For Black People Who Think Voting Is Pointless, Part 1: Voter Suppression

Because there has been so much going on in the past week socially, politically and personally, I didn't realize National Voter Registration Day was today until I watched this morning's broadcast of TV One's NewsOne Now.  (BTW, thank God for Roland Martin because I wouldn't know a significant amount of the information I do without his platform.)  Having this information on the heels of last night's first presidential debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton heightened the urgency of this particular post.  I have read and seen the grumblings from many folks within the Black community who are so disappointed in and suspicious of American politics and government that they are threatening to remove themselves from one of the most important aspects of the political process: voting.  Now while the Electoral College has been constitutionally selecting the "leader of the Free World" since President George Washington, Kathleen McCleary gave this breakdown in an April 21 article for Parade: "When you cast your vote for president this November, you're not voting for the candidate on the ballot, you're voting for which group of electors from your state--Republican, Democrat or some third party--get to vote for president."  While I know that does nothing for the skeptics, perhaps this two-part series outlining the six reasons why the Black vote absolutely matters in the most critical election in our country's history will be more convincing.  Specifically, the first three reasons in Part 1 all deal with America's shameful legacy of voter suppression and disenfranchisement...

Scribbler's Rave & Favorite Five: Best...Birthdays...EVER!!!

As a child, September 28th meant something different.  It meant dinner at Red Lobster back when the cheddar bay biscuits weren't the best thing on the menu.  It meant I could go right around the corner, hit up Toys "R" Us I didn't have to wait until Christmas to get those two Decepticon planes that combined to make one big plane.  (I Googled the heck outta that and I still don't know the names of either plane.)  It meant I had an excuse to eat a slice of cake every day for the rest of the week.  As an adult, I care less about presents and more about presence.  If I invite someone to a party or gathering, then I won't ridicule them for walking through the door empty handed as long as they come with a full heart of love and the readiness for whatever.  My birthday might be my personal holiday, but as y'all will see in a very special edition of the "Rave & Favorite Five" to help bring in 37 in a different way, one of the greatest days in human civilization is only as great as the fantastic times with family, friends and loved ones.  So cue the Black folks version of "Happy Birthday", pour a few shots and walk with me down memory lane...

RANDOM THOUGHT ALERTS!!! (Vol. 1, No. 11)

At one point, I know y'all probably thought this series should be renamed "The WMATA Chronicles" because of my 31-years-and-counting obsession with D.C. Metro.  However, as much children's programming as I've been exposed to over the past two years, maybe I should consider rebranding this "Memoirs of a Pitiful Big Kid".  So remember my edition of "RANDOM THOUGHT ALERTS!!!" when my crazy brain connected Ramone aka Mr. "I Do What I Can" from PBS Kids' Peg + Cat to Project Pat's "Out There Part 2" skit from his Mista Don't Play - Everythangs Workin album?  Welp, the ignorance has resurfaced once again.  One morning when I was getting ready for work, PBS Kids' "Where in the World Is Hooper?" came on in between shows.  After Hooper the Hamster gave all of his clues per the usual, asked the kids "can you guess where I am" and then said "you guessed it", you probably can deduce which popular "trap" song of the past two years came to mind..."B---h u guessed it...HWAH...u was right."  So it's official: I can't watch PBS Kids without thinking about Project Pat, OG Maco and other ratchet rap songs.  I mean, Hooper does moonlight as a fake-me-out DJ if that means anything at all regarding the connection in my mind between him and rap.  (BTW, saying the words "fake-me-out" gave me an idea for a future random thought, but I digress.)  Let's get on with the rest of this mess...

Views from the Nosebleeds: 2016 NFL Regular Season, Week 3

Frankly, this week's intro to "Views from the Nosebleeds" was going to be a potential snoozer about the NFL's slight decline in ratings.  However, when I saw this picture of Rashad Ross, DeSean Jackson, Niles Paul (one of five team captains) and Greg Toler with their fist raised during the National Anthem before their NFC East matchup with the Giants, I strongly considered becoming a fan of Washington's NFL team again.  In a September 25 Washington Post article, head coach Jay Gruden's "haven't had that issue here" comments were reiterated along with this emphasis on the team's connection to the military: "[The team has] a ton of respect for what goes on for our country with those people.  And for three minutes, for us to take our helmet off and stand up and give respect is how we treat it here with the Redskins."  On the flip side, Ross insisted, "It's nothing against the National Anthem.  It never was against it.  It's about all these killings that's going on that aren't right."  Jackson, who Ross acknowledged as spearheading the move, said this after the game: 

We felt like there's a lot going on out there in our country now.  We feel like we have an opportunity to be seen and be heard.  We just want to support our people in a time of crisis like this where you have a lot of tragic situations, a lot of people losing their family members due to senseless killings by these police officers and things like that.  We just wanted to make a stand, and I think just really putting our fists up and supporting our culture is something important.

Although this is what the NFL's most disliked player in Colin Kaepernick has been trying to communicate to the rest of America for over a month now, I am proud to see more and more brothers--who comprise nearly 69 percent of the NFL's player population--echoing the pertinence of his sentiment and standing in solidarity.  I am more elated to see someone like Jackson--one of the team's most prominent players who once caught flack for his association with gang members back in his hometown of Los Angeles as a member of the Eagles--be a leader and effectively use his platform to help raise awareness of this social epidemic.  I hope they keep it going and contribute in other ways like Kaepernick, but this is a fantastic beginning from a small but passionate fraction of the home team.  Now that's how you introduce a spirited Week 3 in the NFL and the first two topics continue the trend...

RANDOM THOUGHT ALERTS!!! (Vol. 1, No. 10)

Ever since I first saw "Sweet Love" on Music Video Connection as a youngster, Anita Baker has been in my top 10 favorite R&B singers of all time.  However, in the tradition of greats like Michael Jackson, James Brown and Michael McDonald, she has one "drawback" to her delivery: when she gets excited, her ability to enunciate suffers a bit.  Exhibit A: in the verse following the bridge on her 1990 single "Talk to Me", it always sounded like she was saying "hacienda"; in actuality, she says "across your face".  Right before going into the last round of chorus repetition, I always thought she said "you avoid my rush, you avoid my race, baby" when the factually correct translation is "you avoid my advice, you avoid my embrace, baby".  In all fairness, I don't have the best hearing in the world due to years of listening to music in my headphones nearly at full blast and only grasping the concept of protecting one of my greatest assets within the last decade.  Nevertheless, I know I'm not the only one who has looked at her like, "What the heck did you just say, lady?"  Now that I've graduated summa cum laude from The Big Dadi Scribbler School of Lyric Translation, let's roll with the rest of the nonsense--and trust, I do mean nonsense...

"Love Is a Commitment, Not a Feeling"...Says Who???

Much like my last "RANDOM THOUGHT ALERTS!!!", another one of those "deep" relationship memes floating around Facebook has struck a nerve with me.  In a picture grid in the particular meme in question, a man is massaging his woman's feet on the left side of the grid and a woman is returning the favor on the right side.  The caption above the grid reads, "Choose to love each other, even in those moments when you struggle to like each other."  To this point, I'm wholeheartedly with this sentiment because whether it's your significant other, your friends or those one or two or five family members you want to choke slam from time to time, you must willingly decide to love that person regardless.  However, here's where they lost me: "Love is a commitment, not a feeling".  Let me be clear: I strongly agree with the former part of the quote, but I'm utterly annoyed when people echo the latter because it belittles and dismisses human emotions.  So here are my questions: how do you get to the commitment of loving without the feeling that makes you want to love and commit, and doesn't love encompass both feelings and commitments?  Well, let's try to answer these burning inquiries from several perspectives, shall we...

Views from the Nosebleeds: 2016 NFL Regular Season, Week 2

I came into Week 2 of NFL regular season action on a high from a solid Saturday in NCAA football.  Although all three of my favorite teams won big--including Michigan storming back from being down 14 points in the first quarter at home to beat Colorado 45-28--my favorite game of the day was between two unranked teams, Maryland vs. Central Florida.  After UCF QB McKenzie Milton lost his third fumble of the game in the second overtime in a tie game at 24, Maryland freshman QB Tyrrell Pigrome had the daunting task of filling in for the injured Perry Hills.  However, there are few plays better in someone's first snap than to get a 24-yard TD run to win the game 30-24 in double OT and push your team under your first-year head coach DJ Durkin to 3-0.  Yeah...seeing another one of my favorite college football teams win in dramatic fashion definitely got me ready for football on Sunday.  So enough about the kids and let's talk about the grown man's game...

Calling a Spade a Spade: The Assassination of Darren Seals

When I first heard the news of the death of 29-year-old activist Darren Seals, I was mortified for two main reasons.  First, the manner in which he was killed--suffering a gunshot wound before his vehicle was set on fire--sent chills through my spirit.  Second, those chills recalled the cold-blooded murders of Mississippi civil rights workers James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner and how I'm sure Black people and sympathizers in 2016 feel the same way about another Black man meeting a horrible fate amidst racial injustice and social unrest as folks in the 1960s did about those particular deaths.  However, in lieu of using safe, politically-correct terms like "killing" or "murder", very few people will admit this was a treacherously heinous act committed against someone who was adamant about not only improving and fighting for his community, but also challenging a historically-racist police force.  Hence, I am calling the demise of Darren Seals exactly what I believe it is in my heart of hearts: a premeditated assassination...

Lessons for Life: Placing the Loss of a Teacher to 9/11 in Perspective

Even watching NFL kickoff weekend and seeing tributes around the league, I had no plans to write anything extensive to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the September 11th attacks of the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.  However, when I watched the "September 11th" episode of NFL Network's The Timeline, the recollections of that dark and fateful day in American history stirred up emotions I repressed for years.  Although seeing the video of the two planes strike the Twin Towers brought back memories of being awakened out of my sound sleep to witness the horror only 166 miles down Interstate 87 from where I was, it was the sight of the Pentagon that sent the biggest chill through my spirit because it was more personal for me.  On her way to a National Geographic field trip in California, Hilda Taylor, a sixth grade teacher at Madeleine V. Leckie Elementary School in Southwest D.C., lost her life along with her 11-year-old student Bernard Brown II on American Airlines Flight 77 ten years after my last days as a student there.  When Momma Scribbler--a teacher's aide at Leckie for 13 years--shared the news with me, I was absolutely stunned and heartbroken that the teacher who helped to guide the trajectory of my academic career the most was no longer here.  So in an effort to finally address my sentiments about 9/11, I dedicate this to one of my favorite teachers...

RANDOM THOUGHT ALERTS!!! (Vol. 1, No. 9)

So let me tell y'all how much of a guy I am and why a GIF of Eddie Murphy making funny faces from Delirious opens up this round of "RANDOM THOUGHT ALERTS!!!"  Other than his joke about his Aunt Bunny falling down the stairs, his "Fart Game" spiel is exceptionally hilarious because it's irrefutably true--especially among men.  While waiting in vain for Mrs. Scribbler to straighten out her license situation at the White Oak MVA, I'm in the bathroom taking a leak.  Suddenly, someone's rips off a nice, long fart that sounds like an out-of-tune member of the Phoenix Horns.  The kid in me giggled while the man in me wanted not only to "grade the fart" like Murphy suggested, but also to say to the dude, "Good job, bruh!"  However, since I didn't know whether the person in that stall was from this country or not considering White Oak is culturally diverse like much of the rest of Silver Spring, I didn't wanna be weirder than I already was for being proud of his achievement in flatulence.  Now that you've had all the TMI/"gas pump" stories you can handle for one day, let's use that low-octane fuel to power us through the rest of today's madness...

Scribbler's Rave & Favorite Five: Ninetysomething Days of Summer, #1 Summer of '97

Whereas the summer of 1995 was a little more about life-changing experiences, what made my final summer as a "teenager" the greatest of all was how much fun I had with my friends and family.  Sure, those 93 days were part of one of my biggest transition periods from high school graduation to attending college and being away from the nest for the first time.  However, as much as I was excited about this new journey, I gladly put my next chapter on hold as I continued to enjoy the last months of my adolescence.  Much like the previous four summers on this countdown, 1997 provided a great soundtrack--a lot of which 2Pac and The Notorious B.I.G. supplied in bittersweet fashion following their tragic murders.  Another honorable mention were the summer blockbusters as I distinctly recall going to see Face/Off, Batman & Robin (which wasn't really that good, but still), Conspiracy Theory, The Fifth Element, Nothing to Lose (which I saw like three times), Money Talks and How to Be a Player.  Even with so many good tunes and flicks on deck, they weren't enough to outdo the plethora of fantastic voyages sans the pirate hats and the land of funk.  So as I round out the "Ninetysomething Days of Summer" edition of my "Rave & Favorite Five", I unveil the five reasons why the summer of 1997 is king of the hill...

The Ain't No Mo' Pizza Book Club: "Allure: NO Regrets..."

Around the beginning of my kindergarten year, Pizza Hut developed the BOOK IT! Program rewarding kids for their enthusiasm to read.  Knowing I had a personal pan pizza waiting for me, I was reading everything and anything while feeding my hunger for knowledge.  However, I stopped being as consistently eager to read a book for leisure as I aged unless I knew for sure it was good--despite becoming someone whose various platforms hinge upon another person's earnest desire to read.  Fast forward 21 years to adulthood...when my coworker first shared her book idea with me, I knew she had something special on her hands simply because of her insightful and passionate viewpoints on a wide array of topics.  Little did I know how powerful the finished product would be where the thought of putting it down for the sake of sleep was dreadful.  In a story involving love, marriage, family, sex, ambition, business, dreams realized and deferred and understanding the Universe's purpose for certain occurrences in life, Teeonah Talaya's addictive debut publishing, Allure: NO Regrets..., is full of emotional roller coasters and inspiring gems.  So as an ode to what put me on my reading path, it brings me great pleasure to unveil the inaugural edition of "The Ain't No Mo' Pizza Book Club" with some of my favorite parts of Allure: NO Regrets...

Views from the Nosebleeds: 2016 NFL Regular Season, Week 1

I nearly got roped into two things known to drive up my blood pressure over the past eight years: 1) another season of fantasy football and 2) buying a copy of Madden NFL 17.  However, there are three simple reasons why I won't drink the Kool-Aid with either: 1) both bled me dry financially last year, especially FanDuel, and a brother needs to save his duckets; 2) I don't have the time to invest in FanDuel or Madden because I have too many creative endeavors; and most important, 3) I want to be able to enjoy the game of football without worrying about how a dropped TD pass, a fumble or an aberration of a performance will drop my from a cool $500 to zilch in a matter of seconds.  Therefore, in an effort to accomplish what I failed to do last NFL season, I unveil a new weekly series dedicated to my favorite sport: "Views from the Nosebleeds."  So during a week featuring six fourth-quarter come-from-behind wins and four one-point victories--the latter being an NFL record for an opening weekend--let's go over some of my "views"...

Scribbler's Rave & Favorite Five: Ninetysomething Days of Summer, #2 Summer of '95

Although every summer of my youth was "life-changing", not even the No. 1 summer in this countdown can top the summer of 1995; heck, there aren't too many years that can contend with 1995 outside of the forthcoming top dawg.  For Momma Scribbler, Big Little Brother Scribbler and I, it was our second summer living in our first-ever house in Far Southwest D.C. (or the "Southeast part of Southwest" as many of us D.C. folks call it, which also happens to be geographically accurate) that came with a lot of firsts, including our own rooms and a private line for us to talk about the mindless things that adolescents discuss with our friends.  When we weren't at our respective summer programs, the broski and I kicked it around the way with our new friends playing Spades in our backyard, hooping at the basketball courts or hanging at whatever mall was accessible by Metro as we were neither old enough to drive nor mature enough to earn our parents' trust even if we had the age and the license to boot.  However, beyond my overall quality of life improving between the ends of ninth and tenth grade--especially from a social standpoint--the following five things rightfully earned the summer of '95 the No. 2 spot in the "Ninetysomething Days of Summer" edition of my "Rave & Favorite Five"...

Scribbler's "Get Out of My Brain!" Countdown of the Month (September 2016)

You never know how a month's worth of random songs being lodged in the corners of your mind will work.  Once the last batch of brain invaders left the scene of the crime, the first culprit looking to raid was "In My House" by the Mary Jane Girls.  Truth be told, I can't even tell you what made me think of that song recently because as much as I've always liked it, I don't think about it very often.  Hence, I had a feeling neither "In My House" would make the cut nor "Put It In Your Mouth" by Akinyele, "Tonight, I Celebrate My Love" by Peabo Bryson and Roberta Flack", "My Dad's Gone Crazy" by Eminem nor "The Lovers" by Alexander O'Neal.  Guy's "Goodbye Love" had three opportunities to make the list--twice on its own and once via sampling on Mary J. Blige's "Don't Go"--but still didn't make it despite a strong resurgence.  Of all people, Rihanna nearly made "Get Out of My Brain!" history with three entries including "Sex With Me" and "Needed Me", but you will soon see which one endured.  Now that the losers have been accounted for, let's talk about the winners...

Scribbler's Late AF Post of the Week: In Heavy Rotation (August 2016)

Whereas I went from a "Black Music Matters" in June to mainly "White Boy Wasted" in July, the August edition of "In Heavy Rotation" has its own swagger.  Not only could many of these picks be interchangeable, but most of them are from artists who I like and respect, but I'm nowhere near the head of their fan clubs.  However, that's the marvel of music: there's always an opportunity for an artist to change your mind or make you more of a believer in their work--especially if it's evident they have the talent and charisma to keep your attention for the majority or the entirety of a project.  So enough talking, let's get to the tunes...