Cynique

Soul food gets a bad rap. it has ascended into the ranks of gourmet food and as such it is maybe not something that should comprise your daily menu. It's a treat to be partaken of on special occasions, and should be savored and relished with all of its unhealthy ingredients in tact.

@Pioneer1Stefan is right about you and the silly off-the-wall topics you dredge up. The idea that prostitution is an ideal alternate career choice for rebellious housewives seeking independence, is ludicrous!. Selling their bodies for profit is a less than ideal career pursuit, and better left to the drug addicts who usually resort to this vocation to support their habit. As for Call girls and Madams, these aren't the type of professions that will fill the kids of desperate housewives with pride, not to mention the danger involved in these jobs, and I question your assertion that a lot of ex-housewives have chosen to do this. Update your scenario. It's not an accurate portrait of what's current. Few women of today restrict themselves to being housewives unless they want to, and some women actually do prefer this domestic role. Then in another post, there's the graphic and exaggerated female product commercials you chide black women for allowing themselves to be cast in. i don't recall these ads featuring women of color any more than white ones or the ads being as gross as you describe them. Stuck to your half-cocked ideas about current events and stop taking on the role of spokesperson for black women!

The first TV sitcom with an all-black cast was Amos 'n Andy which first appeared on television beginning in 1951, running for 3 more years. It was based on a radio show whose black characters were originally played by white actors in dialect. This TV show was quite funny and wasn't that stereotypical; it didn't preach or send a message but, like Sanford and Son, was just about hapless characters who could've been of any race. Still, at that time, there were those who panned it. In hindsight, however, this show is now given credit being in the van guard of its genre. I don't know who directed or produced it but it wasn't Norman Lear. You can get more information by Googling it, and watching episodes from it on YouTube.

...men talking about the sexuality of women. smh. Freud did this. Even went so far as to deconstruct the female orgasm; something he, of course, never experienced. A classic example of male presumptuousness. And just another reason why communication between black men and women becomes blurred. Everybody has heard the old cliche contending that "women give sex to get love and men give love to get sex". This is true because what a woman really wants is the emotional intimacy and sensuality of sex. She doesn't necessarily need the verbal BS or the perspiration-tinged smell of stale cologne to arouse her. She can get off on her ability to fantasize and let the skills of the somebody who lets his penis do the talking, temporarily transform him into the man of her dreams. And then there's the astute observation that a woman's sex organ is her brain, not her vagina - which isn't even an organ, but an orfice. If a man knows his way around a woman's body he's aware that all the erogenous zones lie in the areola, and the labia which are just teeming with the potential for fire-works via the the Bartholian glands. Clitoral climaxes come in second to the earth moving G-spot variety. Nor should foreplay to be overlooked, Not every women has to be peeled off the ceiling to be satisfied. Being tenderly caressed and gently nipped can also thrill, all of which boils down to her sexuality being an extension of a female's individual personality. Vibrators are called sex toys and that's just what they are. Toys to facilitate recreational sex. They are not a replacement for males, they are an alternative to them. ( Less lascivious than the porn movies men resort to. ) In a study, when asked if they'd rather go shopping or have sex, more women actually said shopping, and when questioned as to whether they'd rather spend an evening at home, curled up in bed, watching TV instead of hangin' out in a singles bar, hoping to get lucky, they were evenly divided on their preference. Go figure. Yea, every woman appreciates a good lay. But a lot of factors figure into it. In the future Artificial intelligence may even become a factor, rearing its ugly head, making things hard.

@richardmurrayWhen did Obama deny that black tribalism exists? Using your criteria, all American presidents were failures. You don't have to justify that you are among the legion of black men who think Obama was a failure, i get it. I just don't comply with all of your conclusions so - we just have to agree to disagree. Especially when it comes to the question of whether the world is in turmoil. Your perspective is quite different than mine on this matter. As long as countries are at war and America is committed to helping 2 of them while other countries are lining up taking sides, even as we're on the brink of a civil war at home amidst being invaded by thousands of illegal immigrants seeking asylum, and inflation threatens the economy as anxiety takes its toll on the population, - to me, turmoil is an appropriate description of the situation. You and I obviously view things through 2 different sets of lenses. So be it. Btw, I should remind you that I divorced the black race a while back because of irreconcilable differences. I'm just a spectator.

@richardmurray We can't be sure whether Obama did or didn't fail because we don't know what he set out to do. What he aspired to accomplish may have been a purely personal mission, having nothing to do with improving the lot of Blacks. What we do know is that in American society, black unity is elusive for many different reasons. I am not a seer, so I don't know what the future holds, but in my opinion, time is running out on unity for the African American populace as diversity siphons off its membership, bleaching it out into a new bi-racial breed. Change is inevitably occurring and, like sexuality, race could become increasingly fluid and irrelevant, even obsolete like cursive writing which Gen Zers have abandoned in favor of keyboard typing. (A lot of what lies ahead depends on the attitudes and habits of the GenZers.) America and the world, in general, is in great turmoil, The survival of the human race is at risk and takes precedent over the dilemmas of its ethnic subdivisions. I won't be around to see how it all sorts itself out soooo - I don't really care. Whatever will be, will be... @TroyI agree with what you just wrote about "class".

I don't think JayZ is "ugly" under any circumstances. My eye beholds him as an average looking black guy who is clean shaven and has all his teeth. His impressive resume enhances his aura and makes him attractive. Big eyes are not beauty markers on women, nor muscles handsome ones on men. It's all about the facial "golden triangle", and body proportions .

@richardmurray I would certainly agree with what you say about black America being tribal. That's why I've never had a lot of hope for black unity. And I believe that the slave pecking order that consisted of house negroes. yard negras and field niggas set the stage for this tribalism to gradually develop. ln my post defending Obama, I referred to the black race as being "checkered". And the cultural differences among the black middle-class and the ghetto underclass also influence this divisiveness Yes, others would argue that our common skin color and the racism it triggers is enough to merge African Americans into a monolith. But colorism among ourselves dilutes that idea, I'd also agree that blacks, myself included. do have difficulty accepting other blacks who think differently from themselves. Yet, having different approaches to the same goal is a human characteristic that spawns tribalism in all ethnicities So, in the final analysis, as you imply about blacks who "while they clearly differ on what they want for themselves or for the black populace en large, don't seem able to accept when other black people differ with them." - all of which contributed to Obama's inability to fulfill the expectations of all of them. And, - so it goes.

Since my sight is failing because I haven gotten around to getting the minor cataract surgery that I need, what i currently read has a lot to with how large and how clear the print is. Nowadays, it's more convenient for me to utilize my Android phone rather than my old desk top computer to go on line, but the print on some of these threads and sites is really small and light and hard for me to read on my phone and unfortunately, for some reason, although I can access this board from my smart phone, I am unable to log into my account in order to post something. I have to go on my computer to do that. I say all this, to say that this tends to limit what I read when I do come here while on my phone. Just one of the many frustrations that vex me in my old age. Everything seems so much more complicated. Anyhoo, while catching up on things here, this post by Mel caught my interest because like, Chevdove, although he isn't my contemporary, I am intrigued by Jay Z's persona, his way with words, his back story and his phenomenal success. and I am a fan of his! ( Not surprising, I disagree with Pioneer who says JayZ is ugly. Like everything else about him, I think Jay's looks are unique.) I also got a charge out of other posters on this thread thwarting nels' feeble attempts to diminish JayZ. For somebody who often asks others if they know how they sound when they make observations that don't register with him, nels obviously doesn't know how he, himself, sounds much of the time. How? Like someone who isn't even an effective troll. Until next time...

I can never figure out why the news media gets blamed for what an individual or a groups does. The media's job is to be on the spot and REPORT what constitutes significant events. Its opinions are just that; opinions that once expressed, are acknowledged as editorializing. Its only obligation is to shine the light in dark places. It has no obligation to be a crusader. That's an option. People are always free to believe what the want to believe. The problem is not the Fourth Estate. it is politics, not to mention a population made up of humans who are no better than those they elect. Everybody is out to feather their own nest by getting ahead and that is an environment which is contagious and breeds the greed that goes hand in hand with the pursuit of power, - the opium that addicts the ego, and enables both the creation and the downfall of empires. Mankind is too flawed to maintain a peaceful existence. Conflict is the nature of the beast. Government is just an organized ongoing procedure determining who controls what. Countries represent this on a larger scale. ...and, like that. You know, Did I mention that I'm into Existentialism bordering on Nihilism. which prompts me to lapse into philosophic editorializing? Check ya later. Maybe.

@nels Doesn't take much to make you "glad", does it? And it's not as if your silly explanation absolves rather than confirms your being a "babbling nonentity". Is it any wonder you have trouble getting folks to "pay attention" to what you barf? You're nothing but a microcosm of what the ludicrous Retrumpican party has become. Now run along and, like the conservative minion that you are, go dig up some links to right wing propaganda so you can spam this board with them. @ProfDTroy knows my real name. He can always check my FaceBook page from time to time. If it's closed down, ding dong, the wicked witch is dead, went to sleep and died in her bed. - and the celebrations can begin! @Stefan your setting the record straight on Obama is appreciated!

Yes, and like everything else about this deceptive situation, Jada apparently didn't have alopecia. Although she still has her hair CUT short, it is thick not thin. There is no cure for alopecia so she has not miraculously recovered, she was simply a menopausal woman experiencing a little temporary hair loss. Along with their two weird children, the Smiths could be the poster models for dysfunctional families!

@Troy. Gee, thanks for posting that Egg video! You must've known that it would captivate my interest at this point in my life. I don't know why I took so long to get around to watching it. Its message was very Intriguing . As I mentioned in another post, I have been gravitating toward an existentialist mind set, a philosophical approach that makes it easy to become compatible the "I know that I know nothing" tenet, so I am open to every possibility. Contemplating that Death may be all about returning to square one via of an embryo trying to make it to the birth canal is interesting and of course my ego is seduced by the idea of becoming a god. All of this is more inspiring than just returning to dust. I've never been an adventurous person but maybe next time around I'll develop a taste for it. Hopefully during one of these incarnations I'll also mellow with age. Oh, well. Whatever. With the awful state of this world, there's no great reason to overstay my welcome here.

@Pioneer1 the Strawman strikes again, conjuring up false scenarios in order to provide himself with an opportunity to inject some silly figment of his imagination into a discussion . After my husband passed and, later when I stopped driving, I have never been in a situation where I've had to sit around waiting for some man to take me to the store. I don't know what you're talking about, and you don't either. I have 5 children, and 6 grandchildren, each one only only a text message away, ready. willing, and able to take me to where I need to go, so keep your idiotic advice to yourself and stfu.

I have always been disappointed when it came to Obama. Not because of his performance while in office, but because of the harsh criticism he constantly received from, of all people, other black men! Sullen brothas who attribute their contempt for him by citing what he didn't do for blacks while in office,- in denial about their own naivete for expecting all the things bi-racial Obama was going to do for blacks, never considering that he didn't run on a platform of singling out the black minority to help. Always implicit in his approach was the intent of being POTUS to all the people. Unlike his critics, Obama may have been perceptive enough to correctly surmise that once he was elected, Mitch McConnell and his colleagues would block and thwart any legislation their black president would try to push through, a vow McConnell could and did carry out since, at that time, Republicans were the Senate majority. And it wasn't as if white voters didn't help Obama get elected. No. African Americans would settle for nothing less than getting what they thought they deserved: which was EVERYTHING. No half-steppin'. The Savior who they'd been waiting for all their lives had arrived and would perform miracles. Forget Jesus. Barak would fulfil all their hopes, and racism would divinely vanish. At least, historians give Barack good marks when rating American presidents. Realistically, the only way blacks are gonna live their best lives is to stop blubbering about unifying their checkered race or becoming a carbon copy of Conservative prigs. Instead, they should just get their shit together and merge with the mainstream. Reparations? You'd do better buying a Powerball lottery ticket. (While sitting around patiently waiting to die, I've become an Existentialist. Can you tell?) @nelsYou flatter yourself. Nobody is thinking about you or your IQ. Who cares what you babble about? You're a nonentity.