Today's Top 10

1. I got to use my “first date” shirt last week. (I’ve still kept the tags on it, just in case)

1. It was also not used on a date.

2. Learning to say “No” can take years. 

3. Secretly, I spend hours in both the Strand Bookstore and the Barnes & Noble on East 86^th Street and Lexington Avenue.  The fact that I still can get completely lost in bookstores this close to their extinction reminds me that underneath it all, I must be human.

4. Is it still called a friend if you live in the same city, approximately 1 mile away from each other, haven’t seen each other in over a year, and only communicate via the internet…on birthdays?

1. I’m all about the lowercase “b” in “birth”

2. I have a friend who deletes the abovementioned from his social media circle on the person’s birthday.  (If I haven’t spoken to you all year, then why am I electronically keeping you around?)

5. My neighbor puts out.

6. After a summer of trying to be better about attending everyone’s everything, I’m so happy to return to regularly scheduled non-attendance this Fall. 

7. I absolutely adore Cape Cod in September.

8. Sing with friends.  Sing with old friends.  I did this weekend, and I’m still smiling about it. 

9. Children and I are intrigued by each other.

10. People who consistently let you down with their lack of involvement in your life are often called flakes.  Like snowflakes, no two people will ever let you down the same way.  Flakes melt.

Today's Top 10

1.  I’ve never seen any of the Harry Potter movies.

2. Who are the black gay power couples?  Or do I have to wait on that one?

3. I have a fan in my room that has just been on since June 12^th of this year.  Is that wrong?

4. Gloria Loring’s son steals songs.

5. If you believe that my Facebook status is about you and depicts you in a negative light…  Actually, I have nothing else to say about that one.  But you’ve got some serious time on your hands.

6. I want to live by the beach.  Near?  No, on.

7. I always thought they stayed together because he didn’t have to worry about paying the rent every month.  Consummate and trained (albeit lazy) bottoms have such an easier life.

8. Since the Fall of 1998, I have been compiling a list entitled “Not At My Wedding”, which I still use to this day.  It is kept in a Wonder Woman journal.

9. It is perfectly acceptable to me that I have never seen “Grease 2”.

10. It annoys me to no end to watch someone put a drink next to a coaster.

brown.

Black love used to be about black power.  

Now it seems it's more about gossip, 

who can out-shuck the other, 

while another one's agent knows all the jive.  

You can change all the pronouns you want in the songs you "sang", but you're still just fodder...

or a lyric in a Kanye West song.  

Do you really have a Dream?

Or a political agenda?

Or just a New York Times account and the safe, soft,

Brown ability

to click "share" on what your daddy (remember him) told you to spread.

Know who you were.

I think you do.

Be more concerned with the actions of yourself 

instead of the assumed stagnancy of others.

Brown boy, advance!

  

Brown boy, don't succumb 

to what seems the safest route.

They even sold afro-wigs in the 60s 

for those too afraid to march.

Either wear today's daishiki,

or raise the same fist.

Get a job and 

don't be a part of the equation your lighter shade

has helped you to avoid.

Get a job.

Pay your rent.

Don't turn into a YouTube comment.

Don't grow it out just for a role.

Do something.  

Don't try to be something.

Set an example.  Don't just share someone else's. 

Brown boy, 

you better run.

Today's Top 10

1. A peanut butter and jelly sandwich instantly makes me feel like I’m in kindergarten again.  I still love that feeling.

2. Recently, I purchased the perfect shirt for a first date.  (Don’t worry, I’ve kept the receipt)

3. I’ve added “Listening” to the special skills section of my resume.  People should know.

4. “Until the lion has his own historian, the hunter will always be the hero.”

5. I want to build a recording studio in my own house. And no, you can’t use it.

6. Everyone should shave their head at least once in their lives.  It is the most liberating feeling.

7. In my world, bacon should never be on a burger.  For some reason, I do not enjoy when my edible animals touch.

8. A lot of people over the age of 30 have been very concerned about a recent performance by something named “Miley”.

9. There are more than 4 people I know very well who are admittedly in absolutely loveless marriages or relationships.

10. In life, I have had multiple close-to-religious experiences listening to Aretha Franklin’s “Spirit In The Dark”.  If you don’t know it, listen.  It was often a duet with Ray Charles back in the day.  It is my church.

***

A special Holiday Bonus...

- I used to hold board meetings in my bedroom as a child with each of my stuffed animals lined up to discuss the day's events.  Miss Piggy was the secretary.  I recently dedicated a song to my old stuffed friends.