My President is Black....AND BUFF!

lolllllll...Okay okay. So here is the thing. Recently Prez-Elect Obama was photographed shirtless on vacation in Hawaii. The media has gone into a frenzy about the "non-presidential" response by people and other stuff. I don't really know or care. What I wanna know is how did the paparazzi get so damn close with the Secret Service supposedly super close (haha alliteration)?? Anyway.

Obama looks good. The dude has abs. Did you not see the cover of Ebony magazine certifying him one of the coolest brothas of ALL TIME!? Well I happen to have that issue and no one can match the swag or sex appeal of Obama see below)....

Now don't get me wrong I'm not being a cougar (or I guess a kitten in this case) but my president has it going on!! I mean check out all of the past presidents. CHECK OUT CURRENT PRESIDENTS! I don't see the Prime Minister of Britain with his shirt off...hell to tha no! When has a president ever looked so good? Maybe JFK? MAYBE. He's no hunk, but how he has managed to stay fit after a hell of an election amazes me. All the stress would have had me stuffing Twinkies down my throat (P.S I hate Twinkies).

Say John McCain was president (God help us all if he was). We would NOT be seeing candid photos of him with his shirt off- not that anyone wants to. We all knew Obama was an athlete. He constantly played B-ball (AND WELL I MAY ADD) during the campaign and supposedly has a six day work out regimen. Apparently it has paid off....So um yeah. Bill Clinton. Step your game up. lol.

Dereon is Ugly! PERIOD!

Beyonce - House of Dereon
Originally uploaded by SerenityF

The other day I was inside of Macys shopping for scome gifts for Christmas at the mall. I happened to roam ( or run to ) the women's clothing section and there was some Baby Phat, Rocawear and Apple Bottom. I look to my right and there is this zebra pattern dress with pink and blue splotches. I looked at the tag and low and behold it is Dereon...

This is not the first ugly piece of crap that has come from Dereon. I've seen a black tube dress with ugly thick stripes and some other ugly things. Now don't get me wrong Dereon has it's moments of true style but 7/10 times the clothing is ugly. For a clothing line whose motto is "couture. sick. soul" It is not of that...except for maybe sick...

Anyway. I wont be purchasing any Dereon anytime soon. It's like...too damn expensive. Unless there are some angels out there *hint hint* who wanna buy this number for me... ^_^

http://www1.macys.com/catalog/product/index.ognc?ID=341450&PseudoCat=se-xx-xx-xx.esn_results

How Can I Forget Something I Have No Knowledge Of?

Family Tree
Originally uploaded by Victor Papaleo

As we all inch closer to Kwanzaa (oh yeah and Christmas) I've been thinking a lot about family. Kwanzaa is all about the coming together of Black family and black community to celebrate the seven principles which we live by and a chance for Blacks (non-Africans), to connect back to their roots. But for most Blacks (like 97 percent) the roots of the family tree don't run that deep.

Like, for me, I can only go back to my great grandparents. MAYBE great-great grandparents, but that's it! It makes me SO FRUSTRATED! I'm at this point and time in my life where I wanna know who I am and what my identity is. All I can think about is the notion that a majority of who and what I am got washed away in the Atlantic Ocean and the rest is literally history. To all my friends who have some recollection of their ethnicity who are able to say, "Oh my parents and grandparents are from such n such and we're such n such!" I envy the shit out of you. I really do. I just want to be able to say in response, "Oh well, I'm African American and my family came from the Ashanti tribe of Western Africa in Ghana."...I feel like my African heritage is nothing but a mystery and hell...I'd be niave if I said it wasn't gonna be that way for maybe the rest of my life. But even when I look to my mother's side and see the little bit of Bajan & Panamanian side of me, it's just as deep as a mystery. At least I have names (and maybe faces) to put to those family members.

So my thing is this. If Kwanzaa is about celebrating one's roots, how can I celebrate something that is so intangible to me? How can I forget my roots if it is something I have no knowledge of? I have no problem with sitting down, lighting the symbolic candles, drinking from the unity cup and reciting words in a language I don't know. I mean has it become so ritualistic that it's secular (despite the non-religious roots) like Christmas? (I hope I don't offend anyone just then).

After Christmas, I'll light the candles, recite the words and I will bask in the glory of Pan-Africanism, uniting with my people and celebrating how far we've come. But still. Even then in the back of my mind. The questions will linger.

It's Been A Long Time...

Massacre
Originally uploaded by Lump Of Hesitation

Wow! Holy Schmoly. Its been a long time since I've written in this blog! Longer than I thought (i.e the broken pencil). I haven't posted an entry since Sarah Palin was announced to be the VP nominee ! As we all know Barack Obama is the president elect now (THANK YOU JESUS!) and alot has happened since then BUT I am gonna dedicate myself to writing in here more. Not that anyone reads this thing or cares. But Im also starting a new blog dedicated to promoting hot artists I listen to like Little Brother, Asheru, Cool Kids, Charles Hamilton, etc. Its gonna be called Listening Level. The name came to me in a dream....no it didn't lol. My friend Ibn and I were talking about how we love the 808s and Heartbreak album and how those who don't love it aren't on our listening level. I couldn't help but laugh in agreement. So I said "hmm...I'll upgrade these cats to the upper echelon of real hip hop music." Also I am starting a blog dedicated to cooking meals at my school in the cafe! Since Im paying over 40,000 a year to be at FDU the food better be off the fucking chain. Since it's not I have to improvise and "wok it up". My friends wonder how I turn something into nothing so...there! Its gonna be called either Wokin' It Up w/ Chef Toni or Cookin' In The Cafe w/ Chef Toni. I think I like the first one since "Wok It Up" is one of our food stations....AWESOME!