Each one, teach one

(click me!) I think we've all had a teacher like this one.
"Everybody Hates Chris" and youtube have been one of my saving graces. If it weren't for youtube, pandora radio, internet TV, the NYTimes and Black gossip blogs and even the Amherst intranet page I would've gone crazy my second week in London. Although I've never been very patriotic, I do love my good ole' American mass media. And although we're oceans apart nothing can keep me away from watching "Ugly Betty" or looking at the new Ciara video. Thanks for inventing the internet Al Gore! If I didn't have internet access in my little broom closet of a dorm room I would not have been able to check out (click here too!)BET's Top 25 Events that (MIS)Shaped Black America.
While I agreed with most of the list, I would've moved Hurricane Katray-tray a little higher on the list. We all remember how our government reminded us once again how they totally disregard the lives of Black citizens and the urban poor. And I disagree with their placing of religion on the list. Christianity and Islam didn't condone slavery. I never heard of the press conference that Jesus and Muhammad held saying that slavery was cool. Slavers, plantation masters, the Spanish, British, French, Portuguese and American governments and scores of others claimed that slavery was permissible through self-serving interpretations of the Bible. Black folk love religion, and the Black Church has been a pillar of Black communities across the country. I mean where would we be without the Black National Anthem, "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing"? Harambe!
And while I'm as anti-apartheid as Sarafina I wouldn't list South African apartheid on a list of events that misshaped Black America. How about the failure of Reconstruction? Or the era of Jim Crow? But I could not agree more with the inclusion of Jheri Curls. Just say no to Soul Glo.

But I haven't just been surfing the internet, I've actually been exploring my hood a bit more. I live a few blocks from a cool area with nice little shops and such called Exmouth Market. And every Friday and Saturday they have food and produce vendors come through. I really like checking out little stores, but it's always awkward because the workers either give you hopeful glances or they know that you're not buying anything. Well I was actually about to buy a dress from this one store for 15 pounds, when 3 thugs came into the store and gave the store owner a wad of cash. I dove out. I'm not trying to get mixed up in some wacky British money laundering scheme. I don't care how cheap the dress is.
But I did buy some food- the most slamming crepe in my life! Yeah I got it from a stall but they guy was actually French and non-Brits tend stick together. Then I went to this Japanese cafe and got me a cheap and delicious sushi box and miso soup. Yittidy! I must have looked like a crackhead rushing home to eat my California roll.