Aww...I'm going to Hell

Okay, so I spent the weekend in Michigan at an admitted law students preview. Yes, it was cold as you know what. Yes the snow on Saturday caused me to imagine hibenating for three years under a mountain of torts books. But, I had a great time. Well, almost...

Once I got to campus, I met cool peeps of every hue. From one guy who worked for years as an engineer to another dude who had started up his own dot-com, these were people who had done every imaginable thing before deciding to make the move to continue their education. One such lady, Caucasian with mousy brown hair, had two masters degrees, one in math, another in some type of organization management, and this was all before thirty. But she traversed the world, and specifically this weekend -- the campus -- in a world of her own, unaware of many of the hidden signals, the quick glances, the unspoken language that comes with sight. It's because she was blind.

We happened to register at the same time and spoke a greeting. The standard "I'm still deciding on a school... don't know about this wintry midwest...unsure about buckling down for the first year...yada, yada" that pretty much everyone had exchanged. The "Where are you from? How do you like the campus so far" kind of thing. Anyway, we quickly became cool. As she couldn't see, I sort of let her seeing eye dog follow me into the main auditorium and sort of guided her around campus and where I walked around to get a feel for the place. I even helped her and the dog back to the admit quarters a few blocks from campus so she could feed the dog before the evening mixer. All of the admits were supposed to attend one event and then split up into others depending on their preference. It was my intention to attend to gathering for the folks of melanin hue (and to get a sense of the brothas...um, hello?! Lol) and so I informed the blind woman...let's call her Kay... that I would be heading out.

It was at that point that she informed me that she would call me when she was ready to be guided back to off campus quarters were all the admits were staying. "Umm come again?", I thought. So, how is it that we're make the jump from "I'm helping you in one instance" to "I'm the personal, perpetual seeing eye guide negress"? But, me, not wanting to incur the wrath of the disabled, replied "Uh... okay." But, all the while I was thinking, isn't it a little bit of an imposition? Don't I have other people I want to meet? Other events I want to attend? Disabled people are in two schools, I thought: the first includes those who don't want to be treated any differently than anyone else, who don't want you to take any special precautions for them, who'd like you to regard them like anyone else-- independent. Then there are those who are more needy, who assume the help of others, maybe sometimes to an extent that's a little presumptious.

So, I hurried out to the black folks event, hung out with a triumvirate of cool bros, my friend S and a few other brown folks till just after 1:30 a.m., and climbed into bed, not thinking one iota about having to be on guide duty. The next morning, on the way to criminal law, S and I saw Kay standing about 15 feet away with her dog and speaking to a Caucasian man who seemed like he was assisting her. "Whoosh", I thought. Glad it's him and not me. I didn't want to get roped in to that again, but I feared she would see me...oops... hear me go past. I asked my friend, S, what to do. "It's not like she can SEE you." she said. Lol. (With Kay's heightened sense of hearing, she probably heard S say that, but I didn't think about that at the moment as we hurried by to the class.)

I wanted the freedom to do my own thing, to socialize without a ball and chain, to hang amongst the folks and not worry about having to guide someone around constantly. Kay found a way to make it around with the young man who guided her (and who from what I could peep from afar was possibly macking too? Lol). I didn't need to feel bad, right? But as we walked past... the guilt set in. How dare I with full sight, in good form shy away from helping someone else? How could I in good conscience sneak by a blind woman quietly holding my breath so she wouldn't hear my voice. Lol. Yep, I'm rolling to Hades... I'm gonna be first in line with a white hat on for "captain". Me and Beezlebub are gonna be playing golf over the Lake of Fire. Yikes. Aww dang... I'm going to Hell y'all.

I am...

I am: a writer
I have been: broke
I will be: successful (making progress, but so much more to do. Lol)
I see: my computer screen
I'm listening to: "Nights Over Egypt," The Jones Girls
I'm drinking: Blackberry SoBe Life Water (a.k.a. bootleg Vitamin Water)
I had: oatmeal and peaches for breakfast
I'm working on: a story that never ever ends. (Like that song from "Lamp Chop's Play Along")
I'm thinking about: how to quietly tunnel out of here from under my desk. *whispering* "Ole Man Rivah, He just keep sailin' alllllong"
I'm planning to over the weekend: get my "hurr did" at the Dominican shop, attend a sorority tea
I need: an elliptical machine in my house (won't give me an excuse not to hit the gym.)
I don't need: stress or high blood pressure (luckily don't have either... right now)
I like: anything old school (music, fashion, T.V. "Can I get a shout out for "Good TImes"?)
I'm good at: coming up with logical solutions to problems
I'm bad at: being on time
I'm cheering for: The Blue Devils to take the tourney
I secretly like: the argyle print on the Tarheel's uniforms.
I'm: gone!!

Sure he may lack melanin...

But the boy is niiice.

Duke rides Redick to ACC tournament title
BY KEN TYSIAC
Charlotte Observer

GREENSBORO, N.C. - In a brilliantly played ACC tournament final Sunday, J.J. Redick dribbled to his right off a high screen and into open space.

Before Boston College's Craig Smith could get a hand in his face, Redick rose for a 3-pointer that put Duke ahead for good with 77 seconds remaining in a 78-76 victory at the Greensboro Coliseum.

"You can't have Redick shooting the shots he did," lamented Boston College forward Jared Dudley. "You've got to get the ball out of his hands."

That didn't happen. Redick scored 26 points and claimed his second straight ACC tournament most valuable player award as Duke won its seventh title in the past eight seasons.

Redick, the senior guard who already had won back-to-back ACC regular-season MVP awards, received an emotional pep talk from Duke assistant coach Chris Collins after being removed from the game with 17 minutes, 11 seconds left in the first half.

Collins told Redick he wasn't talking to his teammates on the floor and didn't have a good look on his face.

"He's like my brother, so we can be honest with each other at any moment," Redick said. "He fired me up. He got me going."

Redick came off the bench to make three 3-pointers in 1:25 and gave top-seeded Duke a 57-47 lead with 11:49 remaining. No.3-seed Boston College, which already had come back from a 10-point first-half deficit to lead by four, rallied again behind senior guard Louis Hinnant.

Hinnant scored 19 of his 20 points in the second half, making four 3-pointers and a breathtaking, driving dunk. The Eagles led 65-61 after a Sean Williams alley-oop dunk, but Redick tied it with a 3-pointer with 1:53 to play and made the go-ahead shot 36 seconds later.

Smith and Hinnant missed shots in the lane in the final minute, and Hinnant's 60-foot desperation hit the backboard to the right of the rim at the buzzer. Redick made five of his seven 3-pointers in the second half and led Duke (30-3) with four assists.

"I've told him a lot, `If you miss and we lose, then we'll walk, arm in arm, off the court together. But don't pass up things,'" said Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski.

After Hinnant's last shot missed, Duke senior guard Sean Dockery picked Boston College guard Tyrese Rice off the floor, consoling him and Smith. Dockery told Rice, a freshman, that he is a great player with a great future.

"They just played well," Dockery said. "I don't think they should be on the floor. They should be happy and keeping their heads up."

Dudley said the Eagles (26-7) came to the ACC tournament to win it, and they were crushed after their second two-point loss to Duke this season. Seconds after the game ended, Boston College athletics director Gene DeFilippo mumbled a hollow "thanks" to Duke fans who congratulated him on how his team played.

While Smith sat in a chair outside the locker room, somebody told him Boston College might meet Duke again in the NCAA tournament.

"You never know," Smith said.

Weekend

Now playing: Stay the Night, Mariah Carey

-I'm on the super late bus, but this song is off the chain. Genuine Grade A, vintage Mariah. Having heard just half of "The Emancipation of Mimi" before the Grammy Awards, I thought that the silicone diva with the God-given pipes had gotten robbed when she didn't get album of the year. But, now that I hear this one, it's more of a "We didn't land on Plymouth Rock, Plymouth Rock landed on us" kinda moment. Where is the good reverend Jesse Jackson when you need someone to boycott the recording industry powers that be? Geez...

-In other news, I had a fantabulous weekend avec friends in B-More. J. threw a late Mardi Gras party that should go down in the Negro Social Registry for years to come. Lol. Can we say the Black Martha Stewart? He cooked miniature po'boys, two kinds of authentic bread pudding, jambalaya, corn muffins with jalapenos and the piece the resistance... the best pralines I have ever had! As someone who has only mastered how to microwave Lean Cuisine and add 1% milk to cereal, I truly respect the hustle. Hats off :)

-So admittedly, I haven't been following the NCAA basketball season as closely as I should be, but this is a PSA for all the ahem... haters out there. I see the Blue Devils are ranked uhm...#1 for the Tourney once mo' gin. I started to talk junk, but seing as how any team, no matter how impeccable the legacy is a potential choke artist as the Ides of March approach, I will hold my tongue... for now. But sleep on this: Grant Hill, Elton Brand, Shane Battier, Jay Williams...and lil' J.J. Nuff said. G'night blokes.

If I Ruled the... Oscars

And then we'll walk right into the sun, hand in hand...
We'll walk right into the sun, we won't land.

"You know it's hawwwwwwwd out heah fo' a pimp" would not be the first dose of hip hop the staid Academy of Motion Pictures audience would have seen on the grand stage. Martin and Malcolm would not have yet another reason to roll over again in terra firma as I shielded my eyes from the TV screen :-)

I could have my own version of J. Lo's Oscar dress. Great style that girl has. If only I had her budget (but not Senor Skeletaur for a hubby)

The oh so graceful but ever so pale Nicole Kidman would have to wear a darker colored dress and a flashlight around her neck, so we could see her. Four words: Casper the Friendly Ghost.

Every man could dress as well as the oh so pimptastic Terrence Howard. He even pulled off a borderline "Brokeback" brooch and croc man purse. Think Marvin Gaye said it best: "Mercy, mercy me!"

There would be no affirmative action for average-to-ugly white women (ie Hilary Swank, Sarah Jessica "Toucan Sam" Parker, Felicity Huff "cause I look like a" man and the alien... I mean Olsen... twins). Instead, plain white girls would be called uh... plain white girls.

Every Oscar host would have smart zingers like Jon Stewart who quipped about a year of movie remakes. "Walk the Line--it was Ray with white people." Classic. It's what I've been saying all along! Lol.

Instead of giving loads of free jewels to celebs, they would give free meals to the needy... Or, at least free jewels to me.

I could go home instead of still being here at work on a Monday at 10:42 Eastern Standard Time cranking out files. And I would stop getting blank stares from higher ups when I explain that it's past 1865, so I no longer work extra hours for free. (Do I look like Phyllis Wheatley? Scram! Lol)