Not Guilty? - Friday, June 13

"Just because they found him not guilty doesn't mean he's innocent."
-Admiral William Adama, Battlestar Galatica

R. Kelly Acquitted of Child Porn Charges - NPR

So on Friday, a jury in Cook County found Robert Kelly (better known as singer/producer R. Kelly) not guilty of having sex with an underage girl (possibly as young as 13) and videotaping the act.

Humph. I have to say that I don't believe that he's not guilty, and I am amazed at some people's characterization of him as having dealt with an ordeal these last six years that he managed to avoid both trial and prison. This is the man who calls himself the "Pied Piper of R&B." If he's innocent, would he like to explain just what all that is about? I mean, this man seemed to almost capitalize on this - remember "Guilty Until Proven Innocent?" the song he did with Jay-Z?

"You can't touch me, no you can't touch me/Jigga, Kelly, not guilty/Try to charge me but I'm not guilty/I got, all, my mamis/I've got all of my mamis/Tell me, what you, want from me/Tell me.. (I am the one)/What you want from me? Not guilty."

Okay. Whatever. Don't think we've forgotten about Aaliyah. There is precedent for this. Like Adama said: Just because he's "not guilty" doesn't mean he's innocent.

***If you ever get a chance to see season one of the Boondocks (check your library or video store to see if they have it), check out the episode where R. Kelly goes to trial. Some of the stuff on the Boondocks might make you mad, but you'll be laughing at the same time...***

La Musique

If you've never heard of Les Nubians and you think you might like music that is a mixture of R&B, World Music, and Jazz, do yourself a favor and check them out. They are fabulous. I love listening to music in other languages, even when I don't understand the language, because when an artist can't hide behind the words, we as listeners get a chance to really focus in on whether they can carry a tune and if their music flows and speaks to us. And music doesn't have to be in your language to speak to you.

In fact, here's a list of some of my favorite artists from other countries or cultures (don't be intimidated if they don't sing in English - listen to it anyway!)

1. Les Nubians - Cameroon/France. I love just about everything they've done, but my absolute favorites are Makeda, Demain, Si Infidèle, etc., etc., etc.


2. Joy Denalane - Germany. Heard her on a Putumayo CD and couldn't get her music out of my head. I b-tched and moaned about not being able to find her album on I-Tunes, and having to pay something like $27.00 for her album, Mamami, on Amazon.com, until my husband got fed up and just bought it for me (along with her English language album, Born and Raised.) Favorites from Joy: Was auch immer, Höchste Zeit, Sag's Mir, Born and Raised (song).

3. Crystal Kay - Japan. While checking out a You Tube video from Funkanometry SF, I heard this little sample "You need to chill out and let go sometimes/feel free to let yourself say/Kirakuni, take it easy..." so I googled that phrase (why not?) and found Miss Crystal Kay. It's J-Pop, and I make no apologies for my love of pop music. So there. Favorite: Kirakuni.

4. Bebel Gilberto - Brazil. My sister turned me on to her. (Thanks, Shell!) She's the daughter of a famous Brazilian musician, João Gilberto. My favorite songs of hers are from her album, Bebel Gilberto: Aganju, Jabuticaba, Baby. Though I have to be fair and give her album Momento another listen, since when I heard it, I might not have been in the mood for mellow.

5. Zap Mama - Belgium/Democratic Republic of Congo. Though I think there are people in the group who back her up. Zap Mama is primarily (and basically) Marie Daulne. My favorites are from the only Zap Mama album that I own Ancestry in Progress - though I'm open to hearing more...Miss Q'n, Yaki, Zap Bébés.

6. M.I.A. - Sri Lanka./England. I almost forgot! How could I? She's constantly playing in my I-Pod! U.R.A.Q.T., Galang, Boyz, Bingo, etc., etc., etc.

I just realized that all these artists are women. I didn't plan it that way, but hey - Let's hear it for the sistah's! (And why are they all so fraking gorgeous!)

Baby, I'm Back!

I'm sorry that I've been gone so long! Sooooooooooooooooooo much has happened since last I posted! I wish I could backdate and pretend that I was actually a timely, responsible blogger, but no such luck, so for those of you who have been living under a rock, let's talk about some of the biggest, most hopeful and incredible things that have been going on in the world (and in my world). These are out of order for a very good reason, but don't cheat and scroll to the bottom just yet!

The Second Amazing Thing - May 16, 2008
The California Supreme Court overturned a ban on Gay Marriage! Why shouldn't people who love each other be able to get married? Who cares if they are the same sex? Doesn't the world need more love and a lot less of the hate that causes people to ban gay marriage in the first place? (I guess my post is a little timely, since official gay marriages can start June 17th - actually, I'm early!)
State's Top Court Strikes Down Marriage Ban.

Now unfortunately, conservatives in California have already gotten a measure to overturn the overturning (basically, to "re-ban" gay marriage) on the November ballot. Click here for that story.
This, in spite of the fact that polls have shown that Californian's approve of actually letting two grown people who love each other get married. In his decision, Chief Justice Ronald George, God Bless Him, compared not letting gays and lesbians get married to the laws that used to exist that didn't allow blacks and whites to get married. Seems silly now, doesn't it, but there are a lot of people who wouldn't have been allowed a loving, committed relationship with all the legal perks and rights that married people have if those laws had been allowed to stand, and it's the same thing here and now.

The Third Amazing Thing - June 4, 2008

Barack Obama has secured the nomination of the Democratic Party for President? Wow!! I somehow thought this madness between he and Hillary was just going to go on forever. (I kid you not) I had actually stopped paying attention.

Of course, Time Magazine had already predicted this back in May, which I do have to say, I thought was a little hasty, but I didn't read the article, either, which I'm sure would have illuminated their reasons. I can't say I didn't get a little internal leap of joy when I saw the cover, though. :)

Of course, good news for me is not good news for everyone, and the media is already predicting that Clinton supporters might vote for McCain rather than support Obama. What the hell has Obama done to them that they would abandon the values that made them vote Democratic in the first place and vote for someone who represents a party that has led us into the mess that we are in now?

One thing I have to say for Obama: this is just the beginning of his fight. He's not stupid. I'm sure he knows it. We've all got a lot of hopes riding on him. I was lucky enough to see one of my favorite musical groups, Les Nubians, perform recently, and they mentioned (they are from France) that the whole world is watching the U.S. to see the result of this. Around the World, Much Is Expected of Barack Obama
A lot of people, including me, are hoping that the fact that Obama grew up in this country with brown skin, will allow him to be more open to working with people of color around the world to end their oppression and more sympathetic to issues involving communities and countries that are made up of what has been for too long in the U.S. been considered the "other." I really hope at least, that he works to get us out of the deep and saddening hole that the Bush Administration has taken every opportunity to dig even deeper.

Now, the moment we have all been waiting for:
The First Amazing Thing - February 20, 2008

Drum Roll, Please....

I passed the test! Thus the change from Library Lady to Chic Mama.

Nuff said. You'll be hearing plenty about it later!

Just know that we are overjoyed and I am loving being pregnant,

especially now that it's the second trimester and I'm not tired all the time!

I Knew Them When...

Not really, but I did see them last year in the San Francisco Hip Hop Dancefest 2007 .

I got seriously hooked on America's Next Dance Crew recently. One of the groups that made it to the finals was Live in Color from Miami. My husband and I kept saying, "Live in Color?" Isn't that the group from the Hip Hop Dancefest?" These guys tore it up in San Francisco last year. The audience roared and yelled and someone screamed "Hallelujah." You really didn't get a chance to see just how good they were on America's Next Dance Crew.

Everytime I see people dancing with passion and talent, I wish I hadn't been so damn practical when I was younger. I should have been dancing. Who cares about bills? Being impetuous and irresponsible is what being young is all about. Now I'd just look like an almost 40 year old shaking her booty. (almost. ALMOST. I've still got three and a half years to go before 40.) Not to say that I'd dance like Live In Color, 'cause that wasn't my style, but just to dance -- it's a feeling I can't even explain.

Be Aware. Be Very Aware.

This is very cool. I'm not even going to say anymore so I don't ruin it for you.

Awareness Test


As an added bonus: the title of this post is derived from a line in a 1980's movie remake. Can you tell me, oh imaginary readers, for 200 points and the win, what movie it is from?

8th Annual Big Wheel Race

SF Station TV Coverage of the Event

How upset was I that I missed this? Okay. I know I need to grow up. But I always wanted a Big Wheel. What better than to revisit your childhood and get to race a Big Wheel down a crowded, possibly steep hill, then pull on the brake and spin out at the bottom...okay, you're right, I'm crazy. I just looked at more pictures, including one of a guy who scraped his arm all up rolling in this thing. Maybe not. But I still wish I had had a Big Wheel when I was a kid.

Here's more, including bumps and bruises - yuck.: jonbrumit.com/byobw.html

Big Mouth, Small Brains, part I

I was working at the front desk a while ago when a man that I've helped before came up to me with a reference question. I answered his question, and he thanked me profusely, telling me, as he had before, that I have a really good attitude. I found it strange that he kept telling me this, since I work with the public and it seems like I'd better have a good attitude if I want to do my job well.

You know when you know that something's wrong with someone, but you just want to give them the benefit of the doubt so they will hurry up and get the hell out of your face? I knew what he was up to, and I was trying to keep the smile on my face. But he hadn't yet finished showing me just how dumb he was, so the next thing out of his mouth was "I bet you have a lot of white people in your family." I kid you not.

Because I was trying to keep that good customer service going (and because I'm a good Black girl who has been taught to take pity on those less mentally blessed than myself), I said, "There are a couple." Which is true. There are a couple. Not counting the people who probably raped my ancestors, there are a couple of white people who have married into my family - because they were smart enough to know a good thing when they saw it, and to admit it publicly. But I don't consider that a compliment, though I know that's how he meant it. And the fact that he meant it as a compliment absolutely does not keep me from being completely offended by it. It's as if he was saying that I couldn't possibly have a good attitude, answer his questions correctly and give him good customer service if I didn't have white ancestors to offset all the negative blackness in me. Please.

I just had to share this with you because of course this happened in the "liberal bastion" of Berkeley. (At least, according to Berkeley residents.) I swear, I am tired of hearing Northern Californians tell me I must have had a hard time getting used to it out here. Why? Because everyone in CT is so conservative-not true, or because it takes two and a half times the money to live here that it does in CT--now that is true. I am tired of hearing how they didn't think any Black people lived in New England (so where did me, my mother, her family, my father, his family, my sisters and a bunch of our friends come from?), or hearing that where I'm from isn't diverse (when all you've done is drive through my home state on your way to a vacation spot), or that they aren't surprised about ignorant comments or actions I might tell them about that I encountered before I came out here, because, of course, that was in Connecticut. This self-congratulatory attitude that I've run into here about how liberal and diverse everything is here is just too much.

There's a lot that's cool here, don't get me wrong, but the Bay Area is by no means paradise, and Connecticut isn't evil just because your only view of it is the TV view: big-ass mansions and snobby people riding horses. If I had a big-ass mansion in Connecticut, don't you think I would have stayed there? Long story short, California has it's share of conservatives and no shortage of racists too, even here in the Bay Area.