Bittersweet...UCSC is gonna be the Death of me!

Well Well, its that time again to pack up all of my things and head northwest for the fall. Yep, Im going back to UCSC, Santa Cruz, the Bay, the Boondocks, College. In a way I am really excited to go back but I still dont want to go back just yet. Plans have changed so I will not have my car this quarter until winter quarter. My job is cool, My old teacher asked me to be his teaching assistant for a class of 300. I have to get ready to travel abroad and there are just so many things to deal with. I just want this year to go by fast.

Pharcyde!!

Okay so this post has nothing to do with Pharcyde but their song is drilled into my head at the moment.

I have been extremely stressed out this past week, I dont know if its because I am going back to school next week or because I am thinking about all of the things I have to do once I get there.

Im pretty excited to go back to Cali ( Big up to LL Cool J) for the simple fact that Arizona has been a drag this summer. No friends to go on fun adventures with and no beaches to visit, It was simply wack. All work and no play makes for a dull person i might say in this case. Thats all I did was work, work, work and I have nothing to show for it because I having been paying all my bills this summer. This year will be interesting with Student Media, Alpha Kappa Alpha, ABSA and other fun stuff I know I will be anything but bored. New York hopefully in the future and there will be lots of pictures being taken this year for sure.

Tribute # 3: Black Pride, Black Love; Obama Edition

Ain't nothing like a grandmothers support

So I was overly excited and elated when I saw this picture of Barack Obama's grandmother holding up an old campaign sign outside of her home in western Kenya after welcoming Obama's Democratic National acceptance speech. This picture is a idealistic and sentimental reminder of how far we have come as a people. From being ripped away from our homelands and loaded into a ship not knowing where it was going to becoming *president of one of the worlds most powerful countries. One of my friends Cynthia aka Watsonville (her hood) imagined what she would say if someone asked her what her grandchildren does, "So what does your grandson do?", "Oh he's President of the United States!"

The famous but oh so lovely fist-bump also known as the "DAP"

This picture celebrates black love at its finest moments. Michelle and Barack are G's for incorporating this into their daily regime of giving props when they are due. In a world where black women are being over sexualized in the media and black men are supposedly "forced" to date outside of their race due to the attitude of the Black Woman and Black men being so desirable, this picture restores my faith of their being such thing as strong black love in today's crazy wild world. Not only does this symbolize strong embrace and devotion but it makes me feel a sense of familiarity and pridefulness in the urban culture. Also it just makes me love them even more!

Baby Mama Drama Politics

So unless you have been living under a rock lately you most likely heard about McCain's running partner, Sarah Palin's pregnant Teenage daughter. It has been pretty much a hot topic since last week. I kind of feel sorry for the kid, there are probably tons of people saying how bad of a girl she is and how her mother can not even control her own child let a lone try to help run a country. Barack Obama courageously proclaimed this scandal unnecessary and hurtful to all parties involved and that families are off limits. In this situation practicing abstinence sounds like a darn good idea. Entertainment shows are doing too much though, making comparisons to jamie lynn spears is going a little over the edge don't you think? But who cares right, It's fair game in the world of Politics.

Tribute #2 Songs That Remind Me Of My Childhood

One of Dem Dayz- Monica
*reminds me of Santa Monica Beach


Day dreamin'-Tatiana Ali
*reminds me of Venice Beach


I Wanna Be Down- brandy
*This song reminds me of the Boys and Girls Club of Venice

Enjoy!

Barack Obama!!! Yes We Can!!

So I dont know if your parents or grandparents told you the stories about their first voting experience. Rather it be Clinton, Bush, Nixon, Bush Snr, or JFK, this election is different in many ways. This year I will exercise my right to vote for the first time in my life and I will be voting for a BLACK PRESIDENT. I Regret not writing about this sooner but I was super busy this week. I first heard about Barack Obama sometime in the early 2000's when I came across his book, Dreams from my father. Sometime later during my first year of college I came across another book of his in the airport, I bought it and immidiately began to read it while waiting for my flight (the rest is history). This day and age when African Americans are constantly being criticized by the media and the American Governement, Obama gives me and the rest of America hope that things can be changed and you just dont have to stand on the sideline and accept them anymore. I emphasize the word "Hope" in that last sentence. Watching the Democratic National Convention really hit the nail on the head for me as far as me for the first time being extremely proud to be an American. Obama is not just a "Black" president but he is an American, and Multi-racial as well as Multi-cultural, he also comes from the working class of Americans and knows what that life is like which gives him precedence when it comes to helping Americans. Whenever I hear him speak I see glitches of greatness that will manifest into something so majestic later on. I'm sure this is the same way people felt at the time when they heard MLK speak. I am just really excited to Vote this year for the first time and as Obama treads on his path to presidency you will be hearing a lot more from me.

For What It's Worth! My First Tribute #1

So I was listening to a bunch of Billie Holiday songs this past week and I couldnt help but to think about how hard her life was. Being raped numerous times as a child, adolescent and adult, having to work as a prostitute, dying from cirrhosis of the liver and having a warrant out for her rest for posession while she lay dying in her hospital bed. Why do the Great die so young? and I emphasize the word "Great" to the umph degree. One of my favorite songs of Billie is Lady Sings the Blues and God Bless the Child. She is one of the few artists I know that I could actually hear the pain in her voice. "Life is Beautiful" read one of the murals in Los Angeles depciting Holiday serenading her audience with the microphone. She is my constant reminder that whatever you may go through in life, the only person stopping you from becoming what you want to be is yourself. If you have talent you can't be afraid to use it!