MENTAL VACATIONS - GOOD FOR ME

I have been off my personal GAME for a minute and I needed to get back to my online friends and start blogging. I know you have missed me but to be honest, I had lost my focus a bit and it was beginning to scare me. The past year was a bit stressfull with issues of sex, money and time; the CURSE of any relationship “personal” or “committal”. You know how that can be when you concentrate on one, at the expense of the other two. And the feedback you suffer when you try to balance out the other, that chain reaction of combustible energy build, overflow and eventually explode takes so much out of you. In my case, my creative energy was pretty much F*%#'ed.

I exploded and spent the last few months in deep recovery.

So what happened?

Well I did what a wise woman told me one day. “When you find yourself lost or off your Path, go back to the point where you got distracted and start over again.”

And that is what I did; I reconnected with some friends I haven’t spoken to in YEARS. I literally did a hardcore search for some. I Google, MapQuest, Reunion.com and broke out all address books to see if numbers and addresses were still the same. It was amazing how a voice from 10, 15 and 20 years ago can fill you will an energy you through lost by time.

That time of reflection, nostalgia and melancholy may sound like crap but to someone who felt that he lost his Mojo, it was the medicine of LIFE. The relationship that I had ended took more out of me than I wanted to admit. The drain from that not only affected my views about relationships (mine personally since I will always be an advocate of good and strong monogamous relationships) but on a serious subconscious level, it played havoc on my health. My spiritual was broken and I needed healing. Once I decided that I didn’t need a bunch of Hymns and Handclaps, Off-key Divas and reminders of Fire and Brimstone wasn’t going to be key, no lectures or Self Help manual, no Ancestor from the Past or Dime Store Saint selling Lucky Charms couldn’t help, I decided to put on the Nikes and did some serious ME TIME with a walk. I walked a lot. I MEAN A LOT. I got rid of the camera and the music, the backpack and all other distractions and walked the boroughs of New York City, its parks, special events and watched the People. I watched it all in its pure Beauty and deep down Dirt. And then I did the most astounding thing …. I didn’t try to make sense out of any of it. I watched it all like a Non-caring Man stepping on a colony of ants in the middle of a road. In essence I just shut down the WHY side of my brain and let it just Be. My eyes became a camera for the World, my mental and spiritual Black and White Documentary on “What is.” I even turned off the television. No CNN, CSPAN, FOX or MSNBC. It was a total blackout of Jerry-cultured information. I planned quite in my head and allowed that emptiness to set and prepare for the flood of information that was coming like a weak damn before the storm when I turned my mind back on.

Ladies and Gentlemen, that was my summer. My mind was on vacation and my body was on auto-pilot. I became that American in this New America, the other America that had replaced what once made sense.

Now don’t get me wrong, I was still active in my daily life, I still participated in my community events and seminars but I took a more passive backseat stance. No speaking or galvanizing of the troops. I just sat back in my Mrs. Daisy ride and talked to the driver who took me where I wanted to go which was often called a place call "Anywhere".

With all the energy invested in the election, the Clintons vs. the Obamas vs. the McCains, it didn’t matter because in the end, we all know how it is going to end. So like in arguing …. I mean debating, with a fool, sometimes it’s best to just LET IT GO.

Now I wait. Wait until the truth comes to the surface and allow for that little bit of feeling to flow into the void I created in my mind to plant its seed that I need to get back my focus; my Mojo. And I am OK with that.

I BROKE UP WITH MY GIRLFRIENDS

Yeah I know I am a little late with this but Girlfriends is cancelled. Oh My God, the Network made the ballsy decision to cut the Negro Show and say it was mostly due to the WRITERS STRIKE. I hear you, I mean all those other sitcoms were just fortunate to have that little extra to stay afloat and make another season at it. I hear you, it was a “HARD” decision to make with all those other shows you have on the line up. I guess the viewers should be fortunate that it make the cut from UPN to CW. I mean, 9 years is something to be honored, especially as a Black Television show or even a Black ensemble series (a record in television circles) and even more so, an honored show (Nominated for Prime time Emmy. Another 7 wins & 35 nominations) at best (THANK YOU KELSEY GRAMMER aka Frasier).

As you all know, I take to research before I go on the repeat and spread gossip as News but here I get this all up in my eyes:

We hear from a source within the "Girlfriends" writing camp that the CW has decided to cancel the series immediately instead of bringing it back for a ninth season.

While no official announcement had been made as of press time, we were told the CW will not even film this season's remaining nine episodes that were suspended during the writer's strike.

Ironically, news of the show's cancellation comes just as the strike has ended and the writing staff was preparing to return to work. We were informed by one of the writers yesterday that Monday night's one-hour block of new episodes served as the show's last.

"Girlfriends" became the longest-running live-action comedy series currently on network television with the debut of its current season in October 2007. The writers strike suspended production after only 13 of 22 ordered episodes were completed.

The series, created by Mara Brock-Akil, was consistently the No. 1 show in black households since its Sept. 11, 2000 debut. Original cast members Tracee Ellis Ross, Golden Brooks, Persia White and Jill Marie Jones starred as a group of close friends dealing with life and love in Los Angeles. Jones left the series in at the end of Season 6. – EURweb Feb. 12, 2008

WHY IMMEDIATELY? This makes me suspect. I will admit, in the beginning it took me a minute to warm up to the Sistah’s Show (that’s what I call it because it was kinda WEST COAST GHETTO) but I grew up in a house full of girls and in each one of those heifers; Joan Clayton, Lynn Searcy, Maya Wilkes, Toni Childs and the fifth Girlfriend William Dent, all represented at least one of my sisters. I think, like the Huxtables from the Cosby Show, we all had someone in our family that we could relate to, which was and still is part of the success of shows like Girlfriends. Granted, this was a "BLACK" sitcom and most of its honors reflected that, none the less, it was the number one watched Black Show on television for 9 years straight.

I guess my favorite and unfortunately moderately short-lived was Toni Childs, played by Jill Marie Jones. Her leaving once the show transitioned from UPN (Urban Peoples Network) to the CW (Colored What?), the rumors of contract renewals, money issues and story lines became true. Still, she was my character and the one I think I’d love to hate the most …. Toni Childs was DRAMA, more quality drama than Joan who in my right mind I would never want to be LOCKED in a room with … can you say ISSUES. But regardless of your views of the characters, they were all family, Black Families, Black Friends, they where the people in my family, my sisters growing up.

While in Chicago I had the pleasure of meeting Reginald C. Hayes. NICE GUY. He not only was approachable but he is/was humble for the work he received on Girlfriends. That in itself was a reason to respect the work on the show. My ear to the acting world has told me that everyone on the show shared the same sense of the pride and dignity and that energy displayed and put out reflecting the inspiration that the entire cast and crew wanted to portray.

Thinking back, this was reminiscent of another ensemble cast of Black Women, Livin' Single on the FOX network back in 1993. Originally Livin’ Single was to be a mid-season filler, the show lasted for 5 seasons being at that time, the longest Black ensemble show to date. More Afrocentric than Girlfriends, it was Ghetto East Coast and rough around the edges but soon found it stride and became the blue print for young successful urban youth and young families. What I enjoyed most between the two shows was that although both were centered on the successes of Black (women) progress, both captured a detail struggles of Black identity, pride, independence, mainstream, assimilation, beauty, spirit, history and economics within communities on the SMALL SCREEN. Call it a toned down version of the Cosby Show, you can not dismiss the fact that what Bill Cosby had accomplished in terms of Black Images on television with his brand of family open an acceptable door for Livin’ Single (Urban Realness) and Girlfriends (Jack and Jill Realities).

There may have been other shows, ensembles that all shared the same formulas of the four aspects of Womanhood; Age, Sex, Intelligence, Humor, but none spoke deeper to the Black community as Livin’ Single or more so than Girlfriends. Take The Golden Girls, which became a CLASSIC even before it was in re-runs. You have Blanche, Dorothy, Rose and Sophia; these names are ingrained in television lore, were the bright and safe journey to retirement telling a fearful world that it is OK to get Old. And over the years, with the lessons and laughs learned from watching there women, that once you find your first grey hair, pluck it, look at it in wonderment, and then laugh your ass off because now you can officially, "SAY WHATEVER I WANT CAUSE I EARNED THE RIGHT TO BE OLD, BEAUTIFUL AND BOLD". I have caught many of Black folk (Brothas as well) sneaking and watching these Grandmas. I can admit that in my youth I never saw the fascination of looking at four wrinkled grey haired women sitting around a kitchen table eating cheesecake and calling each other sluts, old maids and idiots and yet as the years pressed upon me and my personal friendships became deeper, I now find myself sitting around my table eating bowls of organic cereal while calling my friends with their building potbellies and receding hairlines calling each Ho, Fat Ass and Mr. Dirty Boy. We may not be all that "Golden" but we are catching a bit of SHINE nearing our mid-life years.

By the time Sex In The City arrived on the scene, my television days declined into serious and conscious driven viewing. I also made it a point to only support those shows that made real efforts to employ Black actors in real roles and represented what I considered real like ME. There were very few choices and if I subtract the over saturation of Black Athletes, shows trying to make Rappers into Stars with bad behavior, there wasn’t much to choose from in Black television outside of pushing the sitcom as the only image of who Black people were in America. With the soon to be absent Girlfriends; we can look forward to shows like Lipstick Jungle, Cashmere Mafia and Gossip Girl. I know, I know I don’t want to get all-RACIAL and all but I only see is one Asian in all of the three shows mentioned which is Lucy Liu. So much for diversity on television. I guess Hillary and Obama can address that in their next debate. Then again, maybe not.

MONTEL WILLIAMS CASUALTY OF IRAQ INVASION

No sooner than I send off STAR JONES and close the door, Montel Williams gets my attention as he asks for his hat and coat to leave as well. My BLACK TV HOST PARTY is starting to get smaller.

Montel Williams is the latest casualty of the Iraq Invasion and the FOX Network. Montel the ex-Marine, Rodeo Clown, National Syndicated Talk Show Host, Spokes Person for (MS) Multiple Sclerosis, Spokes Person for Partnership for Prescription Assistance, Speaker of Veterans’ Rights and now recently fired from the FOX Network.

Lets just detail how this happened:

"Shortly before Fox-owned and operated television stations in major markets terminated Montel's talk-show contract, Montel appeared in an interview on Fox News Channel's Fox and Friends, and was asked to discuss Heath Ledger's death. He used the interview to point out that TV networks had continued to extensively cover Mr. Ledger's death while ignoring the deaths of 28 US soldiers in Iraq since the beginning of the year. Montel expressed sympathy for Mr. Ledger's family and remorse for his passing but also encouraged the three interviewers to recognize the absence of coverage for the US soldiers killed in Iraq. The interviewers sought to point out that their audience wanted celebrity news and it was more interesting than soldier deaths. Montel suggested that US news networks had the capacity to lead the country's attitudes by placing more importance on US deaths in Iraq than the deaths of celebrities. Montel noted that he had awoken that morning very saddened by the unknown names of those slain in Iraq and was further saddened when he could not find their names on the web.

Three minutes into this awkward segment on Fox, one host cut off Montel in order to go to a commercial. Montel did not return after the break."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montel_Williams

Four days later, after 17 years as a television host, Montel lost his job. The SPIN is that Montel Williams quit. I find it hard to believe that a man of his caliber, with the OUTREACH of a NATIONALLY syndicated show and the causes he support would QUIT. Last I checked, Marines don’t QUIT.

I am not a big Montel Williams fan. I won’t front and say I never was but like all things, some of his personal philosophies rubbed hard against many of my beliefs. Personally I feel many of his Montel’isms are a product of his military career (which in itself is a unique ideology) and choices in his personal life. But that is the beauty in GOD’s creation, we are all uniquely different individuals and thus the spirit of a MAN allows for civilized co-existence or at least in the United States the Right to agree to disagree without fist-to-cuffs. Regardless of my indifference to Montel Williams, I don’t like when people get JACKED and AXED for speaking Truth. The MAN SPOKE truth and for it, he is not necessarily SILENCED but is stabbed at his reputation and the money he makes. You see most people fear for their lives but WEALTHY people fear POVERTY more. To go for the pockets/pocketbooks is the standard for silencing the wealthy and FOX decided to go that routine which as far as I'm concern will be a practice of the past come election time.

I recall a speech made several years ago where the topic was BUYING BLACKS OUT OF THEIR COMMUNITIES. The speaker spoke on how various annals of America tease and titillate the most talented in BLACK communities with promises of Money, Political Influence (never any real Power), Fame and Beauty. The speaker also detailed a number of Blacks whom had taken the APPLE FROM THE TREE and decided to share that knowledge or speak for those they had left behind and the actions taken to bring them down and or silenced before they succeeded. He had also detailed those that currently are riding the wave of success and in Black’s praise of them, only time will show if they will compromise or reach out to help others rise as well. So far, they haven’t. Montel wasn’t on that short list but the events of his show’s cancellation clearly details how much loyalty one has for the TRUTH and the extent THE POWERS THAT BE would go to destroy it.

Lately Montel Williams have gone public to discuss his objection to Obesity, Child Abuse, Internet Predators, Holistic Living, Detoxing of the Body, making the names of Military Officers Public, the effects of Poverty in Relation to Crime and many more social concerns. With his Talk Show as a venue for discussion, it was only a matter of time before the FOX Network saw fit to cancel his show. It’s like that one person at work that gets all the accolades. As long as he/she doesn’t affect the Boss or Supervisor they are safe. Bring attention that their performance is better or more efficient, they are gone because of some minor infraction. Montel, not wanting to talk about a dead man and the details of his death before an autopsy was done was a fair and respectful as well as an honorable thing to do. His Momma taught him well.

Am I upset that his show was cancelled. Not really, I didn’t watch it and yet it does not take away from the fact that others did and that Montel Williams did serve a purpose and regardless of my personal feelings toward him, I’d still call on him to do GREAT THINGS in my community. He’s a Good Man and FOX doesn’t want Good Men, they only want SHEEP. Last time I checked, the Marines Don’t Do Sheep.