Khoisan woman, all labia vary in size and shape to some degree.) To quote Stephen Jay Gould, "The labia minora, or inner lips, of the ordinary female genitalia are greatly enlarged in Khoi-San women, and may hang down three or four inches below the vagina when women stand, thus giving the impression of a separate and enveloping curtain of skin" (Gould, 1985). Saartjie never allowed this trait to be exhibited while she was alive.[4]

Her exhibition in London, scant years after the passing of the Slave Trade Act 1807, created a scandal. An abolitionist benevolent society called the African Association, the equivalent of a charity or pressure group, petitioned for her release. Baartman was questioned before a court in Dutch, in which she was fluent, and stated that she was not under restraint and understood perfectly that she was guaranteed half of the profits. The conditions under which she made these statements are suspect, because it directly contradicts accounts of her exhibitions made by Zachary Macaulay of the African Institution and other eyewitnesses.[5]


France

Baartman later traveled to Napoleonic Paris where an animal trainer exhibited her under more pressured conditions for fifteen months. French anatomist Georges Cuvier and French naturalists visited her and she was the subject of several scientific paintings at the Jardin du Roy.

She died December 29, 1815 of an inflammatory ailment, possibly smallpox, while other sources suggest she contracted pneumonia. An autopsy was conducted and the findings published by French anatomist Henri Marie Ducrotay de Blainville in 1816 and by Cuvier in the Memoires du Museum d'Histoire Naturelle in 1817. Cuvier notes in his monograph that Baartman was an intelligent woman who had an excellent memory and spoke Dutch fluently. Her skeleton, preserved genitals and brain were placed on display in Paris's Musée de l'Homme until 1974, when they were removed from public view and stored out of sight.


Legacy

There were sporadic calls for the return of her remains beginning in the 1940s but the case became prominent only after U.S. biologist Stephen Jay Gould published an account, The Hottentot Venus, in the 1980s. When Nelson Mandela became president of South Africa in 1994, he formally requested that France return the remains. After much legal wrangling and debates in the French National Assembly, France acceded to the request on 6 March 2002. Her remains were repatriated to her homeland, the Gamtoos Valley, on 6 May 2002, over 200 years after her birth.

Baartman became an icon in South Africa as representative of so many aspects of their history. The Saartjie Baartman Centre for Women and Children [1], a refuge for survivors of domestic violence, opened in Cape Town in 1999. South Africa's first offshore environmental protection vessel is named after Sarah Baartman. News24.com article


Cultural references
Dame Edith Sitwell allusively refered to her in "Hornpipe", a poem in the satirical collection "Facade" [2]

Diana Ferrus, a South African poet of Khoisan descent, wrote "A Poem for Sarah Baartman" while studying in Europe. It includes the desire "to wrench [her] away-/ away from the poking eyes..."

Poet Elizabeth Alexander explores her story in a 1987 poem and 1990 book, both entitled The Venus Hottentot.

The science fiction author Paul Di Filippo used her story as the basis for the second novel of his Steampunk Trilogy.

Barbara Chase-Riboud wrote a fictional biography entitled Hottentot Venus.
Her life features in the 2007 Afrikaans romantic novel Frats by Chris Karsten.
Playwright Suzan-Lori Parks fictionalizes her story in Venus.

In 2006, a feminist artist and filmmaker adapted the name Venus Hottentot to direct an independent film with erotic content called Afrodite Superstar with the intention of reclaiming the strength and voice of Sarah Baartman as a sexually exploited woman of color.

Canadian performance artist Mara Verna created a web-based project and travelling exhibition cataloguing her story. [3]

bio info from Wikipedia

THE LAST LECTURE BY RANDY PAUSCH

Born
Randolph Frederick PauschOctober 23, 1960 (1960-10-23) (age 47)

Employer
Carnegie Mellon University

Known for
Creator of Alice software projectco-founder of CMU's Entertainment Technology CenterVirtual Reality Research with Disney ImagineersInspirational speeches regarding lifeBattle with cancer

Randy Pausch (born October 23, 1960) is a 47 year-old Professor of Computer Science, Human-Computer Interaction, and Design at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In September 2006, he was diagnosed with metastatic pancreatic cancer. He pursued a very aggressive cancer treatment that included major surgery and experimental chemotherapy; however in August of 2007 he was told that the cancer had metastasized to his liver and spleen. He then started palliative chemotherapy intended to extend his life as long as possible, which was then estimated to be three to six months.


Professional accomplishments

Pausch received his bachelor's degree in Computer Science from Brown University and his Ph.D. in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University. He has been a co-founder, along with Don Marinelli, of CMU's Entertainment Technology Center (ETC) and he started the Building Virtual Worlds course at CMU and taught it for ten years. He has been a National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator, and a Lilly Foundation Teaching Fellow. Pausch was a professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Virginia's School of Engineering and Applied Science from 1988 until 1997. He has done sabbaticals at Walt Disney Imagineering and Electronic Arts (EA), and consulted with Google on user interface design. Pausch is the author or co-author of five books and over 70 articles, and the founder of the Alice software project.

Pausch received two awards from ACM in 2007 for his achievements in computing education. These are the Karl V. Karlstrom Outstanding Educator Award and the ACM Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education Award for Outstanding Contributions to Computer Science Education.[1] He was also inducted as a Fellow of the ACM in 2007.

Battle with cancer

Pausch's last lecture poster
Pausch has been diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer[2][3] and was told in August 2007 to expect a remaining three to six months of good health. He soon moved his family back down to Virginia.

Last Lecture
Pausch delivered his "Last Public Lecture", entitled "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams", at CMU on September 18, 2007.[4] This talk was modeled after an ongoing series of lectures where top academics are asked to think deeply about what matters to them, and then give a hypothetical "final talk", i.e., "what wisdom would you try to impart to the world if you knew it was your last chance?"
Before speaking, Pausch received a long standing ovation from a large crowd of over 400 colleagues and students. When he motioned them to sit down, saying "make me earn it", some in the audience shouted back "you did!"

During the lecture, Pausch was upbeat and humorous, alternating between wisecracks, insights on computer science and engineering education, advice on building multi-disciplinary collaborations, working in groups and interacting with other people, offering inspirational life lessons, and performing push-ups on stage.

After Pausch has finished his lecture, Steve Seabolt, on behalf of Electronic Arts, which is now collaborating with CMU in the development of Alice 3.0,[5] has pledged to honor Pausch by creating a memorial scholarship for women in computer science,[2] in recognition of Pausch's support and mentoring of women in CS and engineering.

CMU president Jared Cohon spoke emotionally of Pausch's humanity and called his contributions to the university and to education "remarkable and stunning."[6] He then announced that CMU will celebrate Pausch's impact on the world by building and naming after Pausch a raised pedestrian bridge[7] to connect CMU's new Computer Science building and the Center for the Arts, symbolizing the way Pausch linked those two disciplines.

Finally, Brown University professor Andries van Dam followed Pausch's last lecture with a tearful and impassioned speech praising him for his courage and leadership, calling him a role model and "a Mensch".[6]

Media coverage

Randy Pausch and his wife Jai meeting with Sting at "The Police" concert at UVa on November 6, 2007
Pausch was named "Person of the Week" on ABC's World News with Charles Gibson on September 21.[8] His "Last Lecture" has attracted wide attention from the international media,[9] became an Internet hit, and was viewed over a million times in the first month after its delivery.[10] On October 22, 2007, Pausch appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show where he discussed his situation and recapped his "Last Lecture" for millions of TV viewers.

On October 06, 2007, Pausch joined the Pittsburgh Steelers for the day during their regular practice, after the organization learned that one of his childhood dreams mentioned in his "Last Lecture" was to play in the NFL.[12]

The Disney-owned publisher Hyperion has paid $6.7 million for the rights to publish a book about Randy Pausch called "The Last Lecture", co-authored by Randy Pausch and Wall Street Journal reporter Jeff Zaslow.[13]

A devoted Star Trek fan, Pausch was invited by film director J.J. Abrams to film a role in the latest Star Trek movie. Abrams heard of Pausch's condition and sent a personal e-mail inviting Pausch to the set. Pausch happily accepted and traveled to Los Angeles, California to shoot his scene. In addition to appearing in the film, he also has a line of dialogue.

Other lectures
Pausch gave an updated version of his "Time Management" lecture on November 27, 2007 at the University of Virginia, to an audience of over 850 people

Books
Learning to Program with Alice, Brief Edition (with Wanda P Dann and Stephen Cooper) (2006) ISBN 0132397757

The Last Lecture (2008) ISBN 1401323251

Bio info from Wikipedia

FINANCING
Calculators: Determine Debt
Gates Falls From Top Of World's Rich List
Microsoft Co-Founder Topped List For 13 Years

UPDATED: 10:01 am EST March 6, 2008

Bill Gates' run as the world's richest man has come to an end.

Slideshow: Forbes' Top 10 World's Billionaires

According to Forbes, investor Warren Buffett is the richest man on the planet at an estimated $62 billion. Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft and the man who topped the list for 13 straight years, fell to third.

Buffett, thanks to the surging price of Berkshire Hathaway stock, saw his fortune rise $10 billion from last year. Buffett, whose fortune is estimated based on his stake in Berkshire Hathaway and other assets, refused to comment on his net worth.

Gates is now worth $58 billion and is ranked third in the world. He is up $2 billion from a year ago.

In between Buffett and Gates is Mexican telecom tycoon Carlos Slim Helú. His net worth is estimated at $60 billion and his fortune has risen $11 billion since last year.
Buffett began buying shares in textile firm Berkshire Hathaway in 1962 and purchased a controlling stake in 1965.

Berkshire is invested in insurance, jewelry, utilities and food, as well as non-controlling stakes in Anheuser-Busch, Coca-Cola and Wells Fargo. Between 1965 and 2006, Berkshire stock returned an average of 21.4 percent a year.

In the summer of 2006 he irrevocably earmarked the majority of his Berkshire shares to charity, most going to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
At the time, the gift was valued at $31 billion. However, assuming that Berkshire shares continue to rise, the final amount of the donation will far exceed that sum. Buffett gives 5 percent of his shares to charity every July.

In October, Forbes reported, Buffett issued a challenge to members of the Forbes 400 richest Americans list, saying he would donate $1 million to charity if the collective group would admit they pay less taxes, as a percentage of income, than their secretaries.

Days after issuing the challenge, Buffett appeared before Congress to encourage it to keep the estate tax. Armed with a few Forbes 400 issues, he told the hearing that "dynastic wealth, the enemy of a meritocracy, is on the rise."

Me, Myself and I

I don't know if you have ever felt like this, but I have always been a very passionate person and I try to treat everyone the way that I want to be treated. I try to watch my mouth most times, because I know I have a fly mouth. But, one thing that I have learned in this life's journey is to never try to change people...And, for all the people who sent Christmas Cards, emails, texts and phone calls regarding Ms. Kitty, she is doing just fine.

A great writer by the name of Les Brown, not Gladys Knight's ex husband, but the writer from Seattle, Washington...He said, "You can not change people, you can only change yourself"..I truly believe that, and have tried to be mindful of that when dealing with people on any level...I dont spend my time whining about what someone could have done differently, they did it the way that they wanted to do it. I said all that to say, I have the propensity to attract people who want me to do things the way that they want it done.

So, you know sometimes there is never going to be a meeting of the minds, and you just throw your hands up and say, "YOU BE YOU, AND I WILL BE ME". Let's deal with that, is there anything wrong with being an individual? I don't think so, we have to all try to get along...I don't like everything that someone does, but I have grown up enough to just take their good parts, and the ones that I don't really care for I just say, "that's just how they are" and keep it moving. Not necessarily leave them alone, or sever the kinship, but take that as part of their character, and love them in spite of the difference.

One thing my mother hates for me to say is, that "I LIKE ME, I LIKE ME AS A PERSON....I WOULD BE MY OWN FRIEND"....I think that speaks volumes about me, would you be your friend? Most people have never thought of that, I have asked so don't play...I can back this up...Do you like how you treat people, when faced with adversity? When someone calls for help, do you play them off and hope they call someone else before they get back to you? Or do you usually have their backs, follow thru with what you said you were going to do? Be just as prompt about answering their email or calling them back as you would want them to do you?

Something to think about huh? That's what I'm saying, would you want to be your own friend....I don't get everything right, far from that, but I try very hard to be the kinda of friend that I would want in someone else. Sometimes I get tired and don't want to be bothered, look at the caller id, and say, DAMN what do they want now? But, then that small still voice says, what would you want them to do for you? I usually end up calling them back and saying I didn't want to answer the phone for you because you are worrisome, but what do you want? What can I help you with?

I have three kids and six grandkids, I want someone to be there for them when they need it. So, I can't really afford not to be there for other people. It cuts both ways, what you WANT, you have to GIVE!!!!!!!

I said all that to say, I have recently discovered the best friend that I really have in this whole world is THE GIRL IN THE PICTURE, ME... This is who I really count on, other than Jesus, who is the reason I am able to depend on me, because I really just depend on him.

Beyonce has a song titled, 'Me, Myself and I, and I think it is so appropriate for this blog. Below is the lyrics to the song...The highlights in Red are the ones that I feel pertain to me or my situation....Just doing alittle reflecting today..

MAN TO GET BACK CHILD SUPPORT

Parents owe $14,460 in case of mistaken paternity, judge says
By Sandy Hodson | Staff Writer
Sunday, March 02, 2008

Judge David Roper said he felt badly for Kenneth Samuels when he learned the child he had fathered for 11 years wasn't his.

Justice was also shortchanged, the judge said, because Mr. Samuels had been paying child support all of those years.

Last month, Judge Roper ruled that Jamie Hope, the child's mother, and Oba Wallace, the child's biological father, would have to repay Mr. Samuels $14,460 in child support he had paid since 1997.

Such an order is unusual, but not unique.

"We have seen it happen before," said Sandra Jarrett of the state's Child Support Recovery Unit.

Usually there is no intent to defraud, Ms. Jarrett said. Mothers who have had relationships with more than one man might not know who the biological father is without a DNA test.

Ms. Jarrett estimated 40 percent to 45 percent of their new cases are filed by a custodial parent who never married, and a DNA test is requested to establish paternity.

Child Support Services helps about 30,000 families in Richmond, Columbia and Burke counties. Across Georgia, 500,000 families are assisted, Ms. Jarrett said.

In Mr. Samuels' case, it began April 22, 1997, when Ms. Hope opened a Child Support Services case that named Mr. Samuels the father of her child.

Mr. Samuels said he never had any reason to doubt the child was his. He signed the birth certificate, and he consented to an order to pay child support.

Mr. Wallace told the judge at a hearing last summer that he heard from different people that the child looked like him. The child called him daddy when she saw him in town, Mr. Wallace said.

Mr. Wallace said he told Ms. Hope he would take care of the child financially if he was the biological father. They decided to get a DNA test last summer, Mr. Wallace said.

The DNA test proved Mr. Wallace was the biological father, and he filed a court petition to legally establish paternity. The case was assigned to Judge Roper, who had no problem with signing the order that established legal paternity. But he said he was troubled by the position in which it left Mr. Samuels.

The judge questioned Mr. Wallace and Ms. Hope about when they first suspected Mr. Wallace was the biological father. Both eventually admitted it was around the time the child was 2.

"I've never heard (of) this gentleman until this year, and I never knew that she was seeing anyone else," Mr. Samuels told the judge last summer.

Ms. Hope told the judge she wanted a paternity test in 1997 when the baby was born but that Mr. Samuels declined. He denied that.

"You swore that he was the father when you took out a child support action," Judge Roper told Ms. Hope. He said he considered that action fraudulent and ordered Ms. Hope to repay Mr. Samuels the $14,460 he had paid in child support payments.

In February, Judge Roper ruled Mr. Wallace was liable to Mr. Samuels for the back child support, too. Judge Roper said in explaining his ruling that once paternity is established, a father can be required to pay back support to the time of birth. Since Mr. Wallace's paternity was established, he was responsible for the child support since the birth in 1997, and responsible for repaying Mr. Samuels.

Ms. Jarrett said that when a child support case is opened, the man identified as a child's father can request a DNA test. If the test comes back negative, the case against that man is closed. If it is positive, then paternity is established and Child Support Services works to obtain a court order for child support.

A man can also petition the court directly to request a legal determination of paternity, which is what Mr. Wallace did.

Paternity establishes who is responsible for the financial support of a child. If a father also desires visitation rights, he must legitimize the child, too, Judge Roper said. Although Child Support Services cannot help with visitation issues, the office can refer parents to mediation.

Child Support Services will help fathers with employment issues. It operates the Georgia Fatherhood Program to provide job counseling, training, educational assistance, placement assistance and other services. In Georgia, 25 percent of children have a case with the Child Support Services, according to the state Department of Human Resources.

Reach Sandy Hodson at (706) 823-3226 or sandy.hodson@augustachronicle.com.

Star Jones tells hubby Al to G.H.E.T.T.O.U.T

The National Enquirer is reporting that Star and Al have officially separated. Here is an excerpt of their report:

"[Star and Al] hadn't been seeing eye to eye for months and had already spent a great deal of time apart," a close friend told The Enquirer.

"Finally, Star decided it was over. She told Al at the end of January that he had 30 days to get his act together or 'get out.'" ...

"[Now] Star is planning to divorce Al. He moved his things out of their New York City home and into a place in Miami. He's trying to make a fresh start."


And here's why they say Star finally threw him out:


"I think Star felt Al has spent thei marriage riding her success while she did all the heavy lifting. She resented it. Deep down, Star is a very old-fashioned woman who believes a man should support her emotionally, physically and financially. She now believes Al failed her."

BOOK REVIEW OF "SHE DID THAT"

I just finished reading the Revised Edition of "She Did That", by the bestselling author, Kerry E. Wagner. I was loving the book from the start, and laughed, cried, wanted to beat Bryan Terry's ass, and wanted to sleep with him all at the same time. When I tell you that book had some HOTTTT, SIZZLE, SIZZLE, ass sex scenes...WHEEWWW WWWEEE!!!!!!!!! I had to put it down a few times and get myself TOGETHER... wink, wink This book had me spellbound from the onset and I couldn't put it down. Mr. Wagner is definitely a force to be reckoned with and has captured the literary world by storm. He pulled me in and I didn't want to let go, I had to see how Bryan Terry was gonna to get out of the next situation.

This book is a story of a ne'erdowell, Bryan Terry who thinks he is a "wanna be" PLAYA...NOT!! He does everything he is big enough to do to all these women, making babies without any money, but usually ending back sleeping on his grandmother's couch, smacking women around and in and out of trouble with the law. But, somehow through all of these things, he wants very badly to be a "REAL MAN". Mr. Wagner takes you on this life journey with Bryan Terry and you find yourself thinking about men you have met or dealt with. You see patterns of behavior and mistakes that you yourself might have made with men. Mr. Wagner tells you how men view things that women do, and what you should expect from the man you are doing it to.

I just love this book, although I read the Unlimited Edition earlier this year, I think Mr. Wagner kept the flow of the book basically the same. It was an easier read than the unlimited edition, because it was more polished, but the essence of the book is still prevalent in the story. If, you haven't coped this book you are really doing yourself a disservice. But, I assure you that you will love it as much as I. I am a very critical person, and will critique and analyze everything, but I felt the characters from the beginning to the end. I was not bored at all throughout the book, and couldn't wait to see what was going to happen next. Bryan Terry evolved but, was still haunted by his old ghost. That was a constant struggle for him, because like Mr. Wagner says, "just because you start to do right, don't mean they gone forget what you done wrong."...Paramount for me, because although Bryan was trying, his old man kept surfacing.

I do suggest one other thing to you when you read this book, and that is to have a man ready to take care of you in between chapters. I took a nap, and was dreaming I had my legs on my man's shoulders and we were going for broke, I'm just saying...IT'S THAT DAMN HOTTT!!!!

You can find Mr. Kerry E. Wagner on "shedidthat.com." I am in anticipation of Mr. Wagner's next projects, as I am sure they will be just as phenomenal as "She Did That". Also you can find him on his blogs on myspace, you will be in awe and caught under his spell. So, tread lightly, or you too will not want to EVER LET GO....