I'm a bad blogger (aka The Roots of Kwanzaa pt 2)

I should be on day 6 of the Kwanzaa posting, but obviously, I'm not. Bad blogger! I plan to rectify that right now! I think on Saturday or so, of course that would mean after the designated time for Kwanzaa is over, I'll go over what all of this means to me, in regards to 2008 and 2009.

The African American Branch

Rooted in this ancient history and culture, Kwanzaa develops as a flourishing branch of the African American life and struggle as a recreated and expanded ancient tradition. Thus, it bears special characteristics only an African American holiday but also a Pan-African one, For it draws from the cultures of various African peoples, and is celebrated by millions of Africans throughout the world African community. Moreover, these various African peoples celebrate Kwanzaa because it speaks not only to African Americans in a special way, but also to Africans as a whole, in its stress on history, values, family, community and culture.

Kwanzaa was established in 1966 in the midst of the Black Freedom Movement and thus reflects its concern for cultural groundedness in thought and practice, and the unity and self-determination associated with this. It was conceived and established to serve several functions.

Reaffirming and Restoring Culture

First, Kwanzaa was created to reaffirm and restore our rootedness in African culture. It is, therefore, an expression of recovery and reconstruction of African culture which was being conducted in the general context of the Black Liberation Movement of the '60's and in the specific context of The Organization Us, the founding organization of Kwanzaa and the authoritative keeper of its tradition. Secondly, Kwanzaa was created to serve as a regular communal celebration to reaffirm and reinforce the bonds between us as a people. It was designed to be an ingathering to strengthen community and reaffirm common identity, purpose and direction as a people and a world community. Thirdly, Kwanzaa was created to introduce and reinforce the Nguzo Saba (the Seven Principles.) These seven communitarian African values are: Umoja (Unity), Kujichagulia (Self-Determination), Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility), Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics), Nia (Purpose), Kuumba (Creativity), and Imani (Faith). This stress on the Nguzo Saba was at the same time an emphasis on the importance of African communitarian values in general, which stress family, community and culture and speak to the best of what it means to be African and human in the fullest sense. And Kwanzaa was conceived as a fundamental and important way to introduce and reinforce these values and cultivate appreciation for them.

The Roots of Kwanzaa pt 1

In less than 48 hours, the African American (week long) Celebration of Kwanzaa begins. I became interested in Kwanzaa when I was younger and watched an episode of Reading Rainbow. I don't think it was a first air so I don't know if it was on December, but I remember watching it and seeing all of these African American families participating in something, that my family didn't do. I was curious about that. I don't remember if I ever asked my parents why we never did it as well. The, a few years ago, I think it was shortly after Thanksgiving, I thought about wanting my family to participate in Kwanzaa and I believe I asked my mom about it, but it wasn't met with a positive reaction, so I dropped it.

This year, however, I will be doing my own version of Kwanzaa. For each of the 7 days of this Celebration (December 26-January1) I will post something about Kwanzaa as I reflect on 2008 and release my hopes for 2009. Earlier this month, I was able to attend in a mini Kwanzaa event at Cypress College. (photos my back left side can be seen in the last picture)

Before December 26th, I thought I should give a little background information of Kwanzaa. All information that I have, I have gotten from The Official Kwanzaa website.

The Continental African Roots

Kwanzaa is an African American and Pan-African holiday which celebrates family, community and culture. Celebrated from 26 December thru 1 January, its origins are in the first harvest celebrations of Africa from which it takes its name. The name Kwanzaa is derived from the phrase "matunda ya kwanza" which means "first fruits" in Swahili, a Pan-African language which is the most widely spoken African language.

The first-fruits celebrations are recorded in African history as far back as ancient Egypt and Nubia and appear in ancient and modern times in other classical African civilizations such as Ashantiland and Yorubaland. These celebrations are also found in ancient and modern times among societies as large as empires (the Zulu or kingdoms (Swaziland) or smaller societies and groups like the Matabele, Thonga and Lovedu, all of southeastern Africa. Kwanzaa builds on the five fundamental activities of Continental African "first fruit" celebrations: ingathering; reverence; commemoration; recommitment; and celebration. Kwanzaa, then, is:

• a time of ingathering of the people to reaffirm the bonds between them;
  
• a time of special reverence for the creator and creation in thanks and respect for the blessings, bountifulness and beauty of creation;
  
• a time for commemoration of the past in pursuit of its lessons and in honor of its models of human excellence, our ancestors;
  
• a time of recommitment to our highest cultural ideals in our ongoing effort to always bring forth the best of African cultural thought and practice; and
  
• a time for celebration of the Good, the good of life and of existence itself, the good of family, community and culture, the good of the awesome and the ordinary, in a word the good of the divine, natural and social.

More information to follow.

Friends…everybody’s got ‘em pt 1

It was the summer of 1986 and I was a little over 3 ½ years old. My mom, sister and I had just moved into an apartment (that my mom, dad and I still live in, but I’m jumping a head). I don’t remember much of that time. I think it was because I was (and sometimes still am) my own best friend (even though I do have a best friend). See, while I do have siblings, they are 14 and 16 years older than I am…so I pretty much grew up an only child. Anyways, we move into this apartment and living upstairs from us (maybe a few months longer than we have) is another family. A little girl, about a year younger than I am, her brother, about 4 years older than I am, and their mom, who would become friends with my mom.

Over the years, this girl and I would become friends. I would say good friends. I don’t know what she would say. We went to the same elementary school, but never hung out. After I went on to middle school, I don’t know what happened to her. I don’t remember. But we still lived in the same apartments. Summers we would go to Vacation Bible school at each other’s churches, we’d go to the beach, the park, and I’d even go to her family events.

More years went by and I guess we grew apart. I was in school, she comes from a divorced family so she split her time between her mom at the apartments and her dad. I didn’t see her much as we got older. Around 14 or 15 years old she really changed. In 1998 or 1999 she got pregnant. Then I think she was 15 years old she had her first daughter. I didn’t know she was pregnant until she was about 4 or 5 months. I saw her mom pull from the back of the apartments to the front. We chatted a while and her mom tells me “You’re going to be an Auntie” or something to that effect. That didn’t make sense to me. My sister had already had my nephew and niece and had her tubes tied. And how would my friends mom know about one of my siblings having children? Then my friend comes down the stairs. Yep. She pregnant. Wow. I don’t remember, what, if anything I said to her. Got an invite to the baby shower and the drama in my head started. There was this other girl there. Everyone was saying she was MY friend’s BEST friend. No that was me. Apparently not. At 16 years old I was hurt that I wasn’t being called the best friend. That someone else was. I guess I got over it, but not really. I put on a happy smile and we took a picture. The 3 of us at MY best friend’s baby shower.


(picture of a cut out picture) Me, friend, friend's friend


The following year, the baby was born and life went on. My friend and I continued to grow apart. She was all about her baby, which was good and I was about finishing school. I believe it was the summer of 2000. Right before I graduated from high school. I’d known this girl, who was MY best friend, for 14 years. At 17 years old, 14 years is your whole life. This girl was my life long friend. But she, her mom and the baby, who was now a little over a year old, was moving out.

That’s when I really lost touch with them. I didn’t hear from them again for months, though it seemed like a lot longer. Yeah I was invited to birthdays, but I hadn’t really heard from my friend. Then there was a knock on my door. It was my friend and her boyfriend (who’d I met a few times). Boyfriend goes off leaving my friend and the baby. I was so happy to see my friend. She tells me they’re getting married. Wow. She wants me to be in the wedding. I accept without a second thought. It was October or November and the wedding was going to be in December. Wow. But then, we lost touch again. Saw them the following summer. The wedding was off apparently. Then shortly there after got back together.

As with the friendship between my friend and me, we lost touch…AGAIN. I didn’t hear from anyone until February 2001. Invite to a reception? What are you talking about? Who got married? My friend got married? Wow! My mom and I go to the reception. Have cake, take pictures, opens gifts…then we leave.

In part 2: more loosing track and added babies!

I've got a crush on you

Today I’ve been thinking a bit about internet crushes. For as long as I’ve been on the internet (13 or 14 years), I can only remember having TWO internet crushes. One of them I’ve gotten over in the last 2 or 3 months and the other just started in the last few weeks.

Crush #1: When I speak about him, I can’t call him by the “name” I usually do because that would totally give away who he is. I will say he’s not from these parts of the USA. We’ve had some really interesting conversations in a few years that we’ve been friends. I’ve thought, on more than one occasion, of shelling out the money to go see him. I know the crush wasn’t one sided…at least I think it wasn’t. I would have totally been in a relationship with him if the thousands of miles weren’t an issue. But now…going to see him is kind of out of the question. We don’t talk anymore and he’s in a relationship (which I’m just a tiny bit jealous about). But whateva.

Crush #2: I know him but I don’t know him so I don’t think I’m to full blow crush mode. Maybe something like infatuation? I don’t know. I haven’t yet thought of a name for him. I call him by his name when I talk to my BFF, but in here (if I ever mention him again) I don’t know what to call him. He’s a good looking guy. His friend speaks very highly of him and he’s another guy who is hard to talk about without giving anything away.

The internet use to be a hell of a lot bigger than it seems to be lately. Maybe I put too much of myself out there. Probably both. But this internet crush thing won’t be going away any time soon. They’ll come and go like the tides. It may not be the same guys; a woman might pop up in the mix (I really doubt that though).

I just crush too easily and read more into things than I should.

My first time

This is my first time blogging, only not really. I have my journals where I post the mundane things of my life, but this is the first time I’m going to try to create something worth reading. Sometimes I get tired of the same ol’ “today I woke up” which is obvious since this entry is there, “I got dressed and went to school” but for me I’d throw in “I caught the bus to school” and sometimes “damn the bus was late again!” Like I said, that gets boring after a while and no one wants to read that multiple times a week.

So I have BIG things planned for this little place I’ve created! One thing I’ve been working on since December 2nd, but it’ll be for later posting. I’m going to try to keep the overly annoying stuff out of here, unless it really ties in with the entry.

Oh also have my not so pop life coming up. Stick around to find out what I mean by that. It’ll just be my take on the pop fandom that I “grew up” with.

So sit back, relax and enjoy the ride. I'll try not to make it too bumpy