Monogamy Is Beautiful

I spend a lot of time thinking about love and relationships. I'm in a long-distance, long-term, monogamous relationship and I love it. I see a lot of my friends pretend to be monogamous but keep a "friend" or two on the side. I see friends play "the game" and keep multiple boyfriends or girlfriends because people "can't be trusted." These same people like to give me advice about how stupid it is to be monogamous at such a young age and how I should be exploring and blah blah blah.

I always hear, "Don't put all your eggs in one basket." But why not? All of my eggs fit comfortably in my basket. Meanwhile, you're spreading your eggs out in more than one basket, which is doing nothing but adding weight and strain to your life.

Whenever I see Corey, I feel a happiness that I can't explain. When he holds me, I feel safe. When I look at his heart, I see my reflection. Now, I don't expect many people to understand this because not many people have felt that way. But don't judge me for putting all my eggs in one basket because, one day, you'll get tired of carrying around multiple baskets and you'll wish you were me.

This is for my friends (and others) who fool themselves and their mates into thinking they're monogamous when they're not. This is also for my friends (and others) who complain about not being in a relationship but are too afraid to put all their eggs in one basket and see what happens. Most importantly, this is for all the people who judge those of us in monogamous relationships, whether you say it out loud or just think it. We can feel your negative, judging vibes so don't play yourself. Remember that life is about taking risks so don't be afraid to try it out and don't judge people because it works both ways.

My Review of "For Colored Girls"

Last night, I went to see For Colored Girls at the Milford Mall with a group of around 25 other Yalies. The theatre was completely sold out. There were men and women (mostly women) of all ages there.

My opinion: I loved it!!! I'd give it 4 out of 5 stars. I thought Tyler Perry did a great job. The monologues were well-placed. The colors were great. The casting was great (although I would've loved to see some Yale in the mix*Angela Bassett*) and the roles were appropriately assigned. The movie was very emotional, which I expected. There were times to laugh and times to cry and times to be angry and times to be shocked. It was also a great conversation sparker. I left the theatre craving a discussion about it, which is exactly what happened. There were some differing opinions about the placement of the monologues but, overall, my friends and I liked it.

My thoughts: I will do my best not to give anything away for those who haven't seen the movie yet. I fear that some people will walk away from the movie hating Kimberly Elise's husband and Janet Jackson's husband without fully understanding their characters. Although the movie is focused on Black women, it also touches on some of the problems that men face, both in Black society and overall. I hope that people will really think about the lives of these characters just as much as the female characters.

My experience in the theatre: It was a very trying experience for me. One of my biggest pet peeves is ignorance in movie theaters. There were so many times when I wanted to scream "shut up" or "stop laughing" throughout the film. People laughed EVERY TIME Whoopi Goldberg's character came on screen. Yes, Whoopi is a comedian and she is pretty funny, but her character in this film was actually serious. She had some very serious monologues and conversations that were completely overshadowed by laughter. Are we that ignorant that we can't tell comedy from drama? If you know you lack maturity, you should not see this film.
Another pet peeve of mine is when I see children in situations that they shouldn't be in. I was very upset to see small children in this Rated R film. Everyone knew from the previews that this is not a family film so WHY would you bring your kids to see it? There was a family of 5 in my theatre- a mom/adult and 4 kids. They were between the ages of 2 and 9 (I think). The mom sat in the row in front of us with the 2 year old on her lap and the other three kids were sitting behind her. During the very emotional parts of the movie when the audience cried (you'll know what I'm talking about when you see it), these kids started bawling. I just wanted to hug them and slap their mom. NO CHILD should see this movie. Even if you think you child is too young to understand it, they will cry if they see a bunch of adults crying around them. This movie was Rated R for a reason. There was nudity, swearing, violence and everything else you expect to see in an R-rated movie. If you can't find a babysitter, you need to stay home or go see Megamind.

Overall, I think For Colored Girls is a must-see. I'm going to see it again, hopefully without the inappropriate laughter and kids.

My Birthday Prayer

Lord,
I want to thank You for life and health and strength. Thank You for allowing me to see another birthday. I am very grateful for all of the many blessings You have bestowed upon me this year. Thank You for all of the amazing new people you have brought into my life these last 12 months. Thank You for all of the people that have stayed in my life and for removing people from my life that were stunting my growth. I am so grateful for my loving, supporting family and friends. Thank You for progress, growth, and maturity. Thank You for the progress I have seen in my personal relationships. I ask Your continued blessings throughout this next year of my life and I thank You in advance for all the amazing things that will happen to me before my next birthday.
Amen

Things I Miss

So, I've been reminiscing a lot lately with my friends, both from home and from school and I've come up with all of these things that I miss about my past. I grew up in Chicago a.k.a. The Best City Ever. I went to elementary school with some of my best friends in the world. Now, I'm at Yale with some of my new best friends. All in all, I've made memories with all of them and I wanted to share those by talking about things that I miss.
So, I miss...

• running home before the street lights came on
• walking through Leclaire Courts going nowhere
• walking to the corner store for a bag of chips and a quarter juice
• chips actually costing a quarter!
• penny candy at the candy lady
• hiding Flamin' Hot Cheetos and Hot Crunchy Curls in my desk
• putting chips in balled-up paper and passing them to my friends
• passing notes in class and all of my friends writing in different colors
• "Will you be my girlfriend?" notes with the yes, no or maybe boxes
• Daily Oral Language (DOL) and Daily Oral Math (DOM)
• bag lunch for field trips
• Sour and dill pickle with a bag of Flamin Hots
• water fights in the back of Quentin's house
• Precious's house parties
• Melissa braiding my hair
• parents randomly showing up at school
• Simone's mom bringing her lunch every day
• Pizza parties every Friday in 6th grade
• snowball fights until my fingers went pale and numb
• being the "Board Eraser"
• saying the Pledge of Allegiance every single morning
• trying out for the cheerleading teams without learning how to do cartwheels
• waiting for the 2:30 bell to ring
• "Bethel! What's the answer to #4?"
• Life is like a roller coaster.....
• awards assemblies every marking period
• the 60/20 schedule. Who thought of that ish???
• not going past the red poles
• fried salami and cheese sandwiches at Alante's before cheerleading practice
• watching 2 episodes of Arthur after school
• watching Recess during One Saturday Morning
• Family Matters on TGIF
• Free and AJ on 106 & Park
• Child's Play movies every Halloween
• Are You Afraid of The Dark?
• The Secret World of Alex Mac
• learning how to ride a back at the age of 12 (don't judge me!)
• Rugrats
• Zoom
• Magic Schoolbus
• Where in the WORLD is Carmen Sandiego??? (Seriously, I still don't know where she is)
• The Wild Thornberry's (a.k.a. The McDows)
• only having a dollar at McDonalds and sharing a cheeseburger with 4 people
• going out EVERY weekend freshman year
• "I have crushes..."
• wearing stilettos to every party
• running from the boys throwing eggs on Halloween
• new outfits for my birthday
• one bus to Ford City
• Air Force Ones costing $50
• catching 3 buses to church
• Friday night choir rehearsal
• racing across the parking lot