Product Review: Case-Mate Smart Skin for Blackberry 8900

This is my Blackberry Curve 8900 in the Case-Mate Smart Skin in pink.  My camera's flash makes the case look lighter than what it truly is.  Now I am no phone expert or one of these people who writes fancy reviews for cell phone blogs.  I am just a girl who loves her Blackberry and needed a better case.  I am ROUGH on phones.  I like the idea of protection that is cute, efficient, and doesn't make my phone feel twice it's size.

I give this product 4 stars out of 5.  It fits the phone wonderfully.  The case is thin and does not add bulk to the phone.  It still slides in and out of my pocket very easily.  The textured pattern gives the phone a nice feel in your hand, but I don't like the way it looks.  I'd prefer it it if the silicone was smooth.  The texture makes it feel as if you have a good grip on the phone though, which is what I need with my tendency to drop stuff.  

This and other Case-Mate products for Blackberry can be found here:  Case-Mate for BlackBerry  They carry cases for iPhone and other phones as well.

Debbye Turner: Former Miss America, Veterinarian, Journalist

I actually stumbled upon Debbye Turner. I'd never heard of her. She was crowned Miss America in 1990 but let's face it, I was 7. I probably didn't care at that time, and surely wouldn't remember it. So how did I find out about Debbye? I was looking for information about Black veterinarians. I found some statistics from the American Veterinary Medical Association that said that if you look at the total number of veterinarians that graduated in 2009, less than 2.5 percent of them were black. So finding a Black female veterinarian, who was also Miss America is AWESOME to me. She received her DVM from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 1991. Starting in 2001 she has worked for the Early Show on CBS, often doing a segment called Pet Planet.

Read more about her at her website:  Debbye Turner

Marva Collins: Educator

EVERYONE knows (or should know) who Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, Thurgood Marshall and Malcom X are.  So I decided that for Black history month I'd talk about some other important people in our history. This is something I want to do all year, actually.  When I have time, I'll try to randomly write a little bit of info about someone who may not be well known, but contributed greatly to society.

Marva Collins.  I first heard her name last semester when my favorite professor was doing an exam review.  Our class had recently had an exam in another class.  Half of us didn't do too well and were in return belittled and ridiculed by the main professor of that class.  So we sit there waiting to get started on the review for this next exam.  He started by calling out the only 3 Black people in our class and asking if we knew who Marva Collins was.  We figured she must be Black, but that was about it.  He goes on to tell us about her.  She grew up in Alabama, graduated from Clark Atlanta University, and taught in Alabama for a couple of years.  Then she moved to Chicago. She was disappointed in the school at which she worked (and in the education her own children were receiving).  Marva decided that she would open her own school.  The first students she had were labeled troublemakers, learning disabled, and one was even called "borderline retarded."  After a year, these children's grades were highly improved, showing that the labels they were given were incorrect.  Our professor told us that we shouldn't listen to the person telling us that our veterinary careers were over.  We may have been labeled one way, but he believes in us and knows we all will succeed.

For more on Marva Collins, check out her biography here.

Let's All Have Babies! We can dress them in cute outfits!

So a Saturday or two ago I watched the "Pregnancy Pact" movie on Lifetime.  Surely you remember in the last few years that some teen girls up in Massachusetts decided that they'd all have babies.  They wanted the unconditional love and someone to dress up in cute outfits and they could all raise their kids together.

 Let me first say I've been there.  I have ALWAYS wanted a baby, but I knew that it wasn't just like playing with a doll, so no matter how strong the desire was, I waited. I had people who talked some sense into me.

The problem here is that these girls thought it would be a cake walk.  You dress up in matching outfits and take your kid to the park and everything is peachy! But it's not! And I can only hope that any teens out there wanting babies saw this and realized it's not the greatest idea! What if your baby is born sick? What if the daddy leaves? What if your family abandons you? So many things can go wrong in that equation.

i think the moral is that parents need to talk to their kids more about sex. Not just telling them not to do it- because that won't work- but also letting them know what kind of consequences are in store for them.  Find a teen mom that is struggling, and let them spend the day with her to see what could be their fate.  But also let them know that if they decide to use sex, to just protect themselves. "Here's some condoms just in case. Don't bring me no babies."