DISQUS

Marva, all I can say is "WOW!" (You'd think I don't know any other superlatives.) My husband is speechless (it's never happened before)! We so appreciate your encouraging words. I know I've come many, many times and have been encouraged and inspired by your words. And you are an inspiration, yourself, to many. Thank you, again, for the beautiful honor. We appreciate you and value you for all you do here.

Wow Marva...I saw my husband's name, Manchild, in this list and was blown away! Roderick O. Solomon as one of your favorites with Zora Neale Hurston, James Baldwin, Nikki Giovanni, Toni Morrison, C.S. Lewis, Alice Walker...OMG!!! I can say as his wife, I am honored for him, and he is flabbergasted...and honored, of course...thank you so much for blessing him with your encouragement and thumbs up!

Ali was great. I just watched I Am Legend again this afternoon; I am now torn between that and Hancock. I love I Am Legend. I just love Will Smith's movies! But I will wait until Seven Pounds comes out on DVD.

My favorite Will Smith movie is now Hancock!


I haven't seen Seven Pounds yet, I've heard such great things about it. Probably won't see it until it comes out on DVD. Sounds a little disappointing.

What an awesome post! Thank you for the reminder!

How fantastic and wonderful! I'm glad things are working out so well so early and fast! What a beautiful blessing!!! :lol:

I love Venus and Serena! It's no fun watching tennis without them in tournaments. And I'm so glad they're focused this Wimbledon. They may in fact do it again and end up playing each other in the finals. How awesome to see these beautiful sisters doing as well as they are again.

8 - The First Black President
I am a HUGE "24" fan! I was so disappointed that it didn't air because of the writer's strike last season. I loved Dennis Haysbert in that role. And indeed, he was a great president. And for the writers and producers of "24" to have as their president a Black man was truly notable. It was believable. I don't recall there being any controversy surrounding the role. But for Mr. Haysbert to say he opened the door is a bit much. That's taking credit where credit is not due.

7 - Not Starbucks?!
I'm a huge coffee drinker - REGULAR, BLACK coffee. We have a gourmet coffee service where I teach (so I don't have access to it now), and it's free. I can get hazelnut and french vanilla coffee anytime I want, as much as I want. So I'm a bit spoiled. I sometimes get giftcards from my students at the end of the year or during Christmas, and many of them are from Starbucks. So the only time I go to Starbucks is if I get a giftcard, and even then, I don't go (I've got about 5 of them right now). But when Starbucks closed for a period of time several months back to strategize because of McDonald's competition, I figured they were in trouble. Moreover, with gas prices so high, I can't imagine they could've kept all those stores open anyway. I'm sorry... :cry:

4 - TVWatcher: Golden Girls
Golden Girls is one of the best TV shows still around. Those ladies were hilarious to me. I love the reruns! There is nothing like it, and unfortunately, there never will be another show like it.

3 - This Weekend
We're going to my husband's family reunion picnic on Saturday!

1 - Old School Friday
I don't care what anybody says, Will Smith was great in his day. And to me, anything he does is fantastic. He's a brilliant entertainer to me. Thank you for the video. So fun and wholesome.

Thanks Marvalus!


Since this is a short week, this week’s OSF is Freedom Friday! Do what you like! Here is my contribution…one of the best jams for the summer:

I forgot to comment on the young man who died at Six Flags outside Atlanta, GA...since we live not too far from there...

That young man wasn't trying to retrieve a hat. Even so, it had to be awfully windy for his hat to fly off his head into the area where he was struck. He jumped two fences to get into a restricted area - and it was clearly marked as restricted. No one deserves to die like that, yet, it was an incredibly foolish thing to do. When I heard the report this past weekend, it hurt my heart.

I'm a little late here...

I became a T.I. fan after that movie that he did with the roller skating (I can't remember the name). Being down here in Atlanta, he gets enough publicity, not always good. But it seems he's trying to do some good things with the youth down here. I hope and pray he surrounds himself with some good people and some mentors that can help him get over the craziness he's going through as a result of his being charged with possession of high powered guns and what-not.

I was also wondering why Winehouse was chosen to sing for Mandela. Didn't Will Smith organize this effort, and if he did (or whoever), what was he thinking?

That PC thing is no joke. I'm working on mine quite a bit, even during the summer, trying to update my curriculum as I do each year. The great thing is this summer, my school provided those of us who wanted one with a laptop. I've had a Dell laptop in the past and was very happy with it. I think they become obsolete a little quicker than desktops, but I loved it. I have a Toshiba Tablet PC now (through the school), and it is absolutely fabulous! Especially with a wireless router!!!

Thanks again, Marva!

Congratulations Marva! When you know what you're called to do, you have to know that God is going to lead you to that which you are supposed to have. It happened to me, and it can happen to anyone, I believe, who seeks God's will for their lives. It just doesn't happen as pretty as people think it should. You were unemployed for a couple of months, which must have been uncomfortable. But God doesn't do comfortable.

I remember when I thought I was supposed to pursue a Ph.D. in Biblical Studies to go on to teach on the college and university level after I finished my M.Div at Emory. That didn't work out. And I didn't know what I was going to be doing. Yet, God led me to teaching at a place I had never heard of - and that was eight years ago! It is the most fun, but hardest work ever. But teaching is my calling.

By the way, according to that description you begin with, I've got a long way to go! But I love what I do. And I love my students!

Why does Shaq even have Kobe on the brain? Seems like there's some pain there that Shaq hasn't dealt with. He's hatin' and he needs to stop. As other commenters have said, it's childish. He needs to learn how to handle his pain and be accountable for his own actions. As well, he only did it to try to get people to take his side. You know how people do; they trash someone else trying to garner support for their own side. Yet this time, it backfired.

It's notable that Shaq hasn't done all that well himself with Kobe!

Hey Marvalus,
I'm with you on those girls who were in on the Pregnancy Pact. My mother would've done exactly as yours did. Had my fun though, too...

Michelle Obama was absolutely fantastic. There are always haters and will always be haters. Good for you for not giving the sites dedicated to the hate the time of day. But it was reported yesterday that the store where she got that beautiful dress from got a run on customers, and the dress is backordered until like August or September. It costs $148! How down to earth is she!!!

Hancock looks like it's going to be incredibly good and funny. And true to form, Will Smith opens a movie during July 4 holiday. Box office numbers are going to be out of this world!

BET Awards are going to be cheesy. I was listening to D.L. Hughley on TJMS on Thursday, and he cracked an awful joke about Tim Russert's death. And of course, Tom Joyner and crew laughed. It was tasteless; just like BET. And with D.L. as the host, well, cheesy is as cheesy is...

I watched the Y&R from the time I was like 12 until a few years ago. I didn't know they had Victor and Nikki not together anymore! What a dumb move! Now I know I won't even want to watch it to catch up while I'm still off for the summer.

I love your 10Spots, Marvalus! These are great! Have a great weekend!

You haven't yet seen The Great Debaters????? Oh Marvalus, you absolutely must see this movie!!! You'll wonder why you waited so long!!! I loved that movie!!!

Your post has inspired me to post my post about superheroes this weekend.

And while you've got trolls out there who are trying to bring down this wonderful family, Mark Halperin from Time Magazine notes that the Obamas made Us Weekly http://thepage.time.com/2008/06/17/obamas-get-t...

Beautiful cover!

@Marvalus - I didn't know KG came out of high school. To tell you the truth, I only watch the NBA during the playoffs (I haven't been a real fan of the NBA since after Jordan, Barkeley, and that crew retired), so I guess I wouldn't know.

How embarrassed are the Lakers right now!!!

This is what happens when people are insecure afraid. They go on the attack. But this is more than people just being afraid. This is people who want to conserve their way of life being just plain TERRIFIED! These people cannot see themselves being led by a Black man. And quite frankly, I do believe that some of these folks wish they could have the kind of strength that she exhibits.

People attack that which they fear. It seems that the number of people engaging in this behavior is small, because white, brown, purple, pink, orange, or green, I believe people, on the whole, are more intelligent than this. I hope and pray they are.

This is so fantastic!!! They blew them away!!! I'm so happy about it! I'm so proud of Doc Rivers. I graduated from Marquette University. I started when he was a junior there (I think he was a junior). Then he left after my freshman year, and it all went downhill from there. I remember when he got married (in Milwaukee). His picture was in the Milwaukee Journal, with his groomsmen - they wore pink sneakers (Keds, I believe). It is so great to see his success, the Celtics' success. To see the Lakers get blown out like that...Wow, I'm excited for them!!! Still watchin' it!

What a great post, Marvalus. R. Kelly's verdict was ridiculous, but what can you do when a witness won't testify? I personally believe her and her family were paid off. And when you don't have anything on the candidate, let's attack the family. I think the attacks on Michelle are going to backfire in a great way. And let's hope the Celtics put it away tonight! I haven't been a Lakers fan in awhile anyway. As far as HRC supporters, I think that once those hard feelings subside a little bit and they realize that McCain just wants to do what's worse for this country and for women (allowing the S.C. to repeal Roe v. Wade would be disastrous and dangerous for women across the country), they'll come around (there are more harsh things I'd like to say regarding their support for him because of a grudge, but I'll refrain right now). And finally, I watched the tribute to Tim Russert this morning. I'm not much of a crier. I tried to hold it in. I cried a little at the end. He touched so many lives for so long, and to hear such an endearing tribute was like, Wow. We sometimes say "It was his time to go. It was her time to go." I just can't get with that mindset right now. I'm not going to speculate on his health and all. I just think his departure was premature.

Thank you, Marvalus, for a great post, and allowing us to reflect on important issues. I appreciate your writing, because you are so incredibly thoughtful, and get us thinking intelligently about important issues in our world. I'm not trying to suck up; I just look forward to coming to see what you've written about daily. I was especially looking forward to what you were going to say about Tim. Thank you again.

@MrsGrapevine - I saw Matt Lauer's tribute as well. It's so sad. I'm going to watch MTP tomorrow morning. I don't know how I'll handle it.

My husband told me about it when I was coming out of Walmart this afternoon; at first I thought it was a joke. And then I realized he wasn't joking. It's so incredibly surreal. What an incredible loss for America.

I began watching MTP a few years ago, and actually looked forward to it every Sunday. I will definitely miss him. It's so odd; things just don't feel the same without him here. I almost feel like I knew him personally. And to see the emotion pouring out of media representatives everywhere (I watched David Brooks almost break down, as well as Tom Brokaw) is bittersweet. On the one hand, it was wonderful to see that Russert was so incredibly loved. It's just a shame that this happened to see what kind of impact he has made on us all.

Thank you, Marvalus. I appreciate the honor. I believe in organ donation; I've been an organ donor since I've had my driver's license. I'll make sure I pass it on.

Hi Marvalus,
Wow! Thank you for the wonderful review you gave for my husband's book! I've been reading the book for the past 7 years, almost as long as I've known Manchild, so it's easy for me to say that it's a great book. But I suppose I'm biased! :wink:

But to read a review by an objective reader is entirely different. I just read the review, and read it to him. We are so very honored. Thank you, Marvalus.

I've never been an Ashanti fan. When she first came out several years ago I thought the same thing you thought, Marvalus...this girl cannot sing. She's just another pretty face. And when I saw those ridiculous videos with her and Ja-Rule, I knew she was virtually talent-less. I think she tried to make her mark around the same time Aaliyah and those girls were coming of age. She had a lot of competition, and she couldn't compete (again, none of them were strong singers, but evidently, they had better marketers and promoters). So it's no surprise that she would do whatever it takes to get attention. Nonetheless, she should try to be a role model for these young girls. But if you don't know better, you can't do better yourself. This might be the undoing of whatever career she had. How unfortunate, because while she's accountable for her own actions, it's evident she doesn't have mentors that can guide her along in life. If she does, their silence is murder.

@Marvalus -
Hi Marvalus,
I came by because my husband speaks so highly of you. I had stopped blogging for awhile and have started back up, and as I was making my rounds found you because of him. You speak truth, you open yourself, and you are helping lots of people while being entertaining. Thank you!