Happy Birthday to Me! 24!

It's my Kobe year . . . 24 years old!

Bsquared takes a tumble

*whistles*

LAKE SHOW! WE DID IT AGAIN!

Busy Work

I hate busy work . . . we all k now what that is . . . we were given it in grade school . . . color by numbers . . . vocabulary word searches . . . writing definitions multiple times . . . in high school we had reading summaries and worksheets . . . and that's where busy work should have stayed. In K-12 . . . it should not be in the college classroom.

THIS IS COLLEGE!

I'm sitting here looking at this pile of busy work that i must "grade" as a Teacher's Assistant . . . and it's pissing me off. Why am I grading someones NOTES? They're notes! These are grown ups . . . if they can't take satisfactory notes by now then poo on them. Why am I wasting my time grading their scribble scrabble notes? Why am I grading someones essay brainstorm . . . it's a BRAINSTORM! FOR THEM! not for me! why do i care if they properly connect this bubble to that bubble? Huh? It's their essay! Do you know how manny times I've coherently brainstormed an essay? probably never.

You know why I'm grading this crap? Because it's the BUSY work that they've set up for EVERY STUDENT taking this course (all sections . .. hundreds of students). It's what I like to call a factory syllabus . . . everyone follows it. Instead of focusing on just getting the essays done by whatever means suit the student, they must go through these steps that may or may not fit with their own personal writing process.

The essay stuff doesn't even bother me as much as the need to grade READING NOTES . . . huh? is this college? is it?



I have more to rant about but I suppose I will save those things for when the semester is over . . . lets just say, that this TA gig is going to be very interesting . . . having a rough start this time around.

A Look-a-Like?

The new "it" thing to do on Facebook is to change your display pic to a celebrity that folks always tell you that you look like. I couldn't decide on just one . . . mostly becuase I have been told repeatedly that I look like both of these stunning actresses/musicians! So, I'll accept that I'm a great blend of both-- on the inside and out, I hope!

My first memory of being told that I look like Queen Latifah dates back to

elementary school. The latest would be Saturday night when a guy in my store told me that I was "just like Queen Latifah . . . with skin clear as glass." And he commenced to calling me Queen Latifah for the duration of his shopping experience.

The Jill Scott comparisons began quietly in the new millenium, lol. They really took off when I got to college. It could have been the way I wore/wear my hair? I don't know. But I'll take it!

Could it be that folks just say I look like these women because we're all plus sized and African American? Probably, lol. I've been told I look like Oprah and Monique, too (and I'll accept those as well, I think they're both gorgeous).

The most interesting part of this whole FB picture thing is actually looking at the "lookalikes" and REALLY seeing it . . . I have a few friends that are deadringers! lol. And, others like myself who don't quite see it but have heard it for so long they accept it lol.

WHO'S YOUR CELEB LOOK-A-LIKE?

and/or

EVER MEET SOMEONE WHO LOOKS LIKE YOU?

Happy Birthday MLK!

Stevie Wonder's Happy Birthday, written as a tribute to Martin Luther King, Jr. years ago.

My absolute favorite picture of Martin and Coretta. May they both rest in peace.

"In a sense we have come to our Nation's Capital to cash a check. When the architects of our great republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir.

This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed to the inalienable rights of life liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given its colored people a bad check, a check that has come back marked "insufficient funds."

But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and security of justice."

[That was my favorite part of the "I Have a Dream Speech"]

The dream lives, in me.

Thank you, Dr. King.

DONATE DONATE DONATE Text HAITI to 9-0999 for $10 (REDCROSS.ORG) & YELE to 501501 FOR $5 DONATIONS (YELE.ORG)

Oh, Haiti!

Praying for the safe return of fellow Howard University Alum and current NYU Doctoral student, Nathalie Pierre! [click for more on that story from ABC] [UPDATE: She is safe! Thank you for your prayers]

DONATE DONATE DONATE

I chose to DONATE to - Yele.org by Wyclef Jean and (seperately to) the Red Cross by texting HAITI to 9-0999

Beware of scammers! Only donate to relief efforts/programs/organizations that you trust!