Where for art thou, journalism?

RIP Michael Clarke Duncan

Yesterday afternoon, devastating news of the death of actor Michael Clarke Duncan broke on Twitter. Given my background in journalism and my inability to quit it, I still follow several news outlets on Twitter – mainly CNN, NBC News, CBS News and the Associated Press. On my other account, I follow Fox News, ABC News, the Huffington Post and all of the aforementioned.

As a journalist, I have been conditioned to use discernment as it relates to the news. In most cases, you can tell when something has been reported or made up – if you read it and not just glance. The way I learned journalism was to make sure you’re right before you go forward with any information. While it matters who reports it first, it matters most who got it right – first.

Since we’ve been blessed with the wonderfully wonderful tool that is the internet, the journalism profession has been cursed by it. It seems young journalists have become satisfied with Tweeting (see also: Facebooking and Instagraming) the majority of their story and any Tom, Dick, Harvey or Perez fancies himself a journalist because he has a blog and an audience.

Yesterday when the news broke, by the AP if I’m not mistaken, I ReTweeted the AP’s information. I saw so many RTs with comment calling bullshit thinking that Twitter just up and killed someone for no reason. Some people wanted to know who the source was and who Duncan’s fiancée is (Rev. Omarosa Manigault). One fool even Tweeted:

I shit you not …

Since when is the AP NOT the AP? I mean, CNN has gotten it wrong. CBS, wrong. NPR, wrong. ABC, NBC and damn sure Faux News. In my 10-year journalism career, I have never heard about the AP getting anything wrong. In fact, I am bold enough to say the Associated Press is the worlds MOST CREDIBLE news source, yet, that wasn’t good enough for Twitter.

This is what I like to call the TMZ era of journalism. It’s a time where people won’t believe actual news until it’s reported by TMZ or MediaTakeOut or Perez Hilton or whatever other gossip BLOG is masquerading as a news site. It’s really sad. There are way too many of my friends, colleagues and former counterparts out here busting their butts to bring folks well-reported and (hopefully) balanced stories for credible news outlets than to have their work and efforts bastardized by those sites.

Since I have been periodically offering you all my “expertise” in journalism, take this with you. When it comes to news of any kind, international, national, local, entertainment, sports, politics – rest assured knowing it has been properly reported and fact checked. To question the AP is … I don’t even know what it is. Just know that 9.9 times out of 10, they’re right. *smh*

“It’s one thing for people to THINK you’re stupid, it’s another when you open your mouth and remove ALL doubt.” (c) Mama Smarty

Motivational Mondays …

Happy Labor Day, folks! It’s been a while since I’ve been in here. I blew the dust off when I got here and had a coughing fit. Y’all know I’m allergic to everything. LoL!

As of late, I have been struggling with myself. To simplify it, there are a lot of things and experiences in life that I want to have that I have absolutely zero control over and it depresses me. Everyone around me seems to be having these rewarding life experiences and it seems that there is nothing happening for me. Some days, I get depressed. Other days, I get angry. Then, there are the days where I compare myself and my experiences to others. This weekend, I made a huge decision.

Instead of counting the things I want and don’t have, I am going to count the blessings I do have. I have life. I have strength. I have relatively good health. I have a job. I am not homeless. Or hungry. I have people who love me.

In life, there will always be people who have more than you. We all have our lot in life, the question is will you continue a never-ending search for more or enjoy what do you have? I’m gonna enjoy it. All of it!

Majoring in the minor …

Usually on Mondays, I try to give you all a little motivation to help you make it through your day and hopefully, your week. The events of late Thursday night/early Friday morning and people’s reactions have forced me to make a detour and make an attempt to try to slow some of you people down.

To catch you up, a lone gunman shot up a crowded movie theater in Aurora, Colo., killing 12 and wounding more than 50. The suspect has been identified at 24-year-old James Holmes, a Ph.D. student who entered the theater in riot gear armed with gas canisters, an automatic assault rifle, a 12-guage shot gun and a glock.

Reports state that Holmes threw a canister and started shooting people as they tried to flee. Survivors recalled the attack saying they thought it was a part of premiere night antics and then it quickly turned into chaos complete with screaming and blood and horror. I don’t even want to imagine what they much have been going through. My heart and my prayers go out to everyone in that theater and to the families left picking up the pieces.

There were families in that theater, some with children as young as three months, who were hurt. If I’m not mistaken, the youngest murder victim was 6-years-old. This leads me to the first portion of my sickness with people’s reactions on Twitter. Some folks were questioning why there were babies at the movie theater anyway and why kids that young were at a theater that late at night. *smh* To me, this is akin to blaming the victim.

I don’t have kids. I know quite a few people with them, tho. I’ve been to the movies with my siblings and cousins who, when they can’t get a babysitter, simply bring the baby with them. It’s no crime to take your children with you to a movie. It’s ignorant and insensitive to blame those parents for their children’s injuries and death. This is a case of wrong place/wrong time. It’s only Holmes’ fault – allegedly.

Another thing that I’m seeing a lot of is comparisons to the senseless murders in Chicago. Last weekend alone, Chicago saw the death of four and the injury of 27 more, all at the hands of gun violence. That was just in the past three days. Twitter and Facebook have spoken out asking how come the country isn’t just as outraged at the deaths in Chicago. Twitter and Facebook have also made this into a black and white issue saying if Holmes was a man of color, he would be dead already instead of just in jail. Twitter and Facebook have even gone so far to say that Holmes is being viewed as mentally ill because he’s white and if he were black or Latino he’d be seen as violent or if he were a Muslim, he’d be a terrorist.

We have to stop majoring in the minor. He is a terrorist regardless of his race. A terrorist is a person who frightens or terrorizes others. If that isn’t Holmes, allegedly, I don’t know what is… And, these shootings in Chicago are being reported as gang related. These gang members are also terrorists. The difference here is this is a case of Chicago’s chickens coming home to roost. The problems of these violent gangs should have been nipped in the bud a long time ago. What Chicago is seeing now is a manifestation of disregard on the part of law enforcement and neighbors and a strengthening group of frustrated, under-served and increasing violent generation of people. Comparing the shootings in Chicago to what happened in Aurora is like comparing apples to tomatoes – they’re both fruit but not the same.

And FYI, Holmes is a suspect and what he did is alleged until a jury of his peers convicts him. The media’s hands are tied as it relates to these kinds of cases. No outlet can call him a murderer or a terrorist outside the confines of quotation marks because it then becomes libel and slander and those outlets can be sued.

What are your thoughts? Are too many people majoring in the minor?

WTH Wednesdays …

A lot of things as of late have left me a lil’ dumbfounded and have me saying and thinking, “What the HELL?!” and the only way I know to work this out is to leave it all here. Because you’ve chosen to click the link and come here, you get to wonder about these things with me. You’re welcome.

I read “Fifty Shades of Grey”

Maybe it’s just me but I wasn’t at all impressed. I mean, I see the concept. The young impressionable girl seduced by the older man of her dreams. Blah, blah, blah. Blah. The young man who has an appetite for the freakier things in life and scores of people obsessed with sex. All of these things worked together to form the perfect storm for a New York Times Bestseller, three times over if you include the sequels “Fifty Shades Darker” and “Fifty Shades Freed.”

Well, I’m about 51 shades of unimpressed. Sadly, the best parts of the book were the (frequent) sex scenes and they weren’t that great. Let’s be honest, the whole genre of erotica is like “Porn for Women.” I’ve heard a lot of women complain that porn insults their intelligence because the stories make no sense. Can I just point out that this story makes no sense either – if you wanna get technical about it.

I am not going to break it down chapter by chapter but let’s just say I ain’t convinced. Let’s just call it what it is, some folks are a horny or they were looking for something to spice up their bedroom acrobatics. I ain’t mad, but stop calling this shit awesome. It really ain’t.

Chris and Aubrey got in a fight

The way they were …

Apparently there’s a rift in the Society of Khaki-colored Negroes because Chris Brown and Drake had a misunderstanding in a nightclub in New York City. Well, nothing was misunderstood. Wheelchair Jimmy wanted it to be known that he ain’t cool with Chris. You must have heard by now that Drake flew Chris the bird and Chris sent a bottle of some random alcoholic beverage to him as a peace-offering and Drake threw it and hit Chris in the face.

Yes, you read that right. While people are out here starving and whatnot, these two biscuit-hued Negroes are causing problems in a nightclub that put other people in harm’s way. Chris’s bodyguard got his head cracked open. San Antonio Spurs point guard Tony Parker nearly lost an eye from flying debris. *smh*

Side note: You tryna tell me there wasn’t an international convention for the Society of Khaki and Ecru-colored Brothers going on in that club? There were light skinned-it dudes in there from at least three countries. I bet they were trying to be discreet, then Aubrey got all emotional. *smh* I bet y’all he’s writing a song about it. And I bet y’all are gonna buy it. You’re a part of the problem. I blame YOU!

I fell off …


There’s no other way to put it. I haven’t been working out. I’ve been eating like a colleges student who has the metabolism of a toddler and I have dia-damn-betes. I have no one to blame but myself. I’ve lost motivation. Since I haven’t been to the doctor since October, I have zero accountability. I feel awful – literally and figuratively.

Since I started my new job, it has taken SO much out of me! I literally crash like every other week. What I am experiencing is beyond “a little tired.” I am exhausted and I am not sure of how to fix it. I’ve been trying to do better with eating. I think I’m in transition where nothing tastes good and I’ve lost my appetite. I find myself eating something just take my meds.

I recently joined the local Black Girls Run group to make an attempt to get motivated about working out again. I’ve got to do something. I mean, this is a matter of life and death, right? How do you stay motivated to eat right and work out?

Motivational Mondays

Erica Kennedy

For as long as I can remember, every time there was a program in church honoring a person, at some point someone always said, “Give people their flowers while they’re here to smell them.” I never really thought about that phrase until I lost someone and I never told them how much they meant to me. I was reminded of that phrase again last Friday when news broke of the untimely death of journalist, author and motivator, Erica Kennedy.

Friday, I got a message from my friend telling me that Erica had been found dead in her apartment on Wednesday. At first, I didn’t believe it. She was so young, so talented, so giving of her time and knowledge. Then of course, it started to trend on Twitter and it was confirmed. I never met Erica in person. Never chatted with her on Skype. I did however chat with her on Facebook and Twitter. We never got into anything deep – it was mostly current events and writing, but, she is actually responsible for connecting me with a person who kicked me some freelance work and eventually became the best friend I never met. LoL!

All weekend, if you search her name on Twitter or Google, the results read like a eulogy. All have some story attached to how awesome Erica had been in their time of need. There were stories of her motivating writers who were suffering from a block or lack of motivation. There were stories of her offering up creative ideas. She even encouraged people to speak up about their bout with mental illness as she was so candid in speaking about her own. The one thing I kept thinking while reading these Tweets, FB wall posts, blog posts and comments was, “I wish she could have seen this out pour.”

So often, people mean so much to us and we don’t tell them. We take their presence, their love, their kindness for granted. Then we talk about all the good they did when they can’t hear it. I challenge all of us to tell somebody, everybody, how much they’re loved and appreciated and cherished before it becomes a eulogy.

I’m against Amendment One…

Exactly one week from today, registered voters in my fair state of North Carolina will have the opportunity to vote on Amendment One, an amendment to the state constitution that would define marriage as strictly being between a man and a woman. Of course the bill is being supported, blindly, by the GOP and conservative Christians. I say blindly because the bill’s supporters could not have possibly read up on it because if they had, they would have run across the gaping loop holes that have the potential to endanger the lives of North Carolina’s women and children.

While most folks will harp on the fact that they don’t want homosexual people too marry, most of these people have not full investigated the possible repercussions of amending North Carolina’s constitution. Defining marriage the way it is written in that amendment will harm ALL unmarried couples. There are a lot of couples, gay and straight, who have opted to forgo marriage altogether and just cohabit. Some people just don’t want to get married. The way some employers set up benefits, it allows individuals to insure their partners and the children the couple is raising. Defining marriage in this way will strip those benefits.

If stripping away the benefits of children were not enough, this law could nullify some family protection orders that women have filed against abusive men. Those protection could be seen as unconstitutional because only those couples who are legally married are considered family. It is quite possible that it could happen, it already did in Ohio. Twenty-seven cases against attackers were thrown out because the state only recognized married relationships as having protected status.

In the South, hell, everywhere, same-sex marriage has always been a hot button issue. The GOP and religious conservatives have long been working to legally define marriage because one man and one woman is the way God intended. Under normal circumstances, I’d have no problem with that if this were a church. A church has every right to govern by its respective holy book as it sees fit. When it comes to government, American government, my God, yours or anyone else’s has any place there.

This country was founded on religious freedom. The first amendment of the United States constitution specifically states that Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. Using religion to justify this amendment or to uphold the law against same-sex marriage that is already on the books means Congress has made a law respecting the Christian establishment of religion. Congress is supposed to make laws that serve the best interest of its respective constituents. Congress is NOT supposed to be embracing the Bible as law.

The actual marriage between two people is a legal contract. There is actual paper work on file in the office of the register of deeds in respective municipalities. A legal marriage enables two people to reap benefits such as health insurance, life insurance and something as simple as seeing their spouse in the hospital. They can adopt children, purchase property together and so on. All of these things are legally binding documents.

The marriage ceremony is usually a religious practice. Traditions vary across cultures and religions but there is more often than not a clergy member involved to administer the vows and promises the couple makes to each other. Traditionally, these ceremonies have been held in churches or holy places.

The differences there are the first gives you legal benefit that, by law, should not be denied to anyone whereas the latter can be afforded or denied to anyone the church sees fit. Amending the state’s constitution to deny a group of people the aforementioned rights is not only deplorable, it should be illegal. Hell, it is illegal. If two people are in a romantic relationship and they want to make their union legal, it is only the business of those two people and the people filing their paperwork. Allowing two people to reap the legal benefits of marriage in no way negates those marriages that already exist.

Folks need to get over themselves. Wanda Sykes said it best, “If you’re against gay marriage, don’t marry a gay person.” As far as I’m concerned, they have just as much right to marriage as anyone else. Who someone else marries is NOT my business. I will be voting AGAINST Amendment One. If you live in North Carolina, I hope you will, too.