Since Glee Isn't On Tonight...

Well it's Tuesday and Glee isn't on because of baseball. I am blown. That ruined my entire night. But on the upside I decided to blog! My dad called me some time last week to call me out about not blogging because I am dating someone. Have I been neglecting my blog because of the guy I'm dating? Well...I cannot tell a lie LOL. Most of the things I would normally blog are written in letters and sent to San Antonio, Texas. After I spend 40 minutes writing a letter, I don't exactly want to rewrite everything here (I also write in my journal a lot now). Buuuttt, since there are already 5 letters headed to San Antonio right now, Glee isn't on, and my phone is dead...hello blog!!

Should I be doing other stuff? Yup. I sure should be doing important things. For example, I have yet to put together board minutes from the last MODEL26 board meeting. I need to set-up school recruitment appointments for 2012 CISV programs. I have yet to put together a speech (or find a dress) for Black Girls Rock! this year (oh yeah, I'm gonna be on that so watch it November 6 8EST on BET). But when you're sick you just don't want to do anything ya know? At least my room is clean.

I would love to fill in everyone about the last few weeks of my life, so here goes in as few words as possible. Work=Good. Planning trip to Italy to see Gabby and stopping through Spain to see Sydney (11/27-12/15). Angel is still living here lol. Still living at home (only sucky because I'm not used to it, but Sharon is cool overall). Still living in Atlanta (yup. still stuck here). Growing. Learning a lot about myself. Found a women's small group that I'm going to try tomorrow. My Netflix DVD for the week hasn't arrived yet. I'm tempted to ask for an extension on my 30-day free trial. LOL Folks are always trying to get over. It's already free. Dag!

I switched back to AT&T and got the new Samsung Galaxy S2. T-Mobile was just NOT that deal. THE worst service. THE worst customer service as well. I love my new phone. I was really excited about the battery life, but it doesn't really matter when you run 47489397 apps at once and upload YouTube videos and take 4298 pictures everyday (which is what I do).

hmmm. I think that's all for now.

Going Through the Motions

So I heard through the grapevine (or is it greatvine? Well Google Chrome is giving me a red squiggly under that one, so I guess it's grapevine...who cares. It's a silly saying anyway) that some folks have been anxiously awaiting my next blog post. So many questions floating around out there...What is she doing?? Where is she going?? What's the plan for the week?? Well, I'm still in Atlanta. LOL I was in New Mexico for a week, where I started to use Tumblr, which is the reason why I haven't posted on here in a while. Tumblr is cooler, I suppose. You can follow me there too (deecepiece.tumblr.com). If you're looking for life updates, however, you won't find them there. :-/ Just photos, quotes, videos, etc. Short posts.

I suppose I don't really have an exciting life to share any new super cool updates. Honestly, I can only write when I am really inspired, which is why I have not pursued a job as a freelance writer. I enjoy writing, but only when I want to and when I can write about what I want to write about. In fact, the pressure to write here for my devoted fans (hehe) is too much pressure LOL. Sometimes I just don't have anything to say. Sometimes I write and just don't do anything with it. LOL.

Here is a quick life update:
Yes, I am still struggling with that whole "What am I doing in my life to help others?" thing right now. I mean I have a job, and I'm doing MODEL26 stuff, but I don't really feel like I'm doing anything. It's quite frustrating. I spent an entire week in another city, so that eased my withdrawal symptoms from not traveling for a bit, but by next month I'm sure I'll be feeling them again. In general, I haven't really been thinking about the future much. I only look at my financial planning spreadsheet about once a week (which is a dramatic decrease from about 4 times per day). I turned in my Fulbright application for 2012-2013, and I guess maybe I'll fill out some grad school applications soon, but in general I feel like I'm just going through the motions again. I suppose that also contributes to my lack of inspiration to write. Maybe things will get better soon. Sorry to be a Debby Downer!

You know...on a tangent...there are two things that really grind my gears:
1. Unnecessarily difficult captchas. First off, who came up with the name captcha. That's stupid. Secondly, how am I supposed to read that????

2. "Your username or password are incorrect"...well is it the username or the password??? JC!

This has been giving me the giggles for a few days:

Busy Bee?

I.am.burnt.out.

Like completely worn out.

I got an e-mail from the Center for American Progress today about a new Leadership Institute they developed for people interested in policy changes/making that affects communities of color in the U.S. I started my application, but then I started thinking "Why am I doing this?" ... Part of me wants to do it. Part of me thinks it would be really cool. But most of me is saying "Really Dyci?? Do we have to do this again??" I realized that I was only applying because that's what I think someone expects me to do. No one has verbally said it, but I feel like everyone is anticipating my next move, and it has to be HUGE. I mean after declining enrollment into one of the best graduate programs in the world, I better have something good up my sleeve right? UGA Amazing Student. The Root's 25 under 21 that will change the world. Published articles at the most popular progressive think tank in this country. Founder and Executive director of a registered nonprofit organization. All this before I turned 22. How do I follow all that up?? I mean I have to go bigger. At least that's how I feel. ... But going bigger requires more work. More energy. More time. And I am tired. 6 years of full speed ahead will wear you out. Junior and senior year of high school I told myself I would work work work and rest in the summer. But I went straight into full-time work a week after graduating high school. And it was full throttle from there. So senior year of college I told myself I'd play play pay after graduation ... But now I feel like I'm not living up to everyone's expectations.

I follow the blog of an amazing girl named Olivia that I met at CGIU and she talks about all the amazing things she is doing. She's pretty much the ish. Like, no, really. She is one of the great Millennials. She's going to work for the UN or something super dope like that. I used to read her blog and feel really bad about not doing more, but then I got tired just thinking about how tired I am LOL. Then I didn't feel bad anymore. Back in the day when I was 21 I had the energy for all that, but at 22 I'm over it. lol You know, now that I'm old and stuff.

Right now I'm focusing on working and saving money. Doing some promo/liquor modeling on the side and still updating my port with new images so I can get a comp card made. The images I'm using now are getting me small jobs, but if I want to do some real modeling I gotta step my game up. Speaking of modeling, a few days ago...well maybe more like a little over a week ago...anywho, it doesn't matter when it was...one of my Facebook friends felt the need to tell me that my Facebook profile picture was nice, but if I didn't intend to be a model I should trash it because it would come back to haunt me, more or less. She was very polite about it and I really wanted to give her a piece of my mind, but I didn't. This is the photo she was referring to:

Personally, I think this is a *damn good* fashion shot! You would think I was on the cover of KING magazine the way she was talking. In a thong or something. I get where she is coming from, but that is one of the things that turns me off to the whole corporate/professional world. I feel like I can't be smart AND pretty. Its one or the other. If I'm too pretty I won't be taken seriously. If I model I have to be super conscientious about what shoots I do because in my future professional life someone might think my modeling was unprofessional. One time I had a boss tell me that I should follow the dress code better because I wasn't wearing business clothes, but instead, it looked like I was modeling business clothes...So I am wearing business clothes...I just look too good in them? Is that what she was saying?? LOL Like really?? 

God Doesn't 'Hate Fags' ... or Muslims ... or Anyone Else

God? Allah? Buddha? ... Ok, I'm not going to sit here and list all of them so don't worry. But this morning I'm driving in my car thinking, "God is good." Then I got to thinking, "Who is God?" I mean, when I think about God I think of the creator of the world. Father of Jesus Christ, etc etc. But that's not who God is to everyone. So I started to think about religion as a whole. You know they say the two most controversial topics in the world are religion and politics. So controversial in fact that it's taboo to talk about them with a stranger or someone you are just meeting. When you go to etiquette class, they stress how much you should NOT talk about religion or politics at a business dinner or other formal event. (Yes, I have taken etiquette class LOL). Why is religion such a touchy subject? Why are nonbelievers so critical of religion? Why do some folks get so defensive about their religion?

If you think about it, the fundamental teachings of just about every religion are the same. Treat others as you wish to be treated. Be nice to people so you can have good karma. Love your neighbor as your love yourself. So on and so on. It's all the same. Religion itself is humanistic. They all, generally, revolve around the same basic human values. Love. Family. Kindness. Gentleness. Patience. Etc etc. So when someone has a good heart and are living "right," but don't believe in the same thing you believe in, why is it such a huge deal? And I suppose I am speaking strictly from a Christian perspective. As a Christian that tries to actually read the Bible (yeah, some of us do that) and live by all of its teachings and not some of them, I am so baffled when I see people like this:

Thank God for breast cancer? God hates fags? Really??

Dear Christian extremists, thank you for giving all of us a bad name. 

Sincerely, 

Me

My Bible teaches me that God loves everyone. Regardless of anything you do the one person that will ALWAYS love you is God. Regardless of whether or not you love Him back, He loves you and there is nothing you can do about it. My Bible also teaches me "Judge not lest ye be judged." Who do you think you are to tell someone they will burn in hell?? And don't tell me you have to be a mission and spread the gospel because ... uuuhh ... that ain't the way to do it. NOONE ... I repeat NOONE ... is listening to you yell at them about how they will definitely, 100% burn in hell for eternity because God told you so last night. That's NOT the way to spread the gospel. Casting Crowns has a song that I love so much I put some of the lyrics on my Facebook profile:

People aren't confused by the gospel,
They're confused by us.
Jesus is the only way to God,
But we are not the only way to Jesus.
This world doesn't need
My tie, my hoodie,
My denomination, or my translation of the Bible,
They just need Jesus.
We can be passionate about what we believe,
But we can't strap ourselves to the gospels.
Because we're slowing it down
Jesus is going to save the world,
But maybe the best thing we can do
Is just get out of the way.

What this world needs
Is a Savior who will rescue,
A Spirit who will lead,
A Father who will love them in their time of need

As a Christian I don't feel like I have any right to tell you that what you will burn in hell because you don't believe what I do. All I can do is share "the good news" and say a prayer. Whatever else happens is between you and God. I will always be there to answer questions and serve as a resource, but I will never judge someone for not being a Christian. Some of the nicest, kindest, most generous people I have ever met weren't Christians. And some of the meanest, cruelest, most conniving people I have ever met sing in the choir at church. Even have the nerve to be on a committee of some sort. My personal belief? When they get to the pearly gates and tell God, "I believe Jesus is my savior and I follow his teachings" God is going to respond, "That's what ya mouth say, but ya heart ain't in it." This is one of those things I struggle with with my faith. It is true that the Bible says the only way to true salvation is through Jesus, but what about all the mean, hateful people that say they are Christians and the amazing people that aren't. I don't know the answer to that, but I certainly don't believe God will overlook a pure heart and good deeds.

The pastor at Cornerstone shared an unsurprising statistic one week at church, "Only 15% of Christians truly live as Christians should (ie tithing, giving back to the community, being kind to EVERYONE and not just the folks they like, etc etc). Well no wonder folks think Christians are all crazy hypocrites ... a vast majority of us are! Honestly, if I wasn't a Christian, I wouldn't want to become one either ... which is why I wasn't one for so long ;-) (which is a whole other story I might share later). Example: You mean to tell me you truly believe in your heart of hearts, deep down on the inside, truly profoundly believe that God wanted you to kill off tons of Native Americans and take over their land?? No people...that wasn't your "destiny" to "manifest." Nooo God didn't want you to kill every single person that ever spoke against the church. Like come on...what Bible are you reading?? What verse in your Bible tells you to stand across the street from someone's funeral and yell about how much God hates the person being buried? Please direct me.

Anywho, I feel like I've kinda been all over the place with this post, with no clear point being made. LOL So to wrap it all up, I guess my point is that:

1. We Christians have GOT to stop telling people they are going to hell. YOU don't get to make that call.

2. Either be hot or cold. Be on or off. Get in the water or stay out. Don't dabble your feet in it but never really get in. In layman's terms, stop picking the stuff in the Bible you want to follow because it's easy and throwing out the rest then going around screaming about being a Christian. (I am guilty of being luke warm at times too) But you being half on and half off only makes it that much harder for the folks that are all on to advance the Kingdom. People who aren't Christians just look at you as a hypocrite. Be who you are. We all have struggles and we can't be perfect, but keep your judgements to yourself. If you are REALLY that concerned with someone's salvation, pray for them. Don't scream at them about how you are trying to save them. LOL When I was in high school and I verbally said, "I am not a Christian," I had a friend that was praying that I would find Christ. At the time I didn't know it, but when I finally came around she told me that she had been praying for me since high school.

3. To all non-Christians out there: All Christians aren't mindless followers of child molesters. I say that jokingly, but seriously. Some of us actually read our Bibles and know what's in it. We aren't perfect and we may not understand everything completely, but that's where our faith comes in. We don't judge you for not being a Christian and I'd appreciate it if you didn't judge me (ie call me mindless or stupid) for being a Christian. I challenge you to actually take the time to learn what Christianity is all about. And any other religion for that matter before you develop a strong opinion about it. Don't let the ignorant extremists outside the courthouse and abortion clinics influence your opinion about Christianity. I am shaking my head at them just as much as you are.

And those are my thoughts.

D

A Lesson on Ethnicity and Language

Let's hit these points real quick:

1. Africa is not a country.
2. Spanish is not what you call people...unless of course they are from Spain.
3. All Latinos are not fair skinned with fine hair.
4. All Africans are not darker skinned with kinky hair.
5. People are not oriental, rugs are...and Ramen noodles too.

Let's start with Africa. You know what I loathe with every fiber of my being?? When people say "In Africa etc etc etc..." What?? In Africa?? Because you just said those two words I will probably disregard everything else you say because it will be so general that even thinking about it will give me a headache. Africa is not a country. You don't get to say "In Africa they wear..." ... "In Africa they eat..." Like come on! Do you know how big Africa is??? I'll show you how big Africa is ...

Depending on what source you use there are 46 to 55 countries in Africa and there are anywhere from 1800-3000 unique languages spoken. 1800-3000 is a big gap. I know lol. I just find the numbers, I don't do the counting. All of these people are African ...

 

  

Am I getting my point across? There is so much diversity in Africa. Africa is a continent. Not a country or a small city with a homogenous population. Treat it as such. Stop generalizing. 

2. This one really grinds my gears. Stop calling people Spanish when they are not from Spain. If you live in America and are talking about the person you saw at the grocery store, it is unlikely that they were Spanish. And don't just assume they are Mexican either (but we'll get to that later). Spanish is a language. In 2009 nearly 47,000,000 people lived in Spain. Now once again, depending on the source, you've got roughly 400 million Spanish speakers in the world. So as you can see, the odds that that person you met at the grocery store is Spanish is slim. There was a trending topic on Twitter one day: #spanishgirls. Ugh! I'm sure you can imagine how annoyed I was that day. Latinos speak Spanish. That is the language. Not their ethnicity. Also, every Spanish speaker living in America is not Mexican or Guatemalan. Just a quick fact in case you didn't know ... -___- Oh! Another thing that blew my mind this weekend ...  This comment: Yeah, she got hair like them Spanish girls...I won't even start with the grammatical breakdown of that sentence, and we've already discussed that Spanish is the language, not the person in the majority of cases...but here we go again with generalizations. All Latin@s are not fair-skinned with fine wavy hair. Just like there are African Americans, there are Afro-Latin@s. Case in point:

 Colombia 

 Honduras

 Dominican Republic

 And my boo Zoe, Dominicana y Boricua (Puerto Rican)

3. And I conclude with this: Stop calling people "Orientals." Also, stop calling all Asian people you see with almond-shaped eyes Chinese. Every person of Asian descent living in America is not Chinese. Oh, and stop getting offended when the women doing your nails are speaking in their native language. It is highly unlikely that they are talking about you. They don't care enough to talk about you. I promise. They are discussing their own personal lives and it's much easier to do it in their native language than in broken English to make YOU feel more comfortable. Get over yourself. Lastly, below you will find a map of Asia. Every Asian person does not look like Lucy Liu (who is Taiwanese by the way. Yes, Taiwan. I didn't mean to say Thailand. They are two different countries). Indians are Asians. Indonesians are Asians. Now some consider the Middle East to be a part of Asia, some Africa. For the purposes of this blog post, I don't really care either way LOL. The point is that you should be more aware and less general when speaking and thinking. 

And that is my lesson for today,

D

PS: Race is fake. It is not real. It was made up during slavery to separate people. It is a social and political, man-made construct. Can we please stop talking about it. Before we decided to start calling folks black and white they were British, Dutch, Irish etc etc. Then they put race on a Census and now it's a stupid little thing that we put entirely too much emphasis on. If you are really that interested in ethnic heritage (like I am) then go for it. Be curious and talk about ethnicity. But black and white? Race? Let.It.Go.

Now I'm not referring to the policy, socioeconomic, etc. implications of race. The effects of the race are real. I'm more so thinking about an idealistic view of race where everyone should be treated equally regardless of what racial category you choose to put them in. And stop looking sideways at "mixed-race" couples. Let them live!