It's Just Another Saturday

As I write this, it's about 8:40 p.m. on Saturday, July 25.   I'm at work but have a bit of down time.   I'm watching CNN's Black In America 2 with my co-workers gabbing as a soundtrack.   I didn't watch on Wednesday because I was at an Association of Black Media Workers event, and Thursday I worked night side.   Like a lot of people I think CNN's Black In America illuminated many of the ills without providing proper context. I applaud their second effort CNN's Black In America 2 which was more solution oriented. The network wanted to show the reality of the problems, while celebrating those trying to make things better.   Working in T.V. news I know you'll never be able to do every story 100 % justice, but you have to give it your best shot, and I think CNN has.   Unfortunately for many in my generation, particularly those who are African-Americans we take pride in seeing our stories, but we also need another form of context.   Whenever I see stories about the plight of black America, I think of how it relates to the rest of America.   I see a story about families struggling to save their marriages, and while African-Americans in some cases have a love-hate relationship with marriage, so too do other races.   No we're not post-racial but for a new generation of Americans we are cogniscent of the difference in our races, but very much aware of how our story relates to that of others.   We need to see our stories but how we stack up to others side by side.   Ours is a parallel journey as much as it is a divergent one.

You Know I Don't Wear A Watch

Do you know I don't wear a watch?

But I don't need one because all I need to know is which days I work.

Normally on Sunday's I'd start to think how shall I transition to the new week?

I'm not off til Wednesday so the weeks are running together.

Last week was pretty chill I worked on Monday.

I was off Tuesday and Wednesday, and on Wednesday. On Tuesday I made a trip to D.C. for CNN's Black In America 2 screening. You can read a good recap here . I also did Happy Hour with a friend at The Melting Pot (we had the Wisconsin Trio Cheese Fondue, with the Washington Apple Martini) and we had a post screening meal at MatchboxDC (apple pear salad, and the Matchbox meat pizza with pepperoni / spicy italian sausage / crispy bacon / zesty tomato sauce / mozzarella). On Wednesday I had lunch with my best friend from college whose in grad school out in Colorado, but was home on the east coast. We had lunch at Pei Wei then visited the alma mater LoCo soon to be LU lol. Yes it's going from college status to university lol. I'll still call it LoCo.

Thursday, Friday, and Saturday it was back at the station.

Sadly one of my co-workers is leaving and moving to L.A. and last night was our last night working together. She just graduated from college and is moving to L.A. to hopefully start a budding television writing career. I'm so happy for her. Thankfully we have one last goodbye. The two of us are having lunch on Wednesday.

Ok so now back to watching "Knocked Up".

Who Wears The Robe

First: An apologizing I've been cheating on this blog not with Facebook lol but with Twitter, in any event I've been unfaithful lol and I've got to do better.

Lisenting To: "I've Got A Testimony" from Going Up Yonder: The Best of Gospel Choirs cd

Kind of watching "The Brothers" on HBO

As I write this it's about 1:47 a.m. on the morning of July 13.

In just a few hours I aim to get up to begin watching the confirmation hearings of the Honorable Sonia Sotomayor of the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals who was several weeks ago nominated by President Barack Obama to be the first Hispanic to serve on the nation's highest court.

For me it'll be a very fascinating day. Jeffrey Toobin CNN's senior legal correspondent said it's the nerd Superbowl. Yes I am a nerd but, at the same time these confirmation hearings will have a special significance to me.

Years ago while in elementary school I studied the life of Thurgood Marshall who was the first African-American to sit on the nation's highest court. I once aspired to follow in the footsteps to follow in the footsteps of that pioneering Baltimore native.

I knew even then the significance of a Supreme Court justice's and being one of nine of the people who got to interpret the laws of the nation. No, Supreme Court justices don't get to craft the laws or enfroce them, but to interpret them thus offering an importance balance making sure that neither the executive or legislative branch oversteps their bounds.

My respect for the balancing act that they must perform has not ceased.

But after eight years of aspiring to one day land on the federal bench, my mind changed. At age 18 I said instead of joining the judicial branch, I'd become a member of the fourth estate and report on our government and our world.

As someone who has watched the court with a fascination and curiousity I know it does matter who gets to wear the robe. Whether the average person realizes or not the decisions reached by the "nine wise souls" does matter in the lives of average Americans.

As people our lives are spent working to attain that which we desire, but we can't ever have those privileges, without certain rights. No we all don't get to have all we want, but what we should all be given is the opportunity to do what we must to have what we want.

So will she, or won't she get to wear the robe?

That is the question.