Just Like a Star, Live, Corrine Bailey Rae

Sometimes only a good, sappy love song hits the spot. Here's Corrine Bailey Rae, live, singing "Just Like a Star." But I miss the bass movement. So here's a link to the original music video. I noticed that a lot of people on YouTube have done covers of this song.

Dusk (poem)

Dusk
By Nordette N. Adams

My father's walker clatters
on cold tile in my house.
No one can fix the broken wheel.

Scraping noise and clacks
rattle me to winces.
Mortality pokes my heels.

© 2010 Nordette N. Adams

Early Morning Twitter Poetry

Et Tu, Eros?
By Nordette N. Adams

One love
curled my bones like ribbons,
another
made my heart unwind,
the last one
twisted me in knots:
Lust fibrillates the mind.

#poetry

© 2010 Nordette N. Adams

Zora Neale Hurston Wrote Famous Novel in Haiti

The world's eyes have been focused on Haiti recently from the devastating earthquake to the controversy surrounding adopting Haitian orphans. So, those who appreciate African-American literature may be interested to know that Haiti has a literary connection America through not only the anthropological work of writer Zora Neale Hurston, but also through her most famous work Their Eyes Were Watching God. ... Read more at The African-American Books Examiner.

Stop saying you don't know where 'Who dat?" came from: Vintage Video of Who Dat When Saints Go Marching In

I may be writing more on the whole Who Dat controversy with the NFL claiming it owns the phrase, which it now says was a misunderstanding. And I may comment more at a later date on various non-colored people yelling "Stop stealing our culture," but I'm not up to it today, and I don't want to distract our hearts from this joyous time of the Saints going to the Super Bowl. However, I must say that I'm annoyed at journalists who play along with the whole "We don't know where Who Dat came from" misinformation.

White Cajuns and white Creoles, like Africans, have had trouble with saying the "th" sound of the English language and so have said "d" in place of "th." That's true, but give me a break, ya'll.

There's no mystery about "Who dat." Read a slave narrative or old novels from the Harlem Renaissance. If you don't want to take a dead black author's word for it, then ask Sen. Harry Reid to give you an example of what he means by "Negro dialect" and ask a historian of grammar which group is known more for dropping linking verbs. Journalists need to quit frontin' ignorance!

But should you, reader, conjure the spirit of Paul Laurence Dunbar or Zora Neale Hurston, then they'll tell you that they were criticized for using phrases like "who dat" when describing black speech. Cultured black people didn't approve of any use of "Negro dialect" aka Ebonics for my uppity Negroes, which was one of the many reasons Amos 'n Andy went down the drain, that and the insult that in the beginning it was white men making fun of black people, including how uneducated black people spoke.

Amos 'n Andy creators Godsen and Correll, both white, thought they could do "black dialect" better than they could do the dialect of poor whites. Hmm. Eventually the white actors were replaced by black actors but black people still found the comedy offensive.

Nevertheless, suddenly everybody in New Orleans, both white and black, wants to claim they've always said "Who dat." They grew up saying "who dat" they claim. Yes, maybe, well, perhaps they did ... at a Saints game, but they know doggone well who the people were who said "who dat" in everyday language such as, "Who dat at de doh?" meaning "Who is that at the door?" or "Who dat gal you be walking wid?" Or from black vaudeville, "Who dat say who dat when I say who dat?"

Please, stop saying you don't know where "who dat" came from!

And one more thing, I was disappointed by Karen Dalton Beninato's piece about the Who Dat controversy. Can't believe she didn't mention Saint Augustine high school football or the saying's black roots!

The video up top features Steve Monistere's band, the Top Cats, with Aaron Neville and Saints defensive linemen doing the song "When the Saints Go Marching In" with a sample of the "Who Dat" chant. The video's speaker says clearly that you don't really hear "Who dat" unless you're talking to someone from the lower 9th Ward or the Irish Channel, which I suspect was a euphemistic way of saying the St. Thomas project, which is in the Irish Channel because I grew up in NOLA and I don't recall white people on Magazine Street saying "Who dat," but I wouldn't put it past a Cajun.

Apparently Monistere was smart enough to go off and trademark the phrase under Who Dat Inc. back in the day, and that's part of the NFL controversy over ownership. However he was not smart enough to renew his registration. Personally, I don't think he should own the phrase either unless it's directly related to the his version of When the Saints Go Marching in with the chant. It would be like the Paul McCartney trademarking the word "hello" and "good-bye" because the Beatles sang it in a song or how about The Who saying they own the rights to the phrase "Who are you?" because of their song "Who Are You?"



A local TV station contacted a trademark attorney to discuss this nonsense. She said the federal courts may have to decide its ownership and the trademark issue is strictly about who first used the phrase in trade. Too bad so much was lost in Katrina flooding. I'd bet money some high school had shirts made once with the phrase on it or somebody sold a cake with something on it like "Who dat say dey go'n beat St. Aug."

Yes, I am tired of white folks appropriating parts black culture for profit and then behaving as though they don't know the origin. However, I'm behind anyone who protests the NFL claiming to own "Who Dat" or the fleur-de-lis for that matter.

Don't even get me started on the Bengals and Who Dey! Finally, credit to Sen. David Vitter for acknowledging in his letter to the NFL the older origins of Who Dat. Maybe I'll answer his people the next time they call my house.

More on the Color Struck and Obsessions with Blue Eyes in Blacks

Yes, Virginia, it's possible. Black people can have blue eyes. See subject Michael Ealy, the actor, below. I can't believe I'm writing on this topic again, skin color issues and eye color issues in people of color, in particular black people, but this post is driven by observations I've made viewing my blog stats and evidence of colorism in popular media. People are still obsessed with black people having blue eyes, still tripping over having a lighter skin color.

At least once a day somebody hits this blog looking for a picture of black people with blue eyes. Sometimes I see hits from people Googling this topic four and five times in one day, and I figure somebody somewhere must be arguing again over whether black people can have blue eyes. Ugh. Or it could be the case that some white people just saw some black girl in the Wal-Mart with blue eyes and have started arguing over whether it was contacts while one of them screams, "It's impossible for black people to have blue eyes!" like blue-eyed black folk are some type of little green men.

The blue-eyed obsession was covered well in Toni Morrison's book The Bluest Eye, which I mentioned in an earlier post on this subject last year, "Blue-eyed black people, colorism, and our continued dysfunction." Morrison, however, never felt any desire to have blue eyes, however. She based the story on observing this lust in another.

Every now and then I'll see other bloggers post on the topic. Last time it was Renee at Womanist Musings, I think. But she was speaking more broadly of the sense of stigma some black girls experience over having the "blackest of black" skin.

Here's the picture of Ealy.


I'm with Toni Morrison on this one. Like her, I've never wanted blue eyes. I may notice that someone else has pretty eyes that are blue, but I've never considered sporting blue contacts the way Oprah did years ago when she popped some in for a while and found out she'd offended other black folks. It was never clear to me if Ms. Winfrey wore the blue contacts for the sake of publicity or if she actually wanted blue eyes.

Neither have I ever tried to bleach my skin. BTW, has anyone else noticed that some of our African-American celebrities or famous folk of African descent seem to be getting lighter? I've heard professional skin bleaching is on the rise. I suspect that if they're not doing so professionally, then some black celebrities are using serums that "even out skin tone" to whiten their entire faces. I know Sammy Sosa was under fire for something like this last year and admits he's bleached his skin.

Worthy of lament, here's video from the 2009 Tyra Banks show on skin bleaching and color struck folk, a topic black people have been talking about openly for a long time, but probably began to speak of more openly with Zora Neale Hurston's 1925 play Color Struck. (You may read the full text of the play here.) And we still talk about using that same term.

The Tyra video is more disturbing than the CNN story last year about black women preferring to adopt light-skinned children.



It could be that some of the celebrities who seem lighter to me, like Queen Latifah, are just standing in different lighting suddenly. Lighting does change how dark or fair you look. However, I've noticed others such as Gabrielle Union, who is doing ads for Neutrogena's tone correcting serum, also look lighter. Maybe it's my imagination because I keep seeing them in cosmetics ads looking "bright" to sell beauty products when I've been told we get a little darker as we age.

Every once in a while, I may see somebody come to my blog through search engines looking for information on "light-skinned black people in New Orleans" or "black Creoles," but since I wrote my post on blue eyes and colorism, I get mostly people popping by via Google searching for "black people blue eyes" or "Creole blue eyes" or "colorism" or "picture black person blue eyes." When they get to the original post, they see a picture of former Miss America and actress Vanessa Williams, who is mixed or to be politically correct is "biracial," and they can read about a debate that roiled in the comments section at Field Negro a while back in which some person claimed black people can only have blue eyes if they have a disease, which is not true.

However, it is true that black people can only have blue eyes if somewhere in their bloodline somebody else had blue eyes and that person by the laws of biology will be white. Don't believe me? Then read what the geneticists say.

Anyway, I thought I'd add the picture of Michael Ealy to educate the unbelievers and ignorant. I forgot about him when I was writing the first piece, but I first saw Ealy in the movie Barber Shop and noticed that he's a good looking young man. I didn't focus on his eyes because, honestly, black folks with light eyes, green eyes, blue eyes are not an oddity to me. Folks obsession with black people having blue eyes, however, is, which is why I'm writing on this topic again. It's very strange to me that people are out looking for pictures of black people with blue eyes and arguing with each other over whether it's possible.

I was reminded of Ealy when I visited a blog I discovered through the Old School Friday meme and it showed Ealy at a red carpet event for the movie Preacher's Kid. I also remember him from Oprah's production of Their Eyes Were Watching God in which he played Tea Cake and from an episode of Jada Pinkett Smith's show, Nurse Hawthorne, which has been renewed on TNT for a second season.

I'm pretty sure Ealy wants to be known for his acting skill and not for the color of his eyes. And he is, in my opinion, a very talented actor.

Photo Credit: Picture found at B-Factor in the post "Colorism: Are We Color Blind?"

Also related: Children recite Nordette Adams's poem "Behind the Color Blind."

Outside Thunder, Inside Rain (a poem)

Outside Thunder, Inside Rain
By Nordette N. Adams

I keep thinking --
if I am to be who I am meant to be,
must I truss up my spirit,
make it smooth in a settled way,
fasten its flavors so when grazers taste
me I burst a rainbow on the tongue?

I watch other women of color be smooth,
black with kink to the hair
long, twisted, and dreading exposure,
called to give speeches,
poems, sing songs with warrior words
mixed with the Trail of Tears
or the names of Middle Passage,
telling how old blues came from one place low,
deep in the throat or up in the nose
or out from toes after kissing loins
and these women seem trussed up
for a table, decorated for
presentational feasts.

If I am to be like these colored goddesses,
plucked of wings, laid out for consumption,
paper ruffles where once were feet,
find me a quiet room, find me
a calming brew to silence my mind,
make my heart open
but close my windows
to the howlings of this world
so I may only dream danger,
stab monsters in nightmares,
but wake to cushions
of money in the bank.

Until then
my spirit is loose,
my feathers ruffle
at lustful tongues.

© 2009 Nordette N. Adams

OSF: Let's Get Busy

I'm happy to have a chance to participate in the Old School Friday theme after being absent for a while. This week's theme is "Let's Get Busy." I could have gone with the obvious, Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get it On" but actually, it didn't come to me when Marvin Gaye popped into my head. The song I thought of was "Come, Get to This."



Next I thought of Ike & Tina Turner & co. who got busy with "Proud Mary." The song always reminds me of hard work because they are 1.) sing about different jobs and 2.) work the devil out with dance in the second part of the song.



O.K., I had to include this last one simply because it was the first song that popped into my head when I saw the theme. It's Get Busy by Sean Paul and it was recorded after 1999. Consider it lagniappe, but the video's always made me laugh because of the little story that goes in it: "Stop banging on the damned furnace!"



The creators of the Old School Friday meme are Mrs. Grapevine and Marvalus at Conversations with Marva and has these rules, if you want to join this theme party.

The Root Shares 'Blackest White Folks We Know'

You know how you read or see some craziness and laugh your rear off until you think, "I know I'm going to hell for laughing at this or if not to hell, then at least somebody will see me and put me on the Most Politically Incorrect Negro list"? Well, I just read through The Root's "Blackest White Folks We Know" collection of white people, and I felt the political correctness police breathing at the back of my neck just as I did last night while I laughed at an old Dave Chappelle skit.

We can credit Rod Blagojevich with these nutty lists arising since he started it by saying he's blacker than Obama. I even did a list of my own "10 Reasons Why I'm Blacker Than Obama" after reading PPR_Scribe's hilarious list at This So-Called Post-Post Racial Life earlier this month.

While there are a lot funnier examples on the list, I smiled when I saw Anderson Cooper of CNN on it at number 8. I have an aunt who told me he was a racist, and she said this because he stated a less than positive opinion of Mayor Ray Nagin or some other black politician.

I tried my best in my most respectful manner to explain that being critical of a black politician doesn't make you racist, especially if your criticism is based on something stupid the joker did, and I pointed out how he handled Katrina coverage of a flooded New Orleans. But my aunt grew up in the segregated South. I can't really argue with her feelings.

Plus, I think it would be difficult to be white in America and not have some racist ideology or at least some other false racial construct influencing you subconsciously, even if it's only a belief that black folk are more spiritual or something hokey like that.

However, being a racist wouldn't actually disqualify you from being black either. We've seen Negroes suffering from internalized racism that causes them to put down other black people while applauding Rush Limbaugh or selling out to whites who consistently support discriminatory government policies, uh, *cough* Michale Steele, um, Juan Williams, and so on.

I'm using the word "Negro" a lot lately before the campaign to remove it from the English language makes it yet another unspeakable word.

Here's the link to The Root's "Blackest White Folks We Know." I know they've made somebody mad with this list. But I wish Field Negro would take the list on because I know whatever he says would only make me laugh more.

The last person on the list will surprise you and the commentary on him is clever. My objection to the list is that most of the white women listed are listed for their sex appeal or singing. What does that say about what The Root writer thinks of black women. Is our contribution to blackness booty power and crooning only?

Dave Chappelle: Guitar, Drums or Electric Piano

Suddenly I had the urge to see this old Dave Chappelle skit again, some comedy that plays against stereotypes. This may offend some people, but I laughed my behind off watching this again, the skit in which he test theories about what kinds of musical instruments effect specific ethnic groups. I had forgotten that he uses John Mayer in Part 1.

Chappelle's Show
Electric Guitar, Drums or Electric Piano Pt. 1
www.comedycentral.com
Buy Chappelle's Show DVDs Black Comedy True Hollywood Story

Chappelle's Show
Electric Guitar, Drums or Electric Piano Pt. 2
www.comedycentral.com
Buy Chappelle's Show DVDs Black Comedy True Hollywood Story

There is No Spoon: Working with Positive Thinking

I'm writing away, structuring a post on two blogs/websites that focus on positivity. Those are Gives Me Hope and Operation Beautiful. I think lots of us, when we hear the term "positive thinking" believe it's akin to Neo in the Matrix and the clip "There is no spoon." Consequently, it sounds more like magic thinking to us, and perhaps at a high level of mysticism that's exactly what the yogi means.

Perhaps in some unknown place there are people who can accomplish feats such as changing the physical object before them in nearly an instant. (I'm very skeptical, but I'll allow that there are psychically gifted people somewhere.)



However, after talking to the creators of Gives Me Hope and Operation Beautiful I think more practical cheerleaders of positive thinking are speaking of focus. If you choose to place your focus on what you can do and the good in the world rather than what you can't do and the ugliness, you'll discover there's more you can do than you ever imagined.

In that way, what the child is telling Neo in the Matrix clip fits. He tells Neo that there is no spoon. It's not the spoon that bends, it's you who bends. So, to put it in practical terms is he saying that it's our attitudes, the way we see the world, and not our surroundings that make the difference? Inner change impacts the outer change?

I'll let you know when that post is done. It will be published at BlogHer.com. My most recent post on a related topic is Should You Change Your Self-Mythology?

Adopting Haitian Orphans: Americans May Get Breaks but Advocates are Concerned Some Adoptees Not Orphans

I've been wondering what will happen to Haiti's children who've been orphaned by the earthquakes. CNN reports some U.S. senators are working to make it easier to adopt the orphans, and Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu is one of the lawmakers who wants to make that happen.

Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-Louisiana, said that the initial focus of the legislation would be on children orphaned by the January 12 earthquake in Haiti but that in the long term, it also would address other adoption efforts.

She and other senators will press this week to get the Families for Orphans Act out of a Senate committee so it can go to the floor for a vote, she said at a news conference. (Read more at CNN)

Landrieu says that generally children adopted under these circumstances are raised strong in America and then return to their native lands as adults to improve those countries.

At The Daily Beast, Elizabeth Foy Larsen, considers that some children who may be labeled orphans in Haiti are not really orphans. She suggests there's an American "free for all" to adopt the children that may result in errors.

In some cases, Unicef reports Haitian children have been stolen from hospitals, according to the End Human Trafficking blog at Change.org:

A number of child protection organizations have come together to ask would-be parents not to apply to adopt Haitian children. Since the earthquake, the number of adoption applications for Haitian children has soared from 10 per month to 150 in a three day period. One U.S. adoption agency claimed it has already received over 1000 applications for children from Haiti. Child advocacy groups are concerned, however, that a bump in adoptions of Haitian children will only encourage child traffickers to abduct children and pass them off as orphans, hoping to make a tidy profit from their sale. While Western families trying to adopt Haitian children likely mean well, they may encourage child trafficking within the country. If you are considering adopting a Haitian child, please consider donating instead to a child protection organization working in Haiti. (End Human Trafficking)

Child trafficking is not new in Haiti. Around the time of the earthquake, BlogHer.com contributing editor Kim Pearson wrote "Restavek and Child Slavery: Haiti's Other Earthquake." According to Pearson's post, Haiti's "grinding poverty is so pervasive that an estimated 300,000 children have been given up by their parents to become restavèks -- a creole term for children sent to become house servants to wealthier Haitians."

In addition, the rush to adopt Haitian children is raising concerns expressed by the Adoptees of Color Roundtable, a blog or website that seems to have sprung up with the Haiti adoption issue. A statement on Haiti from the person or organization has been circulating the web as objections to the adoptions from "domestic and international adoptees" of color. The following quote from that statement came to me in email after I wrote the first draft of this post.

“We uphold that Haitian children have a right to a family and a history that is their own and that Haitians themselves have a right to determine what happens to their own children. We resist the racist, colonialist mentality that positions the Western nuclear family as superior to other conceptions of family, and we seek to challenge those who abuse the phrase “Every child deserves a family” to rethink how this phrase is used to justify the removal of children from Haiti for the fulfillment of their own needs and desires. Western and Northern desire for ownership of Haitian children directly contributes to the destruction of existing family and community structures in Haiti. This individualistic desire is supported by the historical and global anti-African sentiment which negates the validity of black mothers and fathers and condones the separation of black children from their families, cultures, and countries of origin.” (as quoted at A Birth Project)

That particular concern has not been addressed by American legislators yet. However, Landrieu says in making the adoptions easier, the goal is to find genuine orphans and that America wants to work respectfully with the Haitian government but can't wait until that government is on its feet again.

More from CNN story:

Last week, the State Department said it was working with the Department of Homeland Security and the Haitian government to process nearly 300 cases of Americans who were waiting to adopt Haitian children. Of those, 200 cases were being accelerated, the agency said.

The department said that some of those orphans are eligible to come to the United States under a humanitarian waiver, unless they can be issued permanent papers.

Before the quake, 380,000 children in Haiti were classified as orphans, Landrieu said, quoting figures from the United Nations, which defines an orphan as someone who has lost one parent.

Landrieu is also in the news today for other reasons. A man involved in the "gotcha" ACORN video has been arrested for allegedly trying to bug the senator's office, reports multiple sources.

Alleging a plot to tamper with phones in Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu's office in the Hale Boggs Federal Building in downtown New Orleans, the FBI arrested four people Monday, including James O'Keefe, 25, a conservative filmmaker whose undercover videos at ACORN field offices severely damaged the advocacy group's credibility. (NOLA.com)

See NOLA.com for that story.

Alice Walker posts 'If I Was President" poem

While she is not a black books blogger, meaning that her blog does not focus on books about black authors in general, Alice Walker's blog opens this week's black books blogger round-up this week. She's posted a poem, and the ... read more at the African-American Books Examiner.

WalMart and USPS Clown Commercials are Funny

This commercial makes me laugh because I remember having a clown doll that I thought was creepy. I showed it to my 19-year-old, who has never liked clowns of any kind, has always said they're scary, and he laughed too.

But even funnier than this video is the Wal-Mart clown commercial that follows.



A father dresses up as a clown to make children laugh at his child's birthday party, but it doesn't go so well.

DeBerry and Grant say the story's the thing, Part 1

Anybody who knows anything about best-selling novelists Virginia DeBerry and Donna Grant will tell you that the two women are best friends who form the writing team DeBerry and Grant. They may even know that these two women are former plus-sized models who once ran a fashion and beauty magazine together for the full-figured set before deciding to write their first novel together.

What members of the public may not know, unless ... Read more at the African-American Books Examiner.

Sheila E. and Saints Win vs. Prince Vikings Fight Song

Yesterday, before the New Orleans Saints beat the Minnesota Vikings 31 to 28 in overtime, I posted on Superdome screaming as a weapon and included Prince's not-so-inspired Purple and Gold tribute song to his home team the Vikings.

Today via The Urban Daily, I learned of this video of Prince's former drummer, Sheila E., ribbing Prince about the Saints win with the video below. In it she imitates his Royal Purpleness while on the screem digs flash about the Saints's victory such as "Here comes the gumbo! Who Dat! Who Dat! New Orleans, New Orleans! Super Bowl! Super Bowl!"

I don't know what you may think, but she made me laugh and I'm a Prince fan as well as a Saints fan.

Now who will make a video imitating Lil Wayne who supported the Vikings instead of his hometown team?



Sheila E., born Sheila Escovedo, is not from New Orleans but from Oakland, Ca., and according to The Urban Daily, she posted this video on her Facebook page. I have not been able to confirm that this is how the video surfaced via any mainstream journalism source, but DrFunkenberry.com also reports that the drummer posted the video and says, "Sheila E., you are so wrong!" while laughing, of course.

Is Negro the New "N" Word?

People in this country may have too much time on their hands, may be not hungry enough, haven't possibly been given enough trouble in their lives to know the difference between nitpicking and matters worthy of battle. I say this after seeing an article at Time about whether the U.S. Census should stop using the word "Negro."

I saw this controversy coming after observing how folks ripped into Sen. Harry Reid's using the term "Negro dialect." I had to agree with linguist (and I've heard conservative) John McWhorter on his assessment of our double standards and ignorance. I might add our fear of being unlovable is a factor as well.

It seems we are getting to the point when any word is offensive or we will be offended even if it means we have to resurrect outdated debates such as colored versus Negro versus black versus Afro-American versus African-American. However, I do know of valid objections to the use of the word "Negro" regarding its origins, a label crafted through a fallacious division of the human species into race.

It's that same division that gave us the words Caucasoid for white people and Mongoloid to refer to Asians. However, if you attack the word "Negro" from that standpoint, then perhaps you are arguing that we do away with all references to race. Not a bad idea, but believe me, we humans would come up with another way to classify ourselves that means the same thing, has the same positive and negative connotations.

Anyway, in July 2008, I wrote a post at BlogHer.com, The Season of Our Discontent: Life With the 'N' Word, which is about the word "nigger" and in that essay, I said that how we use even the word "Negro" is about intent.

If anything, the history of the use of the "n" word points to whites mishandling language and black slaves, who could have been beaten for reading books, adopting their masters' bad habits. The word is a mispronunciation of the word "Negro." Furthermore, when you consider how segregationists used even the word, "Negro," you realize insult comes through intent with tone. You may have heard someone, for instance, refer to an African-American woman as that "black" girl, and you knew that the acknowlegment that the woman is black was in itself the insult in the person's mind.

Some Americans show that they believe the word black itself may be the insult when in an effort to be politically correct are afraid to describe an African-American as "black." Somewhere in their hearts these PC people sense that black, being the opposite of white and all things perceived as good in this society, may be the bad thing. (Nordette Adams, Season of Our Discontent)

As I said earlier, Time magazine has an article, "Should the Census Be Asking People if They Are Negro?" Here is the opening:

Use of the word Negro to describe a black person has largely fallen out of polite conversation — except on the U.S. Census questionnaire. There, under "What is this person's race?" is an option that reads, "Black, African Am., or Negro." That has raised the ire of certain black activists and politicians as the Census Bureau gears up to mail out its once-a-decade questionnaires. The controversy has been cast by many as an instance of a tone-deaf agency not keeping up with the times. In actuality, the flash point represents a much larger theme: the often contentious way the Census both reflects and forges our evolving understanding of race.

The immediate reason the word Negro is on the Census is simple enough: in the 2000 Census, more than 56,000 people wrote in Negro to describe their identity — even though it was already on the form. Some people, it seems, still strongly identify with the term, which used to be a perfectly polite designation. To blindly delete it is to risk incorrectly counting the unknown number of (presumably older) black Americans who identify with the term. (Read more: at Time)

Jesus! Help us. In our ignorance we attack symptoms, never the disease. And we know that we black people, as a group, will not agree on what we should be called either. Some of us don't want to be us under any circumstance, by any name.

New Orleans Saints: WhoDat Broke Twitter!

I could not get this tweet through: My house is screaming like maniacs. Whodat! Whodat! ahaahahahahah! #whodat #saints We've broken Twitter.

I hear people in the street screaming.

OMG! OMG! Can't get through on cell phones. OMG! We won the NFC game against the Vikings, 31-28 in overtime.

DeBerry and Grant at the Af-Am Books Examiner

Virginia DeBerry and Donna Grant, successful fiction writing partners, are the authors of best-selling novels that tell stories of women facing life with enduring friendships through which their characters learn important lessons. Their latest book, Uptown, hits bookstore shelves in May. ... Read 300 words on DeBerry and Grant at the African-American Books Examiner, and keep your eye for a brief on their writing philosophy.

More News

With Black History Month upon us, it's possible within the next week and throughout the month of February, you or the children in your life, will hear about the Twenty-First National African-American Read-In. According to the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), "The goal (of the read-in) is to make the celebration of African American literacy a traditional part of Black History Month activities." ... Read more here.

Screaming is the Saints Fans Weapon? Prince sings for Vikings? Lil Wayne Roots for Favre? It's a Mad, Mad World

We're going insane down here as the Saints vs. the Vikings game nears. At the Times Picayune, they've done something cute, provided fans with a video on how to do effective screaming at the New Orleans Saints Superdome via an opera singer/voice coach. In addition, they have an article saying the Louisiana Superdome may be a weapon for the Saints since it's a "supersonic sound machine." Yes, the Saints are one game away from the Super Bowl, and we've lost our minds.

New Orleans Saints Superdome screaming lessons from an opera singer

And there's a written guide to go with that video lesson here from Mark Lorando. If that's not enough for you, there's also a playlist of Saints tribute songs from Louisiana musicians not to mention videos.

But the Minnesota Vikings also have a big fan who happens to be a musician. I love me some Prince, but even I (and others) did not digest well his odd tribute song to show his support for his home team.

Prince has released a new song about the Minnesota Vikings, inspired by a big win over the Dallas Cowboys and days ahead of the NFC Championship game in New Orleans.

“I saw the future,” Prince told FOX 9's Robyne Robinson, who was given an exclusive copy of "Purple and Gold" on Thursday.

Prince was in attendance for the Vikings 34-3 win. He said he went home night after the Cowboys game and wrote "Purple and Gold," which he says came easy and fast.

"While he was standing like a statue in the booth last week, he must have been inspired somehow to write this Vikings song," KDWB DJ Dave Ryan said. "So how cool is that, that Prince wrote a song about the Vikings?"

Vikings fans are trying to spin it as a funeral dirge for the Saints, but I don't know what to make of it. Like I said, "I love me some Prince," but what was his Royal Purpleness thinking? It sound like one of those school alma mater songs people are forced to sing. However, great PR move. People keep talking about the song and Prince.

Well, I still love the Purple One, and as one person said, unlike Lil Wayne, at least Prince has the sense to root for his home team. Lil Wayne is rooting for Brett Favre, the Vikings quarterback. If by some stroke of luck the Vikings should win, I'll give the credit to Favre, who's said, btw, that he's secretly a Saints fan. Even his hometown of Kiln, Miss., is torn over for whom they should cheer, their hometown boy, Favre, or the team they've loved through every storm, the New Orleans Saints.

Lil Wayne lives to be the odd one, I think.

As for me and my house? Black and gold, baby, all the way. Who Dat!

New Orleans Muse (a poem)

What multiplies in this city's soil
bubbling words from guts
into any space where writers inhale
midnight air?

From its bones seep echoes of tales
carried by blood to storytellers,
poets and babies in wombs,
tales howling to be told, to be told,
to be told.

This town sleeps curled in a crescent
of the Mississippi while on its oldest streets
creep ghosts and priestesses, beggars,
princes and dedicated whores.

Everywhere our story.
Everywhere a lyric.
Everywhere a bed for lying.

(c) Copyright 2010 Nordette N. Adams

My Son Made Me Smile With this Swedish Hero Video

It's a customized hero video from a Swedish company. Yes, I'm the hero, but it took me by surprise. Seriously, I laughed my rear off. (Uh, if only I could get rid of my bottom so easily.)



If it won't play here, it should play at the Swedish site.

I kept thinking the person in the video would be some famous person. And so, after seeing it, I decided to make one for BlogHer.com founders, Jory DesJardin, Lisa Stone, and Elisa Camahort. The site is celebrating its fifth anniversary, and they have a 5 words contest going in which they're giving away 5 free passes to BlogHer 10.

And here is the BlogHer.com video.

Zora Neale Hurston: I Am Not Tragically Colored

I've been heavily into the writings of and biographies about Zora Neale Hurston, novelist, folklorist, and anthropologist, lately for personal reasons. Her saying "I am not tragically colored" is a quote sticking in my mind.



Hurston was politically conservative, opposed to FDR's New Deal, and yet she took a job with the WPA, the largest New Deal agency, and died in a St. Lucie County Welfare Home. She was forced to enter it because she was poor, ill and possibly too proud to contact friends and family to tell them of her plight. She died in 1960.

"A collection was taken up for her funeral, and she was buried in an unmarked grave in the segregated cemetery Garden of Heavenly Rest in Ft. Pierce." (Link) Learning this, Alice Walker went to general area of the cemetery where Hurston was buried and at her own expense, gave her a gravestone.

And yet long after her death, she saved a town, Eatonville, Fla., which hold its annual festival in her name January 23-31. She was a genius in many ways and full of contradictions.

BlogHer Anniversary 5

And here's the BlogHer hero video. The video program's not designed to capture three people, and so sometimes only Lisa appears, but I used a picture from a story about them in the New York Times from a few years back, "A Call for Manners in a World of Nasty Blogs." BlogHer is celebrating its 5th Anniversary.



My son made one for me that cracked me up, and that's how I discovered the hero video.

Haitian Looters or Haitians Hungry?

Just caught this at The Root. Writer Natalie Hopkinson asks are the media repeating the mistakes of Hurricane Katrina coverage by labeling any Haitian running with a bag a looter?

After sharing a photo of a Haitian child running in Sunday's the New York Times, the writer says that just below the fold there was a story about looting in Haiti following the earthquake and it's left to the reader to make the connection between the boy and the story:

So was the kid looting?

Nearly five years ago, when you could see photo captions of white Hurricane Katrina survivors side-by-side with black survivors, the racial double standard in the news media covering a catastrophic tragedy were obvious. Hungry, desperate white survivors were "finding food" while hungry, desperate black survivors were "looting" for food.

Since the earthquake hit Haiti, I don't know what is more troubling: That so many observers, including political strategist and New Orleans native Donna Brazile, have been drawing facile parallels between the two cities. Or that so many of those comparisons are turning out to be true.

Start with this "the devil" cursed Port-au-Prince business. I discussed the truth about how Haitians managed to defeat the French army, without a Satanic assist in this essay. And Kathleen Parker uncovered the source of this urban legend (turns out it was a 1791 voodoo ceremony).

But this devil talk also came up in the wake of Katrina. Another so-called Christian, Pastor John Hagee, one of John McCain's high-profile backers, told NPR's Terry Gross that Hurricane Katrina was, in fact, the judgment of God against the city of New Orleans. "New Orleans had a level of sin that was offensive to God," Hagee said, because "there was to be a homosexual parade there on the Monday that the Katrina came." (The Root)

As you can see, she draws other parallels between coverage of the Haitian disaster and Hurricane Katrina's New Orleans coverage. She's making sense.

I remember that controversy in 2005 during Hurricane Katrina. I wrote about sensationalism and racism with looter stories at my old blog, and at the Huffington Post, Van Jones wrote about the labeling black people as looters and white people as "finding bread." (Yes, it's the same Van Jones who became the "Green Czar" in the Obama administration, but was McCarthyed out by Glenn Beck.)

Haitians still need your help. You may have heard that the country aftershocks struck the country earlier today. There are a number of trustworthy institutions through which you may donate money. I recently donated through the United Methodist Church because I'm familiar with its work.

All-Star Mack the Knife: Al Jarreau, Aretha Franklin, Nancy Wilson

Aretha Franklin, George Benson, Nancy Wilson, Al Jarreau, Dianna Krall & Nnenna Freelon sing Mack the Knife. Fun! Fun Fun! from Nissan Presents: The 2nd Annual Celebration of America's Music, 1998.



You'll also see Debbie Allen dancing in the background, just having fun, as her sister Phyllicia Rashad looks on. Plus Bill Cosby's running around acting a fool in his best way.

Whitewashing black books draws fire again

The whitewashing of black books tops this week's African-American books blogger round-up at African-American Books Examiner. Here are this week's five picks for news from blog posts related to writing or black authors.

1.) Tami at What Tami Said echoes growing outrage at Bloomsbury publishing house for whitewashing the cover of another young adult book that has a dark-skinned black character with the picture of a white girl. For the second time in less than a year, the publisher has chosen to market a book about a black character with white visuals. ... Continue reading full article at the African-American Books Examiner.

Children Recite Behind the Color Blind by Nordette Adams

Last year someone sent me a video of a little boy reciting a poem I wrote years ago called "Remembering a Life," which was written in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr., and that made me feel good. Today my Google Alert sent me a news story that says a child read another of my poems "Behind the Color Blind" at a Martin Luther King, Jr. event in Wilkes County, North Carolina.

The same "color blind" poem was used in 2008 as well at an anti-racism event at the University of Kentucky and at a school program in Canada. Furthermore, I've seen it used in papers and posted at other websites.

I remember the first time I learned someone had selected one of my poems to read at an event, I was happily surprised. A student at Oregon State read one of them where students were reading other poems by "influential" black women such as Nikki Giovanni. I still don't know which of my poems the student read, but certainly I was humbled to be included with Ms. Giovanni, but I feel it may have been either "Color" or "You Know Why He Beat You" because those poems were getting lots of web hits back in 2006.

Every now and then I check the web to see what poems have gone beyond me. When people recite my poetry, I'm reminded of my mother who made me memorize poems to recite at events while I was growing up. For a while I recited James Weldon Johnson's "The Creation" at multiple events, including the state conference for the United Methodist Church. It was the first time I spoke to a large group of mostly white people. I had spoken to smaller integrated groups before that in school and larger all black groups. I think I recall the racial make-up of these groups because during the 70s in the South, blacks and whites were still getting used to meeting each other in integrated groups. I wonder what my mother would say about this poetry news today.

Martin Luther King Day Must Be Day of Service Not Sales

In email I received a notice from HP computers letting me know about its Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Sale. Not interested. I prefer the push to celebrate the slain Civil Rights Activist's birthday with service to communities, not buying up Wal-Mart.

On January, 18, 2010, people of all ages and backgrounds will come together to improve lives, bridge social barriers, and move our nation closer to the “Beloved Community” that Dr. King envisioned. Dr. Martin Luther King devoted his life’s work to causes of equality and social justice. He taught that through nonviolence and service to one another, problems such as hunger and homelessness, prejudice and discrimination can be overcome. Dr. King’s teachings can continue to guide us in addressing our nation’s most pressing needs---poverty, economic insecurity, job loss and education.

Volunteer with Americans across the nation on the 2010 King Day of Service and make a real difference in your community. (Read more here.)

According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, as part of the day of service, some people will make an effort to help Haiti, the "western world's first black republic."

As for me, around this time each year, as I've said before, I see hits surge at the Martin Luther King, Jr., page I created more than five years ago. Most people raid it for his pictures, but some are looking for my poem, which includes the following verses:

Shall we walk again and remember him,
not as the Madison Aveners do,
but in solitude and hope
with acts of courage and compassion,
with lives of greater scope
carving fresh paths of righteousness?
(from the poem "Remembering a Life" by Nordette Adams)

In addition, I've been pleased to see that poem, "Remembering a Life", used for special King events January through August each year such as this one in Roanoke, Va., on the 40th anniversary of his death.

No, he was not Jesus or even a saint, but I don't entertain people who think we shouldn't remember him at all. King's work changed the course of this nation. Some say he changed the world.

Confessions of a Lover of Sexy Music in Midlife

I'm over at BlogHer.com, talking Teddy Pendergrass's sensuality in comments and confessing my sins. I began telling Candelaria Silva that I prefer subtlety in lyrics, and then the little devil on my shoulder said, "Now you know that's not completely true, girl. You need to quit. You've got some songs in your collection that shonuff ain't subtle and romantic. You got some stuff you listen to that your mother would have called 'unladylike' listening."

Yeah, I'll forgive Prince anything. So, if you're a prude, skip this video below, "Sexy M.F." by His Royal Purpleness. You may have heard he's religious now and so less prone to do the wild and crazy sex thing, but that doesn't stop him from being sexy, as we hear with songs like "On the Couch."



And here is an interview with Prince from Tavis Smiley. WOW! With his glasses and talk of record companies scamming artists, he's almost geeky. It rhymes with freaky in a hot way.



As for other sex-drenched songs that I like, how about "Caligula" by Macy Gray? Yes, I know I've mentioned that before.



And I love "You Sure Love to Ball" by Marvin Gaye, and I also like "Slow 'N Sexy" by Shabba Ranks and Johnny Gil. And, well, you get the picture--if I say I can't get into something dripping sex and hanging it out in the open, you know I'm lying.

Nevertheless, some of today's stuff is still too crude for me because vulgarity without artistry only makes me shudder, and yet I like "Shake Ya Tail Feather" by Nelly & others. I feel guilty about liking that song because it goes against my feminist core, and yet, if it comes on, my head bops and I sing the chorus.

There's a satire in "Shake Ya Tail Feather" with its overdose of testosterone and young stud mythology. I think it's like a train wreck for me: I can't not listen the way people can't not watch. And then I go all philosophical wondering about the girls who want that kind of attention and how the males think they're getting over. Is it submission to the male on these girls' parts or an understanding of the most basic feminine power stifled by a lack of life choices?

Nelly-Shake Ya Tailfeather
Uploaded by le_killer_8. - Watch more music videos, in HD!

You can see by this, that I only learn of new HipHop music by accident. I couldn't tell you what's topping the charts now. The song has to really blow up and go mainstream, or show up in a commercial, or I have to study it to write something as I did with Lil Wayne. It's rarely my choice to turn on the radio and cruise for misogynistic rap hits or unimaginative lyrics like "I want to f**k that one and that one."

It occurred to me that if I had decided to cover blues music here too, then we'd know so-called vulgar lyrics have been selling for a long, long time. That's right, baby, "Meet Me With Your Black Drawers On." The first time I heard this song, I was in a car riding through South Carolina with my former spouse. I almost spit my iced tea out. And we know the right blues riff will make you move like you've got no spine and want to roll all night on some satin sheets. I mean, she tells the man, "Meet me with your black drawers on ... Rock me like I ain't got no backbone."

Finally, English Majors know what Chaucer was really saying sometimes too with his verses. ;-) Sex in the song or verse is nothing new and the worst of it has probably already been written. Come on, right! Sex is not new.

Curb Mining: Looting Designer Chairs in NYC?

Saw this at Wall Street Journal, an experiment in curb mining, which is, per the New York Times and WSJ, "searching the sidewalks for discarded goods, such as furniture and electronics." Both articles are talking about Blue Dot, a furniture maker, and Mono, a marketing firm's “Real Good Experiment."

The maker of a designer chair put a couple dozen of its chairs out in the streets of New York, free for the taking. The only catch? GPS was hidden on the chairs, and a film crew would videotape the swipe and monitor where the chairs ended up. WSJ's Andy Jordan surveys the results of the "Real Good Experiment". (WSJ)

On its site, a video about tinkering and creating high-tech gadgets with 3-D printers follows the curb mining video, and it is equally intriguing.

The curb mining video reminds me of how my uncle, an artist in New Orleans, used to pick interesting objects out of trash on the streets to use in his work. So, bottle caps might show up later as eyes in a piece. I think that was a type of "found art."

Curb mining, despite its trendy name, has been going on for decades. However, one man in the video says curb mining seems to have increased during the recession.

Following Up on Haiti

According to CNN, "officials fear 100,000" may be dead in Haiti. The video below has information on aid to Haiti.



I posted a news release yesterday from the FBI, a warning to beware of scams, fake donation sites and charities. Read that here, and remember a safe way to donate is through the Red Cross, which says its site has been overwhelmed with donations and so lags.

WDSU has a story on churches on Lake Pontchartrain's North Shore that are sending support to Haitian earthquake victims. The station also has a story about a boy who survived Hurricane Katrina and also the earthquakes.

In addition, BlogHer.com has posts on this horrible disaster.

You may have heard by now, as I did Tuesday, that Pat Robertson is spouting nonsense like Haitians are cursed because they made a pact with the devil. A number of Christians, such as Ms. Lady Deborah, have spoken out against his pain-inflicting rhetoric. Furthermore, the CBS Evening News has a list of some of Robertson's other crazy comments of the past, such as Hurricane Katrina was a punishment from God for the sin of abortion.

Again, please donate. Britt Bravo at BlogHer shares a list of ways to send help.

My Teddy Pendergrass Passing Article's Syndicated

Earlier today I wrote on the death of R&B legend Teddy Pendergrass. Yes, I am a fan. This post was picked up by BlogHer.com for syndication, and you may read it at this link.

And here is another video, Teddy P. singing "." I shared others on the post picked up by BlogHer.

Teddy Pendergrass Dies at 59

Multiple news sources, including The Root, report that R&B legend Teddy Pendergrass died yesterday of colon cancer at age 59. The Philadelphia, Penn., native passed away in a Philadelphia hospital.

Dan DeLuca, the Philadelphia Inquirer's music critic opens his piece on Pendergrass, saying:

... the gruff-voiced Philadelphia soul powerhouse who belted out hits like "The Love I Lost" and "If You Don't Know Me By Now" as lead singer of Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes in the 1970s for Philadelphia International Records and went on to forge an influential solo career as a seductive bedroom balladeer, has died. (PI)

MTV has a write-up of the singer's life, which includes how he influenced the work of other performers such as Kanye West and Jaz-Z. It also quotes a tweet from singer Tyrese, "who showed a twitpic of him with the soul legend at Pendergrass' wedding (and) wrote a series of messages."

"I'M SAD," he said. "I was just informed from Teddy Pendergrass' wife that Teddy is no longer us with us ... Rest in heaven." (MTV story quoting Tyrese on Twitter)

CNN reports on the singer's death as well. However, its story posted at 1:32 a.m. today makes no mention of cancer:

His family did not reveal details about his illness, but said it was related to complications from a 1982 car accident, Barbaris said.

"His beloved family surrounded him. The world has lost one of its greatest voices and performers," a statement from Barbaris said.

"His family is devastated. He has three children and, even though it was expected, it still hurts," she said. (See photo gallery at Essence Magazine's site, The amazing Teddy Pendergrass.)

The crooner, who many affectionately knew as just "Teddy," started in music with a group called the Cadillacs in the late 1960s and was still with the group when it merged with Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, according to his official Web site. (Read more at CNN)

Like Essence, the Washington Post has a photo slideshow of Teddy P. The paper also reports the same news from The Root via the Associated Press:

Pendergrass was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2009 and had undergone surgery in June of last year. According to son Teddy Pendergrass II, the R&B legend had a difficult recovery. "He will live on through his music," Pendergrass said of his father in a statement. (AP)

I am saddened and also surprised because I didn't know he was struggling with cancer. A fan of Teddy P., I added his hits to my MP3 player in November, seeing that I hadn't moved his work from CD to digital in my collection. I realized it while listening to "It Don't Hurt Now" on Blip.FM, after which I tweeted the song.

I have my share of warm memories of listening to Teddy P. Here are some of my favorites.

"Wake Up Everybody," 1975, performed with Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes was an R&B hit that reflected the changing times and call to action of the black community in the 70s.

Grammy-nominated "If You Don't Know Me By Now," 1972, was also recorded with Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes.

In 1978, I may have been standing at a record store when the doors opened for my copy of his album Life is a Song Worth Singing. Back then I bought music I liked almost as soon as the songs hit the airwaves, and I wore out "Close the Door," and "When Somebody Loves You Back."

He was one of the few singers who could talk through sections of his songs and I found it believable, not disturbing to the flow or phony.

When his Rolls Royce crashed in 1982, reportedly due to brake failure, and as a result he was paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair, I felt like somebody I knew personally had been injured. With others, I thought that was the end of his career, but he soon made appearances again. Per Wikipedia and other sources, he performed at the Live Aid concert in 1985, and also according to Wikipedia, he recorded a duet, "Hold Me" in 1984, with a then-unknown Whitney Houston.

Now I'm remembering more songs by Pendergrass that I've loved both before and after 1978 that I liked and purchased. However, I'm not the only one recalling Teddy Pendergrass today.

Marvalus at Conversations with Marva recalling Teddy under "Come on and Go With Me." She remembers that her mother was "in love" with Teddy Pendergrass.

Natasha at Young, Black and Fabulous informed readers of the singer's passing, and immediately received comments from those who appreciated his music. And at MrsGrapevine, the blogger writers, "My heart is broken.

My Old School Friday people know how much I love Teddy Pendergrass. Words just can’t express what his music does to me. In spite of the car accident of 1982 that left him paralyzed, he was one of the sexiest singers in my mom’s generation. My mother said, at concerts women would literally throw their panties on the stage. (We can’t relate to that because none of today’s artist have that much power with their voice). (MrsGrapevine.com)

Finally, here he is performing his Joy live. He was nominated for a Grammy in 1989 for best male R&B vocal performance on this one.

Echoing Tyrese, may Teddy P. rest in musical heaven.

Also syndicated at BlogHer.com.