The Life of A Ladybug

Why bother?

As a Black woman who regularly blogs about things that are of note to other Black women and/or Black people, I thought that maybe I should post something about this whole Don Imus mess.  And then, I thought to myself, "Why bother?"  I mean, really, hasn't everything that could be said, on both sides of the issue, already been said?  Yesterday, when I watched Imus and Al Sharpton on the Today show, I laughed out loud because I already knew what Imus' arguments would be before he made them.  And, sure enough, he finally bust out with, "Well, I wasn't the one who made up the term 'nappy-headed hos'.  Black men call Black women that all the time."  Yeah.  Good one, Imus.  Jeez.

You know, he's right, though.  Black men all over the place do say such things and you can hear that phrase and even worse things in a lot of our popular music.  Huh.  And yet, we're up in arms when this old White dude says it.  Now, believe me, Don Imus is rightfully being raked over the coals for what he said.  I say, let him grovel.  Two weeks suspension is offensive - he's being given a vacation for spouting racist, misogynistic crap over the airwaves.  But, for real?  It's what he's always done, no?  Isn't this his schtick?  Saying mean, cruel, nasty things is what's kept him on the air so long and keeps his listeners coming back for more.  Because he's only saying out of his mouth what many of them have been thinking, but have been too scared to say.  He's getting paid to spew the trash that populates others' thoughts.  Wow.

Are we really wasting our time on this man?  It's pointless to appeal to Don Imus, who contends that he's a "good man who said a bad thing."  Perhaps.  Perhaps he's just a bad man, who doesn't even cover it that well.  Whatever.  What concerns me more is that we're focusing on him.  Who cares what he thinks or says?  No, he shouldn't be allowed to use the public airwaves to spew his bile.  He should be fired immediately.  But, in the long run, this dude isn't important at all.  What he said doesn't negate the achievements the Rutgers women's basketball team made.  Him calling them "nappy-headed hos" doesn't make them so.  Hell, he could comment on my blog today and call me the same - doesn't make it true.  Now, if I called him a nasty old rat bastard jackass... well, the truth hurts.

New Life & Style Weekly

The folks at Life & Style Weekly have asked me to share their upcoming stories with you guys.  It's all about spring fashion and beauty!  Of course, I'm most interested in the beauty.

According to the mag, this spring's trends are:

• blue nailpolish
• big, fat retro curls in the hair
• big red rings
• and Oprah's new love, light-up lipgloss - the tube is covered in Swarovski crystals and has a click-on light and mirror for easy application ... ooh la la!

Check it out in Life & Style.

Do they not know or do they not care?

Lots of times, there are things that happen that just illuminate to me how widely separated Blacks and Whites in this country can sometimes be.  To wit, last Friday, Gerald Levert died at the young age of 40.  Some of you probably don't know who he was.  He was the son of Eddie Levert, lead singer of the O'Jays (I'm assuming you know who the O'Jays are ... if not, look it up) and a star in his own right, formerly with the group Levert and then as a solo artist.  He died of a massive heart attack.  I learned this while in the checkout line at the supermarket.  One of the cashiers made a general announcement, loud enough for me to hear it, several lines away.  The young man ringing up my purchases came to a stop and looked aghast, while I gasped loudly and said, "What???  When????"  My young male cashier was visibly flustered and made several mistakes while continuing to ring my items, saying, "I'm sorry.  I'm just shaken by the news.  I am such a Gerald Levert fan.  I was just listening to his CD on my way to work."  I assured him that I understood, as I was also shaken.  The lady behind me and I chatted softly about it.  The lady directly behind her, a White lady, said, "What?  Who???" and pretty much looked bored with the whole thing.  I wasn't surprised. 

This weekend, I noticed that nothing much was said about it in the mainstream media, while Black radio stations played his music all weekend long and Black websites talked about the loss.  This morning, on the local morning news, they made a short mention of it, but the anchor pretty much blew it off as if his death wasn't as important as others'.  And that got me to wondering ... do the mainstream media just not know who Gerald Levert was and that he was beloved by many Black folk or do they not care?  I am well aware that Gerald's music was in a niche market - he was decidedly R&B and didn't do crossover.  But then again, so was Kurt Cobain's, no?  Nirvana wasn't a crossover band.  They did the grunge rock thing.  But when Kurt died there was quite a bit of hoopla, which is still resonating.  Why?  Is it because he killed himself at a young age?  I remember when it happened it affected me a bit, but that's because I actually liked Nirvana's music.  However, you would have been hard pressed to find a Black person (at least in my general area) who could have cared less.  Most of my friends' reactions were on the level of, "So" or "For real?"  They were not pressed.  But it was big news.

Huh.  There you go.  Discuss.