Baltimore rapper Eze Jackson released the visuals for his single to Goals mid-August, and I’ve finally gotten around to seeing it! Eze gets in our face about taking ownership of his crafts and surpassing all those people who “bluff” about what they do. Baltimore rapper and president of arts and entertainment brand Epic Fam tells us what he means when he envisions goals.
Watch the official video for Goals.
The first time I caught wind of Eze was in 2014 attending open mics around Baltimore City. But it was after I volunteered at Baltimore’s 2018 Artscape festival when I saw him perform Unapologetically Black, that I knew I was a fan of Eze’s music. His content has the ability for movement in people that not many artists can’t capture in their art. It’s also a rare commodity in “Baltimore Rappers,” and more generally, the crab artists of Baltimore City, as mentioned before in my blog series Quality vs. Quantity (Part 1): The Saturation of Wanna Be Artists In Baltimore’s Art Culture.
I wanted to share this video because it’s a humbling message to inspire moving in silence when working towards your goals.
The visuals in Goals look chaotic which brings my attention forward and alert. Words swarm across the screen. Silhouettes and images pop up in weird places. The video is everywhere. But as you listen to the lyrics and watch the video, all the same, you start comprehending Eze’s message. Everything is blah blah blah (means nothing) unless you’re really out here making things happen. This dude has tunnel vision for the chaos and “work” that other artists broadcast. He’s a veteran in his field with receipts to back up his accomplishments. The message is to hold what’s important to you, like your goals, at close range so that people who prey on your downfall won’t bring ill-will.
We all know that person who’s always blasting to the masses their next move. Or we know someone who gets way ahead of themselves blasting what they plan to do but never gets around to it. These people leave no room for mystery when it comes to what they have coming next, then ponder thoughts of why bad things happen or don’t happen at all. They leave room for their competition to plot and enemies to prey on their demise. It’s a rookie mistake. Honestly, do you see rap and hip-hop moguls like Diddy and Jay-z blasting their next business venture? Eze is making it known that that type of person isn’t allowed in his circle.
Starting before I was Ready provoked my search for finding what’s necessary to get through my #Thirsty30Body journey. It was when I made the conscious choice to get fit and take the initiative, I learned how frequently I should think about my health, small tasks I could include throughout my day to motivate me to remain active, and the essential tools that will assist me on this quest. Today I’ll be sharing the essential tools I use for reaching thirsty 30.
Last year, I trained at Hero Fit with only my gym attire, which was an old work T-Shirt for Baltimore’s HFS Alternative Rock station, a pair of navy blue sweatpants, and a cheap pair of easy slip-on tennis from Wal-Mart. I quickly learned that that wasn’t enough gear for this journey after attending class for 2 weeks. I needed to invest in my health, fully. As mentioned before I started Thirsty 30 Body on a mission to strengthen my will-power muscle. So I thought of registering for Hero Fit as enrolling in an expedited college semester because the program was in total 12-weeks (if you didn’t meet the initial 6-week challenge to lose 20 lbs of 5 % fat.) I already bet money towards joining so I equated investing in fitness attire and equipment similar to preparing for college coursework, like buying the textbooks needed for class.
I’ll keep it simple. What was beneficial for me to have last August at the start of Thirsty 30 Body Challenge as tools for getting ahead were all of the following that still remains essential tools in mid-progress. These are items that anyone could have lying around and don’t require you to go out of your way to purchase.
Perfect Pair of Tennis Shoes (or prepare to be barefoot)
So this is a little embarrassing. My shoes completely came off in Bootcamp class while working out. It’s because of the cheap shoes I decided to workout in weren’t being my friend at the moment. A couple of mountain climbers into the routine, my shoes started sliding off my heels. I had to take my shoes completely off in front of a class of about 20 people to finish the routine. When two of those people walk up to me suggesting where to buy some good tennis, I sort of thought maybe my feet stank? Reality settled in that nobody wants to see the feet of a stranger even if they’re decked out with 90’s Nickelodeon cartoons. Tennis is the first essential tool to have towards Thirsty 30 Body.
I scrolled through the Nike online store in search of the perfect shoes for HIIT (High-Intensity Interval Training), which was the majority of the workouts conducted in Bootcamp. Shoes suited for this kind of fitness training is what I felt best in investing. After I purchased tennis for HIIT, I also used them while participating in 5K walks such, as the Black Light Run, and even some free local Zumba classes hosted at a neighborhood elementary school. The shoes are good for most activities. Get a pair of great HIIT tennis and your feet will thank you. Maybe even your Bootcamp class, too.
A Sports Bra or Compression Shorts
People with extra cushion can attest to their bodies willingly flopping everywhere when they’re being active. So when working out during Bootcamp I spent 4 weeks struggling to breathe because my breasts kept hitting me in the face every time I did jumping jacks in Bootcamp class. Lawd, all my life…!
The other heavily blessed women in my Bootcamp class sympathized and pointed me in the direction to where I could purchase a sports bra suited for a woman of large breasts. Amazon was the spot. While I was at it, I made sure to get some yoga pants and compression shorts to hold the rest of my cushion together. These are all beneficial for anyone looking for that extra help during high-intensity workouts that sometimes makes us too jiggly for our liking. Compression attire is the next best essential equipment to have in your weight-loss journey.
Fitness Watch (Tracker)
Mi Band 4
Have you ever tried tracking your steps or your workout activity using a fitness watch or fitness tracker on your phone? It’s the perfect way to help form personal accountability and builds a view of individually-tailored goals. Almost all smartphones come equipped with fitness apps used for tracking physical activity, heart rate, and daily steps. I use the stats in fitness apps to give me a visual of my progress over time. It helps to keep track of the habits I already have and highlights things that need improvement.
Mi Band 4by Xiaomi Technology is the fitness tracking watch I use for monitoring my physical activity. The band cost me less than $50 and has a battery life that expands pass 15 days. That’s this watch’s valued features. The watch comes with a Mi Fit app for download to a smartphone that tracks all progress using your personal profile. You also learn your progress measured amongst thousands of other Mi Fit users, which is beneficial for the competitive folks. It doesn’t have the full functionality as many popular smartwatches, like FitBit or Apple Watch. I like that because I believe it limits the multiple notifications and distractions that could occur using either of those smartwatches. Mi Band and Mi Fit are simple and straightforward with keeping its fitness features catered as a priority. That’s perfect for me for keeping focused on my physical activity.
Google Fit is a great and free app to download if your phone doesn’t have a fitness tracker. I would say it has all the generic functions you’d want to use for starting off and very similar to Mi Fit in having the same exercise tracking features.
Lose It App
I’m an active user of the Lose It Calorie Tracking App community since my college days when I used to live off bags of popcorn from the University convenience store telling myself that eating fiber from the popcorn would give me the energy to get through mid-day lectures. In turn, eating popcorn just made a lot of noise during class.
Lose It is a calorie counting app with“the goal of helping members reach a healthy weight by providing them with the tools they need for success.” Users can set goals, track meals, learn about the foods they eat and reach their goals to set new ones to build towards a healthier lifestyle. I use it mainly for calorie tracking. It has definitely been a challenge to use the app. But after spending literally 8 years using Lose It, I can say I now have a habit of calorie counting that Lose it has contributed to making healthy eating a lot easier.
In the next coming weeks, I’ll share on Thirsty 30 Body series a more in-depth Lose it App walkthrough of how I use the Lose App as a tool for meal planning and calorie counting.
Excellent workout attire such as a good pair of training shoes and compression pants are essential for your training uniform. Fitness trackers and calorie counters are essentials for keeping all your logistics in order. These are 4 tools that’ll always be great items to have at all stages of your workout journey. They’re all affordable and readily accessible at any time in your process, too. So the pressure for getting them can be very low, but the benefits of having them still remain.
What other essential items do you think are good tools to have during your weight-loss journey? Feel free to leave your essentials in the comments below.
Procrastination is a bitch. That’s why when I catch myself doing it, I revert to remembering that procrastinating isn’t productive at all whenever I’m pursuing a new endeavor. No one has the perfect solution to battling it. Everyone has to deal with it eventually.
To keep me on my toes and away from procrastinating, I know I need to always push myself to start things before I think I’m ready and to never give up by becoming my own pest. These two things will also push you towards a pathway towards fighting through procrastination too. Starting now and just keep bugging yourself.
Start before you think you’re ready by 1st finding one healthy goal to pursue and just do it.
The 1st healthy goal I chose was figuring out how to incorporate a consistent workout routine into my weekly schedule. We should have a goal to be active daily. I am not that. So to start off simple, I needed to think of ways to fit working out within my schedule outside of my job. I wanted to complete this at least for a month. If I can say I incorporated a consistent workout routine in a month, I’d be proud to say I scratched it off my goals list.
In the early fall of 2019, Facebook decided to advertise a lot of fitness ads in my timeline, which became the path chosen for whipping myself into a routine. Hero Fit’s 12-week workout challenge was one of the many Bootcamp campaigns in Maryland at the time that had a very enticing program and incentive I opted not to turn down. The challenge granted me the opportunity to take a chance on a whim to bet on myself to meet a goal. If I could lose 20 lbs or 5 % body fat by the end of the 12-week challenge, I could win a trip for two to Las Vegas and $500. While losing weight was already on my mind, money and vacation became the objects of my desires. I contacted Hero Fit to inquire more about their fitness challenge, and next thing I knew, I was attending 30-minute boot camp classes 3 to 4 times a week as if I was registered for a class in community college.
I didn’t think about creating an immaculate workout plan. I knew the structure would come as I go. I just wanted to make getting moving part of my regular schedule as soon as I clock out of work. Bootcamp helped their participants in doing this by holding them accountable for checking in to every class using a login system only accessible in the class. The rule of the challenge was to log in at least 3 times a week.
In my next #Thirsty30Body blog, I’ll share with you the makeshift 6-week workout challenge I made at home using a grid book for tracking days that I workout.
#Thirsty30Body 6-Week Challenge
Make it a habit to become your own pest.
I love stationery! Notebooks, planners, and sticky notes are reminders, outside of my daily reminders app on my phone, which helps keep me focused on what needs to be done. My to-do lists are posted everywhere I frequently look so tasks can stay at the forefront of my mind to complete. This secretly annoys me deep within, but I know through lifelong habit, it works. I’m eternally grateful for this habit I’ve gained because I reap so many benefits staying up with note keeping. I’m my own pest when it comes to getting what I want to be done.
Whenever I want to start a healthy eating habit, I challenge myself with this 28 Day Rule. It’s my way of being a pest. I’ve done this with multiple challenges that I’ll later highlight in the #Thirsty30body blog series. For now, I’ll share an easy one that you can begin with on your healthy journey; forming the habit of drinking more water daily.
Drinking my daily average water intake is one of my easiest healthy habits developed over the course of #Thirsty30body, and all it took was reminding myself to carry my water bottle with me and to not purchase drinks while out, daily, for 28 days. I purchased a water bottle from Amazon and carried it with me like a purse every moment I could. My water bottle had time measurements labeled along its side to help me stay on track for where my level of hydration should be in my day. I don’t always follow the timestamps, but I’m reminded by just looking at my bottle that if I finish this bottle twice in one day, I’ve had all the water I need.
When you’ve got the hang of your new habit, set a new healthy goal to pursue. I find that when you set goals this way, tackling them one at a time and creating a routine, it becomes painless going for new healthy habits.
Start now! Don’t overthink your masterplan for how you’ll lose 30 pounds on the first day you choose commitment. Sometimes drafting an entire blueprint in one day can be overwhelming. Start off simple, like drinking water daily for 28 days, conquer it, then move on to your next healthy goal. One step at a time, you’ll devise a working healthy plan. The important part is getting started.
Do you have another healthy habit that you want to form during #Thirsty30body Challenge? Leave what great habits you think would be good starter goals in the comments below.
I did a poll via the Doc’s Castle Instagram and Facebook pages and found out 88% of followers would like me to share a few tips towards my #Thirsty30Body.
Eff the 12% of haters who said no. 😂 Agreeing to share what I know about becoming more fit will help me stay motivated to stay on track, as well. So boo to you and hooray to everyone else who’s helping me stay motivated. I will be posting blogs, videos, and tips regularly to Doc’s Castle in hopes that some of you will want to join in with me.
As I am entering into the second half of Thirsty 30 Body Challenge, I want to share four starting tips that I keep in mind as I prep for these next coming months. Here they go:
Get in the mind frame to get healthy, not only to look good.
When thinking of getting healthy, I frame my thoughts to focusing on what makes me feel good and what are good habits to have. I’m not the type to worry about having an hourglass figure or needing a big butt or chest because the attention it awards isn’t what I want. It’s already hard on women when we feel the pressures of wanting to feel attractive and there are thousands of images being pushed of models and celebrities half-naked in the mainstream media. Those pressures I’ve never embraced. It’s nice knowing that I look good. But I welcome compliments that uplift me and enjoy getting attention based upon my intellect for what I do. I want to keep it like that. So what makes this weight loss journey a “Thirsty” one?
“Thirsty” defined in the urban dictionary means:
An adjective used in describing a person deliberately fishing for compliments, attention, etc.
Too eager to get something (especially play)
Desperate
But I’m defining what “Thirsty” means for me in year 30. I’m encouraging healthy living and hopefully aspiring to be thirsty for a healthier lifestyle. So it begins with what it means to look and feel healthy. It’s not about the physique though I will reap those benefits. The #Thirsty30body is the perfect body for ME! Thirsting for wealthy health.
Spend time getting to know yourself.
Knowing how much I weigh, though it’s good to start with, wasn’t enough for me to get moving and actively exercising because, as I said in the intro to the #Thirsty30Body Blog Series, I never looked at myself to be “big.” My motivation sparked after hearing results from my doctor’s visit to my primary care provider. As preventive care, it’s important that I know everything inside of my body is copacetic because I have things to accomplish, goals to achieve, and a life to live with people that I love. So I like to get bloodwork and vitals taken annually. I do this to be aware of what’s happening in my body so that I can control what happens to and within me.
I like to live by this saying: No one should know you more than you know yourself mentally, spiritually, emotionally, and physically. It just seems foolish to me to go an entire life doing what is told of you at all times. If you live your life questioning things, you learn new things about the world and yourself. I apply this to everything I do. It makes sense to do it while on this journey as well. So I say do more than weighing yourself on the scale. Really get to know your body past the numbers. Really get into the anatomy and understand what makes you feel good or bad.
Set your Goals and tracking system for accountability.
After getting my measurements, vitals, and all that is needed to understand my body, I went into the “Taylor University” mode, which is when I spend time meditating with my journal. Healthy living is better than simply losing weight because I prefer to not hear the same disappointing results again the following year. So I use my journal to make goals writing out everything about my body in its current state, and I keep track as often as I want of my progress.
There are multiple other ways that helped with tracking that don’t necessarily require you to drag around a notebook, like joining and participating in fitness groups and clubs online where people can help encourage you, taking and saving pictures whenever weight loss milestones are met, or simply regularly recording your weight loss in a monthly calendar. All these activities helped hold me accountable and motivated me in some way to stick to #Thirsty30Body.
Be kind and patient with yourself and keep pushing through it.
This is probably the most important tip I could give because at the end of the day, you are responsible for holding yourself accountable for getting healthy. People forget how hard they can be on themselves when critiquing their own work in whatever they do. They can start off strong, then fall off so fast because they didn’t pace themselves to be realistic in their journey. After that, they give up. Be kind to yourself and don’t get lost in disappointment if you haven’t quite met your goal. Be patient and allow a realistic timeframe to meet those goals. But also know when to pick yourself up to get the work done to achieve what you’ve started.
Something my mother would say whenever we’d talk about going through hard times is “There’s Always Tomorrow.” She’d say this whenever we’d hear crazy things happen like mass shootings or awful dealings that ended in demise or turmoil. Though resulting in thinking like this might be a little extreme for pursuing losing weight, it works perfectly for me. It won’t hurt me if I haven’t met a goal to lose 2 lbs in one week. I can dust myself off for the following week, and I’m not saying that without revisiting “Taylor University” to make changes to finally meet that goal at some point. I just keep pushing through it. Eventually, I’ll lose those two pounds. So be kind to your mind and body, and also remain determined.
What are somethings that you do to help prepare to lose weight? Leave your answers in the comments below. Also, subscribe to get updates to your email for the next #Thirsty30Body post via subscription form below.
My weight-loss journey started in 2018. Nothing to do with it being about losing weight because I never viewed myself to be “big.” I was going through a moment I was falling off of a path of knowing what I wanted to do in life. It’s the first time I would publicly admit I was going through a moment of depression. I had recently quit my job as a dental business assistant, was dumped by my boyfriend at the time, and unfortunately was getting physically sick very often. I wasn’t feeling like my usual self. My journey started as another escape route from my self induced coma of writer’s block from updating DCM, as well. I thought why not go to the gym because I’m not doing anything else but working just to get off work to lounge all day. After hitting the gym a few times, I notice I felt more energized. Then I connected losing weight to feeling better which was the little motivation I needed to get out of a bad mood.
In 2015, I took an interest in studying how to strengthen my “will-power” muscle as a way out of some “drama.” So much so, self-discipline was my focus word coming into 2015, before I started making vision boards. It was another dark period for me. But I considered it an era where I truly started to understand my place in Baltimore’s Arts and Underground Culture, as well. I started taking the same mini habits and principles I learned and valued about myself during that time as a blueprint for how to get back to my sane place in 2018.
By little habits, I mean, I used my knowledge of the small habits about myself I’ve jotting in my notebook to push me forward. I already knew so much about fitness and weight loss because I’m a daughter to a dietitian. Since elementary school, I’ve known the food guide pyramid from corner to corner. Ask any of my friends about the foods I like to eat when we’re dining out, and they’ll say I’m the only person they know who’d order a salad as an entre for a meal. In this new journey, I decided to focus on the little parables, habits, and principles I valued as a way to help me set and achieve goals towards losing weight.
Here’s five examples of what I mean by habits, sayings, and principles I jotted in my notebook:
If I carry a small notebook and flip through reading its pages often, it’ll inspire me to write and track new ideas in it often. (Using a notebook to keep recipe notes, nutritional tips, and shopping lists).
If something is constantly in your face, view it as a notification that needs to be swiped away. (This helped me with posting notes of weight-loss goals everywhere I looked often and taking them down whenever I completed them.)
“It takes 28 days to form a habit.” (Kept this in mind to help build my habits to eating new foods and drinking water daily.)
The rule of 3 and 5 when completing my To-Do lists. (I used this while following Meal plans and completing challenges.)
Making and completing mini-challenges are additional ways to developing steps for reaching your set goal. (Knowing this helped me to set squat challenges and not eating white carbs for a week challenges.)
I used simple ideas I always thought about as a foundation for building a productive lifestyle and as a way to form a healthy persona I wanted to meet.
I officially began pursuing what I now call the #Thirsty30Body challenge at the end of summer 2019 on a whim when I decided to join a 6-week fitness Boot camp named Hero Fit in Columbia, MD. I did it seeking to find another way to “self-discipline” and strengthen my will-power muscle because I reached another period in my life I believed I needed to regain focus. But this time I thought, “Hmm, what if I put a deadline on it?” That’s where 30 came into play.
Hero Fit reeled me in with their enticing incentive to reward anyone who met their challenge of either losing 20 lbs or 5 % body fat by 6-weeks. Winners could get $500 reward, have a trip for two to Las Vegas, and a 6-month membership for the fitness gym and resources. Hero Fit provided all their clients with an accountability coach and nutritionist to assist each member with carefully crafted fitness plans provided at the start of joining the 6-week challenge. People who join the boot camp gain friendships and plenty of useful information to aid in achieving a healthy lifestyle.
I didn’t win the Hero Fit challenge though I was short of the reward by only 3 lbs. I continued to take everything I did while enrolled in boot camp with me because what I found out was that my accountability coach and nutritionist knew as much as I did about my body. My meal plan and workout routine remained the same regardless of being enrolled there. It’s the accountability that gets me to where I needed to be and the best results.
Ding ding! It’s accountability and tracking that literally keeps me together in anything I choose to do. So I stuck to my notebook of simple notes and habits as a way to stay on track of my fitness goals. I believed in myself. I believed in my own accountability to reach my goal so much so that I betted on myself to do it without throwing money at things I wasn’t contributing to using on a regular basis, like my Planet Fitness Membership or subscribing to detox or fasting. All these things some people would think are absolutely necessary to lose weight. I canceled my subscriptions, memberships, and attention for everything I currently used for weight loss, and resorted to free resources and “habits” I knew I would actually enjoy doing to get me to my halfway mark of the #Thirsty30Body challenge.
At the start of the #Thirsty30Body Challenge, I weighed in on the scale at Hero Fit at 226 lbs. At the halfway point of July 1, 2020, I weighed in at 204 lbs. I lost a total of 22 lbs and I feel great! I’m not done. But definitely feel better. And weirdly so…this journey doesn’t feel hard at all because I’ve created new healthy habits that become normal daily actions. My body is starting to look like BAM and I like it.
Hey! Support Black Businesses! The above photoshoot was taken at the new production studio located in Baltimore, MD. TR3 Productions & Distribution Inc. is “a total solution to all media and audio production. From music production to radio broadcasting, TR3 supplies the resources needed for shaping and building a company’s branding message.” TR3 is currently renovating a new production studio in West Baltimore and is expected to open for operation in late summer 2020. Follow TR3 Productions & Distribution Inc. for more updates via their Instagram @TR3.Productions.
As I shared my pictures on my IG, people reached out for advice on how I stuck to losing weight. If you would like me to share some challenges I do to keep up with my #Thirsty30Body challenge, write “Do it” in the comments section below.
We’re living in the foreshadowing of what really happened during the time of our ancestors. For two years, Texan slaves didn’t know they were actually freed by the Emancipation Proclamation in 1865. Today in 2020, we have the president of the United States taking credit for making the holiday famous in the midst of rescheduling his first 2020 presidential campaign in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Though there could be some truth to that statement for many Americans, Trump is not the reason why I know about Juneteenth and also many other people who are fortunate to be educated on the true history of the Emancipation Proclamation.
Juneteeth 2020 was more proactive because of the current social climate of our country. Since the death of George Floyd by the Minneapolis police department on Memorial day, daily protest bringing attention to police brutality and excessive force has remarkably surged throughout the nation. People are making it their duty to protest in support of their stances against systemic racism and support or police reform. Every day there are new updates around the country changing legislation and proposed laws. It’s liberating to see.
But it was a first for me to see black people telling others how to celebrate Juneteenth. Entertainment site xoNecole shared a series of infographics encouraging how people could celebrate their Juneteenth. While I am a black woman, I have never had a tradition for this day. But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve learned that there are many black people who honor it.
I felt like I needed to do something to bring more awareness of my history, especially currently with what’s happening. Until June 19th, I’ve remained in my home social-distanced, and my only knowledge of what’s occurring in the outside world is met through the Internet. I needed to get out of my selfmade COVID-19 dungeon. So Juneteenth, I thought of doing something safe that could give me an escape and purpose.
After George Floyd, my boyfriend and I talked about our feelings about our current social climate in America. Both of us expressed a desire for wanting to do more with our brands in support of the Black community. I don’t know what it was, at that moment we felt like we weren’t doing enough. It’s like a kick of activism sparks in your spirit when something you know that isn’t right eludes in fairness. So boom I had an idea. Taking pictures of BLM signs, morals, businesses in support of #BlackLivesMatter while driving around Baltimore could give us that oomph we were missing. We can still do this and remained social-distanced.
Defund the Police. Need I say more?
I don’t think it’s necessary. We haven’t kept quiet since Floyd. I think people are fed up and won’t keep quiet.
CtrlMyCamera takes the credit for all these photos. That’s why I want to bring attention to supporting this talented black artist.
It’s always fun to catch an artist at work. It’s even more fun when you can get a class from it. Haha. Akeel is the most skilled photographers that I personally know in Baltimore city. So if it came down to finding the perfect person to coach me during a photo walk, no doubt it would be Ctrlmycamera.
A nice night hanging by the fire with friends in our blackness 12 am on Juneteeth.
Akeel Shabazz is the owner of the photography brand CtrlMyCamera. CtrlMyCamera specializes in portrait, event, wedding, landscape, and nature photography. Check out more from Akeel found on his Instagram @ctrlmycamera.
When did you first hear about Juneteenth? Leave your comments below.
I started writing this blog last week. I revised and deleted it a few times. I’m still weird about publishing this now. But to tell you the truth, I feel the same feeling of word vomit eroding my mouth today as I did 5 years ago when I wrote “#OpinionEssay: The “Real” Revolution Will Not Be Televised. #ILoveBaltimore” during the unrest in Baltimore resulting in the Baltimore Uprising. I don’t care how the blog comes off because it is another protest about what is happening around me. I just asked God to use me as he did before.
On Memorial Day, May 25, 2020, George Floyd, a black American man was executed on video by Officer Derek Chavin of the Minneapolis Police Department. The video went viral like a plethora of other police brutality videos that surface online. But this one…this one might just be the video that dropped a major bomb into white people’s reality. Do we actually have white people on alert as to what happens to Black people in America? Because a week later after this horrific image was shared countless times on our feeds, America also has seen protests and riots in cities across the country calling for justice for Floyd.
Credit:Nick Oxford/Reuters
When I wrote my Opinion Essay about how a revolution and revolt would not be televised, it was to send a message to Black people to come together and educate their families on the realities of being black. I wanted people to talk to their children about Black history. I needed black parents to take the time to teach their kids about a culture and a reality that has led their children to face a different lifestyle than those of other backgrounds. I wanted black people to heal in their black pride by sharing themselves with each other. It wasn’t my intention to tell black people to seek help or compassion from anyone who is white. When black people feel betrayed, that is the last thing they’re thinking of doing. I really believe many black people, like myself, took the time to immerse themselves in their blackness and grew in their pride because I saw so much uplifting and positivity living in the midst of the 2015 Baltimore Uprising. But the revolution was not going to be televised and all the positivity Black Baltimoreans experienced was short-lived.
Today I feel different about this revolution for Black America. I mean, the revolution is definitely on TV lol. There are so many black people who are already strong, having pride for themselves and culture. Black people live in their blackness daily. We don’t need to keep being reminded of why we go through these harsh realities. We’ve even gotten accustomed to healing each other whenever we’re knocked down with each release of a new video or news story. Though so many people yell #AllLivesMatter or Black on Black crime -blah, blah, blah- that is absolutely irrelevant to what attention we want. Black People are faced with injustices that people are deliberately ignoring. The revolution we’re watching for sure needs to be televised but this part of it is not for our spectatorship, it’s for our voice.
This revolution needs our labor at this moment to be a voice in our pure authentic blackness. This revolution needs for us to share our black stories, our black experiences, our black pain, and our black hopes. We need to share these things with our white friends so they can empathize with them. We need them to find some way to feel how we feel so that it can provoke them to fight for their allies because when white people care, they fight. It’s liberating to see more of my white friends, co-workers, and acquaintances speaking up after seeing this video. It’s amazing seeing white people taking the initiative to do the things that I asked of from Black people.
June 2, 2020, is a unique day in history particularly because #BlackOutTuesday will mark a day when industries and companies around the world chose to stop what they were doing to stand in solidarity against systemic racism. It’s the day America is literally acknowledging the bullshit. It might not be the whole country because there are still many doubters. But America today looks like it wants to listen to what we have to say. Black people have been screaming for such acknowledgment since forever ago. I’m a little overwhelmed with America lending an ear to Black folks, but goddammit about time. It’s the first time in all my life that I’m seeing white guilt on such a huge magnitude. I watched a video on Baltimore Fox 45 Facebook Live of hundreds of white people kneeling in solidarity on Northern Parkway and Roland Ave. We’re nowhere near the endpoint of racism but at least I’m seeing white people just as outraged as we are.
Several hundred protestors are kneeling for 9 mins on Northern Pkwy and Roland Ave. Eddie Kadhim WMAR is on scene (Source: Facebook WBAR-2)
It’s not over. We still need our white allies. But we need this issue to be in their faces constantly. That’s the just reality of it. Once George Floyd’s investigation dies down in the media, will white people stop trying to learn what’s really affecting people of color? When I think of the answer to this question in general, it’s no because it’s a really uncomfortable subject. People do not like facing being uncomfortable. A huge part of me believes that once we stop talking about it, we’ll fall back into this being black people’s reality, and I’m not being a narcissist when I think this because this is my reality. I’m black and there are a lot of wow factors about my daily escapades of being a black woman I often gaze over as just another thing I’m used to.
This is the new challenge that I would like white allies to face now that we’ve got a lot of their attention. I challenge them to continually diversify their mind while learning black culture because many of us have concerns about what’s genuine. All these awesome stances are being made, but will they make an effort to continue to learn about systemic racism and seek ways to help fight it? Will they deliberately seek moments that may make them uncomfortable with the intentions of it helping them grow? The country needs unity and in order to get there, we need collaboration and understanding that will not expire once the next headline takes the lead, I’m just saying.
Credit: Stephen Maturen/Getty Images
I’m tired. So are a lot of other black people. Are white people truly tired?
Wine and beer festivals and tastings scattered all around this country. A person could probably find over 25+ festivals in the DMV alone. When it comes to heavier liquor and spirits tastings, one would need to pay for the excursion on an exclusive vacation to attend one that’s worth experiencing. It’d simply be a waste of time, money, and gas to go to any local liquor store for a tasting. I know this so I decided to throw a tasting many of my friends would enjoy in a safe and comfortable environment.
Few people know that they can find tastings at their local liquor stores. They tend to be lackluster events. A tasting hosted in the average neighborhood spirits store would usually host a 2 hour tasting of a bottle sold in their store. They invite customers to taste small swigs of drinks housed on the shelves of their store as they shop. So most times these tastings aren’t formal or advertise for the public to attend. This could be due to Maryland liquor laws that prohibit many businesses from serving based on the type and class of a business.
Three stores you can visit for weekly tastings in Baltimore, MD:
HoneyGo Wine and Spirits located in Perry Hall, MD, has weekly tastings in their tasting room on Friday’s from 4pm to 7pm.
Quarry Wine and Spirits, located in Baltimore, MD, often hosts wine tastings in their liquor store on Fridays from 3pm to 6pm.
Wine Loft in Pikesville, MD does tastings if their wine collections on Saturdays from 1pm to 6pm.
These tastings are slim in their pickings of alcohol as they make the choice of beverage for you per the tasting. But if you are someone looking to buy a drink for later, such satisfaction is suitable in attending a tasting as such. But wouldn’t you want to really experience your drink? How will you know you really like it from just a sip? Why wait for later? Honestly the taste isn’t something great in any alcoholic drink, either. A spirits or wine tasting should let the drinker know what they’re getting themselves into.
That’s how it was for me at least. Wine tastings are best when you have them on cruise ships like how I’ve experienced when cruising to Mexico over the summer.
Doc and her dad in the Blue Agave fields in Mexico.
During my vacation cruising to Mexico, I did three tastings of my favorite drink, tequila. All the tastings educated its attendees about how tequilas are made, how many different types there are, and how to tell what brands are authentic tequila brands. I visited a field of Blue Agave Cactuses with my family and enjoyed exploring tequilas distilled into many different delicious flavors such as mango, coffee, and cream.
This experience was so fun to have I wondered if there were any tasting for Tequila in Maryland. It wasn’t a surprise to find the kind of tasting I would come across is the usual Wine and Spirit Store sample tasting. Really, where are the tequila tastings?! Not in Baltimore. The closest someone might find a tequila tasting is in a restaurant in Washington, DC.
So I threw my own tequila tasting during the holidays and I had a blast!
I spent hours and days prepping to grant my friends and family an experience worth sharing with others. I wanted this tasting to be talked about for weeks, or maybe even months. I wanted people to experience something they’ve never done before. So I studied, studied, and studied long to really educate my guests on what they’d be consuming. I became Catadora, someone who specializes in tasting tequila, for the night pairing my holiday chocolates with a kick of tequila. Bien de salud (in sound health, of course.)
Simply having people taste tiny sips of tequila wasn’t enough. I needed to know that my guests were gaining knowledge from me lecturing them about my favorite drink. So I threw a pop-quiz using a spinning wheel that ultimately turned my tasting into the most exciting Tequila trivia game known to man.
The night was so lit, I slightly beat myself for not preparing to have people in my house until 4 am. But no worries, I enjoyed the company and knowing everyone was safe. They had fun learning about Tequila and I loved being the teacher. I’ll definitely throw more tastings in the future.
What’s your favorite drink? Have you gone to a wine or spirits tasting for your favorite beverage? Share your experience in the comments below.
We’re going to conquer our dreams. We’re getting back to master planning and sharing vision boards.
Boom! I’m coming back to use this zombieland of a blog I’ve had for over a year in hopes of inspiring people to take on the new decade in high confidence! We’re going to conquer our dreams. We’re getting back to master planning and sharing vision boards.
I’ve been on a hiatus from blogging for numerous reasons that I promise I’ll update in a later post. Today I want to share the vision board I created while prepping for my Doc Castle return. My board is solely my vision for 2020. Though I did draft a plan for a better decade in my daily notebook, I chose to share only what I have in mind for this year so I will not bore you all.
These things are what I consider to be concrete and achievable plans. I’m sharing and posting my board online to solidify and make declarations for my desires. I’ve written yearly goals since attending college, and it has proven to be very effective for me because it helps me get things done. It helps me make steps toward becoming the best version of myself each year. In achieving my goals, my life feels more colorful and more meaningful, and more recently I’ve found that my writings about my experiences completing my goals are my greatest motivation when I’m not feeling 100%.
I’ve shared bucket lists on Doc’s Castle Media in previous years with follow-up blog posts of sharing what I’ve done. Those experiences lead to creating music with friends and being featured in fashion shows. I met amazing people who introduced me to exploring a bigger world. It might not be a bucket list but in sharing my goals for 2020, I hope I can see more vividly and continue living more meaningfully.
Just a few things on the 2020 board…
Travel More
#Thirsty30
Living and Growing Happily with My Boyfriend
Honoring Taylor University Hours
Utilizing my office as a space for productivity and as box of inspiration for brewing ideas.
Stop living in your what if’s and just do what it!
Make Dozens upon dozens of Decorative Vases
When entering into a new year, do you make goals? Share some of the goals you have in the comments below.
Has Baltimore found it’s new Wire series? It’s possible to say after viewing the premiere of the Lost Kings Series this week at the Charles Theater July 24th.
Terrence Smalls, director at 89 Crowns and writer of the independent film, may be onto something with his new series because it’s been a long time coming since Baltimore had such rich production embedded with its culture. In Lost Kings, Smalls shares his perspective of the city trenches, finally giving a glimpse of the inside from an insider of Baltimore City.
Any Baltimorean can tell the world is ready for more insight into how we live our lives whenever our radar flashes anytime tourists compare the lifestyle of the residents in Baltimore City to actors in the phenomenal HBO Series The Wire. Watching the Lost Kings at its premier made me realize it could have the same potential. From people’s accents to the infamous dirt bike riding in Baltimore streets, this fictional story portrays our city life artistically instead of, in recent years, the common factual documentary.
Through Smalls’ enactment of Max, played by Baltimore’s dirt bike Wheelie Queen, we watch her journey to avenge her brother’s death and thrive in an arena full of corrupt men. According to the premiere’s Facebook e-vite, Lost Kings’ purpose is to “bring Baltimore Culture to the forefront, while also highlighting and examining factors that contribute to psychological trauma.”
The film did great in portraying its purpose. Many artists throughout Baltimore’s art scene had a part in the production of the film. So it was easy to pick up on the city’s culture naturally as we watch the native actors. The film also highlighted characters having Post Traumatic Stress in situations highly aggravating and aggressive.
The series premiere is broken into 3 chapters in a total length of 30 minutes. It didn’t feel like 30 minutes at all with its many break in-between scenes acting as identifiers for the audience to refresh their attention on a new direction the story will take lead. We can see Smalls create a signature of his artistry while implementing this playwright style into the first episode. It also sets the series apart from independent “hood films” of its time, labeling a little more cinematic than that of what I can find “googling” indie hood films or come across on YouTube. So let’s say in three chapters Baltimore’s rawness is indeed depicted authentically and successfully in a swift 30 minutes.
I also did my part as I was a production assistant for the film, which is always great. Woo! I enjoyed having met many of the cast a crew since last year in 2017 at the start of shooting. Other participants in the production took to social media to share that they felt the same.
Terrence Smalls shares his appreciation for the turnout of the Lost Kings Premiere:
Does the Lost Kings series look like a series that you’d tune into? Leave your comments below.
If you missed out on the Lost Kings Series first premier, you have the opportunity to check it out really soon. The producers are expecting for the Lost Kings Series second premier to be held this August 2018.
