No time to blog...

I love reading blogs yet despite the fact that I write professionally, I find the process of blogging simply not appealing. In my head I have all these lovely thoughts yet when I sit down to blog, they never come out. That said, I guess this blog will simply die a slow death before it even gets off the ground. Sigh...

We got manners..imagine that

I am in the process of weaning myself off cable tv (in downsizing my life, I realized I'd rather drink Starbucks than watch the idiot box) so I have been avoiding tv like the plague. However in my random surfing of boards and blogs, its come to my attention that Bill O'Reilly of the Fox News Network recently dined in Harlem's famed Sylvia's (soul food establishment) and apparently was amazed to see Black folks eating and hanging out just any other group of people.

Wow! Let me say that again, WOW!!! This knucklehead clearly watches too much tv himself if he believes that all Black folks act out in the manner of coonery that is displayed on stations such as BET or MTV. Mr. O'Reilly, I would suggest you unplug from your tv and come out into the real world... also want to let you know that there are Black folks in places like Maine that do average joe shit like apple picking (and no we aren't the laborers, its a outing with the family).

For real, I wish my maternal grandpa was still alive, he would have eaten this story up considering he was a stickler for manners, I still twitch when I see elbows on any table.

Surprise...I'm Black

Living in Maine is a trip...even after 5 years.

Today I had a gig an hour north of me up the coast, it was a 1 day workshop I was conducting in this real small town (population less than 4 thousand...damn the condo I used to live in probably had that many folks in it LOL), needless to say when I showed up there was that momentary pause that I have come to expect but at the same time can piss me off.

Thankfully the workshop participants after an ice breaker that included me announcing that I was Black seemed to go fairly smooth though there were a few folks who seemed a bit standoffish. Its that shit that always makes me think, is a person as ass because I am Black or because they are naturally an asshole?

Overall it was a good day, the natives shared their lunch with me, some divine homemade soup and rolls and I saw some pretty scenery and while sometimes I wish I lived in an even smaller town, the lack of decent coffee put the kabash on that idea.

Just another day as a Black girl in Maine.

Digital divide

I think what has inspired me to want to start blogging is seeing how strong the Black blogosphere is, I mean I was reading about the Jena 6 months ago before it ever made the mainstream news. Folks talk about the digital divide and while I don't discount that maybe there are less Black folks online than whites, the reality is we are here and we clearly have some power to affect real change via the internet. I was so proud to see the brothas and sistas down in Jena, wishing that if I didn't have baby girl to take care, I would have been down there as well.

Living in a place like Maine, black forums and blogs are my lifeline to Black culture as well as my reality check which a place like this often doesn't provide.

Ho Hum day

Unlike in my professional life where I think alot about what I write, this blog is my place to decompress and talk about life in Maine. Sometimes I will talk about race and sometimes I might talk about the trials and tribulations of parenting a headstrong 2 year old. Or the struggle of living in a state where salaries are low yet my debts are high... being 194K in the hole sucks especially when you have never had a fancy car or big screen tv but rather financed your education by student loans and ended up self employed with a large tax debt.