'The Hobbit': Casting agent dismissed after seeking extras with 'light skin tones' | Inside Movies | EW.com

Hard to believe this kind of stuff is happening in the 21st century.

'The Hobbit': Casting agent dismissed after seeking extras with 'light skin tones' | Inside Movies | EW.com

What Are You Thankful For?

So I standing in my kitchen cutting up sweet potatoes for a special casserole that I prepare during the holiday season, when I ask myself, "What are you most thankful for during this Thanksgiving holiday?"  I immediately want to sit down to make note of my thoughts, but I don't.  Instead, I continue to slice the potatoes, placing my handiwork in a large, metal pot.   

But this question is an easy one.  God has blessed me with a lovely wife, and a son who amazes me every day with his intelligence, wit and candor.  I am also surrounded by relatives and friends who speak into my life through their righteous words and deeds.  These are my heroes.  I just pray that each of them obtain their own measure of favor from the one true God. 

Thanksgiving is a time when we give thanks for the good things that have happened to us.  My hope is each of you will follow through with this act, always being cognizant of the fact that we all have been called to be blessings to others.  While we shouldn't be seeking gratitude from the individuals we touch, we should be confident in the fact that God is smiling down on us for our willingness to be blessings to others.  That is what happens when you store treasure in heaven.

Be blessed, family, and continue to be a blessing throughout and beyond the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.

Harlem Program Scrutinized, Obama Initiative Cut - City Limits Magazine - CityLimits.org

After reading this article, I immediately thought about ACORN, how the Republican/Tea Party succeeded in stamping it out of existence based on some bogus reporting. I have a feeling that this is going to be par for the course up until the 2012 Presidential Election, resulting from the fact that the Republican/Tea Party is endeavoring to discredit President Obama's policies, as well as programs (e.g., the Harlem Children's Zone) he vociferously supports.

Harlem Program Scrutinized, Obama Initiative Cut - City Limits Magazine - CityLimits.org

What do you think?

I look forward to reading your responses.

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Brandi's Done? Say It Isn't So

So I'm listening to the Tom Joyner Morning Show on Wednesday when I learn that singer Brandi Norwood was voted off the hit television show Dancing with the Stars.  This Brandi is the same singer and actress whose performance wowed the three judges last week, earning her a perfect score of 30. So when Tom Joyner, Sybil Wilkes and Jay Anthony Brown started quipping on their morning radio broadcast about how the voters got it wrong by releasing Brandi and retaining self-proclaimed teen advocate Bristol Palin, I was almost at a loss for words.

Of course, if you're reading this blog entry, and others that I have posted to Facebook and other social network sites, you know that it doesn't take long for me to find the right words to say what I want to say.  And, like I alluded to a few days ago, I think Bristol Palin should have been voted off Dancing with the Stars several weeks ago.  That being said, it should be quite obvious by now that there are some foul and corrupt dealings going on behind the scenes.  I also predict that more conservative-minded producers at ABC are setting Bristol up to be the poster child for sexual abstinence.

Don't get me wrong; I'm all for that.  But Bristol Palin wouldn't be my ideal candidate for promoting abstinence.  She failed this litmus test when the sexual experiences she shared with her ex-boyfriend Levi Johnston led to the birth of a child.  And even though Bristol is in the limelight because of the celebrity of her mother Sarah Palin, I don't think she is the best person to deliver the abstinence message to low-income, minority youths.

Studies have consistently shown that low-income, minority youths are at a greater risk for having children out of wedlock.  When females from this group get pregnant and then give birth to their children, you can rest assured that many of them will be placed on the welfare rolls, especially if there are no family members around to offer ongoing support.  Moreover, many of the young men who impregnated them will go through life being oblivious to their responsibilities as soul mates and fathers, because no one is encouraging them to be faithful to their partners and be present helps to the children they helped sire.

Because Bristol Palin was born with a silver spoon in her mouth, she and her son will never know what it feels like to go without.  That is why so many young, African-American girls identify with a Lauren Hill, a Mary J. Blige or a Keisa Cole.  All three of these women overcame the odds to become superstars in the entertainment business.  In short, they eliminated cycles of poverty that had been long-standing problems for their parents and their parents' parents.

If Bristol Palin wins this competition, I won't lose any sleep.  I'm going to wake up from my slumber the day after the announcement, ever-ready to bask under the favor of a transforming God.  But I will be saddened by the level of corruption that has made a mockery out of the three judges' decisions.  Yes, Bristol did work hard to learn all of those dance moves, but our vote tally should coincide more with what these experts are saying, not with what members of the Republican/Tea Party want.  When that doesn't occur, you know that politics has taken over what seemingly was a legitimate process.

What do you think?

I look forward to reading your responses.    

Being There

So I'm skimming through my son's work journal when I notice that he didn't do too well on his most recent spelling test.  The first thing I want to do is kick myself.  My wife was out of town, so the full brunt of preparing him to do well was on me.  Sadly, I had not done enough.  Right then and there, I vowed that his being ill-prepared for academic challenges such as this one would not be par for the course.

Like most parents, I want my child to be a better student than I was.  I want him to have an accurate understanding of his ABCs and 123s.  I want him to be able to have intelligent conversations with other children, as well as hardworking adults.  But what I realized last week is my son is not going to be a great student if I, his first teacher, don't give him my undivided attention.  It is also imperative that I establish a vision for him that he will one day embrace as his own.

Recently, I read a report that suggested the graduation rate for black boys in Wake County, North Carolina was 46 percent in 2009-2010.  That means almost half of the black boys in the Wake County Public School System weren't graduating from high school in four years.  Reading a little further, I learn that many of these black boys were suspended at a higher rate than their white counterparts.  I ask myself, "What's wrong with this picture?"

Because I know how important parental involvement is to child development, I could easily charge these black boys' parents with parental neglect.  Remember, I neglected my child last week, and look what happened.  But this problem is much deeper.  I think the village that these children live in is also culpable.

So many of us adult professionals possess the knowledge and skills to make a difference in children's lives by serving as tutors, mentors or life coaches.  But we fail to rush to their aid for various reasons, the most prominent being our preoccupation with the arc of our own lives.  While striving for excellence should be a universal goal for all members of the human race, we should never neglect the need to take a youngster along for the ride.  In the final analysis, they will express gratitude for our time and attention.  More importantly, they will develop platforms for their own success.

What do you think?

I look forward to reading your responses.

Can She Dance? Why Bristol Palin Must Go

So I'm watching last week's episode of "Dancing with the Stars" when host Tom Bergeron announces the two contestants with the lowest number of votes. I say to myself, "Bristol Palin better be one of the two.". She is, but so is Kurt Warner, a former quarterback with the National Football League's St. Louis Rams and, most recently, the Arizona Cardinals. I sit on the edge of my love seat, waiting for Bergeron to utter Palin's name. But to my dismay, it is Warner who gets the boot, leaving Palin on the show to dance another day.

But can she dance?

I don't think so. But these are the words of a man with two left feet. I do know Rick Fox can dance. Even Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino can dance.  But, like Warner, Fox and Sorrentino were handed their walking papers, while Bristol Palin's hopes for an upset victory remain alive. I'm sure Fox and Sorrentino are sitting home scratching their heads, probably wondering how they were upstaged by a self-proclaimed "teen advocate."

I believe Bristol Palin's staying power on "Dancing with the Stars" has a lot to do with who her mother is, and that's not saying much. Former Alaskan governor turned political celebrity Sarah Palin has been spotted in the stands cheering her daughter on. I applaud Sarah for being so supportive of her daughter, but even she must see that Bristol's staying power has nothing to do with her ability to dance.

If anything, Bristol Palin remains on the show because supporters of Sarah Palin and the Tea Party movement are seemingly casting their votes in a concerted attempt to make a statement. The question on the table: Who wields the real power, the Republicans or the Democrats?

Based on the 2010 midterm election results, it is easy to think this power now lies in the hands of the Republicans. Their candidates managed to reclaim the House of the Representatives. But I am disappointed in the way they secured their victories. Instead of offering up real solutions to common problems, they targeted the reputation and credibility of the man that we, the American people, elected to presidential office, Barack Hussein Obama.

The Tea Party, and the Republican Party by association, accused President Obama of not being an American citizen. Their members spent the past two years asking for a birth certificate that had already been presented to them and the American public. One lady, an elderly, Caucasian one, even had the audacity to exclaim, "We need to take our country back!"

From what?

Barack Obama?

Or black people?

That one statement told me how far our citizenry has come in regards to race relations, but it also told me how far we have yet to go. But what surprised me is how television and print journalists just allowed this racist statement and countless others to go unchecked. If they had been more responsible by asking the hard questions of those persons uttering seemingly racist sentiments, doors may have been opened for more heartfelt conversations about race. But this opportunity was squandered because their executives pitted black against white rather than use the moment to help this country heal further from its racist past. To them, the perpetuation of this never-ending race war was more newsworthy.

What do you think?

I look forward to reading your responses.

Agent of Change

 

During the Winter

Of your discontent

You crave the warm embrace of Spring,

Knowing it will fade away to

The scintillating heat

Of Summer.

But you need not worry.

No!

Because you know that every hot Summer

Gives way to the

Coolness of Autumn.

But as the seasons change,

So do you.

You think.

You feel.

You do.

You ask yourself,

“Who am I?”

“What is my purpose

In life?

When you ask these questions,

You expect a response,

But none is given.

Poverty often denies you access

To prosperity.

Each time, she asks,

“Can you spare a dime?”

You look into her blood-shot eyes,

And your shared silence becomes

A clarion call.

You hear voices,

Those of the great African kings

Speaking to you.

You hear the rhythmic beat of drums,

Encouraging you to dance.

This is your moment, your

Chance to shine.

But do you change or

Do you remain the same?

Heroes have come.

Heroes have gone.

But now you are being asked to be something more.

No one is asking you to change the world.

Change a life,

And bear witness to the

Rippling effects

Of your sacrifice.

© Jeffery A. Faulkerson 2009.  All rights reserved.