Friday, April 13, 2007

Exceptions for Calling a Girl a "HOE"

Snoop vs Imus: Men vs Women

Interesting article… amazing how Snoop wants to rationalize: saying its ok when he calls a woman (from a lower class situation – "they're" hoes).

Am I to understand and accept that if you are an educated sister (how dare someone call you a hoe)? But if you're from the projects --- then it's ok to call them hoes.

Is he serious? He is absolutely in the same category as Imus – it certainly does not make it ok because he's black to degrade and disrespect women at all. It's unacceptable on all counts / if you use offensive language then you fit the bill. And that's it. Snoop is guilty too. It's absurd!

http://vh1blog.vh1.com/2007/04/snoop_vs_imus_m.html

Thursday, April 12, 2007

"Black People Don't Read"

This came from an email I received:

"PLEASE, READ AND TAKE HEED TO THIS WHITE WOMANS OPINION OF US!!!
BLACK PEOPLE, PLEASE, READ & HEED. POIGNANT.

The sad thing about this article is that the essence of it is true. The truth hurts. I just hope this sets more Black people in motion towards making real progress. Chris Rock, a Black comedian, even joked that Blacks don't read.

Please Note:

For those of you who heard it, this ibs the article Dee Lee was reading this morning on a New York radio station. For those of you who didn't hear it, this is very deep. This is a heavy piece and a Caucasian wrote it.

Dee Lee, CFP
Harvard Financial Educators

Dee Lee

THEY ARE STILL OUR SLAVES We can continue to reap profits from the Blacks without the effort of physical slavery Look at the current methods of containment that they use on themselves: IGNORANCE, GREED, and SELFISHNESS.

Their IGNORANCE is the primary weapon of containment. A great man once said, "The best way to hide something from Black people is to put it in a book." We now live in the Information Age. They have gained the opportunity to read any book on any subject through the efforts of their
fight for freedom, yet they refuse to read. There are numerous books readily available at Borders, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon.com, not to mention their own Black Bookstores that provide solid blueprints to reach economic equality (which should have been their fight all along), but few read consistently, if at all.

GREED is another powerful weapon of containment. Blacks, since the abolition of slavery, have had large amounts of money at their disposal. Last year they spent 10 billion dollars during Christmas, out of their 450 billion dollars in total yearly income (2.22%).

Any of us can use them as our target market, for any business venture we care to dream up, no matter how outlandish, they will buy into it. Being primarily a consumer people, they function totally by greed. They continually want more, with little thought for saving or investing.

They would rather buy some new sneaker than invest in starting a business. Some even neglect their children to have the latest Tommy or FUBU, And they still think that having a Mercedes, and a big house gives them "Status" or that they have achieved their Dream.

They are fools! The vast majority of their people are still in poverty because their greed holds them back from collectively making better communities.

With the help of BET, and the rest of their black media that often broadcasts destructive images into their own homes, we will continue to see huge profits like those of Tommy and Nike. (Tommy Hilfiger has even jeered them, saying he doesn't want their money, and look at how the fools spend more with him than ever before!). They'll continue to show off to each other while we build solid communities with the profits from our businesses that we market to them.

SELFISHNESS, ingrained in their minds through slavery, is one of the major ways we can continue to contain them. One of their own, Dubois said that there was an innate division in their culture. A "Talented Tenth" he called it. He was correct in his deduction that there are segments of their culture that has achieved some "form" of success.

However, that segment missed the fullness of his work. They didn't read that the "Talented Tenth" was then responsible to aid The Non-Talented Ninety Percent in achieving a better life. Instead, that segment has created another class, a Buppie class that looks down on their people or aids them in a condescending manner. They will never achieve what we have. Their selfishness does not allow them to be able to work together on any project or endeavor of substance. When they do get together, their selfishness lets their egos get in the way of their goal Their so-called help organizations seem to only want to promote their name without making any real change in their community.

They are content to sit in conferences and conventions in our hotels, and talk about what they will do, while they award plaques to the best
speakers, not to the best doers. Is there no end to their selfishness?

They steadfastly refuse to see that TOGETHER EACH ACHIEVES MORE (TEAM)

They do not understand that they are no better than each other because of what they own, as a matter of fact, most of those Buppies are but one or two pay checks away from poverty. All of which is under the control of our pens in our offices and our rooms.

Yes, we will continue to contain them as long as they refuse to re ad, continue to buy anything they want, and keep thinking they are "helping" their communities by paying dues to organizations which do little other than hold lavish conventions in our hotels. By the way, don't worry about any of them reading this letter, remember, 'THEY DON'T READ!!!!

(Prove them wrong. Please pass this on! After Reading it..) Share this on your blogs...."

------------------------------------------------------

After reading this - here's what jumps out for me:

"They are fools! The vast majority of their people are still in poverty because their greed holds them back from collectively making better communities."

We talk about unity...coming together to collaborate - we talk about making and want to see change happen. But then personal ego's and agendas get in the way and often times we don't follow it through. Holding ourselves back! We just keep talking... lets look closely at what she's saying:

"They will never achieve what we have."

"Their selfishness does not allow them to be able to work together on any project or endeavor of substance. When they do get together, their selfishness lets their egos get in the way"

I don't see this as an attack more than it's a message aimed directly at us - to force us to look at and understand -- that in many ways we are still slaves. There is much power in our numbers and in our dollars. We must begin thinking differently.

Share this on your blogs.... peace, Alicia

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

MSNBC Drops 'Imus in the Morning'

While they would like us to think that it has nothing to do with dollars. We know better! Without the advertisers there is NO show. But we'll go with it. After all they did say "what matters to us most is that the men and women of NBC Universal." Smart decision!

Peace, Alicia

Here's the article:

"MSNBC Drops 'Imus in the Morning'
Decision Was Driven by 'Integrity,' Not 'Dollars'
By Andrew Hampp

Published: April 11, 2007

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- MSNBC has canceled its simulcast of CBS Radio's "Imus in the Morning" following a long line of advertisers pulling their support of the show yesterday and today.

MSNBC called its decision to drop Don Imus' show as 'driven by integrity.'
Photo Credit: AP

Originally planned hiatus
The cable news network had originally planned to put the show on a two-week hiatus, but the it issued a statement today saying, "What matters to us most is that the men and women of NBC Universal have confidence in the values we have set for this company. This is the only decision that makes that possible. Once again, we apologize to the women of the Rutgers basketball team and to our viewers. We deeply regret the pain this incident has caused."

The "Imus" show was one of MSNBC's more high-profile offerings but was a consistent runner-up in the ratings race with CNN in its 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. weekday timeslot, where it attracted 271,000 household viewers compared to CNN's 374,000.

An NBC News spokeswoman said the advertisers' withdrawal was "in all honesty, not a factor in today's announcement. It really came as a result of numerous conversations with our employees. It was not driven by dollars. It was driven by integrity."

8% of revenue
The show's advertisers -- which include General Motors, Procter & Gamble and Sprint -- collectively account for about 8% of MSNBC's total revenue. The top spender, GM, spent a total of $691,000 on the show in 2006, according to TNS Media Intelligence.

CBS Radio, meanwhile, is sticking with its two-week suspension without pay for Mr. Imus, adding in a statement, "During that time, CBS Radio will continue to speak with all concerned parties and monitor the situation closely.""

Source: http://adage.com/mediaworks/article?article_id=116041

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

The Appointment - Part 2

PART 2: The photo shoot

There's a cool breeze as she enters the room. It's quite sterile. The walls are bare there's a huge machine "the photo booth" and a chair with a computer for the photographer behind a radiation proof wall. The photographer approaches Miss Petro and puts the radiation proof belt around her waste. She tells Petro to have a seat that she still needs to set the machine up. Petro is sitting there waiting thinking, "what the fuck is going on, I'm too young, I have so much left to do, why am I in this room?" She was trying to fill herself with positive thoughts "that all is going to be alright."

"Let's do this! It's time for your photos," says the photographer. She tells Petro that it's only going to be six photos. She's preparing to take two photos of the left breast, two of her right, and two of the section in question. She starts with the right breast lifts it onto this cold glass plate, and the machine begins to come down closing in on the breast. She's told not to breathe, hold the pose and not move a muscle. But all Petro can think of is "where the hell am I going?" She moves to the left breast the one with the questionable bumps and Petro was cool up until the third set of photos.

She was finding it very uncomfortable to hold the poses, but the photo shoot was coming to an end. this was going to be the last shot and it had to be the best shot -- the photographer had to keep rearranging the breast and finally Petro couldn't hold back the tears any longer because she was convinced she going to get bad news. She was thinking about all the cigarettes she's smoked in her past, the fact that her grandmother died of breast cancer it was just a matter of time before death caught up with her.

She wanted the photo session to come to an end she could no longer hold the uncomfortable poses. Imagine taking a breast in the palm of your hand flipping it to the left -- squishing it on to the metal plate, having to keep your arms closed to your body -- your chest straight -- head looking up -- right hand holding the machine -- left hand against your body -- hold your breathe and don't move -- try doing this for over thirty minutes.

The photographer says that she has all the shots she needs "it's a wrap." She leaves Petro alone to show the films to the doctor. Petro thinks she's done, the photographer returns and tells her that now she needs to have an ultrasound done on her breasts and moves her to another room and once that's done she can leave and wait to hear back from her doctor on the results. She gets a call a few days later that she is clear; she has some cysts but nothing to worry about. Millions of women have had this procedure done every day and she is one of the lucky ones. Petro is thrilled to be alive, she knows how very blessed she is and gets right back into writing her novel and enjoying her time with her beloved daughter.

The story above was written the same day I started writing my novel - I share this very personal story with the group about my life in hopes that it will inspire and push you to write every chance you get. It didn't matter at the time what the news might be for me. What mattered most was that I be writing. I turned a scary experience into a creative experience where I could be present with my thoughts and write about it. Writing is not easy and doesn't always have to fabulous and well written.

I have to admit it's been incredibly difficult for me to balance my novel, the writers group, the new podcast, my role as mother, my job at BusinessWeek, spending time with friends and family, and taking care of myself. I can't stress how important it is to MAKE THE TIME! You are SOOOOOO worth it. Creativity comes in spurts -- I wrote for three days straight to start my novel and am proud to say that I have a good 159 pages of typed (single spaced) from only the first week in March. But last weekend I wrote nothing having to do with the novel or podcast, maybe just some scribble and journaling. Resting the mind is very necessary...

Peace~