Big Sole Blog (BSB)

Nintendo is warning buyers of its new 3DS that exposure to 3D gaming could stunt eye development in children under six years old. I saw this story at CNN, where the writer says it's possible to switch off the 3D functionality. Nintendo further warns:"... everyone who plays the 3-D gaming system to take periodic breaks from the games as often as every hour or 30 minutes."It seems all visual 3D

Updated January 1, 2011: ABC News has published an article indicating Gov. Barbour may have broken transplant laws with this deal:Ethicists say suspending a prison sentence on the condition that one sister give the other a kidney is a "quid pro quo" and threatens the ethical underpinnings of living donation laws. ... Dr. William Hurlburt, a Stanford neurologist who sat on the President's Council

In this 2010 Year in Wayward Gators video, you'll see a cat take on two alligators. That would not be my cat. She runs from the sweater shaver.

CNN is reporting that R&B singer Teena Marie, known for singing with the late Rick James and also having a powerhouse voice, has died in her sleep at age 54. Her manager says she suffered a grand mal seizure earlier this year. The video below is the original recording of "Fire and Desire," her most famous duet with James and the version I bought when I was a 19 or 20 and it was new. I bought it

Coldplay's "Fix You" was playing last night in my dream, and that's probably because I heard it recently during NBC's Sing Off! finale last Monday night. The exceptionally talented Street Corner Symphony performed it with other contestants. I will buy their first CD, and I will also joyfully buy Committed's first CD. They are the group of church boys from Alabama who won the $100,000 prize and

According to CNN:The Supreme Court has again cast aside an appeal that raised doubts about President Barack Obama's U.S. citizenship, a grass-roots legal issue that has gained little legal or political footing, but continues to persist in the courts. ... The justices without comment Monday rejected a challenge from Charles Kerchner Jr., a Pennsylvania man who sought a trial in federal court

Just when I thought some Tea Party leaders could sink no lower, I learn that one of its most prominent leaders, according to the Huffington Post, is calling for the United Methodist Church to be disbanded. I take this personally since I grew up in the UMC.My grandfather and great-grandfather were UMC ministers and many of my family members are still on its rolls. In fact, I've been thinking about

Last year I wrote "The Grim Sleeper: Death and Racial Politics," a post about the California case involving a serial killer who murders poor, black women and the investigation's slow progress. Fellow blogger MsLadyDeborah alerted me to an update. Per the LA Times, the Los Angeles Police Department is "seeking the public's aid in identifying about 160 women whose images were found on the property

Is this controversy with boycott the same as objections to The Last Airbender casting? As Rosanna Rosanna Danna would say, "It's always something!"I just read at The Root and the U.K. Guardian that a white supremacist group in the U.S.A. is boycotting the superhero movie Thor because British black actor Idris Elba has been cast as the Norse god Heimdall. Wikipedia says Heimdall is called "the

Years ago, when I first heard Gerald Levert's "Your Smile," I loved the song, but that was partly because it sampled Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell's "Your Precious Love." When he talks in the opening of "Your Smile" he makes no mention of the classic by name, but he does say we should "remember this one from way back." Here's Marvin and Tammi singing "Your Precious Love."

Remember the old saying, "Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean nobody's following you"? Well, now, given the many security cameras in stores, RFID tags in clothing, trackers attached to shopping carts, the next time you get that creepy feeling that someone's watching, you'll probably be right.

I had to post this Digital Story of the Nativity, especially since my final pedagogy project for a rhetoric and composition class was on social media and composition in the digital age. It begins with Mary hearing from Gabriel, the arch angel, on her iPhone. I hope readers enjoy it.

I saw this on a friend's Facebook page (before CNN picked it up), YouTube video of the University of Hawaii marching band formation of a ball being kicked. Whoever mapped this one out was really thinking and from now on, everybody else's traditional formations may look amateurish. I had to show it to both my adult children, both former band geeks.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economyWikileaks founder Julian Assange says he designed the website exposing government "secrets" so that he would not know the identities of people who leak information to the site. Consequently, he tells NBC's Today show that he does not know Army Specialist Bradley Manning, 22, (pictured) the U.S. private who's been accused of

Did you recognize the image Clay Duke painted on the wall from the movie V for Vendetta?When I saw this story about the Florida school board shooting yesterday, I got a chill, not just because the video was scary either. I used to cover school board meetings in other parts of the country and sometimes the people coming in to protest budget cuts or ask for school board backing on some project did

Even though Hugh Jackman crashed and hurt his eye doing a zip-line stunt for Oprah Winfrey in Australia, the Queen of Talk's ultimate Australian adventure is a hit down under. The BBC's Nick Bryant in Sydney said her visit feels like a "presidential, papal and royal visit all rolled into one."I saw the show yesterday when she told her "ultimate viewers" that she was taking them, the entire

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, 39, who is receiving a flood of support from around the world, has been released on bail with tight restrictions, report news sources. Per Sky.com:He was granted conditional bail for £240,000, thanks in large part to an address being put forward where the Australian national could reside. ... Vaughn Smith, a former Army captain who founded and runs the journalist

I knew I had forgotten something in my Aretha Franklin tribute. Tonight I was listening to Aretha's "Chain of Fools" and then remembered this entertaining dance scene with John Travolta and ladies in the movie Michael.

I took these photos last year during the 2009 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. Actually, I shot video that was too crowded with tourists walking in front of my view to post online. More photos are posted on my Facebook page. I probably need to check this with Kalamu ya Salaam, but I think these two black Mardi Gras Indians in the first two photos both serve as the wild man that clears the

This slide show at The Root captivated me this morning.The Talented Tenth in PicturesTo counter the negative images of African Americans in the late 19th century, W.E.B. Du Bois displayed portraits of middle-class blacks at the Paris Exposition of 1900. The Root has published some images from this act of defiance.The photos are courtesy of the prints and photographs division of the Library of

Thank you to Elisa at BlogHer.com, I learned that I can watch NBC's Sing Off! on Hulu as well as at NBC. I saw the opening episode, but apparently this second one got away from me. I didn't realize that it comes on twice weekly, Mondays and Wednesdays at 8 eastern/7 central.To me, this show is much better in its second season than it was in its first season. I think they realized with Glee's

I was working on something else, when I glimpsed the headlines for Metrodome's roof collapse. I thought I was misreading the news, but it's true. With the blizzard sacking the Midwest, so much snow has fallen in Minneapolis that the stadium's Teflon roof caved in. As a result, the Vikings/Giants game will be Detroit tomorrow night. Gee, I hope Prince is nice and warm. Here's Fox Sports video of

CNN's John Sutter defines the term "cyber attack" in the video above and says a cyber attack is an attack that takes place online, in cyberspace, and not in the real world. He also says the term "cyber war" regarding the attacks in support of Wikileaks and Julian Assange is an exaggeration.These attacks generally involve bombarding a website's servers with request that cause its actual customers

Thinking about Aretha Franklin's diagnosis of pancreatic cancer and writing my Aretha Franklin tribute for BlogHer.com, I mentioned Luther Vandross but not the feud he had with the diva. I just learned about that through Google Books. There you can read old issues of Jet Magazine like the one below. (click the picture to read the old Jet article.) You can also read my full post at BlogHer

The news about Aretha Franklin is not good, not good at all. Reports from her family earlier this week say the 68-year-old singer, pop culture icon, Detroit resident, and first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has pancreatic cancer. The illness has a high incidence rate among African-Americans, according to John Hopkins University researchers, but it's also the illness that

I've decided to make another comment trapper like the one I had years ago at my old blog. That way, I don't have to maintain any special comment software for posts I create on my WritingJunkie website. Now, if I can remember to add this link to quickie pages created at WJ, then maybe I'll hear from people who pop over there.

Julian Assange has been arrested on those Swedish rape charges. Does this mean we can expect him to release that "poison pill"? The Daily Mail reported days ago that Assange would "release poison pill of damaging secrets if killed or arrested." CNN says it's been called a "doomsday file," and Assange calls it his insurance. It's an encrypted file that you need a password to open, and Wikileaks

Is it really news news that Bill Maher thinks Glenn Beck wants to be a religious leader? I'm not sure Beck wants to be a preacher the way Maher thinks he does, complete with cathedral and tax exemption, but I do think Beck wants his true believers to think he may be some kind of prophet. That's part of Beck schtick, his gimmick. He says in one of the clips below, "I'm turning into a fricking

It's unlikely that I will be getting a job with the Federal Government, given my age and disposition these days, and so, despite warnings to people to not comment on Wikileaks if they hope to get a Federal job in the future, I can make a statement: This week's Saturday Night Live opening skit of Wikileaks as TMZ is hilarious!I started laughing as soon as the actor playing Julian Assange came on.

Over the years, a few rappers and Hip Hop stars (such as IceCube) have complained that Oprah doesn't have them on her show or tell their rags-to-riches stories to America. I've said before that they aren't really paying attention. Oprah's has the Hip Hop performers on that she likes. She plugged Jay-Z's new book on her show, has had Beyonce on more than once, and during the Don Imus controversy,

What happens when a woman questions the status quo? Could it be that she can change the concept of life as we know it? It's possible. Recent NASA news shook the web with the announcement that lead scientist and geomicrobilogist Felisa Wolfe-Simon of NASA’s Astrobiology Program has made a discovery that will cause textbooks to be rewritten. She found an organism at California's Mono Lake Research

Apparently, I just don't spend enough time on YouTube, which is why my son, who knows I did not sleep much last night, decided to show me this hilarious Google Maps is Evil video aka The Googling Part I by the Vacationeers. And that after I stayed up too late again because I couldn't tear myself away from watching one of my favorite classic horror flicks, The Haunting (1963) starring Julie Harris

Over the weekend I watched Martin Scorsese's documentary Public Speaking on HBO. It's about author and magazine writer Fran Lebowitz, and I highly recommend it. She's smart (no duh!) and funny. Oh, wait. Maybe I mean "witty." I especially appreciated her commentary on race, gender, America's current disdain for intellectuals, and how much she procrastinates. Of interest to people down here,

The 17-year-old pictured here is Pauline Deese. Both the Times Picayune and WWL TV report that Miss Deese is one of four teens, ages 14-17, charged with allegedly beating to death a 78-year-old woman in Norco, La. St. Charles Parish authorities have not yet released the names of the other suspects.News sources say that the teens allegedly convinced Mary N. Mulé Arico that they needed to use her

I'm with my dad and my adult children today. Helped a bit with cooking, but my daughter and son have the ball. I want to enjoy the day and not worry about tomorrow. I want to live and breathe gratitude, and that requires living in the moment.

I heard the news about North Korea shelling Yeonpyeong Island on Tuesday, but I didn't have time to think much about it then. Now, reviewing the news, including how American officials "scramble to limit hostilities," I'm having trouble convincing myself that American citizens (many of whom didn't know the Republicans won back the House during our own midterm elections) even care about the

Advice, ladies. If your current lover/spouse or your ex tells you that he always thinks of you when he hears Van Hunt's "Highlights," run to the nearest exit.

Some people find seeing how Oprah's audience goes crazy when she gives things away to be incredibly sad, demoralizing even, an illustration of America's decadence and zombie-like consumerism. While I think we need to not be so materialistic, I also say, "Lighten up. It's festival season." And so, I find these clips of her crowd going wild to be hilarious. She had medics standing by in case

I just discovered film critic Scott Mendelson's blog, Mendelson's Memos, and this bit of information about a crash in box office sales for the second week of Tyler Perry's For Colored Girls. Mendelson writes:Tyler Perry's For Colored Girls completely collapsed in weekend two, tumbling 66% (a record second-weekend drop for Tyler Perry) for just $6.7 million. Alas, the film apparently didn't expand

I am most definitely not a Pollyanna, always seeing the best in everything, but neither do I see the worst. I consider myself to be a realist who sometimes battles an inner pessimist. However, I think in order to maintain sanity that if you're going to be pessimistic about your prospects, then at least ground your pessimism in reality. So, when I read an article at TheRoot.com today by Helena

I saw the video embedded below on TV talk show host Lisa Durden's Facebook page. A black postal worker filmed a white customer (with her permission in in 2009 he says), who, after signing for a letter, demanded that he take it back. Hugston Jean, 47 then, tried to explain to the woman that it was against USPS policy to take the letter back the person signed for it. She would have to take the

I am surprised that Bristol Palin's beaten Brandy, who I thought was quite good even on the first show of this season's Dancing With the Stars. However, I've only seen DWTS that one time this year. (I prefer So You Think You Can Dance) Nevertheless, I can't escape DWTS news. Everywhere I turn, it seems, I'm hearing about possible Tea Party influence on Bristol Palin getting this far. Really, who

My dog started whining early, a lab. He's outside these days but he used to be an inside dog, and even though he seems to like being outside, he's got this habit of barking and whining whenever the kitchen light goes on in the morning. Sort of saying, I think, "Hey, you people. I want in!"Anyway, to drown out the barking, I grabbed my mp3 player. I accidentally clicked the wrong song, and Eric

Somewhat related, did you see how Oprah hugged real-life African Princess Akosua Busia recently? Do you even know who that is?Let the pomp and circumstance begin. As CBS and many other news outlets, such as CNN, have reported, Prince William and Kate Middleton are engaged:It's official. Perhaps the most widely rumored wedding in recent times, and certainly one of the longest rumored, is going to

I've been thinking about collecting different explanations of the difference between literary fiction or "high literature" and popular fiction and posting them to this blog as a reference. (Yes, I'm taking a class right now.) While looking up the concept of "thinning" in fiction, I came across a blog post at Barnes and Noble by Mark Brendle. While reviewing the work of Richard Russo, Brendle also

A friend sent this to me, the "Fuck It: The Ultimate Spiritual Way." I wish I could adopt it because I honestly believe that sometimes no matter what you do, you can't change the outcome of a bad thing. The old way to say this would be "Let go and let God."

The video below is from the New Orleans Times Picayune and is an update of the Henry Glover trial. Today, according to reports, "Defense attorney admits New Orleans police officer burned Henry Glover's body, but says it wasn't a crime." Read more at NOLA.com. Henry Glover trial video update: opening arguments

Here's CNN's Jeanne Moos coverage of woman on Wheel of Fortune who solved long puzzle with only one letter. People have accused the woman of being a witch or cheating. I don't think she did because it's possible. Years ago I used to watch Wheel and remember solving a puzzle with no letters. The answer was "Einstein's Theory of Relativity." I looked at the blank spots and that was the phrase that

After seeing For Colored Girls and writing a review for BlogHer, I so needed this Funny or Die spoof with Wayne Brady of that Tyler Perry movie. Sometimes we have to laugh. This is the film based on "For Stuffed Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When Sesame Street Was Enuf." Below the spoof, I have the real trailer so you can compare the two.Great lines:"Ever since I realized there was something

My review of For Colored Girls, Tyler Perry's film adaptation of poet/playwright Ntozake Shange's iconic choreopoem, is now live at BlogHer.com. Read it please. In the interview I did not comment the film's soundtrack, but I bought it yesterday and give it thumbs up. Here is "Four Women," Nina Simone's classic song. In this movie's version of the song, Laura Izibor's and Ledisi's voices join

My review of For Colored Girls is now live at BlogHer.com, "Tyler Perry Finger Paints Over Shange's For Colored Girls"I'm listening to Joss Stone, who strikes me as an old soul--"What Were We Thinking" (video below). Ugh. What a mood I'm in! I blame it on seeing Tyler Perry's For Colored Girls Friday night and old baggage I wrote about under "Prose Poem for the Living Dead." I am supposed to be

Prose Poem for the Living DeadBy Nordette N. AdamsIf you had written your name all over my body and sang to me the passion you claim in that song, then love may not have seeped away leaving cracked earth beneath us. If you had opened the spirit flesh of your heart like you claim you opened and had remained so--as unfurled as the lotus--then would I be here writing bitter syllables about a zombie?

And MSNBC says Keith Olbermann's out! At least temporarily. The network is concerned about his financial contributions to some Democratic candidates, and so they've suspended the anchor/pundit for a while without pay, report multiple news sources.Are less conservative mainstream media outlets feeling heat with the big GOP/Tea Party win at the polls this week or just trying to distinguish

BlogHer.com, a women's blogging website, with help from OperationBeautiful.com, is running a series about owning your own beauty that features stories and pictures from ordinary women. That's a praise-worthy project. If I were younger, I'd ask to participate because I, like many other women, struggle with self and body image baggage, but who wants to hear about an older woman's emotional

CNN's Anderson Cooper debunks the rumor about President Barack Obama taking a $200 million per day trip to Asia. Michelle Bachmann is one of the people spreading it. The ding bat! But it's gaining traction because we have too many people in this country who believe whatever they read online or hear a politician or pundit saying and they don't check facts. Rush Limbaugh and others are saying this

From Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels, Book III, written in the 1700s. Gulliver is speaking of the science-obsessed Laputians, the people on the flying island called Laputa. These people are under continual disquietudes, never enjoying a minutes peace of mind; and their disturbances proceed from causes which very little affect the rest of mortals. Their apprehensions arise from several

I'm just getting around to looking at these Rally to Restore Sanity videos now. Some estimates about attendance say there were as many as 250,000 people there. If you'd like to read the transcript of Jon Stewart's closing message to the crowd, try this link. What do you think? And here's the comedy portion with Stephen Colbert, restoring sanity and/or fear. But it's satire, and so there's a

When I wrote The Cylons Cometh at BlogHer, I had not yet heard about the caravan of driverless vans (video below).Four driverless electric vans successfully ended a 8,000-mile (13,000-kilometer) test drive from Italy to China — a modern-day version of Marco Polo's journey around the world — with their arrival at the Shanghai Expo on Thursday.One of the engineers in the MSNBC video talks about how

Yes, I did see Tricia Helfer, who played Caprica Six on Battlestar Galactica, in her guest role on Fox's Lie to Me, Season 3, Episode 4, "Double Blind." While she is a talented actress, I was more curious about character Cal Lightman's reference to the Monarch and Viceroy butterflies. So, I looked up how butterflies use mimicry to confuse predators. (Tim Roth plays Lightman)As explained at

Wills has also argued in the past that Obama is willing to buy a second term with the blood of young American soldiers.Historian and Pulitzer-prize-winning author Garry Wills says to Stephen Colbert that "of course" the Tea Party is racist (video below). Wills better watch his back. Remember when the NAACP called the Tea Party racist? One of its media henchmen hell bent on teaching the NAACP a

According to a new Newsweek poll, President Barack Obama's approval rating has jumped by six points, from 48 percent to 54 percent. His disapproval rate has dropped to 40 percent, "the lowest disapproval rating in a NEWSWEEK Poll since February 2010." These results do not mean that Democrats will win much next week, says the poll article, but some races may be closer than previously thought.The

The Virginia "Ginni" Thomas story last week about wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas calling Anita Hill almost 20 years later to ask for an apology had me feeling like we'd been hurled into Bizarro World. So, I needed a laugh. Thanks to Andy Borowitz, I got one. Blogging at New Yorker, Borowitz tells us "Three Things to Do When Clarence Thomas’s Wife Calls You." Number two begins, "

Related: What to do when Ginni Thomas calls youEmbedded above is video of Anita Hill in 1992 after the infamous Clarence Thomas Supreme Court confirmation hearings. The late Ed Bradley interviews her on CBS's 60 Minutes.I believed Anita Hill when she accused Thomas of sexual harassment in 1991. I watched the hearings as did much the rest of the country. It was the greatest show on Earth," pre-O.J

My dad told me yesterday that he heard Wal-Mart was going to stop building mega stores, to get away from big box monstrosities and try to look more like the "little guy." I thought that maybe he had confused the news, but he was fairly accurate in his report.Wal-mart will purue urban areas with smaller stores. That will be good for some communities that grocery stores have abandoned.And its

Right now on CNN, Joel Burns, an openly-gay council member in Fort Worth, TX, is being interviewed. His emotional appeal made Tuesday night, October 12, at a city council meeting has gone viral. It's posted below the CNN video here in its entirety and was aired earlier today on the network. Burns gave the speech in response to the rash of suicides resulting from bullying in general and

Why I keep paying dues to AuthorsDen is probably worth some reflection; however, until I do that I keep my own words on the bio page: "Life is a winding road of lessons and opportunities. Wear good shoes." Those words are working through my life more than ever right now since I'm in graduate school. About once a week I panic and ask myself, "Why are you doing this? You're too old for grad school

This FORA.TV video that includes Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook talking about defining the self online is old. I know it's old because Twitter's not there and the moderator makes MySpace sound like it's bigger than Facebook, but the video's discussion still may intrigue some. Zuckerberg stresses that on Facebook, people communicate as themselves rather than as personas.I suppose the video's being

The campaign to release the Scott Sisters of Mississippi is finally getting the mainstream media attention it deserves. As I wrote at BlogHer this summer, a judge sentenced the the two young women to double-life after they were convicted in 1994 for alleged involvement in a roadside robbery. They were given harsher sentences than the young men, teens who testified against them, and the case is

O.K., while it's inaccurate to say the American government infected black men and women with syphilis at Tuskegee (failure to treat is horrific enough), it is clearly accurate to say the U.S. "purposely infected" people in Guatemala with STDs in the 1940s. Shameful! And some of us are shocked to discover that some people of color don't trust the USA.The U.S.A. has apologized to the people of

I just saw the Drew Brees commercial with his wife Brittany for Walgreens and Nyquil. It's posted above. I won't give it away, but it is sweet and cute.

Astronomers, have discovered an Earth-like planet, according to Yahoo! News via the AP. It's called a "Goldilocks" as an allusion to "The Three Bear" story when Goldilocks talks about porridge being not too cold, not to hot but "just right."My blogging buddy, Deborah White of From My Brown Eyed View, commented on Facebook:I hope that human kind leaves this planet alone. This one is already

Vampire Diaries star Ian Somerhalder was born and raised across the lake from New Orleans in Covington, La. I forgot to mention him when I wrote about ABC's show The Gates being filmed in Shreveport, La., in the post about True Blood, which is set in Louisiana, and of course, Anne Rice, who started Louisiana's association with vampires.Last night I was reminded that Somerhalder is from Louisiana

I hesitated on even posting the above video or approaching the topic of race, ethnicity, and divisive rhetoric in America because some people tune you out as soon as they read the words "racism" or "racist." Will we have to think up new words to discuss this critical topic in order to avoid national implosion or are there still some adults in America?In the video posted above conservative

I'm not trying to start a mess, y'all. When I first saw Discover Card's commercial series featuring Peggy, I laughed. She works for "USA Prime Credit" and is a bearded, incompetent customer service representative played by a white male who speaks with a thick accent, choppy English, and she only responds "yes." Again, I laughed. Who hasn't dealt with a "Peggy"? And what a way to send the message

You can't recall Terry McMillan's best-selling book from the 90s, Waiting to Exhale, without also recalling the movie starring Whitney Houston, Angela Bassett, Loretta Devine and Lela Rochon, directed by Forest Whitaker, and featuring music by Babyface, who wrote the theme song embedded above. Whitney sang it (Shoop Shoop).Speaking of Whitney, I thought she'd made a comeback, but apparently she's

Forcing my posts over to new page.

Last night I dreamed I was at a large hotel on a coastline taking a bath and discovered mosquitoes had been breeding in the bath water. They were everywhere. I got out and put a towel around me after spraying myself with Off, and then I walked into the next room where other hotel guests and the manager were preparing for a hurricane and complaining that the hotel's owner, who was not present,

Vampires are overrunning Louisiana again. HBO's True Blood takes place in Louisiana with vamp bar Fangtasia located in Shreveport and the vamp queen living in New Orleans. And now I've learned that ABC's vampire show The Gates is filmed in Shreveport. The story's not set in Louisiana, however.I say "vampire show," but like True Blood, The Gates includes other supernatural beings, such as

I came across an old song today that reminded me of colorism issues in the black community, and again I remind my fellow African-Americans that other people of color have similar dysfunctions. Ask someone observant from India about it, for instance, and they'll tell you that some of their people favor lighter skin.Curtis Mayfield (June 3, 1942 – December 26, 1999), opens the set in the embedded

I nearly broke my neck to get to my 3:00 class at the University of New Orleans yesterday only to find out I was one of less than half of my classmates to attend. One person said the campus parking lots started emptying just after noon as Saints fans headed to the French Quarter to see the parade put on by the NFL and concert with Taylor Swift and the Dave Matthews Band to celebrate the first

Sex and the 50-Year-Old WomanBy Nordette N. AdamsWith a body like Helen Mirren's-- never burdened by babies stretchingskin to an alien curve--she is much at 50 the same as 30, bold and glistening,fevered with lust.With a body like Venus of Willendorf,stretched after bearing fresh blood,she forgets her name, contemplatesskin alien as cratered moons cooling,damp and mysterious--the unexplored cave.

From the Christian Science Monitor:AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka charged that if Republican political star Sarah Palin is not more careful in her choice of words, the political movement she has helped to create will be linked with 1950s McCarthyismI listened to what Trumka had to say and I kept thinking of Anil Dash's commentary about how Palin uses language that he wrote during the 2008

As reported through a Foreign Policy Magazine news brief: BP officials hinted that the company may not make voluntary payments, which it had previously consented to in the wake of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, if Congress goes forward with plans to restrict the company's activities in the Gulf of Mexico. BP is saying "if lawmakers pass legislation that bars the company from getting new

Just a place holder for a link to a passage by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., on narrative voice and free indirect discourse. He's speaking of Ralph Ellison, Zora Neale Hurston, Richard Wright, etc. I am contemplating narrative and narrative voice at the moment.

"Why Can't I Own a Canadian?" and are conservative Christians leading people to Jesus or away from him? The first question is the title of a letter penned sometime before 2002 in response to Dr Laura Schlesinger's comments about homosexuality in the Old Testament. She is a conservative who once said she was an Orthodox Jew but supposedly distanced herself from orthodoxy later.My friend Regis

As posted in 2002 at Humanists of Utah.Dr. Laura Schlessinger is a radio personality who dispenses advice to people who call in to her radio show. Recently, she said that, as an observant Orthodox Jew, homosexuality is an abomination according to Leviticus 18:22 and cannot be condoned under any circumstance. The following is an open letter to Dr. Laura penned by a east coast resident, which

Ellen DeGeneres danced a Napoleon and Tabitha Hip Hop routine on the So You Think You Can Dance finale Thursday night with Twitch. It was the one previously performed by Twitch with Alex Wong to "Outta Your Mind" by Lil Jon. Seriously, Ellen stole the show. Here's the video. I laughed my behind off because the big build up was a special "dancing superstar" would join Twitch on stage. Lauren

National media is still on the BP Gulf of Mexico oil leak/spill/greatest environmental disaster of all time/oilpocalypse--whatever the media gurus are calling it now. CNN is reporting on the next phase of well fixing, putting mud in the well, called a "static kill." Next comes relief wells. Watching the video at the top of this post, I marvel at how I'm not breaking out in hives. The video

This just in from Dizzy Feet. WOW! Looks like National Dance Day is a success. The photo below was tweeted by Nigel Lythgoe of So You Think You Can Dance and the Dizzy Feet Foundation. He says it comes from today's festivities on the mall in Washington D.C. Waiting on video. See more pictures, perhaps, here. You can also follow the hash tag on Twitter, #nationaldanceday, and as I've said before,

I just published a post at Examiner.com about the latest Anne Rice flap regarding her Facebook post saying she "quit Christianity." A more careful reading of her remarks reveals that while the novelist is disillusioned with organized Christianity, in particular the Roman Catholic Church, she's still a believer. Rice will still quote the Bible and share her faith in Christ Jesus, but she's fed up

Contributions from Charles H. Fuller to America’s literary heritage have been rich, theatrical plays based in historical fact that feature adults struggling with racial injustice and each other. So, it’s unsurprising that his much-awaited new release also draws from American history. That, however, is where the similarity with the playwright's older works thins.Fuller's latest offering, Snatch:

Did anyone else notice that Bollywood choreographer Nakul Dev Mahajan of So You Think You Can Dance stressed during last night's episode that Bollywood draws from many world dance styles? I think that was Mahajan's chance to correct what Mia Michaels said three weeks ago when she criticized AdéChiké for adding an African flavor to his Bollywood moves. As I hoped to convey in my post after that

Under the CoversBy Nordette N. AdamsUnder cover of scars crissrossing the torso, purple-blue etchings mesh into one nest stubborn spirits of slurs escaped from inept exorcisms, hiding an impostor's beat. This metronome times the rise of withering supplications. Alone, she skates figure eights, the eternal curve. If only she could swerve off the deepening grooveto sail a new arc high through air,

What is WikiLeaks.org and why is it in the news? The White House says the website is a security risk. Here are some resources so you can learn more.The WikiLeaks.org website appears to be offline currently, probably because it's getting so many hits or maybe its enemies are jamming it. According to a post at The Guardian's Comment is Free, WikiLeaks is "a Sweden based non-profit website that

I'm taking a blog break. I may pass through with three-sentence post and links just to remind the Google and Bing people that the blog is still alive or maybe I'll post a poem or two, but my brain needs a vacation. I am on break until further notice.Thank you all for your support.Nordette

I'm still on my blogging break, but ...Update, July 23, 2010: President Obama was on Good Morning America to talk about financial reform, but he also answered a question about his telephone conversation with Shirley Sherrod and addressing race in America.Update, July 22, 2010: President Obama calls Shirley Sherrod to express "sincere" regret."The president told Ms. Sherrod that this misfortune

Rizzoli and Isles: Fast, painless way to kill yourself is atlanto-occipital disarticulation. In other words, internal decapitation; head separates from spinal cord, which may be accomplished by hanging if you don't botch it. If you mess it up, then you're strangled, which is a painful way to die. Or you could crash your car and hope the air bag hits your head with enough force to snap it up. How

At this link you'll find a round-up of articles, press releases, and FAQs about cuts to the State of Louisiana budget. The focus of the list is education, and I compiled it mainly as a resource for myself as I try to understand how the money flows. Visit here.

You can share your plans for National Dance Day, July 31, at the So You Think You Can Dance Facebook page, and there's also a form at the Fox website. However, make sure you share those plans before midnight tonight, July 16, if you hope they are shared on the show next week.I posted the Tabitha and Napoleon routine weeks ago at this link and said back then I thought the hope was for flash mob

I watched 12 Angry Men on Turner Classic Movies with my son night before last, the 1957 film directed by Sidney Lumet. It's one of those films that reminds you that black and white with no car chases and provocative dialogue can be more riveting that today's special effects-driven blockbusters.So much of it reminded me of the flow of some political Internet conversations that I said, "The more

I am trying to ignore all the doomsday scenarios arising as people project their fears onto the BP Deepwater Horizon leak in the Gulf of Mexico. I prefer to keep a positive mindset, as reflected in one of my poems about the disaster. However, I do read about the fear such as those Gena Haskett explored in her post about doomers and the BP oil spill. Last night, I saw the following in my mail, a

The New York Times has two must-read articles, "A Few Blocks, 4 Years, 52,000 Police Stops," which was published today, and this op-ed by Bob Hebert published in March, "Watching Certain People." I am not writing on this topic, but I wanted to share this because I am appalled. The most recent article includes video of police giving tickets for tresspassing to people who visiting relatives or

First, you step into the romantic stream and infatuation carries you away. He's saying you've got him "Going in Circles" by Luther Vandross. It's the same song you used to hear on the radio when you were nine recorded by "Friends of Distinction." You're also in circles over him, and so, you really want this love affair because it feels like what you think love should feel like based on movies,

Another poem about the oil leak/spill in the Gulf of Mexico, 2010.Gold and Black to Black Gold BluesBy Nordette N. AdamsRemember when the Saints had us so high,so high that low meant do the slower second lineand the dirge signaled juke joint jig?Remember when New Orleans won the Super Bowland none could silence our wild Tchoupitoulas,Who Dat! hearts? The whole world laughedand leaped to the beat

The following is CNN video of one of Oscar Grant's family members speaking to media about the verdict convicting former Bay Area Transit officer Johannes Mehserle of involuntary manslaughter in Grant's shooting death at the start of 2009. That was the least of the possible criminal offenses of which he could have been convicted. Per CNN:The verdict was announced in Los Angeles, where the trial

On tonight's So You Think You Can Dance results show, judge Mia Michaels, who was recently nominated for an Emmy again for choreography, apologized to contestant AdéChiké Tolbert. While the 23-year-old, Brooklyn dancer escaped being in the bottom three, he looked a little fragile with host Cat Deeley's arm around him as Michaels tried to make amends and explain herself. She said:I feel looking

Last night on So You Think You Can Dance, horror of horrors! We learned the amazing Alex Wong was injured rehearsing for a Bollywood routine with AdéChiké Torbert and may have to leave the show. I'm not being snarky. I really do like Alex.Alex is amazing! So, is host Cat Deeley. I love SYTYCD in general, but I specifically hate how the judges handled AdéChiké last night. Mia Michaels, who I tend

Bobby Jindal does his imitation of Mosesat an oil clean-up photo op. Photo by Spencer Platt of Getty ImagesI've been posting a little less as I try to concentrate on literature and how to be still/silent, but I must stop and tell you, friends, that our governor, Bobby Jindal, believes you will get closer to the Lord if you take your gun to church. Well, guns have indeed sent a lot of people to

At the African-American Books Examiner, I have published a two-part post about criticism of Tyler Perry and also his reaction to the Boondocks "Pause" episode. A blogger who attended the Essence Music Festival reported his comments straight from his mouth, which I discuss in Part 2. Part 1 is another look at how Zora Neale Hurston's contemporaries criticized her work and the similarities to

Finally, I decided I just had to post the latest Old Spice commercial here at my own blog in case the BlogHer.com site where I found it goes down for maintenance or something. I want to be able to watch it whenever I please, but the comments section at BlogHer about it and the actor, Isaiah Mustafa, is nearly as funny as the "manmercial" itself. This new production features him with no need of

The probability that the oil from the BP Deepwater Horizon oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico would reach Lake Pontchartrain has been one of my concerns since the oil crisis began, and today I and other New Orleans area residents learned that tar balls have been spotted in the lake in the Rigolets. WWL TV reports:The tarballs floated to the shore in the Treasure Isle subdivision near Slidell."The

When I first heard that not only had Bill Kristol, a prominent conservative, but also Dick Cheney's daughter, Liz Cheney, had both called for RNC Chariman Michael Steele's resignation based on Steele's remarks that the war in Afghanistan is "unwinnable" and a war of Obama's "choosing," I grinned, but didn't bother to comment publicly. Privately I concluded that Michael Steel must not read his

A Republican, Lawrence Wilkerson, connects former vice president Dick Cheney's active restructuring of government to favor deregulation of the oil industry and other commercial enterprises to our current disaster, the BP Deepwater Horizon oil rig leak in the Gulf of Mexico. Wilkerson says we should expect more disasters made worse due to deregulation. This video references Shirley Anne Warshaw's

I have been reading horrible reviews for M. Knight Shyamalan's new movie, The Last Airbender, based on the Nickelodeon cartoon, Avatar: The Last Airbender. There are so many bad reviews, I can only point out some that have made me laugh the most, and yes, I am laughing because I see the venom critics are spewing at this movie as Shyamalan's bad karma. His defense for casting white people (

I love this song. It's not your standard 4th of July song, but "On the 4th of July" by James Taylor is a lovely song that takes the listener on a journey. I go back to a place sweet and peaceful.

It's the precursor to better gifts for future Star Trek captains. "Dear Avery Brooks: Your Flying Car is Here!" has been syndicated at BlogHer.

Remember the old IBM commercial with Avery Brooks asking, "Where are the flying cars? I was promised flying cars."? And then he concludes, "You don't need flying cars" because you've got the Internet. Apparently the company Terrafugia disagrees, and so, it's offering a flying car for sale. According to the Huffington Post:The company Terrafugia, based in Woburn, Mass., says it plans to deliver

While I prepared for an appointment yesterday, July 1, I listened to this interview of BP's chief of Gulf Coast restoration Bob Dudley on PBS NewsHour. By no means is he as daft as the oil giant's CE0 Tony Hayward, but I'm pretty sure I heard him say that while BP is doing its best to stop the oil leak from the Deepwater Horizon rig, the company did not anticipate this kind of accident. That's

Jennfier Hudson told VH1's Behind the Music on Monday that she intentionally disappeared after the murders of her mother, Darnell Donerson, her brother, Jason Hudson, and nephew, seven-year-old Julian King, in 2008. William Balfour, the estranged spouse of her sister Julia, was charged with the murders. She says "It's all a blur, it was surreal. It was like I was outside myself." In addition, the