Posted by admin on Feb 17, 2009 in
By Keysha Whitaker,
Thoughts and Things 
Travis the Chimp in 2003. (AP Photo/The Stamford Advocate, Kathleen O'Rourke)
So this lady had a chimp as a pet in Connecticut.
But as wild animals tend to do on rare occasions, he acted like one and badly mauled the lady’s friend who had arrived to help get the escaped chimp back in the house.
According to the article:
After the initial attack, Travis ran away and started roaming Herold’s property until police arrived, setting up security so medics could reach the critically injured woman, Conklin said.
But the chimpanzee returned and went after several of the officers, who retreated into their cars, Conklin said. An officer shot Travis several times after the animal opened the door to his cruiser and started to get in.
“The animal had cornered him,” Conklin said Tuesday. “He had no other recourse.”- Yahoo!
Now, I’m an animal lover like the next, however, I’m a little confused as to why the hell the chimp even got to open the car door.
I mean, they shoot black men for looking like they’re thinking about reaching for a wallet, but Mr. Monkey made it all the way to the driver’s seat before they decided to blast off.
I guess he wasn’t as great a threat.
I’m just saying.
Tags: chimp shot, chimp shot dead, chimp shot in connecticut, discrimination, police discrimination, racial profiling, sandra herold
Chris Brown and Rihanna. Photo from TheYBF.com
So, if you half pay attention to American pop culture, I’m sure you’ve heard about the Chris Brown/Rihanna fiasco that happened on the night of the Grammy’s. Reportedly, a woman - who sources have identified as Good Girl Gone Bad Rihanna - made a 911 call reporting an assault by her boyfriend, Chris Brown.
As soon as this story broke, people immediately took sides. Radio stations did call-ins, Chris Brown’s stepdad, who Chris publicly accused of abusing his mom, did Access Hollywood and radio interviews - claiming the opposite, and alleging that Brown in fact was the violent one.
Celebrities chimed in with their two cents; some, like rapper, T.I. and actor Terrence Howard who we’ll get to later, chimed in too soon and retracted their two cents shortly thereafter.
The truth of the matter is that noone knows what happened on that night except Chris and Rihanna. I’ve known men who were in abusive relationships at the hands of women - too ashamed to do anything about it. I’ve known women who cried wolf and gotten men arrested who’d never laid a hand on them.
So, I can’t, though I wish I could, travel back in time and be a stitch on the leather seat of that Lamborghini and see what the hell went down. Nor can I say that I haven’t been mad enough at a dude to contemplate going upside his head my damn self; and if I had a little less home-training, I might have.
But, on this, we all can agree, SOMETHING happened. The important question is: what happens now?
What happens now, after you realize you are in a dysfunctional relationship, or a functional one with dysfunctional tendencies? Do you stay or do you go? Do you love or do you leave? Read more…
Tags: abusive relationships, chris and rihanna, chris brown, rihanna, terrence howard
Posted by admin on Feb 5, 2009 in
Business,
By Keysha Whitaker Quote of the Day
“I am an optimist; I think any tough problem can be solved.” - Bill Gates
AFP/File/Dominique Faget from Yahoo!
Kudos to Billionaire Bill Gates for putting his money where his mouth is, and focusing on something other than his golden parachute or annual bonus.
He got in the face of some execs at the Technology, Entertainment and Design (TED) Conference, and released a jar full of mosquitoes into the room.
“I brought some. Here I’ll let them roam around. There is no reason only poor people should be infected,” Gates said according to the AP report on Yahoo.com.
He then chided:
“There is more money put into baldness drugs than into malaria . . . Now, baldness is a terrible thing and rich men are afflicted. That is why that priority has been set.”
I wish I could have been a fly, uh, mosquito on the wall when he opened that damn jar. Nothing cures a little moral and social disenchantment like a realization that the next life lost, might be your own.
Very cool, Mr. Gates. Very cool.
Tags: bill gates, bill gates foundation, microsoft, ted conference, ted conference and bill gates
Posted by admin on Jan 15, 2009 in
By Keysha Whitaker,
Thoughts and Things 
Reuters photo from Yahoo news.
A plane crashed in the Hudson River in New York and everybody survived.
Which just goes to show, if it’s just not your time to go, it’s not your time to go. Even if the damn plane falls out the sky, so eat, drink and be merry!
Tags: final destination, flight 1549, hudson river crash, life, live life
Rejuvenate is Eartha Kitt's guide to staying fit. The late Kitt is an inspiration to single women. (Image from Simon & Schuster Inc.)
Single at age 81 looks damn good if you follow the life and times of multi-faceted performer Eartha Kitt.
Kitt, one of the original triple-threats, died on December 25 in Connecticut. Her career spanned six decades on stage, screen, and audio. Catwoman wasn’t Catwoman until Kitt purred her way into the role during the Batman television series in 1967. And nobody’s looked at Santa the same after she dropped the hit “Santa Baby” in 1954.
Her career accomplishments include winning two Emmys and scoring nominations for Tonys and Grammys. She found her niche in performing after auditioning for an international dance troupe as a teen, and she didn’t stop. Ever. Weeks before she died, she concluded taping for a PBS special that will air in February 2009. She penned three autobiographies and, in 2001, a guide to staying physically fit, Rejuvenate.
She stood up and spoke out for what she believed in: being blacklisted in the U.S. for speaking out against the Vietnam War and standing up for an end to racism by performing in South Africa.
Kitt, who was married for five years, remained single for most of her life, having high-profile relationships including renown writer Orson Welles, and Revlon founder Charles Revson. She was abused as a child in South Carolina, shipped off to live with an aunt in New York, then abused some more.
Her life should inspire single women. She triumphed over a troubled past. She had the relationships that she wanted, how she wanted. While it’s nice to think marriage is forever, the reality is that sometimes it doesn’t work out like that and it’s nicer when we are enlightened enough to accept that it doesn’t have to.
Your happiness and legacy should not depend on being Ms. Right.
Like Kitt’s, it should depend on doing what you love, standing up for what you believe in and speaking out for what’s right in your heart.
Tags: eartha kitt
Posted by admin on Nov 26, 2008 in
Business,
By Keysha Whitaker,
Hip Hop Life, an award-winning spoken-word artist in Tampa Bay, FL is definitely living the life many entrepreneurs of all types aspire to: supporting oneself solely on their craft.
A recent winner of a poetry slam at the acclaimed
Nuyorican Poets Cafe in New York City and owner/operator of Black On Black Rhyme Tampa, Life’s been nominated for Poet of the Year at the first annual
Tampa Bay Hip Hop Awards taking place on Sunday, November 30, 2008.
Here’s a snippet from the upcoming article on Black On Black Rhyme Tampa, Life, and the HipHopSodaShop.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You tout yourself as “the only full-time spoken word artist in Tampa.”
How do you maintain your drive?
Life: So many things push me. The emails and phone calls, from people, who buy my CDs and/or attend the shows I produce and/or perform in, that communicate how meaningful what I do is, to them, are certainly inspiring.
Knowing that, as an artist and entrepreneur, I’m a leader and role model, in my community, for people who have so few, positive examples, is certainly motivation. I always wanna do better, for my family. So, that keeps me hungry.
I guess the source, of my drive, can be summed up as my love, for my folk.
Tags: Hip Hop, hip hop awards, life, life poet, lifeizpoetry, poetry, spoken word, tampa bay hip hop awards
Posted by admin on Nov 22, 2008 in
By Keysha Whitaker,
Thoughts and Things I was in Target (the new one in the Trumbull Mall) the other day and was blown away what I saw:
WHY IN THE HELL DO THEY NEED A WHOLE AISLE OF MOUTHWASH?!?!?
It was one of the most ridiculous things I have ever seen. It just goes to show that Big Business in America is a proponent of gluttony and excess. There are people STAARRRVING to death and we have an aisle of cinnamon, apple, fluoride, and mint mouthwash.
The joke is probably on us. It’s not our mouths that are being washed. It’s our brains.
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Tags: america, consumer greed, excess, gluttony, target
Posted by admin on Nov 19, 2008 in
Business,
By Keysha Whitaker 
$100,000.00 Check donation presented to Boston University Medical Center Scleroderma Research Department. From left to right: Dr. Lafyitus, Bob DeCesare, Vice President ASFSR, Joe LoSchiavo, President ASFSR, Carmen J. Cartiglia, Treasurer ASFSR, Joy LoSchiavo, Board Member ASFSR, Lou Turiano, Board Member ASFSR (Photo by ASFSR.com)
Connecticut business owner Carmen Cartiglia said he follows the old adage find something you love and figure out how to make money at it. But this year, he’s taking it one step further by using that money to hopefully save lives. The Connecticut Wine and Food Wine Festival on November 21 - 23, 2008 at the Stamford Marriott will give area residents a chance to sample fine wines and delicacies while raising money to find a cure for Scleroderma – a potentially fatal disease.
The Festival will feature nearly 30 different exhibitors from wine and spirits companies, restaurants, caterers, and package stores. Friday, November 21 from 12 – 6 p.m. is open to industry professionals. Saturday and Sunday are open to the general public from 12 - 6 p.m.
“We anticipate a good crowd. We think it’s going to be a real fun couple of days,” said Cartiglia, who plans to expand the annual event to New Haven County next year. Read more…
Tags: amity wine and spirits, boston medical university, carich expos inc, carmen cartiglia, connecticut wine and food festival, scleroderma, stamford marriott, trattoria carl anthony
This first appeared on SingleWomenRule.com
A recent Cosmopolitan article by Esther Crain, “How to Have the Talk”, gave us single gals tips for sitting your guy down and getting him to say “yay” or “nay” to exclusivity, moving in, or whatever random relationship issue that you feel is important.
Should you have the talk or take a walk?
To this I say – Hogwash and Fiddle-Fuddle!
My advice is if you have to have THE TALK, then YOU BETTER WALK!
I think, in my humble single opinion, if you have to sit a guy down to get a clue about what he’s feeling about you, to borrow a word from He’s Just Not That Into YOU . . . “He’s just not that into you!”
Why does it have to be that difficult? Call me an old-fashioned girl, but in some aspects I’m a traditionalist. I wish I grew up in the 1950’s when girls got to wear letter jackets and pins and guys still said, “Do you want to go steady?” Read more…
Tags: cosmopolitan, defining relationships, esther crain, relationships
Posted by admin on Oct 19, 2008 in
By Keysha Whitaker Women business owners offer hope for economy;Second annual conference challenges entrepreneurs to make a million
By Keysha Whitaker
TWBC Official Logo, courtesy of AdmorEyes, LLC.
Joe the Plumber may be fine and dandy now, but America’s economy would really benefit from “Josephine the Plumber” an analogy drawn by Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal at The Women’s Business Conference 2008 on Thursday, October 16 at the Trumbull Marriott in Connecticut.
Over a hundred women business owners (and hopefuls) plowed through a full day of keynote speeches, discussions and workshops geared to provide “support and connections to help you move your business to the next level”.
Blumenthal noted that if the 240,000 women-owned businesses in the country grew to one million (to match the current number of men’s businesses) and employed 8-10 people each, the benefits would be exponential.
“The challenge for you is not only to raise the level of economic activity, but also to raise the world in ethical expectations and standards,” said Blumenthal. “As we’ve seen on Wall Street, these two are inextricably linked.”
Photo by G. Gregory Geiger. www.gregeiger.com
“(It is) challenging times for the country, for each of us,” said the conference’s organizer, Victoria Hughes, President of AdmorEyes, LLC, publisher of Connecticut’s Small Business Directory. “It is so important for us to focus on our vision. Today is going to help you stay focused on who you are and most importantly how to succeed.”
Read more…
Tags: count me in, make mine a million, million $ business, the womens business conference, women entrepreneurs
