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I guess in its own little way, the Freedom Center is a start. I'm still skeptical about it, after hearing conflicting stories about how it was funded and how its not telling all sides of the story to how blacks were treated during slavery. And for the entrance to be facing Covington, Kentucky. So basically freedom is mooning Cincinnati. I find it odd that Cincinnati was picked as the site of the first freedom center; there are plenty more to come in other locations across the US. This town is so conservative, and race relations aren't that good here. This is a republican city, for sure. (here's a blurb on why they chose Cincinnati for the first location, straight from the site):
Why Cincinnati?
Now as in the past, Cincinnati's location on the Ohio River puts it at the crossroads of freedom's journey. In the 1800's the city served as a major hub of activity on the Underground Railroad and its banks offered refuge to thousands seeking hope and a new way of life. Today, as the home of the Freedom Center, it acts as a beacon of light once more.
From what I saw at last night's opening ceremony, the story is going to be sugar coated a bit. With all of the speeches, dancing, and singing, everything was symbolic, maybe too symbolic. There is only so much symbolism that a person can take in a four hour period. Plus, the program itself wasn't on schedule, and there was a rumor that P. Diddy was going to be there (he wasn't, he either cancelled out or the media just straight up lied). Honestly, that's why I met my cousin and one of her friends down there; the three of us wanted to see P. Diddy. The crowd itself was sightly older, more families and grandparents than young adults. There were children there, but of course with their parents or grandparents.
That ceremony was basically to suck up to all of the corporate sponsors that funded the center, it really wasn't for the city like they made it out to be. Just a big facade. I am interested in going into the building, but only if I got the hookup on some free tickets. The Freedom Center is better than having nothing that explains of what went on during slavery and the importance of the Underground Railroad, but there's got to be some other options too. This is a start, but there's still more work to be done. Granted that the truth is ugly sometimes, but they say that the truth shall set you free. It's time for people to really get free.
Nothing is going to get me down today, that's how much of a good mood I'm in. Hey, I just saw Usher in concert last night, and it was worth every penny! It's pretty hot that he actually came to Cincinnati, "The most boring city in the Midwest" (just made that up, that's probably obvious), especially when Philly is the next stop for his tour tomorrow. I'm shocked that I still have my voice, because I screamed pratically the whole time he was on stage. With one exception, while he brought a girl from the audience on stage (she had to be pre-selected though, cuz if that was anyone else, they would have flipped out, no joke!)to sing to her. *Must take a pause to listen to "Burn" it's on the radio right now. :D* Well, anyways, my friend and I were sitting there saying "lucky heffa" and all kinds of mess while she was on stage getting serenaded by Usher. We were near the top of US Bank Arena, but they were good seats, you could see the whole stage, and everything. Besides, if we were on the floor, those explosions would have been a lot louder than what they were! Can't forget to mention about Kanye West, that's my boy. I was in there just about rapping every lyric to the songs he did. I'm extra happy about seeing him again, because I saw him on campus back in late May. It don't take much to make me happy, and seeing Kanye twice in one year is gonna keep me grinning for a minute.
Gotta thank my girl Keri real quick for inviting me, cuz I've been feeling weighed down on some other issues with other friends (now ex-friends again I suppose). So I just want to thank her and wish her an early b-day although it's a week from today. Its good to know that some real people and real friends still exist in this world. Maybe screaming my brains out over a hottie like Usher, especially when he ripped-not removed, ripped his shirt off, is all the fixing that I needed. Who woulda knew!
Okay, I'm still sitting at the Family Medicine job, trying to make quite a few phone calls. I'm not a fan of making phone calls at work, but the job was assigned to me, so there isn't much else to do but actually do it. I called this one doctor's office, and on the voice message the lady said "please leave a brief detailed message." I don't know how detailed a person can be in a brief message. It just sounded odd, and funny to me. In a way, I can sympathize with the lady, I hate leaving recorded messages, even the greeting on my cell phone's voice mail. When it comes to work, I'm not too fond of picking up the phone, bottom line. It makes me nervous. Anyway- I'm gonna get back to work now, so I won't look too suspicious.
One month goes by pretty fast. Especially when you're exhausted, mentally and physically. Classes and work are fine, and keeping me busy Monday-Thursdays. I had a midterm last Thursday for Marketing Strategy, and I had to take the morning off to gather my thoughts. I guess that I got too lost in my thoughts because I didn't do so great on the Marketing Strategy exam I had. A lot of times, midterms can be overwhelming. It's definately a challenge to overcome, even this late in the game.
07/25/2004
Cancer
It's time to deal with the inevitable, in all categories -- including the one you've been trying to avoid. Get it over with. You'll sleep better than you have in weeks."
I could post an entry on all the drama and stress in my life right now, but I rather not. That's providing some people some recognition and attention that they really don't deserve right now. Some of the events are kinda fustrating and petty anyways. Life keeps throwing me these lemons, so all I can do is make lemonade out of them, you know?! It's a cliche' line, but it applies. So I'm just posting a link to some Crank Yanker video clips instead.
07/19/2004 Horoscope
Cancer
You're probably quite emotionally spent, and ready for a break in the action. The universe, however, has decided that you need a couple more days of the high life. Take a nap instead."
I'm very uncomfortable with the fact that I share the same sign with George W. Bush. We're both are born under the sign of Cancer. That's so uncool.
In other things, I'm glad to say that Friday was one of the most decent birthdays that I had in a long time. It was definitely one for the books. My friends threw me a surprise hotel birthday party. I got trashed, no lie. It was the most memorable party to the point that I forgot lots of it. I was in good hands though. A few of my close friends and family saw me at my worst. Needless to say, I will be nice to them for a long time, because the party can easily be used against me. :)
The 4th/5th was cool too. The fireworks that my Mom and I bought we, well she, set off over my Great Aunt's house. One of my other Great Aunts, her boyfriend kept making fun of our fireworks, because of the lack of bang and boom they had. Well, that was until they lit the last one, called Jalapeno. It screeched, sparked and went boom. I was proud of that, cuz that was the one I picked out. I'm buying ten of those for next year. :D My Great Aunt's birthday was yesterday, and she spent some quality time over our house, which is always nice. And, my Grandmother's (Mom's side) birthday is tomorrow. July is a hot month for birthdays for my Mom's side of the family. There are birthdays on the 2nd, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, and 26th.
But instead of sitting here trying to figure out the whole family line of birthdays, I have some work to finish for class that I neglected this weekend, on purpose. I hate that the weekend is over already, but it was a great one, and I'm looking forward to the next big weekend, which is the Indiana Black Expo which is less than two weeks from now. That'll give me enough time to recuperate from my birthday.
I'm just stuck on the simple fact that it's July already. Let my watch tell it from earlier today, it was set to June 31st!
B-day countdown: tomorrow is the day! :)
with no time to spare
can't even take a moment to catch some air
Ya'll ain't ready for my rhyming skills just yet..lol
Maybe the world can wait a little more, cuz that was borderline wack :) My craft of writing is an art in progress.
Anyway, I've been back into the swing of things campus wise. Started that new job at the Family Medicine Office. I just need to get on a better schedule and get out the house earlier. I've been late twice this week, which looks really tacky when I did it twice this week, which sucks. Just left from a debriefing meeting for Study Abroad. Thought about going on the one to Belize in September. But when they mentioned rainforest, I automatically began to think of spiders. They frighten me, even if it's a drawing of one; they make my flesh crawl. If it wasn't for my big fear of those ugly things, plus it costs $975 to go, I would go. It's a 10 day trip this time, to help a Women's organization construct a house and help with office work too. Hell, it wouldn't even count for anything if I go; I'm just about finished with all the required stuff, I'm just working backwards in the fall to finish up some lingering electives (History, Public Speaking). It would be for the experience. After getting a taste of being out the country for a week, I wonder what an entire quarter would be like on study abroad, besides hella expensive. If I can afford it post-graduation, I may take some time to travel around, who knows.
More of the birthday countdown: two days left. It's hard to believe that it's so close already. I could spare a few more weeks, really. :) Let my boy Rob tell everyone that I have a birtday (what seems like) every month, and that I'm 28. Subtract 6 years from that, and that's my real age, as of Friday. 22 on 7-02, that's cool. I'm going to make 70222 my favorite number for awhile. :) That's biased, but so what, it's my birthday! Yaay!
Well by this time Saturday night, I hope to be packed and ready to leave to go back to the airport to go back home. This has been an amazing week for it to be my first time out of US boundaries. I've been seeing and shopping so much this week that this was the only time that I could barely sqeeze in anything for an entry. I've got a couple phrases together in French, like hello, excuse me, goodbye, thank you (very much), and fries. I've done stuff normal to some, like ride the subway (they call it the metro in Montreal), among other things.
That's about all for now. This computer lab in McGill is quite stuffy- no air conditioning. The heat is making me sleepy...
I'm gonna make this my last post before I leave for Montreal bright and early in the morning...try 6am, and my flight leaves at 9:25am. It's a two hour flight and I'm going to be praying all the way there.
But in the meantime want to post a couple of links:
*UC Basketball coach suspended indefinately...
*This is where I'm studying at for the week. Yay!
*I Fell in love with Philly so much the first time I went in April, I'm thinking of going back for my birthday (7/2).
With all of the coverage of former President Regan passing, can't even hear much about Ray Charles passing this week, like he was just a blip on the map. That's wrong though. R.I.P.
That's all for now, I need to clean up and get some sleep. I'm out. :)
MTV.com - News -Usher, Kanye To Bring 'The Truth' Nationwide
It's done. I'm going to see Usher and Kanye on August 13th. Hopefully the tickets won't be sky high, or otherwise, I'll just sit outside and wait for them to get into the tour bus. Ugh, that sounds like something a stalker would say. I'm just a fan trying to meet some celebs, that's all.
