Some Zany Pics from MVY...

Here are some pictures of me and my lovers in Martha's Vineyard:




I have just inherited this outfit from David




Dave and Paul fry up some Tilapia and Veggies for the crew








Happy Ending!

Guest Contributions

Over the last few weeks, as the blog has started to pick up, I've developed the idea of asking a few of my "in tune," spiritually sound, and rebelliously souled friends to contribute: in any medium, attributed or anonymous.

This is the first of the series:

Sometimes I look at what happens and think, "what the fuck, man,
we are really hurting each others' feelings..."


Thanks to our anonymous contributor... this is certainly a message to ponder.

Random Thoughts for 12/10

Here is a fun game to play:
Required: Two silly hipsters
1.) Go Out in L.A. (Split up party going)
2.) Count American Apparel Pieces
3.) Do Coke!!!!!
Whoever counts the most pieces wins and then everyone does coke again!!!!!

or... check out Cobrasnake: http://thecobrasnake.com/partyphotos.html

HAIL TO THE CHIEF!!!

Drew Gilpin Faust... thank Jesus/A shtik naches!!! If I'd had to endure any Summersing during my matriculation I might've gone stark raving mad. But NEVER FEAR, looks like Blacks and Jews at Harvard have got a few good reasons to think that Drew is Down!

1.) Middle Income Financial Aid Initiative
2.) The Return of Hip Hop Culture scholar, Marcyliena Morgan, and her husband Lawrence Bobo.
3.) September's Denunciation of the UCU's "boycott" (AKA BLATANT DISCRIMINATION) of Israeli Scholars!

JEWS AND BLACKS, LET'S GIVE IT UP FOR OUR GIRL!!!!

SPOTTED

TF wearing day of the week socks... Taste for Irony:10 pts... As Evidence as why under 40 yr olds should not grade: Truly Grim.

Social Analysis 12/6 - Liberal Invitation Strategy

My progressive education at Bank Street was indeed a hyper-charmed, over-idealized version of what an Electric Kool Aid aficionado sees of the world... of course there is no way that I should have expected that the values I learned there (fairness, honesty, kindness) would apply in the real world. But one value which I refuse to abandon is the Liberal Invitation Strategy.

What you are about to read, perhaps will sound like the losers lament. Yet I think the honest man will find truth in it, the kind man will find warmth in it, the loyal man will find intrinsic value in it, and the moral man will find necessity in it.

Over the course of the last few busy birthday weeks and with holiday parties coming up, I would like to believe that my peers would find rationale in such a strategy, the essence of which is to truthfully identify and maximize moral content of any social gathering by an honest assessment of attendees. The politics of who is invited to the party, who is not, who is invited to the dinner pre-party or finals club after party, who was invited to the official pre game and who was the host of the unofficial pre game all detract from the celebratory nature of birthdays as well as the holiday season. Indeed, I am fed up with the petty nature that invitation and oversight have taken at my school and in my life. However, the capitalistic conventions of competition which are immediately instilled within every Harvard student upon their first walk through the gates of Harvard, have led to a false knowledge and concept of what is to be (in a moral sense) done. But what if each interaction was based on honesty rather than competition? What if we eliminated the tendency towards pre judgment on the basis of social currency? The "means" is a society in which we invite (let invite mean engage in open exchange in formal as well as informal settings) liberally, thereby maximizing socialization, and thereby, increasing the chances for optimal socialization (the surprise of finding that someone can be more of a friend than you thought them to be capable of).

The Nature of the Theory:
- The Liberal Invitation Strategy is a social strategy whereby in the course of compiling an invitation list, one incorporates those who may have seemed like less obvious choices (2nd, 3rd, or even 4th rung accomplices), includes friends of friends, and when appropriate enemies
- The logic in inviting enemies is that a true enemy's attendance will expose their tendency towards ill willed and disgraceful behavior
- The proof of invitation standard is that anyone who would be offended by not receiving an invitation should be invited, this can only be subjugated if the host/hostess would be offended by the invitee in question attending.

...When the non-invitation is a mere oversight and the invitee is of no real or genuine consequence either way, why not choose the polite route? [This of course is different in the case of limited resources to be distributed amongst invitees]

- All natural choices (people whom are in one's natural realm of friends or whom according to allegiance "deserve" invitation over others) should always be included (out of touch friends and less "popular" or "politically sound" friends are often the most vulnerable to this sort of invitational negligence and often the most offended)

...Excluding natural choices on the basis of politics is never a flattering reflection on the host or hostess. It perpetuates the cult "fad of bitchiness" which in my perspective has become particularly passe (circa Tina Fey's "Mean Girls")

When choosing whom to include and whom not to include, we often cheapen the aspects of inclusion and exclusion to the value of one list, one evening or one individual, but lack of caring who is hurt by our actions is a particularly vile and often offhanded contribution to a youth culture in which the values of honesty and kindness are rotting before us.

Although perhaps my own inviting skills have not been soundly tested, I will self reify my judgment on this particularly grim aspect of socialization based on its visceral nature: My mother would have never allowed me to behave in such a way. I wonder what my peers would say if they based their behavior on such a principle.


The maxim to leave with is: With chance of social conflagration, just pass out the invitation!
or perhaps, just...
"be nice!"

Meka + Ush

Now - there are many of us in the world who have our suspicions about Usher and his new wife Tameka... there are far fewer, yet far more vocal individuals in the blogosphere who believe we are allowed to comment on them. Here goes:

In Essence, Tameka says:
“We (black women) don’t like ourselves. If I were Hispanic, Usher would have the sexiest wife alive. If I were mixed, he’d have the sexiest wife alive. But he has a black girl, and it’s like, ‘She’s horrible and she’s ugly!’ “OK, maybe I don’t fit the cookie-cutter standard - 25 and a size two - but this is who he loves."

Now certainly I agree with Tameka's comments on black females. Indeed, black women are probably one of the most self hating populations in the US. And how could we not be? With consistent pressure to raise and nurture one of the most confounding demographics in the world, with almost zero recognition politically, professionally, or even sexually, with no kind of remorse from the status quo which perpetuates these feelings of inadequacy, sure, the Black woman is bound to utter every now and again, "Gosh, I hate being me, or " Gosh, it is tough being a black woman."

But sometimes, this is just not the case. Ugly permeates all different sorts of people all around the world. And so does good lookingness. Now I am not going to say that I think that she is completely unfortunate. I think she is a quite well groomed young lady, I can obviously appreciate a bomb ass weave, and she's got a vibrant smile which is still the best attribute anyone can have. There are, however, downsides. Is Tameka moderately manish? Yeah, I don't think anyone could deny that. And certainly, she's got some pretty big jugs, although they may or may not be attributed to her pretty big statue over all. Now that is just flat out honest.

It's not that I feel Tameka should be denied the right to feel beautiful, because I honestly think that every woman does. But I don't think that making a blanket statement about black women and their attractiveness is effective to that end. Tameka isn't unattractive because she's black. She just so happens to be black as well as unattractive, which is an altogether different existence.

It's a bitch eat bitch world out there. Weaves, makeup, pumps, spanx, forever 21, herve leger... whatever you need to do to get on top of your game, do it. But don't drag us all down... we're not trying to convince people that we're not pretty because we're black.

Point is: ugly is to the bone. it's not a melanin thang. and if it is to some, their loss.

[Photo via Getty Images.]

Posting on HAAAAARVARD.

I am going to start posting about life at Harvard. I really feel like my life is becoming fast absorbed by this lifeless entity, and that I have the responsibility to communicate its foibles and fabulosity.

Here are a few thoughts on my mind:

- Why is nobody at Harvard real(Too many initials to implicate)?
- Who knew what we were missing over at the Fly?
- Will anybody in my blocking group get laid soon?
- Will more than 1000 students vote for the UC presidents?
- I love Miss Natasha Alford and Mr. Steven McDonald.

... but mostly,
- What will the repercussions of my staying at home instead of going to all of my classes be? How many times are you allowed to say you are sick? What if you actually are? And, isn't Harvard putting too much faith in the maturity of 22 - 30 yr olds to grade me fairly?

So annoyed and so over it...but still well dressed.