I’ve learned that making a ‘living’ is not the same as making a ‘life.’ I’ve learned that whenever I make a decide something with an open heart it’s usually the right decision. I’ve learned that even when I have pains, I don’t have to be one. I’ve learned that everyday you should reach out and touch someone.”
Maya Angelou was one of the first women to teach me the power and gravity of words. I’m blessed, as we all are, to have been able bask in her incandescent light. Rest well Ms. Maya.
I’ve been a professional procrastinator for as long as I can remember and it hasn’t improved with age. In fact, with the social media at my fingertips ALLATAHM, it’s gotten worse. This is why the week I took a social media break, I was super productive.
Those of us who write for a living might seem to have it together on the wordsmithing tip but often, we don’t get it together until the last minute. This is why I bring you the 12 Stages of Writing.
“When I’ve said another Black person talks white, I never once meant to imply that I was equating being articulate to “whiteness” (or isolating it from blackness), though that is the conclusion most people reach for. For me, it was an observation that they spoke in patterns more aligned with the ways I hear white people communicate (intonation, inflection, dialectics, phrases, hard consonants, types of slang, full pronunciations, etc.). I was policing them with the admittedly problematic assumption that, unlike me, theyweren’t code-switching. It was a subconscious “Wait…..why are you talking like that? There’s no white people around.” – Joshua Adams
So, this amazing piece was written by one of my Annenberg classmates and couldn’t be more spot on, especially in an environment like USC (where only 5% of the students and only 4 out of the 36 in my program are black — including myself). This reminds me that code switching is a real thing and though we all tend to do it as POC, it can still be problematic for how we interact with each other within our own culture.
This entire situation with Donald Sterling reminds of when Isaiah Thomas was talking about how his grandparents didn’t come to the NBA draft because they said it reminded them too much of a slave trade from the selection to the placing of the NBA cap. All in all the situation is just a sad reminder that when you’re discriminated against for your skin color, no amount of success can eclipse that hatred.
– “It bothers me a lot that you want to broadcast that you’re associating with black people. Do you have to?” (3:30)
– “You can sleep with [black people]. You can bring them in, you can do whatever you want. The little I ask you is not to promote it on that … and not to bring them to my games.” (5:15)
– “I’m just saying, in your lousy f******* Instagrams, you don’t have to have yourself with, walking with black people.” (7:45)
– “…Don’t put him [Magic] on an Instagram for the world to have to see so they have to call me. And don’t bring him to my games.” (9:13)
It’s hard to feel sympathy for the girlfriend because just listening to this is absolutely disgusting; less because of Sterling and more because of V. Stiviano’s lack of pride and integrity. She’s trying to justify that she’s black and Mexican to someone who blatantly disrespectful to those very traits. This is beyond problematic.
The city of Los Angeles is in discussions with Live Nation to stage a West Coast edition of Jay Z’s Made in America Festival, a multiday concert that’s been held for the last two years in Philadelphia.
Now that the Sixers are officially retiring Allen Iverson’s number, I’m able to really sit back and take a look at the effect that he had on this city. There was NOTHING like being a Philadelphian during the AI days. I still remember how we lost it when the Sixers won the ‘01 Eastern Conference Finals. You would’ve thought they’d won the championship. Running down Broad Street with my cousin and going crazy. I’d never had so much pride in my city.
Allen Iverson was an electrifying player and, regardless of his personal struggles, the definition of a great athlete. He may not have the accolades of other legends, but NO one is more deserving of a retired number or has more heart than A.I.
Courtney M. Fowler 