AUTHENTIC Associates: The Peace and Love Movement

Hey Ladies! A little reminder from a special friend, Semira Fuller.

Peace and Love Day!!!!

Peace and Love would like to announce the creation of Peace and Love day....
Feb. 1st would have marked the day Theresa "Reese" Davis was born. For those of you who are unaware Peace and Love was created by Rochelle Davis, Reese's younger sister. Davis, after many years of working as a community activist for several different organizations felt the need was greater for her to raise the awareness in regards to the violence that plagues our neighborhoods, cities, states, and nation, by creating her own non-profit organization. We ask you that on February 1 that you make our image your profile picture, and spread the word to as many of your friends as possible

Please keep in mind that....
-Every 8 seconds 1 out 4 women is a victim of domestic violence.
-Violence is the #1 killer of African-American men.

By influencing the mind of one, we can ultimately change these facts!!!

Join the MOVEMENT.. www.weneedpeaceandlove.com

(if you would like for me to send you Peace and Love image please feel free to send me a message and I will do so).

Thanks so much,
The Peace and Love Team.

You know AUTHENTIC goes hard for Peace and Love. Not JUST because it's based in Philly! But because anyone DOING THEM while affecting national and international change is worth our support!



p.s. if you click Semira's image ... it'll take you directly to the Peace and Love Cause on Facebook.

DO YOU: Lend a Helping Hand

So ladies! We got a lil' factoid from an AUTHENTIC supporter ...

There's a project called 'Point-In-Time'; it's basically volunteering to go out into your city and count the homeless population. You'll have surveys; some might fill them out, some might refuse. The results are sent to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development so that they can provide proper funding for shelters and medical care for the homeless and improve ways to keep people off the street. Ideally the goal is to eradicate homelessness.

The date is Jan 28 and Jan 29. It's important that it happens on the same date nationwide to get as accurate a count as possible.

I'm having the darnedest time finding a general website for it, but they have them for a lotta counties, so here's a general overview of it:

http://www.pbcgov.com/communityservices/pointintime.htm

If you're interested you should be able to find out about it through your city's United Way. I don't know a whole lot about it but I figured I'd pass the word on.


Thanks chick! Any of you other ladies have something you really need to get off your chest? You have a super hot artist or musician or generally talented female you feel needs props?

Send them over to AUTHENTIC and email us at authentic.famc@gmail.com.

muah! love you!

The Happiness Chronicles: Cleaning Out Your Friendship Closet (Hater Be-Gone Edition)

What is friendship? It has been said that a friend is one of the most precious gifts we are to receive here on earth. Mr. Oxford defines friendship (noun) as

1. the state of being a friend; association as friends; 2. a friendly relation or intimacy; 3. friendly feeling or disposition.

This concise definition of friendship means one thing: Oxford has never had a friend. Unlike the institution of marriage (I Heart America),anyone who has enjoyed (and endured) the company of a friend knows that friendship is not concise, easy, simple, or even definable. Psychologists argue that friendship is integral to healthy self development. Even religious folk speak the gospel of friendship and the importance of turning the other cheek and the Golden Rule and an eye for an eye and hate those who are not like thee. Well, maybe not the last one. Nevertheless, whether it be the careless days of the sandbox, the shady days of high school, or the Baracking days of the 21st century (the first eight years don't count), friendship and our need for it has existed since the beginning of time (circa 1985 A.D.).

What is a friend?

We all have our own working definition:

"some nigga that makes me laugh and keeps it real and doesn't lie and shit."

--Dre aka random dude standing outside the gym who I assumed wouldn't give me the aforementioned answer. I should know better...not to speak to athletes.

(J/k...I'm an athlete. Yes, dancers are athletes, no matter what my junior high gym teacher says.)

Dre's definition aside, it is important to keep our own definition in mind when embarking upon new friendships and in maintaining old friendships.

Last week I shared my plan for life in 2009, number one on my list being that I will maintain my happiness at all costs.

Let's go back to the future for a moment.

Picture it: Sicily , 1942. My twelfth grade speech course with one Mrs. Wingfield.

I was instructed to decide my worth. Many of my classmates put dollar amounts on themselves. I didn't agree with this interpretation of the assignment because it proved conflicting with that whole 400 years of slavery thing I got going for me. So, I told Mrs. W that I didn't want to complete the assignment. Mrs. W said she didn't want me not to graduate. So, I compromised and, unbeknownst to myself at the time, I wrote a little blurb that I now use when I begin relationships with new people, places, and things:

"I am expensive meaning that I am not without ambition, goals, focus, and energy. I demand life and nothing less, so if you (yes, you!) are not bettering me in any of the aforementioned areas, why, then, should we waste each other's time? I care not to judge other peoples' paths in life, but I refuse to let anyone, anything, any event or situation sully a dream that rightfully belongs to me. This life is mine for the living."




Now, don't get me wrong, I don't recite this word for word every time I begin a new relationship (that would be crazy and exhausting), but I make sure to visit it from time to time so that it's present in my dealings with my friends and might-be friends. I remember the parentals telling me that "you are who you hang with." To some extent, this is true. I believe in energy and the exchange of it. When you surround yourself with positive and progressive people, you, too, enjoy the fruits of this exchange. Likewise, when you surround yourself with negative people, you slowly unravel, your productivity and light diminish. Therefore, it is always good to do an inventory of your friendships when reassessing your life. And in the spirit of New Year's Resolutions, the top of the year is a good time to do so.

When, then, is it time to end a friendship?

My rule of thumb is to release my peeps from duty when they no longer positively exist within the confines of my definition. For me, the key words are 'positively exist'. Those who no longer seem to be traveling parallel to me and my path aka the Yellow Brick Road are free to leave (or they kindly become acquainted with my voicemail and his girlfriend the Busy Signal). When I take my Tact Pills, I actually have a formal conversation with the newly free person, explaining to him/her that we're no longer compatible. But, in this fast paced world, who has time to be tactful? I guess I should add 'tact' to my 2010 New Year's Resolution list.

I have been very blessed to come across some very special people who transcend my definition. Little surprises, I call them, are always nice. These people help me realize that much like the Constitution/the Bible/Vogue Magazine, my definition is always open to interpretation. So, I suppose, that you should let go of someone when the limits of your definition buckle under the pressures of your relationship. If your respective definitions cannot be sustained within the walls of your relationship, then it's time to let go and move on.

As for the haters, they gets no love. They get one line in this post:
They hate. We love. We're incompatible. We let go of the incompatible.

Healthy friendships and relationships are one way in which we maintain our happiness. However, when your counting calories and making your treks to the gym and rocking that new hairdo and trying to hide that ugly and three-sizes too big sweater your Aunt May bought you for Christmas (sorry for personalizing on this one), take some time to evaluate your friendships and booships and booty-call-ships (if there is such a thing). It's still the top of the year, and any changes and new outlooks you wish to exercise and experience can still be titled as a New Year's Resolution. But, even if it takes you until June or November or January 2010 to clean out your friendship closet, change is change, past, present, and future. Make something happen. You'll be glad you did.

just being authentic...till next time!

FIRST OFFICIAL "Mic on Monday's" post: come get some!

Good day, Authentic! I’m Mic (pronounced ‘mike’) aka Mikey aka the envy of the world aka that Authentic man. And, well, it’s Monday, so I suppose today marks the first OFFICIAL “Mic on Monday’s” post. For more about me, check me out here and here and here and definitely here. Now, let the games begin!

We’ve all heard and seen the commercials and the billboards telling us to check the HIV status of our partners. But, I have found, too often, that this is where we stop. It is as if our other loved ones are not in danger of contracting HIV. Don’t they matter, too? (This is a rhetorical question. If they don’t, please suspend your disbelief for all practical purposes of this conversation. Thank you.)

We should have a little talk with everyone about whom we care.

“But, Mic,” you say, “how do I talk to those other than my partner/boo/boyfriend/girlfriend/booty-call/bedfellow/STD perpetuator/[INSERT YOUR LABEL HERE] about HIV and protection or worse…ABSTINENCE till commitment?”

Wherein, I will politely reply, “I dunno. But thanks for asking.”

However, since I am here. I suppose we can delve into this a bit more.

It always catches me by surprise that even in our arguably sexually liberated 21st century society, parents are still uncomfortable speaking with their children about sex and protection. But, what is more puzzling to me is the fact that many children are uncomfortable speaking to their parents about this issue. Yet, we all know how to Supaman dat’ ho. Things that make you say, “Hmmm.” It’s as if this little ditty is really about superheroes and our bootylicious music videos and magazines only give us that funny feeling below our tummies because they’re so wholesome and remind of us of grandmamma’s biscuits and our favorite Saturday morning cartoons (Smurf’s and The Snorkels were mine…but, I digress.)

So, in whose lap does the responsibility fall in regards to sex education and STD prevention? I am going to upset many of you when I say this, however, you’ll love me in the end (If not, this, too, is another one of those places where you suspend your disbelief. Thank you.).

The responsibility lies with the children--us. Why? Well, a wise prophet once said that “the children are our future.” That same wise prophet said that “crack is wack.” The jury is still out on said prophet. But, nonetheless, the responsibility is ours because these are our bodies, our lives, our futures that are being shaped right before our eyes and at the rate that our world is changing, our parents may not be equipped to navigate the slippery slopes of sex in the 21st century. Seriously, some of us aren’t even equipped and we’ve been riding the rides in this amusement park called post-9/11 America for almost a decade.

Now, there aren’t many tools available kosher enough for us to interrupt Sunday dinner with an impromptu slideshow or hand puppet production (my personal favorite!) that discusses the humps and bumps of sex education. Pun intended. But, if your family is like mine, and it probably isn’t (Again, my friend, keep suspending that disbelief. Good job. Thank you.), you can all appreciate hearing stories about real people living real lives.

Billboards have models. Commercials and public service announcements have actors. Both are important; but, the visualization of people who share your experience is always more gripping and lasting. Think about it: when was the last time you appreciated a man telling you how to be a woman?

Dear Bush Administration, this is my mother/sister/homegirl’s uterus. It’s hers. Not yours. So, beat it…and not like that, silly.

"So, Mic," you say, "what the hell is your point?"

To which I will politely reply, "Watch your tone."

But, I do have a little tidbit to share with you:the website A Positive Life.com is a great example of how multi-faceted the face of HIV/AIDS is. Each testimonial expresses the great need to self-educate and to share that education with your loved ones…even your drunk, stank-faced, wig-wearing, too loud, nosey auntie who gives you the same oversized red sweater every year at Christmas (I apologize. I may be personalizing.).

These are our stories told by a new generation of story-tellers. There is someone with whom everyone can identify. Parents, children, friends, and lovers share their stories of living with HIV/AIDS. They share their stories of empowering their loved ones who are HIV positive. They share their stories of supporting those who have full blown AIDS. You cannot deny the amount of courage, faith, strength, and, ultimately, love conveyed in each video or voice recording. I encourage you to take some time and check out this great website. It’s easy to navigate and one of my favorite parts of the whole site is that people look like me. Of course, they’re nowhere near as fabulous; but, they are brown-skinned and black-skinned and red-boned and yellow and well, not melatonin-less.

Good day, ladies. See you next week! Enjoy life. Enjoy you. Enjoy just being authentic.

Ciao,
mic

P.S. She supports HIV/AIDS awareness, too.