I came across this one night and it go me thinking: I this what’s happening? I lived in Philly for 4.5 years and because my school has absolutely no room for its students many of us live off-campus, but close to the university. Living in an inner city, especially Philadelphia did some things to me. Basically, I was easily annoyed at EVERYTHING AND EVERYONE every time I stepped out of my apartment. I was constantly ambushed with images of teen pregnancy, drug/thug-life, and a host of other images, not to mention language that I was never accustomed to before college. While living in Philly I noticed a number of changes in myself, namely, the way I speak, and at times my will to get things done. In the video, TonyaTKO talks about her move to Harlem and the effect it’s had on her and I wondered (even though this is seemingly obvious), Is this what the Black community has a case of? What do you think?
By the way TonyaTKO references nihilism, defined here.
Today, I was reading this New York Times article and thought back to my freshman year at college. During “move-in” weekend and a number of other school events, there stood a table with some “cool” incentive (pens, backpacks, water bottles, etc.) in exchange for your life! Well, close to it. A number of young, financially illiterate college students became victim to the world of credit card debt. Big banking corporations such as Bank of America, the company featured in the article, have contracts with universities that benefit everyone, except for the student. the article states,
“Bank of America’s relationship with the university extends well beyond marketing at sports events. The bank has an $8.4 million, seven-year contract with Michigan State giving it access to students’ names and addresses and use of the university’s logo. The more students who take the banks’ credit cards, the more money the university gets. Under certain circumstances, Michigan State even stands to receive more money if students carry a balance on these cards.”
Wow, really? Is it really ok to exploit students like this, well apparently some students are fighting back– as they should– some set up tables on campus to warn of the danger of debt and urge students to support limits on on-campus marketing. Here‘s some extra info on students’ credit card use from NYtimes.com
Just wondering, why don’t they offer some financial literacy seminars with this?
Apparently, there a couple earch engines that are claiming to be specifically for African Americans. They claim to “deliver a blend of mainstream search results plus a layer of more relevant search results influenced by the Black community.” They include Rushmore Drive , which launched in April 2008 and more recently Blackbird. I google-ed “black search engines” and became slightly horrified at the first result, blackwebportal (under the link to its website read: this site may harm your computer), so I quickly scrolled down the page in an attempt to avoid damage. As I continued my short and quite shallow inquiry into the presence of black search engines, I wonder: Do we need this? Is it really filling a void? I previewed the two sites mentioned above to see what it is they do that’s so relevant to the African American community, I haven’t decided what to make of them yet. Personally, I use google for all my internet search needs. Moving on, between the two, Rushmore drive gets my vote not so much for its superb search results but for the links to relevant content listed on its page (it’s now my homepage). Do we need it? I’m not sure yet…
So this is one of those nights when I’m up all night all over the internet visiting a million random websites and I stumble upon this, the strangest, but quite hilarious video I’ve seen in a bit. Anyway I was left wondering not only WTF but also HTF?
It turns out this song is on the soundtrack of a recent Bollywood film, Singh is Kinng? Any way, the movie is entirely in Punjabi and Hindi, so yeah I don’t get this.
Happy New Year!! And Welcome… 2008 is over, but the drama that it produced is not… We’re still in a recession and news sources caution that it will only deepen in 2009. However, there are a number of things we can do to make ourselves feel better. I’m referring to Time Out magazine’s current feature “Detox ’09″ which I thought I should share with you (well just t he ones i thing i think are cool) as well as some of my own suggestions, so Enjoy… Join your local YMCA…. YMCA’s have great gyms complete with fun fitness classes for you to work out and clear your mind and de-stress. Take up a hobby… Uh, preferably one that may generate some extra dollars? Here are some ideas: knitting, pottery, collecting, sewing, jewelery making, drawing/painting….
Eat healthier… Yes, it’s more expensive to eat healthy, but if you buy fast food everyday instead of cooking you’re probably spending more money anyway. To lessen the cost, you can join a local food co-op, which has locally grown produce at lesser prices than your local grocery store in exchange for volunteering a couple hours a week. Here are a few in the NYC area: 4th Street Food Coop (lower east side) Flatbush Food Coop (Brooklyn) Park Slope Food Coop (Brooklyn)
Try a juice cleanse… No, I actually haven’t tried it yet, but I will this year. They can be expensive, but many say it’s worth it.
That’s all for now, in the next few days I’ll be posting some more ways to feel better in ’09
