The Cali Life

I thought that it should be important for me to do some research on Kwanzaa before I went all full throttle Kwanzaa mode. Kwanzaa is a holiday created by  Maulana Karenga . While secular in nature, it does celebrate the cultural heritage on Black people in America. The Seven core principles of Kwanzaa are: Umoja  (Unity): To strive for and to maintain unity in the family, community, nation, and race. Kujichagulia  (Self-Determination): To define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves, and speak for ourselves. Ujima  (Collective Work and Responsibility): To build and maintain our community together and make our brothers' and sisters' problems our problems, and to solve them together. Ujamaa  ( Cooperative Economics ): To build and maintain our own stores, shops, and other businesses and to profit from them together. Nia  (Purpose): To make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional gr

This Video made me think of Don Lemon. You'll see why. The media seems to be so accepting of homosexuality and yet not accepting of those who choose to be heterosexual after clearly experiencing the homosexual side of things. Poor Antoine Dodson has to deal with people hating on him because he has chosen a different lifestyle. As I watch the video, I am a little annoyed that the anchor woman seems to find no problem with insulting millions of people who believe in a higher power and that higher power by sarcastically stating "pray the gay away". Can you say biased? She seems to be offended by his instability in choosing a sexual identity. People change their minds all the time. Why can't he be accepted for choosing to be a heterosexual? Antoine Dodson is definitely brave. But then his personality is so huge, he could pull it off.  I definitely appreciate Don Lemon's personality. I appreciate his support of Black History Month and the need for it. I li

Burning the Midnight Oil... "Who taught you to hate who you are?"  I think it's important for me to quote something I mentioned before "No t only do white people view us as less than but we also view ourselves as less then or in comparison to them ." The need we have to compare ourselves to others is so strong. And it is made fairly easy because we don't set our own standard for what is beautiful, acceptable and palatable. The society on a whole sets that standard. The society of America is %70 white. Malcolm X calls in to question the need for our society to set the standard. Why can't you as the individual set that standard? Why are you begging for access from a society who unintentionally or intentionally sees you as less than themselves? Set your own standard. Create your own access. What I believe factored into the strength of Malcolm X's convictions was his upbringing. His parents were followers of Marcus Garvey and they celebrated black pr

You've waited for it and now it is here. I'm just going to take this time reflect on Malcolm X and things I have learned about him from the film. His Mission. It's no secret that Malcolm X is definitely more aggressive than his southern counterpart, Martin Luther King, Jr. The fact that they both have two completely different religions says enough about their differences. But what about their mission? What is the difference between the mission of Martin and the mission of Malcolm? Consider their locations. Martin Luther King, Jr. ministered to the obvious and blatant racism within the south. Malcolm X catered to the psychologically oppressed negro of the North, a north that was not so blatant with racism.  He enlightened people about the folly of depending on white America,  having not been dependable in the past. He also inspired people to do more about their own situation in order to lift themselves up. He also created avenues by which Black people could become busines

I got appointments today but I will not leave ya'll hanging. 4-5 Malcolm Reflection 5-6 Prepare Dinner 6-7 Dinner 7-9 Prayer Meeting 9-1 ( Hopefully not so late) Homework Assignment 1-2 Malcolm breakdown 2- 3 Take a shower, brush my teeth, go to bed Tonight will be a late one but you will get Malcolm.

       When I was 10 or 11 years old, I was accused of having low self esteem. I use the word accused because you have no idea how much it felt like an accusation. At that age I was dealing with spiritual guilt for moral sins, truly understanding that my father did not like my mother, switching to a new junior high school and now I had to deal with projecting to my parents that I felt really good about myself. Now, I have no doubt that all of the previously mentioned burdens were factors in my low self esteem. I literally felt as if I was headed for hell at that age. How can one feel good about themselves when they are hell bound? I realized that I could keep my father home much less than my mother could. How could I feel good about myself when my father did not want me? My new school was filled with 11-year-olds who looked like they were 31 (no joke. Can someone say growth hormone?). How could I feel good about myself when I had male counterparts who were comparing my physical attribu

I'm that natural sister that believes you need to be judged by the content of your character and not your outward appearance. But something is becoming more and more apparent to me on a daily basis... Ain't nobody looking at your character when they first meet you. I've noticed that there have been some things about myself that I have admired. I don't admire those things anymore. I don't know if it's maturity or the fickleness that is woman but I loved that fact that I was so simple in many things before. Now I can't stand it. People are always going to judge by outside appearance. So things I want to change about my outside appearance. I want longer hair - If this mean I have to give the Koreans more money so that I could where a weave that protects my hair from breakage, so be it. It definitely goes against my want to support black business. Cognitive Dissonance continues. Wait! I might have found an alternative:  http://www.bobsa.org/ I wan

There is such an imbalance in my personality my very nature is so sensitive  and yet I want to be so accommodating. I think I accommodate so that I don't get attached to anything so that my hopes and expectations are not dashed when things don't go my way. Within the last 7 years I realized I have a voice that can demand what I want and get it. But I back down when opposed. And when I do get what I want I back down in order not to upset anyone because other people deserve to have their wishes met right? This accommodating stuff would be so much better if I weren't so sensitive. I need to be that stuck up chick who likes to get her way all the time, and uses all her powers to get her way. Unfortunately, more later

My friend and fellow volunteer teacher, Mrs. Lawrence is a doll. She was telling me the other day about a retreat she attended in which a lady mentioned that she wanted all her children to have boring testimonies. She explained that boring meant that they don't leave God to have an adventure in the world but they spend their whole life serving God. Isn't that what we all want for our children? Safe lives? Let me not downplay the testimony of someone who never dabbled in worldliness or was enslaved to sin. It's not boring. Being used by God is a good thing. We're so warped and twisted that we think the world has something better to offer. So we go out in the world, waiting for God's "big reveal" and then if he does, we devote the rest of our life to Him. But if we don't get that "big reveal"? Then our life would be a testimony to the power of the Devil. Personally, I like working for God and to know I'm in His will. It's assuring a

Unfortunately, there are many young people in the church who do not truly believe for themselves that Jesus is God. Their waiting for God's "big reveal", while they insist on not fully living up to all the knowledge they have about God. It brings to mind the brother of the prodigal son who was angry at the Father for celebrating his brother's return. Luke 15: 29: Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might  celebrate with my friends.  He points out to his Father that he worked for him many years and has not received anything from the Father. This reveals that he is not content to be with the Father without reward to some extent. But the Father, reminds the son that he has access to everything that the Father owns. In Luke 15:31, the Father says:  Son,  you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours" Now, I like testimonies of people who were engrossed in the world and the

My friend Shar (who is a youth leader over here) has a daughter who is not living up to all the truth she has. Basically, she knows Jesus is real and she believes in the Bible but she wants to party it up while she is in college. She says, " Mom, I don't have a story." Now you know what she is talking about when she says story. She's talking about that big testimony in which God intervenes in the life in a very remarkable way. She parties waiting for God's big reveal. Unfortunately, this reminds me of all the times when Jesus was asked for a sign, or what we will call a "big reveal", so that people would know He is who he says He is. In Matthew 12, he tells them the only sign would be the sign of Jonah. Luke 11 presents the same sign of Jonah. The sign of Jonah points towards the death of Christ (3 days in the belly of the earth) and to the life of Christ (testifies as a prophet). In Matthew 16, he adds an implication that there are signs available but

So while I was in Korea, the only channel I watched on TV was CNN. I got to know many of the anchors and found myself...let's just say drawn to Don Lemon. If you don't know who it is, let my put up a pic.   Maybe you can understand now why I was drawn...LOL. So I was surprised when I came across this video clip from The Young Turks:       You can watch the whole thing but the part that really got to me is when it is stated that the sexual abuse he suffered at 4 years old had nothing to do with his sexual orientation. Seriously? At such a formative age? So are we supposed to believe that it has nothing to do with the fact that he is gay? Since meta-cognitive skills do not completely develop at the age of 4,  I think it's safe to say that you, Mr. Don Lemon, were not completely aware of your thought processes and you have no clue as to how it has affected you. If there is a direct correlation, I will leave it up to you to decide.       What has me really going is ho