The Chronicles of a VBG (Voluptuous Brown Gurl)

Deciding to create a blog post everyday for a month was far more grueling than I expected.  Somedays I rose to the challenge in my storytelling and others not so much. Still and all for 26 of the 30 days I got it  done.  Now its back to a weekly posting schedule and some changes for 2013. And one last TED talk

My very first blog post was entitled "Green is my favorite color" and it truly is.  But that post had nothing to do with my wardrobe or paint choices, instead it focused on my new (at the time) lifestyle choice to become vegan. I have said very little about it since then and that's because shortly after I started blogging a struggle set in and I have been all but abandoned it. All but because I just can't shake it. Like a crack addict needs a rock, I need to be trying to give up meat every other week it seems. I can do it too for a few days or even weeks and then boom I'm running with the bulls, pigs, chicken and fish again.  Baltimore is a pretty progressive city especially compared to Smallville. So you can encounter a lot there especially on foot. Even as a teen I walked - a lot! It was my means of transportation - I hated the crowds and confinement of buses, still do. Anyway, in my walks I came across a place called the Golden Temple and thinking it was ...

A big brown ball of contradictions. All at once fearless and fainthearted; flawed and flawsome; compassionate but cutting when crossed (consider yourself warned); wonderfully gregarious while relishing and even protective of my cloak of solitude; lover of the freedom to move/do/live as I please but equally paralyzed (at times) as limitless choices abound; a pseudo tree hugging xenophile bordering on femblactivism (my melange of feminism and black activism).  A tell like it is, opinionated, inquisitive, "I am woman hear me roar" kinda BROAD who is determined to forge my own path and define success on my own terms. If this sounds like you then you might be one too and all I've got to say about that is ... Lucky You!

.... and a TED talk.

One of the perks (and powers) of blogging is offering mostly unfettered reviews of anything I choose. So far I've reviewed everything from sneakers to lingerie for bigger gurl, vitamins, a Top Chef’s restaurant to a New York times bestseller. There’s no reason I should leave movies out, right. None indeed. Though I'm not easily swayed by sedentary activities, I do love going to the movies. While I'm not the avid go'er my Mom is, she goes almost every weekend, I do make it to what averages to about 1.5 per month.  My favorite genre is undoubtedly comedy but storyline sway my choices most as long as it's not horror.  I outgrew that with my "teenage moniker. I in the last 6 weeks I've been to the cinema 5 times and I'll try my best not to spoil any of them for you here. Alex Cross the protagonist of many a James Patterson novel was a disappointment though I hoped for a different outcome.   I’m not a fan of his most movies but I truly wanted to see   Ty...

Walmart workers are threatening to strike Black Friday and I am 100 percent supportive of their efforts.    I've not been a fan of Wal-Mart for a very long time because of what happens to the smaller businesses when they enter a community and also for their REFUSAL to pay most of their employees a genuine living wage - one that allows them to not only pay their expenses but also be able to afford something as basic as healthcare insurance - despite being the world's largest retailer. Lack of health insurance leads to increased emergency room visits which cost more than routine office visits, often go unpaid and end up costing all of us in the end. Wal-mart is large enough that it can certainly negotiate and afford to offer all their employees a reasonably priced plan. I just don't see how that's too much to ask when you consider these two things:  Mike Duke, Wal-Mart's CEO earned $38 million in 2010, that's more per hour than a full-time Wal-mart employe...

Left to my own devices I would read almost exclusively non-fiction. While I won't necessarily take you up on your recommendation for a movie, I love hearing about the books others are reading with the exception of the Shades of Gray trilogy. When I heard the Fresh Air interview of Rebecca Skloot, the author of "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" early last year, I knew it was going to be a good read or more likely...listen. (One of the benefits of my long commute is that I listen to a lot of books  in the car.) The fact that most of the story took place in my hometown of Baltimore was an added bonus. I even choose to accept the invitation to join a new book club simply because they had the good sense to have chosen it as their November book selection. Definitely not a work of fiction, this book details the "benevolent deception" of arguably the most important woman in modern medical history, Henrietta Lacks.  Until she walked into the Johns Hopkins Hosp...

  Did the Xmas decorations and songs have to come out the day after Halloween... REALLY ?!?!?! One holiday at a time, please.

Even though I went to a high school with a vicious football rivalry (City vs. Poly) until 2000 I would tell anyone I hated the game.  When Bob Irsay packed up the Colts and crept off to Indianapolis in the dead of night, I could not have cared less .  I certainly did not think it was worth interrupting my gym class with the announcement of it on the PA system while many Baltimoreans have yet to forgive this egregious move despite the fact that nearly 3 decades have passed.  Baseball, which I've always liked perhaps because I could actually play it, is still called our national past-time, but we all know football truly is it. When was the last time you heard of anyone having a World Series party while one would be hard pressed to not be invited to a Superbowl celebration even if your team is not in it. Enter the new millenium and a fairly new team for my hometown, the Baltimore Ravens, some great players and equally great matches and bam! we made it to the playoffs and...

Since I decided to undertake the 30 day challenge and I tend to procrastinate a bit, it's often late in the day before I get to posting. This evening I happen to not be home as well. I'm a little distracted not too mention light on ideas for a stellar post but one can never laugh too much so here a couple... 

That whole fiasco that led to General Patraeus' resignation last week boils down to one thing - as long there are men, despite or inspite of their station in life, they will continue to put their reputations, families and careers on the line for a new piece of tail. Unyoked consenting adults have sex all the time and they make poor judgements about who, when and where to do the deed just as often. This whole deal is a matter for he, Mrs. Petraeus and the former biographer to sort out, not the American public nor media.  Resigning a critical national position because you failed to keep it in your pants after his decades of public service is just ridic ulo us unless of course you have s ome thing else to hide. asinin e - The End.

so friggin bad!  I know the song says b illionaire but I'd be ecstatic with a cool million provided I still have all my senses, faculties and family. It may not be the root of ALL evil but money certainly at root of a great deal of problems for both rich and poor. There is an oft repeated statistic that almost half the world's population lives on less than $2.00 a day, many less than a dollar. This past Spring, it was reported that number includes more than 1.5 million families here in the US. This is not some challenge to live more frugally instead it's meant to point out that many, far too many, have no choice but to subsist on these meager sums.  While I am no way near those dire straits,  I think about money a lot. Everyday. Too many times a day. This is often the case when you perceive yourself to be in lack.  Anyway, I can say that how I think about money now is very, very different from 6 years or even 17 months ago. I've tried to track nearly...

I was awakened after a scant 4 hours of sleep this morning by what sounded like a baby monsoon outside my window.  I don't mind rainy days, what I mind is commuting 56 miles in rain for work. It seems the liquid sunshine is so distracting to other drivers that they impair my route usually by driving too fast or not leaving adequate braking distance between them and others.  So my 1.50 hour commute inevitably turns into close to 2.5 hours.  Today though, I rose but instead of being bummed I decided to just give in and see what the day brings. Rather than my trip to Las Vegas offering the clarity I'd hoped, I've been far less focused lately. A lot has been weighing on my mind of late but I've decided to just let go of the struggle and trust in God, the Universe, the process to work it out for me however it's supposed to be.  As that great sage, 50 Cent said "Either worry or pray - don't do both". After all I am blessed with the Wunderkind, a lovely mom, ...

Blogging to me is nothing more than storytelling and the older I get the more enamored I've become with great storytellers. And some day I hope to be one. Until I become a master, here are a few who inspire me - the fabulous Brene Brown and one of the smartest, coolest nerds on the planet Malcolm Gladwell.  ENJOY!! 

These weekend posts are a douzy since it's not unusual for me to unplug on the weekends, I have to set an alarm to remember.  I kinda stole this from another blogger - the original was 30 before 30 but since the only time I'll see 30 again is 130, that won't do. So bucket list works fine for me, here in no particular order travel to a new destination every year have complete access to driving a fully loaded BMW X6, or Range Rover Evoque for at least 6 months  fully embrace my flAWSOMEness learn to swim learn to Tango in Buenos Aires learn to Samba in Rio de Janiero learn to Salsa in Havana - yes, really! Castro's Cuba not Miami spend a week in silence and meditation in a cloister take a bartending course and ply my trade for a summer travel to Nepal, sit at the bottom of Mt. Everest - it's been summitted many times already, no point risking my life to repeat what's been done :) become fluent in Portuguese  genuinely fall in again and be loved with s...

The eleventh hour shenanigans (i.e. voter id laws, copious dollars spent on negative and false ads) the Republicans tried to pull to suppress the vote didn't work and President Obama won. And on Wednesday, more than few friends noted that their workplaces were markedly colder and quieter. Many even felt they were personally being given the stink eye. Why? Because African slaves were brought to America for the sole purpose of free labor. Neither they nor their descendants were ever intended to have the same opportunities and privileges as whites in the minds of the founding fathers and many of their descendents. (And far too many of us still don't.)  Therein lies the problem - far too many white folks, older men in particular, are threatened by the thought of giving any appreciable power to the group they unrelentingly oppressed for centuries. It's preferable to cling to a fantasy of the good old days when it was unfathomable that this great country could be led by a black...

Though it's just the beginning if November there is a definite chill in the air, the kind that almost settles in your bones.  Those mornings are the hardest for leaving the warmth of my warm, comfy bed and not to mention warmth of my humble little abode here in Smallville.  It seems that with the cold I move slower, at least initially. Fortunately today, I didn't have to brave the frost - at least not until evening - because my work work regularly includes telecommuting and today was that day. As the job market changes so will the way that many of us work and even where we work. I consider myself somewhat expert at working from home. I've done it for at least 2 days a week for more than 5 years once I settled here in lower PA and continued to be employed in MD. After the first few shock-filled weeks of loneliness by the self imposed exile, it worked like a charm. As a newly relocated, single parent of a elementary school student (at the time) it was truly a Godsend....