Minnie Riperton

No one sings like Minnie. I really miss her.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

About Love (Love Actually)

Due to circumstances beyond my intellectual capacity to understand, I've been considering the subject of "love" a lot more than I want to lately. I suppose there a lot of reasons, the best of which involves seeing and hearing so many people talk about it in public. Just yesterday, while I was transferring from a light rail train to a bus, I overheard a young lady gushing to two friends, "I'm SO in love with James! Don't call me later 'cause I'm gonna be with MY honey!" I tried very hard to contain the gag reflex. Please give me props for at least considering that it would have been an unseemly act, and quite rude. So anyway, I've been noticing the actions of young people "in love" (lust) and wondering, was I like that once upon a time? I can't remember ever declaring undying love for a guy in the presence of strangers, but I'm sure I've done things that were equally ludicrous, like threatening to beat up a girl fo...
Read more

My former English professor and mentor

Image
The guy is still kicking butt and taking names! (I accidentally published this before I finished the draft, and the only way I knew it was that I saw a link to this article on Phillipe's blog Baha'i Thought ! Good looking out, my brotha!) The following passage is from an article that appeared on sacbee.com : Marc Bertonasco, a CSUS emeritus professor and co- author of "Prose Style," a popular college writing text, also sees "The Elements of Style" as too restrictive. "Oh, it had influence on me, no question. It was the pioneer in what is unofficially called the new style – clear, straightforward writing aiming at efficiency. It's a reaction to bureaucratese," he said. "But I'm a classical rhetorician, and my position is this: No style is better than any other." I had to chuckle at the last quote. If that's true, Professor Bertonasco has mellowed considerably over the years. I remember sitting in the classroom and wat...
Read more

Emotional Incest

Image
The article that I'm posting could have been written by me. I'm stunned that it wasn't because it tells my story almost precisely. There are some differences: I was my mother's confident and personal counselor; it was she who used guilt and rage to control what I did, how I felt, and what I thought. My father was the alcoholic, but just like the young man's mother, he was pretty much wrapped up in his own life. However, we do have similar nicknames given to us: his was "Honeyboy" and my father called me, "Honey". He still does. I have to say, I feel strange posting this. I'm not only violating my family's "don't talk about family business to anyone outside this house", but there's the larger version of the "don't talk" rule that envelops the African American community. This is sometimes referred to as "don't be putting your business out in the streets", or simply "don't be tell...
Read more