Updates Part 1

I know its being a long time coming but I just didn’t feel like it. There was so much happening that if I wrote it down then, it would be too real for me to take, to digest, to ignore…to handle. I guess I can start from the top and work my way down. I may omit some things…I may be blatantly honest. I don’t know. But its important I write down my thoughts before I question my actions years later. So, I will be posting stories back to back until I write all I need to write

My Cousin’s Graduation.
I have never being so proud or so happy for someone who was not family. K is special to me because we are always honest with each other. She has grown up to be a woman I admire and relate to. I remember when I went to visit her out on the West coast and had a blast with her. Her outlook on life and how she argued with you on every point was something to behold. Then she moved closer to us and found her First Love. To say the least, the change that God has made in her life is a reminder that there is someone far greater than you and I that can take a mold of clay and create a Work of Art.
It was no surprise that when we heard that she was graduating from law School, everybody and their mama showed up and came out to support her. Or maybe because this signaled the end to her first career- professional student!! I cannot tell you how many degrees babygirl has under her arm. And she got them in a relatively short amount of time. This could be attributed to the fact once you are brilliant in Naija, you can skip grades left right and center.
But I am getting ahead of myself. Let me back track so I can give you day to day gist

The gist and my Twin cousin ‘O’
I had been looking forward to her graduation because of the sheer number of people that were coming and fun I knew would ensue when you put Naijas from various backgrounds in one house. That and the fact that my cousin called a 50s theme for graduation party and I wanted to show off my dress! My cousins came down, my family from Down South and my aunts and her mom from Naija. Of course all the young folks stay at K’s house (yup, my cousin owns her own house) and the mamas stayed at Aunty T’s house. K had bough a house a few months back, so we all had a place to stay. By Friday afternoon, the house was packed. Majority of the girls slept in k’s room- some taking to the floor and others (3 I believe sharing the Bed)-so you can imagine the amount of gisting and gbegborun that was happening :-P
I as usual chilled with the boys…what can I say, I’m a tomboy at heart. I convinced my sis who is one of K’s rommies to do my hair, which she did a fabulous job as usual…even though we did not finish till Friday morning, at 4am. We started this adventure Thursday night. No comment! But it’s all love though

Our live-in Chef!
Friday was pretty chill. I think the highlight was that we in the house were awaiting the arrival of someone important. In short without this person who would have starved or being living off of indomie or garri---no lie. That was what we ate Thursday night and Friday morning before his arrival. The shopping had been done. The kitchen had been set. The ingredient bought. Who is this person we were waiting for you ask?? It was none other than the Alafin of “throw Down Naija style”, the male side of Iya puts food, none other than O, K’s brother. If that boy was not my cousin, I would marry him. NO LIE. That boy can cook better than me, my mama and even his combined. Chai. I remember when I eat his Edo version of Ila Alasepo. I nearly broke my teeth licking my plate. My best friend who just had her molars pulled and could not eat solid food because of her pain, stomached the pain and went for round two because of his food- True Story. But I digress.

So anyways, O came in Friday afternoon and got right to work. He made some goat meat stew and white rice. In short, there was nothing left in the pot after we were done. Thank God that I had saved some extra because I knew I would crave more later. The next morning, o regaled us with a 5 star breakfast. What did we not eat that he didn’t prepare- Baked Beans, bacon, Sausages, Eggs, steak, chicken etc. I am certain I must have put on weight just with that heavy breakfast. And something unique and lovely about O is that it doesn’t go to his head that he is a good cook. He keeps reiterating the fact that he is just learning. When he tastes something that is good from older and experienced cooks, eh says” this is the level I am trying to operate on.” He is a man who loves God and a worker in his church. He is soft spoken is known to talk in proverbs instead of English. He doesn’t judge but lets Christ shine in his behaviors. He is pretty young in his faith but I sing praises to God when I see O now as opposed to what he was before. A focused man, who may have his faults from time to time, but still, has a heart for God.

Wow, I just wrote a paragraph about O and food. So, as I was saying once again, Friday was cool. I went out with my sis and one of my aunts to go shopping. I was extremely happy because I found a pair of chic slipper-shoes that did not wreck havoc on my knee but was heeled enough to go with the dress.

The Concert
On Saturday, after my lovely breakfast, my sister and I again went out and took my aunt (K’s mom) and our two aunties to the mall and some other stores. It was on this trip that I found another matching accessory to my outfit- a purse. And since it didn’t have a tag, I got it for 12 bucks, something that would have cost 25 pa minimum! God is good I tell you. Yeah, maybe I had alterior motives to be looking fresh to death that evening…maybe it was because of the knowledge I knew Naija babes who were fashionistas would be attending the graduation and I didn’t want to feel somehow….or maybe it was because K’s friend, whom I had only met once was coming to take me to Seal’s concert before we headed out to k’s shindig…or maybe I was trying to impress her friend who I know is not into me but was still fine. Seal has not lost his touch at all. I was surprised by the sheer amount of people who packed the indosie/outdosie venue to see Seal sing his oldies that we love. I was on my fit most of the time singing dancing and just having a great old time. HWne he sang Love divine or Kiss from the Rose, I could have kissed a perfect stranger right there and then. He was awesome and beautiful! YES, beautiful because you didn’t see the scars on his face and head, you saw the beauty in his melody and soul.

The Shindig
Let’s get gawn, walk it out, now ‘ting’ about it…awwwww SNAP!! Now Rock Rock Rock Rock you can do it all by yourself!Hehehe. Omo, DJ Zuma was in the house and it was off the chain. We partied till two in the morning. Me, as a dancing connoisseur, I refused to eb out done on the dance floor. Was it Makossa, was it Dancehall, was it dirty south hip hop or Afro Hip Hop? Was it komole or Walk it out or Ajegunle music? Mehn, I danced so te people knew Baby girl had a passion. It was also extra special because I was dancing with people I knew, my cousins, my cousin’s friends, my brother, people I met at K’s house. It was just nice to enjoy the music and people and not have to worry about smoke in my hair or dress or one ingrate trying to get a hard on on my booty. K was looking fly as usual and was a gracious host. Everyone had a blast, someone bought me my favorite drink which I nursed the whole night. I am what you can a pretend alcohol drinker. I like the flavor of it in my drinks but if I can taste it or it’s too strong, I don’t drink it. My guy friends wonder why I drink since I water it to the level that it can no longer be deemed an alcoholic beverage. Big ups to K and her roommate for planning such an event.

We later left to another graduation party but that one was not as fab as K’s jare. The only thing was that there was suya…and I ate a whole lot of it.

The graduation ceremony
So, we got back in at 5 in the morning were convinced that we would wake up in time for the 8.30 church service. It is not good to lie to ones self. We all woke up around 10—with just enough time to get ready for the graduation ceremony, pick up a few folks and march on down. The graduation took about 3 hours as the law school class was about 500 students. All I know was that my family took the trophy for breing the loudest when a student walked across the stage. We did continue to scream and shout k’s name and shout party like a rock start from the moment her name was called to when she collected her diploma to when she walked off the stade. K told us that the Dean couldn’t believe the amount of noise. Someone needs to let him know that this Naija family rolls deep and supports each other/ I think we were about 15-20 at the graduation ceremony.
After the ceremony, we met K outside the hall and started singing Praises to God in Yoruba—positively embarrassing the chick gan sef. But did we care? Nope!

We later high tailed it to Aunty T’s house, who had spent mad mula on K's post graduation party. There was food galor and about a hundred folks in the house. We ate, we danced, we reminisced and then we went home

You can tell that I had a blast! I did, I truly did. I’m so happy for you K. May God continue to instill in you the stillness to know that he is God and in Him, you can truly do all things.

Write Up on the Corner

Impressive. And I’m not easily impressed but I was impressed by the writing style, the blatant truth, the journalistic approach that the writers of The Corner took to constructing their book. It took me about 4 days to finish the 500 page book and let me tell you, I am more knowledgeable and more understanding because of it.
I’m sure that I am stale in reading and writing up on the book…seeing that the infamous The Wire on HBO is based on the book.
I came across the book in our family library. I had seen it a couple of times before but nothing led me to pick it up and read. It wasn’t until I finished Book 3 of the Malloreon that I picked it up…sort of as a distraction. It became my main read.

The Corner is about the open air drug markets in East Baltimore. More importantly, its about the lives of the people involved- from the crack fiends(as opposed to crack heads) to the dealers, the buyers, the sellers, the environment, the despair, the hopelessness, the Hope, the Culture, the money, the greed, and the lifestyles. Now when I hear rap/Hip-hop songs sing about their corners, I know what they are talking about.

The authors- David Simon and Edward Burns in a nutshell wrote a powerful book based on their observations of a busy drug corner in East B-more. At the center of the story is the McCullough family- a real life family where both parents went from Grace to Grass and their son DeAndre who is a small time drug dealer. The authors turned a one year stint on the corner- gaining the trust of the inhabitants and being observant bystanders to bring us a chilling and raw- no holds- account of what we as a society continue to ignore. This book opened my eyes to a world that I only hear about but couldn’t for the life of me phantom. I couldn’t understand the reasoning behind the senseless destruction of one’s life by ones hand. I couldn’t understand how people can see themselves getting sicker and sicker and not stop the cycle. I wouldn’t understand why government services and the police were ineffective. I couldn’t phantom why a teenage would have a baby for a drug dealer. But after reading this book…..I had some answers, maybe not all, but some. I now understand how without a strong and social response to this growing epidemic, it would grow and reach our doorsteps. I think on another note, this book speaks to the power of supply and demand and capitalism at its best. There will always be drugs and people willing to supply as long as circumstances give rise to Demand. From an economic background, I was shocked at the elaborate and advanced system of advertisement and marketing that went into the drug trade. These people could definitely give Corporate America a run for their money.

I wouldn’t give away the details but I encourage you to pick it up and read. It would shock you. You will not pity the real life characters in the book. It would move you beyond pity. It would not be a sensationalized read BUT it would make you think and hopefully react.

Below is an editorial by Publishers Weekly from the BarnesandNoble.com website:

In the authors' note, Simon (Homicide) and Burns, a retired patrolman and detective with the Baltimore Police Department, encapsulate their year-long (1992-1993) experience on a west Baltimore street corner interviewing drug addicts and watching children grow up too fast. They masterfully present a theater of the drug war as they follow four generations of the McCullough family, concentrating on 15-year-old DeAndre, who attempts to rise above the mistakes of his heroin- and cocaine-addicted parents but fails to escape the pressures of the street. Yet his story allows exploration of other issues, such as the history of the corner's drug activities and the attitudes of the police, the social workers and the high-school teachers who have all but lost hope for the area's children. Part family neighborhood portrait, part political-social analysis, the book conveys the feeling of helplessness of those who awake every morning thinking only of their "next blast" and the arrogance of those who condemn them for it. The loss of innocence chronicled here is summed up by a line from one of DeAndre's poems: "Hungry for knowledge, but afraid to eat."

Inconsequential Things

Its seems to me that I have clearly being blogging about things with little or no meaning to avoid blogging about a few issues/things that are weighting on my mind.
For one thing this week...I got proposed to again..counting three people that have proposed to me .
For another thing... I just got back from a lovely...wonderful...fun-filled...eye-opening mini vacation to Daytona Beach with the right/wrong person.
I feel like I'm missing something, not planning enough, not preparing for school enough. I just want to wake up and all the true issues on my mind would disappear.
One thing that is constant thought is my Jesus Christ and for that I am thankful!!

American Idol Update

American Idol Gives Back raised over $70 million for charities across the country and mama Africa. I say Kuddos and great job!
Phil and Chris were sent home today but I am so happy that my ladies are still fighting and Blake is hanging in there. I loved the performances this week but I am too lazy to write up on them...sha take my word for it