Monthly Archive

It’s almost a rule that I never go out much, but a few months ago on a Saturday’s night I was in a restaurant’s garden listening to music on a midsummer’s night.  For fun (her’s not mine, especially) I brought Sybil along, too.  She hadn’t been out in a while so I suggested she come with me and listen to Blue. 

Blue’s music is beautiful.  He sings a lot about his past relationships, artfully crafting blues, rock and folk into a melodic upbeat heartbreak you can dance to.   He has a stalwart stage presence that belies his short stature (maybe he’s about 5′4″?  or 5′5″) and embraces the microphone in a way that is oddly simultaneously private and public.  Watching him perform always seems like a one on one conversation between him.  Sybil has a slight crush on him, still –I think.  When she first saw him a couple of years ago she nudged me into introducing the two of them and was crestfallen to discover that he was gay.

“So why do you think he’s not dating anyone?” Sybil asked me as we watch Blue rock the small stage. 

“I don’t know,” I shrug, shaking my head to his singleness and beat of his music.  “Beats me.”  Along with Sybil there are a couple of other women that are totally feeling Blue’s vibe and wouldn’t mind feeling a couple of other things on him.   He has that sexual teddy bear quality that resonates with women; they just want to snuggle up to him and kiss him.

Sybil began to take inventory.  “Do you think its because he’s a little overweight?  Or because he’s bald?”

“I dunno,” I say again.  The gay world can be a shallow one where looks and fitness are highly prized.  Youth is also important.  My close friend Tony taught me about all of those things when we used to hang together years ago.  He used to lament (too often) that he was over the hill, too old to be a boy toy but not old (or rich) enough yet to be a sugar daddy  And this was all at the age of 28. 

But then I backtrack.  “He is Asian.  That should have some cache in the dating world where Rice Queens are searching for Potato boys. ”  Sybil looked at me as if I was speaking a new language so I translated.  “The same way a lot of straight white men are falling over Asian women its the same with gay white men who are looking for Asian men.”

“Oh,” she said but I can see that she had already checked out of the conversation and was on to her next idea.   I could see it in her eyes even before she uttered the words, “Do you  think he has a brother?”

Blues od force with women has not escaped his notice.

“If I were straight I’d be in trouble,” Blues laughs.  ” I would probably be a Baby’s Daddy and have mamas all over the place.  Women love me, they are all over me.  When I go grocery shopping on a Tuesday night I get stopped all the time.  ‘What do you think of this wine?’ ’ What do you think of this meat?’ ” Blue’s voice goes up high in pitch, imitating the coy flirtations.  “God saved me by making me gay.  Think of what a player I would be.”

For some reason his sex appeal hasn’t translated over to men, though.  “And that’s strange,” I say to him.  “Because usually what women find attractive gay men find appealing, too.”  I gave him my assessment: he dresses like the average joe and he sends gives off this straight aura which has been an attraction for the straight men that I know but for some reason the gay men he encounters can’t get a bead on him.  “You need a pink polo,” I say, looking at him sideways.  “And you need to get a manicure and some sweet smelling cologne.  You are too butch; you have to gay it up a bit.  Get a fou-fou dog.  A pomi!  I love pomies.”

“Girl, I am not getting a fou-fou dog.  I hate them.  I’ll get a big one but not a little one.”

“See, that’s your problem right there.    You are too masculine.  You need to be more feminine to attract some Rice Queens your way. ”

“So I should become a stereotype?  I refuse to become a stereotype.”

“See,” I point out again.  “That’s your problem right there.” 

He opines how it’s hard to find a good man; the ones that he meets are either vapid or supercilious.  I just want someone who can read, he says.  Someone who, when asked about current events, doesn’t go on and on about the travails of Britney Spears or what Beyonce is doing next.

“Ugh,” he says throwin his head back in disgust.  “If I screw another stupid guy I will scream.”

We both laugh and I reflect on the singular love lives of two close friends, both of whom are looking for a good man of color.

A few weeks ago I did what I never thought I’d do, at least not this soon.  I moved another step away from the big 4-0.  As my mind is still reeling with what seems to be a scientific improbability I’m getting hit up with what my friends think is a more daunting question:  when am I going to have that next baby.

“It will be so cute,” they say.  “And smart.  You’re gonna have one, right?”

For the last year I have been pondering that question, all while I help my daughter prepare for college this fall and my husband hopes and prays his son will begin to take learning more seriously as he enters high school.  So we are not really a couple you can sell on the cuteness of babies because we realize that cuteness has a window –six, maybe seven years tops and then suddenly the adorable child becomes dat brat.  Only punk newbie moms complain about the terrible twos, wait until those little wunderkinds become terrible teens and trying twenties and then they will understand what real parental angst is. 

I am a newly wed (16 months married) and because of that everyone is still expecting me to behave in the way I would have 15 or so years ago if I weren’t already a bit jaded with life.  I’m supposed to have a fresh view on life and look out into the future but with 40 looming ahead of me next year I’m realizing that I’m just a hop skip and a jump from 50 which means multivitamins.  And from there its very close to 60 and I’ll be waiting to get my AARP card.  So how can I project babies into the next few years when I see rocking chair and sensible shoes in my crystal ball.

Babies are everywhere and for Hollywood it seems the new hot thing is recreating Josephine Baker’s “Rainbow Tribe” of a family with Brangelina and Madonna adopting little brown babies.   Everyone wants to do what the stars are doing but not everyone can afford to go to a third world country and pick out a child the same way regular Americans go to Walmart to pick out a shirt.  No, for regular Americans we can only use our own boring genes and hope to find a Seal, Russell Wong or Johnny Depp to give us that designer “exotic baby” look.

 It seems that everyone wants me think about having another child (except my mother who, after six kids, believes one is enough).  I suspect even the universe is converging into one single idea for me for ‘08 because for the last couple of days when I check my email I note that in an online club that I belong to someone has linked YouTube videos of Blasian babies. 

Even the local cafe owner seems in on the conspiracy.  “Have you seen my grandson?” he asks pointing out the tyke standing next to him.  Mr. Lee  is South East Asian.  His little boy shifts his big eyes towards me and smiles slowly, hesitantly.

“He’s adorable,” I tell Mr. Lee and then to the grandson I say, “You are too cute, you know that, don’t you?”  His shy mouth finally breaks into a grand smile although he still eyes me cautiously.  Maybe he’s just a wary child or perhaps he’s tired of being tirelessly gushed over.  Cuteness must be tiring.

“He’s half black you know?  His father’s black!” Mr. Lee says proudly.  I look at the little boy again and think he looks all Asian or maybe a little big like Dave Chappelle’s son.    I register this as another portent and think, “Et tu, Mr. Lee?”

That hint of Asian seems to be the in thing right now (Asian is the new black).   The same way African Americans were claiming Native American heritage in the 60’s and 70’s* is similar to how some have suddenly found Asians on their family tree.*  Asian culture is heavily influencing youth culture (Anime, Manga, J-Pop, K-Pop)  and karate movies have always been big in the hood.  Because Asian American and African American pairings have not been as prevalent as Black/White and Asian/White some people around me are expecting me to come through and give them an example of what a Blasian baby looks like.

I point to my step son.

“Don’t you want a baby of your own?” they query.  “It will be so cute.  Don’t you want to see what your genes together looks like?”

I find their interest mildly amusing; it’s similar to the fascination with the designer dogs that is the rage right now (although I’m not hating, I really would like to have a Puggle).  As if the cuteness of the child is in direct proportion to whether you should become a parent or not.  It’s automatically assumed that biracial children will be gorgeous and mono-racial children are just mundane.  But aren’t all humans mutts, especially in America?  Who can claim to have a pure bloodline of anything unless you are a recent immigrant.  I’m of the mindset that most babies, no matter what their parental heritage, are beautiful.  And beauty only goes so deep, I am much more concerned with whether at this age my husband and I have the energy and inclination to be parent a child as we have my daughter (who is mono-racial) and my stepson (Black/Korean). 

So really I have to ask him what he thinks.  So I do.

“Yeah, we can have a baby,” he says.

“But do you want one?”

“Yeah, I do,” he says in his non-committal voice.

I remind him of all the things that come with a baby: diapers (cloth or disposable), child care, teaching it to walk (teaching it to talk is debate-able), and just the surfeit of time.  And our age, more for me than for him.  But he is undaunted.  He was adopted and for him having blood connections is important.  He loves his family but he needs to see someone who looks like him (or a close facsimile); he needs to replicate his DNA a couple of times.

“We’ll try at the end of the year,” he assures me.  “Don’t you want us to have a baby?  It’ll be the embodiment of our love.”

“I guess,” I say has he pulls me close to him.  He hugs me tight.  I like that.  I guess I can check with my doctor and in the meantime re-read Ready.

“Besides,” he says.  “Our baby will be so cute.”

*According to Henry Louis Gates only 5% of African Americans have Native American ancestry)

*To be fair, when Chinese coolies were brought into Antebellum south some of them did end up intermarrying  with black and white women.

McCain must be gullible or he thinks we are naive.

Trying to backtrack from his 100 years of war in Iraq statement he defends his statement at a town hall meeting at Rice University.

“No American argues against our military presence in Korea or Japan or Germany or Kuwait or other places, or Turkey, because America is not receiving casualties,” he said. “I think, generally speaking, we have a more secure world thanks to American presence, particularly in Asia, by the way, as we see the rising influence of China. But the key to it is American casualties, America’s most precious asset, and that is American blood.”

And there you have in a nutshell why we have the problems we are having in Iraq today.  Iraq is not Japan or Korea.  Dissidents aren’t going to sit around and let our little Air Force Base, Army base or whatever militia we send in there sit unmolested.   And if you think otherwise let me point you to what was said by the Bush administration at the beginning of the war of how Iraqis would great us.

If we stay it’s going to be war so why doesn’t he just say it?

Whatever your fight, don’t be ladylike~ Mother Jones 

I woke up this morning to the sound of H. Clinton calling Obama out to battle.  She sounded more like a teacher reprimanding a petulant student.

“I am not going to stand here and see this campaign polluted by the kind of misleading, discredited and false attacks,” she said to a crowd in Ohio. “We deserve better than that. He’s been called out on it, he has been contradicted on it, he knows better and here it is ‘Paid for by the Obama for America Campaign.’…   So, shame on you Barack Obama. It is time you ran a campaign consistent with your messages in public, that’s what I expect from you. Meet me in Ohio and let’s have a debate about your tactics and your behavior in this campaign.”

After accusing Obama from stealing from Karl Rove’s playbook H. Clinton may have seen a few pages herself because the top headline of today’s Drudge Report shows Barack Obama dressed in the traditional clothes that Somali men wear with the question “Wouldn’t we be seeing this on the cover of every magazine if it were HRC.”  Clinton aides are neither confirming or denying they sent the photo out.

“If Barack Obama’s campaign wants to suggest that a photo of him wearing traditional Somali clothing is divisive, they should be ashamed. Hillary Clinton has worn the traditional clothing of countries she has visited and had those photos published widely,” Clinton campaign manager Maggie Williams said in a statement.

Obama’s campaign manager David Plouffe says that this latest attack is just another in a series of attacks that Senator Clinton has used to try discredit Obama as a christian and portray him as muslim and anti-American.

“On the very day that Senator Clinton is giving a speech about restoring respect for America in the world, her campaign has engaged in the most shameful, offensive fear-mongering we’ve seen from either party in this election,”David Plouffe said.  “This is part of a disturbing pattern that led her county chairs to resign in Iowa, her campaign chairman to resign in New Hampshire, and it’s exactly the kind of divisive politics that turns away Americans of all parties and diminishes respect for America in the world.”

Let me get this right: Hillary Clinton is running for the democratic nomination, right?  I was just wondering because her campaign seems to be alienating the democratic electorate with snippets like Obama hasn’t won any significant states and the rich doesn’t need a president.  The middle class and poor need a president?  Does this mean the rich will get preferential treatment in a Clinton administration? (I know they usually do but at least they are just putting it right out there in the open.

I don’t know what my favorite knock is though.  It’s toss up between when Robert L. Johnson came out during the SC caucuses and hinted at Obama’s youthful use of marijuana and when Tom Buffenbarger came out and called those who voted for Obama “latte-drinking, Prius- driving, Birkenstock-wearing, trust fund babies”.  They both just sound so much like a Republican retort and that is what I like to see in my Democratic candidate.

So if we don’t vote for her it’s because we are rich or stupid or in a state where our votes don’t count (but not Michigan or Florida).  I don’t know about you but I look forward to a Clinton presidency.  There’s been too much bipartisan harmony over the last eight years anyway which is why nothing has been getting done.  Clinton is ready to get in there on day one and be presidential by antagonizing everyone.  I know I’m insulted and doesn’t that make for a better country because it will unite everyone.  Against her.

The more I see Hillary the more she reminds of the character Paris from the TV show “Gilmore Girls”.  Paris was an over-driven type A personality who found it hard to connect to people and, although smart, didn’t know how to be intelligent without lording it over all of the people in the room.  My favorite Paris moment was when she was dethroned as editor of the college newspaper because her personality became too much to bear.  I’m wondering are we to soon see a Paris-esque meltdown with Hillary. I hope that it’s televised.  That will definitely be more believable to me than those tears she teased out in New Hampshire.

In the 80s I remember seeing a small pamphlet put out by either a cigarette or beer company.  It was about 30 colorful pages of black Kings and Queens of Egypt; it was beautifully illustrated although I don’t remember it being heavy on information.  Just quick blurbs of certain kings I don’t even remember the names of.  It wasn’t scholarly, I’m sure, and it wasn’t a teaching tool that teachers referred to when talking about Egypt or black history month.

“And if you turn to page 17 above the ad for Kool’s you will see that during King Tutmose’s reign there was a low supply of grain which is why the Hebrews began serving malt liquor to the royals.  80 years later Tutmose the III brought us Malt Light.”

For a more scholarly study one might want to pick up the February 2008 edition of National Geographic Magazine.  The cover story is about the Black Pharaohs of Egypt and it seems as if there were quite a lot of them. 

“Piye was the first of the so-called black pharaohs—a series of Nubian kings who ruled over all of Egypt for three-quarters of a century as that country’s 25th dynasty. Through inscriptions carved on stelae by both the Nubians and their enemies, it is possible to map out these rulers’ vast footprint on the continent. The black pharaohs reunified a tattered Egypt and filled its landscape with glorious monuments, creating an empire that stretched from the southern border at present-day Khartoum all the way north to the Mediterranean Sea.”

For as long as I can remember African Americans have been “repatriating” Egypt back into Africa.  The continent of Africa is nothing but black so it stands to reason that Egypt was black, too, they argued.  Some scholars act as if Egypt is barely a part of Africa and using their own outlook, they projected western racism to an ancient world and hypothesized that Egypt had no black kings. 

And both were wrong.

Although Egypt is in Africa it has been a gateway to Europe and the Middle East for the longest time.  For thousands of years people have been using what we now call the Sinai Peninsula to travel into the Middle East and traveling traders in Africa have had interaction with their neighbor.  Humans are mobile and not stationary and as soon as we pulled ourselves out of the primordial sludge we’ve been on the move.  Both sides failed to see Egypt as being a precursor to our current racially blended society.

This still doesn’t take King Tut one step closer to being “blacker” but with stories of other Pharaohs who actually made it to manhood and made an imprint on Egypt society I think we can overlook it.

I found this video over at Jack and Jill Politics.

Apparently, just because a brother looks gully and is holding a “Barack Obama for Prez” sign it means he’s going to give you an incoherent 50 Cent like version of why he’s voting for him.

I guess that settled that!  (And white folks everywhere are saying “That young man is so articulate.”)

McCain has a viral video, too and I’m sure he wouldn’t like it if he knew what a viral video was.

Or what YouTube is and exactly how the internet works.

Tonight I finally got to see what other parts of the country has been inundated with for the last few weeks: political commercials.  First it was H. Clinton and then it was Obama.   Can’t wait to see what the Republicans have and if Huckabee will still be holding on come March 4.

Even my daughter is excited to get into the act.  She will be 17 on March 4 but because she will turn 18 by the time the general election rolls around she gets to weigh in on the presidential candidate.  She said the girls at her school have been passing around voter registration cards and talking heavily about the election.  My daughter is definitely a devil’s advocate.  When someone in school starts to harp on Obama she will ask why not Huckabee.  If someone is a McCain supporter she begins the talking points on H. Clinton.

“Who are you following?” she asked me one day while I was making dinner.

“Personally, I like Dennis Kucinich,” I said. “Anyone who admits to seeing U.F.Os is my kind of candidate.” 

She smirked at me and we agreed to go together to cast our votes.  The family who votes together changes the world together.

I hope.

Just in time for Black History Month, President Bush made a statement about the spate of hanging nooses in the autumn of ‘07.

“The era of rampant lynching is a shameful chapter in American history,” Bush said at a black history month event at the White House.  ”The noose is not a symbol of prairie justice, but of gross injustice.  Displaying one is not a harmless prank. Lynching is not a word to be mentioned in jest.”

Bush then went on to talk about the historical significance of the noose in American history as not just a symbol of terror but a very real tool by some white American against African Americans. 

Hmmm….

Well if he knows all this then perhaps he (and congress) shouldn’t have a problem with categorizing the noose as a symbol of hate speech, similar to cross burning and swastikas.

There are some conservatives that are wondering why Mike Huckabee is still in the race to become the GOP nominee.  He’s far behind in delegate counts and in a winner take all race he has a lot of catching up to do to overcome McCain’s lead.

Although a lot of conservatives aren’t happy with McCain as the nominee they are learning to except it and want to get on with the bigger mission of securing their base and making a seemingly centrist McCain more palatable to those on the left. 

But Huckabee won’t to away.

“I didn’t major in math,” the former Arkansas governor told a cheering crowd at the Conservative Political Action Conference meeting earlier in the day. “I majored in miracles, and I still believe in them.” (Associated Press)

After wins over the weekend and heading into today’s Potomac primaries Huckabee is struggling to show that he is the best hope for true conservatives in ‘08.  And one group strongly believes it: black conservatives.

Don Scoggins, president of Republicans for Black Empowerment, told the Christian Post, “He (Huckabee) does not waver from his views and we know that he is not a recent convert to conservatism…  And we like that his life story pretty much mirrored the background of many African Americans.  He comes from humble beginnings, he’s worked hard, and gone to college – first one in his family who has graduated from high school. We feel that his life story is something to be emulated.”

For years many black conservatives criticized the stronghold Democrats had on the African American vote.   Some black conservatives have held that being in the Democratic camp has given both parties the power to discount African Americans; Democrats by taking the black vote for granted and Republicans for believing blacks won’t vote for a Republican candidate.  Even polarizing issues such as gay marriage and abortion that many African American Christians agree with conservatives on hasn’t pulled more blacks out of the Democratic camp.

Yet within the past decade names like JC Watt, Colin Powell and Condoleeza Rice have emerged as prominent figures for black conservatives to look to.  There’s even a black presidential candidate on the republican side.  Former Maryland senator Alan Keyes is making his third bid for the presidency.  Keyes last political race was in 2004, when republicans brought him into Illinois to run against Barack Obama for the U.S. senate seat.  Included in three debates, Keyes has not been invited to anymore although he is now on the ballot in 24 states including Texas.  Keyes claims that there is a “concerted effort on the part of both the media and elements of the Republican establishment” to keep him from being heard.

Conservative blacks aren’t in support of Keyes,  Huckabee is their man.  In a political race that has made race and gender both an issue and not an issue, black conservatives are looking at who most aligns with their agenda. 

Catherine Davis, legislative director of the Network of Politically Active Christians and member of executive committee of Georgians for Huckabee, concluded, “I encourage every other American – black, white, pink or green – to join me and to join us who are here today to give him (Huckabee) their support and saying to Mike, ‘Hold on. Do not withdraw from this race. Do not fall into the media hype, because those like me in this nation are going to support you and rush you into the White House,’” Davis encouraged. (Christian Post)

The day after Super Tuesday, a clear front runner finally emerges in the Republican party.  John McCain  pulls ahead of Romney and Huckabee with 613 of the 1191 delegates needed to clinch the Republican nomination.  He’s running the type of campaign he tried to mount eight years ago before he was Bushwacked and Roved all over the country.  He’s a former Vietnam POW who has gained the respect of his colleagues on both sides of the aisle and is nationally thought of as being a conciliator.  After a shaky start and low  funds (I actually thought he pulled out couple of times) he is now the man to beat for the Red nod.

He wants this.  For real, he does. 

He’s resonating with the people but not with a lot of conservatives.  Ann Coulter has called McCain a liar and that if he gets the nomination she’ll start campaigning for her mortal enemy, H. Clinton.  Rush Limbaugh said on January 15 that if McCain gets the nomination it would destroy the Republican party and has accused him of manipulating the media.  Both Romney and McCain have accused one another of harboringliberal tendencies, with the real far Righter’s going for Huckabee. 

Like Obama, McCain draws the Independents.  Whether you agree with him or not, you know where he comes from and what he stands for.  You know that he is a man of duty and integrity and even after his run in 2000 he still harbored no ill will to Bush and stood behind him as Commander in Chief.  Whether you agree with him or not you know he will never play you underhanded and will actually do what is best for the good of everyone, not just for interest groups who have his ear.

This is probably what is bringing a lot of people to cast their votes for McCain.  After this Bush administration people are finally looking deeper than have before and want more than smoke and mirrors.  Votes for McCain aren’t necessarily votes against Romney and Huckabee.  Vote for McCain are for the image he projects and how he’s perceived.  Finally, on both sides, people actually have a choice for something.

But McCain’s nomination isn’t inevitable.  Both Romney and Huckabee haven’t conceded anything yet and in the following weeks we will truly see what stuff these guys are made up.  Hopefully they are deserving of all the votes they have earned.

I hadn’t heard from Sybil for a while so I was surprised to find a letter in my in-box asking for information on the Korean language class I was going to take at a local church.  She said she had a friend who was interested; I suspected she was slyly referencing herself and for some reason wanted to be coy about it. 

A few weeks later I called her up to tell her about someone we were friends with and also to see how the Korean classes were going.

“Oh, it wasn’t for me,” she said.  “The classes were for a friend of mine.  She is interested in moving up in the church that we attend but she needs to know Korean in order to do it.”

Huh?

Sybil began to tell me about this church she has begun to attend.  The Family Federation for World Peace and Unification is concerned about building communities and nurturing families, she said.  She has been studying with them for a few months now although she hasn’t gotten deep into the word.  It seemed like a perfect fit.  She has been practicing deliberate sexual abstinence for a few years now and she has always been on a spiritual journey (although it’s more like a search to me).  She liked the way the church encourages volunteerism and puts focus on the family and feels once she has become more comfortable with church doctrine that she will be able to find her match through the churches services.  The church in our city has a mostly white congregation but one in Columbus is more racially mixed. 

“It sounds like a great,” I say to her as I make my way over to the computer.  “Volunteerism is very important.  So what’s taking you so long to get hooked up?”

“I don’t know,” she said.  “I just have to memorize and learn more stuff.  Like my friend who wanted to take the Korean classes, she’s black.  She’s at a certain level in the church but the best way to move up higher is to know the language.”

“Any language?”

“No, just Korean.”

I had found it.  The Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (FFWPU) used to be called the Unification church.  Hmm… Oh, it was started by Sun Myung Moon.  Sun Myung Moon…. Sun Myung Moon… Oh!  Sun Myung Moon!

She’s going to church with the Moonies?!

Seems about right.

Sybil has been on a spiritual quest for as long as I have known her.  Back in high school she had given up Catholicism to worship at the church of Prince who preached colorblind love (as long as you weren’t too dark) and prayerful funky beats.  She attended church with me a few times in the early 90s before she began going to the Hare Krishna House.  She and her fellow punkers used to go there mostly for the food (”They have really good stew,” she said) but had to listen to the teachings for a fair exchange.  She drifted in and out of that religion along with learning about Wicca and Hinduism.  For a while she decided to get deeper into Hare Krishna along with getting deeper in a cute Indian guy she met in temple.  But when that fell apart she was in search again and then happened into Buddhism where she met a cute Japanese guy.  That relationship was also short-lived and now 40 and man-less she has pulled up stakes, gone deep into daily meditation and decided to get in touch with who she is, where she is and what she wants.

That’s when the Unification church came into her life.

“You know it’s a cult!” my friend Danger said to me at a later time.  I tried to procure her to take a nice photo of Sybil, just in case she might soon be ready to get her match up.  “It’s run by some Korean dude who thinks he’s the true Messiah.  You need to get her out of it.”

I think back to all of Sybil’s religious dabblings and shake my head. “She’s a grown woman,” I said.  “What can I tell her that she can’t know for herself?  Besides, whenever I try to tell her stuff like that we go head to head.  It’s best that she finds out for herself.”

And it’s not like they are going to make her drink “The Kool-Aid” I thought.  But I googled it anyway just to make sure.

The FFWPU was started and is run by one man, Sun Myung Moon.  Reverend Moon to most of the world he is known for the periodical mass weddings where he matches up the couples.  The Moonies teach that Jesus didn’t come here to die, but to start a new order on earth where people married, multiplied and tried to make love themselves into a new world.  As I quickly looked the information over on the net I kept my opinions to myself about what type of organization I thought the Moonies were.  I didn’t even refer to them as Moonies with her.  “So, have you looked at the pickings for a hook up?” I asked.

“No, not yet.  I have to be emotionally ready to receive.”

I cocked my head to the side when she said it.  I had to agree with her although I’m wondering how this all falls in line with her need to procreate for this church if need be since she is getting closer to an age where conceiving may soon be impossible.  And who gets to choose?  The Reverend Moon is known for looking at an individual, sizing up their needs with a glance and then matching them up with another person who he also quickly assesses.  How is that to make for a long lasting marriage?

Sybil told me that the couples now come about from an online matching service that the church now has.  I wonder in this way will she be able to find her true Asian soul-mate? Or how would she react if she were to be hooked up with a white dude from around the way?

I keep my mouth shut. And I’m keeping my fingers crossed.  It’s odd to me that spirituality and mating have cross-sectioned in her life.  Maybe God (or the Universe) is trying to send her a message.    Something is trying to get her to look deeper into herself before she can look to someone else to share her life with.  Which is not to say that atheists and agnostics have not been able to find true love.  I am sure there are many who have, it’s just for Sybil, her search for purpose and self-actualization have been teased with the promise of love, but then those bonds weren’t tight enough for them to stay together.  Maybe if she was more in touch with who she was then she could have figured it out earlier and been able to project another vibe outward.

I’m praying for her, though.   I understand that we need time to find ourselves and have alone time but I truly believe we learn more about ourselves through others.  I’m praying that she finds herself in time to have a long and happy life with whoever else she is supposed to find to take this journey with her. 

Is it me or did dude look like the love child of Dwayne Wayne and Mars Blackmon?

Coming to a black movie festival near you, “I’m Through With White Girls: The Inevitable Undoing of Jay Brooks“,  is an independent film directed by a young sister named Jennifer Sharp.  Centered around an atypical brother named Jay Brooks is a sci-fi and comic nerd.  As he watches his friend prepares to take the big step of marriage Jay decides he wants it for himself but realizes that he has been dating the wrong women.  As he takes assessment he realizes that all the women have one thing in common, they’re white.  He tries do date black women but gets rejected out of hand becasue he’s not a thug.  He finally meets the girl of his dreams whose in-between and everything he’s been looking for.  But can Jay get out of his own way to be with his perfect match?

That’s my quick summation just from reading the synopsis.  From the preview it looks like a film that wants to examine racial and gender issues in dating from a black male perspective but not stereotyped black male that we see everywhere but the brother that some young black women don’t want to give a chance most of the time because they think they are corny (which was most of the black guys I dated.)

Interesting blog on the NYT’s website.  I, too, have noted the Hillary bashing and although I don’t necessarily agree with her on all points (the points we can pin her down on) and feel she’s a bit too conservative for me, I have to say you hate the game, not the player.

Hillary, go on out there and make Barack earn those votes.  He’s going to do the same to you.  This way we get the best candidate.  It doesn’t matter what’s on the outside but where they stand.  Hillary, where you standing at?

Here’s a them song for you:

Sometimes you get so caught up in your own head and community that you are unaware of the issues going on in other groups. 

For example, even before Obama announced his intentions to run for president late last winter people have been debating on “how” he’s black and what does that mean to us.  He doesn’t have the legacy of American slavery in his background, his mother is white and he spent his formative years growing up outside of the colletive 48 and in multicultural communities.  Just two of those things together can get you labeled an oreo, but all three can get your black card put on suspension for an undetermined date.

The O.A. have also been loathe to give Obama his props, with a well known leader stating that Bill Clinton is just as black as Obama (although George W. Bush has placed more blacks in higher profile positions than Clinton, but I don’t see anyone bestowing blackness on him).

Some have said that they won’t vote for Obama because they are certain America isn’t ready for it and they don’t want to see him killed.  Some have said they find his ambitions suspect, even claiming the only reason he has married a black woman is for political expediency.  Others have argued that just because he is black it doesn’t mean he has our automatic allegience and have thrown support to Hillary Clinton and John Edwards because of their experience and name recognition.  Being a viable black candidate doesn’t mean that he can be the candidate for a diverse black community.

I was surprised a few weeks ago when I got a letter in my email box from the 80-20 Initiative that was urging the collective Asian community to vote against Obama.  I wasn’t surprised that there are non-blacks who had their problems with Obama, I was just shocked to see them taking a page from the O.A’s.

The letter to Obama read:

“You are a candidate for change. Is it reasonable for us to hope that the
change will include us? Here are the main grievances of the Asian
American community.

Believe it or not, Asian Americans have the least opportunity to enter
management when compared with Blacks, Hispanics and women; the
slowest rate of progress toward equal employment opportunity in spite of
having the highest educational attainment. Our comprehensive study
covered private industries, universities and the Federal government. Our
data and calculation have been independently verified by the EEOC.

In addition, only 0.6% of our Title III Federal judges are Asian Americans.
Not even one of the 179 federal appellate judges is an Asian American—
this in spite of the fact that 5% of legal professionals are Asian Americans,
many from nation’s top law schools!

To remedy the above are the specific goals of our questionnaire. We are
not seeking political favors. We are seeking civil rights. Senators Clinton
and Edwards have replied with all yeses. Each wants to help make us
become equal citizens, when she/he becomes the president. Since you are
the candidate for change, why are you hesitant to commit to give us equal
opportunity? “

Because Clinton replied with all yeses, the 80-20 Initiative had thrown their full support behind her.  (Edwards replied with yeses also.) Then I was getting emails that said “Defeat Obama” and “We Give Hillary Clinton Our Full Support”.  Then last week the 80-20 sent out an email that said Obama finally answered all yeses but with two modifications.  Those were:

“OLD Q4 If elected, will you within your first term of office increase the
nomination of qualified Asian Americans to serve as Article III life-tenured
federal judges, whenever such vacancies are available until the current
dismal situation is significantly remedied? [To put things in perspective,
not meaning to imply quota, presently there are 0.6% Asian Am. Federal
judges, while the Asian Am. population is 4.5% and the % of Asian Am
legal professionals in laws firms of 100 or larger is at least 5.3%.]

NEW Q4: If elected, will you make it a top priority of your Administration
to nominate qualified Asian Americans to serve as Article III life-tenured
District Court federal judges, whenever such vacancies are available?

OLD Q5: If elected, will you nominate within your first term of office
qualified Asian Americans to serve as Article III Circuit Judges, whenever
there are vacancies in those positions, until the current dismal situation is
significantly remedied? [To put things in perspective, none of the 179
Article III Circuit judges is an Asian American.]?

NEW Q5 : If elected, will you make it a top priority of your Administration
to nominate qualified Asian Americans to serve as Article III Circuit
Judges, whenever there are vacancies in those positions?

   To see Sen. Obama’s signed reply, please click on
http://www.80-20initiative.net/news/preselect2008.asp .”

But to me, the tripped out thing was while all this was going on Asian Americans were coming out and showing love for Obama.  It didn’t stop just last year with the Jin video, but during the Las Vegas primaries a lot of Asian stars showed up to support of Obama.  Obama’s sister, who is half Asian American, has been out stomping for her big brother.  A lot of high profile AsAms (Asian Americans) have come out for Obama before the 80-20 quit their campaign against him, although the group is still backing Hillary.

Emil Guillermo wrote in AsianWeek that Obama might not AsAm’s interests at heart.   Guillermo wrote, “there’s real evidence that it would be wrong to assume that Obama is a “rainbow” guy, or that he would even address serious Asian American concerns” citing the alleged snub of the 80-20 questionnaire and wondering what has he done for them lately. 

Jenn Fang of Reappropriate.com  disagrees with Guillermo.  In her letter to New America Media she gives a link to Obama’s full plan for Asian Americans  and points out Obama’s childhood growing up among AsAms.  In her endorsement for Obama she writes,”Senator Barack Obama recognizes Asian American people as Americans deserving of the same opportunities, benefits and protections afforded to every other citizen. He has a demonstrated history of fighting for a new America that takes care of all its citizens, not just those who have been here the longest and have had the fewest problems.”

Which just goes to show there probably isn’t a monolithic group anywhere in the U.S.    The best a candidate can do is make make your stand on what you feel is true and hope not to piss too many people off.  I have to admit, I have heard the media speak a lot on the African American vote, the Hispanic Vote, women as a voting block and even white males.  I have yet to hear mainsteam media addressing the Asian American vote as a group.  Which isn’t an excuse considering how in past elections the numbers have been so close.  Every vote counts and no one can be marginalized, even if it means going to the 18-25 year old males who do nothing but play Guitar Hero all day I’d suggest the candidates brush up on Stairway to Heaven because it’s going to be a long ride.

This is way better than the Obama girl’s video. 

I’m glad he’s decisive because I’m still wondering can we?

 Will black faces rip the high fashioned runways this season?

As Olympus Fashion Week gets underway in New York the talk of the shows might not be clothes the models are wearing but what skin they’re in.

Articles in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal are focusing in on a lack of racial diversity on the catwalks and in high fashion shows at a time where models of color are making headway in print and TV commercials.  The reality TV fashion shows like Project Runway often use black models and America’s Next Top Model (run by supermodel Tyra Banks) has had several black contestants and a Latina who have won the title.  On this season’s The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency, Dickinson has been accruing a lot of beautiful young Latinos and Latinas for her company. 

So why hasn’t the world of high fashion followed suit?

“I’m not pointing a finger and saying people are racist,” said Bethann Hardison said to the New York Times.  Ms. Hardison is a former model and owns a successful model agency that promotes diversity.  She discovered Tyson Beckford in the 1990s.

Ms. Hardison recounted a recent exchange with the creative director of a major fashion label: “She said to me, ‘I have to be honest with you, when a girl walks in, I just don’t see color.’ Meanwhile, they have one girl, or more likely, none in their show. ‘I don’t see color?’ Does that mean, you don’t want to see?”

Because Ms. Hardison’s has been outspoken on this topic, the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFD) has also recently began lobbying designers to hire a wider range of skin tones for this fashion week.  According to the Wall Street Journal, CFD’s president Diane Von Furstenburg sent out a letter to modeling agencies, designers, and casting directors that encouraged them to create multicultural fashion shows and to embrace “”whole groups of people no matter their race or color.”

Now everyone is trying to figure out whose responsible for the lack of brown faces on fashion runways.  The casting directors blame the designers because if a model doesn’t have a look the designer wants they won’t hire them.  The designer blames the modeling agencies for sending out models they say doesn’t meet their look and the modeling agencies say they haven’t been recruiting the ethnic models because they aren’t in demand.  The only minority model who is getting a lot of work this fashion season is a 16 year old named Chanel Iman, who is of black and Korean descent.

“Years ago, runways were almost dominated by black girls,” said J. Alexander, a judge on “America’s Next Top Model,” referring to the gorgeous mosaic runway shows staged by Hubert de Givenchy or Yves Saint Laurent in the 1970s. “Now some people are not interested in the vision of the black girl unless they’re doing a jungle theme and they can put her in a grass skirt and diamonds and hand her a spear.” (NYT 10/14/07)

If a designer’s goal is to keep the focus on his clothes shouldn’t he be allowed to choose a model who wouldn’t detract from his vision, ethnically or otherwise?  As these pretty clothes hangers glide across the stage many designers may want he audience to go away with how fabulous a piece looked and not remember the girl that was in them.  A seasoned fashion agent told NYT that the current taste in taste in models is for blank-featured “androids,” whose looks don’t offer much competition to the clothes.

But with the current swath of white models blanketing the runways many are looking to add more color.

Casting director Jennifer Venditti told the WSJ she was pushing hard for diversity this season.  When one of her clients told her they didn’t need to book a black model because they already had one her response was, “”They’re both beautiful. Why can’t you have two?”  Venditti also said that the industry will change when racial diversity becomes the latest fashion trend.

Will more brown faces appear on the runways this week?  With the political clout of Oprah Winfrey and Barack Obama this season it seems as if black is the new black.  Perhaps designers will find the trend so hot all of them will want to run out and get one.

Although not elected, the media is often considered the fourth branch of the government.  They are the eyes and ears of the people; at it’s best the media has helped to root out corruption but at it’s worse we have gotten yellow journalism and government propaganda parading as news.  It takes an unbiased reporter to bring us the unadulterated facts, even when we don’t like what it is and it changes the culture of our time.

Bill Moyers is that type of journalist.  For over 30 years Moyers has been giving us the straight dope, first as a reporter with Newsday, then a Senior News Analyst and Commentator for CBS News.  With his wife he started Public Affairs Televison and produced a couple of different shows that explored different aspects of human existence. 

In 2002, Moyers began hosting a weekly news magazine on PBS called Now with Bill Moyers.  The show brought on a wide range of guests and often Moyers gave an in-depth look at the topics of the day.  He soon became the target of Kenneth Tomlinson, the chair of the Corporation of Broadcasting.  Tomlinson was a Bush appointee and after the show and it’s guests started coming under strict scrutiny Moyers retired in 2005.

In 2007 Moyers left retirement and came back to PBS with a new show called Bill Moyer’s Journal.  Flexing his first amendment rights, Moyers brings stories to the airwaves each week that challenges the viewer become more active in their government.

So this is why Bill Moyers is my freedom hero.  To understand why check out his show.

According to ScienceDaily.com a team of Copenhagen researchers have tracked a genetic mutation which occured 6-10,000 years ago and is repsonsible for all the blue eyed people you see walking around today. 

“Originally, we all had brown eyes”, Professor Eiberg from the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine told Science Daily. “But a genetic mutation affecting the OCA2 gene in our chromosomes resulted in the creation of a “switch”, which literally “turned off” the ability to produce brown eyes”.

The researchers studied the mitochondrial DNA in countries diverse as Turkey, Denmark and Jordan.  

Brown and green eyes can be explained by the amount of melanin in the iris but blue eyes doesn’t have the same variation of melanin. 

Professor Eiberg says that blue eyes doesn’t represent a positive or negative mutation but just one of the changes that humans have developed over the years such as hair color.

“It simply shows that nature is constantly shuffling the human genome, creating a genetic cocktail of human chromosomes and trying out different changes as it does so,” he said.