Twist the tail off and do WHAT!?!?!?!?! UH?! REALLY?! No I pass!!
Saturday, March 31, 2012
There is so many sides to me - this is mis amigos latino #SoulcialMe ¡Mi barrio es mi vida!
It's been about 3+ years since I've hung out with them. I did not realize how much I missed them. The true United nations...
Sunday, March 25, 2012
International Call For Entries: First Glance Teen Film, Visual Arts & Poetry Competition - National Black Arts Festival : National Black Arts Festival #SoulcialMe
International Call For Entries: First Glance Teen Film, Visual Arts & Poetry Competition
Posted by tracy on Wednesday, February 1, 2012 · 2 Comments and 3 Reactions
Are you a teen filmmaker, visual or spoken word artist ready to take the next step in your artistic career? By participating in First Glance: Fresh Perspectives From Young Artists you will be doing just that. NBAF invites the International community of young artists to create original work around the theme “Connect, Inspire, Transform”. Winners are eligible for up to $1000 in prizes, master classes with professional artists, access to professional mentoring, an opportunity for your work to be featured at the National Black Arts Festival and much more. This program is sponsored by Turner Broadcasting through the Turner Voices initiative. DEADLINE: April 15, 2012
Filed under Home Page Slide, NBAF BLOGS, Uncategorized · Tagged with film, NBAF, poetry, teen competition, visual arts
via nbaf.org
I will be getting my son involved as well as some other talented youths!!
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Friday, March 23, 2012
You Have a Social Media Presence, but Are You Missing the Tools for ROI? - Information Management Online Article #SoulcialMe
March 23, 2012 – Although more enterprises are using hashtags and wall posts than ever before, most are lacking the enterprise tools and internal governance policies to fully harness social media data, according to a new survey from CompTIA.
The report from the non-profit IT trade association, entitled “Social Business: Trends and Opportunities,” surveyed 400 IT and business executives at various U.S. industries in January 2012. For the survey, CompTIA broke “social tools” down into two categories: social media, like the use of public networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn; and social enterprise tools, those internal solutions that may be tied into an enterprise communications strategy or CRM system.
Use of social media was the norm among those surveyed, with 82 percent engaged in Facebook, and the majority also accessing Twitter (68 percent) and LinkedIn (68 percent). For those not involved on the social networking front, the study likened the hesitation to similar early business resistance to creating an Internet presence in the early 1990s, with some businesses having little or no social media implementation during this period of mass adoption as they wait to see if social media and tools “are a passing fad.”
Even with a social media presence, CompTIA estimated no more than half of all enterprises were “significantly” engaged in their public social networking outlets. Social implementation dives even lower when it comes to adopting social enterprise tools, with only a handful of those enterprises surveyed extending their social data capabilities with tools such as Yammer, Chatter, Jive or IBM Connections. A strong social media presence backed by enterprise tools led to more communications with customers, stronger brand positioning and overall cost savings, according to the survey.
Seth Robinson, CompTIA Director of Technology Analysis and an author on the report, says there is a “stark difference” between enterprise use of Facebook and LinkedIn, and analyzing data from those networking outlets with social enterprise tools.
“For all the discussion on social technologies, most companies have adopted a presence on the public sites but have not yet translated this experience into an internal platform,” Robinson says. “This translation is difficult because company culture can drive communication preferences, but the benefits to social communication indicate that companies will want to replicate these results internally.”
Between spending predictions that are expected to balloon in this space over the next few years and increased social media involvement, Robinson expects social tools to increase in prominence, especially with the growing capabilities around social analytics and data mining.
Also expected to grow in the coming years are internal policies to address social media use. Just 30 percent of those surveyed stated their enterprise had a formal social media policy in place, though another 34 percent noted that one was in the works. A challenge to instituting such a policy for many organizations will be addressing governance and allowing and enabling employees to interact online and “produce a more authentic social presence,” says Robinson.
“There are still going to be boundaries for permissible behavior, but much of that may already be covered by a company code of conduct. The power of social communications lies in transparency – a good message means that much more if the audience knows it is sincere and not crafted by corporate communications,” he says.
To access a copy of the report, click here.
Justin Kern is associate editor at Information Management and can be reached at justin.kern@sourcemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @IMJustinKern.
Atlanta Justice: 1,000,000 Hoodie Rally For #TrayvonMartin Monday, March 26 at 5:30pm #millionhoodies #SoulcialMe @DryerBuzz
Occupy The Hood & Yungface - rally for Trayvon Martin
Social media buzzing with the following rally announcement for Atlanta:
... Rally will be at the Georgia State capitol (downtown Atlanta) to show the world that Atlanta cares about this issue and that Atlanta won’t stand for it!!!!!
Time and place: Monday, March 26 at 5:30pm
Calling on all of Atlanta to show up and show out!!!
This could be any of our children in Georgia!!!
Share share share this event with everyone you know
Join the Community Page
https://www.facebook.com/1MillionHoodieMarchAtl
Sign the petition
http://www.change.org/petitions/prosecute-the-killer-of-our-son-17-year-old-trayvon-martin
Atlanta civil and human rights organizations currently in the midst of fighting several cases similar to Trayvon Martin's. Georgia has a Stand Your Ground Law in place. Legislators looking to pass further laws which prohibit protests. The language is skewed but obvious. Representatives against such laws seeking support from constituents. Buzz Developing.
Atlanta Justice: 1,000,000 Hoodie Rally For #TrayvonMartin Monday, March 26 at 5:30pm #millionhoodies #SoulcialMe @DryerBuzz
Occupy The Hood & Yungface - rally for Trayvon Martin
Social media buzzing with the following rally announcement for Atlanta:
... Rally will be at the Georgia State capitol (downtown Atlanta) to show the world that Atlanta cares about this issue and that Atlanta won’t stand for it!!!!!
Time and place: Monday, March 26 at 5:30pm
Calling on all of Atlanta to show up and show out!!!
This could be any of our children in Georgia!!!
Share share share this event with everyone you know
Join the Community Page
https://www.facebook.com/1MillionHoodieMarchAtl
Sign the petition
http://www.change.org/petitions/prosecute-the-killer-of-our-son-17-year-old-trayvon-martin
Atlanta civil and human rights organizations currently in the midst of fighting several cases similar to Trayvon Martin's. Georgia has a Stand Your Ground Law in place. Legislators looking to pass further laws which prohibit protests. The language is skewed but obvious. Representatives against such laws seeking support from constituents. Buzz Developing.
Justice for #TrayvonMartin Rally to begin at Centennial Park in Atlanta, GA 03/26/12 4PM #SoulcialMe
I'm going to be there! Won't you?
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Living Large on Less - Your Money - MSN Living #SoulcialMe
More from Essence
In this first of an ongoing series, in which we take a look at how we're spending and saving in these uncertain times, three ESSENCE readers -- a teacher, an accountant and an entrepreneur -- give up the goods on how to afford the things you love. These women know that real wealth isn't characterized by income and spending alone. Rather, real wealth is a mind-set and a lifestyle that is built over time with equal measures of hard work and sacrifice. African-American women who want to look like a million bucks while building wealth understand that you can have designer handbags, elite travel and luxury cars and not spend a fortune. It may mean buying with cash only or swapping designer duds with your always fly girlfriend. "It's about value, not about being cheap," explains Natalie McNeal, author of The Frugalista Files: How One Woman Got Out of Debt Without Giving up the Fabulous Life (Harlequin). Here we met women who have found ingenious ways to acquire what they want at affordable prices.
THE WORLD TRAVELER
Lynn Roach, 41, teacher, HartfordLynn Roach is traveling the world and looking great doing it. "I don't make a lot of money," says the eighth-grade history teacher from Connecticut, who spends her summers in Europe. "It's what I do with what I have." She finds that renting apartments is much cheaper than hotels. She once spent a month in Paris for $320 per week, for example, versus paying $320 per night for a hotel room.
"For ten months I work hard, so I can enjoy a luxury lifestyle during my two months off," says Roach. In addition to teaching her class, she tutors, does education consulting, and works after-school programs during the school year so her bills are paid up for the two months she takes off in summer. To pull off her jet-setter lifestyle, Roach looks for deals along the way. "I usually rent a flat with a stove top and refrigerator," she says.
"It cuts down on eating out. This is especially good if you are staying for more than three days." For example, she stayed in Prague, Czech Republic, for five nights and made herself breakfast every day.
She wants to see all the sights, from the Louvre to the consignment shops when in France, so she relies on the rail services instead of taxis. "Europe has the best metro systems, especially Paris," says Roach. "You can get everywhere." For her flights to her world destinations, she makes reservations early to lock in good airfares. She begins looking for airfare deals at least six months in advance.
Roach also takes full advantage of her teacher perks for traveling. Over the last 12 years, she has spent summers in South Africa, West Africa and Puerto Rico on teacher scholarships. Back home, she has taken education trips that include a civil rights tour in Alabama, as well as visits to the famed Mount Vernon estate, home of George and Martha Washington, among others. She helped fund some of her education excursions with a Fulbright Scholarship, which paid all travel expenses and awarded her a $200 stipend for food.
Video: Make guilty pleasures less guilty >
Lynn's Travel Deal Tips:
BOOK EARLY
Use sites like kayak.com and input your travel dates at least six months in advance. "Put in all the dates you may be thinking to travel, and it will send you alerts every week with prices," says Roach.RENT FOR LESS
Check for overseas flats and activities on search engines and sites like europeanhomerentals.com. And get creative. "I searched '3 days in Paris' on Google once, and it told me where to stay and what to do and see each day I was there," recalls Roach.LEVERAGE YOUR SKILLS
Apply for elite programs that grant you travel access. For Roach, it means visiting teachinghistory.org to find global summer jobs.Video: Great savings on family travel >
©http://www.essence.com
I am totally inspired by this article and it could not have come at a better time - I have lost everything and therefore I am starting from scratch. Time to learn how to do better with what God blesses me with by using wisdom and common sense.
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Our youth are blatant targets of bigotry and racism... Justice for #TrayvonMartin #SoulcialMe
I want the focus on the fact that Zimmerman, a Hispanic male, took the life of a 17 year old child! The audacity of this whole scenario incites anger in me I did not know I was capable of or that I knew I had. Even as I write this post my eyebrows are furled and I’m scowling. What more can we do? Yes, we can rally and march but more needs to be done! It is NEVER okay to take anyone’s life? Why didn’t Zimmerman just call the police and let them investigate if Trayvon was a threat or not? Why did he follow him after the police told him not to? When is walking around talking on the cell phone ever been suspicious activity? Isn’t there a protocol I am going to just assume that if the roles were reversed he'd be screaming racism and conspiracy to euthanize his race.
That's why I signed a petition to Pam Bondi, Florida Attorney General and Eric Holder, U.S. Attorney General, which says:
George Zimmerman's shooting of Trayvon Martin, an African American teenager, reveals a history of racism in Sanford, FL that has stubbornly refused to die. Weeks after the shooting, the Sanford police department is slow to release details of the shooting and, more surprisingly, has not arrested George Zimmerman, a man who has a history of violence.
We 5urge you to sign this petition to protect private citizens from gun violence and inept law enforcement. Florida's Attorney General Pam Bondi must step in and provide justice for Trayvon Martin, his family, and the community."
I signed this petition, won't you? Click here
This could have been your dad, uncle, brother, cousin or friend...
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Aurya with her godmommy (one of my besties) and friends... #preciousmoments
She is finally warming up to others... She was the church baby that sunday - it was so cute!
Monday, March 19, 2012
Saturday, March 17, 2012
I'm keeping your daughter from you? Really? #ignoramus
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ME: SO (insert Aurya's father's name here) why is it getting back to me via mutual friends that I am keeping your daughter from you? I mean really? I've told you you can come and get her Monday thru Saturday and YOU choose to only get her on Thursday and Saturday. Why are you telling people this lie.
Him: Well it's true, you can hear it from a thousand people and it will still be true. And I don't have the gas to come and get her Mon. - Sat.
(Side Note: He and I literally live 15 minutes away from each other)
Me: That's crazy - How is it true?
Him: Well you won't let her spend the night and that is you keeping my daughter from me.
Me: Really?! You're ignorant! She is ONLY 17 months and I am the one that has to undo or deal with the aftermath of her even seeing you on Thurs. and Sat.
Him: You let her spend the night when you were moving...
Me: That was 1 time (insert Aurya's father's name here)!!! I had no other choice and when I got her back she was a mess. She is used to mommy at this young age and you do not keep her on any type of schedule. I am not going to argue with you about this. If I was trying to be evil and mean I would had went downtown and put your tail on child support. I am trying to be understanding of your situation and work with you but you are getting on my nerves.
Him: Ja' let Aurya spend the night, let her stay from Thursday to Sunday.
Me: NO, you need to wait until she's older.
Him: I don't know why you won't let my daughter spend the night...
Me: O_o
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
My beautiful 23 year old cousin, Tiffany Wilborn, gone too soon because of #domestic #violence - she is loved and will be missed.
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I lost a beautiful cousin Sunday night. I just found out tuesday night and I've not been able to sleep yet. I sit and reflect on the senselessness of her murder and as I watch my 1 year old daughter sleep next to me with not a care in the world, my heart breaks because I cannot fathom having to bury her. PERIOD! I am sure Tiffany’s mother, Demisha "Ching", never imagined in her worse thought of thoughts that some angry insolent man would take her baby's life at the young age of 23 due to domestic violence.
Many women (as well as men) are victims of domestic violence. This generational curse plagues many households. I know that it has affected mine on both sides of my family and many altercations could have been prevented if there was more transparency within our family about domestic violence. Having a deeper conversations with our youth about them being their own person and having a right to their own feelings, stressing the importance that no one has the right to force their ideals on them, them understanding that you can’t force someone like you, they have 100% control over their emotions. And if God gives us all free will then no human being has ANY authority to inflict their convictions on them!
There is a stigma that surrounds domestic violence. Often times the victim is made to believe that they are the cause of the abuse... if only they would have kept their mouth shut; they would not have gotten “punished”. Or maybe if they would not have bought their son clothes with animal characters on them; they would not have gotten hit. Or maybe if they would have never gotten pregnant and fat; they would not have been the cause of them being shoved and falling down some stairs and having the baby 2 months early. Sounds crazy, right? Well, I know personally because, I used to be in a mentally, and physically abusive relationship. I would think if only I could just make him happy or if only I was a better wife; he wouldn’t hurt me. In time, I realized the only thing that would fix my situation was for me to leave.
Fathers should be imparting knowledge into and adding worth to their daughter’s so they can grow up and make better decisions. And when those fulfillments are not met young girls have a tendency to go looking for that boy or man who will validate them and place a price on their virtue. We as woman have to recognize and know whose we are - God daughters - and the power we possess as women.
Even sadder and the biggest losers in this tragedy are Tiffany’s two daughters. For neither will have their parents because of Tiffany's boyfriend, Charles', decision to take her physical life and now his physical freedom.
I didn’t know you Tiffany but hopefully your hardship and loss of life is a start to a dialog within our family to start the education and deterrent on domestic violence and abuse. It is NEVER okay to place your hands on any to do them harm.
May God envelope our family in His perfect peace and help us forgive and heal so that we may raise healthy and productive children to make smart and wise choices for their lives.Monday, March 12, 2012
Sunday, March 11, 2012
My LOVE is too passionate to be thrown back into my face...
I know my worth and it is NOT the value or price you have placed on me.
You're right, you can't give me ANYTHING because you're empty.
I deserve everything and the world.
I am letting you go...
Thursday, March 8, 2012
That'll 'FIX' you lil man!!!
He has always been a little terror but he was starting to get worse <frustrated sigh>. My dog, lil man, who turned 5 years old on February 21, had been progressively showing increased signs of aggression. Let me preface the rest of my post by informing you that his aggression stemmed from my then 9 year old son antagonizing him: pulling his tail, throwing balls at him, trying to sweep him with the broom, sliding him across the wood floor, and just doing what typical kids do a pet… (Side Note – I did not encourage or condone my son’s behavior towards lil man and he was thoroughly punished for his actions).
When he was asked to "go to his room" (his crate), Lil man would growl and try to bite at whomever through his cage as the door would be closed and locked, he'd hump people coming or going out of my house , and "marked his territory" every chance he'd get indoors. As a deterrent to a lot of his bad behavior, I'd leave him leashed to the front door with approximately 4 and a half foot span to allow him to roam free inside or outside.
A week prior to him being neutered I took him to my friend’s house (she works for the Atlanta Humane Society). When she tried to place him in his cage for the night he bit her (she tried to put him in there with her foot – this is something he doesn’t like because of ill treatment from my son). She was furious and did not blame her. She wanted me to come and get him IMMEDIATELY! I was not in the position to do so at that exact moment so we discussed some of the things that set lil man off. She had a talked with him, forgave him and gave him a second chance. I was apologetic and relieved because I was in the middle of moving out of my home and not able to retrieve him. SO, the day after this incident she was holding lil man in her lap, her daughter was coming to say goodnight to her and he bit her daughter. That was the last straw for lil man! I had to stop what I was doing and go get my dog. I felt so badly and the little girl was asking why my dog was possessed. SMH! This behavior had GOT TO END!
For all of you who advocate getting dogs spade or neutered at a young age let me explain why I did not get lil man fixed. My dog is a pure bred Maltese and the plan was to find or purchase a female so that we (my brother) could breed lil man – you know to at least make my money back ($1,200 USD). Well, that never happened!
On March 2, 2012 lil man was snipped, his little testicles were removed. The pictures you see are right after his surgery. Thus far, I see a huge difference in his temperament. I should have gotten this done years ago <raised eye brow + smirk> perhaps a lot of the incidents over the past 5 years could have been avoided.
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