REFLECTION & REASON

It hurts. So many people are suffering as a result of verdict of the George Zimmerman murder trial. Not guilty. He gets to walk free, and Trayvon Martin's young life is cut short at the age of 17. We all know the story. He was walking home, wearing a hoodie, eating some Skittles, drinking some ice tea, and Zimmerman perceived him to be a threat. He pursued him. He fought with him. He murdered him. The rest is up for interpretation, and will be speculated and discussed for weeks or months...or until another huge national news story breaks. The jury seemed to believe that there was not enough evidence to charge Zimmerman...they did what they thought was the best thing, and let him go home to his wife and continue his life. They trusted his version of the story. I feel absolutely terrible for Travyon's family. And I feel terrible for the effect this will have on the psyche of people everywhere. Not just the blacks, but those who feel the pain and injustice of this...

I rarely get this feeling from TV shows...usually from books, but rarely from television. That feeling that someone has gone inside your head and communicated the exact feelings, and behaviours, and reality that is personal to you and to people close to you. We've learned to adapt. Black women. We've learned to watch television programs like Sex and the City, and a range of other fabulous shows that definitely depict WOMEN and their thought processes in an entertaining and relatable light. But there's something so intimately different when the story is about a black woman, and being told by a black woman . Yes, we had Girlfriends and A Different World and a variety of other programs that had black female protagonists that we could laugh and journey through life with. But it's definitely been a while. I've said it once, and I'll say it again... you can not underestimate the power of a good story. A believable story. And a story that has the power to ...

Kanye West's 6th album " Yeezus " was released on June 18th, 2013, and I finally picked up a copy. I can't lie... I automatically felt like he was pulling a fast one. Putting out a CD with no cover art, no labels, no track listing, and no nothing...but a price tag and a lyrical warning label. Then I was annoyed with that big piece of orange tape at the side that is now ripped and sticky and gross, and makes my brand new blank case look old like something from 1995. Then I listened to the first track and was like...WTF? First thoughts: is Kanye trying to prove something? That we'll still buy his album with no promotion, and have it sound like GARBAGE and still have it hit the charts? Arrogant. Over the top. And then I realized that I had done just that. I had bought the album just because it existed, and because I'm a Kanye fan. And that even though the first few tracks sounded like hot noise, that I would still play the disc on repeat for the next week...