I am super excited to report this news.. Peep the following email I received just hours ago :
We have received your submission for inclusion in EROS 369: An Anthology for Adults Vol. II. We are pleased to inform you that your submission will be included in this year’s publication!
Congratulations!
–
This is excellent. I don’t know if you remember but back in January I published ‘ My (non) New Year’s Resolutions‘ and one of them was
“2. Write more – not just here. Writing in general, which is to include short stories, poems, papers, whatever the heck strikes me. Music Guides me and words inspire me.”
I’m giddy. So many good things happening. If you build it they will come tight? Oh so when the book comes out .. I’m hoping all of you buy a copy!!!
When I work out at the gym, I like to get a treadmill between 2 TVs. I like one screen to have CNN American Morning on and the other to have Good Morning America? Why? I feel like I’m getting both my national and local news all in one shot. Being that there is no sound, I don’t feel like one is interrupting the other. I can get the headlines I want to go look into further at work. So, the point of this was there was a CNN story this morning was about texting addictions and teens. 3/4 of 12 to 17 year olds have cellphones, up from 45 percent in 2004. That is RIDIC in my opinion. WOW!!
The average teen is sending 50 texts a day. Girls, obviously, texting more than boys. This was like ehh, whatever to me. But it made me think of the good old art of passing notes in class. Why was this the correlation? Because these 12-17 year olds are in school all day and thats what we did in school when it was my day. Sure, you u can be more stealthy sending a quick text in class, and its great, hopefully noiseless. But can you refer back to those texts 10 years later ?? Being the pack rat that I am, I still have some old school notes in a shoe box somewhere. Whenever I’m packing up to move I come across this box (which is sooo hard to part with) and I get nostalgic reading those letters. I laugh at the sheer trivial-ness and blasphemy of it all. You cannot do that with texts. These kids/teens are missing out. SERIOUSLY!!!
Flicking a match on my old yellowing papers will rid me of them quickly. Some of my friends don’t even know I have these letters. One day we’ll have a drunken ladies night, reminiscing over bad high school crushes and horrible ideas.
What phone/server is storing messages for years? What if you lose your phone. Also noted, texts are NEVER truly destroyed. If the cops/feds/super hackers reeaaalllyy wanted they could get incriminating texts. Someone may have saved the convo to email (*ahem Tiger’s hoes*) and they can come back to haunt you, but that’s not the same as these nostalgic letters.
The sad thing about this is that these frequent texters aren’t going to get any better as they get older. Don’t get me wrong, my blackberry is *almost* always in my hand and BBM is a way of life, but I still can socialize. I still know how to say ‘hello can I speak to —–” if I call somewhere vs “hey” from always calling cells. We’ve alll heard my gripes about people who communicate only via text. if you have my #. Use it
I woke up Sunday morning to a friends very sad Facebook status update. When I asked him what was wrong, he texted me information regarding these two young people. Mike was a member of his fraternity and he knew Nia through him. These senseless acts of violence are saddening. Later in the day I ran into several other people who knew the couple and they all were deeply devastated. I didn’t know them, and I was devastated. Death is never something easy to cope with, but when it happens to TWO young people with their lives ahead of them, it hits so close to home. I think EVERYONE can be touched by this story.
On April 3, a young couple was returning home from their engagement party and parking their new Honda CR-V, in Jersey City, New Jersey, when they were approached by two women and a man, who shot them both twice in the head, according to authorities.
Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio said that the motive for these senseless murders was robbery and carjacking. Nia Haqq and Michael Muchioki were found dead near their car on Randolph Avenue in Jersey City.
Muchioki was a software engineer in Jersey City and Haqq was an associate producer for an affiliate of Nickelodeon in New York.
The suspects took Haqq’s engagement ring, Muchioki’s wallet, the pairs’ cell phones and the gift cards they had received at the engagement party, held at Delta’s Soulfood restaurant in New Brunswick, New Jersey, authorities say.
We had the opportunity to speak with Haqq’s best friend and maid-of-honor in her upcoming wedding, who would prefer to be called simply “Ty” at this time, as the murder case is still open. Ty shared with ESSENCE.com exclusive images of her best friend and her fiance, as well as a few tender memories of the two.
Friends describe the couple as inseparable, telling us that the two always traveled together. She was by his side at most of his black and gold Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity functions. Muchioki’s fraternity brothers have already created a website for the couple with over 2,000 views. The site proclaims their relationship “is the definition of love.”
Muchiokis’ friends remember him as the type who would often go the extra mile to lend a hand to someone in need. They also describe his great sense of humor; he would regularly update his Twitter account with funny quotes for his followers on the social media site. Haqq, we are told by her maid-of-honor, was the life of the party. Ty says she will miss speaking to Haqq every morning on G-chat. “She would always welcome me with a positive message,” shares her friend.
Muchioki’s funeral will be held on Friday, April 9 at Monumental Baptist Church in Jersey City at 10 a.m. Haqq’s funeral arrangements have not been confirmed.
Interesting sign, right?? Thoughts? How would you feel if you were to encounter this neighborhood? Little known, ultra-orthodox Jews, also known as Haredim, make up roughly 10% of the population.
Xerox is doing something awesome.. Take a minute to send a thank you card to a troop. I don’t support the war, but I support the men who gives their lives.
This pic, from Time’s Top 10 Pictures of the Year list, is from Kenya on Oct. 9. In case you didn’t know, Kenya hasn’t had any real rainfall in years and is on the brink of a serious water crisis. Serious.
Every year some new words are the ‘it’ words to say. 2009 had some beauties… The ones I thought worth noting:
1. SEXTING: I never say this word. But it’s a shortened form of ‘sex-texting” and apparently its rampant in teens these days. Makes me sooo happy I have no kids!
2. Public Option: The word heard ’round the world! The health care debate is still strong and controversial. How many people reallllly know what a ‘public option’ is? I mean, do you reealllyy??
3. Auto Tone: T-Pain has ruined us! I mean, autotone isn’t new, but since T-Pain got in the game, everyone is using it. And 2009 had so much more of it than usual. It even has an iPhone app. shoot me.
Of course you know you can find the rest of the list on TIME but I didn’t find it as interesting. I mean, they didn’t even have C’mon Son or Kanye Shrug listed!! And those are far more catch worthy than some of the ones they have listed. Hell the word hashtag was more popular than Wise Latina (bet you don’t even know what that’s a reference to!!).
Top Ten Tweets of 2009. I dare you to say Top 10 Tweets 10 times fast.
Today’s installment of Time’s Top 10 is the Top 10 Tweets. I definitely think there were probably more interesting tweets from less popular figures, but I guess those don’t make the cut. *sigh*
According to Time There are some of the Top 10:
Ashton Kutcher: “Victory is ours!!!!!!” For his race against @CNNbrk for the first to 1 million followers. Sad day when @aplusk is getting more followers than the news. But then again, the news is full of entertainment stories now, so I guess this is accurate.
@kapanak – June 19 “Only 10 hours left until the Iranian people finally disobey their dictator. History is watching. Let’s make it proud.” This is what Time had to say about this tweet from June, after the Iranian re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
” Beyond celebrities and status updates, this was Twitter’s real moment of 2009: 140 character glimpses of life, fear and death on the streets of a country in turmoil.” And this is why Twitter is so hard to explain to people who think its just for following friends and saying your every thought. It’s really more.
Cory Booker – Newark, NJ’s mayor made the list! “Pres is inviting Conan & I to come have a beer & try 2 settle this. This could be a teachable moment” Um.. I had to highlight the fact that someone from my great state is on the list, even if it was due to some blah beef between Newark’s mayor and Conan O’Brien. Cory Booker is definitely after some higher aspirations. hhhmmm…
Check out the rest of the list including tweets from Oprah, Shaq & Tracy Morgan.
I had said that the thing I hate most about this time of year were the TOp XXXXX List’s you’ll see appearing everywhere. But I neglected to mention there is an exception to that: Time’s Top 10 Lists. There are so many to choose from! They have list for the Top 10 Albums to the Top 10 Worst Business Deals. I LOVE Time magazine’s lists, even the few they do during the course of the year.
I think for the next few weeks I’m going to highlight a few of these lists, starting with Today’s Top 10 T-Shirt Worthy Slogans. After all, who doesn’t love a mildly politically and socially amusing Tee??
Kanye’s MTV debacle isn’t going to die anytime soon. It’s just not. It’s going to be funny for a long time. Deal with it!
Tiger just made the 2009 lists. He is definitely having the quickest fall from grace. Is this Golf’s biggest scandal ever??
I can imagine this to be true!
For the rest of the Top 10 T-Shirt Worthy Slogans check them out HERE. I am coming back tomorrow with another list. What should it be? Top 10 Albums or Top 10 Tweets. I’m kind of gearing towards the Top 10 Tweets!
Ice Cube don’t need this money. He need to come up with his next big thing. Has he had anything mainstream popular since Are We There Yet? (and the sequel??)
You know someone living with HIV/AIDs. They may not be close to you and they may not have disclosed it to you, but chances are there is someone you know. In my family, my grandmothers brother died in the early 90′s from AIDS. I remember being in 3rd grade and our family had to visit him in South Carolina. It was a sad time because he was so sick, bedridden and all. AIDs isn’t just a something that plagues far off countries, it happens every day in our own back yard. Don’t be stupid people! Everyday you should be making choices that keep you safe, but today is a day to spread awareness. Have you been tested lately?
Think about these statistics: According to UNAIDS estimates, there are now 33.4 million people living with HIV, including 2.1 million children. During 2008 some 2.7 million people became newly infected with the virus and an estimated 2 million people died from AIDS. Around half of all people who become infected with HIV do so before they are 25 and are killed by AIDS before they are 35.
I want to try out a new thing. Pictures are worth 1000 words, right?
Why are Catholics so obsessed with abortion? I really can’t get with it. Choice. It’s all about Choice. Same religion that doesn’t let grown men get married and ignores all the news stories about Priests molesting little boys. #organizedreligionisacrock.
I got these pics last week, but I wanted to save them for Fashion Friday. Plus I wanted to pay homage to my new Nars Stylo, I freaking LOVE IT!! Using eyeliner has NEVER been easier. I don’t have the blue one yet (the one I wanted the most) but I have faith that I may eventually have it. (wink wink). In fact I adore all my Nars products. I love their packaging.
Francois Nars (who is very young) celebrated the launch of the 15×15 Project. There were some big names there that I don’t know who they were, so I didn’t gravitate towards their photos. But the ones I have are interesting.
Lorenzo Martone-Marc Jacobs-Lisa Marie-Francois Nars
If you’ve ever been to Dlisted.com, at first glance doesn’t she look like Phoebe Price? HA!
I don’t really know any of these people except Nars, but look at the people lurking in the background!
Someone really wore those Alexander Mcqueen shoes?
Just like wow. I don’t know who Daphne Guiness is but she must be “major” to be rocking the Alien Alexander McQueen shoes. And, I have to admit, I didn’t know who Amanda Lepore was.I’d seen her photo around on dlisted and various sites. And I’m just not going to say anything else about her. Google is your friend.
Cassie was there .. and i’m just not sure why. Gorgeous girl, but isn’t your 15 minutes up? Is her head still shaved?
Selita Banks is wearing that purple pretty nicely. Not sure if I’m in love with it.
Is that Russy’s girl? I’m not sure who is boo of the moment is?
If you want more info from the NARS & Marc Jacob’s 15×15 event try some of these links:
I think as we sink deeper and deeper into the “recession” people just find more ways to get creative with their crimes and blame their stupidity on the “recession.”
Latest Act of WTF — HOlding someone up with you MACHETE for some Tacos.. Really though? You just were walking down the street with a Machete and no one noticed???
But right.. where the hell were you at that 16 tacos cost you $41? At Taco Bell 16 tacos is only cost you like $25 bucks. And like the crazed knife weilding criminal ran out of a building, stole your tacos, and drove away? Why wouldn’t he take the tacos back inside, because obviously he was hungry. The logic of some people will never be right to me. This is just bananas. Watch you back on your late night drive thru runs, I’m just saying!
Since I’ve been able to vote I’ve been exteremely aware of my elected officials. I’ve voted in every election that I was able to and always encouraged my friends to do the same. Yesterday was the NJ gubernatorial race, and the two candidates (because independents don’t reeaaaalllllyyy count) were John Corzine (the incumbent) and Chris Christie. Well, I cast my vote proudly for John Corzine on my lunch break.
I don’t really check the polls until they are all tallied, and after the tally, Christie was elected the next Governor of my great state. Frankly, I’m definitely disappointed in the low voter turnout in NJ, when so many people claim to be upset with the Status Quo. If you have a problem, use your voice! This is what the nay-sayers have done. They used their voice and voted for whom they thought was right. Unfortunately, I don’t feel that Christie is the right candidate and it has nothing to do with his political party!
He makes claims that he wants to fix the state budget and he has a problem with unions, like the Teachers Union. So pretty much, he will fix the budget on the backs of our teachers, seniors programs and children. And everyone is up in arms about property taxes going up during Corzine’s term: NEWSFLASH- Governors aren’t responsible for your property taxes, thats your county government. Another election you people have skipped out on!
If people can remember the last Christie in NJ politics, also a republican, you’d remember that she put us into a giant Hole. She never funded the State workers Pension Fund. She left this State in Shambles. she single-handedly did more fiscal harm to NJ than any other NJ Governor When Corzine was elected, he was in a hole so deep that he had to cut 5 Billion out of the State Budget. He also removed 50% of the tolls on the Garden State Parkway. People are saying they want a change in NJ, the Soprano state, well you’re definitely going to go in a different direction, but it won’t be good.
I think I feel this election more seriously, having close ties with a major state school, and seeing how Corzine rallied for protecting jobs there. Joblessness in NJ is high, around 9%, but it still less than other states battling the same problems. For state employees, pay freezes and Furloughs have saved many jobs, including my own. We’ll see whats ahead in the years to come, but I definitely don’t see this as being easy.
One more thing people keep doing that is annoying. Stop trying to relate this failure back the President Obama. Seriously?? Corzines failure is his, not the presidents.
Cleo Sunshine is a lover, friend, blogger, writer, journalist. I love to live life and enjoy it. I'm a Jersey girl tried & true! This blog isn't strictly news or entertainment, but its definitely opinion. Come join me & experience life under the sun w/ Cleo.
I can imagine this to be true!
I don’t really know any of these people except Nars, but look at the people lurking in the background!
Cassie was there .. and i’m just not sure why. Gorgeous girl, but isn’t your 15 minutes up? Is her head still shaved?
Is that Russy’s girl? I’m not sure who is boo of the moment is?