Anti-Black?

So, I've been watching a lot of movies lately that I normally would not watch because desperate times call for desperate measures.

In my borrowed-movie repertoire, there has been a collection of Wesley Snipes movies. Now, I used to LOVE Wesley Snipes circa "New Jack City", but then something happened and the love faded. Not sure what or who (probably John Stamos, but I don't think so. Ha) Tastes change.

So, I'm watching like six or seven different Wesley movies, and I notice a common theme in all of them – Wesley only has white or Latino women as his love interest.

Now, I know that in "Passenger 57" the flight attendant was Black, BUT she was so darn light she could pass. And the relationship was only implied; like, "he's gonna take her out to dinner when they escape these hijackers." And in this other movie called "Hard Luck", he has a Black wife, but she is killed off (from Hurricane Katrina) without even having a role in the movie. She's all flashbacks.

Even in "Waiting to Exhale", he tells Angela, "My wife is white…"

Okay, so what the hell happened to Wesley that his contract is now "I will not work with a Black woman"? He ain't all that. Seriously! I know he has some anti-Black woman crap going on in his personal life, but career-wise? I guess he's just not that good of an actor that he can pretend to be in a relationship with a Black woman.

It's really no skin off my nose (or any other parts for that matter) but as dark as he is, you know his momma is Black. Can't he at least have some respect for her? I am sure ONE Black woman did him wrong. The way he's going, it's like we're all the enemy.

I wonder how many Black women HE did wrong. Are they anti-Black man? Who knows? Who cares? I was just noticing because I watched like six of his movies in two or three days.

No School This Week

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

So, four months after missing the big political event in my own country, I get to sit inside and hear the campaigning and after effects of an election in my current "home" country. Yes, today is Election Day. I don't know how long it takes for results to come out, and I don't know what will be the outcome/backlash of that. But so far, nothing out of the ordinary has happened; except that school is closed.

Even though most everyone knows I am "Black America" here, they still ask me who I'm going to vote for. I always reply that I voted (emphasis on past tense) for Obama. Then they tell me that after living here for seven years, I can vote and even start my own political career. I think I'll pass.

 

The only big highlights since the last time have been tons of Monopoly and Trivial Pursuit. Tomorrow (Wednesday) a few of us are probably going to the Pottery for lunch. I need to go to Angela's house and raid her school lab. We'll see how all that works out. I'm looking forward to going someplace that isn't a long way to go, and being back home before the sun goes down.

We were going to paint, but we don't have paint thinner. The brushes are only good for one use without it. I am hoping that there is paint thinner at the paint store and that's it's open tomorrow. I am going to take pictures of my kitchen before and after. As well as some other rooms and things that I am sure all my friends back home are wanting to see.

 

Other than all that, not much going on.

Cloudy Days so no power to blog this week

May 14, 2009

I let a friend use my computer on Sunday. That zapped all my power. It rained about every day this week, so not a lot of power stores.

Right now, I'm at a lodge with my hubby because we need to use the internet at 8PM to buy some tickets for some events at the Winter Olympics. Nowhere to use internet in my little town. We thought we were going to have to go to Lilongwe, but then we remembered this place. Thank God. It was only a 90 minute trip. And tomorrow, we can go to Coco's site – only 8km away and spend the day with her.

I need to send a Happy Birthday shout-out to Akiba. That was on the 12^th. This is my proof that I didn't forget just in case she didn't get my text message, which is highly likely.

We had today off from school. Kamuzu Day. I'm sure he (or she) did something great for this country. I enjoy a day off. I only have one class tomorrow, so I'm going to be absent. And next week is mid-term break. We will probably go to Salima one day. Or just hang out around the house.

Chris started painting the bedroom yesterday. That was pretty great. I've been meaning to do that, but never did. Next week, we're going to paint the kitchen and another room. Only so much paint, so all the walls don't get painted. Probably just the ones with bat turds on them.

I don't really have all that much on my mind lately. Been teaching myself about moles, empirical formulas, concentrations, and molarity – why wasn't this stuff so easy back in Chem 101 and 102? I've had a pretty good time re-learning chemistry.

One of my students complained about her grade, and I realized that she was listed twice in my grade book (name spelled differently and in a different order) so, she was, in fact, my #2 student for the term. But because she didn't use the same damn name every time she turned in an assignment, I didn't give her full credit. I will rectify this next week. I don't know how many times I've told them to write the SAME NAME every time.

I had my site visit this week. Apparently, I'm doing pretty well. They didn't stay very long. That's always a good thing. I didn't want them hanging around.

Well, I will have more to write next week – or not – but I will be able to write more since I have a full charge now and I'll have more sunny days.

Happy Mother’s Day

May 10, 2009

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!

I have to wait till later in the day to talk to MY momma, but I will hit her up.

*** *** ***

And this is how we went

(ring ring ring ring) In her defense, it was 7:30AM. So, I gotta give a momma a break.

Ma: Hello

Me: Happy Mother's Day!!!!

Ma: Who is this?

*Okay, now this is where I can't quite give the break. My momma only has 4 kids, so it was a 25% chance it was me. Then, there are only 3 girls, so my odds go up to 33%. Consider my sister with the two kids ain't never up early unless one of those kids is sick, so my odds go up to 50-50.

Me: It's your favorite daughter!

*And she knew who it was immediately. THAT'S what I'm talking about.

I only had 2 minutes to talk, but I thought it was worth every cent to call my momma today.

Rainy season was supposed to be over

May 9, 2009

It's raining. Rainy season was supposed to be officially over. I guess I will just hang out and do Sudoku puzzles until it stops. If it stops.

I let all the air out of my tire because the piece of shit bike pump they gave me is, well, a piece of shit. As well, I don't think the bike is all that great. So, I can either walk to town – when the rain stops – and tell them to bring me a pump I can actually use on Wednesday. Or, I can push the bike to town, pay K50 to get the tire pumped, and ride back. I have to say that my mood is not one that is excited about walking to town – with or without the bike. My mood is one that is just tired of the bullshit that goes along with all this.

Yes, there we have it folks, I'm fed up. It actually makes sense. When I think about my philosophy of deployments, I feel that a person can endure any amount of bullshit for 6 months. Well, my six months have expired. And now the bullshit is just irritating. Because I KNOW that they can do better. I guess that is the part that really bugs me the most. Knowing that they can do better, but they choose not to do better.

I could use this time to organize my office – again. I swear it only takes one quiz or homework assignment to get this room in complete disarray. It is too small. And I don't have the storage devices I would like. But I do have it better than most. At least this place came with built in shelves; in two of the bedrooms and in the hallway for a pantry. And another room has a closet (no door, but a place to hang clothes.)

Tomorrow is Mother's Day. So, I've got some units saved up so that I can give my momma a shout out. I think she will be very surprised to hear from me. I just hope she is there to answer the phone. And that she knows she only has 2 minutes to talk. LOL.

Tuesday is Akiba's birthday. I may give her a 1 minute birthday shout out. These shout outs can get expensive when you're working off of $6 a day.

It's beginning to rain harder. Makes me want to just crawl right back into bed. And I think I will just do that.

Well, the rain stopped. I walked my bike to a bike fix-it shop. And now I'm here. Hope to be home in under two hours cooking beans.

TGIF

May 8, 2009

I've never been a fan of "TGIF", but for the life of me, I'm so glad that today is Friday.

I was going to come and scan some stuff, but my power source seems to be sourced out right now. I would have thought I had a little more juice than that. Maybe tomorrow will be a better day. But since I will be in Lilongwe on Thursday/Friday, I can just as well drop it off. I might change my mind again. We'll see how I feel after this last class and some tea.

I decided to skip out of the staff room atmosphere and go get a couple of buckets of water. I would have gotten a couple more, but once I go; the whole village goes. They NEVER go when the sun is high… unless I go. I guess not to be outdone by Black America. That's my name around here. LOL.

I don't remember too many dreams from last night. Except that I'm supposed to know someone named Tammy Smith. In my dream, my kept insisting that I know Tammy. But I'm quite sure I don't.

So, I'm back. Had to do some tweaking to the system.

The hardest part of keeping up a blog is deciding on the best font to use. I don't like to use the regular old boring types, but you have to use something that's easy to read.

I found out that we're having some Youth Day activities on the 13^th. That is the day of my site visit. So, it will either work for me or not. If Achisomo gets here early, he can see me teach about 1, maybe 2 classes. But I know that past first break, it will all be over. So, it could work in my favor. My headmaster was hoping that Dora was coming. Alas, he is disappointed. More disappointment to come mister!!!

I don't have any lesson plans in the format they want us to use, but my schemes are done.

I think I'm going to start a computer club for last term. Just to give a few of the students a chance to familiarize with the ins and outs of the 20^th century (yes, I know we are in the 21^st century, but that's how far behind we are here.)

Maybe I will just open that up to the Youth Club. That way, I can say "If you didn't wanna be in the Youth Club before, go away." Will whittle down the participation (what I really mean is crowd control.)

I can’t sleep at night; I toss and turn; listening for the telephone

May 7, 2009

Actually, I turn my phone off at night now because the Zain network is so sucky that if someone sends me a text message at 4PM, I might get it at 11:30PM thus waking me from my peaceful sleep.

Although I went to sleep very late last night – had to finish that last Sudoku puzzle – I was wide awake at 04:36 this morning. I guess it was a good thing because I'm on top of things. I've done charts for 2 of my classes today. I did my math quiz before I went to bed. So, that is done. I think today I will do an answer chart so that tomorrow I can just go into the stuff that I feel needs to be clarified or gone into a little deeper. We're starting circle geometry on Monday and will probably cover that for 2 weeks. Unless there is a week off for elections… Well, either way, it needs to be covered for 2 weeks, so I will just get behind.

I'm already behind with Form 2 and Form 1. I will catch up somewhere. I usually do with those classes.

I don't remember my crazy dreams from last night. I do remember Mr. Spock (from Star Trek) living in the dorms at Dedza, but outside of that, I don't remember too much else.

One of my friends was robbed… in her house… while she slept. They took her phone off the pillow next to her head. And another girl, from my group, was mugged while walking back to one of the houses. She was out after dark. DON'T DO THAT. I don't like to be too many places after dark in this country. In Lilongwe, maybe. But that's about it. I feel I know that area pretty well. And the paths to the house are pretty well populated. I hated being in Mzuzu after dark that one night. I was just waiting to be ravaged.

Today is my "easy" day at school. Well, one of them. Friday is actually my best day for lazy. I have one academic class and one period of PE. Today is good because I have a full period between all of my classes. I enjoy this. I can be lazy on Wednesday night and make up for it at school. But today, I'm up on the game!

*** *** *** ***

So, I gave a quiz in math today. 20-some odd students present. Not even half turned in the quiz. I gave an in-class exercise (quiz) in Form 2E. Over 40 students present. Not even half of them turned in the quiz. So what is a woman to do? I already explained – several times – that my end of term grade is dependent upon homework, quizzes, and terminal exam. They don't seem to get it. Because one kid saw his report card today and wanted to know why his grade was lower than his exam score. Well, fella, I thought I explained this…. I guess they are used to having ONE test for the entire term and that's their grade. Not over here, buddies.

The highlight of my day has been that I was able to start a fire without much effort. I do better with a big pot of water when I make a fire than on kerosene. And I want a big pot of water tonight. I should go get water, but I'm gonna put it off till tomorrow. I'm not dire. And I can go tomorrow during school since I only have one class. Maybe if my students see me, they'll come and help me… or not. LOL.

I hope I sleep a lot better tonight. I have to mark some papers, and I intend to get that done before the sun goes down. I'm pretty much ahead of the game for the time being. Well, I gotta scan these GLOW applications tomorrow and email those. I hope they scan clearly. I don't want to deal with putting stuff in the mail, BUT I will be in Lilongwe next week afterall. So, I could just as well take them. And I probably will.