ESE NE TEKREMA

Apparently, according to www.quoteland.com, Muhammad Ali at some point in his life share the following with the world:

"Friendship is the hardest thing in the world to explain. It's not something you learn in school. But if you haven't learned the meaning of friendship, you really haven't learned anything."

Over the last year, if I learned the most about anything, I would claim that it was FRIENDSHIP.

Friendship isn't a sappy dappy mutual feeling between two people like portrayed with Precious Moments figurines. Friendship, like any other relationship, is a conscious decision to be a part (not dictating how large or how deep) of another person's life.

I realize that friends COME and GO. They show their true colors when you least expect it. Friends are always there to screw you when you need it least.

However, friends also know exactly what to do to make you happy.

Friends call your mom when you are getting out of line.

Friends share the bottom of the bag french fries with you...(not completely give, but share, I mean this isn't about lovers...lol)

I want to take this time to shout out a few of the people that I have SHARED as BEST friends....

Anoa: My sister!!! I love you sooo much. You are the most amazing woman on the planet, to bad the rest of the world doesn't know it YET. just you wait, the time will come. you need to be wherever I end up so I can send my children to your house to learn about their ancestors, exercising rites of passage, and being amazingly awesomely cool. (maybe I can see if Zack Braff can play at my wedding reception...so it can be like u know Zack Braffy....)I miss you tons! In the end all we have are TURKEY TEEPEES!!!!

ReeRee: I know she will never read this... but if you ever met a woman how is going to make sure you are taken care of REE is the one. Thank you for being an awesome friend to me when I needed it and when I didn't deserve it. I'm happy that your happy... and little does the world know that Nick Cannon is your personal dj... I love you REE!

C-Fit: Dag....I take that back (silent wow)....Yo. We've been friends since the year 2000.... from short hair to long hair to natural hair to no hair... lol from KSwiss to Timbs in every color to Dunks... and through the years... we've ALWAYS had the GAP!!! In the end, I'm glad that I always have someone in the illMill to hold it down when I grace the state with my presence.... hopefully I can still be in the wedding!!!! I love you Caura!

Rashid: my parallel universe twin. You are the definition of being there when I need you. If I need help or need to vent or just want to make an obscenely politically incorrect joke... you are ALWAYS there for me.... unless I ask for too much in one day...lol

SommerWommer: I name drop your name like Usher drops his pants on stage!!!! We share a lot and have served as sounding boards for one another numerous times over the last few years... THANK YOU. Thanks for carving out an amazing path in life that I can easily follow!!! Thanks again for always willing to be my safe haven, clutch, and weekend getaway!!! I love you Sommer Wommer!

Mr. Urn: Out of anybody me and you probably have the longest list of inside jokes that two human beings could ever have... and I am happy that we shared every moment!!! *Sept. 24* I love you, Apeeeezy!!!

Junior: You are the definition of a good time and a life saver all wrapped up in to one.... that would make you like an alcoholic sweet refreshing beverage, right? Hands down, all of my MESSIEST moments in life occurred in your presence and I wouldn't ask to have it any other way. Leave room for me in your apartment in case I might have to move in again... best roommates ever! I love you, JUNIOR!!!

PJ: Man you already know! I am so excited what life has in store for you in the next couple months and I am HONORED to be a part of the whole thing. You, my friend, are destined to do BIG THINGS (in your words: RAW SHIT) in the next few years. I'm all about it, wreck that, get some SOD, build this house and make me a happy woman. lol you got it boo... I LOVE YOU PJ!!!!

There are a rack of others but shout outs (quickly!!):
Ronald (my fave funeral director), Shakir(hbcu love!), Courtney(long lost sis!!), Jaminnia (long lost little sis, Dexter, Lucretia (4606B! lol), Malia(DE sucks), Candice (if i could type me exhaling you would get it), Graceanna (i will never forget what you said when I didn't get to go to SA), Derrick (always ready to help to drown my sorrows lol), Parmesean (I miss hanging out cuz!), DT (i miss the hell outta you...come visit me), Mikal (thanks for visiting me!), KaReemy(thanks for visiting TOO!!) and last but of course not least my DC mother Anita... THE BEST ADOPTED MOTHER A GIRL COULD ASK FOR!!!

In retrospect, I have some unbelievable


people i can call FRIEND

*the adinkra symbol above is "the teeth and the tongue"

the symbol dictates friendship. the teeth and the tongue are both in the mouth and may cause conflict for each other, but in the end they know THEY NEED TO WORK TOGETHER.

I love my friends....



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Now playing: The Foreign Exchange - happiness
via FoxyTunes

does HE love like SHE loves?

"Man's love is of man's life a thing apart... 'Tis woman's whole existence." - Lord Byron

(the following is an overgeneralization I admit, but so it most questions and debates on philosophies... don't get froggy on this one yall....unless Lord Byron is from Delaware.....)

Despite whatever neo-modernist humanistic philosophy-isms we choose to believe, I believe that there are some inherent differences between males and females. Besides the obvious biological differences, women and men have different rationale and approaches to life which includes the pursuit, receipt and deliverance of love. Lord Byron uses the aforementioned quote to dictate this complex difference in the simplest of terms.

To men, love is extraneous, a variable, yet not the entire equation. It is the icing on the cake of life, the sugar in life's cup of tea. Love is not an integral part of a man's life. It is indeed a thing apart.

On the other hand, women, take every opportunity of their living to define love; how they want to pursue, how they want to give, and how they want to receive. There is nothing separate in a woman's life from love. Living is loving. Love is woman's whole existence.

An argument could be made, I suppose, that would claim that man's insistence on having love as a thing a part as an action of love within itself, thus making the statement false and the claim of gendered differences on love refuted....

Is this love "actioned" difference a defense mechanism.... women give birth to children so are the innately doomed/blessed to be consumed by love in all manners of their life? men do not give birth to children, all they can do is support and provide for children (not that women don't as well) so does that make them unable to have their livelihoods entangled with love?

I think that this isn't just characteristic of heterosexual love relationships either. I think that male to male and female to female relationships may even display the difference more clearly.... I won't delve deeper on that but think about it.....

So is the quote true? Is love a thing apart for the men and the whole existence of women?

and a note about rats....

neosouljah17:
the rat is funny too
i feel really sorry for rats
its not fair
they are marginalized
12:16 AM
and treated unfairly becaause of their phenotype
much like africans
people dont treat mice like that
people keep mics as pets
how many pet rats do u know??
how many pet shops ask for rats??
none
u know y?
12:17 AM
cause theyre a little fatter and have a longer tail
its not fair


....don't ask her about Ratatouille....

NYANSAPO

NYANSAPO

"wisdom knot"

symbol of wisdom, ingenuity, intelligence and patience

An especially revered symbol of the Akan, this symbol conveys the idea that "a wise person has the capacity to choose the best meeans to attain a goal. Being wise implies broad knowledge, learning and experience, and the ability to apply such faculties to practical ends." *

*www.welltempered.net - Adinkra Symbols

It seems like I can never make plans for my life. Everytime I plan an event, a weekend, or anything, things never turn out quite right. Hardly ever is it a turn for the worst, but you can believe that it is normally a turn for the interesting. This weekend has been unusually informative for me. It seems that the recurring theme was "wisdom." As a student of Africana, there are sets of ancestors that I trust in knowledge and in practice. It is hurtful in many ways when you find a way in which you feel your ancestor has failed. One of my sisters and I have been enveloped in an ongoing dialogue questioning our position as women in (and of) the discipline.

The question is: How come our male intellectual counterparts continue to seek and find emotional, sexual, and ultimate (defined by marriage) kindred friendships with females that are not African?

For Example:

Frantz Fanon, author of Wrethed of the Earth and Black Skin, White Masks, who took a critical look at race, class, social constructs and other facets of exploitation and colonization. His books were not mere theoretical surface level hobknob but writings that are still influential on conscious and revolutionary political thought.

For example here is Franz Fanon:

Here is about his wife: By the time he published his first book, "Peau Noire, Masques Blancs," he had abandoned the philosophy of Negritude for what he described as a so-called "non-racist humanism" as if loving yourself and your culture is racist. In the same year as the publication of his first book, he married a white, French woman, Marie-Josephe ("Josie") Duble in October 1952, suggesting continuing, unresolved ambivalence and conflict regarding his own blackness. Fanon's relationship with a difficult and rejecting mother is also implicated here. (raceandhistory.com - Frantz Fanon)

This little tid bit of information blew the hell out of my sister and of course others I am sure....

Does anyone have a theory explaining this phenomenon?

if this is the case, the further I find myself in the discipline the further away I can imagine myself creating a life with a partner that is my counterpart in intellectualism?

that is hurtful, and frankly I refuse to accept any notion that that is the inevitable truth for me and all of my sisters

that doesn't make sense

the whole premise of my participation in the discipline is the discovery that i am not a mammie, i am not asexual or "over"sexualized, and i am deserving of companionship, deserving of a male counterpart....

deserving of love.

Where are they? Where are these brothers that are rooted in the discipline and wanted women likewise? Speak up. Speak out. We are here to listen!

How does this relate to wisdom.....

think AA: God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, to change the things I can, and the WISDOM to know the difference...

Also, it is quite apparent that I am at that age where is wisdom is not only sought but delievered at this age. It is our turn to deliver wisdom to our young proteges, our mentors and mentees.

Last week, I had the opportnity to listen to a reading by the lovely Sonia Sanchez, and she said the following: "Let me wear the day well so when it reaches you, you will enjoy it." (a haiku) I live my life in hopes that their futures will be better than mine. An amazing poem, indeed. We have crossed the threshold into that area seeking wisdom and delivering it at the same time.

I wish this entry was better organized, but its late and a lot is on my mind.

Visit the National Visionary Leadership Project.

What's your decision?

I don't understand why people try to fake like there aren't times when your life comes to crossroads. Places where decisions have to be made. One has to decide to be or not to be, to do or not to do, to or not to..... These decisions are often made without thinking. There are the decisions that are made with thoughtful consideration, like the decision to jump into a relationship or end one for that matter. The decision to move away, start a new job, go to school, start a career.... those are the decisions that one thinks long and hard about.... but do people take the time to think about the bigger more significant crossroad or do they make haphazard and fleeting decisions when the time comes??
I think about spending an evening with Soledad O'brien as she was the opening lecturer for Latino Heritage Month at UD. She is great speaker, captivating, entertaining and quite enjoyable. However, as always there are the things that I tend to focus on.... one's relationship to community, there overt realization of self, self-awareness, responsibility to community and humanity.... just those types of things. Soledad commented on the fact to a young girl with an accent that was considering a career in broadcast journalism that losing the accent would not be problem and the classes would be cheap. My first and most apparent issue would be the dismissle of personal culture the culture of your family and language of your history.... the fact that that must take second place to your career is beyond my realm of understanding.... but it is even deeper than that. Soledad was raised in Long Island... she had a Long Island accent... that which is truly an American invention, but even that... that little bit of "otherness" was in her way of pursuing her career. She took the classes...found a husband that fit the picture....and is living her life.... Did she think about that decision? Did she think about telling that (speaking not only with her words but by her clear actions) to that young girl? Those are the big...life changing/altering decisions...

THE CHOICES people MAKE.

Best Wisdom comes from Cartoons

"Tear down the walls of convention with the wrecking ball of creativity and rebuild the walls of innovation with the mortar of collaboration."
- Sunny Baxter (Andre 3000, Class of 3000)

While watching my absolute favorite, Cartoon Network, last night I caught the premiere episode of highly anticipated animated series Class of 3000 from Benjamin Andre of Outkast. The show was pretty good, a light hearted comedy that will most likely be enjoyed by elementary age students.The whole episode is based upon the quote that I have posted above. Sunny Baxter, the picture character above, attempts to teach the kids how to apply the quote to their music lessons and planning for the school pageant. Of course, in true cartoon fashion, the kids confuse the quote, Sunny forgets to teach them to work together and everything becomes a huge mess until the last minute when everyone pulls together to allow the pageant to succeed. The funny thing is.... I fell in love with the quote... I felt that it was applicable to many things particularly the life of a college student. I needed to find out who said this quote, in what context, and when.... so while googling the quote I come to find out that the quote is from the script of the show. No philosopher, no activist, no PhD.... writers for a television show, perhaps even Andre 3000 himself. The beauty is that even in cartoons one can find someone else's passion for creativity, wisdom, and inspiration.

Is crime a rational choice? Give specific examples for your discussion.

Rational Choice Theory states that offenders seek to benefit in some way from their offending behaviors. Rational in this case means proving to be more beneficial than detrimental to the offender. In other words, the offender would see the crime as worth the risk. It is impossible to do things without thinking, even though we commonly state that we do so. Every action that we commit has a thought pattern associated with it. Rational Choice is founded on the belief that there is a right and a wrong and rationality is the ability to make things seem as right so they can be committed with “good” or rational conscience.

When an offender is about to commit a crime, such as a store robbery, there are often many decisions and considerations that the offender has thought about beforehand. Which store is easiest to rob? Which store has the most money in its cash register? How will I get into the store? How will I get the money away? When considering the answers to these and other questions, the offender is trying to provide a rationality for the crime that is about to be committed.

This is what I have so far.... (essay question from class, everything I write will be shared!)
Rational Choice Theory is quite interesting now that I have taken the time to actually read about it. As I was browsing someone said that rational choice theory doesn't take into account those things that are irrational, such as emotions. My argument would be that an individuals rationale does not have to adhere to convention, what is considered normal, or what someone else would consider rational in a given situation.

For example: Tanya sees her boyfriend of three years walking into a hotel room with a girl that has mentioned how much she adores Tanya's boyfriend. Tanya's reaction: Chase them down, beat down the girl until she in unconscious, and later get her brother to beat her (now ex) boyfriend till he is unconscious. Tanya's Rationale: He hurt me, she hurt me, I must make them feel this same pain the only way I know how.
See how Tanya definitely acted through her emotions? Yet, she did it rationally... well, what she felt was rationale. Tanya's boyfriend (Jason) would react in quite a different way by immediately leaving the relationship and the city and never speaking to Tanya again. However, that would not say that Tanya was irrational and Jason was rational. Someone could say they were both irrational! The weakness in my argument would be that from my point, there would be no room for irrationality. Everyone could explain their own rationale for any situation. "Hi, my name is Bonnie, I killed my father Clyde because he killed my dog." Bonnie definitely provides a rationale for her action, but I would say that it was quite an irrational action....
however... where is the line between rational and irrational??
PHILOSOPHY! Another day! I am going back to work on my paper...