Starting Your Dreams Later In Life and Embracing the Detour

Jenee Darden speaking at Creative Mornings I know it's been a while since I've posted anything but that's because of my job. I'm working as a reporter covering Oakland and I host an arts segment on the radio where I get to interview amazing artists from around the Bay Area. Plus I'm publicizing my book  and building my speaking career!  You know what's funny? I thought this would all happen by the time I was 27-30.  Nope. That wasn't God's plan for me. I'm finally beginning to do the things I've wanted to do and I'm almost 40 years old. Some people reading this who are 40 will say 40 is still young. But some younger people reading may think 40 is nearly ancient. But I'm writing this post for those who like me, thought their career and personal dreams would come true much early in life. I'm here to tell you not to give up.  You know, death inspires life. A number of my relatives and friends have passed away, ranging in

COCOA BITS
Pres. Obama vs. Gov. Jindal
Nip/Tuck and More

Pres. Obama's Address
and Gov. Bobby Jindal's Campaign Speech


Last night Pres. Obama delivered his address to Congress. He went over his plan to save the country from this economic abyss. Although the economy is affecting me greatly, I liked that he touched upon one of my greatest concerns for this country-- education. He discussed increasing the number of college graduates in this country and added that dropping out of high school is not cutting it. If the U.S. doesn't better our schools and get kids interested in education we are not going to be a super power in the years to come. So many of our scientists, doctors, engineers are coming from overseas. We need to produce more U.S. scientists and other professionals on U.S. soil like we used to.

I find politics interesting and I was looking forward to hearing Gov. Bobby Jindal's rebuttal. Some in the GOP see him as rising in ranks of his party, but he didn't deliver last night. His rebuttal sounded more like a campaign speech. Why, at that moment, did I need to hear about his childhood? And it wasn't necessary to talk about Obama's presidency as historic. We know that already. Last night definitely wasn't the time to show similarities between he and the president. Like how they both have immigrant fathers. Are we stumping already? I'm still recuperating from this past two-year campaign. I wanted to hear some meat. Gov. Jindal waited until the latter half of his speech to actually rebut the president. Not only was the content lacking but the delivery was weak. Come on Governor, you're going on after Pres. Obama you gotta bring it. The fluctuation in his voice along with the hard pauses--it was a bumpy teleprompter read. And according to CNN, some of Gov. Jindal's fellow Republicans are giving his speech a right thumb down.
It seems the GOP recognizes that more Americans want diversity. They have a black RNC Chairman Michael Steel and Gov. Jindal is Indian. But you can't just stick a young, politician of color in front of a camera to compete with Pres. Obama and think it will lure supporters. They tried that with Gov. Sarah Palin to gain women voters during the election and look how that turned out.


Ooops was I Being Racist?

I caught this story on the Electronic Village blog. A mayor in Southern California emailed a photo of the White House and in place of the lawn was a watermelon patch. Under the title of the email read "No Easter egg hunt this year." Keyanus Price, a black businesswoman was one of the recipients of the email. Guess what Mayor Dean Grose of Los Alamitos said to the AP about photo? "I'm sorry. It wasn't sent to offend her personally - or anyone - from the standpoint of the African-American race."

Yeah Right Mayor Grose. Is this what we're going to have deal with the next four or eight years? Racist folks saying racist things and pretending they were clueless about the context.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know a picture of a monkey would anger people."
"I'm sorry. I didn't know joking about the president drinking Kool-Aid and eating fried chicken while counting food stamps had racial connotations."
"I'm sorry I didn't know nappy-headed hoes was offensive."

What's next?
"I'm sorry. I had no idea the word Nigger was a racist term."

Give me a break.


They Better Not Kill Dr. Christian Troy on "Nip/Tuck"






Now for a much needed break from reality. In the past I would catch an episode of "Nip/Tuck" here and there but I'm really getting into it. Dr. Christian Troy is the shadiest, most selfish, inconsiderate, sexy son of a gun and I love it! Plus he's fine. Now Christian has breast cancer and he's got six months to a year to live. The writers can not kill off Christian. The show wouldn't be the same and I'll stop watching. Anyway, Christian wants to get his family affairs together so he's planning to marry the lesbian anesthesiologist Dr. Liz Cruz. I guess when he dies she'll raise his half-black son. This show is crazy. Did you see when Dr. Sean McNamara operated on a woman who burned her lips. Sean took skin from her vaginal lips to rebuild her facial lips. But the funny part is the woman lied to her husband about where the skin came from because he never went down to Jamaica if you know what I mean. Her husband kissed her after the surgery. HA! The show has always been controversial and from what I've read on blogs, some people have stopped watching over the years because they think the writers take things too far. I don't know about them but I'll be watching the season finale next week. Wish I watched it when Sanaa Lathan had a recurring role a few seasons ago.

Photo Credits:
1.Reuters
2.AP
3.Orange County Register
4.FX


Comments

  1. I was waiting for Michael Steele to put his foot in his mouth (yet again). Apparently, he gave Jindal some "slum love" on ABC Radio, associating the governor with the movie "Slumdog Millionaire". In all fairness, Curtis Sliwa referred to this as "street terminology". Granted, my ebonics is very rusty but why... http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0209/Steele_offers_Jindal_slum_love.html

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