Random Laugh: Were We This Bad Back in the Day? LOL!

It's a beautiful thing to meet good people on the street and share a handshake...except in Chicago (watch your hand gestures in that city!) I don't know--these cats take it just a little TOOOOOO FAAAAAAAAAAR! LOL!

Men...Women...Teach Me.

Musiq happens to be one of my favorite soul singers (one day, I'll post my reasons for avoiding the term "neo soul") AND performs a beautifully written song that intriques me, teachme. The lyrics to this number really struck me as I watched this video a few minutes ago and inspired a question:

Do we teach each other to love, or do we separately outline the do's and don'ts of loving us?

Please...speak on it.

Men, show your courage and "teach" the ladies how things work from your perspective. Ladies, do you. I'll listen and learn...

Tell It Like It Is

Filter out the Imus discussion and the mention of some "anger management failure" that 50 Cent enjoyed. The "good father" approach is right on time. Leave your thoughts.

Andrew, you're right--I'm back.

contracts cancelled

life is not promised
none of your dreams weight it to your timeline
life guarantees nothing to its user
well--don't forget it's expiration date
death
he is a jealous heart
he lives (how?) for the repeal of life from the congress
of hopeful hearts and timeless thinkers
his favorite joke is the cancellation of contracts
holiness is catered to better living
yet the most righteous of us all
our unborn
find their warranties voided
before they even have the chance to sue
pitiful death
life cuts you at your knees
and your jealousy fallacy greed
robs us
and that's so cold, death
we don't have an fdic...for lifeforce

i need to renegotiate this contract

Musical Aftercare

Musical therapy time...strictly for me.

Changes

Thanks and love flow to all of you who gave me advice, good notions, and pure hope for parenthood. My little one, it appears, was not destined to walk here. Less than eight hours after I posted a celebratory comment on Cap's page about the blessing of fatherhood, my baby died. Am I still counting blessings? Good question.

The answer is YES.

My child's mother lives on, and her recovery is happening quickly and with little discomfort. Family and friends are listening with love for any word of grief--without forcing advice or pushing me to feel on their time schedules. Life is still life; death is still inevitable. King Solomon spoke of moments like these centuries ago in Ecclesiastes, and the reminder is emblazoned on my third-eyesight:

Time and chance happen to all.

I was not promised to live my dream of fatherhood. I was never told that I would have a lifetime with my child. Frankly, the only promise I held before the miscarriage was that God would heed my prayers and protect my child from harm. I am so grateful that my son did not suffer more and that his mother was able to know her body and feel its changes. There could have been a myriad of horrible misfortunes that befell my seed and his mother earth...but they did not. Thank God for sparing both of them any additional pain.

Faithful believers, pray for us. Hope-filled friends, send positive vibrations toward San Diego. Thank you all, and love to you all.

I Feel Like...

Now, don't you feel better? Work the kinks out and dance at your desk, baby! Even if you don't like go-go (shame on you!), it's hard to sit still when the funk is on!

Cap, don't hurt nobody when you shake it! LOL!

Reference URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQmABbwneSU

Open Letter (?)

I'm feeling the wear and tear of pregnancy from the caring man's side. Musically, I guess this is how I feel...



Relax, folks...I'm cool now. I just needed a release, ya dig? Peace and blessings to the fathers on this planet.

Mothers, you get my love, but we need to spread some love in the fathers' directions more often. There are all kinds of pain in this world; what your man does not feel physically with you in pregnancy often finds him in other portions of his being. Trust--we may not complain to you because we want to shield you from the pains and pressures we feel. You bear our treasures, our CHILDREN--and we love you for that EVEN when you touch our nerves and step on our feelings and test our ability to hold our tongues.

We understand very quickly that the changes, those subtle and devastating molecular transformations, that your bodies are undergoing hurt you in ways that we cannot fathom. Nothing tears at real men more than the realization that we are powerless to restrict hurt and pain from our loved ones--NOTHING. Please remember that we are here for you and with you. Please settle on the truth that we know pain and hormonal havoc is a volatile mixture that motivates horrible thoughts and feelings...and we see that you cannot handle some of our responses to the acid times--those moments when the mixture just eats at you. Maybe that's why you are so sweet after time and regurgitation help you to see things as they ARE and not as pain warps them...mmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Thank you, loved ones. I feel much better now. Bless my God for the gift of writing and the permission to vent. Peace and blessings...

Reference URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_v07PFn07Dk&v3

Monday Morning Music Moves for Me...Oh Yeah--You, Too!

I like Amy Winehouse. Actually, I've been digging her sound since I heard a bootleg (the only way to go when you don't know the artist) of her first CD, FRANK. Since I just enjoyed my first Father's Day and feel pretty happy right now, I decided to start this week with a little musical celebration. Co-signed by one of my favorite MCs, Mos Def, here is the one and only skinny alcoholic Jewish girl who can sing her anorexic back region off-- Amy Winehouse.

Amy & Most Def - Love Is A Losing Game
Uploaded by Phillips-Entertainment

Reference URL: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x27nlt_amy-most-def-love-is-a-losing-game

What Teachers Make...Taylor Mali

This is dedicated to every teacher--professionally trained and spiritually gifted--who touches the lives of the young everyday. Remember: parents are the first teachers.



Reference URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hw1MFobWD_o

Ummmmmmmmmm...Yeah.

Have you ever thought of music as a guilty pleasure? Whenever I hear this song, the lyric lover/poet/muse to a few magnificent minds in me just feels like a cheat. I mean, is the fact that the producer sampled one of my favorite old songs for the beat MY FAULT? I plead the Fifth. Honestly, I don't even UNDERSTAND most of the lyrics--and I'm a Southerner!

Someone decided to post this translation (sic) of the hood favorite, THROW SOME D's. Hey, it's better than my version...

Check This Out, and Share Your Outlook

I found this article on a link from one of my favorite music sites, www.okayplayer.com. I have mixed emotions about the sincerity of this program. Check it out, and please leave your thoughts.

I'll give my thoughts after I get some sleep.

Sharpton wants to bury hip-hop lyrics

AP

June 4, 2007

Detroit -- - Rev. Al Sharpton has brought his campaign to clean up hip-hop lyrics to Motown, and organizers hope to collect thousands of bars of soap as symbols of the effort. Sharpton said it made sense to promote the hip-hop campaign in Detroit because NAACP leaders plan to conduct a mock funeral for the "N" word during the group's July convention.

"The 1960s were the Motown sound and James Brown. But they did not call us the 'N' word and they did not degrade women." The bars of soap will be donated to shelters and halfway houses for women, organizers said.

Reference URL: www.theglobeandmail.com

Some Things Are Just Wrong

White chicks and gang signs: is this an epidemic or just bad taste on the part of some Anglos? Say sumn!



Reference URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKTDRqQtPO8

Richard Pryor...Straight No Chaser

"Cocaine," according to Rick James, "is a helluva drug." Richard Pryor was a legend...even when he was high on cocaine--some might say ESPECIALLY when he was high! You be the judge.

Beauty in Word and the Physical

Saadia...she weaves words like the ancients weaving rugs that mesmerize the eyes and speak love of beauty in craft. Find out more about her and her fabulous new work lavish lines/luscious lies, available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.