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I was like most teenagers back in high school, extra eager to start going to see over idolized celebrities. In my city, everyone would drive about 40 minutes out to the next city for the annual “Super Jamz” concert. For us, it was closer to driving to the other bigger cities and a chance to see famous artists  for a good price. As I got older, I would often say I’d catch my favorite artists concerts, but lack of time or not wanting to see shows with 9/10 other artists I don’t want to see would discourage me. I then compiled a lists of people I’d definitely want to see perform in 2020. Then here comes COVID! So no concerts for me or the rest of the world! However, during COVID I had plenty of time to think as most people did during those months of lockdown. I started to think about my priorities and I realized that I didn't really need to be wasting my money to see some of these artists. Decent seats or even nosebleeds seats can get pricey and as the prices of concerts rise, so does...

Happy December! Let the Christmas countdown begin, only 21 days left! Are you excited or over it already? I’m a little bit of both. As the Christmas holiday approaches quickly, my city decided to gift the residents with the Section 8 list opening up for about four days before it closes again indefinitely. I wanted to discuss my thoughts on the program for my city. If you haven’t heard of this government program, it’s designed to help low income families find stable housing on the rental market. Families can choose from apartments or rental houses if the owners allow the voucher. The voucher covers a portion of rent, trying to make possible that everyone pays only 30% . So what’s the issue? Well, for starters the program has gained quite a scandalous reputation. Landlords have had property damage that’s not reimbursed by the program  and hefty loads of paperwork to deal with. The program requires safety inspections and some landlords have complained about this aspect as well. A prog...

It’s not new information that there’s little animation and representation of minorities in the mainstream media. Upon having children, it’s became extremely obvious just how little representation that is. My daughter, like most children have taken an extra liking to YouTube channels dedicated to toys. She also enjoys Barbie specials and YouTube stars like Ryan. However, when it comes to finding diverse things for her to watch, I’m left with little options. I’ve went back and found shows I grew up on because there’s not many shows with young black children, and the ones that are out sometimes seem to be filled with stereotypical propaganda. Some old shows she’s into are That’s so Raven, Sister Sister, Proud Family, Keenan and Kel. Even though these shows are nostalgic and fun for us to watch together, I wish she had shows to watch from her time. I know there’s Raven’s Home, Young Dylan, and even That Girl Lay Lay, but these are still limited. Maybe one day there will be more show option...

 So the word "industry plants" may not be unknown to you or maybe you heard of the term but don't know what it means. Industry plants are artist that are found by labels when they were "struggle artist" and trying to make it. The label takes the artist and grooms them into "mainstream artist material". The artist gets rebranded, signs a crappy contract, gains access to famous connections, gets an advance, has payola ($ for radio plays), etc. So basically the person gets "lucky" and gains massive fame. What's the issue then? Well, for one this practice takes away from the "even playing field" of up and coming artist. The struggle artist usually has to put in time and effort in their craft on a long unsure journey of trying to get discovered. At one time, people would go through great measures to try to get discovered. They'd stand in the rain, handout mixtapes/demo-tapes for free, get rejected over and over, etc. Now people a...

 November  is coming to an end and pushing us further into fall bliss and closer to winter! I hope everyone is pushing forward through the lasting obstacles in our world! I’ve been hammered with family and school turmoil, so it’s been awhile since I’ve been able to tend to my blog. I’m so glad to be back posting! I want to discuss fat phobia today. Fat phobia is defined as having a fear or dislike  or discriminating against people because of their weight according to PubMed. The reason I’m writing this is because I’ve seen bad press surrounding the music artist Lizzo for awhile. People often attack her clothing choices and they usually try to say it’s due to not being appropriate for certain social settings. However, other celebrities in the exact same industry often don’t receive the same criticism. Instead it’s considered “sexy” or “stylish”. I can’t help but wonder how can people claim to have an issue with Lizzo’s fashion but not a Meg thee Stallion or Cardi B. You’d ...

    I spent my day deeply provoked by thoughts of what it means for children to grow up in homes without fathers vs. children who grow up with one. My spouse shared a meme with a young boy indulging in bad activities and it was captioned, "When Women Try To Raise Sons Without A Man". Needless to say, commentators couldn't wait to sound off on this subject mater. I appreciated reading the different points of views. Of course, all single parent upbringing doesn't result in a son being in prison or dead from gang affiliation. However, how can we dismiss the importance of fathers involvement in child rearing within the black community? We have been bombarded by statistics of how children raised with absent parents are impacted in various ways. Disclaimer: This post isn't about bashing or downing people who raise children singlehanded, it's very common and many people have examples of this working out well. This post is to educate on some of the information out on ...

 Hi Everyone, I know it's been a slight gap in my content. I've been a bit tied up with life priorities, but I'm working out some arrangements with my schedule so I can get back to blogging consistently. I'm not very thrilled by the C19 upsurge in cases or the decreasing brain cells of human kind to think it's okay to infringe on citizens everyday lives. It's not a privilege to go out your house everyday. It's a human right to choose to leave your premises. Real life is not a social media platform where it's okay to pull comments or restrict people access to their accounts. Real life shouldn't allow any entity to force people out of doing their everyday activities. It's very telling that businesses can restrict their services to certain people. After all that's how discriminatory practices were able to thrive during the days of segregation. It's awful to see how easily people can recreate these inhumane policies. I wish these same busines...