My Favorite Whitney Houston song

There are so many to choose from, but the only Whitney Houston song that made it to my iPod is Queen Of The Night. It may be long on attitude and short on lyrics–so? I didn’t know her, but this verse seems to sum up her public persona:

You got a problem with the way that I am?
They say I’m trouble and I don’t give a damn.
But when I’m bad, I know I’m better.
I just wanna get loose, and turn it up for you.

Farewell, Queen.

WILTW: How To Be Black

With the help of Baratunde Thurston and the esteemed Black Panel*, you too can learn:
-How To Be The Black Friend
-How To Celebrate Black History Month (buying this book is a start)
-The Pros & Cons of Being the Angry Negro
-How to become the next Black President
-How to harness the power of your blackness to become a spokesperson for the race.

Part memoir / part instruction manual and loads of fun, How to Be Black is not about limitation, confinement, or adhering to a 10 Commandments like set of rules to preserve racial/cultural purity.

How To Be Black is about being yourself because, as Elon James White would say, everything you do becomes a black thing.**

*The Black Panel is pretty diverse. In keeping with the books premise you get different views of blackness.
**This only works, of course, if you are already black. As pointed out in the disclaimer: The book is not How To Become A Black Person If You Are Not Already Black.

Kings & Things

As you know by now, a Rabbi has Crowned Eddie Long Intercontinental Champ King. Okay, not a real Rabbi and it’s not a real ceremony.

But how about the congregation? Why they would co-sign the coronation. How could this happen without droves of people just pouring out of the church?

It’s not hard for a congregation to transform love of a minister into worship of a minister. It doesn’t happen overnight; good spiritual leaders try to head this off at every point and turn the eyes of the adoring congregation back to the entity they came to worship.

If a not-so-good leader likes being put on a pedestal, (s)he will encourage it.  Without anyone around to check the ego, it’s a license to  can get into all sorts of foolishness…