Doggystyle

Last week, I had the opportunity to spend some time in the beautiful city of Charlotte, N.C. I was in town all week for a wedding. Aside from driving through on 85 and changing flights at the airport, this was my first time spending a significant amount of time in the Queen City. Everything I had heard about the area was true. It is a thriving city with lots of potential. Sort of like a mini Atlanta. I could definitely live there.

I arrived on Tuesday afternoon and as I sat in my hotel later on that evening I saw a breaking news flag on SportsCenter: Michael Vick indicted on federal charges.

Uh-oh

If you've been living under a rock for the past couple of months, let me bring you back to 2007. Mediocre Atlanta Falcons quarterback and fellow VA native Michael Vick has been linked to a huge dogfighting ring in Newport News. His Surry County home, which he apparently owns, but doesn't occupy, has been ground zero for this operation and has been raided several times. There, the feds have found numerous dogfighting pits and paraphernalia.

Now, one would ask, for an athlete who, when it's all said and done, will probably make over $100 million in his career, why the hell would you be fighting dogs.

The easy answer is ignorance, but it does farther than that. Dogs, particularly pitbulls and rottweilers, are seen as tough and those who possess them often feel a sense of confidence and arrogance. Obviously, this is not the case for every person who owns the dogs, but for some young black men, these having dogs is sort of a status symbol. You want to have the strongest dog on the block and you will do anything to prove this - including dogfighting.

However, it has baffled me that so many people in mainstream media were not aware this sort of thing goes on. Granted, it's not as prevalent is other areas of the country as it is the south, but dogfighting has been going on for years. It's nothing new. My dad is a veternarian so I've seen and heard about such things first hand.

In our country, everyone is untitled to due process, but we all now that's not always the case. And while Vick will certainly get his day in court, he's in deep shit. So deep, that, his career may be in jeopardy, except for Madden.

I've seen the indictment and I must say, that, if half of the stuff in those documents are true, Mr. Vick is in a world of trouble. Fans of the Falcons and Vick can only hope that somehow, this doesn't end up as bad as it potentially can eg. potential time.


Many have pointed out that it's been Vick's family and friends that have brought him down. While I usually disagree with such claims, I tend to favor this one. Vick grew up in the hood and often times when you go from hoodrich to regular rich overnight, it's hard to separate the two and you find yourself trying to maintain your hoodpass while your career has led you to the suburbs.In doing so, you try to hold on to those who have been there since day 1. There's no problem with this, you just have to be careful and understand that everyone in your circle may not be good for you and have your best interest at heart.

I just hope Mike hasn't learned this lesson too late.

A closer look at Same Girl

It amazes my that, after about 15 years, R. Kelly is still having women problems, or at least still moaning and whining about them. A couple of years ago, he was Trapped in the Closet. A few years before that, he was supposedly Contagious. And, of course, we all remember the beat down he caught by trying to be on the Down Low.

Now, the self-proclaimed King of R&B is in a bind once again. Only this time, it appears karma has come around to bite "Kells" in the ass. Same Girl is basically a story about two friends who, unknowingly have been messing around with the same chick.


- Who knew Usher and R. Kelly were even boys? Granted, this is fiction, but I've never known the two to even take a picture together, but maybe it's just me.

- In the event that this was a real scenario, what is the likelihood Kells and Ursher would even be attracted to the same girl. After all, we know Usher has a tendency to drop the fine ones in favor of those who are a little rough around the edges. And R. Kelly, well, he likes them a little young.

-The description of the "jump off" made me wonder whether they were talking about an actual alum of Georgia Tech who actually works for TBS. I know a couple of people at CNN and there are a "suspects" but no one has come up with a definite conclusion yet. I'll keep you posted.

-Now, again, maybe it's just me, but if had a "potential wife" as R. so harmonically describes this young lady, wouldn't my boys know something about her. They would at least seen a picture of her, or knew where she was from. And even still, if I found out my boy and I were messing with the same girl, it would take me a while to get back to ballin' with him and the such.

-So, in the end, the girls were twins. Interesting concept for a music video, but for the actual story flow of the song, it throws everything completely off. Who was really messing with who? Were the sisters in on this? Did they know? How did twin A know to be at the same restaurant with twin B when to guys were trying to set her up?

Clearly, I have too much time on my hands.


[Update: Ok, a dear friend and loyal reader of The Beach Chair has pointed out that there, in classic R. Kelly fashion, is a remix. It appears that, the girl who R. Kelly and Usher were both messing with was actually TPain's wifey. Whoudathunkit? We knew TPain was in love with a stripper, but come on. Now, I'm not in a position to coment on this, but ladies, if you were stuck with TPain, wouldn't you try and dip out too? Especially if he talked with that vocoder.]

The Pull

Note: I'm introducing a new feature to The Beach Chair. Periodically, I'll welcome in a guest blogger to post his or her thoughts. It's a way to keep things fresh, offer different opinions and promote other bloggers and their works. Today, I welcome Jameil, author-extraordinaire of Mind Space. If you would like to guest blog on the Beach Chair, just let me know. Enjoy Jameil's work.


Like many Black people, I was raised in the church. Really raised. My late grandfather was a pastor. His son, my uncle Jacob, is a pastor turned Presiding Elder. My mom is a former Sunday School teacher and Sunday School superintendent. We went to Sunday School and church on Sundays. On 5th Sunday we also went to 5th Sunday services for the district. We (my sister and I) were on the usher board and the children's choir. We were youth missionaries. On Tuesdays we went to Bible Study. I was one of the lucky ones. Our church had special classes for youth bible study and Sunday School. We had people who wanted to make our walk with God, present and future, as clear as possible. We learned all the books of the Bible, songs to sing and on and on.

It wasn't until right now that I realized how much we were really, really in the church. It wasn't boring most of the time because so much was geared toward our age group, and we had friends whose parents made them participate in all of the same activities. My mother was laying a foundation. The groundwork for our lives. When I went to college, I was for the first time able to decide not to go to church. Because please believe that feining a painful stomach or not feeling good was always met with a "Come on, get up and go to church, you'll feel better once you hear the word of God." I can laugh about it now because that's the standard momma response, isn't it?

When I got to college, I no longer had to pretend. I would just look at the clock and roll over. At first I was riddled with guilt. I tried to go at least once a month because I knew I would get that call from my mom asking if I'd went and I needed to be able to say yes to avoid a lecture. And there was the pull. You know it. If I didn't go, it didn't feel like Sunday. And like there was something missing. Like where was the beginning of the week? Part of the reason it was easier for me not to go, other than just the freedom of being able to make my own decisions, is because I hadn't been listening in church for so long. We'd decided our pastor wasn't talking to us and had tuned out. I now look for very stringent things when it comes to selecting a church. The pastor has to be concise and on topic. And brevity isn't at the top of the list if you stay on topic. I've heard pastors (Rev. Charles I. Jackson) who stayed on topic for an hour, and I was so riveted I didn't want to leave at the end. I could've listened to him talk for another hour. I will track that pastor down the next time I go to Atlanta. I always do.

Once I stopped going regularly, it just became commonplace. I still felt a bit strange, but I began to make all manner of excuses. I'm too tired after I get off of work. I just don't feel like it. I want to go to breakfast. And still there was something missing. I would go to the gym after getting off at 10am on Sunday morning and feel especially heathen-like considering I said I was too tired for church, but I had the energy to workout?? It took something that sounds as trivial as a break-up, but which was the loss of a person I really cared about as a friend as well who I'd known for years, to really obey the pull. I began to focus on myself and my relationship with God. I knew I had to go back to church. Of course just going isn't going to do it, but you have to start somewhere. It's still very early in my renewal, but I can no longer ignore that pull. It's the first step to getting some peace. Not just about a breakup, but in every aspect of my life.

She-Her V

She was out of town last week. I missed her.

It was an interesting six days because, when she's here, I'm so used to being near her. Being able to see and touch her. Being able to be next to her. She is, for the most part, always around. When that happens, sometimes you can take things for granted. And while I'm not saying that's the case with her, how much a part of my life she is was magnified when she wasn't around.

Luckily for her, she was able to spend some time in beautiful San Diego. Unfortunately for me, I was stuck in lowly, non-picturesque Hartford.

And while the time difference and 2,930 miles separated us, when she had some free time, she always called. What her going away did was force me to use my imagination. To visualize her and think about what she was doing. To picture her out in Cali enjoying herself and working hard. To think and wonder whether she was thinking of me as much as I was of her. Because I was so bummed out when I left work and couldn't see her, it reminded me how important she is to my day and my life in general. I was reminded how something as simple has having her respond to an email meant.

So I had to be patient. I knew she would eventually come back. Although, for a millisecond, her dying love for San Diego made me nervous. But she came back on Monday and she was even more beautiful as she was when she left. Sometimes, it's good to not be around your significant other for a while and this was one of those times. I was forced to miss her. I had no other option but to think about her because I couldn't physically see her. And as my eyes zeroed in on her as she walked down the terminal my eyes lit up.

She was missed.

I'm out for presidents to represent me...

I'm a sucka for good talk radio. Notice the emphasis on good. Talk radio can make a long road trip go by faster, can tune your significant other out if he or she ain't talking 'bout nothing and can generate good discussion among your traveling group. It is one of the reasons I invested in, and highly recommend Sirius Satellite Radio to anyone who is on the road a lot.

This past Sunday, she and I were traveling back from Virginia Beach and we were listening to the Jamie Foxx Show on his new station, the Foxxhole. While the exact subject of converstaion escapes my memory, one of the topics/issues that was discussed was Barack Obama. Jamie and his panel were asking for Obama to do more. They thought he was playing it safe and trying his best to avoid saying anything controversial and not be a "stereotypical" black men. In essence, they were saying, that while he was running a solid campaign, he wasn't being black enough.

Once again, I stradled the fence on this issue and understood both sides. I can understand the concern of some black folks for Brother Obama to set it off on some issues. However, does he need to to be controversial to be in good with "us" It would, to some folk, perpetuate the stereotype of the angry black man if Obama would use the Al and Jesse method in his campaign. To some, because he's soft spoken, he's catering to the white vote and conservative black voters. Could it be that's just the way he is. If and when we ever get a black president, I don't need an outspoken shit-starter to accurately represent me. I think sometimes in our waiting for some one in our community to step up and be a leader, we start stereotyping ourselves and mentally build what we think our leaders should be and sound like.

Page 2's LZ Granderson recently wrote an article calling out Michael Jordan. Granderson basically took the position that Michael Jordan has missed numerous opportunities to use his celebrity status for significant social change. It's something I have too wondered about. If Mike took a strong stance on an issue, even if it wasn't the popular one, many would follow simply because it's Mike we're talking about. But at what point do we stop waiting for celebrities to take a stance that we can follow and start thinking and doing things for ourselves. Sure, there's nothing wrong with having a leader. Neither Obama, nor Jordan are obligated to speak up and be the reps for black america simply because they are well known. Would it help? Perhaps, but we shouldn't hold them accountable.

Maybe we need to be a little more proactive rather than waiting and being reactive.