Day Life Saved THIS Time....

Book-....ish

Ronin Ro has a new joint out about Run DMC, titled, Raising Hell. Finally. This fool wrote Have Gun Real Travel about Death Row a few years back and I have been waiting for him to pop back up. I wonder if he has a blog..... ****places hand on mouth a-la Arsenio.... hmmmmmm....

The new book out about Sam cook apparently numbers at 600+ pages. When is there going to be a Sam Cook documentary?.......Speaking of Sam cook, what is up with those Marvin Gaye Hennessey ads...is his estate really hurting that much that they need some liquor cash...what next...they are going to have Billie Holiday Hennessey ad's ...Billie who struggled a loooong time w/ illegal and legal drugs......

You know you are a nerd when......see a negro novel book cover and realized that the same image was used by another book in the last two months...

Bird Almanac
Ya'll know I like the birds...this book is dope because it provides a lunar calendar, color photo's and text...

A Personal Note

Yesterday, I had my first case of engagement ring envy....the rock whus NIIIIIIICE.
He was sitting across from her...leaning in ....Listening to her every word...Not to say that I miss my relationship w/ my ex....Because I don't at least not in that way...but man....the way the sun was catching that light....it was the TRUTH.

Hip Hop Blend

O.C has a new joint out called Smoke and Mirrors. It is on sale here.
Ghost Face said in the Face Doom Mass Appeal interview,

Nobody wants to take the time to write something down that makes the listener think, Dammmmn how did he think of that?

Doom said that, in terms of a collabo he would like to see,

Nas and Lil' Wayne.....[dude....what a combo?]

Schools Still 'effed Up

I came across this study titled the Social Costs of Inadequate Education this weekend. It is a topic that I have allays been fascinated with. Having all of these underedcated brown people in urban areas takes a toll not only on their immediate lives but the lives of their communites and their children. The main points cited are:

• Lost productivity
• Lost TAX REVENUE, [ which is SOOOOO significant to the hood I can't even get on THAT soap box tonight]
• Impact on health, welfare and civic engagement

Music Stores Hate Hip Hop

Went to Tower Records in the village. Why did the Hip Hop section move again? They allways have a nice combo of indy and mainstream joints, but I can't help but feeling like HH is the wicked step child of the music stores. Why does our music have to be in the basement? Why can't we be front and center...like KAPOW...there goes the new Kanye...or Doom....or Bahamadia....

Brave New World

Did you all peep the Times article on boutique doctors....I see it as evidence that medical care is allready privitized....most folks just haven't gotten the memo yet...This book about being a gully patient should help you in dealing with doctors....

Speaking of hospitals...why is studying at the Barnes and Nobles at Union Square like being at the St. Vincent Hospital room? This past Saturday I noticed....

• You have your folks that need their medication
• Your folks who are trying to steal YOUR medication and anything else they can get their hands on.
• Your bag ladies....
• Your nannies and mommas
• idiosyncratic grey haird white male writers that crumble sheet after sheet of paper distracting me from my civ pro homework...but I digress....

Sites You Will Like

• You wanna see the latest Bobby and Whitney flicks...or find out what David Banner ate for breakfast....Get your gossip on w/ Fresh and her fam.

• Town business for real. An ENTIRE blog about the bay. Yippie.
• Sal is hella funny....you know you have a special talent when you are funny on paper....This dude needs to write a screenplay...for real.
• Humanity is honest..consistent....and funny..I allways learn something from his posts or the responses to them..check him out
  

October Ruminations

Doesn't L look fierce in that turquoise silk skirt w/ pleats....when I saw it I thought...I could make THAT.

The dope thing about going to L-school near the courts and the jails is that eventhough
I see one or two other kneegrows in class, I see quite a few on their way to court in the morning. The ironic part is that is that I may represent :) or prosecute :( them in a few years.

Harriet Miers failed. It looks like she is going to be nominated after all.

I have been feeling lately, quite gully. One of my folks called me a boogie thug.....I thought
that captured something....

FAMILY VALUES

Wallmart is a fool...not only are they going to put doctors in there stores....which I think is a great idea...that memo about how they are going to address their employees lack of health care is quite informative.

• Walmart is the LARGEST american employer. Period.
• The decductable for their healthcare is so high, that an estimated 30-40% of there employees are

CD NEEDS

CD's that I want The NEW Digable Plants The NEW Dangerdoom More Art Blakey....that is one drum playing black man.... The NEW Dwele...did you know there was a new Jameroquai also?
Wu Tang Meets indie culture...side bar....these fools are going to get sued for that logo...
you CANNOT mess with Mac intellectual prop fools....

BLACK BOOK JUMP OFF

Black writers that do not get not nearly enough shine. Randall Kennan Amazing short story writer. He employs black magic realism in a way that Toni Morrison only has confidence and talent to do.
Percival Evertt Percival is dope because he writes stories...not Black stories....the characters are well developed...multilayered and introspective. Percival is a throw back to the race men of our previous generation. When was the last time you encountered a writer of any ethnicity with integrity?

Gayle Jones I always knew about Gayle Jones, but I did not REALLY get put on until 2000. Then I devoured all of her books. Her depiction of the mental interaction of black men and women has NEVER been matched. Period. Peep her game.

Matt Johnson
Matt is the kind of writer that, after reading his first chapter, I knew that he was the kind of CAT that I would like to kick it with. That is not to say that ME wanting to kick it with an author is a pre req for me wanting to read/like a book. But it is significant. Anyone that can write a Harlem based thriller mystery with GENTRIFICATION as a central theme, is ambitious, creative and fearless in my book.

Fathers and Daughters

\

• 17^th anniv of the earthquake in Cali today….at 5:04 pm and they are still working on the new bay bridge Bay Bridge.
• I was in a café rewriting my legal memo….and it was right after school let out and three diff family’s came in.
• The dad, in one of the families, proceeded to ask his little girl how her days was, while he was perusing the news paper. What the eff is the point of asking your little girl a q, if you do not listen to her w/ your undivided attention? You are teaching her two things:

a. That you do not have to look at people and listen to them when they are answering a questions that you have asked.

b. That people, men mainly, are not obligated to give her their undivided attention when she is talking to them.

• Which brings me to my father. My dad has been in and out of my life for a minute. 20 years to be exact. Addiction destroys families. He is also one of the people that I have always adored.

• Having him in my life CONSISTENTLY for the last few years has had a significant impact on my ability to trust people, especially men.

• He was one of the first people I told that a. I was not getting married, and that I was moving out. He then was able to offer his perspective based on his experiences .

• I guess a lot of resentment grows- parent child relationships- out of when a parent is not there for their child during a crisis.

• I am happy to say that we are closer than ever, in my adult life, and that I have more forgiveness and more of an ability to express my love towards other people now.

I need to go get the new Danger Mouse….that Thelonious Coltrane archive was recently re-released….isn’t that a borderline miracle…that they found an OLD COLTRANE/MONK recording?

Beam me up scottie.... 

Getting My L-School Game Up....

That is how my brain feels, for real.

FULL METAL LEGAL

1. 40 hours of reading/ week is THE reality.

2. Keep in mind that YOU are responsible for teaching YOURSELF the material. The professor is a guide. Can you believe that ISH. We pay all this cash to TEACH OURSELVES.

3. Be prepared to get little sleep.

4. Get to your first day of classes 20 minutes early. You may have to sign a seating chart, and you do not want to be stuck in the back if you have a vision/hearing problem/.

5. Some people are friendly. Some are not. Expect it.

6. 3 ways of interacting with your professors,
During class, at breaks, during office hours.

7. Continue to exercise and take your vitamin C.

8. Build relationships w/ your professors at the outset. You will need them to write you recommendations before the end of the first semester.

9. Study group selection is like being picked out for the kick ball team in 3^rd grade. Its painful especially being a negro...but "Whatattygonnado?"

10. Going to the movies will become your friend....

New Books

Who wants to go see the slavery show with me?

There are also a couple of interesting books out right now on Slavery and New York.
I am most interested in the North Eastern shipping, insurance and banking industries. Has anyone ever written that book? (LIGHT BULB, DING!)

I googled slavery and New York and found this, and this .

On that note, I am going out to some Pete Rock, Donnie Hathaway.

Brotha', Brotha', Brotha'

Birthday Happiness

Lawyers that blog. Who knew?

I had crazy epiphanies this weekend. I almost caused a small riot at Ripple. This cat, was loud and boisterous and waited clean until my s.o. got up and went to the bathroom for him to tap me and say, "Hey girl, I like the way you wearn' that hat".
Mind you:
a. I am at a b-day party of my s.o.'s friend, so I don't WANNA get it crackin'.
b. I am gritting my teeth and moving my head from side to side in an effort to disengage this cat.
c. Ignoring him made it worse. His boy is trying to calm him down. The s.o. comes back. Dude is still loud though.
d.Cat then calls me a *itch and tell's me I need to go to midtown with all that cause THIS [my dear watson] is this hood.
e. Situation is diffused eventually and I am teased for having Started Trouble.

The conclusion pt I.
a. I am going to have a leaned back weekend. For real. Next weekend. Leaned back. You can tell I am trying to convince myself. Wink. Wink.
b. If I feel it in my gut that a *igga sittin' next to me is lifted and gonna flash...I will move. Not trying to go to jail. At least not for a reason like that.

The conclusion pt II.
a. The violence in Oakland, as wanton as it is, kinda made sense to me. This past two years we had murders in the triple digits, and they mainly occurred in about 4 neighborhoods on 6 blocks. I am exaggerating, but not that much.
Thinking about this use to depress me, but I am seeing now that some people just need to be hushed. The Town', like Texas, operates with a very Wild Wild West, street justice philosophy. With the way that cat was talkin'...I see WHY people get popped. Really. Yack, Yack, Yack. No respect. Can't appreciate nothing nice. Maybe no one hugged him enough when he was a little boy.

Speaking of Oakland

Last week I realized that the source of my pain is also the source of my inspiration. My family. My childhood. Dude. When I get sad, I think of how real East Oakland was, how violent it was, and how that violence, lives in me, affects me. And HOW violent the world is as a whole. It depresses me further and makes me feel like danng, all that happened to me when I was a young buck AND I gotta go through this New York/ Subway/Terrorism/ Post Engagement/ L School/ One Year Older B.S. too!

However, when I am in class feeling isolated or even just at the Barnes and Noble glancing at new book titles, it crosses my mind that I CAN handle the ins and outs of living here BECAUSE of my family. My childhood. Wierd hunh? I guess this is an example of what my Civil Procedure professor saying that "It cuts both ways."

When we start the evolution all they prolly do is squeal....

Fader Magazine is dope this month.

There is a story on Hip HopÂ’s Untold storiesÂ….some vintage NY flicks of Biggie, LL Latifah and Jay-Z. It reminded me that everything that we see in HH evolved from another place. Remeber how Trace Mag useta be good.? Thats how decent this issue of Fader is.

Fader also represented the Bay quite lovely. There is an article on Baby Jaymes, Oakland’s own funkadelic, entrepreneurial, singing sensation. There is also an article and Rukus magazine which tauts itself a a magazine about Bay Area Rap Culture. It is good to see that there a people within the Bay writing about bay artist. Like Pfife said “I Never Let a Statue tell me how nice I am.” Sitting around waiting for external validation will have you DEPRESSED every time. Please believe it.

On L School

Speaking of depression. L-School is real. And I feel like I am getting the hang of it. After I had some major realizations last week about:

1. The importance of building relationships w/ professors in order to have them write reccomendations that I need for summer jobs.
   
2. How my colleagues are shameless about only interacting w/ me if they feel that I have something to offer them.
3. Why are very few Model Minorities in the profession to begin with. There is little if no support system and you are required to be focused, on, in the zone, at ALL TIMES.
   
4. The fact that I need to stop sitting on my mentor request letters and mail them out. Everyone is afraid of rejection, granted. But I also need to politic with the entertainment attorney that I know from NYU. ****That is a mental note.

On Loving the Love

Thank god for making SagittariusÂ’s. I have met one and I am good to go. Please believe it!

Step the Food Game UP

Someone needs to come up with a service at Craigs List where they will go to the Farmers Market (for veggies), Whole Foods (for berries for smoothies and natural sodas) and Chinatown (for Catfish, Tilipia and Salmon) ‘cuz I did all that *hit this morning and it was real. In the rain Fam. The good news is that I have some ingredients for these evenings Asian Salmon salad jump-off (Go Martha), but navigating all those people, with all those bags is tiring. From now on, when my friends say lets get something to eat, Imma say, *igga lets get some groceries so we can cook. Word.

New Music.

I canÂ’t wait to listen to this, this and this. Can you believe that they came out with another album?

Danger Doom Tuesday.

Tuesday 10/11/05

I know that everyone else except for me, (thanks Jase!), has had it since the summer. But honestly, I think I need the album now more than ever. So there!

I am going out to Black Moon a little Fiona and lately I have been feeling MosÂ’s Umi says....Shine your light on the world....shine your light for the world to see....