I appreciate all of the hoodie photos circulating the Web in honor of Trayvon Martin, but the real truth is THIS (registering to vote, voting in local elections) is the best way to fight for Trayvon, to honor his memory. I just saw this video that several fellow Howard classmates shared on Facebook. So proud of these young brothers.
I pray for comfort for this young man’s family, for patience, peace, justice, and most of all for change.
So proud of my fellow Howardite, Stefanie Brown, who was just named African-American Vote Director for the Obama re-election campaign’s Operation Vote outreach effort. Stefanie is just awesome, and though she was a few years behind me at Howard, I had the pleasure of watching this dynamic young lady rise through the ranks of student government while I was employed in the University’s Office of Admissions. Google her and get familiar. You’re going to be hearing a lot more about her in the years to come!
On a not-so-unrelated note, I (like most of you, probably) was sent this YouTube clip of President Obama singing at a fundraiser on last nite:
How cool is this? And President “O” can saaaang! This just made me ride for him even harder. Not to minimize the challenging work Stefanie will now be doing, but I feel like that ish right there… just made her job a tiny bit easier. ;)
Go Stefanie!!! We’re all so, so proud of you!!!
Also, I love my President.
From University of Maine to MY ALMA MATER…
Awwww, HU!!!
Check it out: Howard University merchandise at Victoria’s Secret PINK stores as part of the VS Pink Collegiate Collection. Other HBCU’s included are FAMU, NCA&T, and Southern.
Tee hee ;) Nominate yourselves and maybe you can be in the next round ;)
I can’t say that I love the designs, but I think it’s super cool that we are included. Thanks D for posting about this. How cute! ;)
Since I was feeling all Howard U. lovey-dovey ;), I thought I’d post a photo of my HU t-shirt quilt. My mom jacked me for all my Howard t-shirts a few years ago and had this made for me for Christmas. At first I kinda missed my shirts, but then I realized I’d still have them forever… Plus it was pretty fun trying to replace them ;)
Patsy Howard is the woman that made the quilt for me. She has a website: http://www.pshquilts.com/. And she can take any collection of t-shirts you have and make you a beautiful quilt of just about any size. Mine fits my queen bed! They make amazing Christmas gifts… Just a suggestion ;)
Ahhh… The Notorious B.I.G. immortalized Howard University’s homecoming in the posthumously-released hip-hop classic (can we call this a classic?… Has it been long enough?…) Kick in the Door because really, there’s nothing in the world like it! Yesterday was the culmination of Howard’s week-long homecoming celebration. And if you’ve never been to a Black college homecoming, I suggest you do it before it’s too late!
I graduated from Howard a few years ago ;). And I love and appreciate my alma mater more today than I did when I was a student. With a 141-year legacy of educating some of the brightest, most progressive minds and talents from all over the African diaspora, Howard is one of (and I only say “one of” because I don’t wanna start an e-fight :) the greatest Historically Black Universities in the nation. I actually used to work as a recruiter for Howard’s Office of Admissions and it was my job to travel around the country telling people how great Howard is, educating them about the opportunities the University offers, and sharing my experiences as a student and an employee. I traveled to Oklahoma City and Memphis, New Orleans, Boston and Anchorage… and no matter where I went, people came out… they signed up for my information sessions… because they knew about and respected my university. It was an amazingly validating experience AND I got paid for it. Life was good.
Thousands of Howard alumni, as well as folks who attended other schools or just happen to live in the DMV area come out for the festivities. When I was younger, homecoming meant a week of non-stop partying, attending fashion and comedy shows and poetry slams and pageants, but as I’ve gotten older, it’s become more about catching up with old classmates, meeting their families, and reminiscing on what will always be one of the greatest periods of our lives…
But I still party a little ;)
Here are a few snapshots from my weekend:
These are my girls Christina and Keisha a.k.a. Kellz. We have a photo of the three of us from every homecoming we attended as students and alumni. I was looking back at some of them this morning. My, my, my how we’ve changed ;)
Me and my boy KG. You may remember him as one of the assailants in the underground video classic Ghetto Superstar.
The fabulous DWJ with her godson (another one of our HU friends’ son), Ajani. I remember when his mom was pregnant with him. Now he’s seven and super duper adorable. Man…
And this is me, X-Tina and Kellz again. See, told you we still partied a little ;)
This is one of my first — if not the first — student film project I did while I was at Howard University. I ran into one of my former classmates/production team members at a show tonite and I told her I’d Youtube this for her. So I thought I’d share with you too ;)
The video is called “Ghetto Superstar” and it’s about a ghetto superhero who rescues innocent women from annoying men with no game. Shaky camera work, poor lightingĂÂ and blurry focus byĂÂ yours truly ;) And the sound effects cameĂÂ courtesy of Wu-Tang Clan’s “Enter the 36 Chambers” and the rest of the ladies in the group (I did the one where the guy next to the car is laughing).” It’s not exactly a masterpiece. But it’s still fun to watch. I’m not in it but a bunch of my old HU buddies are. Back then all I wanted to do was operate camera and edit. I had absolutely no desire to ever be in front of the camera… but look at me now. Life is so random.
So I wasn’t working this past weekend and got a chance to be “normal” ;) and hang with some of my friends. Hooray! On Friday nite, me and my friend Kellz went out to a club. I put on a dress and heels and we got to the club before it was real packed and set up shop on the first floor by the bar.
Perfect.
The music was great. They were playing a lot of old school hip hop and R&B, some Chaka — a little Tribe. We were having a great time. We even spotted an S-Curl and I made Kellz pretend I was taking a picture of her so old boy wouldn’t know we were clowning him…
Big fun.
After about an hour, we went upstairs to the second level. And as we were standing on the outskirts of the dance floor watching folks get their dance on, I slowly began to realize that I didn’t know any of the music the DJ was playing. You know that “Awwwwww, s—! That’s my joint / Woooooo!” sound that happens right after the DJ plays the first few notes of a club banger??? Well I heard it repeatedly. I saw the hands go up in the air. But I didn’t recognize any of the songs.
How the hell did this happen?
I consciously stopped listening to urban contemporary radio stations several years ago — not because I don’t like hip hop — but because I *do.* And what passes for hip hop and R&B on the radio these days sickens me. I prefer to read reviews and forums, find artists that I like and buy/download their music myself. But even so, the ignorance that floods the airwaves has always found a way to somehow seep into my consciousness. Thru commercials or MTV or something… Last Friday however, I literally knew none of the songs that were played in like a 20-minute period.
What are you supposed to do in a situation like that? Should you just throw your hands up in the air when everyone else does and pretend like you like the raggedy-ass ‘music’ that’s playing (as one friend suggested)? Or do you just acknowledge the fact that you’re over it and look for a comfy seat?
I opted for option #2.
Overall I enjoyed myself that nite but I spent the last half hour we were there texting a friend of mine who was being equally lame at another club.
My how times change… Continue reading →
I did everything I could to prevent this.
I stayed away from Friendster and Facebook and Linked In and every other social networking site. I only had time and space for one Internet addiction–and Myspace was it. But then my best girlfriend Keisha and my boy Antonio–both fellow Howard University alum–kidnapped and tortured me and forced me to sign up for Bisonroundup.com, a social networking site just for Howard University graduates. For weeks I had been ignoring requests from all kinds of people asking me to join. And I was doing fine… But today I was bullied into visiting the site, and I haven’t been able to get off.
Everyone on the site is either someone I know or someone I would pretty much consider family (that’s how HBCU alumni are). It’s so great to see what everyone is up to. It highlights fellow alum who are doing amazing things in their careers and communities… And even with all that awesomeness I feel like someone needs to stop this. I can see right now, thousands of intelligent, ambitious beautiful young Black folks are going to lose their jobs because they’re spending all day on the Internet reminiscing about how much we still love it when the Showtime Marching Band plays that Cameo song at the football games (Heeeeeeeeeey…. you talking out the side of ya neck) or how some of us almost didn’t graduate because we didn’t pass Beginning Swimming. It really is a shame.
Damn you Bisonroundup creator. Damn you.