Do I need to spell it out - no. But I will. We are Going to the FINAL FOUR. Well we, in theory, mean we as the global G'Town community. Not me. Awwww, well I just can't afford the $3500 ticket offered me. Seriously. And my G'Town ticket connection is scrambling for tickets himself. SO I will just be yelling and screaming at my television this weekend. AS all alum say - Hoya Saxa!
On another note - I have been blessed. We are healthy, something that I have always taken for granted. But I appreciate it. My son is being heavily recruited for the sport he loves. My younger daughter has been recruited for a tournament tennis team. Yeah! Good things are happening.
On the book front, I am slowly moving forward with publicity. I have four more books completedm and in publishing. SO the series is eight books now. I am going to release an inspiration collection of poetry and a romance collection of poetry. Also, the four series book I have been working on "Ella Reid and the Armor" is back in works. The first two books are complete and in editing - I am so excited. The artwork for those pieces is almost complete. The artwork for another character - Tressa - is also complete and posted on the blog. I have to get those websites up and going, except those up in the next two weeks.
I received another great review - I am so excited http://lavenderisis.com/internalindulgences-buy.html The e-versions of the poetry collection is being published by LAvender Isis and www.lavenderisis.com Please check it out and let me know what you think!
One more thing - I was just informed that I am going to be published in another anothology. Yeah - this is the third one this year. Two short stories through www.kishagreenonline.com and now a poem.
Finally, Terry Howcott has featured another poem at http://terryhowcott.com/greenspace.asp?id=738
Send me your thoughts and comments...
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Friday, March 23, 2007
Exhausted
So, I am exhausted. I mean, can't keep my eyes open while I am drivin type of tired. Yet, I sit here typing away, tryin to get some energy to work on one of my stories, although I know tha tI can't. can't stay awake long enough to focus.
THis next month is a continuous stream of work/bills/recruitin trips/survival. I am lucky and blesed, I guess, but livin it is tiresome. Hope you are all well and I will update the stories soon, I promise!!
THis next month is a continuous stream of work/bills/recruitin trips/survival. I am lucky and blesed, I guess, but livin it is tiresome. Hope you are all well and I will update the stories soon, I promise!!
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
No More Heartbreaking Basketball
I don't want to see anymore heart breaking basketball. Not this season. I mean it. I am tired - fandom has got me emotionally drained. I can't watch another valiant attempt at victory in the face of insurmountable obstacles - i.e. other 6 footers. The one player I watched this year left his heart out there every time, an incredible thing to behold, but heartbreaking all the same.
I think it hurts when you develop an affection for the player, a hope that they will be successful no matter what. I mean, who else invoked so much emotion, but A.I. How many times did you watch his run with Philly in the playoffs a few years back and find yourself completely emotionally consumed, wasted from the pure magnitude of the effort that he put up, his heart bigger than reality, and certainly stronger than his physical.
I have seen that type of drive again this season, returning my love of the game. I used to watched basketball nonstop. Can't play a lick. Mesmerized by it, though. And this player took me there, to the times when I worked for the Wizards and the Mystics and determined that basketball, or representing it's players, would be my life. I walked away from that when I started having children, unable to cater to the daily demands of the career. But I love it again. At the same time, however, I can't take it anymore.
There has to be a great equilibrium, some fair balance for the players who give so much and still don't win the crown. I think of Chamique Holdsclaw - championships through highschool and college, nada in the pros. Happens alot. Maybe that's why this player couldn't get it, maybe there has to be something left for him to attain - (cause brotha shattered any record within his sights). SO I am ready for this player to experience fairness, to enjoy college and achieve what others only dream of while finally able to play with comparable talent and shine within the system, instead of having to work around five other players and four of his own teammates, going the length of the floor and getting slaughtered along the way - without foul calls- to slug out a mere two points.
What brought this to mind? Well, tonite I watched another heartbreaking game. No, not the player above, that season is over and his opportunity at the normal basketball experience is soon to come. And he is going to be alrite! But tonight I watched a women player for Maryland (i don't put other's children's names on the internet, if you haven't noticed) suffer heartbreak as the Lady Terps were upset by Ole Miss. Yes, I said Ole Miss. What in the world? How in the hizell did they let Ole Miss force 29 turnovers in the first half? And they were seeded 2. I shook my head, clucked in that dismissive way we sometimes do with women ball, until I saw my favorite player. A sweet person, my stomach knotted and my heart turned watching her sob during the last minutes of the game. I almost turned off the tube, but that seemed callous. So I watched and, the baby that I am, always feeling others emotions, I started crying too. SO, after a dedicated season, it came abruptly to an end for MD. And I felt unbelievably sad that she had to suffer that loss.
So yeah. That coupled with my son's first ever season inexplicably riding the oak, plucking splinters from his butt, polishing the pine, or whatever other term you can think of, has led me to one conclusion. I am ready for this basketball season to end, to release me from anymore heartbreaking games or circumstance. I think I'll take the summer to mentally recuperate.
I think it hurts when you develop an affection for the player, a hope that they will be successful no matter what. I mean, who else invoked so much emotion, but A.I. How many times did you watch his run with Philly in the playoffs a few years back and find yourself completely emotionally consumed, wasted from the pure magnitude of the effort that he put up, his heart bigger than reality, and certainly stronger than his physical.
I have seen that type of drive again this season, returning my love of the game. I used to watched basketball nonstop. Can't play a lick. Mesmerized by it, though. And this player took me there, to the times when I worked for the Wizards and the Mystics and determined that basketball, or representing it's players, would be my life. I walked away from that when I started having children, unable to cater to the daily demands of the career. But I love it again. At the same time, however, I can't take it anymore.
There has to be a great equilibrium, some fair balance for the players who give so much and still don't win the crown. I think of Chamique Holdsclaw - championships through highschool and college, nada in the pros. Happens alot. Maybe that's why this player couldn't get it, maybe there has to be something left for him to attain - (cause brotha shattered any record within his sights). SO I am ready for this player to experience fairness, to enjoy college and achieve what others only dream of while finally able to play with comparable talent and shine within the system, instead of having to work around five other players and four of his own teammates, going the length of the floor and getting slaughtered along the way - without foul calls- to slug out a mere two points.
What brought this to mind? Well, tonite I watched another heartbreaking game. No, not the player above, that season is over and his opportunity at the normal basketball experience is soon to come. And he is going to be alrite! But tonight I watched a women player for Maryland (i don't put other's children's names on the internet, if you haven't noticed) suffer heartbreak as the Lady Terps were upset by Ole Miss. Yes, I said Ole Miss. What in the world? How in the hizell did they let Ole Miss force 29 turnovers in the first half? And they were seeded 2. I shook my head, clucked in that dismissive way we sometimes do with women ball, until I saw my favorite player. A sweet person, my stomach knotted and my heart turned watching her sob during the last minutes of the game. I almost turned off the tube, but that seemed callous. So I watched and, the baby that I am, always feeling others emotions, I started crying too. SO, after a dedicated season, it came abruptly to an end for MD. And I felt unbelievably sad that she had to suffer that loss.
So yeah. That coupled with my son's first ever season inexplicably riding the oak, plucking splinters from his butt, polishing the pine, or whatever other term you can think of, has led me to one conclusion. I am ready for this basketball season to end, to release me from anymore heartbreaking games or circumstance. I think I'll take the summer to mentally recuperate.
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Return of the HOYAS
My Hoyas!! Man, ya'll just don't know. Today I had to pull out some blue and grey - for real! Couldn't find the grey sweats, so had to settle for blue sweats and grey undies (smile)! Yesterday I watched Georgetown soundly silence Pitt and all naysayers to resume their position as Big East Champions. My heart skipped a beat, watching John Thompson cheer his son on from the side. I got to admit, John Thompson is the only hero of mine that I hid from when given the opportunity to meet him. Actually walked in the other direction, with him standing ten steps from me, alone. I was nervous as hell. Scared. Cause that man means the world to me, and there is no way to explain to a stranger how much they changed your path/direction, just by coaching a team.
Let me backup (yep, this is going to be a long post). I grew up in what I call the Artic Circle, Rochester, NY. Syracuse and Orangemen (now Orange). That's all there was, that's who Rochester supported. The Big East was the beginning and end of basketball. I don't even recall noticing the other leagues until I entered college. Now, Rochester was not the most diverse place then and opportunities for blacks seemed bland at best. But every week, I could flick on the tube and watch this huge African American man coach the best team in the country, unapologetic and raw. True to himself and what he believed. To hell with every one else and what they had to say.
Like my first taste of hip hop, John Thompson was the embodiment of what I thought black men could be. So I became a die hard fan. Did my research, learned about him, about the team. Sported the Grey and Blue. Paid attention to D.C., which had been no more than another place on a geography quiz until then. Fell in and out of love, in true teenage fashion, with at least one player a season, Alonzo Mourning holding my infatuation the longest, of course (smile).
But, I developed a different respect for Coach Thompson my Sophomore year of college at Hampton University. There was this high school kid there, playing his senior year. Big time recruit. We had even heard of him on Hampton's campus, which is rare because the University and the Community were not intertwined then. I remember seeing him at Hampton games, meeting him when my girlfriend tried to get with him - them hookin up later, me grossed out that she was messin with a high school youngun (who was only 2 years younger actually). Of course, I am talking about AI, Mr Iverson. Allen Iverson. Now, my favorite basketball player of all time. Then, a kid trying to make it out. There was big time pressure for him to go to a state school. Then the bowling alley brawl happened. AI was shuttled outside during the fight. Had nothing to do with it. He was arrested, cited with inciting a riot/civic unrest. They sat that brotha in a jail cell. (I wrote a 200 pg thesis analyzing it and other travesty's while in law school).
Now please study your history and know that he is not the only player who went through this. Randy Moss. Jailed over nonsense once he didn't commit to stay home for college. There are others, I just can't remember off the top of my head. It happens all the time. They are labeled criminals, outside schools fall away, leaving the local university their only option after all. (How do you think Marshall got Moss. Come on now) So, that was the tactic that they used with AI. Destroyed him in the media, painted him all types of criminals, waited for all his offers to disappear. Enter John Thompson.
Now, I don't know that whose or whats, but I do know John got the boy out of there, brought him to G'town, and literally saved his life. The media tried to fire John up and ya'll know how raw he is. Nuff said.
So Jeff Green, MVP for Georgetown, says this championship is not about the past. I politely disagree. This championship is about much more than the here and now. It's about a legacy - a clear decision to not give in, to not sell out, to not stand by and look the other way once sucess had been achieved. It's about taking a nonspeaking brotha (some of you know who I am referring to) and creating NBA phenom/NBA representative, outspoken man of character whose son can carry on the torch. Its about creating the only empire that extends to ivy league graduate sons who stand on their own, believe strongly in their principals, live life in an exemplary fashion. Its about an idea and a dream that one inner city little girl tapped into and believed in and subsequently obtained her law degree from the very school that served as pride's platform.
Let me brag for just a second - G'Town law accepts/graduates the most African American lawyers in the nation, yes, more than Howard Law. Professors' Elizabeth Patterson and Anthony Cook are the beginning and end of unbelievable mind boggling intelligence and professionalism. Classmates included Div I athletes, a Washington Redskins Superbowl Champion D-Back, innumerable scholars, judges sons and daughters, politicians kids - oh, that's just among the African American population, not Gtown as a whole. Unbelievable diverse, unbelievably supportive. Entertainment Law class, by Professor Gordon a name and entity unto himself, I met one of the Wachowski bros (the matrix), every major sports agent in town, literary agents, etc...some connections helped land my intership with Washington Wizards/Mystics (Washington Sports and Entertainment) and at graduation: Colin Powell was the speaker - his son (former HUD administrator) is a G'town grad. He made it his business to interact with students - special "I see my folks" acknowledgment to the black students. Don't hate! it's really like that. Georgetown alum continuously change the world/always look out for each other.
So anyway, the championship has meaning, and touches many. Because of the history and the tradition. BTW- I have seen Georgetown's future, ya'll, and all I can say is it only gets better from here....
Hoya for Life!
Let me backup (yep, this is going to be a long post). I grew up in what I call the Artic Circle, Rochester, NY. Syracuse and Orangemen (now Orange). That's all there was, that's who Rochester supported. The Big East was the beginning and end of basketball. I don't even recall noticing the other leagues until I entered college. Now, Rochester was not the most diverse place then and opportunities for blacks seemed bland at best. But every week, I could flick on the tube and watch this huge African American man coach the best team in the country, unapologetic and raw. True to himself and what he believed. To hell with every one else and what they had to say.
Like my first taste of hip hop, John Thompson was the embodiment of what I thought black men could be. So I became a die hard fan. Did my research, learned about him, about the team. Sported the Grey and Blue. Paid attention to D.C., which had been no more than another place on a geography quiz until then. Fell in and out of love, in true teenage fashion, with at least one player a season, Alonzo Mourning holding my infatuation the longest, of course (smile).
But, I developed a different respect for Coach Thompson my Sophomore year of college at Hampton University. There was this high school kid there, playing his senior year. Big time recruit. We had even heard of him on Hampton's campus, which is rare because the University and the Community were not intertwined then. I remember seeing him at Hampton games, meeting him when my girlfriend tried to get with him - them hookin up later, me grossed out that she was messin with a high school youngun (who was only 2 years younger actually). Of course, I am talking about AI, Mr Iverson. Allen Iverson. Now, my favorite basketball player of all time. Then, a kid trying to make it out. There was big time pressure for him to go to a state school. Then the bowling alley brawl happened. AI was shuttled outside during the fight. Had nothing to do with it. He was arrested, cited with inciting a riot/civic unrest. They sat that brotha in a jail cell. (I wrote a 200 pg thesis analyzing it and other travesty's while in law school).
Now please study your history and know that he is not the only player who went through this. Randy Moss. Jailed over nonsense once he didn't commit to stay home for college. There are others, I just can't remember off the top of my head. It happens all the time. They are labeled criminals, outside schools fall away, leaving the local university their only option after all. (How do you think Marshall got Moss. Come on now) So, that was the tactic that they used with AI. Destroyed him in the media, painted him all types of criminals, waited for all his offers to disappear. Enter John Thompson.
Now, I don't know that whose or whats, but I do know John got the boy out of there, brought him to G'town, and literally saved his life. The media tried to fire John up and ya'll know how raw he is. Nuff said.
So Jeff Green, MVP for Georgetown, says this championship is not about the past. I politely disagree. This championship is about much more than the here and now. It's about a legacy - a clear decision to not give in, to not sell out, to not stand by and look the other way once sucess had been achieved. It's about taking a nonspeaking brotha (some of you know who I am referring to) and creating NBA phenom/NBA representative, outspoken man of character whose son can carry on the torch. Its about creating the only empire that extends to ivy league graduate sons who stand on their own, believe strongly in their principals, live life in an exemplary fashion. Its about an idea and a dream that one inner city little girl tapped into and believed in and subsequently obtained her law degree from the very school that served as pride's platform.
Let me brag for just a second - G'Town law accepts/graduates the most African American lawyers in the nation, yes, more than Howard Law. Professors' Elizabeth Patterson and Anthony Cook are the beginning and end of unbelievable mind boggling intelligence and professionalism. Classmates included Div I athletes, a Washington Redskins Superbowl Champion D-Back, innumerable scholars, judges sons and daughters, politicians kids - oh, that's just among the African American population, not Gtown as a whole. Unbelievable diverse, unbelievably supportive. Entertainment Law class, by Professor Gordon a name and entity unto himself, I met one of the Wachowski bros (the matrix), every major sports agent in town, literary agents, etc...some connections helped land my intership with Washington Wizards/Mystics (Washington Sports and Entertainment) and at graduation: Colin Powell was the speaker - his son (former HUD administrator) is a G'town grad. He made it his business to interact with students - special "I see my folks" acknowledgment to the black students. Don't hate! it's really like that. Georgetown alum continuously change the world/always look out for each other.
So anyway, the championship has meaning, and touches many. Because of the history and the tradition. BTW- I have seen Georgetown's future, ya'll, and all I can say is it only gets better from here....
Hoya for Life!
Thursday, March 08, 2007
Explanation
I kinda forgot the thrill of the chase, or being chased. For a little while. So busy birthin babies and tryin to play wifey. For a second, or a small lifetime, i believed that was all i had left. family formed and marriage reunited, what else is left. but there is something else. a need or desire for something else. for some small peice of me to remain, the me without a baby hang off hip or a mansilent expectations. Just me. Who I was. Who I am. Someone kinda special, with some deep down talents, shyness causing me to hide them instead of exploit and reveal them.
So that's where I am. Today. trying to scratch and claw the moss and dust off of talent and identify it. Trying to remember the me that appealed to the opposite sex, appealed to my sense of woman. Sometimes walking that fine line, but staying on the right side ot it, no doubt. Remembering when I was interesting, had something to say, thought I could change the world, believed that I mattered. I am trying to tap back into that.
I think my website confuses. Especially those who know me. the thoughts and ideas and experiences that we never admit to having, thats whats tied up in my poetry. But I am not the only one who has thought these thoughts, pushed these limits, experienced joys and pains. Maybe the surprise comes in the cover, the outer offering. It might be my plain janeness that is throwing so many folks off. I am not sure. nor should I care. I only do to the point that I do not wish to alienate folks who had a certain idea of me and are seeing that idea shatter and crack.
i have a good friend who summed it up. I love your writing, he said, and i love reading it. But I don't ever want to discuss it with you. I didn't know how to react to that. but thats what I get sometimes. and its fine. I am sick of wading in bs, ready for real reasons and explanations, real emotions. if i can express them in a forum and they are received then i have tiptoed into one aspect of my gift. maybe i can expand from here..
So that's where I am. Today. trying to scratch and claw the moss and dust off of talent and identify it. Trying to remember the me that appealed to the opposite sex, appealed to my sense of woman. Sometimes walking that fine line, but staying on the right side ot it, no doubt. Remembering when I was interesting, had something to say, thought I could change the world, believed that I mattered. I am trying to tap back into that.
I think my website confuses. Especially those who know me. the thoughts and ideas and experiences that we never admit to having, thats whats tied up in my poetry. But I am not the only one who has thought these thoughts, pushed these limits, experienced joys and pains. Maybe the surprise comes in the cover, the outer offering. It might be my plain janeness that is throwing so many folks off. I am not sure. nor should I care. I only do to the point that I do not wish to alienate folks who had a certain idea of me and are seeing that idea shatter and crack.
i have a good friend who summed it up. I love your writing, he said, and i love reading it. But I don't ever want to discuss it with you. I didn't know how to react to that. but thats what I get sometimes. and its fine. I am sick of wading in bs, ready for real reasons and explanations, real emotions. if i can express them in a forum and they are received then i have tiptoed into one aspect of my gift. maybe i can expand from here..
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
