A Warped POV by A. Dacosta Brathway

January 18th, Monday/ I have to say that I am not a big music video fan but I sometimes watch them to see who is doing what out there in pop land. There is one chick that has my undivided attention... And that chick is Lady Gaga!!! Talk about reinventing the wheel? To me she seems to be a cross between Madonna, Annie Lenox and "Lily" (Herman Munster's wife) and I don't mean that in a bad way! This girl has an act!
If she were mentoring girls and said that "you can be anything you want!" to them, I would believe her! She is something different! The clothes, the hair, the makeup, the dance routines, the singing, the lyrics... I could only wish that my balls were big enough to be that different! I wonder what planet she is from? (I know she is from New York but that is like being from another planet!)
Anyway, I applaud her because she dares to be... whatever! Too bad the whole world is not that free in mindset to be that expressive. Maybe it would be a better place if we could all live and let live... But, no. We are trapped in a thought process that is way too restrictive and discriminating. It seems like the more alike we are in thinking, the better for some folks!
Pat Robinson had the audacity to say that the earthquake Haiti endured was self imposed because Haiti made a pact with the devil! I saw a news report on 60 Minutes where dead bodies were being loaded into dump trucks by a huge earth mover! Now, even if I thought that, how could I be so insensitive to spread that comment around, considering the circumstance?
One day, before I leave the planet, I would like to experience just one day where my mind thought like Lady Gaga thinks! Just one day I would like to know what that feels like... To be that free of thought where I dared to do whatever and not worry about what others thought... Man, that would be some kind of freedom(?)!

Passing Judgment/ A Commentary by Al Brathway

So I'm watching TV today (I'm off from work for reasons I cannot explain) and I'm flipping channels... I have to say BRAVO to the show Shear Genius! I have seen the show from the beginning of this season and I have to say that this show has set race relations back quite a few hundred years. Now, I'm not saying the show is rigged but tell me why a brother is picked to work on white folks hair, with the understanding that the task is going to be real difficult for him, and then cut his ass out in the first episode like the removal of an extension? Okay, he was cocky... Maybe too cocky but so is the big-headed gay dude with the glasses and the bad attitude. (So far he's done nothing but criticize everybody else and win one challenge!) What are they doing with him? Is he gonna get his own show or will he return on another hair show to criticize other hair stylists? The score could be evened up somewhat if they brought the brother back and let him criticize other people. (I can hear him now..."If you really want a challenge, try cuttin' a sista's hair without fuckin' it up and her goin' postal on yo' ass!") I don't know... I just feel like even TV does not want Blacks to watch it. I mean, who's reality is a "reality" show created for? Sure I am exaggerating (a little) but c'mon. Seriously, am I supposed to find that real estate dude on "Flipping Out" compelling? Neurotic, yes... Silly, for sure... But not compelling... (Wait a minute, he does kind of compel me to want to choke his scrawny neck!) "Housewives of Orange County?" They don't even live like that! And the New York version? Please!!! I guess if I want "reality" on TV I should go back to watching network news. At least I will see more brothers... (Their heads will be down and they will be handcuffed but I will recognize them...)

A Warped POV by A. Dacosta Brathway

I saw it! I saw the basketball documentary called Black Magic and I have to say that the intention of it being shown during the NCAA's big event added, yet, another reason to love basketball at this time of year. That being said, it left a sour taste in my mouth because of the timing of its showing. Why?/ Basically, "Black Magic" blended into the fabric of the bigger picture and disappeared. It was that "feel good" feature where we get to see some of the history of the game. Sadly, nothing has changed to right the wrongs that have taken place in the sport as it relates to black coaches being treated fairly and equally. Blacks basketball royality was treated very harshly but that can be blamed to the times. The Civil Rights Movement was the backdrop to the piece and it also served as the explanation for the many wrongs black coaches faced. But what is so different now? What, blacks are not being attacked by dogs at the extention of a police officer's arm? What, blacks can eat next to whites in a restaurant? What? We can all use the same water fountain and restrooms? What about the disproportionate hirings of black coaches at major universities? Oh, my bad, that has gotten better too?/ I don't know if I feel so good that a white coach took a bunch of black players and dared to challenge and beat Kentucky, which had an all white team anymore. And the title, Black Magic implies, to me, that black athletes seem to carry a chicken's foot in their socks or rattle bones in a plate in the locker room before a game. Black athletes train as hard as anybody when it comes to playing sports, in general, basketball in particular. Earl Monroe did not represent black magic as it were. He was a highly skilled player and his feats are diminished by calling him "Black Magic" or "Black Jesus!" Why couldn't he be Earl Monroe, one of the baddest ever? Same for Cleo Hill and Peewee Kirkland... And, what about Ben Jobe and "Big House" Gaines? How come they are not mentioned everytime a coach"s wins are mentioned? Dean Smith and Bobby Knight are always mentioned! At one point I thought that they were the only two coaches that won a lot of basketball games until Mike krzyzewski showed up./ C'mon... Stop screwing around with my head and do the right thing. Either show the documentary and pieces about black's contributions year round or, when you do show it, get me a Coke and some popcorn at your expense. The never seems to be a problem treating blacks like an afterthought at a black's expense!