*peep*

I know you're looking at your blogger feed like, "Who the heck is this?" I know, I know. It's been a while . . . you haven't heard a peep from me since late 2010 so . . . PEEP!

I've still been around on twitter and tumblr and occasionally fotki but I've been missing posts longer than 140 characters that don't include cute bunnies eating bananas and the like.

Let's play catch up, shall we? ROLL THE HIGHLIGHTS!

Since my last post, I graduated from college (again!) on May 14, 2011!

And I turned in my creative thesis (i.e. my book of poetry) on November 15, 2011 and was officially awarded my Master of Fine Arts in Writing.

On Valentine's Day 2012, I finally started submitting my book out to publishing contests. Cross your fingers for me, okay? I really want to get this thing published! I need it!

*insert picture of YOU crossing your fingers*

Also, somewhere in that mix I was happy, sad, angry, sleepy, grumpy, perky, and I dyed my hair and it grew a lot, lol.


And here we are . . . May 9, 2012. I'm still a college professor (well, technically a "lecturer" but, eh, I like the sound of professor better, don't you?) and we're about to go on summer break. Yay for breaks! I've gone back to retail for the summer in a management position so I'm exhausted all the time but it's a good exhausted because they give me money, lol. Anyway, I have good news . . . CUE THE NEWS!

Sunday night it hit me -- I want to go to school again! Yeah, I know, I know . . . I'm a college professor so I'm in school all the time. What I mean is I want to be a student again . . . specifically a doctoral student. That's right . . . Ph. D. application time, baby!

So, I figured I'd dust this blog off . . . get to logging my experiences again. Over the next couple of weeks, I'll try to gussy up the place (I'm a bit over the large bee and yellow).

And for kicks . . . a cute bunny eating a banana!

 

TTYL - bsquared86

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!

Merry Christmas!

I love holidays . . . period. But, I think I love Christmas most of all . . . so MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY!

One of my fave christmas commercials (from last year):

23 years? SAY WHAT?

Happy birthday to me!

B-ROCKA!

i used to stan for Brandy Norwood back in the day. I still do, kinda. To me she'll always be one of the greatest R&B artists out there.

Not too long ago she posted a youtube video of herself singing "Somewhere over the rainbow" a capella in her bathroom. It was a hit! Everyone loved it! She just posted a video of herself singing "Change is gonna come" a capella and i'm FLOORED again.

So, to be random . . . and breathe life back into this blog . . . here's her latest video . . .

Do you have a favorite artist? Share!

Writer's block . . .

. . . is a bitch.

anybody got a spare poem i could borrow? lol.

FYI I'm saving all of my MFA/poetry talk for an end of the semester "recap" . . . so stay tuned . .
.

PEACE!

I'm not a Good Student . ..

. . . but I play one 3 times a week.

Too bad I'm not as good at playing a good blogger, lol.

In short, my first 3 or so weeks of school have been great. I've already been overwhelmed, stressed, afraid, doubtful, hopeful, excited, anxious, giddy, and numb . . . but most of all, I've been writing! And that's whats most important to me.

No long essays. No research papers. No reader responses.

Just writing centered around my CRAFT. I definitely appreciate that.

The reading has been okay, I try to stay up on each assignment but in the event that i find myself behind on my reading I do my best to discuss what I DO know . . . so they won't look back later & say, "B didn't say anything all class . . . I wonder if she read?" lol. Oldest trick in the book but it saves me some time (and face)

Time, time, time . . . seems like I have time to do EVERYTHING but what i'm supposed to do. I have a habit of pushing things off until the last minute but now that I'm working and going to school, I really need to make better decisions with my time.

I started off strong . . . I would come right home and do my work/reading. I need to get back to that.

Well, that's all for now . . . tune in next time for adventures of a first time TA!

ciao.

Tomfoolery & Shenanigans: Throw'd TV

My name is BSQUARED and I'm a youtube junkie . . . yes, it's true . . . I make rounds on youtube like folks flip thru TV stations, lol. But, that's ok . . . b/c it's free and I'm always thoroughly entertained!

For today's installment of Tomfoolery & Shenanigans, I bring you the good folks at Throw'd TV. I just ran across one of their videos on facebook & youtube'd them for more. Check out one of their latest videos



be sure to head over to their YT channell and comment, rate, and/or subscribe!

Loc'ing for Love! 1 Year Anniversary!

Ok, so technically 8/11 was my one year Loc anniversary . . . but i just made the video today, lol. So . . . happy anniversary to my Locs!

Click here for the video! I've disabled embedding b/c natural hair videos tend to "travel", lol. Feel free to comment and rate! I'd appreciate it! Thanks in advance!

Can't believe it's been a year! WOOOT!

Grab a hard hat and watch your step . . .

With the new school year approaching, I'm making some changes here at B Write Back . . . the first being a name change!

I've decided to keep the blog name simple and go with the url and my screen name, Bsquared86. I thought that a eponymous blog would be kind of wierd when I first started off but now that the blog is about more than just my journey to grad school . . . it seems fitting! (don't worry . . . the URL is the same so your bloglists and other links are not affected).

If you haven't noticed, the color scheme has been revamped . . . no more black, pink, purple, and turquoise. I wanted to brighten it up and make it fun. I've decided to go with a Bumble Bee theme of black, yellow, and white w/ red accents. The bee in the header is inside of a square . . . get it? Bee-squared? *insert goofy laugh*

So, stay tuned . . . more changes to come . . . more posts to come . . . more Bsquared86!

Love Survives, So We Can Rock Forever

And when the groove is dead and gone

you know that love survives

so we can rock forever!

-"Rock With You"

A Different B!

I must apologize for my absence . . . twitter and youtube have sucked me and unfortunately my blog has suffered, but no worries! I am here to say! Writing is my love, I'll never abandon my blog!

Anyway, I'm coming to you all today with an announcement . . . its pretty big . . . I've started a new journey . . . not hair . . . not makeup . . . not MFA . . .

WEIGHT LOSS

Yeah, that's right . . . I'm on a weightloss journey! I will not list the details of the journey here (atleast not now) BUT I do have a brand-new Youtube channell dedicated to documenting that journey called "A Different B" in which I do weekly video updates on my weighins and random videos about the journey. I invite anyone interested to check out the videos, comment, rate, and subscribe but NO PRESSURE! The videos are serving as more of a way to keep me "accountable" and release my frustrations during the journey. Also, this is NOT a vanity channell . . . its me, raw and uncut . . . happy, sad, angry . . . no glamour, no glitz! LOL. So brace yourselves.

Here's a link to my lastest video (posted yesterday)>> Week 2- A Different B

I'll be back later with another post about just what this journey entails, my feelings, updates, etc.

Thanks for sticking around! Be back soon with more posts!

au revoir.

Love is Luv: Sexy Blogger Award

Back again, with another blog award! This one was passed on to me by my twitter friend Chanel from The Fly Mommie! It took me awhile to do this post because my initial reaction was, "Sexy? ME?" lol. Thanks again, Chanel!

Rules: List 5 things about yourself that are sexy and then tag 5 others.

Hmmm . . . this is going to be a toughy, ya'll know how humble I am . . . right? ;)

• My eyes (wide, a bit different . . . usually flawlessly made up!)


• My lips (representing for the full lipped sistas!)


• My hair (I cannot tell you how many guys have randomly complimented my hair and/or tried to sneak a feel . . . loc'd ladies are in! lol)


• My boobs (well, yeah . . . ya'll get it lol)


• My legs (in my fave pair of stacked pumps? hello, calves! lol)

Who's tagged? ALL OF YOU! I read so many blogs by so many FABULOUS people, that I couldn't pick just five!

FINALLY!

For those of you new to Be Write Back, way back in January I made a "to do" list of things I wanted to accomplish in 2009. The very first item on the list was a . . .

DRIVER'S LICENSE

yes, yes, it's true . . . I'm 22 years old, living in a large metropolitan city . . . and I did not have a license. Yes, it sucked to not have a license all of this time, lol.

I took my behind-the-wheel test on April 24th and I failed . . . I wasn't terrible, I just made a "critical error" *inserteyeroll*. I wanted my license that day not only for myself but to surprise my father for his birthday. It totally sucked to return home with no license. So, after being down on myself for a while, I mustered up the courage to schedule another test. And, I . . .

PASSED

Now, who's going to buy me a car? lol