That last post was decidedly strange. It eluded to mystery and nothing came afterward. It was supposed to be the start of my 30 posts in 30 days challenge. This was a mission I knew would fail because I attempted to start it in the midst of vacationing at my family reunion. Coming right off a hellish July-celebrating my birthday in the midst of a craaazy work situation (they locked out the union workers, and I in turn lived in the office)- all I wanted to do in actuality was sleep. The terms of my work life over the past 2 years have forced me to realize that whatever my experience had been as a student-writing and media were my true loves and the place where my passion resides.
While I was a grad student and subsequently unemployed, I spent a decent amount of free time writing and updating this blog. Then, I had the idea that I needed to understand how businesses work and started at my current company full time. For the last three years, I have learned a lot, but never quite left writing alone. I updated intermittently and have pursued my love in various other ways. I continue to direct/produce productions within my community. I have explored writing at work. I partake in acting workshops. I discovered disposable income and all its trappings and temptations (Hello Anthropologie and spin classes!). I have pitched stories and been denied. I've also been granted opportunities to write. I play around with video making and editing. I write really long emails to my friends that might as well be blog posts. Sometimes, I write for myself.
Following will be a series of posts that show some of what I have been up to in the time I haven't been updating the blog. For this holiday season, the gift I'm giving myself includes more time honing the craft and communicating.
Thanks to the 6+ people who have continuously asked and pestered me about updating over the past two years. It's been a long time, but don't call it a comeback. I've been here.
1. If you've yet to say a prayer, donate, and encourage your network to do the same for the people of Haiti. Stop reading, and do so now. I'm not spewing all my thoughts in this entry.
3. The wonderful music and culture site RBMVibes (www.rbmvibes.com) is looking for writers. If you want access to free albums,have insight on today's music scene and love to write, shoot an email to RBMVibes@gmail.com. If you don't want to write, but would like to keep up with the updates, also check out the site to sign up for the newsletter.
4. RIP Teddy Pendergrass. I unfortunately hear a little TPain in my head everytime I hear your name. I blame college.
Slow JULY??? Whatever could I mean? After all with all of the Skip Gates hoopla, the craziness in the entertainment world and what not the blogosphere is teeming with issues that are being discussed?
Okay more like I've been a little self absorbed and also issue fatigued. I can't sit and criticize all aspects of black media, because truth be told, I(a very well educated and cultured person) actually don't mind a great deal of it. I also never bought into post-racial America and did live in Cambridge for four years. Thus my impressions of the town, racism and town-gown relations were all set and haven't really changed post the issue that won't die-Skip Gates and James Crowley. Don't worry...I'm not done preaching my gospel of television and early nostalgia. I just needed a little break.
I've also been working at being a good teacher for my SAT kiddies, actually knowing what we're going to discuss, going at RBMVibes business, researching for a media ideas company, as well as mentally preparing myself for the 9-5 that's to come. My dear laptop is also on its last leg. So I disappeared into KimSwaSha(that's the imaginary kingdom ruled by me that I created when I was 8) and worked as well as celebrated the month of July...since after all it is my birthmonth!
With that said, I apologize-especially to STW who emailed me to remind me to write. I have reasons, but no real excuse. I know I have officially gone against my blog resolutions, but I'll try to make it up.
So with all that said..in honor of my twitter account, here's #musicmonday. It's a little vain, but what's vanity but a fair?
I didn't mean to fall off the face of the earth like that. I went back to London for my graduation ( you can call me Master now) and came back in the middle of holiday season and to the reminder that I am in the middle of a job search. *groan*
But, I'm back and I couldnt let the year roll out without one last post. My little blog and I have gone through it this year. I stopped posting at one point because I felt the blog had no point or direction. Then I realized that's exactly what I want out of it...it's an outlet for everything I think, so I started blogging again.
My blog resolution for the new year shall be for more consistency. By February I should be doing at least three posts a week, and at least one of those posts shall have substantial content.
Why? Cus I'm Bk's queen....and if you haven't heard, we go hard.
My cousin put me on to the fact that this Grime artist, Bashy, and his song and video Black Boys that was banned by OFCOM. My rant on OFCOM, a British media regulatory system will come at another point...after I finish my 11,000 words of paper writing and do the original reading I was supposed to do on the organization. Anyone check out the video below and read more about the controversy here. Am I the only one missing the racist message? This is like when Michael Powell and the FCC blocked Sarah Jones and her "Your Revolution" which only spun the hypersexual lyrics already out in hip hop into a positive reaffirming message for women. *kisses teeth*
THE COOL KIDS So I've blogged about The Cool Kids 2x before. You can read my original amazement here and then my feeling justified that I wasn't completely off base here. Because somehow in my warped mind: Vibe writing about them is more important than the amazing Sasha Frere Jones covering them or even the Status Ain't Hood bloggers of The Village Voice and that first blog on which I read about them Beats and Rants. (It's a weird thing media hierarchy isn't it...)
Since then, they've gotten their cameo in the Rhapsody commercial and have continued to make raves. Now one of my favorite blogs, Honorable Media, has written about their debut album. Since I surely will not be sitting down, listening to each song and then sharing my thoughts ( I have about 11,000 words in paper writing to do in a day), I thought I'd share their views with you. Yes, that's me with a crazy long comment under their hood-because that's what I tend to do on that site. They don't know me, so I can be as silly and young as I want to be.
Now I must just wait for Kelefa Sanneh to release his brilliant thoughts on the group and all will be right in the world.
(Oh and stay on the lookout for the next single from The Broke Girl Chronicles. It didn't stop with Bouncin'...oh no, I'm still broke, no joke...you know this.)
There is no such thing as American history, only a frontier. -Don Draper, Mad Men.
They did the same thing to Jesus. They did the same thing to Martin Luther King. They do the same thing to every great leader. --Po-Prah, "I Want To Work For Diddy" Episode 2.
Morning conversations)Mommy: What did you have for breakfast? Kimmy: cookies! Mommy: Cookies aren't breakfast, unless they're oatmeal raisin. But I know you and you had chocolate chip. Kimmy: I had chocolate chocolate chip cookies. Mommy: (sigh) Alright my child, I have to get ready for work.
