A House United

Daily I see photos posted from friends in Tuscaloosa, Birmingham, and other areas affected by this week's storms.  It's a heart-breaking experience.  I look at pictures from Tuscaloosa, where I spent four years at Stillman College, not recognizing anything because most of what I see is rubble.  I have sorority sisters whose families lost everything, or had significant damage.  Hundreds of lives were lost, including 5 people from the same family in Arab, AL.  As always, being alive is a blessing, but let's not make it seem like losing everything isn't big. Life is great, but until you are one of the people who has lost everything, you can't discount how much that affects someone.  I encourage everyone to donate.  Give blood. Give money. Give items.  Give time.  Pray. And please don't forget about the smaller cities.  I can promise you that there will be no shortage of donations to Tuscaloosa or Birmingham, but smaller cities won't get as many, and will have less resources to help themselves.

Things needed include (but are not limited to): bottled water, non-perishable food items, linens, pillows, clothes, shoes, bags or containers to hold belongings, contact solution, pet food and supplies, feminine hygiene products, baby clothes, diapers, first aid items, hand sanitizer, batteries, flash lights, trash bags, toiletries. Also consider teddy bears or other toys for children.  They can't understand what's going on, and something as simple as a teddy bear to hug can make them feel a little better.

Some helpful links:

• A page dedicated to reuniting owners w/ their lost pets, and pets w/ their lost owners: Animals Lost & Found
• If you need to search for a missing loved one, and other info directly from the city of Tuscaloosa:  City of Tuscaloosa Website
• Toomer's for Tuscaloosa, a page that is coordinating donation and volunteer efforts to help tuscaloosa, Birmingham, and other affected areas: Toomer's for Tuscaloosa
• Map of the damage by county: EMA Map

Man Of The Hour

Today is my baby Carlton's 4th birthday! It's crazy! It seems just yesterday that my cousin and I drove to pick up that 11 week old bundle of fur and love.  I love him so much.  He's my little booger, my protector.  He keeps me laughing with his hilarious antics, and he brings sexy back to the dog park.  He loves me even when I'm fussing at him for eating the cat food or pestering the cat, he's always excited to see me come home, and never wants me to go.  Love you stink bug!

Fight the Power!

I don't know why, but this topic makes me think of the Public Enemy song "Fight the Power," hence the title.  This has been on my mind for months, and I chose not to write about it, but after being bombarded by the subject the last few days I decided to write about it, but keep specifics out of the scenario.  The question is simple: Where should employers and academic institutions draw the line when researching prospective employees/students? 

I'm sure everyone will be in agreement that your work history, educational background, and to an extent- criminal history- are fair game.  (I say to an extent in criminal history because if you got arrested for too many unpaid traffic tickets, I think it's a bit  much to prevent you from obtaining a job or furthering your education, but I digress.)  But where do we draw the line? I've heard of interviewers ASKING to see an applicant's Facebook profile.  And if you decline, then what? Is it right for them to not hire someone based off them not wanting to divulge that information? If a person's page is public, is it right for a company or institution to not choose someone based off what they see there? Is that not discrimination? As someone who hopes to own my own business one day, and therefore be in the position to be hiring employees, I don't see why whether someone curses, drinks, cross dresses, have an affinity to porn, are Republican or Democrat, et cetera, should matter.  I need to know whether or not you have a criminal history, if you've been reliable in work in the past, etc. 

Then there's another scenario. Once you are working/attending school somewhere, should that place have a say in what you do outside of work/school? The answer to that should be pretty simple, and that's no.  I mean obviously, if you work for a certain business and have access to secrets, you wouldn't want to be posting company business out on social networks, and getting yourself arrested probably isn't a great idea but other than that, who cares?  While you are on the job/on campus you are a doctor, lawyer, veterinarian, teacher, nurse, student, whatever, but first and foremost you are a human.  You want to go to a bar, drink too much, and dance badly and off beat to todays hottest hits? You should be able to do so without worrying that someone will judge you because of it.  I think some people need to look into their own closets for skeletons before trying to control and regulate others.  Most people aren't the same at work as they are at home.  Maybe you don't curse, so you think it's offensive that a future employee has cursing on their Facebook page.  Well maybe  someone who doesn't drink finds it offensive that you get drunk at company parties.  Just think about it. 

Recently a woman was fired over making a comment on Facebook about her boss.  They had a policy about making disparaging comments about coworkers or the company on the internet.  While doing so may not have been the greatest idea, the first amendment does still exist and we are free to say what we want in this country.  The company was sued by the National Labor Relations Board, and a settlement was reached.  The company is now changing those policies, and it seems to me many other companies better at least pay attention.  (Read more about the case)

Maybe one day things will change, and laws will be more specific about these things, but in an ever-changing world of technology, I doubt that the laws will keep up.  Bottom line, a company or a school should be interested in an applicant's background only in a way that will affect their job or academic performance, or the safety of others.  Personal lives are and should be just that-- PERSONAL.  

Smile

Feeling some kinda way these last few days. This song pretty much sums it up...

So, So, So Funkdafied

The temperature is heating up.  Currently 80 degrees outside.  This is the time of year where some people seem to throw hygiene out of the window.  Last year when I worked in my hometown, we had a 2 or 3 week period where the heat index was up to 114 degrees.  Needless to say whether I was at work or just in public, there were occasions where my nose was assaulted by a raunchy body odor.

I need you to all do better this year. First off, don't be scared of clinical strength deodorant!  It is your friend.  With a high heat index like we had last year for weeks in a row, everyone probably needs it.  But if you sweat more than the average person (and you KNOW this is you, no one should have to tell you that), you really need to invest in the clinical strength deodorant.  Keep those toxic fumes out of the environment.

Secondly, and this is very simple yet many still don't do it, WASH YOUR ASS.  Simple.  In the summer time I take two showers a day, and have been known to take more. Some of you want to say that your skin will dry out, etc.  Well, bitches, that's why they make lotion!  When you can start sweating simply walking from your house to your car, it's hot.  It's so hot that you probably stink.  Don't worry, it happens to the best of us, just don't be scared to take a second shower after you are done being out and about for the day.  And stop using all that fruity ass soap and shit! Get you some good ass regular soap, and scrub your ass.  Your water bill may be slightly higher, but if you notice your friends don't want to be around you as much, you might want to sniff your pits and hop on into that shower.

Last, but not least, do not, under any circumstances, try to cover up your funk.  If you spray vanilla on shit what do you get? Vanilla shit!  You can't cover funk with flowers.  You were better off letting your funk linger than trying to mask it with that damn Victoria's Secret Love Spell.  Yes, I'm talking to you, with the Bath and Body Words Warm Vanilla Sugar.  Walk away from the body spray, and walk into the shower.

And please, by no means, think that this post was JUST for women.  All of the above goes for men too.  The bottom line is, it is summer.  Tis the season to be funky.  But it doesn't HAVE to be that way if you don't let it.  You sweat, you shower.  You need clinical strength deodorant, use it.  You have funk don't try to cover it.  Please, for the sake of the nose hairs of people who have to be near you, fight the funk this summer.

New Music and New Erms...

There's a lot of new music coming out, and for a change a lot of it is GOOD MUSIC.  Adele.  Marsha Ambrosius. Jennifer Hudson.

But there's a problem.  I am a HUGE J. Hud fan, yet I have not bought her album.  I haven't even heard the first single "Where you At?" (Maybe that has something to do with the incorrect grammar there but who knows.)  I was thinking earlier about why am not already listening to this CD.  And then it hit me (like Tina did Ike in the limo it finally hit me).

Think back to Dreamgirls.  Jen was BIG. I fell in love with her voice and her as a person when that movie came out.  It took everything in me not to yell "sing bitch sing" at the screen, while watching the movie in the theater.  Before her debut album, Jennifer Hudson, dropped, J. Hud again graced our screen in Sex and the City the Movie.  With all that buzz, I was excited about her first cd.

Fast forward to 2011.  What have we seen of Jennifer lately?  Yep.  You got it.  Those damn Weight Watchers commercials where she talks about her new "erms" and sings needlessly throughout every commercial.  At this point a lot of people, myself included, were just tired of seeing her.  There is nothing about those commercials that make me want to buy her album.  I probably will still buy it (I'm waiting to see if Amazon MP3 puts it on sale), but I'm in no rush.