A Thought on Cosmetic Surgery

Plastic Surgery : the oughts :: Shag Carpeting : 1970's

Butt-Clenching Peeping Tom Shots

For my 15 minutes, I'd like to play a side kick in a movie. I'll have a nude scene that features my body double.

All the men/boys who have ever been in love with me / just wondered what it would be like to fuck me will be pleasantly surprised.

Fantastical!

The Only Book List That Matters

Coachella 2010

best african american essays, 2009

Friends, family : Fired: can a friendship really end for no good reason? / by Emily Bernard –
Gray shawl / by Walter Mosley –
Real food / by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
Entertainment, sports, the arts : Hip-hop planet / by James McBride –
Writers like me / by Martha Southgate –
Dances with daffodils / by Jamaica Kincaid –
The coincidental cousins: a night out with artist Kara Walker / by James Hannaham -- Music: bodies in pain / by Mark Anthony Neal –
When Tyra met Naomi: race, fashion, and rivalry / by Hawa Allan –
Dancing in the dark: race, sex, the South, and exploitative cinema / by Gerald Early -- Modern-day mammy? / by Jill Nelson –
Broken dreams / by Michael A. Gonzales.
Sciences, technology, education : None of the above: what I.Q. doesn't tell you about race / by Malcolm Gladwell –
Driving / by Kenneth A. McClane –
Part I: I had a dream / by Bill Maxwell –
Part II: A dream lay dying / by Bill Maxwell –
Part III: The once and future promise / by Bill Maxwell.
Gay: Get out of my closet: can you be white and "On the down low"? / by Benoit Denizet-Lewis –
Girls to men: young lesbians in Brooklyn find that a thug's life gets them more women / by Chloé A. Hilliard.
Internationally black: A slow emancipation / by Kwame Anthony Appiah –
Searching for Zion / by Emily Raboteau –
Last thoughts of an Iraq "embed" / by Brian Palmer –
Stop trying to "save" Africa / by Uzodinma Iweala -- We are Americans / by Jerald Walker.
Activism/Politcal thought: Jena, O.J. and the jailing of black America / by Orlando Patterson –
One nation-- under God? / by Barack Obama –
Americans without Americanness: Is our nation nothing more than an address? / by John McWhorter –
Barack Obama / by Michael Eric Dyson –
Standing up for "bad" words / by Stephane Dunn –
Debunking "driving while black" myth / by Thomas Sowell –
Goodbye to all that: Why Obama matters / by Andrew Sullivan –
The high ground / by Stanley Crouch.

George Hunt Pendleton

(July 19, 1825 – November 24, 1889) was a Representative and a Senator from Ohio. Nicknamed "Gentleman George" for his demeanor, he was the Democratic nominee for Vice President of the United States during the Civil War in 1864, running as a peace Democrat with war Democrat George B. McClellan; they lost to Abraham Lincoln. He is best known as the principal author of the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act of 1883

Pendleton was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. He was the son of Nathanael Greene Pendleton and attended the local schools and Cincinnati College and the University of Heidelberg in Germany. Pendleton studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1847 and commenced practice in Cincinnati. He married Alice Key, the daughter of Francis Scott Key.

Look Busy

I want to be accepted. And at times I have been. Only briefly. And I can only guess at how purely.

Acceptance feels like how christmastime is supposed to feel, like being given a gift that stirs the primal loins. It feels like love and love–and electric touches–and fire melting cinnamon into faint hints of pine poured over a caramel gingerbread cookie dunked in mulled wine and stuffed into a warm and gently undulating vagina garnished with a sprig of freshly clipped holly.

We all want, ultimately, to be accepted–infatuated over–as the case may be. The key? Wanted-ness. France. And to be on the "in" instead of "out." Even America wants French approval. Does it not?

And it seems that we are only given glimpses of this acceptance. Of ourselves, we are untolerating. But this is inherent in those of us who are self-aware. Those who want to better themselves, and challenge themselves to do so. So how can we expect others, with much higher and exacting standards, to let us in?

We can pretend.

A Good Friend is A Great Reason to Smile

So, I was thinking about Jesus's glorious resurrection from death and I couldn't help but be reminded of you ( during this important Easter season.) Mostly, I was just mulling over your visit to Baltimore last weekend. I miss you loads. It definitely doesn't feel right at all without you here. This time of year is usually difficult, making for some tough transitions. However, this year, I feel especially lost and full of empty change. Summer will be welcomed wholeheartedly by yours truly. M____ left (for home) on Thursday night and of course her ride was late. I was reminded of our wonderful rendition of "Oh Where, Oh Where Can y M____ Be?" And I run into that stuff frequently. Also, I wanted to apologize about missing your departure on Sunday. I thought I had given myself enough time, but I was a dumbass and so on. I wish it could be the three of us again. Perhaps there is an appropriate time/place for such a meeting.

And now for some ad-lib poetry (I promise I just made this up–no editing.)

Leafing through trees,
Snorting out truffles,
The little white pig
Sneezes short little snuffles.

It seems he has caught
A bit of the flu
And that is why
His face turned blue.

More of that later (much later.)

I just wanted you to know that I love you dearly and that I think about you constantly. You're one swell little lady. Hope I get to meet up with you soon. I'll be in touch.

Peace.