Myisha Cherry

Its hard to go on after someone you love passes. Its been 3 years now since my mother passed away and I’m still trying to master the art of living with grief, moving on, and fulfilling my dreams without her being in the audience. Some time back, new star Corrine Bailey Rae lost her husband after the appearance of her debut album. We haven’t seen her in a while, but shes back and like me and a host of others, striving to master the art of living despite losing love.

The New York Times has an very interesting article on her and I thought it was worth sharing and reading. She is back with a new album called “Sea” to debut next week. So Check it out here written by Melissa Maerz. Until you do, below is a little excerpt.

Over dinner at a Lower East Side restaurant, wearing another sophisticated jumpsuit, she noted that fans have been especially vocal about their support lately, though she wasn’t sure if they were even aware that she’d lost her husband. “For a while I was afraid that everyone would know and ask me about it,” she admitted in a thick Leeds accent that’s barely noticeable when she sings. “But then it was weird whenever nobody knew about it and nobody asked. It’s shocking when people treat you like everything’s normal when everything’s changed.”

From Jon Stewart  

From Satan:

“Dear Pat Robertson, I know that you know that all press is good press, so I appreciate the shout-out. And you make God look like a big mean bully who kicks people when they are down, so I’m all over that action. But when you say that Haiti has made a pact with me, it is totally humiliating. I may be evil incarnate, but I’m no welcher. The way you put it, making a deal with me leaves folks desperate and impoverished. Sure, in the afterlife, but when I strike bargains with people, they first get something here on earth — glamour, beauty, talent, wealth, fame, glory, a golden fiddle. Those Haitians have nothing, and I mean nothing. And that was before the earthquake. Haven’t you seen ‘Crossroads’? Or ‘Damn Yankees’? If I had a thing going with Haiti, there’d be lots of banks, skyscrapers, SUVs, exclusive night clubs, Botox — that kind of thing. An 80 percent poverty rate is so not my style. Nothing against it — I’m just saying: Not how I roll. You’re doing great work, Pat, and I don’t want to clip your wings — just, come on, you’re making me look bad. And not the good kind of bad. Keep blaming God. That’s working. But leave me out of it, please. Or we may need to renegotiate your own contract.
Best, Satan.”

In a letter to the editor of the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune, reader Lily Coyle writes an answer on behalf of Satan.

Happy MLK Day! As we focus on freedom, equality, and the great man who strove to push this nation to give us both, check out this awesome speed up portrait painting of MLK Jr. Much credit to Jordan Tarrant who created this Graffiti inspired portraiture. Check him out on HIS WEBSITE here and get more information about MLK HERE.

One word the World needs to hear today and that is DONATE. Oh and had another one COMPASSION. Its so easy to do both, just grab your cell phones and get to texting. And you dont’ have to be a millionaire, here are your options:

To give 5 bucks, text: YELE to 501501
(Wyclef Jean Foundation)

To give 10 bucks, text: HAITI to 20222
(Bill Clinton Foundation)

To give 10 bucks, text: Haiti to the number 90999
(Red Cross)

Check out the throwback videos below of my favorite group the Fugees live in Haiti. And while you do, Go Here to donate to the Haiti earthquake relief fund lead by member Wyclef Jean or you can simply text YELE to 501501 to donate only 5$.

YELE MUSIC VIDEO(rare)

LIVE PERFORMANCE

FREESTYLE

While we pray and bring aid to a country that needed both from us years ago, I thought I’ll post some pics of Haiti and its beauty so we can remember they are people too.

The above art was done by Hort for Nike’s Zoom Lebron VII campaign. The art is pretty cool and Hort brings a quite unique approach to the work. It is strange that I come across it because all this weekend Ive been dissecting Lebron James Interviews. I don’t know how to describe it, but Ive been learning a lot of life lessons by watching lots of Basketball video clips and Mr. Lebron James has contributed to that wisdom journal.

When I played organized basketball for over 10 years of my life I learned so much, not just about the game, but about life itself. I’m being reminded of those lessons this first month of a new decade by looking at sports related videos and interviews. I’ll love to share some of it with you. So here they are, 10 lessons that I received from watching this Lebron James 60 Minutes video clip.

LIFE LESSONS (from the video below):

1. Think Team First
2. Give Credit to where credit is due
3. There is always space for improvement
4. Use your job/gift as a vehicle to get to where you want to go
5. Make yourself a business empire
6. You cant be afraid to fail, thats the only way you are going to succeed
7. Accept failure to get better
8. Control your own image
9.Trust Yourself
10. If you recognize your giftS, dont be afraid to make them come to life

This blog comes courtesy of LemonSugarWater. She who is out in Oakland, recently shared with me a good time she had at a comedy club with the guy above, W.Kamau Bell. I think black comedy has its mundaneness, so I’m intrigued anytime a person just decides to be their self and get us laughing at different yet relate-able content.

W.Kamau Bell, a bay area resident and awesome comedian talks about race and politics in his act. And of course I love his use of technology to convey the point. His whole set just reminds me of the importance of being yourself, being creative, and talking about the uncomfortable things. Check out his EPK from his set The Bell Curve below.

HEALTH:
1. Drink plenty of water.
2. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar.
3. Eat more foods that grow on trees & plants & eat less food that is manufactured in factories.
4. Live with the 3 E’s — Energy, Enthusiasm and Empathy
5. Make time to pray.
6.  Play more games
7.  Read more books than you did in 2009.
8.   Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day
9.   Sleep for 7 hours.
10. Take a 10-30 minutes walk daily. And while you walk, smile.

PERSONALITY:
11. Don’t compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
12. Don’t have negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.
13. Don’t over do. Keep your limits.
14. Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
15. Don’t waste your precious energy on gossip.
16. Dream more while you are awake
17. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need..
18. Forget issues of the past. Don’t remind your partner with His/her mistakes of the past/ past. That will ruin your present happiness.
19. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don’t hate others.
20. Make peace with your past so it won’t spoil the present.
21. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
22. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn.  Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.
23. Smile and laugh more.
24. You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree…

SOCIETY:
25. Call your family often.
26. Each day give something good to others.
27. Forgive everyone for everything..
28. Spend time w/ people over the age of 70 & under the age of  6.
29. Try to make at least three people smile each day.
30. What other people think of you is none of your business.
31. Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.

LIFE:
32. Do the right thing!
33. Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful.
34. GOD heals everything.
35. However good or bad a situation is, it will change..
36. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
37. The best is yet to come..
38. When you awake alive in the morning, thank GOD for it.
39. Your Inner most is always happy. So, be happy.

A few years ago a good friend of mine, Allison Brown, visited NYC and we decided to go and see the movie “the devil wears Prada”. It was through that film that I finally realized that music, writing, and paintings were not the only arts: fashion was indeed one too. I soon got a respect for it and for those involved in the industry.

Since then Ive been following the fellow above, Scott Schuman. He is the blogger and founder of The Satorialist. A former fashion industry guy, he decided to give it a rest and become a stay at home dad. But the one thing that intrigues me about him is what he thought was a retirement and a hobby, ended up becoming a second career. Thus we have The Satorialist. I love these types of occurrences!!

Check out his interview from the BigThink below to hear him talk about fashion and much more.

Happy New Year Everyone!! I hope your holidays was a blast and you are ready to start a new year and new decade with optimism and focus.  Well I am focused and my number one line of business for the new year is to make sure that I am spiritually focused. The creative and intellectual stuff comes after that.

For some of you (I wish all of you), I hope that is your priority too; to take your spirituality to the next level, to put God first, and to challenge yourself to make God proud each day of your life. I am unashamedly Christian, so today I give you some Christian resources to help you start your year off the right way.

They come by way of three guys I truly respect and whom I think is both profound and very very creative in their ministries. They hail from Texas, Chicago, and Florida. Take a listen and don’t forget to make your first line of business this decade: your spirit, your God!!!

ED YOUNG
Message: Ineed2change.com

CHARLES JENKINS
Video Blog: Ready To Be Recycled

TROY GRAMLING
Message: Priorities

Here is my pick for books you must have in your library if you want to be creative and inspired in 2010. They range from design, poetry, fashion, & Music. The books are filled with visual pictures and ingenious content and some of the authors you maybe familiar with but a few are newbies.

The SELBY 2010: TODD SELBY
Some Video
Buy

The SATORIALIST: SCOTT SCHUMAN
Some Video
Buy

My NAME IS JASON, MINE TOO: JASON REYNOLDS and JASON GRIFFIN
Some Video
Buy

GLOW IN THE DARK TOUR BOOK: KANYE WEST
Some Video
Buy

So the New Year is slowly approaching and so many people are starting to do what we call “get themselves together”. I am one of them. I desire to enter into another year of my life more examined, moral, in tune to God, nature, and others. I pray my acts line with the wish.

While surfing the internets today, I came across an awesome website called BigThink.com. There are a whole bunch of intellectual treasures on the site; scholars, comedians, philosophers sharing their responses about human topics. Since I am striving to be more spiritual, happier, and laugh more in the years to come, I quickly dove into 3 videos that give a wonderful perspective about all three. Hope you enjoy them as well.

They are short ones from religion historian Karen Armstong, Princeton Psychology lecturer Tal Ben Shahar, and The New Yorker Cartoonist Robert Mankoff.

KAREN ARMSTRONG: The human Quest For The Divine

TAL BEN SHAHAR:Five Ways to Become Happier Today

ROBERT MANKOFF: The Science of Laughing

2009 was a heck of the year. So much has happened in just 300 and something days(i forget exactly the days with leap years count and what not). Anywhoo, JibJab decided to take us back, more like “through” these last 12 months that were full of surprises, epidemics, achievements, celebrity drama and plan out craziness with hilarious yet true animation. Its called “Never been a Year like 09′”.People thats not just a title, that is the truth!!! And JibJab always seem to make us laugh through it all with ingenious and hilarious creativity. Check out the behind the scenes pics below and also the full 2 minute video and go back.

1. Get to a well talked about film more than 10 minutes before viewing or you WILL NOT have a seat!!!!!

2. 3D is sooo freaking awesome!

3. Zoe Saldana is an awesome actress and the 2 other african american actors (CC Pounder &  Laz Alonso) are too.

4. I would like to vacation at an interesting place/planet like pandora. It better exist in real life.

5. It is sad that indigenous people are always portrayed as loving the oppressor more than themselves. I don’t think this is accurate at all.

6. It is sad that conquerors impede on the lives of “others” for gain and can live with it.

7. We should all try to get connected to the natural world around us because we are more naturally apart of it than we think.

8. Human’ minds are getting more creative everyday. The making of the movie is simply ingenious and proves this point. Here’s how.

9. As I learned from my mom, being handicap does not make you weak!!!

10. “Paganism” has as much merit as the three major monotheistic religion.

I am starting a new blog right here. What is it exactly? Well I’m glad you asked. Its a chronicle of my day to day teaching experience as a college professor and educator to formerly incarcerated youth and adults. I felt that Ive let years go by without fully reflecting and living through the experience: the constant contact with students, the lessons learned, the struggles, etc. This blog is to help me do just that. Its coming soon in the new year so stay tuned!!

I’ve never been a fan of Bape. For one its just too expensive and for two their line designs just seem to busy, trendy, and youthful for me. However their new spring 2010 lookbook has Kanye West profiling and it has me having second thoughts.  They would have to still lower the price for me to join the bandwagon, but I must say I like what I see.

Sam Ilbey is an illustrator based out of London. His work is quite vivid and I love the way he depicts pop culture icons and characters. His illustrations have appeared in numerous publications, both on and offline all over the globe, from magazines such as Computer Arts and Official Playstation Magazine, to several books, exhibitions, comics, and also on television and in a movie test shoot. Take a glance at a few.

I love people: normal, extraordinary, plain, and eccentric people. I believe all of our lives are uniquely different and I am intrigued and inspired by people from all walks of life. (Remember this post). So when I came upon THESELBY.COM, I became hooked!!!! Simply the site features photographs, paintings and videos by Todd Selby of interesting people and their creative spaces. He goes into the work space and/or homes of people in London, NYC, LA, Paris, Mexico, Syndey, Philly, and Tokyo and takes pics of them. He then ends the post with a creative drawing of their interview together which is simply tooo cute!!!

My favorites interviews are of marvin jarrett (he has an awesome magazine) paola kudacki and james penfold (their apt is awesome), and William Eaton (I think he’s pretty awesome).