This year I am working in the NYC AIDS walk on Sunday, May 17, 2009. If anyone would like to help sponsor me, I will greatly appreciate it. Here is the link to make a secure donation on-line:
http://aidswalknewyork2009.kintera.org/ty
Remember, these donations are tax deductible.
Thank You
NYC AIDS Walk
Quick Movie
I threw this together last night for a friend of mine to put on his iPhone. He gave me a few words that he wanted and I took some pics of him previously and there you go. Anyway, here it is.
Drama Queenz
Queer Black Cinema presents
DATE: Thursday, April 23
TIME: 7 PM - 9 PM
LOCATION: 208 West 13th Street (between 7th & 8th Ave/The LGBT Center)
Drama Queenz, a new Black Gay Comedy Web-Series
QBC ReelTALK Q&A Discussion w/ Cast & Crew
TOPIC: The State of Black Gay roles in Theater
Moderated by Aaron Ingram (Executive Director of ActNow Foundation)
The Drama Queenz is a ten-minute web-series that focuses on gay actors living in Queen, NY looking to make it big on Broadway. The series follows Jeremiah (Joseph), a dreamer with ridiculously poor audition luck, Davis (Griffith), a perfectionist whose hard work produces uneven results, and Preston (Rucker), a realist whose inhibitions stir-up delightful “drama” for all to enjoy
The series stars Dane Joseph (national tour of Aida), Kristen-Alexzander Griffith (national tours of Rent), and Troy Valjean Rucker (national tour of Jesus Christ Superstar).
Cash Bar & Light Refreshments (while supplies last)
$8 online $10 @ The door $6 w/ valid student ID
TICKETS
info@queerblackcinema.org
PRESS RELEASE
INSIDE THE Q Blog
VIDEO PROMO
PURCHASE A TICKET ONLINE AND ENTER A CHANCE
TO WIN DIRTY LAUNDRY dir. Maurice Jamal
Photo Opt/Networking/Light refreshments@7:15 PM
Screening @8 PM
Some More Vids
This is the second dance performance from the church's dance ministry
This is Akua Doku with "Nappy Headed Ho's" from the last Verve event.
"Finding Me" Screening
There will be a screening of "Finding Me" at 7:00 p.m. at the Quad Cinema this Wednesday night. Hope to see you there.
You Don't Have to Ask... I'll Just Tell You
Sorry for so many posts in one, but I'll try to be quick. On Saturday, I attended ChillFest which is a monthly viewing party for mostly gay and lesbian movies/documentaries. This month they screened a movie called "Ask Not". As you can probably already guess, it was focused on the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy in the US Army.
Prior to the movie, this policy seemed to make since to me and I didn't quite understand what the big deal was about it. I figured, if you aren't sexually active while serving in the military then how would anyone really know anyway. Well, let's just say that I had my eyes opened this past weekend. I didn't think about the psychological abuse that you may receive from the other soldiers with teasing or their cadences that talk about "fags" being weak (yes they showed several troops shouting them in training). Most soldiers during their training and military career begin some type of psychological evaluation with trying to cope with a more aggressive way of life, post-traumatic stress, or coping with living without their loved ones, etc. Straight soldiers can discuss how they miss their wifes, girlfriends, etc, however, if a gay/lesbian discloses this information even to a psychiatrist, can have it used against them. I didn't realize that the military will take any letters that you receive from loved ones and use that against you. They also will tap into phone calls of yours. Now, when I say use it against you, I mean towards a "Dishonorable Discharge". I remember my father being in the military and if ever you have a dishonorable discharge, you can kiss every really having a decent job good bye. Not only in the military but back in civilian life!!! This will also disqualify you of your military benefits including retirement and/or educational benefits.
On top of all of this, there was a shortage of linguists at the time of 9/11. The military discharged more than what was needed to fill that shortage simply because they were gay. Many of them are fluent in Arabic and could have easily translated the threats prior to 9/11. To add insult to injury, the US would rather enlist people with felonies than accept qualified gay/lesbian troops.
After viewing the documentary I have to admit that I am compelled to become more active in gay/lesbian rights.
Friday's Events
This is just a quick post to put up some images from Friday. The first set of pics are from a musical event where Nhojj performed. It was at this place called Temple M in Harlem. It used to be a mansion and then was converted to a synagogue and then a church until it was purchased by Mi'Chelle (the man with the Sweeney Todd haircut) and turned into a performance space. He now lives in this awesome apartment at the top, if you are really nice he'll show it to you.
Afterwards, I ran over to Newark for Shawn QT's birthday party. I felt so bad because I realized at that point that it has almost been a year since the last time I hung out with the guys. It was really nice to see everyone again and to see that so many of them are now hooked up. I resolve to stay in better contact. Anyway, here are the pics
CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS LAUD NEW REPORT TRACKING HIV/AIDS AMONG NYC WOMEN BY NEIGHBORHOOD
A press release by the Women's HIV Collaborative of New York states that "60% of HIV-positive women reside in just 4 areas of Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Manhattan...". The Women's Collaborative brings women together to address the needs of women infected and affected by HIV/AIDS. The women of the Collaborative are from multi-racial and ethnic backgrounds, sexual orientations, and serostatuses. They believe that targeting services in these areas would improve public health benefits and reduct the number of newly infected HIV cases. I know that most of my blog readers are men but we are all in this together. The purpose of this blog entry is just to bring awareness with the hope that these staggering numbers will be dispersed throughout the community.
CLICK HERE to download a copy of this report.
Happy Birthday Derrick and Edwin
Last Saturday was the party for two of my friends, Derrick and Edwin. As you can see, it was a white party. Even though I was greatly against it, who wears all white that early in the year lol, it turned out really nice. On top of that it was a very nice mix of people (straight, bi, gay and confused). Anyway, I am so proud of them. They have been married for, like, 13 years and are still together. They are now buying houses and renting them out. I wish them many happy years to come.
March Verve Clips
Well, here are some clips from the last Verve event. More to come.
BTW, if anyone has contact with Omar, let me know. I really want to see if we can have him do a set.
"The Looking Glass" by Dy'Ari
Nhojj opened up for the event singing "Love"
The Power of Life and Death is in the Tongue (Revisited)
Well, just an update. Many of you read my post titled, "The Power of Life and Death is in the Tongue" that I talked about being afraid to say that I was in a relationship and why. Well, it is over. We have decided that we are better off as friends as we both have issues that need to be resolved before the two of us can go on any further, together. The good thing is that it wasn't an ugly break-up and that we are still friends. I am glad when people can carry themselves in a mature way even through having hurt feelings from a break-up. I guess that is because there was no cheating (that I know of) or ugly name calling sessions, etc. It was just the realization of where we both are at this point of time is not what the other needs.
Rehoboth Dance Ministry
I just had to post this. This is the Rehoboth Temple Dance Ministry in their very first performance/ministry. I am excited for Edwin and Sherron. Keep up the good work guys. Can't wait to see what you do next.
Morning Question
I heard this question this morning while listening to Big Boi In The Morning and thought it may be interesting to see what some of my fellow bloggers think. Here's the question;
Does internet flirting constitute as cheating?
Speak on it!!
Birthday Weekend
This was the weekend that I celebrated my birthday with some of my friends. Friday, after work, I just did some work for one of my clients and played Wii until the wii hours in the morning but I finally made pro level in tennis with my Mii.
Saturday, I went out to see the "Bride Wars" with my friend Poncho and out to eat afterwards. The movie was extremely funny or maybe I was just sleepy-happy as Poncho is such an early riser on the weekend. Baby, we were at the show before 10:15 a.m. You already know that I was still half sleep so everything seemed funny to me. Later that night I went to have dinner with Eddie out in Brooklyn at this jazz place. Other than it taking a while to be served, it was nice. Plus the conversation really made up for it as we really just got way too deep. Blame it on the alcohol. We were going to see a movie afterwards but it was after midnight by the time we got out of there.
Sunday, after church, some of my friends threw a little birthday dinner party at my friend Max's house. I had the chance to catch up with some friends that I haven't seen face-to-face in quite a while so you know that I enjoyed myself. Then of course, you know that the gurls had to watch the grammy's and you know they were reading outfits and hair for points. I laughed so hard, they know they are too funny. Then we would just bust out with the most random things. Two had me laughing clear into the morning. One I am going to do a piece on and will post it later but the other was us talking this commercial up from back in the day. You should have seen us reenacting it. lol
Here are some of the pics
Here are some pics that I forgot to post from the holidays.
Happy Birthday To Me
Yes, today is my birthday and I feel fabulous. I am thankful to God for being around as long as I have especially when I haven't always made the wisest decisions. 
I don't have any plans for tonight but will spend Sunday evening (after church) with some friends as we chew (eat). Antonio bought me a nice little outfit (printed t and jeans) that I am loving. I got a sweet hook-up from Derrick and Pei. Derrick works at the apple store and got me a sweet hook up on my MacBook. And Pei hooked me up with Final Cut Studio 2 for free. This software bundle cost more that what I paid for the laptop. The laptop came with iLife09 which has this application that will allow you to take a photo and select a person's face and give their name. It will then go through all of your pics and assign that name to all the pictures that have that person's face in it. You can then do a search anytime and pull up all of that person's pics. It is awesome. I am so in geek heaven right now. I can't wait to play with it a bit more. Especially since I've been doing some work for Nhojj.
I will be sure to post plenty of pics from this weekend and from more works.
Jensen Atword at Verve #3/ Rock Band
This has been a phenomenal event and growing so fast. The next Verve event is on February 18. See the flyer below for more information. You can see one of my previous posts here to get an idea of the event.
Rock On!!!
Saturday, I went over to Derrick and Edwin's house. We ended up playing their Rock Band. It was too much fun and Edwin's niece got such a kick out of it that she had to video us.
The Power of Life and Death is in the Tongue
Some of you know that's familiar with this phrase know that it is biblical. It is something that I truly believe. I don't know why God, in His infinite wisdom, placed such a strong emphasis on speaking things but it is seen throughout the bible. Throughout the whole creation process God spoke things into existence (Genesis 1). The same goes for us. If we have goals, dreams or desires, we can speak them into existence. Professionals will often call this the pygmalion effect or self-fulfilling prophecy. These basically say, for example, that if you tell a child that they are smart, beautiful, or talented then they will be. If you begin to tell that same child that they are stupid, ignorant, or ugly, then they will be. Now of course, that isn't an unconscious death but is the death of positivity in that child's life.
With that being said, why am I so afraid of saying that I'm in a relationship? My first thoughts are to say that it is because I'm not sure if this will really work between him and I. So, I don't want to tell anyone and make it seem like I'm just going through boyfriends like crazy. However, I don't think that this is really the reason. I say this because in some of my past relationships I felt the same way going into it but yet told others. I walked boldly into the relationship. Why haven't I done that for him when he has been more than accommodating and working hard to make this happen? Is it because this one seems like he isn't going anywhere? I mean, he's not going anywhere. I've tried to shake him twice. But getting rid of him is as useless as sweeping the dirt on the ground trying to get rid of the dust, he is still there. Am I one of those people who claim that they want a nice, honest and sincere person but when they come along, they don't want them? Am I scared that this one is too close to being for real? Am I just not ready to give up my single life? By not saying anything about it, acknowledging it and walking in it, am I contributing to the demise of this relationship?
Busy Weekend
This last weekend was a total blur but satisfying at the same time. I actually decided to host a dinner at my house on Sunday. I know.... I waited long enough, right!?! Anyway I spent ALL day cleaning and prepping on Saturday to the point that I just about passed out by Saturday night. Went to church on Sunday and then came home to finish cooking. It was just a few of us because I don't think my place is conducive for entertaining a large group but for the six of us was perfect. Germono, Emory, Derrick, Antonio and Edwin came over and we chewed baby. I fixed some jambalaya, sautéed veggies, biscuits, curry goat, beans and peach cobbler. After that we played the Wii, of course. Especially since Antonio bought me another game.... the American Idol game. It was hilarious. If for nothing else to hear Derrick singing "I'm Every Woman" with his bass voice. I felt like an ass later because I totally forgot to take pics and/or vids. Oh well.
Monday we woke up and I fixed some biscuits, sausage, and scrambled eggs with onions, bell peppers and maple cured bacon. Then we went ice skating at the rink a block down from my apartment. It is the first time that I've been skating since my broken ankle and I was pleasantly surprised that it didn't bother me at all. Antonio surprised the hell out of me, he took off like a queen chasing after the last pair of Jimmy Cho's. LOL Here are some pics. The last one if of this little kid that was trying to holla at me at the rink. He couldn't have been no more than like 15 y'all. They just keep getting younger and younger or am I just getting older and older? 
We, then, ended the day by going to see the 3-D movie "My Bloody Valentine". I will just say that I was more impressed with the 3D effects. The last time that I went to a 3D movie is when you had that white piece of cardboard with one red and one blue focal. The movies weren't even 3d they were just red and blue versions of the movie. They truly have come a long way. They gave us these modern sunglasses looking thing and it really looked like it was coming out of the screen. My Lord, what a weekend.
What would you do for friends? See below video, I thought it was cute.
