Essence Music Festival

"The ESSENCE Music Festival®, began in 1995 as a celebration of the 25th birthday of ESSENCE Magazine, July 4th weekend in New Orleans. Three days of cultural activities and three nights of performances by some of our greatest African-American artists made the Festival a success.

The Festival has grown in stature and attendance every year and is an annual destination. It is the largest African-American music and empowerment event in the country, with more than 270,000 attendees enjoying evening performances, plus free daytime sponsored activities, empowerment seminars and celebrity meet-and-greets.

With the best musical artists, the most powerful speakers and the biggest national brands, the ESSENCE Music Festival is three days of unparalleled music, celebration and community."

Yep this weekend I'll be making my second trip this year to the Big Easy. I had a blast when I was down there for Mardi Gras. From what my friends tell me its more fun (at least for colored folks) during Essence. I don't know if I'll get to make any concerts but I sure will be partying hard. I'm going to get it in this weekend. I sure do need to mini-vacation. The monotony of the lab is really starting to get to me. I actually enjoyed having the distraction of teaching over the past month but now that that's over, I'm right back to where I started. So New Orleans, here I come. Hope y'all are ready.

6/24/09-Dream

Its the summer time and my television watching is at an all time low. Yeah in the summer time they try to trick viewers into watching tv by creating new shows that actually suck i.e.- Hawthorne. I've been fiending for a good tv fix. I don't see that happening anytime soon since two of my shows are probably still filming right now (Heroes and Lost).

This gets me into my dream from last night. In my dream I was in a foreign country which law enforcement had loose control over its people (think: Beirut or Ukraine). I was a mutant person with an ability. I had Claire Bennett's ability (think Wolverine without the claws). For some reason I found myself trying to rescue this baby from a hospital in which the bad guys were trying to kill the baby. Funny thing is the baby had the same ability that I had, so we might have been related.

Now the baby was located at the top floor of the hospital and I had to try to get the baby and her family out of the hospital alive. Only problem was it was basically an army that was after us. I was only equipped with a pistol. Since I had healing abilities I wasn't too concerned about getting shot. I was more concerned with trying to get the parents out unharmed. My only option was to get out of the hospital undetected. This dream was something right out of X-Men or Heroes, maybe a mix between the two.

I swear I watch entirely too much television.

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Mutant/mutation- will indicate an altered perspective or character.

To see a baby in your dream signifies purity and a new start in life. It may represent an aspect of you that is defenseless. If you dream that you are on your way to deliver your baby in a hospital, it symbolizes your need to be looked after.

Dreams of being chased or chase dreams, often stem from feelings of anxiety in your walking life - you want to escape from something. The way we respond to anxiety, stress and situations in real life is typically manifested as a chase dream.

Love Triangle

***This is purely a fictional story so don't get any ideas that this has anything to do with me or anyone that I know. lol***

Thomas, Keith and Andre are really close friends. They've been boys since their freshman year at Clark Atlanta University. Now they are all in their mid 20's and have respectable careers while living great lives in the city of Atlanta. Keith has a long time girlfriend, Erica, who also attended Clark Atlanta University with them. Things are going well in their relationship and Keith is thinking of proposing to Erica.

One day while Thomas, Keith and Andre are having wings and beer at happy hour, Keith tells his boys that he is planning on proposing to his girlfriend. Thomas buys a round of Patron shots in order to celebrate the occasion. The next afternoon while Thomas and Andre are working out at the YMCA, Andre asks if Thomas can keep a secret. Andre says that he can't tell a soul. Thomas says sure. Andre explains that two weeks before while Keith was out of town for a business trip, he saw Erica at Verve Nightclub. They chatted for a while and he noticed that there was some sexual tension between them. She told him that she had a crush on him since their days at CAU. One thing led to another and they ended up sleeping together. He also explained that he felt terrible and that it would never happen again but he needed to tell somebody.

This information was a definite shock to Thomas. He never would have suspected that 1. Andre would sleep with his boy's woman and 2. Erica would step out on Keith. At this point Thomas had a dilemma on his hands. Should he keep Andre and Erica's secret and allow Keith to propose to her under those pretenses? Should he tell Keith which would cause him to lose one of his best friends and the love of his life? Also, if he tells Keith will he look at him in a hateful way for being the bearer of bad news?

Thomas wished that Andre never entrusted him with such a curse secret.

If you were in Thomas' situation would you keep the secret or would you tell Keith? If you were Keith would you want Thomas to tell you? Also, ladies please feel free to change the names to female names and answer the questions.

Thirsty Broads

I had to vent earlier today. This is my current facebook status:

if you repeatedly call me and i don't answer don't start calling me from another number. makes you look stalkerish. see why i don't answer unfamiliar numbers?

Now for the story behind my status.

(Names and some situations have been changed to protect the not-so-innocent)

I used to deal with this girl named Shanquisha. For reasons not important to this story we ended up falling out. This past Friday I got a phone call from a number I didn't recognize. If you know me well enough you know that I normally don't answer number that I don't recognize or isn't already stored in my phone. So when I answered the phone, I found out it was Shanquisha. I happened to be at a sports bar for happy hour (shout to Timeout Sports bar. best damn happy hour in the Nashville area). I told her I was busy and I would hit her back (little white lie since I had no intention on calling her back). Anyway she texted me and called me on Saturday which got no response from me except to save her number as Do Not Answer.

Now most people I know including myself would have gotten the clue and stopped trying but not this chick. lol.

Yesterday after I got back in the house from my basketball game I was sitting on my couch and I was sending a text message. After my text went through my phone indicated that I had a voicemail. I guess Do Not Answer Shanquisha called me at the same time I was trying to send a text and she got my voicemail. I checked my voicemail and it was like 4 seconds on inaudible bickering.

Later on that night my phone rang and it was from another number I didn't recognize. The only reason I answered it was because my student's first quiz was today and they had been calling me all weekend to ask questions. This is an abbreviated version of the conversation that took place.

Me: "Hello."
Shanquisha: "Oh so this is the only way I can get in contact with you."
Me: "Uhhh who is this?"
Shanquisha: "Its Shanquisha. I called you from my other cell phone to see if you would answer. So you don't know how to return my phone calls? What you avoiding me?"
Me: "So yeah I'm pretty busy right now."
Shanquisha: "Did I do something to you?"

This conversation went on for about 45 more seconds before I basically hung up on this chick. What the hell is wrong with people? Why are some people so thirsty? Being a stalker is not cool. I'm back to not answering numbers that I don't know. So if you have my phone number and you want to get in contact with me, you better call me from a number I have on file for you. lol. End vent.

6/3/09-Dream

Yesterday during the day I left lab early to go home and take a nap. I had a vivid dream that I was visiting the Virgin Islands or Key West (some island close to Florida). For whatever reason the island was going to be destroyed and it was my bright idea that help was not going to come and that we (and by we I don't remember who was with me) should swim to Florida. Now in real life this would make no sense, mainly because I can't swim. I just thought the dream was strange. I think I watch too much Lost. lol.

~Swimming- symbolizes a submersion in an individual's spiritual search.

~Island- represents a time to pause during one's spiritual search.


I wonder what God is trying to tell me.

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Last night after turning from the debauchery that was Game 1 of the NBA finals, I went to bed kind of early and slept hard. I dreamed that I was home somewhere and I was going on a trip. A couple of friends and I were on a charter bus (the only person I remember is one of my line brothers and one of my prophytes). For some reason we stopped for a bathroom break in some hick town. There were a bunch of white police officers killing innocent black people with the plan to frame other black people and have them take the fall for the crime. I guess somehow I found out about their plan and the rest of my dream was them chasing me and trying to kill me so I wouldn't foil their plans. I swear I watch entirely too much television. lol


~Police- come in dreams as an advisement to self-analyze one's actions and for needed introspection. Police can often be associated with one's higher self (self-policing).

~Bus- pertains to an aspect in one's life that serves to benefit many. May also refer to an overblown situation or even obesity, depending on surrounding dreamscape.

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I swear I have the most random and detailed dreams ever.

Video Chicks

I was checking my google reader and I came across this Necole Bitchie blog post. The singer Jeremih premiered his video for 'Birthday Sex' on 106th and Park yesterday (video at the bottom of the post). The leading lady in the video is Brazilian. A lot of people have a problem with him (and other entertainers) using non-Black women in their videos.

Honestly, when I first watched the video I really didn’t think about the race/color of the girl. I just saw another pretty woman. I probably wouldn't have noticed if she were Black, White, Latino or Aborigine well I would have noticed that one.

I actually did a blog post about black complexions and stigmas a while back. You can re-read it here. For the record I feel like you should be with who you makes you happy and f**k everyone else who doesn't like it (just so happens that I like black women). But my opinion on this issue is somewhat two-faced. One on side I feel like what if that’s what he’s attracted to in real life? Why should he have to change what he likes to appease an entire race? I think that black people (women more often) look to the wrong places to try and fight this color/race issue.

Some people don't like the fact that plenty of rappers/singers put non-Black women in their videos. They feel its not so much that this issue effects them personally but how these videos are perceived by a young generation of black girls (the age range in which these videos are actually targeting. Watch the audience's age bracket during 106 & Park).

I actually agree with these sentiments and train of thought. But I feel what the bigger problem is that our youth is actually looking up to rappers and singers for examples of how to treat the opposite sex and how the opposite sex views them. For example, I would hope that a young girl is not taking that 'Birthday Sex' video seriously and thinking that no man can actually want her because she's not Brazilian or something exotic (i hate that conception as well. like black woman aren't exotic but that's another blog post. Coming soon. lol). But for real its a video talking about birthday sex. C’mon. Do you really expect it to solve this current issue?