Kina - For All the Times

I had the shear pleasure of being invited to Kina's one woman show this evening.  I've known Kina for awhile so this was a no brainer for me that I must be at this show.  I was excited to attend.  So excited that I thought the show was a day earlier than it actually was.  No I didn't go to the theater Saturday.  Thank goodness!  It is almost midnight and I had to get this out while the feeling was still simmering inside me.

You may remember Kina from the group Brownstone and her solo career.

She was on hiatus for awhile and this was a performance that myself and her friends have been waiting for!

It was a one woman show where she dramatically, comedically and stoically detailed her life's journey thus far.  Yes she sang during the show too.  Of course she would, she's a singer.  Not only is she a singer she is a performer. To top it off her characterizations of herself as a child opened your eyes to the beautiful little girl from Detroit.  Add Actress to the slashes behind her name!!

Her timing in telling her story was on point!  If anyone sat in that audience and didn't feel every single word and note that was melodically released from her lips, then there was something the hell wrong with them.  The only way that would have been humanly possible is if, you've never known elation, sadness, confusion, success or empathy.

Have you ever been to a performance and once it was over you felt like … I gotta do something with my life!  Well that was what I experienced tonight.

Thank you for letting me be apart of the audience Kina!!!  I'm looking forward to supporting you in all that you do and waiting anxiously to see what you have in store for the WORLD next!

Corporate Slavery

It's happening and it's not as subtle as it used to be.  It's just more calculated.  It came on quickly. I can tell it's something that happens in the rooms where we are not invited.  It happens when we walk away from out desks.

 I gotta think about this.  I gotta think what to do.  I gotta think…

They are after me now.  I gotta think.

Why are Black people  letting this happen again?  Didn't our leaders of the past work themselves to death and were killed so that we wouldn't have to change who we are?  Weren't we good enough just the way we were?  What happen to cause us to change our demeanor and the way that we speak just because we walked into that Corporate office?  Hmmm reminds me of Slavery Days when we pasted big smiles on our faces and and held our heads a little low so that we weren't looking them straight in the eyes.

Comments like, "You're very passionate" are not compliments.  "You're emotional" is just another way of saying that you are unstable.  "The way you say things can be viewed as offensive." In other words I don't like you being direct.

Now that that's been drilled into you over and over again the comments are:   You're not engaged, You don't seem happy, Do you think you're being a team player?

Black people….what do you think you need to do?  Many of you don't know because the leaders that fought and died for our equality didn't teach you how what the fight was really all about.  Didn't teach you that we have strength that could sustain us for hundreds of years.  Don't think just because you're educated that your accepted.  Don't think because of civil rights and diversity initiatives that you are save. The world is getting smaller and Black people need to realize that.

The jobs that we fought for are now being done by consultants from foreign countries and sometimes completely moved to other countries.  Think about the the calls you make to customer service.  Most times you're not getting someone in Idaho but in India or the Philippines.

We gotta think..what's going to sustain us?   Not the handouts of Diversity programs that do not sustain those it employes.  We gotta think….what's our next move?

Sparkle

I can't wait to see this movie!  

I hope it will hold up well against the original.  From the looks of the woman playing Sista.  I don't know if she can hold a candle to Lonnette McKee. Yes I'm a little partial…I love Lonnette!!!!