Journal April 30

Day went pretty smooth. Nothing too exciting.

Talked with Dale about Scheme mag stuff via google chat.

Talked with Chris about Hip Hop ;o)

Went to the mall to return some jeans and get a pair of work shoes... I have a feeling I am going to regret my decision. Rather than go with the ugly grandma shoes, I go for these BCBG cute shoes. Yes, they are flats. No, they are not especially comfortable.

I gotta remember this quote Jim used to say about me. The quote he is going to put in his book. Something along the lines of

Shyree, she was cute and impractical. Or something. It came from a conversation about my favorite rug. How it was Pink and impractical. He morphed it into what is above.

Anyway.

Came home. Was supposed to babysit but didn't get a hold of the lady, so hit up happy hour at Alero with Camille. After Alero went to BBP for dinner.

At BBP talked with Derrick Brown... Great poet, who is also the poet in residence at BBP. We talked about race, hip hop, writing, society, culture, and a whole of things. Check out his myspace page:

www.myspace.com/d_weston

He should be my friend soon ;o)

Ethelbert was there also... Saw him in passing.

Pooled in some reading on hip hop including the following:

Never Drink the Kool Aid
Toure

Gunshots in my Cook-Up
Selwyn Seyfu Hinds

When Chickenheads Come To Roost-
Joan Morgan


Caught a cab... whom I asked if I could get home for 5 dollars... The bus was never going to come.

He said yes. There was a couple hailing a cab so I asked if they wanted to hop in.

The cab driver explains that DC has changed alot.

The girl spoke up as a true know it all, saying that she lived here in 2001 and it was a place NO ONE should have lived in. That it was scary. That she never wanted to live in the area again.
How it has gotten so much better. Etc

The Cab driver, Ali, explained that when you have 5ok houses police don't care. When you have 400k dollar houses there is more protection.

The girl pitches in that it has nothing to do with that.

I peeped in and said that I agreed with Ali. That it has a lot to do with how much property is worth and that mere efforts on a community alone is not going to deem an area safe. That it does have something to do with house values going up and supporting police involvement. In turn, also pushing out crime. Which means pushing out these so-called neighbors she so affectively admires.

She says that the neighbors have pitched in and started 'caring about their community' . She, being the be all end all that she was, further articulated with emphasis the following:

I guess I have a bias. Seeing the OBVIOUS class divide I still think that it has to do with the neighbors pitching in.

Ah, white people ;o) Always thinking that they too, are seperate from the intrinsic paradigm of the US.

She is so very well consumed by her ideology. It is a shame. Yet, in so many ways, to be expected.