CeReBrAL GuMbo.....

Now Playing:“Only you and me, hun, the love never dies. Satisfaction, I have the right tactics. And if you need 'em, I got crazy prophylactics” –Bonita Applebum, A Tribe Called Quest, People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm

So since I've been in Florida, I've been trying to keep current with things going on in my hometown (Washington DC). I try and read the Post every now and then, listen to streaming radio online...you know--keeping myself in the loop. And amidst all of the city's news, one subject seems to never leave the media : STD rates in DC are rising to the point where they are rivaling whole countries.

I wrote this post a while ago, but in light of recent activities, I thought I'd share it again.....

Scenario One: You’ve been with your man for four blissful years. Of course both of you have decided to make your love more than just a mental connection. You guys become sexually active and because you love and trust him so much, you feel no need to use condoms. Well, fall rolls around and homebody starts at the Virginia Institution of Higher Learning. He’s on a basketball scholarship because he’s just that good. You part ways (because you go to the University of Utah) and promise to love each other no matter what. Time goes by and Christmas break rolls around. You miss him so much that of course the first thing you two do is have sex—because that’s the only way to adequately show how much you’ve missed him. Two weeks later you’re itching and burning. Come to find out, homeboy has been taking advantage of his hoop star status and has contracted genital herpes from one of the groupies.

How unfortunate.

Scenario Two: You met this girl when you were 10 years old, and what you like most is that she had so much soul.(I guess you and Common like the same type of girl) You like her so much that you decided to wife her—you know, powder blue Roca-A-Wear suit white Nike her. :>) Of course you’re having sex and because she’s your girl, condoms aren’t a must—it feels better that way, and she’s not cheating on you. A few weeks down the road you’re itching, burning and wondering what the hell happened. She says she’s been faithful and of course she’s speaking the truth, but homebody on the basketball team was fooling around with her two years before you.

How unfortunate.

Scenario Three: You’re single, sexy, fly and educated. Having a significant other is the furthest thing from your mind. You’re looking to have fun and you meet someone with the same mind set as you. Inevitably, you become friends—with benefits-- and you use a condom EVERY time. The local health center is doing free testing one day and you find out that you’ve contracted Chlamydia. Remember the condom broke last month but you kept going anyway. Your partner never knew he/she had it because he/she has never been tested.

How unfortunate.

Moral: RAP IT UP! Get tested together if you must. With the rapid spread of STDs in America, there is no plausible reason not to KNOW YOUR STATUS. Too many people are crying and dying from unprotected sex. If you’re going to do it, then do it right. I’m quite sure that itching and burning doesn’t feel as good as the unsafe sex you had to get it.

Now Playing: I'm taking my freedom,
Pulling it off the shelf,
Putting it on my chain,
Wear it around my neck,
I'm taking my freedom,
Putting it in my car,
Wherever I choose to go,
It will take me far.
I'm livin' my life like it's golden
Livin' my life like it's golden! -Golden, Jill Scott, Beautifully Human: Words And Sounds Vol. 2


I'm in the line moving side to side--I'm way too excited to keep still. It's the moment I've been waiting for--4 1/2 years in the making. GRADUATION! My classmates around me are feeling just as jittery as I am--all together we probably look like a Red Bull commercial gone wrong.

Caps are being straightened, gowns are zipped tight, grads are still hurting from the club last night.

The gym is filled with so much nervous energy you can grab it with your hands. The last minute stragglers dress as they rush to their places in line--and it begins.

You know that slow clap you hear in the movies, when one guy claps ridiculously slow then everyone follows suit?...well--in that moment...I was that guy. "Vibin'! Vibin'! I'm in my zone! I'm in my zone!" Within 5 minutes, the School of Journalism and Graphic Communication was doing the 18th remix of Piccolo's song--ah the joys of graduation!

In the distance, you could hear the faint sounds of the Alma Mater being played;Prof. G comes down to the holding pen (the extremely small hallway the graduates stand in before the procession), and we know it's time to move.

Just outside of that hallway, and across that stage, marks the beginning of the rest of our lives. We've waited so long for that golden piece of paper. Our professors told us that it will take us anywhere we want to go; our parents told us we can be anything we want to be. We're going to get so many job offers that we'll have to turn at least 10 down--our dream job in in our grasps. As soon as the Dean speaks those magic words: "Congratulations class of 2008, you may now move your tassels"--reality hits.

Those job offers they told us about turn out to be check-cashing scams. Those 10 jobs they told us you we'd have to turn down--they aren't interested because we're either over qualified or under experienced. We go from living on your own, to moving back home (we convince ourselves we only did it to cut cost...right?).

The dream job you thought you had quickly turns into a nightmare when one day you look around your 3x5 cubicle ( that you decorated with the paper clip streamers you made in between office coffee runs and photocopying your face)--you realize you're nothing but a glorified gopher (but you convince yourself it's just paying dues...it happens in every profession...right?).

WRONG!

But worry not my dear friends--you are not alone. We have all been bamboozled, led astray, hoodwinked if you will. We've been tricked into believing the good ole' American dream. The college degree, the stepford husband/wife, the 2.5 kids, and Lassie guarding your house that's surrounded by the white picket fence--not to forget the great job you will get at age 22 and retire from when you die.

No one tells you what to do when you get that so called dream job and hate every minute. You went to school for advertising and don't have a creative bone in your body. You were pre-med in school and had a change of heart about being a doctor. You became a dispatcher of sorts but your raging ADHD won't let you sit still long enough to answer a call--but this is what you chose to do with the rest your life; you're stuck--right?

WRONG AGAIN!

Two years have passed since I graduated from college and I'm still figuring it out. I've stressed and stressed and tried my hand at a million different jobs; and none of them seem to be that perfect, rest-of-my life fit--but why does it have to be? Why do I have to find that one job and stick to it? Why is my happiness dependent on how many figures I make, or how far I climb the corporate ladder?

I've spent years trying to figure out how to live the "dream" only to realize that reality is much better.

So I say to my fellow grads...SCREW THE DREAM and live your own! Let life take you where it may. Yeah, it's good to have a plan, but the most well laid plans often go horribly wrong--and that's not always a bad thing. Hey, Columbus thought he was taking a quick vacation to India and ended up (so the history books claim) discovering a whole new country--and besides the genocide of the native people, slavery, Jim Crow and crooked politics--look how well that worked out for him! In the history books forever!

My point is this: Don't confine yourself to someone else's rules for success. Live on your terms! So what if everyone doesn't agree with your plans--but they are your plans! Too many of us are beating ourselves up because our triangular ideas aren't fitting into the square norm. So we chip and chip away at ourselves trying to fit into that cookie cutter shape until the entire essence of us is gone. So make your own norm. If you don't fit the square, then cut out your own shape--hell, blow the square up and make EVERYTHING fit with ease. Throw all of your preconceived notions on how life after college should be out the window and just live. All of the money and fame that comes after is just icing on the cake...

Living for me

Now Playing:
"We gotta believe the future
We gotta believe the past
We gotta believe in more
Didn't know that we had it
We gotta believe each other
We gotta open up our minds
'Cause music is for life.. for life" : Hi-Tek -- Music For Life, Hi-Teknology, Vol. 2: The Chip

At first I thought Hip-Hop was dead. You may remember from earlier words I said:

She's laying on life support due to countless years of abuse. This one group of dudes she ran with made her forget her roots. They got her hooked on crack--she was cookin' it, cutting it, doing it and pushing it too (yeeeaaahh!). Then she was back on the block doing anything for a buck. She was snapping and popping, leaning and rocking--just not gvin' a fuck.

But you see, all of that was true---Hip-Hop was on a roll, but through all of that she never lost her soul. It was just hidden behind bs commercial radio. Just when we thought she was "Insane in the Brain," Hip-Hop was tellin' everyone to "Walk This Way."

She got herself clean and now she's "Paid In Full," Even though she still takes the occasional sip of "Gin and Juice." She's back on the scene now, she's better than ever-- and her Little Brother volunteered to help her keep it together. She stepped her game up and got real Hi-Tek, but the ones who held her down, she will never forget.

She fell off before, but came back strong, true and sound. Shouts out to BIG. Pac and Dilla--her sons that always held her down.

I guess what I'm saying is Hip-Hop I'm sorry I "Half Stepped" on you. But In my defense, you left me wthout a dope rhyme to step to.

No matter where you go, you always come back right--and I'll never forget that Music is for Life!

~Peace after Revoultion---Viva la Hip-Hop~

Now Playing:
"We're dancing free but we're stuck here underground
And everybody trying to figure they way out
Hey Hey Hey, all we ever wanted to say
Was chased erased and then thrown away
And day to day we live in a daze" - Janelle Monae (Many Moons), Metropolis: The Chase Suite





As a sometimes journalist, I often research, write news articles, research, do interviews, research, blah, blah, blah, blah! It can all get so boring writing from the politically correct P.O.V.

So I bring you CeReBrAL GumBO, a look into the inner workings of my mind. I'm giving you posts about books, movies, politics, music....whatever happens to be on my brain at the time....the way I see it....no fluff included.

Join me on my mind's journey to the great beyond and further....enjoy our stay entirely in my alternate reality....

Peace.