I Love Boobies - Fighting Breast Cancer

I Love Boobies - Fighting Breast Cancer

A Return to Old Form, The Revitalization of Barefoot Running - Page 2

A Return to Old Form, The Revitalization of Barefoot Running - Page 2

This has a lot of potential for the Bahamian market. Hmmmm.. we all grew up running barefoot and then we all stopped for some reason?...nikes?

On Advancement

"Sasha, a recent high school graduate eagerly awaits word back from a job interviewer. ‘I’m sure I did well' she thinks to herself as she fingers her recently tightened locs. The day before, she had an early morning interview for the position of guest attendant at Larimore's Inn, an up and coming hotel. Her cell phone rings and she jumps for it in hopes that it is the job calling. It is, thinks Sasha, and she puts on her best telephone voice. Only moments later, she shrinks as she hears the voice over the phone 'You have very good oral and written skills, but I regretfully inform you that the position has been filled....I'm sorry, you are just....not what we are looking for'."

As I leave the safety of being a college kid and enter the harsh "real world" that I've been hearing about since the twelfth grade, my mind now drifts across things that I never thought of before (or never said because I didn’t have a blog). We applaud ourselves for the attainment of certain national goals that ring that "we have indeed arrived". Examples of this are the usual slew of accolades- Independence, Majority Rule, the right to vote based on citizenship alone, "low cost" health care, and mandatory/ public education. Let's not forget the recent and seemingly endlessly ongoing multi-billion dollar government venture, also known as the New Providence Road Improvement and Infrastructure Project, which promises a smoother driving experience matching that of driving on roads and highways in "more developed" countries.

With all of this said, what then is it that prevents us from being the best nation we can be? When material advancements have been attained, I guess it's just the less tangible things like ethics, morals, values, and sense of self/identity that are left unaccounted for. The term "Twenty-first Century" suggests an era that is familiar, yet new and enhanced, solidified through all that has come before. We throw around words that boast of our modernity- degree, globalization, and professionalism.

I know I heard the last one a lot from my lecturers-"the mark of your work should be professionalism". When you go to buy food from a take-away, and the lady that's supposed to be taking her order is instead on the telephone gabbing to a friend about what Tishnaye was wearing to party out Carmichael last night, you think to yourself  "She ain't have no sense of professionalism". The Oxford Dictionary defines professionalism as "the competence or skill expected of a professional" (versus that of an amateur). In common terms, professionalism is the art of doing what you do well and with a trademark of excellence.

Now, in the case of the take-away server, professionalism would have been polite and courteous customer service. For a student, it would be handing in assignments of quality on the assigned due date (unless situations prevent this). For a nurse, it would be attending to whatever duties assigned to her for her particular shift and as well as being attentive towards patients. An artist would be expected to deliver work to a client both in a timely manner and in the form that was agreed to. Is there an intersection between professionalism in its truest sense, and fashion (or lack thereof)?

Does the student with an over-sized tee-shirt and fro-hawk hand in work of a lower quality? Does the nurse with three ear piercings neglect her patients? Is the artist with a three-tone lace front weave one that creates inferior artwork? I guess this brings back to the surface those intangible things that I mentioned earlier, you know-the ethics, morals, values, and sense of self/identity that you just don't find too often; when they are found, we usually get them mixed up with personal freedoms.

Tell me Bahamas, can you see the SENSE in anyone being refused a scholarship, promotion or job offer solely on the basis of hair style? Forwards or Backwards? You tell me.

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And You Say Locs Can't Look Professional?

Separation Anxiety?

Lol, no this post is not about any particular person, sorry if the title was a bit misleading :p. Recently, I spent nearly three weeks without my laptop. A shaky power cord port and the consequential absence of my "electronic bestie" (it was in the repair shop) kinda left  me to thinking. Lots of thinking  it, and about the most random yet purposeful things one could imagine.  "Hmmm, so this it's like without the ability to go on download sprees, blogging splurges, and life without connection to the rest of the world eh? . Oh, so this is what life was like before the massive word-wide conquering of the personal computer and world-wide web? What's the meaning of life? :O" ... What? I'm forced to spend five cents just to talk to a friend because I happen to live in a household where the phone is dominated (yes, LOL i said dominated) by the person who happens to pay that bill. But yeah, the absence of the main gadget in my life has made me realize that there is indeed a whole other life outside that which exists when one is tethered to a keyboard and computer screen.

During the three-week drought, I rediscovered the reason that I stopped watching television on a regular basis. Seriously!!! What is it with TV shows (especially basic cable) nowadays? Sister Wives? Dancing with the Stars? Wipeout? Come on now.... And I won't even talk about cartoon stations. The only redeemer is that Nickelodeon has started replaying the good ole' shows from time to time. Anything made after 2005, in my opinion is pure garbage...what ever happened to The Wild Thornberry's, Animorphs, Caitlin's Way, and Cousin Skeeter? Give me HGTV, Food Network, Discovery, USA, and whatever channel that is that plays Intervention and Hoarders, and I'm good.

After I grew bored with a few shows, I flicked on the rustic -looking radio that was usually kept on the top of the in the storage room and reserved for hurricanes -y'al know the one I mean. And Oh the joys of Bahamian radio! I was shocked of how every two seconds I rolled the FM dial, I would hear another voice...another station (like when did alla' this happen?) station after station...and still lol once Immediate Response and one or two other talk shows were over, radio was once again dryyy.

I scrimmaged though storage container after storage container of books and old magazines hoping to find a few good reads. Gad knows BTC made a whole heap a' money offa' me during that three-week stint. I so serious, I was experiencing symptoms of messenger withdrawal...like waking in a cold sweat at 1 AM to phantom IM sounds .."dun dun dun!!"

All jokes aside, I do really think that my break from the computer was pretty much a gift from above- No video streams, chatrooms, and social networks, ie. no distraction from myself. Am I free to interpret this as a sort of detoxification? What are your thoughts? Ever experienced an excruciatingly long spell of separation from a beloved electronic device? Ipod? Blackberry? Dell? Did it make you feel a little like I did- overly dependent?

When is it Okay to Call it Quits?

"If at first you don't succeed, try and try again." Growing up, this was an adage that pricked my ears many a time. In fact, now that I think about it, there's even a song that goes with it by the Bahamian Singer/Songwriter Phil Stubbs talking to children about hard work:"‘Though you stumble off boys/Never be downcast./Try and try again, boys,/You’ll succeed at last." There is no question as to whether or not our society placing value on hard work. Sure, not everyone may be willing to do it, but its guaranteed that once done (or in some cases, when neglected), it is noted. Some of us are still trying to get that promotion at work, others seven years later are still trying to complete college (after  switching majors three times), still adamant at losing that last ten pounds, still trying to get to be Lisa's 'color', and let's be real, still running after the baby daddy of our two kids even though he is now engaged.

We all have dreams and aspirations, some of which we have never been shared with anyone else in fears of them being stomped out. The question is " when is it okay to call it quits?" Is it really ever okay to do so? One opinion, especially from the religious and spiritual community is that once you have breath in your body, the battle to succeed should never be forfeited. But could our own individual perseverance be attributed to the fact that no one wants to be called a quitter (unless we're talking about drug abuse)? Is there a space in the subconscious that screams "Julie-Ann, you know he never ga' leave dat tramp" that goes ignored and so we go on cooking, cleaning, and being intimate with him in a hope to one day be not his number one, but his one and only?

Now don't get me wrong! Some of the greatest accomplishments made in the history of mankind were wrought only through someone never giving up- the invention of the light-bulb, play-station 3, microfiber :p And you just may be the person who pulls through and accomplishes their big dream! However, loosely put,  you just may NOT be the sperm to make it to the egg. I know that I am glad that I continued though will my schooling even when I felt like giving up, because I can now say that I have met some of my educational goals. Life is full of paths and sometimes, you walk halfway down one road only to realize that you were just following the traffic and that really wasn't the way for you. No wonder you kept stumbling.

Some of us have persevered, just in the wrong directions! I have found that without a quitting point, there can never be a repositioning.  Hence again the question, when is it okay to call it quits?