Ghetto/Country

Ok I've been getting frustrated with people I consider to be ghetto/country. It's a mindset and frankly some people don't know if they fit into this category so I'm going to clear it up in case you may be wondering. If you do any of the following you're either there or well on your way. If you don't do all of them but recognizie that you've been doing a few of them then there's still time to get back on the right track.

You're ghetto/country if:

1. You have a BBQ grill on the front porch
2. You park your car on the lawn even if you have a driveway
3. There's a living room couch or arm chair (or any "inside" furniture) on your front or back porch
4. You name your child something very common yet change the spelling (ie. "Ami" for "Amy")
5. You wear a XXL white t-shirt yet weigh only 120 lbs.
6. You're paying at the register with food stamps yet all your kids have on Jordans...and your freshly done nails are visible while talking on the cell phone
7. You live in the projects with a brand new Escalade out front
8. You notice other people keep turning around while you're talking out in public (in other words you talk too loud)
9. You say "Girl I know he didn't" a little too often
10. You have more than one car in the driveway that doesn't work (and hasn't for years)
11. In the summer time you tend to do hair on the front porch
12. The kids toys stay in the front lawn
13. Your nails stay done even in the midst of financial crises
14. You use muliple 4 letter words in front of your toddler
15. Smoking in the car with children while the windows are up
16. You have 30 day tags on the back of the car and on the driver side you have a black garbage bag for a window
17. If you have five kids by four different Daddies
18. If you've ever said "My Baby's Daddy"

Now those are just my personal opinions below is a quiz a friend of mine sent awhile ago. If you still have doubts please take the below test:

How ghetto is you?

GET A PENCIL AND PAPER BEFORE YOU START

THIS JUST HOW GHETTO IS U??

1. You've ever used an album cover for a dustpan. (5 points)

2. If you've ever run a race barefoot in the middle of the street. (10points)

3. You had a candy lady in your neighborhood. (5 + 5 extra points if your house was the candy lady)

4. If you ever had to pick your own switch or belt. (3 points for each)

5. If you have ever had to walk to school or walked home from school. (2points)

6. If you have ever used dishwashing liquid for bubble bath. (5 points)

7. If you ever mixed Kool-Aid one glass at a time because you got tired of other people drinking up the Kool-Aid you just made. (5 points)

8. If you have ever played any of the following games: hide and go seek, freeze, tag, Momma may I? or red, light/green light. (2 points each)

9. If your neighborhood had an ice cream man. (2 points + 2 if he rang a bell)

10. If you refer to "Now and Later" candies as "Nighladers". (5 points)

11. If you've ever run from the police on foot. (5 points + 5 if you got away)

12. If you've ever had reusable bacon grease in a container on your stove. (5 points + 15 if you still do it)

13. The batteries in your remote control ever been held in by a piece of tape. (5 points)

14. If you have ever worn any of the following fragrances Brute, Hai Karate, Jean Nate, Old Spice, Chloe, English Leather, Stetson, Charlie, or Faberge. (1 point each)

15. You've ever used Tussy. (5 points)

16. You've never been to the dentist. (15 points)

17. If you have a friend or family member whose nickname is one word said twice: dee-dee, fee-fee, man-man,Kay-Kay, lee-lee, ree-ree, ray-ray, nay-nay, etc.(10 points)

18. You have ever paged yourself for any reason. (3 points)

19. You've ever worn house shoes outside of the house.(2 points)

20. You add "ED" or "T" to the end of words already in the past tense (for example, Tooked, Light-Skinneded, kilt, ruint, etc.) (5 points)

21. You use 'n'em to describe a certain group of people ( for example Craig'n'em or Momma>>'n'em). (5 points)

22. You've ever driven on a donut more than 2 weeks after your flat. (5points)

23. Your child drops his/her pacifier and you sanitize it by sucking it.(10 points)

24. You have ever slept in a chair to avoid messing up your hair. (10 points)

25. You've ever left a social gathering with a plate. (2 points)

26. You can't hold a glass because of the length of your nails. (5 points)

27. The gold teeth in your mouth spell words.(10 points)

28. You don't have your own place but your child has a leather coat and a pair of Jordan 's. (15 points)

29. You constantly hit *69 and ask, "Did you just call here?" (10 points)

30. You think Tupac is still alive. (20 points)

31. If you are going to have to use a calculator to add your points. (25points)

Now the totals...

0 - 50 points - I guess you were raised in the suburbs

51 - 75 points - A bonafide ex-hood rat

76 - 150 points - Spent a little time in the projects

150 points or more - Still there, huh?

Happy Birthday

On February 22, 1980 Samson Murry III entered this world and it would never be the same.

He had a very happy childhood but it wasn't until the summer of 1995 that his life would change forever. It was that year that he met the woman of his dreams.

They went out once to a homecoming on December 9, 1995 but lost contact not to long afterwards due to reasons that are up for debate. However that wouldn't stop him from thinking about her over the years and four years later he decided to make a phone call that would again change his life.

Two years later he asked this woman to marry him and on June 15, 2002 she became his wife. But if he hadn't been born none of this stuff would've happened :-)

So we celebrate this day! Not only did he benefit from marrying an awesome woman but God also blessed her with a wonderful (super sexy) man!

Happy Birthday Baby!

How many is too many...

Ever notice how hard people are on women who have 3 or more children. It used to be the norm to see families of 8+ children but now that's seen as odd. Even in churches it's frowned upon.

I'll admit I used to have this same view. If you had more than two children (especially if your first two are a boy and a girl) then I secretly saw more as too many. I just couldn't understand why anyone would want more. I recently over the past year have been trying to figure out why I felt this way. I don't feel that way anymore, as a matter of fact I wouldn't mind having 5 or 6 or maybe even 8 (yes you read right I said 8).

But I notice I get a lot of people who approach me, surprisingly in the church the most, that tell me "you have your boy and girl I know you're done." Why? Why do we as a society see having children this way. Most of the time I hear people refer to children as expensive and they put the connotation on it as if they're a burden. I hear "I can't wait until they grow up" etc. I run into a lot of young mothers who have one and they are done. Even if they themselves grew up in a big family they do not want to go through "that" again.

I admit it was hard for me to have another child. I loved my son and still do but had a pretty difficult pregnancy. I spent the last three months working from home and made about 4 emergency room visits so it wasn't very pleasant and in the end I had to have an emergency c-section to have him delivered. I remember before having children hearing mothers talk about how wonderful pregnancy is and sadly I didn't have that view the first time because I was in a lot of pain most of the time. The only reason I really decided to have another is because I really wanted Nathan to have a sibling and I wanted them to be as close in age as possible and that's where Peyton entered in. My second pregnancy was blissful. No emergency room visits and no c section not even a very long labor, and I got to thinking this wasn't so bad.

Now with both of them I couldn't be happier but I still run into very few people who say anything positive. I often hear "oh two in diapers" (followed by the odd look that's supposed to mean something). And to be honest with you having two in diapers hasn't been hard at all. I change one and then the other, really no big deal. As a matter of fact I really feel it's been easier with two then it was with one. I had a lot of anxiety with Nathan being my first child and now with Peyton that anxiety really hasn't been there. As soon as Peyton hit 8 weeks I flung her in her carseat and have been on the go ever since and when I'm out I change one, put them back in the stroller and change the other. I really haven't seen the big deal in it. Maybe the cost but even that hasn't been as astronomical as we thought it would be.

So then I began to re examine what I believed about children and in doing so I began reading to see what God had to say about children and I found that God has a very different view then society (isn't that usually the case?) As a matter of fact He sees them as blessings. And I realized what a big deal it is to Him to see us as Christian parents having more and more children.

I'm not big on ministering outside my home right now. I'm not against it if anyone else does it cause we all have our callings and need to be doing God's work but something people may notice about me is I don't participate in many ministries outside the home, at least not right now. And if anyone ask me how come I'm not involved in a ministry I tell them that I am. The ministry is my home and my husband and children.

Have you ever looked at a family tree. If you can trace your family tree back you can see just how many generations have come and gone. The image below isn't that great but I want you to look at it anyway and just picture if the person at the top told their family about Christ and then their children told their children's children etc. Look how far that "ministry" will span and just how many lives will be touched by that.

So I see why having children is so important in God's eyes but now that I see that how do we get people to stop having such a negative view about it.

I've grown to love being a mommy. There's been a great deal of challenges and I'm facing some heavy ones right now, but at the same token I love it. I love Nathan, the way he smiles, his personality the tone of his voice. The hugs he gives even some of the bad stuff I write in his journal because I often find some creativity in his disobedience. Every hardship I endured during his pregnancy pales in comparison to the joy of having him in my life. It was all worth it. And Peyton means the world to me as well. She has the most beautiful eyes and an infectious smile and she has a little face scrunch thing that she does that makes my heart melt and she loves to cuddle, and her favorite word is "done." I'm enjoying watching them grow and everyday it saddens me a little because I know I'm raising them to one day let them go and as these baby and toddler years creep by I can't fathom not having them in my home. I love the noise and chaos they bring. Throwing little socks into the washer and hanging up tiny pants to dry bringw me a weird sense of joy. My days are full of cherishable moments and I wonder what's wrong with this? Why do we speak against this as a society? Why are young girls and women growing up to believe that there should be a limit on children? That two are "enough." Now if you choose to just have two that's fine but if the connotation is that more than two is a bad thing then that's what I question. When it's seen as "I can't deal with any more."

I know it's hard in today's day and age especially when jobs seem so uncertain. And to be honest with you I'm kind of nervous about having a third, that's not going to stop me but at the same token I'm not looking forward to the negative comments that'll come from people ("You're pregnant again???!!! Already? " or "Are you ever going back to work") I've already been told by one person I'm a "baby making machine" when I was pregnant with Peyton (I'm still trying to figure out if I should be insulted or not). But I guess what goes around comes around because I used to feel the same way at one point.

But the questions I'm open to discussing are; how many are too many? And shouldn't each family have a right to have as many children as they want if they have the means to support them? Why can't we as women be as happy for someone's 5th pregnancy as we were for the first? Why do we think a woman with 4 or more children have "too many"? And why do we care so much about what other people do in their homes? If they choose to have 12 that's their right, correct? Let me know what you think.

Just busy

I've been staying so busy lately that it's been really hard trying to find time to blog.

Nathan started a class at Gymboree last week. It's a gym class I was going to put him in a music class there but decided on the gym class instead. We took advantage of the free class that Gymboree offers to try them out and loved it so much that we signed him up that day. It was fun to watch him in it as well. I'd taken Peyton to a gymnastics class the week before and I really liked it - it was one of those try it free classes before you pay at The Little Gym and I loved that too but didn't sign her up because you have to make a 20 week commitment there so we're going to put her at the Gymboree as well.

Nathan will be starting speech therapy soon so I imagine that's going to keep me busy as well I honestly have so many other topics to discuss and even some drafts already saved but right now they'll have to wait.

Nothin much

So nothing is really going on. I haven't been doing much except enjoying Sam and our two little ones.

I'll write more when I have something to say. I know I said I'd have black history facts but that'll have to wait.

Greatest Game Ever Played

Don Haskins, was the coach who hastened the full integration of college basketball when he started five black players for Texas Western College against an all-white University of Kentucky team and won the 1966 national NCAA championship. Up until that time it was unheard of. It was believed that blacks couldn't be good or at least better than whites at anything and that included sports. Not only did Haskins let the black players start that game but he only played his black players for the ENTIRE game a first in NCAA history. The Miners won 72-65, and shortly after that many schools began recruiting black players.


"When they won the national championship against the University of Kentucky, that changed college basketball," Former coach Eddie Sutton said. "At that time, there weren't many teams in the South or Southwest that had African-Americans playing. There was a change in the recruiting of the black athlete. It really changed after that. They've had a great impact on the game."


"I wasn't out to be a pioneer when we played Kentucky," Haskins told The Times later in his career. "I was simply playing the best players on the team, and they happened to be black."


Haskins' decision inspired hate mail at the time -- tens of thousands of letters, he said -- but his players didn't learn of that level of opposition until later.


"We were walking around with the medal indicating we were the 1966 NCAA champions," said Nevil Shed, one of seven African American players on the team. "He was walking around with another brand on him for allowing these players to play. Remember, society wasn't ready for that."

Despite the widely acknowledged effect of Haskins' historic decision to go with an all-black starting lineup in the championship game, he never made much claim to his role in making an important social statement.


When asked about what shaped his attitudes about race, Haskins often mentioned his youth in Enid, where he played one-on-one against a young black player named Herman Carr.Haskins puzzled over the inequities.


When the pair took a water break, Carr had to use a separate fountain for "coloreds only." And Haskins got all the publicity and scholarship offers while Carr -- a better player in Haskins' estimation -- ended up joining the Army.


Don Haskins died on September 7, 2008.

References

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/09/07/national/main4424088.shtml?source=RSSattr=U.S._4424088

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_participation_in_college_basketball

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Haskins

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-haskins8-2008sep08,0,2284797.story

Black Wall Street

BLACK WALL STREET
The "Black (Negro) Wall Street" was the name bestowed to Greenwood Avenue of North Tulsa, Oklahoma during the early 1900’s by Booker T. Washington because it was so successful and vibrant. Because of strict segregation, Blacks were only allowed to shop, spend, and live in a 35 square block area called the Greenwood district. The "circulation of Black dollars" only in the Black community produced a tremendously prosperous Black business district that was admired and envied by the whole country. During the oil boom of 1920's, Greenwood was home to several prominent black business men, many of them multimillionaires.


Greenwood flourished in spite of segregation. By 1921, Tulsa’s African-American population of 11,000 had its own bus line, two high schools, one hospital, two newspapers, two theaters, three drug stores, four hotels, a public library, and thirteen churches. In addition, there were over 150 two and three story brick commercial buildings that housed clothing and grocery stores, cafes, rooming houses, nightclubs, and a large number of professional offices including doctors, lawyers, and dentists. Tulsa’s progressive African American community boasted some of the city’s most elegant brick homes, well furnished with china, fine linens, beautiful furniture, and grand pianos. Mary Elizabeth Parrish from Rochester, New York wrote: "In the residential section there were homes of beauty and splendor which would please the most critical eye." Well known African American personalities often visited the Greenwood district including: educators Mary McCloud Bethune and W.E.B. DuBois, scientist George Washington Carver, opera singer Marian Anderson, blues singer Dinah Washington, and noted Chicago chemist Percy Julian.


THE INCIDENT THAT STARTED IT ALL
After May 31, 1921, Greenwood would never be the same. The tension mounted between the black and white communities over an incident that allegedly occurred in an elevator at Drexel building in downtown Tulsa involving Sarah Page, a 17-year-old white elevator operator, and Dick Rowland, a 19-year-old black man. There are several versions of what supposedly transpired, but the most common being that Dick Rowland accidentally stepped on Page's foot in the elevator, throwing her off balance. When Rowland reached out to keep her from falling, she screamed. Many Tulsans came to believe through media reports that Rowland attacked Page although no sufficient evidence surfaced to substantiate the claim. The incident was further escalated by a local newspaper headline that encouraged the public to "Nab Negro for Attacking Girl in Elevator." No investigation was done on the incident.


WORD SPREAD
Headlines in the local newspapers inflamed public opinion and there was talk in the white community of lynch justice. White people began congregating at and near the Tulsa County Courthouse. Many were simply spectators curious about the rumors. Others were incensed by the alleged incident at the Drexel building and were seeking answers. Still others were looking to participate in or at least show their support of the lynching of the black youth being accused of such a brazen act against a young white woman.

By sunset at 7:34 p.m., the several hundred whites assembled outside the courthouse appeared to have the makings of a lynch mob.

RESPONSE OF THE BLACK COMMUNITY
The black community, equally incensed, prepared to defend Rowland. Outside the courthouse, 75 armed black men mustered, offering their services to protect Rowland The Sheriff refused the offer.

A white man then tried to disarm one of the black men. While they were wrestling over the gun, it discharged. That was the spark the turned the incident into a massive racial conflict.

THE RIOT

The gunshot triggered an almost immediate response by the white men, many of whom returned fire on the black contingent, who exchanged fire. The black men hurriedly retreated toward Greenwood, but not before several men, both black and white, lay dead or dying in the street.

The now considerably armed white mob pursued the black group toward Greenwood, with many stopping to loot local stores for additional weapons and ammunition. Along the way innocent bystanders, many of whom were letting out of a movie theater, were caught off guard by the riotous mob and began fleeing also. Panic set in as mobsters began firing on unassuming blacks in the crowd.

At around midnight white rioters again assembled outside the courthouse, this time in smaller but more determined numbers. Cries rang out in support of a lynching. They attempted to storm the building, but were turned away and dispersed by the sheriff and his deputies.

Throughout the early morning hours, groups of armed whites and blacks squared off in gunfights. At this point the fighting was concentrated along sections of the Frisco tracks, a key dividing line between the black and white commercial districts. At some point, passengers on an incoming train were forced to take cover as they had arrived in the midst of crossfire, with the train taking hits on both sides.

Small groups of whites made brief forays by car into the Greenwood district, indiscriminately firing into businesses and residences.

At around 1 a.m., a small fraction of the white mob began setting fires, mainly to businesses on commercial Archer Street at the edge of the Greenwood district. As crews from the Tulsa Fire Department arrived to put out fires, they were turned away at gunpoint. By 4 a.m., an estimated two-dozen black-owned businesses had been set ablaze.

In the pre-dawn hours the white crowd, now estimated to number over five thousand, had mostly assembled into three groups on the outskirts of Greenwood. One small band of rioters broke free from the group, heading in a car toward the heart of the Greenwood district. Their bodies would later be found, along with their bullet-ridden car near Archer and Franklin Streets.
Upon the 5 a.m. sunrise, a reported train whistle was heard. Many believed this to be a signal for the rioters to launch an all-out assault on Greenwood. Crowds of rioters poured from places of shelter, on foot and by car, into the streets of the black community.

Overwhelmed by the sheer number of white citizens, many blacks began a hasty retreat, north on Greenwood Avenue, toward the edge of town. Chaos ensued as terrified residents fled for their lives. Rioters were shooting indiscriminately, killing many of them along the way (women and children included).

On June 1,1921, a big cloud of smoke covered The northern region of Tulsa. Later that morning, the last stand of the conflict occurred at foot of Standpipe Hill. According to the Tulsa Tribune, the National Guard mounted two machine guns and fired into the area. The black groups surrendered and were disarmed. They were taken in columns to Convention hall, the McNulty Baseball Park, the Fairgrounds and to a flying field.

Many black residents left Tulsa to the Osage Hills and its surrounding towns. According to an official estimate 10 whites and 26 blacks were killed. However, later reports, never verified, raised that number to 300 killed. After, the Riot had ended, relief started to come the survivors, especially from The Red Cross. Hospitals were set up to treat the wounded. Food and clothes were given out. People received temporally shelters to live in while their houses were rebuilt.

The "Chicago Tribute" Newspaper reported that Whites also used private airplanes to drop kerosene and dynamite on Black homes. By the next morning the entire Greenwood district was reduced to ashes and not one White was even accused of any wrongdoing, much less arrested.

FORGOTTEN IN HISTORY

It took the better part of the next ten years to recover from the physical destruction and to rebuild and repatriate the residents to their homes. This event, however, is barely mentioned in history books and is particularly absent from Oklahoma history books.




REFERENCES

http://www.geocities.com/cureworks1/bws.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Wall_Street_Records

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulsa_Race_Riot

http://www.tulsalibrary.org/aarc/riot/riot.php

http://www.mc.cc.md.us/Departments/hpolscrv/VdeLaOliva.html