Meditation

My favorite song by the singer India Arie is “Little Things,” which

basically celebrates the plethora of simplicities in this life. Her

song represents my new found love for meditation. I chose the word

love because I believe that the root of passion is love and this is

what I have found with meditation. I have learned that I have control

of my thought and feelings, and when I feel as though control is

slipping through my palms I know that meditation will replenish me.

Meditation is that place where we can all silently retire and dwell in

happy thoughts.

To be perfectly honest I did not believe meditation would have an

effect on me. But when I began to force myself to slow down life and

just breathe I discovered the potential of mediation. I would close my

eyes everyday for a short fifteen minutes and inhale slowly only to

release the air as slow as I had taken it in. I would meditate on the

happiness I felt when I would make my young nephew smile, or the joy I

felt when watching a sunset. I took in the moments that I had

orchestrated in my mind and used that as a tool to relax my entire

being.

After the two weeks were up I decided that I will definitely

incorporate mediation into my everyday life. This is because I have

enjoyed the feeling over well being. I have been able to release a lot

of frustration that must have become stagnant and in its place I

plotted positive thoughts. The key to a spiritually successful life

really may be a simple as India Arie promises : )

Rap

Commercial rap has gone down the gutter and the new age has taken a shift towards the less conscious. I cringe at every “N” bomb and bitch that is repetitively dropped. You look at the American culture and think about how fast trends and slang words come and go. A lot of commercial rap seems to not evolve in terms of trends and being novel and creating new popular (and perhaps less offensive) vernacular. I use to sit back and just turn my nose up at the rapper making the music, but now I have come to learn that there is a phantom behind the artist.

I watched a very amazing documentary called, “Hip Hop beyond Beat and Rhymes,” by Byron Hurt. It breaks down and follows the evolution of Hip Hop and its daughter strand Rap. In what some Hip Hop guru’s would call the “golden age” of hip hop there seemed to be a promotion of black love and unity. This is when black male expression was not being limited and their range and manner of expressing their self varied. You had De la Soul, The Jungle Brothers, Run DMC, A Tribe Called Quest along with many other conscious artists, this is prior to the martyrs for costal aggression T-Pac and Biggie Smalls.

But something changed along the way and out was the conscious artists and in was the aggressive, violent and misogynistic rappers that we know today. Many people like my old self solely placed the blame on the artist but there is a much larger picture behind the blinged out frame. There are larger corporations such as Clearwater and Viacom who took over the studios and began to narrow the range that they believe was necessary for black male expression. They shoved these rappers into these very shallow narrow boxes and refuse to allow them to speak of anything that is conscious. Sure we have some exceptions but generally speaking most rappers are rapping about the same thing which is the image that the white owners want them to promote.

Guy Code

Guy Code? I stumble across an episode of this show called, Guy Code. I always believe fellow females to be so intriguing because of our mystique and lady policy that most of us follow. I had no Idea men follow similar gender regulations. So my lesson of the day was this:

1) Straight men apparently do NOT go to the theaters and sit next to one another in fear that the fellow movie goers will think they are “sissies.”

2) There is a certain amount of body hair that men will allow but for the most part males do not want to look like grizzly bears. Too much hair on the chest, arms, back or legs can cause men to feel insecure. I learned the term “manscaping” which is the butchering of hairs south of the border. But talking about your body hair removal in particular “manscaping” is TABOO in the male community.

3) Male should only shower with bar soap. If you smell fruity or like a flower you have apparently broken male code.

4) Cologne must be applied in a specific manly way which does not include a wrist spray or spraying into the air and walking into the falling mist. Manly men pour the cologne into their hands and slap it upon their neck. If it is not applied the masculine way a man is just wearing dude perfume.

5) Lastly, “real men” do not take bath unless they are joining a woman or under the age of 7.

While I found this segment to be amusing I also thought about the immense pressure these sorts of messages must put on males. Not every man is going to follow these “codes.” I wonder how powerful the backlash must be if men are not what is considered to be “masculine.” I consider my boyfriend to be very masculine and he has no problem seeing next to his guy friends at movies, nor does he have an issue with showering in soap that is not in a solid form.

So sweet so Natural

We might as well lock the legs of young women across the globe as society basically manipulates them into being asexual anyway. I was pretty peeved when I heard that Dakota Fanning’s ad got pulled for being too suggestive. A blossoming flower was placed between her legs poetically implying that the young woman was evolving and maturing into a sexual being. And because of the location of the blossoming flower and the implication the ad was pulled. But why is this society so horrified by the idea that young women are sexual? Human beings ARE sexual beings and to repress something so natural and manipulate it to make it seem dirty is wrong.  The image of being sweet and virginal is forced down girls throats and places a tremendous amount of pressure. The pressure is then crossed with confusion about whether what they are feeling is right or wrong. I believe this is a factor that contributes to many teen girls depression. They are depressed by the social pressures and nearly unattainable image of the forever sugar sweet virgin.

Coming up the wrong way

Are you tired of our American culture celebrating women who come up on their backs? If so then you are not alone. Talk Show personality Wendy Williams slammed reality stars Kim Kardashian and Basketball Wives Andrea (unknown last name) for contributing to the misrepresentation of what it takes to make it. Williams got into a heated dialogue when the topic of what it takes to become successful was raised. She spoke vehemently against the tactic used by both reality stars, which was to leak their sex tapes and then reap from the popularity.  

  I completely agree with Ms. Williams as these women have distorted the perception for young women across the globe. Young girl like Lawrence Fishburne’s daughter believe that the only way to become successful in Hollywood is to “come up on your back,” and she shares the same idea as many women. So what does this say about what a women’s work ethic should be? It reduces women to using their body oppose to their minds or charm. Men finagle their way through life by means of intelligence so why can’t women?

  At first I was just disappointed with the women, but then I began to wander why the media promotes them. I believe that since men are the driving force behind media their values are being promoted. The sexiest male supremacists carefully select the women who we will celebrate. Instead of turning our noses up at these women we need to begin to question the people who are putting the spot light on them.

Union

Does it really matter that Kim Kardashian is getting another divorce? HELL NO!! I would have been more surprised if her two second marriage lasted any longer.What does matter is that while the sex tape star is mocking the institution there are people who are not even allowed to get married.

Marriage is suppose to be a sacred union between lovers who would like to spend a life together. But if we are legally excluding gays from that natural desire while celebrating two minute heterosexual unions do we really believe in the institution?

I believe that its wrong for gays to be prohibited from the intitution. I do not believe that the government should control love. If we will support fake unions like the Kardashian-Humphries marriage we should most definitely allow gays to marry.

Judge

I literally felt the rythm of my heart being re-written when i heard the crack of the first lash. With toes curled and blood boiling I watched Texas Judge viciously attack his teenage daughter. This must have been have been a routine because the daughter had set up a camera to record  the abuse.

I believe that the young girl is a heroine in her own right. She posted the video to bring attention to the domestic abuse that had been taking place. Bringing awareness to the vivious attack allows people to understand that behavior like the judges are unhealthy.

All families have their own unique dynamic but abuse should never have a place in that dynamic. Abuse can lead to a variety of mental and emotional scars. I hope that the people who have witnessedd the beating can learn that abuse is not a healthy form of discipline.