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I mourn and celebrate the life of an artist. MJ was a man, a human, full of err just like the rest of us. However, he made contributions to the music and dance world unprecedented and never to be duplicated. Respect.
June 26, 2009
Celebrating Michael Jackson
June 13, 2009
Saturday Sounds ~ AFRICA!
May 26, 2009
Book Meme
Truessence tagged me.
Total books I own:
currently 213 (not including my son’s library)
Last book I bought:
Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin
Last book I read:
The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Adichie
Five books that mean a lot to me:
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neal Hurston
Like the Singing Coming Off the Drums by Sonia Sanchez
Possessing the Secret of Joy by Alice Walker
She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb
Let the Lion Eat Straw by Ellease Southerland
I’m supposed to tag others, but all my reader friends have been tagged, so any takers feels free to join in.
May 18, 2009
The Thing Around Your Neck
The Thing Around Your Neck should be on your summer reading list.
Adichie is definitely becoming one of my favorite writers. This is only the second work of hers I’ve read, the first being Half of a Yellow Sun which is phenomenal.
Beautiful prose…
from "A Private Experience" "…that religion and ethnicity are often politicized because the ruler is safe if the hungry ruled are killing one another."
from "Ghosts" "…and I will be forced to live a life cushioned by so much convenience that it is sterile."
I really appreciate her use of second person narrative in the title story. It makes it that much more engaging and instigates a strong empathy. She liberally takes on sexual politics in regards to women and homosexuality in the African community without a bunch of hype.
"The Arrangers of Marriage" is one of my favorites in which you see a young Igbo woman brought to America by a husband who wants so desperately to fit into the "mainstream" it’s almost disgusting. The last two stories - "Tomorrow is Too Far" and "The Headstrong Historian" - were a bit lackluster in the subtle and heart wrenching language as in the prior stories. But this shouldn’t stop anyone from adding it to their must read list.
The reader will learn that the "The Thing Around Your Neck" applies to each story and some problem, concern, or truth that can be emotionally binding.
This one is worthy of a second date. 
May 16, 2009
Saturday Sounds
Mark your calendars. 7/7/09. Maxwell. BLACKsummersnight. Music has missed you man.
Check out his new video for "Pretty Wings" here.
May 14, 2009
So much randoms
*The season finale of Lost was like OMG!! I am going to suffer major withdrawal until 2010. And I can’t believe it’s going to be the last season…EVER! But I am looking forward to the resolution of the best written show in TV history. As I tweeted last night:"As much as I distrust Juliet, I still would have preferred Kate’s ass going down!"
*I am sooo in love with my new hair brush. Yes, that Denman D4 I mentioned a couple of posts back. Thanx Teri of tightly curly for the recommendation. And your whole site is fabulous! This brush has given me weekly hairgasms for the last 3 weeks. It makes my curls so oingy boingy and smooth.
* I’m so glad that we’re doing 3 weeks on and 1 week off as our new homeschooling schedule. I’m a bit too happy, I think. That break is coming just in time…every time. BTW, our basil is growing beautifully and the peppers are growing strong as well. That basil smells wonderful!
*Congrats to Teyona, America’s Next Top Model. She definitely deserved it. I just wish it would have been her and Aminat stomping it out at the end. Though, no doubt we’ll see her killer bod gracing some catwalks and some high fashion mags.
*Adichie’s latest book, The Thing Around Your Neck, is really good. I’m about half way through this collection of short stories. I know, I know…it’s not out yet in the U.S. I couldn’t wait, so I ordered it from The Book Depository. This UK based book seller just rocks my world. I should have a review up in a few days.
ciao!
May 7, 2009
Vote for the next momversation panelist
Momversation is holding an amazing contest: Best mom memory wins a coveted spot on their panel!
Here’s what I need you to do: vote for Quel! She’s the fab mom blogger of HomeGirl.
Watch her video submission and vote here: http://tinyurl.com/df928w
Also check out her latest blog post:
http://homegirl.typepad.com/home_girl/2009/05/please-vote-for-me.html
April 29, 2009
Dirty Little Angels by Chris Tusa
Upon reading the summary of this book, I anticipated heavy, gritty language reminiscent of Baldwin’s If Beale Street Could Talk. I was becoming disappointed that I was not meeting a challenge of hard to swallow dialogue and imagery until I thought of the comparison to To Kill a Mockingbird. Once I kept this in mind as a point of reference, but only for tone and language, I was able to appreciate Tusa’s work.
Christopher Tusa has penned a subtly grimy novel of life of some "Dirty Little Angels" living in and around New Orleans. The cast of characters range from the protagonist, Hailey, who’s a sixteen year old just wanting to keep her family in tact to Moses, who has some slightly warped ideas of religion with his plans for a drive-thru church. Hailey, her brother Cyrus, and their parents-Lena and Jules- all have their crosses to bear and it’s definitely interesting to discover whether or not they are triumphant.
What this novel lacks in intensity it definitely makes up for in spirit and conviction. This one is another one night stand for me.
April 25, 2009
The Concubine’s Children
Finally finished reading Denise Chong’s memoir of her immigrant Chinese Canadian family. I was recommended this book by Amazon. I never take it’s recommendation too seriously, but reading the synopsis and positive reviews made me interested.
May-Ying, Chong’s maternal grandmother, is sold to Chan Sam as a teenager to be his concubine. Chan Sam has left his village of Chang Gar Bin to seek his fortune in "the Gold Mountain"- Canada. He has left behind a first wife who will eventually become mother to the first two daughters born to the concubine in Canada. May-Ying’s third daughter, Chong’s mother, will grow up alone and feeling that she’s been dealt a bad hand but will later in life realize that the opposite is true. Everything Chan Sam works for actually ends up being financed by the wages of May-Ying as she is a highly desired waitress in the tea houses of Vancouver’s Chinatown.
Set against the burgeoning city of Vancouver and a number of exclusionary acts to prohibit entrance of new Chinese immigrants and the Japanese occupation followed by the Communist rule of Mao Zedong in China, this story explores the idea of family in separated by circumstance. But, the reader will learn they’re bound by hope.
Denise Chong’s writing in this work read more like a work of fiction than nonfiction. She writes such moving prose as: "I’d like to see where I was born before I die, Ping said. Then, laughing with her eyes the way my grandmother did, she said to Mother, Yuen can come too; he’ll walk ahead of us. With his crooked feet, he can rake in the gold and you I will follow behind and pick it up!" At 256 pages, I thought I’d breeze through it but was easily distracted. There were passages that brought this book to a lull for me. Because of this, I’m rating this one a "one night stand". I recommend this book, but don’t expect to become too attached.
April 22, 2009
Earth Day 2009
We finished our Earth Day lapbook. Also, we planted peppers and basil in organic soil and reused food and beverage containers. Cross your fingers for those because I have never tried to grow anything.
Here are Zion’s simple tips(in his own words)for saving the earth:
*3Rs- reduce, reuse, recycle (mom’s note - the milk and juice cartons exemplify all 3)
*take short showers
*plant tress and flowers for growing
*turn off the lights