Endurance Test

Never would I have thought I would or could listen to a soccer game on the radio.  But yesterday I did and was actually able to follow the match, surprisingly being interested.  It was probably because I'm always intrigued with sports history; and I couldn't pass up hearing that the United States could win its way into the second round for the first time in decades.  So here I am, riding on 85 North listening to the U.S. make a thrilling comeback against Portugal...only to give it away in the last 30 seconds.

Cheese With Whine

Obviously, there's grace all in this....the writing...the show....it's all the grace of God.  And as a person who has been critical of the media, one thing that can't be ignored is the born again believers who work for major and minor media markets.  Imagine all of the carnage and evil they see and hear every day.  And not just to hear it, but to review it....analyze it....and pass it to the world.  Half of us don't even watch the news because we say it's too depressing.  Well, think about all of the people that put it together.  You gotta know that some of them either got in or stayed in that industry because they wanted to make a change.  From the on-location anchor reporting from a hotel used in sex trafficking to the meteorologist reporting from a tornado-torn town; this stuff can get to you...and the good hearted eventually want to help.  But unfortunately, the news cycle doesn't stop for healing interventions; and the drama and the pain continues.  And since I've been throwing myself into this global awareness thing, I can't help but wonder what would happen if intervention was allowed....even just speaking new life into the tragedy.

Just Let Me Be Great

Did you guys see the French Montana - Tichina Arnold situation?  That was priceless.  Usually, I'm not the one to even acknowledge that type of trash, but this was a little more than that.  It started out as trash, but it quickly became treasure...at least for me.  And maybe Montana was just playing around, but everybody knows that you don't crack on the girl in school who will definitely be richer and more powerful than you one day...and certainly not in front of everyone.  But he did it, and when Pam...uh...Tichina caught wind of that Instagram picture (it was kinda funny), she lit into French like a rich nerd should; calling him, his joke, and his life immature and craftily explaining why she's at the top of evolution and he'll always be a monkey.  Yeah, maybe she did take it too far, but because it was a good response (and the fact that I think Montana's music is retarded), it really was an good example of what greatness really is.

Black Confederate

The other day I was reading an article that was investigating the often ignored fact of free blacks owning slaves as far back as the mid-1600s.  The piece highlighted many of the comfortable "excuses" that may have gave way to this practice; such as a free husband purchasing his slave-eligible wife or children to prevent them from being sold elsewhere....hence, preserving the family.  But it also looked at the more darker, sinister side that's usually associated with the white Southern slave owner.  That side indicates that many free blacks were heavily concerned with product production, growing revenues, and even human control at a position that rivaled their white contemporaries.  The article even brought attention to a couple hundred free blacks in Louisiana who took up the Confederate cause during the Civil War....proudly protecting legal slavery.  You have to know that those free blacks the atrocities of slavery; and of course they considered the possibility that a distant family members could be enslaved.  But the bottom line was just that.  And at the end of the day, they made a decision to obey what they believed was right, and determine what really was right wasn't right for them.

Skin Comfort

You know, y'all should really take some time and check out the cable access shows in your area every now and then.  If you can get past the the grainy picture and the poor production, you'll be able to get a great idea of the thoughts of the underground media in your region...some of which you might even represent.  I had an opportunity to do that this Saturday, viewing a show that was a comedy-slash-black-power program that focused on a flaming hot topic here in the 804...the proposed baseball stadium in the Shockoe Bottom area of the city...an area that served as a thriving slave port during America's ugly slave trade years.  The long-dreaded host and his black-fist friend used the hour of air time to promote their stance on the issue, a stance that's popular among the recent black political in the area...no stadium over "our" ancestors.  They were real solid in their position until I proposed to them this question: "being that slaves worked for free, wouldn't it honor our ancestors more if we presented opportunities where their descendants can work for pay, such as this stadium?  If you don't see this stadium as an opportunity such as this, then what alternatives do you present?"  At that moment the crickets filled the room.