The Terrifying Laundry Room My laundry room is an absolute terror. I have seven laundry baskets ... seven! There's only three of us. These seven baskets each have some level of clothes in them. I have lost track of which ones have clothes that are clean, need to be washed,  need to be folded or refolded or whetever else. Then I have a table with clothes on it that vary from towels to sheets, mis-paired pillow cases to new clothes, old clothes, give-away clothes and I probably should just trash these clothes. Oh and I have pillows. I do not know why there are pillows in here. Where is their home? Whose missing pillows and why have you not collected them? At one point, my laundry room was a wonderful place to walk into, spacious and everything in its place. Towels and sheets were folded on the shelf. The table actually had room for the small ironing board and we ironed clothes there regularly without having to exert energy to displace whatever clothing was in our way. How did I...

Too Close Breathless the attraction makes me. Still and silent I stand waiting for more, for fear to pass I wrote this inspired by Yuna's single Too Close from her album Chapters. The song is light and melodically beautiful. I'm sure it resonates with many of us that have been burnt by pass relationships, experiences. Though we may be at a point where we are ready to test the waters when faced with that person or situation there is a hesitation. It is understandable. The beauty lies in the heart's willingness to risk it all again. Yes, there is beauty and bravery and hope in that, even if it may take us a while to get there. Let life flow. No reason to force it. Let love happen organically. Like Yuna sings, "let this heartbeat lead you," especially if it is to a place where love is waiting to pull you back in.

Fences Fences, starring Viola Davis as Rose and Denzel Washington as Troy, who also directed and produced it, was intense. Both recently won the SAG for their respective performances. In recent years, I  have made it a point to shy away from certain films that are dark, sad, and might make me mad. Fences did all of that. I wanted to watch it to show support for the film and actors. I believe they would do justice by the iconic roles and there would be zero buffoonery. I was correct. It took a little while for the story to build. The reward was in the patience exercised to appreciate the character layout and building layers upon layers of subtlety that gets completely, and appreciatively exposed at the end. All throughout the films layers of detailed were being peeled back. The acting was superb, considering the minimalism. It would not be a hit for Viola Davis if her snot did not make an appearance. Now there is a woman who goes all in. Her snot deserves an award dammit. I ...

Bring on the blessings by Beverly Jenkins This is when you know my reading game has been off. This book was released in 2009 from one of my favorite authors and I have just finished reading it. That is a darn shame because it was a fantastic read. --------- On Bernadine Brown's fifty-second birthday she received an unexpected gift—she caught her husband, Leo, cheating with his secretary. She was hurt—angry, too—but she didn't cry woe is me. Nope, she hired herself a top-notch lawyer and ended up with a cool $275 million. Having been raised in the church, she knew that when much is given much is expected, so she asked God to send her a purpose. The purpose turned out to be a town: Henry Adams, Kansas, one of the last surviving townships founded by freed slaves after the Civil War. The failing town had put itself up for sale on the Internet, so Bernadine bought it. Trent July is the mayor, and watching the town of his birth slide into debt and foreclosure is about the ...

Too Close Breathless the attraction makes me. Still and silent I stand waiting for more, for fear to pass -Wanda Toby I wrote this inspired by Yuna's single Too Close from her album Chapters. The song is light and melodically beautiful. I'm sure it resonates with many of us that's been burnt by pass relationships, experiences. Though we may be at a point where we are ready to test the waters but when faced with that person or situation there's a hesitation. It is understandable. The beauty though lies in the heart's willingness to risk it all again. Yes, there is beauty and bravery and hope in that even if it may take us a while to get there. Let life flow. No reason to force it. Let love happen organically. Like Yuna sings, "let this heartbeat lead you."

Yuna's Chapters Yuna's latest album, Chapters, is a beautiful, simply compiled set of melodies that can put you in a nice, smooth groove. This is her third album release and like the previous two, it show cases her relaxed, yet beautiful voice and relatable lyrics. I swear this album spoke to me like a preacher who's preaching that sermon, you could swear he wrote just for you. I guage the worthiness of an album by how many songs I enjoy out of the entire compilation. Chapters has 13 tracks and I absolutely love 12 of them. The songs are touching, inspiring and relatable. I think many who have been in relationships or trnasitioning can understand and appreciate her lyrics. If you are looking for fast, jamming beats, this album is not for you. If you like a smooth ride, strong lyrics and something you can just chill, relax and groove to then Yuna's Chapters is a wonderful choice. 92% yes.

Do what today others won't, so tomorrow you can do what other's can't. -Brian Rogers Loop Accomplishment  and reaching our goals is about sacrifice. Everything takes some level of effort from us. How much effort we are wiling to exert is the difference between sitting on the couch in front of the television for an couple of hours and doing something productive towards your goal, something we may no really want to do but is necessary to get to the next level. As much as it is about what we are doing, it is also about what the next person is not doing. Did you know accomplishment is rewarding to our sense of self and well being? The effort we make to get where we are going helps reaffirm our self-esteem when that goal is reached. A strong sense of self is a building block in stress management and stress relief. While getting there may require we step outside of our comfort zone, the reward in arriving there adds to the overall enrichment of our lives. Remember these f...

Hidden Figures, starring Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monáe and Kevin Costner, grossed just a little over 22 million to beat out Rouge One for he number one box office spot this weekend, and I could not be more excited. It is a fabulous film with fine acting and well put together dialogue and cinematography. In Hidden Figures "three brilliant African-American women at NASA -- Katherine Johnson (Taraji P. Henson), Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer) and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe) -- serve as the brains behind one of the greatest operations in history: the launch of astronaut John Glenn (Glen Powell) into orbit, a stunning achievement that restored the nation's confidence, turned around the Space Race and galvanized the world." Based on the true story of Johnson, Vaughan and Jackson, this film brought to light not only their involvement but the countless women of color and women all together who contributed to a significant moment in history against all od...

Media Pawns The truth exist out there somewhere in the midst of media manipulations for clicks I disdain injustice and racism and hate just as much as the next person. Therefore, articles that hint at such injustices get my attention. I also find click and bait to be extremely irritating. However, diguising the truth as sensationalizes headlines in order to invoke strong emtions resulting in a click on an article is even more disturbing. We cannot  and should not take anything for face value. Investigate everything because there are too many fake news articles , distorted truths and blatant lies disguised as real news out there. Sites that we knew as satire are blending in with sites that just do not really care about the message being pyt our. The media giants as well as up and comers want is to get your clicks, get more viewers, and make more money. Journalistic integrity seems to be flailing in the wind, held together by precious few. Do not react too quickly before i...

There are times when you have good intentions but those intentions do not translate into action. I am well aware of my own guilt in this. Sometimes it is because I am ignorant. Sometimes it is because I am protecting myself. Sometimes it is because I am not as risky as I would like to be. Nevertheless, if your thoughts and intentions are not lined up with what you are actualy doing then we are not living a fufilled life. We are in essence cutting our selves short. We often discount the words of others when their actions do not add up. We may get dissapointed by the person who says they love us but then turn around and treat us like we really do not matter to them at all. However, what about when we do similar actions to ourselves? Do you have goals? Are there dreams that you would like to see come true? Dreams that are within our grasp if we just made a little effort. Our words and thoughts can be powerful tools for change and actions and motivation or they can be duds. I do not w...