Where the White Boys At?

Okay, it’s a known fact ‘at’ is a preposition, but I meant to do that, for a reason I’ll get into in another post. A second known fact I promised to bring up in my entry about hair weaves —that everyone seems to love– is that government stat’s PROVE more than 70 percent of African-American children are born to unwed mothers, hence the term “baby-daddy.”  One of my professors once told me that, that term wouldn’t even exist if less black people were accepting of simply having a baby daddy. Stat’s also show that black women are less prone to date outside of her race, but why is that? Why are black MEN more accepting of this than women? Seal, Taye Diggs, the NBA. I don’t get it. A girl who works for FIU’s newspaper once told me she doesn’t want to date a white boy because if they have sex, she would be disgusted by his white hands rubbing her body. This is the look I gave her:

I think this comes from lack of exposure. According to a 1998 census, whites make up just 17 percent  of the population in Miami-dade County. Also, in films such as 2005′s Guess who and 2006′s Something New, interracial dating is seen as taboo and is created as a huge spectacle  as opposed to something that could actually happen in everyday life.

If Niecy from the Pork N’ Beans wants to date Mark from the Hamptons, it’s probably unlikely, due to socio-economic reasons, but this is not 1952, for god’s sake RACE shouldn’t be a factor. Now, if you’re simply not attracted to white men, that’s a different story, but if you don’t want to date white boys because of those rumors about severe dandruff or that blip your grandma warned you about them smelling like bologna or kissing their dogs in the mouth (although, I’ve personally witnessed that last one to ring true), then we as black women need to branch out and explore. Maybe Mr. Tall, Dark and Handsome isn’t so dark after all, but a tall, white man from Michagan named Henson.

EXHIBIT "A"

All I’m saying is let’s be more open-minded and keep our eyes open. Open for guys like these whom for some reason black women can’t get enough of. Keep YOUR eyes open on the next look-a-like who may be coming to a hood near you!

Adam Levine of Maroone 5

Chad Murray

David Beckham

Josh Hartnett

Oops. He's so fine, I added him twice.

Justin Timberlake: every black girl's dream guy

Let Travis Barker unleash YOUR inner rocker

And finally, Johnny Depp. who cares if he's bi-sexual.

I almost forgot!!! The father of my unborn children, Paul Walker.

So, if you’re tired of asking Ray-Ray to put a ring on it, try stepping into the white side and if it doesn’t work, maybe it’s not Ray-Ray, it’s you!

Call me a nerd, but….

This was so cool to me especially because I am a semi-huge One Republic fan. I may have to set up an interview with these students. They aren’t too popular yet as they only have 215 views on youtube, but they will soon become well-known, that is, until my late-night A.D.D leads me to something better.

Another video of the nerdy bunch singing Adele’s Rolling in the Deep, not too bad…

What was up with that chick in the green sweater at the end of the video? I thought she was about to come and shut it down. That was…confusing lol.

Stealing makes you FAMOUS!

As you can tell, if you watched my last video, you saw that I am one of the biggest movie buffs in history. I have started working on my new screenplay called…well nevermind what it is called because I am NOT trying to let my creative juice leak into the mind of anyone who lacks originality. This has been on my mind a lot lately: originality. Where is it?? It seems that we all steal a little bit of everything from someone at one point or another. I’m not doing that. My writing style is very different. I have been compared to writers like Terry Macmillan (gosh, I hope I spelled her name right because that would be really embarassing lol.) I don’t know how or why, I know I grew up reading sister soulja, but I find Macmillan’s work to target more of an older audience, so I guess that’s a compliment. Back to my original point (sorry, I have A.D.D.) Originality is hard to obtain. It takes observance, talent and diligence. But not TOO much diligence because sometimes when you try too hard to be different, you totally miss the boat. So, as I work on my screenplay I try to give audiences something they’ve never heard or witnessed before. Now, I also noticed that sometimes stealing is necessary. Well the secret recipe is to steal, then enhance the formula times a thousand! For example: the movie Due Date and Planes, Trains and Automobiles. The creator saw something that worked ten years ago and  tripiled its exuberance. I know a MEGA star who did the same thing. Her name starts with Nicki and ends with Minaj.

Nicki Minaj strikes a pose for her latest album Pink Friday

 

 Am I a fan? Yes. Am I hating? Of course not. I’m pointing out facts that aren’t that obvious if you’re not heavily into pop culture. Many people holler that Nicki Minaj Stole from Lil Kim and this may be true, but nicki is no dummy. She took her career beyond explicit lyrics and tittie pasties and became insanely famous by mimicking someone who is not only mainstream, but whose lyrics and style didn’t heavily penetrate the hood.  

Popular 90′s Ska band No Doubt

Your eyes aren’t playing tricks on you, It’s No Doubt, the group who influences Nicki’s Style from the crazy pink hair to those annoying, crazy eye twitches in her videos. Nicki is a magnified Gwenny.

Gwen Stefani poses with her Harajuku Barbies

In the photo above Gwen poses with her Harajuku Barbies: a gimmick or concept she created while re-inventing herself during her flight to solo stardom. The whole asian inspired trend nicki has presented as her own is not her orginal idea by any means. GWEN is the QUEEN of orginality. Like Pharell once said during an B.E.T interview “when everyone else was going left, Gwen was going right.”

 

 

 

At the end of the day, there is only one woman who is a TRUE style icon second to Jackie-O, and no, not the rapper:

 

The originator: Miss Monroe. A true slut before it was even popular

The Real World Sucks

My mentor Neil Reisner once told me this MONTHS before my final semester at my beloved F.I.U and now I see what he meant, so I decided to start a series of videos centering around my new life as a college grad trying to make it in this exciting field of journalism. Viewer discretion is advised as I have created this video out of frustration

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The Woman Who Never Grows

Dixie Mena is just like any other twenty-something living in Miami. She loves shopping, walking her Yorkie, Armani, and is currently working on a Bachelor’s degree in Health Administration at Florida International University.

 But Mena, an Honduran native, always knew there was something different about her.

“Growing up in Roatan, Honduras I always thought that I was normal until I came to the United States where I noticed that everyone seemed a tad different than I was.”

 Born with a condition that grants her extraordinarily youthful features and prohibits her from growing more than 4 feet tall, Mena, 25, said she doesn’t know much more about the technicalities of her condition than the average onlooker.

“I once knew what it was called, but I forgot,” said the pint-sized college student. “I’d prefer not to know what it is because then I can feel like I’m just like everybody else.”

For many people, growing up  can be challenging especially when living in such a glamorous, silicon-induced city. But for a woman that never grows she says she doesn’t let the superficiality often seen in Miami weigh her tiny body down.

“I’ve been here since I was 8 years old, so it’s normal to me now. I try my best to look a certain age and sometimes it is hard finding clothing that fits my needs, but I find it,” said Mena with optimism in her voice.

Another difficult task Mena faces is one many American’s across the nation tackle: a shrinking economy.

“People don’t see what I’m capable of…right now I’m trying to get a new job and I get interviews all of the time, but when I actually go to the interview they’re not expecting to see someone of my stature. In a sense, it alters their perception of my qualities, said mena, who has an Associate’s in Science degree in Nursing.”

Mena, who was laid off from her job at a high-end boutique last year, said while she searches for another place of employment she will also concentrate on starting an online business selling trendy pieces where her future clientele can look “fabulous-on-a-dime.”

“After all the gawking and stares I get,” she said, “ if I could tell those same people one thing it would be  for them to understand  that everyone in this world has differences and mine just happened to be that I am super small.”

Tell Somebody: The New Face of Aids

Courtesy of Yahoo! images

On today’s episode of Maury,  a fifteen-year old girl who boasted about loving unprotected sex said she “knows if someone is ‘clean’”. Funny thing is, HIV/AIDS has no face and the sooner our generation realizes this fact, less citizens will become infected. The media can help.

 In 2008, Interim Associate Dean at Florida International University’s school of Journalism Allan Richards alongside two students embarked on a journey in South Africa –where it is estimated that nearly half of the population will eventually contract HIV– to document the epidemic by exposing American media for its lack of coverage of HIV/AIDS, highlighting young people who live with the disease and contrasting American reality shows with those in South African  all while educating local college students who had no idea that 56% of blacks in Dade County are infected.

The documentary is a cautionary tale, reminding us all that HIV is everywhere and anywhere and if we do not protect ourselves, we too will become a statistic. There are parts of Miami that has the highest concentration of HIV in the United States. What is worse is that the media isn’t doing much stop the spread of the virus.

Deena from Jersey Shore gets chocolate wasted PHOTO: courtesy of Yahoo! images

The grassroots documentary highlights the fact that in South African, the media has gone so far as to establish a reality show about real-life young mothers who face the virus everyday while we have shows like MTV’s  ”Jersey Shore,”  “Skins” and “Real World” that for the most part promote late-night clubbing, risky sex and underage drinking.

Perhaps the most vital part of the documentary was the Q&A portion with Miami-Dade College students and regular citizens who have started organizations and produced films to educate the public on  how the virus works and how often one should be tested. The four-part series has the power to do one or two things: Make you despise American media or use your Journalism degree to at least try to change the world.

Here is that four-part series, Tell Somebody: The New Face of HIV/AIDS

Part 1: http://ka.uvuvideo.org/_Tell-Somebody-The-New-Face-of-HIVAIDS-Part-1/video/826575/86294.html

Part 2: http://ka.uvuvideo.org/_Tell-Somebody-The-New-Face-of-HIVAIDS-Part-2/video/826579/86294.html

Part 3: http://ka.uvuvideo.org/_Tell-Somebody-The-New-Face-of-HIVAIDS-Part-3/video/826577/86294.html

Part 4: http://ka.uvuvideo.org/_Tell-Somebody-The-New-Face-of-HIVAIDS-Part-4/video/826573/86294.html

The Culture of Rich in the Black Community

Alston shows his two Polo shirts

 

  In the midst of a recession, Irving Alston wears more than $900 worth of jewelry, clothes and shoes. He is ten years old.

 

  Like every school across the country, Brentwood Elementary  has launched a campaign to  stop an epidemic that has swept the nation: bullying.

 

But nowadays instead of hitting and punching, there is the belittling of kids whose parents can’t afford to buy them the finer things in life, according to Alston’s Math Coach Miriam Comer.

 

 “I’m very picky about what I wear,” said Alston, both a student and resident of Miami Gardens. “If somebody came to school with clothes on that weren’t name-brand, I would laugh at them, but I don’t consider that ‘bullying’.”

 “Alston likes to follow his own rules. He wears the finer things in life, he’s lucky.” “He acts like he is superior to others,” said Comer.

 Irving’s father, Molique Alston, admits that when he was growing up, because he was unable to wear expensive attire, he purchases pricey duds for his son.

 “Irving’s chain costs $400, his pinky ring was $250, his shoes were $80,” said the 41-year old handy man.

 Miloque also admits that wearing cheap shoes, or ‘bo-bo’s’ as they are sometimes called, could lead kids to bullying.

 A tour inside the closet of this articulate fourth grader includes almost a dozen pairs of Nike Jordans, which easily run for more than $80 each.

 “Irving is an exceptionally bright student,” said Comer but there is disdain and disrespect and he laughs at people’s shortcomings .”

Comer says Irving needs “constant praise and pats on the back” when he performs well.“He doesn’t get it intrinsically,” she said.

 The median household income for blacks in Miami Gardens –a predominantly black community– is less than $15,000 each year.

 The Alston household isn’t the only family who appear to be engulfed in the culture of being rich.

 Moments after Irving gave a grand tour of his closet, a playmate came to visit and without a formal greeting, the little boy excitedly asked, “When did you get those shoes?!”

 The two marveled at the fresh pair  of purple and turquoise Jordans  for more than 20 seconds.

 Irving’s peer Codi Toney, 10,  also likes expensive clothing. She says she is very meticulous about her shoes.

 “If I had to wear bo-bo’s, I would wear them to a place where nobody knows me,” she said, then I would wait until they outgrew me and get a better pair.”

 Toney’s mother Coretta Toney, who is a cashier at Walmart, sometimes works more than 40 hours per week to support her family.

 “I teach Codi that education is very important,”  said the 47-year old,  but kids do bully kids because of the way they dress… I try not to buy any bo-bo’s because the shoes are the most important thing.”

Latoya Burgess