As you all probably know, the month of February is nationally known as "Black History Month". From an educational standpoint, I have a problem with this calendar tradition for a number of reasons. I remember being in 11th grade and all of our English classes had to write essays on the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Speech: " I have a dream". Instead of writing an analysis of what I thought the speech meant, like most people do, I decided I would write about how I think the month of February should be dedicated to Cultural Diversity rather than "Black History." I wasn't sure how my English teacher would react to my take on the topic, but she was a great teacher and she appreciated my honest thoughts. ( I didn't win the essay contest, but i really didn't care about that anyway.)

Why do we still call it "Black History"???

The term "Black History" itself seems to have racial overtones to it. Or am I dumb? The events that happened in our country that everyone considers "black history", including the entire slave trade and efforts by black people to change that, it is American History. It should be taught the same as all other events in the time line of American history, and of course emphasized as many of the major milestones that shaped the ideology of our country.The efforts of well known black people that fought against racial injustices should be taught just as we teach about well known women who fought for womens rights. Women were allowed to be beaten by their husbands, they had no rights, and they were traded for, $, farm animals and other material possessions. There were injustices among the sexes, the races, and the religions. Americans were an ignorant, inhuman people- TO THEMSELVES just as much as they were to outsiders. But our country has come a long way, and yes I believe that it is important to educate our people, especially our youth, about the events that happened. But I think its more important to put the major emphasis on how far we've come and celebrate the fact that our country as a whole has begun to progress and many of those injustices are not faced on a major level here anymore. And while there are still many ignorant attitudes that endorse racial inequality, I think our generations have been much more tolerant and open-minded than many of those who came before us. That in itself i think is something to celebrate. Also, If you're born in America you are an American, no matter what color you are. If you are white you are an American of European Descent. If you are born in Africa and come to America to live, then you would be considered an African American. I think its important to start teaching these more technical terms to our young in an effort to emphasize the fact that we are Americans of all colors- and among ourselves here in America we should promote Unity rather that continuously pointing out and emphasizing our differences. The notion of "Black History Month" I believe, is keeping the anger of past generations alive and spreading those ideologies to our younger generations. I'm really serious abut this, and I may do some research to find out what the next step to making this change actually happen would be. What do I do, write my congressman or something?

YAY For CULTURAL DIVERSITY!!!!!

I was watching Def Comedy Jam last night and there was an Indian guy on there who cracked a joke about how "brown is the new black" thanks to the recent fear of terrorists. But when he introduced himself he commented about the fact that because he wasn't black or white people couldn't tell what the hell he was. And I really thought about this because you hear latinos joking about how people can't tell whether their Mexican or Peurto Rican. Asians joke about how people can't tell whether or not they're chinese, Japanese, or Korean. People from the middle east are confused for Pakistani, or Indian, or whatever. The list goes on. I think that so much focus put on black vs. white puts the other nationalities that make up this supposed great melting pot of a country in the shadows and its making us very ignorant about the other cultures that we share our country with. Why do we joke about it as if its funny to be stupid? When we hear people from other countries call us "stupid Americans" do we really sit there and make fun of ourselves as well, I mean we should for a minute because it is kind of funny but I don't think we should take initiative to educate ourselves. I think A good way to do that would be to dedicate the month of February to learning about other cultures and their affects on life in America. Live in the present, not the past- looking forward is the only way to progress. Especially right now with all of this tension between other countires and us.

Ok, Im done for now as this is really long and my baby girl is about to wake up... but one more thing...


"Is America Really Ready For A Black President?"

I heard one of the reporters ask this question on tv after the debates and I wanted to throw a shoe at her. As far as American History is concerned, this is HUGE for our country to have 2 minorities competing in the same presidential race... and to have either of them win will be a major victory in their respective minority category. But in the grand scheme of things, with the current state our country is in, to ourselves and world wide, I think hearing her ask that question seemed so dumb to me. I think Obama presents himself as an educated man, he speaks with knowledge and intelligence, and regardless of whether or not America is "ready for a black president" we certainly need those qualities in a leader. ( I don't know about you but I think Bush's inaccuracies, redundancies, and his lack of ability to speak the English language make us look really dumb to have him as our national representative. )

hey everyone! I have a friend Abbey that makes holistic custom jewelery... check out her myspace to view some samples and let her know if you're interested in getting more info! Thanks!!

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my new niece McKenna Eleanore was born 1/14.... shes adorable!!!! I love our new apartment- though I woiuldnt feel so dumb if we had remembered to switch the electric into our names when we moved in- they shut it off... How the hell do they keep an account billed to no one on for 8 months? Thank God my guy was home from work the day they shut it off! I don't know when I'll ever get my computer fixed and up n running. I miss having the internet. I miss a lot of things, like Spring and the car I never had...(yet). I don't miss a lot of things, and since I don't miss them I probably shouldn't even bother to mention what they might be. But I will say that sometimes you don't even really realize how much you DON'T miss something untill you drown yourself in misery missing that very thing... make sense? I wish it didn't. But some things are fun to miss- so you enjoy them when you have them back. Like Cable television.... time to go watch cartoons!

Hi All! Merry Christmas!!! and what a great time of year this has turned out to be! After all that hectic apartment searching crap we finally found a REALLY nice apartment in Kenmore. It turned out that the realtor who showed us the place knew one of the guys that my guy works with, as he also worked for their realty company. Then the owner of the place also knows another guy from my guys work, so he got two really great references. Its pretty crazy, how much I stress out over shit knowing that the outcome will be better than i could plan myself. I have been shown this time and time again yet I continue to let myself get all insane with worry. I have a great guy that loves me very much, a wonderful baby girl that I am just amazed at watching every single day, and even though there are a few other things that seem to be working against me I know that I should just shut up and let God work Her Magic!
My little niece should be blessing us with her presence any day now. My sister is HUGE with belly and I'm praying that this will happen soon because my sis has been an enormous emotional wreck. On and off of course, but its completely uncontrollable!


well I have to go for now but I wish you all the most blessed Christmas!

my guy and I have to be out of his apartment on the 1st. Some kind of argument transpired between his roommate and the landlord. And because their apartment isn't a place for babies, i have been shuffling between my moms house, my sisters house, and other family members who will allow me to have my daughter there. It's been so stressful and I have reallyu been losing my mind. So we've been trying to find an apartment for the 3 of us but it's very hard because we have credit and reference issues working against us. Yet he has an astounding work history, actually he's been at the same job for 8 years and makes good $$ because of that. . And I have been working from home and caring for my baby girl Hannah for the past year.
I can't help thinking that we may just be better off trying to find another young couple with child or a single mom to share a house or apartment. Ideally it would be a good way to save $$ so work on getting our credit in order and get a car and all that good stuff. I can picture myself and another young mom enjoying each others company and the kids having a live- in playmate would be great, too. Although I can also see some more realistic problems arising from this, any time you bring multiple personalities into a situation there is serious potential for conflict...especially with children involved as many people have different views on parenting.
What do you guys think? Does anyone of any kind of family -oriented communal situations that I could check out? Or maybe there would be someone out there willing to house a young couple and a child for 2-3 weeks in the event of worse case scenerio that the 1st comes and we haven't found an apartment? I guess i'm just trying to explore any options that I haven't thought of yet.