Do You Remember Where You Were When the Levees Broke?

I haven't blogged in a minute--I've been going through some things that have snatched my focus. Excuse me, that I've allowed to snatch my focus. When I thought I was ready to write, I couldn't think of anything to write about. I don't claim to be a writer but, if I were, you might call what I had writer's block.

Then I found this delightful man, Brad Bechler on Twitter , who wrote a book about Hurricane Katrina. (Kind of a reminder that there's always someone that has it worse than you do.) His book is called "When Will the Sky Fall?". I haven't read it yet, but if it's anything like his tweets, I'm sure it will be an enlightening read.

This week is the fourth anniversary of the hurricane that made history. Where the media desensitizes us to tragedies and horrific catastrophies by dehumanizing them and making them appear commonplace (you know the media CHOOSES what they report), the effects of the devastation of Hurricane Katrina remain to this day.

Spike Lee's "When the Levees Broke" puts a most human face on the tragedy that occurred August 29, 2005. Mr. Lee is a master documentarian and this piece is nothing short of mesmerizing. It is a much needed, must-see "look at a community that has been through hell and back, surviving death, devastation and disease at every turn".
I hope you've seen it.

The effects of Katrina were far reaching--I remember new members of our congregation became new members because they had been displaced by the storm. I live in New Jersey.
The Coast Guard, the National Guard, volunteer organizations were stretched by rescue efforts.
The world watched, and ridiculed, our government's stunted response to one of the worst natural disasters in our nation's history.
(Not to go THERE but even the most *weatherly* challenged know that a Category 5 hurricane is going to require more than a little bit of attention--even in the best of circumstances.)
And finally, people from all over banded together to help a devastated region & people resume some sort of semblance of a life.

Amidst their tragedy, the people of the bayou go on. My heart goes out to the people of New Orleans and everyone else affected, still.
Sometimes you just have to get over your sweet self and put things into perspective in order to get things done.
I'm glad I am able to write again. :) Feel free to share your thoughts!

The Covenant Relationship

We had our family reunion this past week and it was a complete blast! Two of my brothers (and their families) came in from Cali. One actually relocated back to the east coast--where he belongs! My mother and sister came from Georgia, so we filled a couple of houses--and a couple of hotel rooms. We hadn't all
been together since my brother's wedding a few years ago, so we were long overdue.

Somehow, even though there were like, a million of us, we all pretty much got along. Probably because we hadn't all been together in such a long time. So, there was nothing at our reunion like those Tyler Perry movies. We swam, ate, sang (Michael Jackson songs, of course), drank, danced, yelled, murmurred, complained, argued (mostly about Prince vs MJJ. Who knew there was such a rivalry amongst musicians. We decided comparing Prince & MJJ is like comparing apples to oranges), learned, loved--and nobody pulled a knife on anybody. Although there was a close call during the pictionary game. Girls RULE!!! Oh, and none of the men in the family ended up dressed like a woman. Go figure. All in all, it was a fantastic time! Family is awesome.

Anyway, I usually wait until the Sunday Sermon to finish up my weekly posts. This week is no different--it just took me a little longer to recover from last week. Plus, I forgot to take pictures, so I had to wait for some of my brethren to post some pics so I could finish this post. I'm still waiting.

My pastor told us that in any covenant relationship there will be disagreements. What exactly is a covenant relationship? A relationship that is covenanted. Just kidding. According to Wikipedia, a covenant, in its most general sense, is a solemn promise to engage in or refrain from a specified action.

We love each other. From the top to the bottom, youngest to the oldest, yellowest to the brownest, we love each other. We are a blended family, of many races, varying opinions, many abilities and at different stages of our lives.

Our reunion was everything a reunion should be--we engaged in love and refrained from anything that moved us away from it.

Not a bad covenant.

Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

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A couple of days ago a friend was telling me about a surgical procedure his son had gone through a few days before. Although the surgery is intricate and quite extensive, it has pretty much become a standard procedure, thanks to advances in surgical technology. His son came through the operation fine, but it was a MAJOR undertaking.

Prior to making the decision to have the surgery, he had asked for my advice because my son had had the same procedure a few years ago. When he asked, I sensed the same apprehension I felt when trying to determine whether or not to subject my son to the same op. (As it turned out, according to all of the experts, there was no other option. Without getting into too much detail, both boys are wheelchair bound, and, in order to keep them from becoming "deformed"--the doctor's words--and having their bodies cave in on them and crush their internal organs, the surgery had to be performed.)

As he gave me the details of his son's procedure and his post-op experience, he got kind of choked up. He told me all about the intubation/extubation, the swelling, the cries for help, the blood loss. I just listened. My mind wandered off to my son's surgical experience. Hearing my friend's story helped me to understand things just a little bit more.

I see now that the empathy I feel for him, and his situation, is purposeful, relational and specific. Sometimes I complain about my life being too hard. Shoot, sometimes it is! But, being able to identify with and help someone whose situation is similar to mine is the antidote to just about any woe I may ever have.

In the end, all things do work together for the common good. Hang in there! Even though all that we are is a culmination of genetics and experience, we are all wonderfully made. Share your beauty. Even if it's just a listening ear. Sometimes that's all someone needs to make their day a little better.

My Michael Jackson Post

I am a bit baffled. And confused. The death of Michael Jackson threw me for the biggest loop I never expected. I wasn't the hugest fan when he was alive, but I have always loved his music.

So, why write about him? Everybody pretty much has a Michael Jackson post, right? What else is there to say?

Two words: Al Sharpton. Excuse me--The Reverend Al Sharpton.
The reverend opened his mouth and purported that Michael Jackson wasn't strange.

Now, I know that in the heat of the moment, things can be said that may not be completely true or accurate, but how in the world could you even let it come out of your mouth that Jacko wasn't strange? How could you form those words and seriously speak (or preach) them to anybody???

Michael Jackson was friends with a monkey. Does anything else need to be said?

I guess there's truth to the addage "it's not what you say, it's how you say it".
Sorry, but, I'm not going for that okey-doke.

I tell you this right now, I LOVE MJJ! LOVE HIM! I always will. My heart aches over losing him. His talent was beyond exception. He CREATED the music video and put MTV on the map. His music spans, like, five different decades and numerous generations. If he was an icon, he was THE ICON.

With all that gifting, I figure he was entitled to some sort of oddness. And odd he was. We all know he was strange. And really, is there anything wrong with being a little strange? Especially when you're the freaking King of the Universe?! Besides, who among us isn't strange? I like strange. Strange keeps it interesting.


Michael may have been the looniest of the toons, though.

But, I am certain, there is a reason for it all. We've all been given just enough crazy to balance out the brilliance. It keeps us humble. Or at least it's supposed to. The key is to recognize it or sometimes it doesn't work out so well.

In the end, none of that matters. What matters is what he gave. I don't know about you, but to me, it looks like he gave a lot.

Thank you, Michael! I love you.

My Dad

My dad came to church with me today. It was cool.
I was going to write a whole entry about it,
but I don't feel like it.
It was just a really cool day. Thanks, Dad.

Happy Father's Day :)

Pucker Up!

I work as a make-up artist with Motives Cosmetics, a cosmetics company I absolutely love. I love it so much that I probably own every product that they have ever come out with.

There was almost one exception to my collection: the lip plumper.

I am usually the guinea pig for all of the products I choose to market. By choice. The lip plumper, however, presented me with a couple of unique issues.
Number one: Suppose it didn't work. (I'm not exactly sure why I had this issue with this particular product. This has never been an issue before.)
Number two: Suppose it did work. (Lip plumpers give me visions of Hollywood lip enhancement mishaps and plastic surgery horror stories.)

Since I was being a big baby, somebody else had to test it. I embarked on a little marketing venture. I sat down with a few clients and friends and tried to demonstrate our new offering.

What ensued wasn't pretty. If you are at all familiar with females of the negroid persuasion, lip plumper is a BAD word. (They must have those same lip enhancement visions dancing in their heads!)

My friends were skeptical. My clients ran. One of my clients literally jumped up from the table and backed away from me. Another one crossed her two index fingers at me, as if to keep me from draining the lifeblood from her body.

Obviously, I needed to rethink my whole marketing strategy.

I did--and it worked! Soon my "lip plumper" became my "clear lip gloss conditioner that's just a little tingly." I got a couple of my clients and a few of my thin-lipped friends to try it and got some good reviews.

Then it was my turn. Here are my results:

See the difference?!!
OK, so, the second picture looks like the first picture, just a little shinier.
Look closely, though--the plumpiness is there.

I will say that this plumper has a cumulative effect--the more you wear it, the better the result. My lips are "plumper" now than they were a few weeks ago when I first started wearing it. I guess that's the "filler effect". It reduces the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, which gives your lips a fuller look.

It has a nice texture and my lips feel better--supple is the word I'm looking for. Even when I'm not wearing it.

All in all, I'm glad I worked up the courage to try it. Especially now that summer is here-- I prefer minimal make up when it's hot outside. I can use it by itself or layer it on top of my lipstick or lip gel.

Because, after all, what's better than a nice summertime pucker?

My Kids

Kids are so entertaining. They had me cracking up today. Our Sunday School lesson was "Who was Jesus?"
We all know who Jesus is. Or at least we have some idea of who He is.
We went through our lesson today and came to the conclusion that Jesus was God. Here on earth. He could have done anything He wanted to do, but He chose to die to save us from ourselves.

This lesson quickly degenerated. Degenerated is probably the wrong word, but I can't think of another word right now. Mutated may be a better choice.

At least it inspired them to think.

Once they figured out that Jesus was God and walked among us, they thought He could have done a lot more than He did while He was here.

The first student's thoughts: I would have used my "powers" to fly. I would have been flying all over the place!
The next: (Flexing his muscles) Mannnn, I would have made myself buff!
The next: I would have just snapped my fingers and traveled all over the world.
There were a lot more, but I didn't have time to write them down while class was in session.

Creative little beings they are, comparing what He could have done to what He did. I don't think I could have come up with that one in a million years.

I'm pretty sure that lesson was a success.