Me + The Couch Sessions = DOPE things

I am now the Philly correspondent for THE COUCH SESSIONS.  I will be writing and contributing content over there.  Check the site out, bookmark it, catch up and keep up ;)  I'm uber excited and grateful to be a part of such a well known and respected site. 

9/11 - 8 years later...

Unless you're fortunate enough to be at the show at Madison Square Garden in NYC tonight, you are like me and most of the hip hop and cable-having world...we're tuned into the Jay-Z LIVE concert on Fuse right now.

The show is going down!  Hov is doing his thing.  John Mayer was rippin' the guitar solos, Pharrell is doing his collabo thing, Santigold represented...all is well for hip hop, Jigga and Roc Nation.  I think people are forgetting what this is all about:  100% of the proceeds from ticket sales and concert merchandise will go directly to the New York Police and Fire Widows’ and Children’s Benefit Fund.

Community service is an important aspect of maintaining and sustaining our communities.  I have been a volunteer since I was young.  My parents instilled in me the importance of helping the less fortunate, to be grateful for my middle-class life, to be aware of what is going on in the world around me...and most importantly to value my time and spend it wisely.  From clothing & toy drives, to Girl Scouts, to tutoring kids in Math after-school at the Boys and Girls Club, to helping flood victims complete FEMA applications, to a runaway teen hotline, to a youth homeless shelter in Germantown, to the Northern Home for Children in Manayunk...community service gives me awesome personal satisfaction.

I have met so many like-minded people and beautiful souls through my years involved in various community service programs.  The experiences are priceless, the encounters numerous, the relationships irreplaceable.

Currently I am registered with Greater Philadelphia Cares.  This organization is involved in various programs all over Philadelphia - youth, inmate, elderly, immigration, athletics, arts & crats, etc.  Once registered they will send you a newsletter and email updates for upcoming events.  You contact the assigned project leader for the project you are interested in participating in, you show up, there - you volunteered.  It's THAT easy.  And so worth it.

Tayyib Smith, one of the founders of two.one.five magazine and the COO/founder of Little Giant Media Inc., contacted me a few weeks ago about a project he was involved with and interested in.  It's a great cause.  I wanted to use my small voice and my blogging abilities to spread the word and share with you all what is going down and how you can help out and be a part of it. 

The project is called United We Serve.



Per Tayyib, here is the plan:

The primary initiative of United We Serve is to “expand the impact of existing organizations by engaging new volunteers in their work and encourage volunteers to develop their own “do-it-yourself” projects”. In order to contribute to this initiative, video vignettes highlighting individuals and organizations that are making positive impacts in the Philadelphia region will be composed and distributed to various viral media outlets. Every day starting on September 1st and ending on the September 11th National Day of Service and Remembrance, an individual or organization will be highlighted. Each subject will be asked a series of three over-arching questions: 1) Why do you volunteer? 2) How has service brought about change in your life and the community? 3) How can someone get involved in your service project? This series will bring to light those that are agents of change in the Philadelphia area and inspire others to do the same in the region and throughout the country.

tayyib@215mag.com

Please contact Tayyib above if you have anything to contribute - if not your time, then your ideas, your exposure, your influence on others to expose this initiative and generate interest in community service and giving back to the communities we live in.

We elected a community organizer and very involved community servant in Barack Obama this year, folks.  It's time for everyone to do their part and get involved.  Don't talk about it, be about it.  You might be surprised at who you meet, what you know, what you learn and where you end up. 

R.I.P. DJ AM

DJ AM, originally uploaded by TiTi_215.

Adam Michael Goldstein aka DJ AM 03.30.73 ~ 08.28.09

Philly born & raised DJ…

I’ll touch on this more later…I just can’t believe it. I am truly sad today. He survived a plane crash with Travis Barker only to die alone in his NYC apartment from a drug overdose - possibly suicide…he was only 36.

* His official website: http://www.djam.com/

* The Travis/DJ-AM site: http://trvsdjam.com/blog/ (you can download the Barker/AM mixtapes for free here in the “downloads” section)

* AP obit in NY Times

UPDATE: DJ AM was laid to rest Wednesday 09.02.09 in Los Angeles at the Hillside Memorial Park.

The SugarHoneyIcedTea* ~ Tales from the Twit...

I think I once told someone via blog comment that we are all one small pixel of a much bigger picture. Each pixel equally important, yet different. Every pixel has a purpose. Every pixel has a voice.

This was proven more than true for me today when I noticed a surprise @reply via Twitter while @ work today.

carolinaware @shamara99 Voted. Lets go!! @titi_215

Apparently my Chica Twica, Denaya (who is a frequent visitor here, thank YOU), suggested this: dkb2715 @shamara99 Ur looking for blogs to profile, This is one of my fav's, http://www.chickintheclique... @titi_215

...which I didn't see until a few moments ago.

Twitter has opened doors and created possibilities for me that otherwise probably wouldn't have existed PT (PreTwit). It has opened my eyes and ears to opportunities I may have otherwise never knew about. It has helped me network and meet interesting, creative, funky, likeminded, crazysexycool people...now Shamara is one of them.


Shamara is a radio personality on Power 99, a big hip hop radio station here in Philly. Somehow a chick w/ only 674 followers on Twitter, who has a corporate gig during the day, writes when she feels like it about whatever she feels like writing about caught the attention of someone w/ a bigger voice, a bigger following and a dream job in communications. That chick was me today. And #thats dope. The chick in the clique.

Speaking of dope...check out @carolinaware's blog HERE (I've posted this before). And FOLLOW HIM on Twitter. We dig a lot of the same ish but he has wayyyyyy more sports on his than I do. Must be a man thing *smile* And please *COMMENT* on anything you read on his, mine, anyone's blogs. Even if you don't agree. Even if you have a difference of opinion. That is motivation and feedback to the writer how you're interpreting their blog and what you're walking away w/. You do not have to register for anything or sign-up - you can even do so anonymously.

I have heard and said, "A closed mouth does not get fed" probably a million and one times. We speak to be heard. We write to be read. We act to be noticed. So I'd like all my readers and followers to speak about, write about, act and be noticed:

Save Free Radio! Do you love your radio stations – the music, news and traffic? Do you love getting your music for FREE? It’s all in danger! Everything you love about your radio station could be a thing of the past! Unless you act NOW! There are bills before congress that threaten free music on the radio. The foreign owned record companies and misinformed artists want congress to establish a tax where stations would pay for the right to play music on the radio. This additional tax would change radio and put music radio stations in danger of going silent.

Your radio station needs your help! By signing this petition and sending an e-mail to congress you are telling congress NOT to pass this tax on radio stations. Click to sign the petition and save free radio! You also can make calls to your congressional leaders and email your friends.

I clicked, I signed, I wrote. All of the above. I know a lot of people say I don't listen to the radio much anymore, what does this have to do with me, why should I care?! And that's because we have a choice. We take for granted that it will always be there in our car or on our alarm clocks. Before the internet, iPod, on-demand, 2k9 (hello? BT!) and 100+ channels on TV, what did we use and rely on for news, entertainment, information, sports and MUSIC?! The radio. This is vital for a big portion of the community who does not have and cannot afford satellite radio. This will force us once again to give in to corporate greed and thus elminate our choice. I don't know about y'all, but to me CHOICE is equivalent to: The power, right, or liberty to choose; option. And that's American. Radio is someone's life and livelihood.

Oppose the Public Performance Tax on Free Radio

"Such a tax would force many free radio stations off the air, result in less diversity in programming for listeners, and harm local communities that partner with radio to promote local interests and rely on radio in times of need. We urge Congress to reject S. 379 and H.R. 848 respectively."

I learned of this issue visiting Shamara's Page. I went there intending to check out my competition and see how I was doing in the "poll". As of now (10:53 pm) I am losing - 35.71% to Heavy Rotation's 64.29%. And it's all good. I am humbled. I am grateful. I appreciate the exposure. THANK YOU, Shamara. 'Same "smile" u do...I do just different bodies :) ALL GOOD'

You never know who is reading, listening, looking, watching - you never know who is intrigued, impressed, mentioning or just stopping through. Your pixel might come into focus one day and be a part of that big picture. #thatsdope @Writtenhouse

*The SugarHoneyIcedTea stands for...you figure it out. Yeah, that's us...

Michael Jackson: August 29, 1958 - June 25, 2009

A legend and an icon passed on today.

An idol from my generation as well as my parents' generation! How many artists do you know were around when your parents were growing up (Jackson 5) and still relevent when you got into their music (for me, "Thriller" era)? Not many.

I was on the 10 on my way home from work this evening, quietly minding someone else's business and looking for nonsense to TwitPic when I happened to look down at my phone and check the Twitter timeline. I kept seeing "RIP MJ" posts and I actually said it out loud: Michael Jackson is dead?!

I immediately started calling 'reliable sources', of course no one is answering, and the one person who DID answer had JUST woke up (FAIL!) so I was at a loss. Then people around me started taking out their phones - calling, texting and googling. All I wanted was a web connection to view CNN or MSNBC - anything other than TMZ.com, which is hardly reliable and honest journalism over there in their gossip gang - and my stalkin' ass sister was trying to call me, I'm pushing her to voice mail, every time my phone rang it killed my web connection - I was sooooooo frustrated.

As soon as I walked in the door I turned the TV to MSNBC and sat at my desk. And here we are.

I'll edit & add to this post later...going to search my mom's photos to find one of me in my red zipper Thriller jacket I MADE her buy for me, LOL. I'll add some of my fave Mike songs and moments...but in the meantime, it's time to reflect and just be at peace.

Feds charge 3 N.Y. men in election bias attacks

They're accused of hunting down black people to beat up and yelling insults.

AP Associated Press
updated 8:29 p.m. ET, Wed., Jan. 7, 2009

NEW YORK - Three white New Yorkers, riled by Barack Obama's victory, spent election night hunting down black people to beat up and yelling insults about the president-elect, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.

The men beat a Liberian immigrant teen, pushed a black man to the ground and drove their car over a white man they thought was black, according to the indictment unsealed in Brooklyn.

Ralph Nicoletti, 18, Michael Contreras, 18, and Brian Carranza, 21, were arrested early Wednesday. They were to be arraigned later in the day on charges of conspiracy to interfere with voting rights.

A fourth defendant was expected to separately plead guilty to unspecified charges, according to law enforcement officials. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the plea deal had not been made public.

The names of the defendants' attorneys were not immediately on record, according to prosecutors.

Makeshift clubhouse

Before the rampage on Nov. 4, the teens had gathered at a makeshift clubhouse in the New York borough of Staten Island where they monitored the election results on the Internet.

"Shortly after learning of Barack Obama's victory, (they) decided to find African-Americans to assault in retaliation for an African-American winning the election," prosecutors said in court papers.

Nicoletti drove the group to a black neighborhood, where they stopped a teenage immigrant from Liberia and beat him with a metal pipe and retractable police baton. They later pushed a black man to the ground, demanded a Hispanic man tell them how he voted and "yelled profanities about Obama as they drove past an election night gathering of African-Americans at a hair salon," the court papers said. Finally, the defendants used their car to run over a white man they mistakenly believed was black, the papers said. The victim was in a coma for several days but survived.

Nicoletti was part of a vigilante crew whose "primary purpose is to defend its members in inter-neighborhood disputes, some of which have resulted in significant violence," the indictment said.
Prosecutors had previously charged two of the defendants with assault as a hate crime and weapon possession while the FBI investigated the civil rights case.

If convicted of the federal charges, they face up to 10 years in prison.

Is it really 2009? Some people are stuck in the past and won't ever have a future! Barack Obama gets sworn in on 1.20.09, history has been made. By a black man. YES we CAN, YES we DID! Hope for change and change for hope...My President is BLACK, my country is red, white and blue, if you're a racist and a biggot - fuck you, fuck you and FUCK YOU!!!