If We Never Try

"Bonnie & Shyne" by Shyne

...Then we drivin' to the sunset / Pull over, get up on the hood ma I ain't done yet...

Since Ash Wednesday, I have been devotedly working out as a part of my Lent promise and this "change" in my life. I have been telling myself all this year that I would work out but I could not find the time to start.

I realized, literally the day before Ash Wednesday, that Lent was to
begin. I took that as a sign to commence my new lifestyle.

And I have been really happy with myself and really happy with the preliminary results of my body.

However, my hair is taking a beating. I am a Black girl who is currently sporting a permed bob haircut. I permed my hair almost three weeks ago. The first 2 weeks were without any issue. I had the comfort and confidence of a fresh perm, styled, bouncy, and shiny.

And then I started working out. I thought it would be a good idea to put it in a wrap while I worked out, but I have read that I shouldn't have done that. It basically allows for my hair to soak from root to tip.

I am a Black girl. I can't wash my hair after every workout without risking serious damage (and ain't nothin' worse than a queen without her crown). So I was scouring the internet for remedies against "sweating out a perm". I found some articles and blogs with tips about how to wear one's hair during exercise and what to do with it following an exercise session.

Then I came across more articles about how the tediousness that is doing Black hair keeps many Black women from working out. At first, even as a Black woman, I was thinking that it was kind of shallow. But then I thought about the abuse my hair is enduring from working out everyday (on top of that, I erroneously thought it would be more convenient to blow dry the sweat out of my hair following a workout).

I thought about how I feel less presentable each day as my hair seems to progressively lose the shine. I can't wear it down anymore because there is no curl or wrap to speak of. I'm just so sad about my hair.

It just makes me wonder what we are supposed to do? We have to work out. We sit in cars and trains and buses almost all the time and must find more calculated ways to exercise since our lifestyles have been made so much easier by technology. But what about my crown of glory?

It seems like a silly concern, a stupid question, or a shallow worry but with the rate of heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, and the ilk, it suddenly becomes a serious conversation. A lot of Black women are not working out for the sake of their pride and joy: their hair.

I don't have an answer or a suggestion or anything. I just think it is something interesting that I have only now considered. Oh, the facets of being Blac.

The Real Terrorists

"If You Leave" by Musiq feat. MJB

...you think I'm so full of it, full of it / I think I'm just fed up...

Right on time, Richard Cheney.

I was watching the news this late evening (after an exhaustively exciting day that I shall recount in Magic Woman, The Working Definition, and all up in through here) and caught a glimpse of Anderson Cooper's (mmm...good) interview with President Obama.

The interview was juxtaposed with some soundbites from former Vice President Cheney. He explicitly said that the policies of Bush's administration, like the Patriot Act, kept terrorists at bay and the US safe from attack.

Not to long ago, I published a blog about the terrorist "attackless" years we've had since 2001 (in the US). I wondered if it was a function of chance or of the Bush administration's policies specifically meant to impede the progress of American destruction by international and domestic terrorists.

Cheney has answered me, directly son. He said that America has not been attacked because of the Bush policies. He elaborated to say that the books will show this fact. Files from the Bush administration will support his claim that Bush and his administration made us safer.

Cooper asked a guest on his show, following Obama's interview, about the enemies that the Iraq "War" has earned us and how they factor in to this idea of America being safer.

And that is a good question. What relationship do these new enemies, born of the invasion of Iraq, have with our safety?

I'm still on my friend's bandwagon that this "war" on terrorism has been a failure, considering it in a global sense, which is how we should consider it. What happened in Madrid and Glasgow and more is possible here. Therefore, we are not "safer" considering the global circumstances.

Adjunct to his claim that the policies kept us safe, Cheney was spewing some vitriol to and about the Obama administration. He seemed upset that Obama had some admonishments for the way Bush and his administration handled foreign affairs.

What kind of poor taste is that, as the former Vice President, to tactlessly and defensively attack the current administration?

He criticized Obama for wanting to "talk nice" to the terrorists. Obama hasn't answered him. Hopefully he knows not to dignify that with an answer.

Since you just left the office of the most stressful job ever, should you not consider him (Obama) as a political brother in this fraternity that is American government? Even if your ideals are different and your politics are not parallel, the ultimate goal is to improve and upkeep America, so whatchu mad fa? You are not VP anymore and it would be great to offer support and suggestion and not criticism and callus commentary. Idiot.

Because

"St. Patrick's Day" by John Mayer

...come January, we're frozen inside / February, won't you be my valentine? / and we'll both be safe 'til St. Patrick's Day...

Rush Limbaugh said that he hopes Obama fails. And he also said that we are supposed to "bend over and grab our ankles," be excited for him and our country because his father was African and he is our nation's first Black president.

Yes, Rush, we should all be happy because the slaves are free and ruling the country.

This comment is conspicuously racist and I hope that no one needs an explanation as to why this comment is racist.

The momentum of excitement about the historical significance of Obama's election is wholly separate from why we should support our president.

This is a time of unprecedented economic distress around the world and not just in the United States. This is a time of escalating political and social unrests in many countries. Sh*t is about to get real. If you disagree with Obama's policies, cool, but do not belittle his job as the leader of the free world in a time when that free world is very vulnerable.

If anyone had said this about Bush, he would have been branded as unpatriotic. Remember when Michelle said that for the first time in her life, she was proud to be an American? Oh, aight.

Rush, you are unpatriotic and racist.

And Elisabeth Hasselbeck on The View: I struggle not to hate you personally. It was so annoying how you tried to defend Rush on the show. To boot, you said that many people wished for Bush to fail. That, I would have to disagree with.

Bush was a failure by himself without the wishes of anyone. Both of his terms were disastrous for the country. He failed. No one wanted him to fail. We just knew, especially the second go around, that he would. And if you thought it was wrong for people to wish Bush failure, is it not wrong here in this instance? Or are we on that tit-for-tat business?