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<title>Now - Recent Posts By Black Bloggers - Category: Music and Entertainment</title>
<description>The Source For Aggregated African American Blog Feeds</description>
<link>http://www.Afronary.Net/feed/Music+and+Entertainment</link>
<copyright>2009</copyright>
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        <title>Afronary.Net</title>
        <description><![CDATA[  Afronary.Net is tracking a total of 117 Black Blogs.  There have been 15 total posts today.<br>
		There are 1 blogs in the category Music and Entertainment.  There have been 0 posts in this category today.<br>The blogs are organized into 33 categories.  <a href="http://www.afronary.net/">Click here to view all the categories we track</a><br>]]></description>
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        <pubDate> Thu, 11 Mar 2010 01:12:23 -0700</pubDate>
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        <title><![CDATA[Love Is the Root Politik:  Letter to a Faithful Reader]]></title>
        <description><![CDATA[From: soulbrother v.2 First of all, allow me, please, to apologize to you. I should have gotten back to you sooner. I should have responded when I first saw the notice. But I assure you I am not as rude as I seem. I assure you that I am not arrogant or that I do not appreciate the emails and other correspondence of those who think enough of me to take time out to communicate with me; I am simply a man who is sometimes overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of the tasks I have before me.And yes, to answer your first question, I do have a number of other white readers, but the funny thing is that most of them, well all except you and another, choose to comment by email instead of leaving comments on the page. I think that they feel as if they will be verbally accosted or something. In fact, for a good while now, I have been carrying on a running dialogue with a Jewish man somewhere in New England. But let’s deal with those issues you have raised.At this point in my life, I have grown bored of talking about race]]></description>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.afronary.net/feed/redirector.php?url=http://soulbrotherv2.blogspot.com/2010/03/love-is-root-politik-letter-to-faithful.html]]></link>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://soulbrotherv2.blogspot.com/2010/03/love-is-root-politik-letter-to-faithful.html]]></guid>
        <pubDate> <![CDATA[Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 -0700]]></pubDate>

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        <title><![CDATA[The Politics of Loneliness]]></title>
        <description><![CDATA[From: soulbrother v.2 People tease me about my office, especially my desk.  Both are an absolute mess.  In fact, my desk has almost ceased to function as a desk;  it has, instead, become simply a place where I stack my stuff.  Then the stacks eventually fall over, and I just seek out a new surface on which to start a new stack.    But there is one corner of my office and my desk that is clean and absence of the ubiquitous clutter.  That corner is reserved for my friend, my colleague, who has an office just next to mine.  When I am here, she is usually here too there in her corner, reading, checking papers, on her laptop.  Sometimes we chat.  Sometimes we laugh.  Sometimes we discuss books we’ve read.  Sometimes we get all deep in discussing the problems and questions that have vexed mankind since the beginning of time.  But mostly we just sit, each oblivious to the presence of the other, as we work on our respective tasks.  She is sitting there now, composing some document on her laptop.  She looks up.  S]]></description>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.afronary.net/feed/redirector.php?url=http://soulbrotherv2.blogspot.com/2010/03/politics-of-loneliness.html]]></link>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://soulbrotherv2.blogspot.com/2010/03/politics-of-loneliness.html]]></guid>
        <pubDate> <![CDATA[Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 -0700]]></pubDate>

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        <title><![CDATA[Yesterday, for the first time in my career, a student called me a nigger]]></title>
        <description><![CDATA[From: soulbrother v.2 A student called me a nigger yesterday. And he just didn’t call me nigger all quick and simple like, but he drew the words out as he said them, snarled them at me—neee-grrr—in such a vindictive, baleful manner that I knew he did so with seemingly the deepest hatred, the most malicious intent.I sat with the dean on one side of me, and this lady from some administrative office (I don’t quite remember her function) on the other, and as the last syllable of the word reverberated throughout the room, it seemed that something else entered. It seemed as some awful miasma filled the room. It caused the dean to turn beat red. It caused the lady to gasp and clutch at some imaginary pearls. And it caused my mind to suddenly pitch backward to another incident.This is the very first time that some student called me a nigger, though I feel as if I have almost been called a nigger, or I have at least been called a nigger in so many words, many times since I began teaching.But my mind went bac]]></description>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.afronary.net/feed/redirector.php?url=http://soulbrotherv2.blogspot.com/2010/03/yesterday-for-first-time-in-my-career.html]]></link>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://soulbrotherv2.blogspot.com/2010/03/yesterday-for-first-time-in-my-career.html]]></guid>
        <pubDate> <![CDATA[Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 -0700]]></pubDate>

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        <title><![CDATA[The Black Agenda: Black Leadership in the Age of Obama]]></title>
        <description><![CDATA[From: soulbrother v.2 Take just a second and listen to the exchange embedded above between Tavis Smiley and Rev. Al Sharpton.  Can you tell me just what is happening here?  First of all, I’m a bit surprised that this very public and seemingly acrimonious disagreement took place the way it did.  Usually, African Americans do not air our dirty laundry in public like that.  But most importantly, I am wondering what are they arguing about anyway?Many times I’ve asked readers to enlighten me on just what is this “Black Agenda” I keep hearing so much about.  And not only that, what this “Black Agenda” consists of.  Furthermore, just who set this “Black Agenda”?We have any number of people claiming the mantle of leadership in African America, and any number of people claiming to represent “The Black Agenda,” but I cannot for the life of me figure out what this “Black Agenda” is, nor can I find it articulated anywhere.  Not only that, I cannot figure out exactly who is out front leading, and]]></description>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.afronary.net/feed/redirector.php?url=http://soulbrotherv2.blogspot.com/2010/02/black-agenda-black-leadership-in-age-of.html]]></link>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://soulbrotherv2.blogspot.com/2010/02/black-agenda-black-leadership-in-age-of.html]]></guid>
        <pubDate> <![CDATA[Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 -0700]]></pubDate>

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        <title><![CDATA[Newsflash:  Killer Whale Goes Killer]]></title>
        <description><![CDATA[From: soulbrother v.2 That tiger didn’t go crazy.  That tiger went tiger!  --Chris Rock  Of course you have heard by now.  Yesterday a killer whale that is part of the Orlando, Florida, Seaworld orca show killed one of its trainers during a show.  It has not been readily determined if the incident was an accident or an act of aggression on the part of the killer whale;  some animal experts have that the killer whale was simply playing.  To the 3,000 pound whale, people are simply toys.  However, it has been noted that the killer whale in question has killed twice before.  In one instance, the killer whale grabbed a biology student in its mouth and dragged her around the pool.  When the student attempted to escape, the killer whale managed to block her path, and then the killer whale and two other whales tossed the student around between them.  Sounds like a game of catch to me.  The killer whales were probably having the time of their lives.  Let me get this out of the way before I go any further.  My hea]]></description>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.afronary.net/feed/redirector.php?url=http://soulbrotherv2.blogspot.com/2010/02/newsflash-killer-whale-goes-killer.html]]></link>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://soulbrotherv2.blogspot.com/2010/02/newsflash-killer-whale-goes-killer.html]]></guid>
        <pubDate> <![CDATA[Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 -0700]]></pubDate>

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        <title><![CDATA[Scott Brown Buried under a Avalanche Hate by Those Who Claimed to Love Him Most]]></title>
        <description><![CDATA[From: soulbrother v.2 It must be really hard out there for a conservative.  Just a little over a month ago, conservatives from every corner were showing mad love to Republican Senator Scott Brown after he won deceased Democratic Senator Edward Kennedy’s Massachusetts’s senate seat in a special election.  For days afterward, conservatives could not construct a sentence without a subject, a verb, and Scott Brown (sorry VP Biden).    Conservatives were hanging all off Scott Brown like a cheap suit.  He was even being touted, somewhat prematurely I think, as a possible presidential candidate for 2012.  He could do no wrong.  But then recently a procedural vote was held on the Senate floor on the new jobs bill, and Senator Brown had the absolute temerity to break ranks with his Republican counterparts along with four other Republican senators and allow the bill to actually be brought to a vote.  And now the  floodgates of hate have opened.  Just check out some of the responses on Senator Brown’s Facebook f]]></description>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.afronary.net/feed/redirector.php?url=http://soulbrotherv2.blogspot.com/2010/02/scott-brown-buried-under-avalanche-hate.html]]></link>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://soulbrotherv2.blogspot.com/2010/02/scott-brown-buried-under-avalanche-hate.html]]></guid>
        <pubDate> <![CDATA[Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 -0700]]></pubDate>

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        <title><![CDATA[Wanted:  Press secretary for God.  No references needed.  We know your heart.]]></title>
        <description><![CDATA[From: soulbrother v.2 I realize that God is all-powerful and all-knowing. I cannot understate the importance of these attributes for any supreme being. And I do recognize and acknowledge my whole insignificance in the grand scheme of things. However, I would just like to drop a quick suggestion in the celestial suggestion box.It is my suggestion that God gain the employ of a good spokesman or press secretary because the things being said and done in Her or His name are getting more and more outlandish. It seems that when those purporting to be God’s folk step in front of a microphone in front of a camera, the mainline connection to the throne room gets a little fuzzy, and they say anything that comes to their heads.Of course, people with good, common sense recognize the absolute absurdity of these words and deeds, but the present reality is that common sense is not so common anymore. But let’s catalogue just a few of the words and deeds I’m speaking of.No one could possibly forget when shortly follow]]></description>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.afronary.net/feed/redirector.php?url=http://soulbrotherv2.blogspot.com/2010/02/wanted-press-secretary-for-god-no.html]]></link>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://soulbrotherv2.blogspot.com/2010/02/wanted-press-secretary-for-god-no.html]]></guid>
        <pubDate> <![CDATA[Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 -0700]]></pubDate>

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        <title><![CDATA[What the World Is Curling, and Why Am I So Obsessed with It?]]></title>
        <description><![CDATA[From: soulbrother v.2 Okay, today is my birthday. The word must have somehow gotten out because I’ve gotten mad birthday wishes, and it’s very humbling. Thanks everyone!But anyway, today I’m walking around fall-down tired with my eyes all bloodshot red. However, I ain’t been partying, birthday or not. Instead, this past week I’ve not been sleeping. Now, I’ve been given to bouts of insomnia all my life.In fact, I have been discussing my inability to sleep at night with a good friend of mine who has suggested a number of absolutely crazy remedies. But no matter how crazy the remedies, the insane thing is that I’ve tried them all but to no avail.Yet, this week it has not been insomnia that has been keeping me up. It has been curling. I’ve been watching the Winter Olympics curling matches. Yes, curling. Curling seems to be my newest obsession. Oh, what is curling you say? Don’t feel bad. I barely knew what curling was when I started watching it. And I barely know now.However, curling appears]]></description>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.afronary.net/feed/redirector.php?url=http://soulbrotherv2.blogspot.com/2010/02/what-world-is-curling-and-why-am-i-so.html]]></link>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://soulbrotherv2.blogspot.com/2010/02/what-world-is-curling-and-why-am-i-so.html]]></guid>
        <pubDate> <![CDATA[Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 -0700]]></pubDate>

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        <title><![CDATA[One Superbowl Ad that Made Me Cringe:  The Black Single Mother Doritos Superbowl Ad]]></title>
        <description><![CDATA[From: soulbrother v.2 Do you remember this Superbowl ad?  Do you find it particularly funny?  When it played on Sunday night, I did titter just a bit, uncomfortably though.  However, my brother-in-law found it uproariously hilarious.  So much so that he got bar-b-q sauce on my new oxford button-down.  That stain is not coming out.  However, for some reason, the commercial did not sit well with me.  It was just something about it that put me ill at ease.  So, yesterday when I should have been grading student papers, I wasted a few minutes (or hours) critiquing Superbowl ads.  Could it be the fact that the commercial featured an African American woman who just happened to be a single mother?  Of course, there is nothing inherently wrong or pathological about single motherhood.  And it could be just coincidental that the ad company producing the ad chose to cast African Americans.  However, in the same instance, when played before a mainstream audience, the commercial draws upon and plays into a certain narr]]></description>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.afronary.net/feed/redirector.php?url=http://soulbrotherv2.blogspot.com/2010/02/one-superbowl-ad-that-made-me-cringe.html]]></link>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://soulbrotherv2.blogspot.com/2010/02/one-superbowl-ad-that-made-me-cringe.html]]></guid>
        <pubDate> <![CDATA[Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 -0700]]></pubDate>

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        <title><![CDATA[The Heart Finally Wins Out over the Head:  Congratulations Saints & the People of New Orleans!]]></title>
        <description><![CDATA[From: soulbrother v.2 So, I’ve had this problem all my life.  You see, usually when confronting most situations or questions, my head and my heart are at odds with each other;  whatever my head says, my heart will take an opposite stance.  And, for whatever reason, I usually follow my heart.     To follow my heart is to embrace pure emotion over reason, and I do believe in reason.  Sometimes my heart is correct, but the vast majority of the time, my head is correct in its intuitions.  And this is always heartbreaking to me because between my heart and between my head, I very much prefer my heart;  the beauty and imagery and hope offered by the heart is preferable to the stark realism and logic offered by the head.     This dilemma played a part in choosing a winner for this year’s Superbowl.  My head said, “There is no way the Saints can overcome Peyton Manning and that offensive machine he leads.”  But my heart was enthralled by the narrative offered by the Saints and the city of New Orleans.     W]]></description>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.afronary.net/feed/redirector.php?url=http://soulbrotherv2.blogspot.com/2010/02/heart-finally-wins-out-over-head.html]]></link>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://soulbrotherv2.blogspot.com/2010/02/heart-finally-wins-out-over-head.html]]></guid>
        <pubDate> <![CDATA[Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 -0700]]></pubDate>

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        <title><![CDATA[Which Is the Most Outlandish Headline?:  Woman Breastfeeds Family Pet or Palin Wins Presidency]]></title>
        <description><![CDATA[From: soulbrother v.2 Okay, I just got to weigh in on this one. On Saturday morning, I ran across this article about a lady who breastfeeds her dog, and then thought so much of the idea, she took the time to pen an article about it. Try as I might not to judge her, I still could not help but to think that this was perhaps the craziest thing I had ever heard. If it is not the craziest, certainly it makes the top ten.But then just this evening, I happened over to W.E.E. See You, and there’s this article, complete with pictures and video footage, of former republican candidate for Vice-president, Sarah Palin, referring to crib notes written on her hand during a question and answer following her Tea Party Convention key note speech.You know, at first I was mildly amused by this whole scenario. Then I was just a tad bit concerned. And now I am more than a little bit frightened.This was the person who could have been just a heartbeat away from being president? This is the person who seems to still harbor presid]]></description>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.afronary.net/feed/redirector.php?url=http://soulbrotherv2.blogspot.com/2010/02/which-is-most-outlandish-headline-woman.html]]></link>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://soulbrotherv2.blogspot.com/2010/02/which-is-most-outlandish-headline-woman.html]]></guid>
        <pubDate> <![CDATA[Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 -0700]]></pubDate>

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        <title><![CDATA[Curse God and Die:  Why I Continue to Believe]]></title>
        <description><![CDATA[From: soulbrother v.2 Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity?  curse God, and die.  But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh.  What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?  In all this did not Job sin with his lips.  –Job 2:9-10 KJV  Some time ago I got a long, convoluted diatribe in the form of an email from someone calling herself simply, “A Real Christian”.  At the time, I chose to ignore the email, but for some reason, it has remained on my mind.  Evidently, “A Real Christian” came across this blog some way or another and then read through the archives and managed to find a post or two in which I discussed coming to terms with my Christian faith and/or in which I questioned and/or criticized the so-called Christian church.  And she responded by berating me for questioning Christ and the Church.  The closing lines stand out for me:  “It is evident that you are not really committed to Christ.  You ar]]></description>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.afronary.net/feed/redirector.php?url=http://soulbrotherv2.blogspot.com/2010/02/curse-god-and-die-why-i-continue-to.html]]></link>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://soulbrotherv2.blogspot.com/2010/02/curse-god-and-die-why-i-continue-to.html]]></guid>
        <pubDate> <![CDATA[Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 -0700]]></pubDate>

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        <title><![CDATA[A Few Office Nuisances that Cause Me to Cringe]]></title>
        <description><![CDATA[From: soulbrother v.2 I found out long ago that when working a job, often though you might absolutely despise the job you are doing, the people working with you and around you often make that job bearable, sometimes enjoyable even.     For instance, I worked as a telephone operator and customer service agent while going to college.  Now, the job itself left much to be desired.  First of all, it was monotonous.  Sitting there hour after hour taking inbound calls and then simply pushing a couple of buttons to connect them is boring, mindless work.  Then you got those customer service calls from irate customers with problems usually of their own doing who seemed to want only to berate and insult you.       But the people working with me made the job enjoyable.  Between calls we talked and laughed and acted a general fool which usually kept us entertained through the night.  I don’t know what I would have done had that cast of characters not been assembled in that place.     However, after all those years in]]></description>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.afronary.net/feed/redirector.php?url=http://soulbrotherv2.blogspot.com/2010/02/few-office-nuisances-that-cause-me-to.html]]></link>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://soulbrotherv2.blogspot.com/2010/02/few-office-nuisances-that-cause-me-to.html]]></guid>
        <pubDate> <![CDATA[Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 -0700]]></pubDate>

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        <title><![CDATA[President Obama, you have our attention;  now just give us something to believe in]]></title>
        <description><![CDATA[From: soulbrother v.2 For the first time in a long time, President Obama had an exceptional week last week. His State of the Union Address seemed to signal a reemergence of the candidate who we campaigned so ardently for and subsequently voted for and expected so much from.And his verbal beat down of the GOP at the House Republican Retreat in Baltimore on Friday was perhaps enough to reassure those on the left that he is indeed in charge and out front and recapture the support of those skeptical and/or cynical independents and moderates who were beginning to doubt his intestinal fortitude. He met the GOP on their own ground and then masterfully met each of their weak, disingenuous thrusts with a parry until he had seized from them whatever advantage they thought they might have.Now I am waiting anxiously, if not impatiently, for the second act. President Obama has made this drama interesting again. He has almost reprised his campaign performance that captured the hearts and imaginations of so many. The cast]]></description>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.afronary.net/feed/redirector.php?url=http://soulbrotherv2.blogspot.com/2010/02/president-obama-you-have-our-attention.html]]></link>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://soulbrotherv2.blogspot.com/2010/02/president-obama-you-have-our-attention.html]]></guid>
        <pubDate> <![CDATA[Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 -0700]]></pubDate>

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        <title><![CDATA[Five Products You Shouldn't Scrimp on Despite the Recession]]></title>
        <description><![CDATA[From: soulbrother v.2 Image Credit:  Mark Stivers @ www.markstivers.comIn a recession, cutting corners here and there to save a little money is a necessity.  And thankfully I have been blessed with a wife who is a master of doing just that.  She’s great at finding bargains and saving money.  My uncle once joked that she held on to a penny so tightly that she could make Abraham Lincoln fart.  However proud I am of her bargain finding/money saving skills, I refuse to go shopping with her.  It’s no in and out proposition.  It’s instead a harrowing, tedious experience.  I just don’t have the patience needed to clip coupons, consult other stores’ sales pages for price matches, and then calculate the exact price per ounce for each item before it gets in the basket.  Every now and then, though, I’m called on to run to the store for whatever reason, and my ineptness at the whole bargain hunting/money saving game becomes plain.  My attempts to save a little money usually end up terribly.  Since the reces]]></description>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.afronary.net/feed/redirector.php?url=http://soulbrotherv2.blogspot.com/2010/01/five-products-you-shouldnt-scrimp-on.html]]></link>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://soulbrotherv2.blogspot.com/2010/01/five-products-you-shouldnt-scrimp-on.html]]></guid>
        <pubDate> <![CDATA[Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 -0700]]></pubDate>

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        <title><![CDATA[President Obama's willingness to get out front and lead will determine how this all ends]]></title>
        <description><![CDATA[From: soulbrother v.2 Let me say up front, I wouldn’t want to be president. I couldn’t be president. As I watched the coverage leading up to and following the president’s State of the Union Address, it again occurred to me the incredible amount of scrutiny that encapsulates him. Every move he makes, every word he utters is instantly weighed and dissected according to the purposes of whomever is speaking; objectivism in journalism has long ceased to exist if it even ever has.Nonetheless, the president made a strong showing last night. However, it was not the triumphant speech that I and others like me had hoped to hear. Among other things, he could not inform the American public of the numbers of people finding jobs and returning to work. He could inform the American public that the economy appeared to be righting itself and even of the many successes of the policies he has implemented since in office, but he could not promise or pinpoint an end to the morass.And most of all, perhaps most importantly]]></description>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.afronary.net/feed/redirector.php?url=http://soulbrotherv2.blogspot.com/2010/01/president-obamas-willingness-to-get-out.html]]></link>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://soulbrotherv2.blogspot.com/2010/01/president-obamas-willingness-to-get-out.html]]></guid>
        <pubDate> <![CDATA[Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 -0700]]></pubDate>

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        <title><![CDATA[So, now we are comparing the poor to stray animals?]]></title>
        <description><![CDATA[From: soulbrother v.2 Everyone who blogs on a regular basis, especially those who blog about politics and social issues, can testify that blogging sometimes takes a toll on you, both emotionally and physically.  Getting something of substance up on your page every day can sometimes become a real chore.Not only that, constantly thinking about and dwelling on the abject foolishness which comprises modern politics, not to mention the other extraneous occurrences that erupt from time to time, makes my blood boil and gets under my skin so much so that I have to take a step back, clear my throat, get my thoughts back in order, and find my voice again. I have always hoped that my blogging voice would be one of clarity, of sanity, that would elucidate, sometimes entertain, sometimes sternly rebuke;  however, sometimes rage and disbelief cause that voice to tremble ever so much.  Last week was one of those times.However, I saw the above piece on television on last evening, and I knew that I would have to comment on]]></description>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.afronary.net/feed/redirector.php?url=http://soulbrotherv2.blogspot.com/2010/01/so-now-we-are-comparing-poor-to-stray.html]]></link>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://soulbrotherv2.blogspot.com/2010/01/so-now-we-are-comparing-poor-to-stray.html]]></guid>
        <pubDate> <![CDATA[Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 -0700]]></pubDate>

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        <title><![CDATA[The "Is Black Entertainment Dead?" Episode: Who Stole the Soul?]]></title>
        <description><![CDATA[From: soulbrother v.2 Back in the 1990’s, African American movies, music, and television seemed to be flourishing.  It seemed that in these mediums African Americans were finally elbowing our way into the mainstream.  However, in the new millennium, suddenly that production seemingly has fallen off.    As concerns African American movies, quality African American movies are few and far between, and for those which do see the big screen, mediocrity seems to be the prevailing norm.    And not to even mention African American music.  From where I sit, the state of African American music has become such that I don’t even listen to mainstream radio any more.  African American musical artists, and I use that term loosely, seem to becoming richer and richer;  however, it seems to me that the overall quality of the music, especially the messages it conveys, is decreasing tremendously.  If we discuss African American television for just a second, in the 1990’s we had The Cosby Show, A Different World, The Fres]]></description>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.afronary.net/feed/redirector.php?url=http://soulbrotherv2.blogspot.com/2010/01/is-black-entertainment-dead-episode-who.html]]></link>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://soulbrotherv2.blogspot.com/2010/01/is-black-entertainment-dead-episode-who.html]]></guid>
        <pubDate> <![CDATA[Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 -0700]]></pubDate>

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        <title><![CDATA[For Martin Luther King, Jr. Day:  Reclaiming/Redefining Our Symbols]]></title>
        <description><![CDATA[From: soulbrother v.2 Yesterday afternoon I was driving south on I-95 through downtown Jacksonville, and my two children pointed out a billboard to my left that read simply, “Martin Luther King was a Republican.”  Underneath that statement, the billboard listed the sponsor as an association for black Republicans.  Of course my children had questions.  To them the Republican Party is antithetical to all that Martin Luther King, Jr. stood for, fought for, and represented.  In a word, the Republican Party seems to fly in the face of all that they believed Dr. King symbolized.  And symbols are powerful things indeed.  As human beings often we often reduce the broad sentiments, the ethos, the purpose of a group of people to a symbol.  And each time we confront this symbol, the group’s narrative necessarily comes to mind.  Think of the Statue of Liberty standing in New York harbor.  Think of the American flag or the United States Constitution.  Both have become symbols of this nation.  Alternately, think of]]></description>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.afronary.net/feed/redirector.php?url=http://soulbrotherv2.blogspot.com/2010/01/for-martin-luther-king-jr-day.html]]></link>
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        <pubDate> <![CDATA[Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 -0700]]></pubDate>

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        <title><![CDATA[Freedom through Speech Radio:  The Barack Obama Scorecard and Call to Service Show]]></title>
        <description><![CDATA[From: soulbrother v.2 This has been an interesting week to say the least.  At the beginning of the week, “Negro” seemed to be the word in the streets.  First of all, the inclusion of “Negro” as a choice in the racial identification categories on the upcoming census set all the Negroes a titter and a Twitter.    But before that conversation could even finish, the revelation that during the 2008 presidential campaign, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid listed then candidate Obama’s not speaking in the “Negro dialect” as one of his major qualifications for office.  Well, this just made Negroes giggle and most could even see the truth in Senator Reid’s statement.  It even inspired me to translate my favorite Shakespearean sonnet, Sonnet 29—When in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes, into the “Negro dialect.”  However, the Republican Party didn’t see the humor in Senator Reid’s remark.  And because they just love Negroes so, they trotted out Republican National Committee Chairman Mic]]></description>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.afronary.net/feed/redirector.php?url=http://soulbrotherv2.blogspot.com/2010/01/freedom-through-speech-radio-barack.html]]></link>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://soulbrotherv2.blogspot.com/2010/01/freedom-through-speech-radio-barack.html]]></guid>
        <pubDate> <![CDATA[Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 -0700]]></pubDate>

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        <title><![CDATA[Public Service Advisory:  Would the Following People Just Please STFU!]]></title>
        <description><![CDATA[From: soulbrother v.2 You know what I hate the most, what really chafes my behind?  I absolutely abhor people who just won’t shut up.  And it seems that the people who make the least sense, those spouting and espousing the most non-sensical BS are the ones who are always doing all the talking.     But usually, I am a laid back, mellow kind of fellow, and the BS doesn’t get to me.  I just shake my head and move on.  From time to time when the BS gets too deep, however, I will take the time to address it.     And since President Obama’s presidential campaign began in earnest last summer, the BS from the right, and sometimes from the left, has piled up wide and deep.  From time to time I have addressed it, especially when it became such that I just could not ignore it.     This week the BS continued unabated, but at this point it has gotten so absolutely foolish, they I feel I must call for a BS timeout.  I must call for some people to just STFU and give us all a break for just a minute.  So, could the f]]></description>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.afronary.net/feed/redirector.php?url=http://soulbrotherv2.blogspot.com/2010/01/public-service-advisory-would-following.html]]></link>
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        <pubDate> <![CDATA[Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 -0700]]></pubDate>

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        <title><![CDATA[When Morning Comes (Thinking about the Haitian Children)]]></title>
        <description><![CDATA[From: soulbrother v.2 I made the mistake of leaving my television on as I slept last night. And throughout the night the reports of the rescue and relief effort in the aftermath of the earthquake that has ravaged Haiti played, and subconsciously I guess that registered in my mind because several times during the night I got up and walked the length of the house to check on my two children as they slept.And I felt comforted in knowing that they were alright. I felt comforted in knowing that in the morning they would arise to a hot meal. That both their parents would be there to greet them and wish them well as they departed for the school day. I felt comforted in knowing that except for some unforeseen catastrophe, their world would remain intact for the time being.Perhaps because I have been a child, because at some time or another I have been hungry, I have been frightened, I have felt vulnerable, utterly helpless, in the face of those things seemingly out of my control, whenever I hear of a disaster such]]></description>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.afronary.net/feed/redirector.php?url=http://soulbrotherv2.blogspot.com/2010/01/when-morning-comes-thinking-about.html]]></link>
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        <pubDate> <![CDATA[Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 -0700]]></pubDate>

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        <title><![CDATA[Shakepeare's Sonnet 29 translated into the Negro dialect by Maxwell R. Reddick]]></title>
        <description><![CDATA[From: soulbrother v.2 William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 29—When in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes  (translated into the Negro dialect by Maxwell Reddick)     Wheneber meh luck done run plumb out and folks is looking at me crazy,  I just goes somewheh and sits by mehself thankin’ and stankin’  Even dey gud Lawd above ain’t even payin’ me no mind,  I just shakes meh head and wundeah how I gots meh-self in this heah predicament,  Sometimes I just wishes I be somebody else,   Somebody dat ebery-body lubs and that has friends an’ such,  I wishes dat I has some kind ah talent, some-ting,  Dem tings I likes the most, I hab the bery least of;  And sometimes I almost just hates meh-self,  But den I thanks ‘bout you, baby, an’ I feels betta’  Just lak a bird sanging when dey sun comes up in dey morning  Sanging so loud dat it can be heard to high hea-ben;  An’ baby wit’ dey good lub you gives me, I is rich  An’ as long as you heah wit me, I wouldn’t eben change places wit a king.     [O]]></description>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.afronary.net/feed/redirector.php?url=http://soulbrotherv2.blogspot.com/2010/01/shakepeares-sonnet-29-translated-into.html]]></link>
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        <pubDate> <![CDATA[Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 -0700]]></pubDate>

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        <title><![CDATA[Republicans, thank you for finally showing me how much you care about black folk.]]></title>
        <description><![CDATA[From: soulbrother v.2 You know, dear reader, I am composing this post with a decided sense of relief.  You see, I consider myself a moderate.  On some issues I veer left and on others I veer right.  For some time now, my political affiliation on my voter’s registration card has been listed as NPA for No Party Affiliation.  That way I could reserve the right to vote for a Democrat or a Republican or an Independent or whatever candidate best articulated a platform that most approximated my political beliefs.  That being said, though I have voted for Republican candidates in the past, it has been a while since I have done so.  At some point I sensed the Republican political rhetoric to be steering from covertly to blatantly racist, and though I am not overly sensitive when it comes to matters of race, you cannot expect my vote if you cannot respect and acknowledge my humanity.  You might hate me in private, but at least put on a good show of it in public.  But that has all come to an end.  My suspicions and]]></description>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.afronary.net/feed/redirector.php?url=http://soulbrotherv2.blogspot.com/2010/01/republicans-thank-you-for-finally.html]]></link>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://soulbrotherv2.blogspot.com/2010/01/republicans-thank-you-for-finally.html]]></guid>
        <pubDate> <![CDATA[Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 -0700]]></pubDate>

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        <title><![CDATA[Are You the Person You Imagine Yourself to Be?:  An Ocassion for Self-Examination]]></title>
        <description><![CDATA[From: soulbrother v.2 “What someone is, begins to be revealed when his talent abates, when he stops showing us what he can do.”  –Friedrich Nietzsche"The measure of a man’s character is what he would do if he knew he never would be found out."  –Baron Thomas Babington McCauleyIt seems that not a week goes go by without reading or hearing about some athlete or celebrity’s colossal blunder or momentary lapse of judgment.  And if you are like me, such instances are met with a dismissing shake of the head and self-aggrandizing moralizing about what I would do if the roles were reversed, if I were the one with that much money, that much privilege, that much access.However, this weekend I had the privilege of having good conversation with good friends who possess a certain measure of good sense and intellect about this very same subject, athletes and celebrities and the horrific personal decisions they make. However, the conversation did not turn out as I thought it would.  I went it with a certain bo]]></description>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.afronary.net/feed/redirector.php?url=http://soulbrotherv2.blogspot.com/2010/01/are-you-person-you-imagine-yourself-to.html]]></link>
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        <pubDate> <![CDATA[Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 -0700]]></pubDate>

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        <title><![CDATA[Some stuff I saw this week but can’t tell anyone because they wouldn’t believe me anyway:  The Good Greens Edition]]></title>
        <description><![CDATA[From: soulbrother v.2 Sometimes I feel like Cassandra. Remember Cassandra? She was that character in Greek mythology who was granted the gift of incredible insight by the gods, but in the same instance, the gods cursed her so that no one would even believe her.As I travel about, I see all kinds of fantastical, unbelievable things, but when I tell others about what I have seen, no one will even believe me. So, I just drop them off here, and you have the option of believing them are not; I just want to get them off my chest.Since our last episode, these are just a few of the crazy things that I have seen or that have happened to me. Penguins in My BedIf you have been following this blog for any length of time, you know that when I eat pork or fried or spicy food before I go to sleep, I have these crazy, fantastical nightmares. Yep, I have had another crazy dream.So, a few days ago I just happened to be in the vicinity of my daughter’s school, so I decided to stop and pick her up and take her to lunch so tha]]></description>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.afronary.net/feed/redirector.php?url=http://soulbrotherv2.blogspot.com/2010/01/some-stuff-i-saw-this-week-but-cant.html]]></link>
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        <pubDate> <![CDATA[Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 -0700]]></pubDate>

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        <title><![CDATA[I Saw You Yesterday (A miscellaneous scribbling from my writer's notebook)]]></title>
        <description><![CDATA[From: soulbrother v.2 Hey, you!  It’s me.  Surprised?     I saw you yesterday.  I mean I am not so delusional to believe that it was actually you.  But it was someone, some absolutely beautiful lady, who looked just as I guess you would look right now after all these years.  At first my heart leapt and its pace quickened;  I am not sure if what I felt was fear or surprise.     But the pretend you, the stand-in, just stood there seemingly oblivious to my presence, chatting with two small children, two beautiful and lively little girls, who so very much resembled the lady who looked so much like you.     And don’t laugh.  Don’t believe that I have finally gone completely crazy.  Perhaps it was just a flight of fancy.  Or maybe I turned and you seemed to be standing there because for some reason you have been on my mind so frequently lately.     I guess your prediction finally came true.  Or was it not a prediction but a curse?  You said the day would come when I would find out what a horrible, egotistic]]></description>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.afronary.net/feed/redirector.php?url=http://soulbrotherv2.blogspot.com/2010/01/i-saw-you-yesterday-miscellaneous.html]]></link>
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        <pubDate> <![CDATA[Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 -0700]]></pubDate>

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        <title><![CDATA[Why Do We Do What We Do?:  A Question for the Black Blogger]]></title>
        <description><![CDATA[From: soulbrother v.2 So, on yesterday I wrote that there were two occurrences over the winter break which caused me to sit down and seriously assess and reassess the motivations and reasons behind some of my actions and activities.  I presented you with one then.  I shall present you with another now.  The weekend before Christmas I attended a birthday party for a member of my wife’s family.  During a discussion with some of the attendees, the conversation turned to my blog.  I was pretty much surprised that this particular group even had knowledge of it.  However, it seemed that they had actually read a post here and there, and they were supportive of my efforts.  But then came the question.  It didn’t surprise me because I could see the conversation heading in that direction.  How much money do you make from blogging?  Of course I had to answer nothing, not one red cent, which seemed to surprise them because for some reason they seemed to have believed me to be raking in money hand over foot.  And th]]></description>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.afronary.net/feed/redirector.php?url=http://soulbrotherv2.blogspot.com/2010/01/why-do-we-do-what-we-do-question-for.html]]></link>
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        <pubDate> <![CDATA[Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 -0700]]></pubDate>

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        <title><![CDATA[Why Do We Do What We Do?:  Collective Black Uplift or Individual Black Privilege?]]></title>
        <description><![CDATA[From: soulbrother v.2 This past holiday season I got a rare but needed chance to just rest, relax, and reflect. And I guess that because I am an intrinsically introspective person, one or two occurrences gave me occasion to seriously ponder and assess why I do some things that I invest a considerable amount of time in doing. I will present one today and one tomorrow with the hope that I might learn from your collective wisdom and experience.The first caused my wife and I to have a short but intense quarrel; however, upon returning to the instance again and again in my mind, I suspect that she might be correct in her assessment. I will give you the details as I remember them. I will endeavor not to leave anything out.We attended a nighttime charity Christmas function at an inner-city institution. As we were leaving, I found that I needed to stop for fuel. However, at the first station we came to I found the fuel cost two or three cents a gallon above what I usually pay. So, I kept driving, but at every stati]]></description>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.afronary.net/feed/redirector.php?url=http://soulbrotherv2.blogspot.com/2010/01/why-do-we-do-what-we-do-collective.html]]></link>
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        <pubDate> <![CDATA[Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 -0700]]></pubDate>

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        <title><![CDATA[The Stories that Are Told about Us:  Seizing Control of Our Narratives]]></title>
        <description><![CDATA[From: soulbrother v.2 Human beings are essentially beings made of words, created through language. From the cradle to the grave, from our birth certificate to our death certificate, a narrative account testifying to our very existence is constructed; without these documents, without some narrative account of our being, the we do not exist and never did.And who possesses the knowledge and ability to tell my own narrative other than me? Who is better able to describe my experience, my thoughts, my emotions, my being in relation to the world than I?And we can extend this to groups of people as well. Who is better able to describe the experience of being black than blacks? Who is better able to describe the experience of being a woman than women? Who is better able to describe the experience of being gay and lesbian than gays and lesbians? Who is better able to describe that experience of being persecuted, of being mistreated, of being maligned, than those who have been persecuted, mistreated, and maligned?Tho]]></description>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.afronary.net/feed/redirector.php?url=http://soulbrotherv2.blogspot.com/2010/01/stories-that-are-told-about-us-seizing.html]]></link>
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        <pubDate> <![CDATA[Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 -0700]]></pubDate>

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        <title><![CDATA[Freedom through Speech Radio:  The New Year's Resolution Show]]></title>
        <description><![CDATA[From: soulbrother v.2 Do me a favor.  Take a good look at the video above.  You don’t need to watch all of it, but just enough to get the gist of what the brother is attempting to articulate.  The brother Paul Brunson, who bills himself as The Modern Matchmaker and a certified life coach, made the video in response to the Washington Post article Bitch Is the New Black which had the black blogosphere all abuzz a few weeks ago. We began a discussion of the article and the issues it raises on our BlogTalkRadio show, Freedom through Speech Radio, about two Sundays ago, but because of time constraints, we were never able to bring closure to the issue.But this is the thing with me.  I am almost apt to agree with the brother, but in the same instance, I believe that his explanation is only part of the truth; the reasons why successful black women cannot find suitable life mates are so numerous and at once so personal and individual that no singular explanation can suffice.  What are your thoughts on this issue?A]]></description>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.afronary.net/feed/redirector.php?url=http://soulbrotherv2.blogspot.com/2010/01/freedom-through-speech-radio-new-years.html]]></link>
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        <pubDate> <![CDATA[Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 -0700]]></pubDate>

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        <title><![CDATA[From Behind the Mask:  My New Year's Resolution]]></title>
        <description><![CDATA[From: soulbrother v.2 We wear the mask that grins and lies,/It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes  —Paul Laurence Dunbar, “We Wear the Mask”  I want to be an honest man and a good writer.  –James Baldwin  Okay, I guess it is time for me to end my vacation from blogging or any other meaningful and constructive pursuits.   This holiday season I simply did nothing but rest and relax, enjoy the company of my wife and children, and get my mental together.    Though I am usually annoyed by inactivity and idleness, this season of unproductiveness seemed so much different;  it allowed me to step back from the usually relentless fast pace of my life and put engage in a bit of self-examination and put a number of things in perspective.  A week or so ago I wrote a post highlighting President Obama’s propensity toward compromise.  However, in thinking things through this week, I realized, or was finally willing to admit, that I share that same propensity.    Perhaps, it is all those years being the only or]]></description>
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        <pubDate> <![CDATA[Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 -0700]]></pubDate>

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        <title><![CDATA[Because I Still Believe in Magic (Merry Christmas to You & Yours!)]]></title>
        <description><![CDATA[From: soulbrother v.2 As a child, I believed in Santa Claus and magic much longer than most children my age, especially those children growing up in the inner-city.  I almost had to.  My parents’ economic situation vacillated wildly between boom and bust;  there were times when we had more than plenty while there were others in which we had practically nothing at all, in which we were scraping the bottom of the proverbial bucket.    I didn’t understand it then, and I still, even in adulthood, have not been able to understand it.  Both my parents were college educated professional people, so what can explain those rough spots in my childhood when we had practically nothing?  Someday I will ask them.  But it was during those times of bust that my hope, my faith, my belief in magic, deepened.    I remember one Christmas in particular.  I had to have been maybe as old as twelve or thirteen at the time.  We were in one of those bust periods.  Things had gotten so bad that year that my parents finally gave in]]></description>
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        <pubDate> <![CDATA[Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 -0700]]></pubDate>

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        <title><![CDATA[Is there a different standard of conduct for elite African American athletes and successful people of color in general?]]></title>
        <description><![CDATA[From: soulbrother v.2 No, this is not another Tiger Woods post.  I’m too through with Tiger and his foolishness.  However, this post does deal with elite African American athletes and their treatment in the media and by American culture in particular, and in the end, I extend the argument to include successful people of color.  This conversation grows out of one I began several days ago with Symphony of the blog Essential Presence about the Billy Corben directed documentary The U (a promotional clip is embedded above) which chronicles the rise and fall of the University of Miami during the 1980’s and early 1990’s.  According to the documentary, prior to the 1980’s the University of Miami was a lily white campus in the sleepy, lily white Miami suburb of Coral Gables with a failing football program.  However, this all changed with the acquisition of Coach Howard Schnellenberger who was given the charge of rebuilding the program.  Coach Schnellenberger had the genius idea of rebuilding the program by]]></description>
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        <pubDate> <![CDATA[Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 -0700]]></pubDate>

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        <title><![CDATA[President Obama, you can be remembered as being pitiful or powerful, but not both]]></title>
        <description><![CDATA[From: soulbrother v.2 I came late to the Obama bandwagon.    While I suspect many of my friends, family members, and colleagues threw their support behind him early simply because of his race, I withheld mine until late in the primary season chiefly for that same reason;  I knew that the importance of this presidential race was such that we could not waste our efforts.  And I reasoned that America would not vote for a black man, and Obama’s campaign would go the way of Jesse Jackson’s, or Al Sharpton’s, or Shirley Chisholm’s in the early seventies.  But I did finally come around.  I did finally get on the bandwagon.  And for most of the summer until well into the fall, I, along with my wife and kids, did our very best to make his campaign successful.  We canvassed.   We stuffed envelopes.  We made phone calls.  And unbeknownst to me, practically every time we got one of those email messages asking for money, at least once or twice a week, my wife responded.  I was not the only one.  Many people boug]]></description>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.afronary.net/feed/redirector.php?url=http://soulbrotherv2.blogspot.com/2009/12/president-obama-you-can-be-remembered.html]]></link>
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        <pubDate> <![CDATA[Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 -0700]]></pubDate>

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        <title><![CDATA[We Got a Full House Tonight on Freedom thru Speech Radio]]></title>
        <description><![CDATA[From: soulbrother v.2 Are you satisfied with the Health Care Reform compromise?  Do you think the president delivered far less than he promised?  And what about Joe Lieberman?  He seems to have used the whole healthcare debate to get some payback for what was done to him years ago.  How do you think all this will affect the Democrats in the 2010 and 2012 elections?  Do you think they have blown it once again?  They seem to have a special knack for standing in their own path.  And last week there seemed to be a rather animated discussion going on around the blogosphere surrounding the Washington Post article entitled “Successful, Black, Lonely.”  Why are professional African American women having such a hard time finding mates?  Are there just not enough African American men to go around, or are they simply being too picky?  We will be discussing these issues and more tonight at 8 PM EST on Freedom through Speech Radio, the blogtalkradio show I host along with OneChele of Black n’ Bougie and RiPPa of I]]></description>
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        <pubDate> <![CDATA[Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 -0700]]></pubDate>

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        <title><![CDATA[Do we act differently when we think white folks are watching?:  Toward a Definition of Coonery]]></title>
        <description><![CDATA[From: soulbrother v.2 So, this past Sunday a good friend sent over the above photo and a link to several photos like it with Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele clowning around with some of his interns. The text of the email read, “Have you ever seen such coonery in your life!?”.I was preparing to type back my assent when my wife came into the room, so I decided to share the photo with her. “Hey, look at this, baby. Have you ever seen such coonery in your life!?”So, she takes a peek of my shoulder, and then she reminds me that I have many similar pictures that I have taken throughout the years with students and/or assistants. But she doesn’t stop there; she throws in a clincher just before she walks off: “Were you cooning when you did it?”Darn her for throwing in truth and reality where it does not belong. But I had to admit that she had a point. I have taken similar photos with students and/or assistants throughout the years, and coonery was never my aim; I meant only to hav]]></description>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.afronary.net/feed/redirector.php?url=http://soulbrotherv2.blogspot.com/2009/12/do-we-act-differently-when-we-think.html]]></link>
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        <pubDate> <![CDATA[Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 -0700]]></pubDate>

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        <title><![CDATA[My Fashion Faux Pas throughout the Years]]></title>
        <description><![CDATA[From: soulbrother v.2 Every now and then, my children like to pull out old photo albums and poke fun at my wife and me because of past unwise choices. I guess this is a good thing, but sometimes the teasing does hit a nerve, especially when you can only admit that it is true. And then this week they got even more ammunition to question our past judgment.We were combing through the attic to find our stored Christmas decorations when one of the children made a discovery in a box pushed way over in the corner. It was one of my old photo albums from way back in the day.Well, they only had to thumb through the first few pages before they realized what a gem they had. Holding the dust-covered artifact over their head, they forgot putting up Christmas decorations for a while as they sat in a corner and literally rolled in the floor with laughter.Now, I don’t care how fly you are at this very moment, at some points in our lives we have all ventured off the straight and narrow path of good fashion. We have all at]]></description>
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        <pubDate> <![CDATA[Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 -0700]]></pubDate>

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        <title><![CDATA[Heavy Lays the Head that Wears the Crown (or Assumes the Presidency):  Pragmatics, Peace, and the Nobel Prize]]></title>
        <description><![CDATA[From: soulbrother v.2 This morning President Barack H. Obama received the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize. Across the blogosphere, the reactions ranged from those on the right who seemed utterly disgusted that he should be given an award so prestigious as the Nobel Peace Prize, to those on the left who actively questioned whether not he should even accept the award especially after having committed 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan only nine days previous, thereby escalating the conflict. The reaction of those on the right does not surprise me. I have a feeling that President Obama could go on a cross country tour, healing the sick, making the lame walk, and the blind eye to see, and the right would still find reason to criticize him.And I am even less surprised by those on the left; perhaps nothing is as disillusioning and disheartening to one committed to peace as much as war and the rumors of war. And I am one committed to peace. Even as I write this, there hangs on the wall above my desk a quote from the Book of]]></description>
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        <pubDate> <![CDATA[Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 -0700]]></pubDate>

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        <title><![CDATA[An Imitation of Life:  The Tiger Woods Fiasco and Racial Identity]]></title>
        <description><![CDATA[From: soulbrother v.2 [photo credit:  cablinasian like me]I am not one to deal in idle gossip, and I know you all are probably so done with the whole Tiger Woods saga, but even as the story appears to die out and the media seems to want to move on, new details emerge.For instance, the total number of women with possible romantic ties to Tiger has grown to nine, possibly ten. And if that was not enough, two of the women stated that he did not like to use condoms, so he put not only himself but his wife and other partners in danger as well. Had enough yet? But there’s more.It was also reported that one of the women involved is offering nude pictures taken from his cell phone for sale to the highest bidder, and additionally, the allegations that some of the trysts took place in his Florida home he shared with his wife and children have caused his wife to move out.Admittedly, I have no idea how much of this is true and how much is simply rumor and innuendo, but I do know that if you repeat a lie often enough]]></description>
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        <pubDate> <![CDATA[Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 -0700]]></pubDate>

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        <title><![CDATA[Some stuff I saw this week but I can't tell anyone because they would not believe me anyway]]></title>
        <description><![CDATA[From: soulbrother v.2 This morning it is cold and raining in Northeast Florida.  In fact, it has been cold and raining for the last few days.  But I can take the cold.  A little chill in the air is okay with me.  And I even like the rain.  When it rains, I like to sit inside with a good book and some good music and just soak up the whole vibe.   However, I cannot take them both together.  Plus, it happened so quickly.  One day the sun is out and its warm, and the next day you are soak and wet and shivering.And on top of it all, I have a serious case of writer’s block.  So, I am sitting here miserable on a cold, rainy Saturday morning trying desperately to will my way out of this funk I find myself in.  But anyway, did you ever see something that seemed so utterly crazy that you did not tell anyone because you knew they would not believe you anyway?  Well, I seem to run across this kind of stuff all the time.  In the past, I would tell others, but no one would believe me.  They say I have an overactive, ch]]></description>
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        <pubDate> <![CDATA[Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 -0700]]></pubDate>

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        <title><![CDATA[Why don't we just shoot all the crazy people & save ourselves a lot of trouble & anguish]]></title>
        <description><![CDATA[From: soulbrother v.2 So, I’m on the sofa dozing, half watching one of the news channels when a bulletin flashes on the screen informing me that a gunman has just burst into a Lakewood, Washington, coffee shop and proceeded to shoot and kill four policemen who sat working on their laptops as they prepared for their upcoming shifts.And perhaps the worst thing is that I was not shocked by a gunman bursting into a public place and randomly shooting up the place—this phenomenon seems all to commonplace now—but that the victims were police officers; at the point that policemen themselves should begin to become targets for violence, the rest of us don’t stand a chance.Then later another report came on updating the first which identified the gunman as one Maurice Clemmons and showed his picture. And when I saw that black face on the screen, it suddenly occurred to me that there was no way this negro was going to be taken alive.But please do not get me wrong; don’t misinterpret my motives. I’m not writ]]></description>
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        <pubDate> <![CDATA[Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 -0700]]></pubDate>

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        <title><![CDATA[Love Don't Love Nobody:  Love, Respect, Marriage, and Tiger Woods]]></title>
        <description><![CDATA[From: soulbrother v.2 It takes a fool to learn Yes sirThat love don’t love nobody Love Don’t Love Nobody, The SpinnersTypically men are logical creatures and women are emotional. Love is an emotional word whereas respect deals with logic. @Luvologist When the news of Tiger Woods’s automobile accident first broke, I thought that perhaps I would be writing about it soon. As bits and pieces of the story emerged, things just didn’t add up, and I began to have serious doubts about the official version of events. However, I held back writing my piece simply because I really disdain dealing in rumors. So, in writing this piece, though it seems our man Tiger may be in the wrong, I still reserve judgment until the complete truth emerges.And, furthermore, I really don’t like to make essentialist claims like women do and think this way or men do and think this way; however, in discussing this issue with my wife and her very opinionated sisters as well as other women, I find that women and men differ in how]]></description>
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        <pubDate> <![CDATA[Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 -0700]]></pubDate>

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        <title><![CDATA[The Seperation of Church and Hate [Guest post by soulrebelj]]]></title>
        <description><![CDATA[From: soulbrother v.2 About two weeks ago or so, the Catholic Diocese of Washington, D.C. threatened to cease providing services to the poor in the city if the city went forward with a bill allowing same sex marriages.  When I read this, I was instantly appalled.       How could the Catholic Church make a decision like this?  When did politics take the place of compassion in the Church?  I know this decision could not have been on the grounds of morality after all those years of the Church turning a blind eye and a deaf eye to the myriad of horrendous cases of sexual abuse by its priests.     But I will not go on a rant.  I will instead turn the floor over to my friend and fellow blogger soulrebelj who blogs at Black Everyday.  He approaches the issue much better than I ever could and in fewer words without all the emotion.  When you finish, show him a little soul with your comments and do go over and check out his blog.       The Catholic Church has given Washington D.C. an ultimatum. The letter, sent by t]]></description>
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        <pubDate> <![CDATA[Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 -0700]]></pubDate>

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        <title><![CDATA[I wonder what my mother is doing right this second (Someone is praying for you)]]></title>
        <description><![CDATA[From: soulbrother v.2 [For LP, LN, &amp; LT: You would be surprised to know how much I fret about your well-being sometimes, but I am confident in the knowledge that joy comes in the morning.]I will not be long this morning; I have something I really must do. You know I always like to begin each morning with something positive. More often that not, things tend to end just as they begin. If we begin the week on a positive note, perhaps that positivity will carry throughout the week.But for some strange reason I dreamed about my mother last night. And I know what you are thinking. No, I did not eat pork or anything spicy before I went to bed. In fact, I had a very healthy, very nutritious meal that my wife prepared for me and my family with love and care. But back to my dream.I dreamed that I was back at home in my mother’s house. I walked through the house calling her name, but she did not answer. Then I stood quietly for a minute and listened, and I could hear her voice coming from behind her bedroom doo]]></description>
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        <pubDate> <![CDATA[Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 -0700]]></pubDate>

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        <title><![CDATA[The Education of Max Reddick:  Things I've Learned while on Twitter]]></title>
        <description><![CDATA[From: soulbrother v.2 A few months ago after I first launched my blog, my blog big brother RiPPa of The Intersection of Madness and Reality suggested that I set up a Twitter account to assist me in publicizing it.  I was a little skeptical at first, but I must admit that he was right.  In the few months that I have been active on Twitter, my readership has grown in leaps and bounds.  Not only that, I am constantly amazed at the range of people who I have met since being on Twitter.  I have amassed a little over 1,500 followers in the short time I’ve been on and that 1,500 includes people who I might never have met or had occasion to have a conversation with otherwise.  For instance, most of my Twitter-friends are either poets, writers, or bloggers, but I am also Twitter-friends with a voodoo witch doctor from the Mississippi delta, more than one hardcore gangsta’ rapper, a nudist or two, and a self-described marijuana enthusiast.  In addition, I regularly tweet with an internet porn star and two female]]></description>
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        <pubDate> <![CDATA[Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 -0700]]></pubDate>

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        <title><![CDATA[The Psychology behind Black Friday:  The Big Bone Theory]]></title>
        <description><![CDATA[From: soulbrother v.2 Okay, Thanksgiving has finally come and gone, and I had a wonderful day.  I hope you found equal enjoyment in the day.  And I am more than aware of the history of imperialism and genocide subtending the holiday;  if we really view the holiday with a critical eye, it is almost as if the nation takes a day off and feasts in celebration of the decimation of a people.  However, even in light of this, I choose to observe Thanksgiving.  Notice I didn’t use the word celebrate.  I choose to spend the day with my family and friends.  Sometimes life becomes so hectic that I get to see these people, even those living only a five minute drive from me, only infrequently, and this day becomes one in which we can all get together and put aside petty internecine quarrels and just enjoy each others’ company.  But I still cannot for the life of me understand the psychology behind Black Friday.  Even as Thanksgiving wound down and we worked to sweep away the remains of the day, I could hear people ma]]></description>
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        <pubDate> <![CDATA[Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 -0700]]></pubDate>

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        <title><![CDATA[Wishing Everyone a Very Happy Thanksgiving]]></title>
        <description><![CDATA[From: soulbrother v.2 I must admit that I don’t understand the motivation and rationale behind Thanksgiving.  Of course, I understand that Thanksgiving is a day set aside so that we might give thanks for the bounty of the past year, but I don’t really get the traditions behind the day.  So we give thanks by overindulging, by stuffing ourselves until we are utterly miserable?  I have often questioned the rationale of showing thanks by engaging in a day of sanctioned gluttony.  Just doesn’t really seem to make sense.  Wouldn’t make better sense to show our thanks by spending a day of fasting and thoughtful reflection?  But who am I to go against the grain?  Who am I to upset the applecart?  So I will spend Thanksgiving indulging myself in direct proportion to those blessings that have come my way this past year, and those blessings have been many.  In other words, I am going to make a pig of myself again this year, and by late this afternoon, I will be cursing myself for overdoing it once again.  But]]></description>
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        <pubDate> <![CDATA[Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 -0700]]></pubDate>

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        <title><![CDATA[Evolution Is Beautiful by Nature:  The Revolution Inherent in Evolution]]></title>
        <description><![CDATA[From: soulbrother v.2 This morning I awoke and ventured over to my poet friend Poet Rhythm’s site, SisterGarten, where she has composed a wonderful piece dealing with musical artists and artistic evolution entitled “In the Shadows of Our Younger Selves.”      And even as I was finishing my comment on the post, the phone rang, and on the line was a cousin from home calling to see if I would be coming home for Thanksgiving or Christmas.  As I spoke to him, a line from Poet Rhythm’s post suddenly came to mind—“Evolution is beautiful by nature”.  As a young person, everyone has that favorite cousin, that cousin a few years older than you that you completely idolize, that you follow doggedly behind and try to emulate in all things.  Well for me, that cousin who phoned this morning is that cousin.  When we were children and young men, we were so close that when someone saw one of us, they naturally looked around for the other.  However, as adults there is a certain distance between us, both literall]]></description>
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        <pubDate> <![CDATA[Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 -0700]]></pubDate>

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        <title><![CDATA[Brown People]]></title>
        <description><![CDATA[From: soulbrother v.2 Recently while looking through a series of family photo albums, I ran across a photograph that I had all but forgotten about. It is a photo of my youngest daughter posed against a palimpsest of black people of varying hues. Her eyes are wide open as if she is surprised, and the biggest smile she could possibly muster is spread across her face. In front of her, her hands are clasped together in utter glee.When I showed this old photograph to my wife, the two of us almost laughed until crying while remembering that moment and the events that lead up to it.When my son and daughter were still very young and forming their view of the world, they perceived and spoke of everything around them literally. For instance, they divided their world to the extent of their knowledge into two groups of people—brown people and white people. And when a white classmate asked my daughter why she was black and how she got that way, my daughter promptly corrected her and informed her that she was not black]]></description>
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        <pubDate> <![CDATA[Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 -0700]]></pubDate>

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        <title><![CDATA[I Have a Church Home (Gimme that old time religion)]]></title>
        <description><![CDATA[From: soulbrother v.2 Occasionally I have documented my frequent crises in faith here on my blog.  As someone who views the world with a critical eye, those glaring contradictions in religious teaching and religious practice seem to stand out even the more and have caused me to shy away from organized religion.  But as one raised in the church, as a scion of a family of ministers, the guilt of being out of church, of being outside the circle of fellowship always weighs heavily on my mind.    Yet, I’ve come to terms with this.  After going from church to church and being thoroughly dismayed at what I’ve found, after watching the church seemingly change its mission and focus away from the more pressing needs of the community and toward more secular and political ends, after watching Christians seemingly become more critical and condemning of supposed sinners and not the sin, all the while ignoring their own propensity toward hypocrisy, I have chosen to follow Christ and not men;  I have chosen to worship]]></description>
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        <pubDate> <![CDATA[Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 -0700]]></pubDate>

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        <title><![CDATA[According to my family, I need a makeover:  Several new looks I am considering for fall]]></title>
        <description><![CDATA[From: soulbrother v.2 A weekend or two ago, I decided to go shopping to pick up a few clothing items for fall.  However, much to my chagrin, my wife decided to turn my solo shopping trip into a family outing.  So, we piled into the car and off we went to my favorite haberdashery.  Well, actually it was to Dillard’s in the local mall, but haberdashery sounds way more upscale, so we’ll stick with haberdashery for now.Anyway, when we arrive at Dillard’s the haberdashery, and I begin selecting pieces I like, but everything I pick up my wife and kids veto.  I select a pair of shoes, but according to them, I already own similar shoes only in different colors.  In fact, my son points out that the pair of shoes I was holding that I really liked looked just like the pair I was wearing.   I got the same response when selecting shirts and ties.  And they really rolled their eyes when I attempted to choose clothing I considered casual.  Now, I believe that I stay fly, whether the look is business or casual.  Howe]]></description>
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        <title><![CDATA[When black conservatives speak in terms of "they" as opposed to "we," I can only shake my head]]></title>
        <description><![CDATA[From: soulbrother v.2 Let me preface all that I have to say this morning by point out that I am neither Republican nor Democrat. Nor am I an Independent. In fact, at this time I have no affiliation with or membership in any political party or organization.I feel that I must begin with that disclaimer because in the past when I have been critical of any party or politician, I have been accused of being decidedly partisan. However, this cannot be further from the truth.But if I must choose a category, a label, I would more than likely categorize myself as a pragmatist. When making any decision, political or otherwise, I measure the ideal against the reality and seek a solution in the nexus that lies between.Now, having said that, allow me to begin this exposition. The other evening I had occasion to have dinner with a group of my colleagues, all of whom categorize themselves as conservatives. We get together every now or then just to talk and argue politics and other interesting news stories. The discussions]]></description>
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        <pubDate> <![CDATA[Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 -0700]]></pubDate>

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        <title><![CDATA[Any answer to the question of African American progess is necessarily economic in nature]]></title>
        <description><![CDATA[From: soulbrother v.2 It had to have been the early seventies.  I accompanied my uncle to a used car lot to look around, and found myself entranced by this red, shiny Cadillac parked in front of the car lot’s office while a mechanic poked around under the hood.    Soon, a gentleman I took to be the owner walked up and asked the mechanic poking around under the hood what he thought.  The mechanic told him that the engine would soon be going and would need to be replaced.    The owner stepped by for a second, took his hat off and scratched his, and finally arrived at a decision.  He told the mechanic that he was not prepared to put that much into the car.  Additionally, he told him to just shine it up really well and put some new tires and hubcaps on it.  He smirked as he finished the last sentence of his command:  “Some nigger will buy it.”  And sure enough, I went into town with my grandmother and my aunt and there in front of the Madison County courthouse was that same red, shiny Cadillac with the ho]]></description>
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        <pubDate> <![CDATA[Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 -0700]]></pubDate>

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        <title><![CDATA[Is this world really getting worse, or is it just an illusion?  Or does it even matter when our children are under assault?]]></title>
        <description><![CDATA[From: soulbrother v.2 At one time, somewhere around the middle of the semester I always assigned my freshman writing students a writing prompt designed to facilitate the development of their skills in composing a written argument.  That prompt asked them simply,   "Is the world really becoming a more morally corrupt and dangerous place to live, or is this an illusion created by the ever increasing number of media and speed of communications which allows more information to be communicated across greater distances in a shorter period of time?"  This prompt came to mind recently when I sat down to compose a post commenting on the Richmond, California, case in which a number of people raped a fifteen year old girl following a homecoming dance as many watched and some even took pictures.    Even as I began that post, I still struggled with attempting understand the death of Somer Thompson.  Somer Thompson was a seven year old girl who lived not far from me who disappeared on her way home from school.  Police fo]]></description>
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        <pubDate> <![CDATA[Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 -0700]]></pubDate>

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        <title><![CDATA[Max Reddick Supports Single Mothers]]></title>
        <description><![CDATA[From: soulbrother v.2 I have a friend, a very good friend;  her beauty and spirit never cease to amaze me, to intrigue me.  And my friend also happens to be a single mother.     We communicate fairly often though not as often as we once did.  However, in the middle of the night while I am up thinking, writing, enjoying the solitude, I sometimes get forlorn, frantic messages from her:  “Did you read what she said today?  Can you believe that?  I think she is singling me out.”     Evidently, somewhere out there in cyberspace an African American woman runs a site for women that seems to disparage single motherhood.  The site seems to find fault with those who just happen to find themselves raising their children on their own.  But I don’t think the blog author means to be disparaging.  I really don’t.  However, I do see how her commentary might be misinterpreted that way.       And for a young single mother already questioning the choices she’s made, already trying to piece together a life out of the]]></description>
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        <pubDate> <![CDATA[Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 -0700]]></pubDate>

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        <title><![CDATA[A brief but thoughtful exegesis of the most current African American dances, or at least those I witnessed on last evening, by Max Reddick]]></title>
        <description><![CDATA[From: soulbrother v.2 I didn’t get to post yesterday because I was helping prepare for a reception and celebration for my niece and nephew.  My niece graduated from Cornell University School of Law and just recently passed the Florida Bar exam on her very first try.  Go get’em girl!  I almost can’t wait to go get into some trouble so I can test out her skills.And in the spring my nephew graduated from the Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU) with a doctorate in physical therapy and, and that ain’t easy when you have women literally hanging all over you.  Also, he just passed his state board exams, so he is a certified practitioner now. Big ups to the next generation!But this post is about dancing.  Last night, after the obligatory slide show and all the speeches and toasts, the party really got started.  Some colorful character with the moniker Chilly Chill of the Playtime DJ’s did a remarkable job getting the crowd all hyped up and on the dance floor.  However, there are some que]]></description>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.afronary.net/feed/redirector.php?url=http://soulbrotherv2.blogspot.com/2009/11/brief-but-thoughtful-exegesis-of-most.html]]></link>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://soulbrotherv2.blogspot.com/2009/11/brief-but-thoughtful-exegesis-of-most.html]]></guid>
        <pubDate> <![CDATA[Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 -0700]]></pubDate>

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        <title><![CDATA[But he's still human even if his actions were not]]></title>
        <description><![CDATA[From: soulbrother v.2 At a little after 9:06 PM on Tuesday, November 10, 2009, a representative of the Virginia Department of Corrections injected John Allen Muhummad, the D.C. Sniper, with a lethal cocktail and shortly thereafter he expired.And on Wednesday morning, I awoke to find a plethora of headlines such as this one taken from the NY Daily News Online:&nbsp; “Families of DC sniper victims celebrate John Allen Muhummad’s execution.”&nbsp; On my Facebook page I ventured upon a status that read simply, “I’m glad that monster is dead.”&nbsp; And “He’s finally dead, and I am elated.”I, like most rationally people, find John Allen Muhummad’s actions to be completely and utterly reprehensible and inexcusable, but in the same instance, should we really be celebrating or cheering the death of another human being?&nbsp; When is it acceptable to gain pleasure from the death of another human being?And this is not about the death penalty though I do have a few qualms about it.&nbsp; For one th]]></description>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.afronary.net/feed/redirector.php?url=http://soulbrotherv2.blogspot.com/2009/11/but-hes-still-human-even-if-his-actions.html]]></link>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://soulbrotherv2.blogspot.com/2009/11/but-hes-still-human-even-if-his-actions.html]]></guid>
        <pubDate> <![CDATA[Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 -0700]]></pubDate>

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        <title><![CDATA[To our veterans:  Have a happy & enjoyable Veterans Day]]></title>
        <description><![CDATA[From: soulbrother v.2 I am a veteran.  Did I ever mention that?  I don’t talk about it much, though.  It has been a little over twenty years, and sometimes I feel very detached from that experience.  Nevertheless, I served my country, this country, honorably and without incident for a little over six years.  That is why during this past presidential election, each time I heard the term “real American” I bristled.  I became outraged.  How can you discount my years of service because I do not think as you do?  How can you question my patriotism when I offered up the most valued possession of any—my life—for the well-being and continuance of our nation?  And I recall others who served with me and alongside me.  I recall with awe and reverence those who went before me.  In every conflict from the Revolutionary War until this present day, there have been those who look like me who have served and even given their lives for this country.  And up until the Korean War, the opportunity to do so was given o]]></description>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.afronary.net/feed/redirector.php?url=http://soulbrotherv2.blogspot.com/2009/11/to-our-veterans-have-happy-enjoyable.html]]></link>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://soulbrotherv2.blogspot.com/2009/11/to-our-veterans-have-happy-enjoyable.html]]></guid>
        <pubDate> <![CDATA[Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 -0700]]></pubDate>

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        <title><![CDATA[Step Afrika! [Show Review]]]></title>
        <description><![CDATA[From: soulbrother v.2 Recently a colleague informed me of the upcoming local performance of Step Afrika!, a traveling troupe which celebrates the art for m of stepping. From the spelling of the name and from the picture on the front of the announcement I received, I wrongly assumed that Step Afrika! was a show put on by a traveling troupe of South Africans in the musical tradition of Ipi Ntombi, one of my personal favorites, and the stepping referred to was the South African gumboot dance.However, I as I sat in the venue waiting for the program to begin, I learned, much to my chagrin, that the troupe featured only one native South African. The rest of the troupe came from colleges and universities around the country, namely Howard University in Washington, D.C.And as the show began, I was even further disappointed. Though the opening sequence featured the most intricate, well-choreographed step routine I have ever witnessed, I did not want to spend my Sunday evening watching a ninety minute step show, so I]]></description>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.afronary.net/feed/redirector.php?url=http://soulbrotherv2.blogspot.com/2009/11/step-afrika-show-review.html]]></link>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://soulbrotherv2.blogspot.com/2009/11/step-afrika-show-review.html]]></guid>
        <pubDate> <![CDATA[Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 -0700]]></pubDate>

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