Baracky II

Baracky II
Baracky played by Barack Obama
Evil McT played by John McCain

and a special appearance
Hill/Bill Creed played by Billary

[Hat Tip: AverageBro]


plez sez: i found this over at AverageBro's blog... so good, i had to post it on plezWorld!

BET's Baldwin Hills - Season Two

The DVR in plezWorld has been recording episodes of Season Two of BET's Baldwin Hills since the premier, this weekend provided an opportunity to get caught up with the action.

Several cast members from Season One have returned for Season Two: Ashley (daughter of actress Vanessa Bell Calloway), Moriah (son of former UCLA and NBA great Marques Johnson), Gerren (tall and gorgeous model-in-training who dated Moriah in Season One), Sal (budding rap artist), and Staci (hard working and determined girl with a rough upbringing).

There are new cast members to round out the drama: Lor'Rena (drama queen extraordinaire who appears intent on stealing Moriah's heart from the first episode), Aunjel (Lor'Rena's sister and partner in crime), Johnathan (best friend of Moriah with plans on attending UCLA to play football), Justin (member of a songwriting group, he's a deep and spiritual young man), and Seiko (very pretty girl who appears to have eyes for Justin).

Baldwin Hills is very similar in nature to MTV programs like Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County and The Hills, except it features African American teenagers of upper-middle class families. Like all kids their age, they divide their time between attending school, playing sports, shopping at high-end outlets, and driving expensive cars. And of course, there is the drama when you combine attractive teenage girls with teenage boys.

Check out the drama on Tuesdays at 10 p.m. (ET/PT) on BET.

plez sez: i am probably 30 years removed from the demographic that BET has targeted with Baldwin Hills, so i guess the show falls into the category of "guilty pleasures" for plezWorld. the main storyline for season two (after first 5 episodes) seems to revolve around the unrequited romance that began in season one between Gerren and Moriah, and the determination on the part of new cast member, Lor'rena to steal Moriah's heart. complicating matters is the addition of Moriah's seldom seen "main squeeze" who appears to be a few years older than him.

i like Baldwin Hills for two main reasons: (1) it shows successful Black families in a positive light with clean cut and well-behaved teenage children, and (2) it incorporates parental involvement into the storyline. so far, the parents of Sal (well, his uncle), Staci, Moriah, Gerren, Johnathan, and Ashley have been shown providing guidance and advice to their children. and it appears that most of the kids are on a track to attend college when they get out of high school (with Staci already in college).

this show could very easily have fallen victim to the appeal of thuglife and fast vulnerable women, and it has thankfully not gone there! to be honest, there is very little programming on BET that is worth watching... on second thought, i can't think of anything else to watch on BET except, Baldwin Hills!

plezWorld - I'm New

"I'm New" from Stevie Wonder's "Conversation Peace" LP

in the long stretches of time that this blog was inaccessible on saturday afternoon, plezWorld continued to molt and regenerate.

in the murky solitude of a violent thunderstorm and lightening and three power outages (thanks to the battery backup attached to my office system)...

a new plezWorld emerged.

actually, i was bold enough to explore a template layout via Blogger.com. it may not look much different, but it is... like Stevie said, "i'm new."


AS if that wasn't enough... chill out with one of Stevie Wonder's greatest efforts...

"As" from Stevie Wonder's "Songs in the Key of Life" LP

First MLK Grandchild Born in Atlanta

Martin Luther King, Jr. finally has a grandchild. The wife of his oldest son, Martin Luther King, III, gave birth to a girl on Sunday morning in an Atlanta hospital. The baby girl - Yolanda Renee King - takes her name from her father's oldest sister who passed away in 2007.

Read more about Baby King in the AJC article here.

Morehouse College's First White Valedictorian

Morehouse College is a Historically Black College (HBCU) in Atlanta, Georgia. It was founded in 1867, just a few years after the end of the Civil War to educate the recently freed Black men in the South. Morehouse has the distinction of not only being an exceptional institution of higher education (with notable alumni like Martin Luther King, Jr and Spike Lee), but it is also the only all-male HBCU. Well, Morehouse can now add its first white valedictorian to the list of notable facts.

Joshua Packwood is graduating from Morehouse with a 4.0 GPA and a degree in economics. He is a Rhodes Scholar and has already landed a plum job with Goldman Sachs in New York City. Joshua is a native of Kansas City, MO and was highly recruited out of high school. He picked Morehouse because of its reputation as one of the top HBCUs in the United States. He will be the first white valedictorian in the school's 141-year history.

Read the AJC article about Joshua Packwood here.


plez sez: several of my good friends and fraternity brothers (my fraternity's oldest chapter (pi) in the deep south is located at morehouse) are graduates of morehouse college. if i would have gone to an hbcu out of high school, morehouse would have been at the top of the list. at times, i regret that i didn't get to enjoy the "black experience" at a school such as morehouse.

i have written a few posts about the state of education in the black community and have touched on my thoughts about hbcus in general. save a precious few (morehouse, spelman, hampton, howard, etc.), a good number have outlived their usefulness as institutions of higher learning for an exclusive Black population. last year there was a report about problems at clark atlanta university: read my response here (...and i admit that all of their professors are not overpaid!).

a shining example of what is right can be found on the campus of morehouse college... and this year's valedictorian is just that! by diversifying their enrollment and actively pursuing non-Black students to their campuses, the hbcu can find relevance and renewed prowess in the pantheon of all colleges and universities. joshua's presence can only help raise the awareness of what a top notch school morehouse has become, his presence may not have the same effect at a school that struggles to matriculate quality students. i have no worry that even with more non-Black students, morehouse will continue it rich tradition of being a flagship hbcu.

kudos to morehouse colllege and to joshua packwood.

Good News - Morehouse Man Genarlow Wilson

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that Genarlow Wilson, freed last October by Georgia's Supreme Court after nearly three years in prison for oral sex with a 15-year old girl during a hotel party in 2003, will be attending Morehouse College in Atlanta this spring semester. He has received financial assistance from the Tom Joyner Foundation so that he can go to college.

Read the entire AJC story here.


plez sez: THIS IS GREAT NEWS!

this young man has more than suffered for his youthful indiscretion and plezWorld really wishes him the best with his studies at Morehouse. he will be the recipient of a quality education from one of the best HBCU's in the country. KUDOS to the Tom Joyner Foundation for stepping up and supporting this young man (click here to hear the Tom Joyner Morning Show).

plezWorld on The AfroSpear

The AfroSpear

plezWorld joined this little group about 6 months ago with about two dozen other erstwhile Black bloggers from around the world. since that time, the membership has swelled to close to 100 member blogs.

i've virtually met some very interesting folk (and i ain't gonna name 'em here because i know i'll leave someone off) and have had a great time honing my writing skills, debate chops, and reasoning skills as a result of communicating with some of the brightest minds of the blogosphere.

a few things i've learned as a result of my affiliation with the AfroSpear:

i am a damn good husband and father - i love my family and they love me... and i'm so fortunate because there a lot of people out there who would love to be in my shoes.

i am not a Liberal - if anything, i have a growing disdain for those who spout a Liberal dogma... it does nothing for me... i'm a straight up Moderate - as shown here and here.

i am not very Religious - kinda spiritual, maybe even agnostic... all those chilly mornings that my older brothers dragged me out of my warm bed to attend Sunday School and sing in the church choir are all for naught at this point. but i better stop there before i offend one of my readers.

i am not a very good writer - i started and sputtered to a stop with my Great American Novel so many times in my youth, i think i'll stick to short 5 or 6 line blurbs so that i don't get in trouble (i have an over-reliance on the ellipsis...)

i am an attention whore - i won't be satisfied until i have 1,000 people stopping by plezWorld on a daily basis... and i happen to know it ain't gonna happen, because i don't write half as good as Field Negro or Dave J.

i am growing increasingly tired of the Race Card - something tells me that white folk start to think we're "crying wolf" because that damn thing gets played just about every other day... note to the AfroSpear, use it sparingly!

i still find that that KFC commercial to be offensive!

the AfroSpear ain't nothing like i thought it would be, but it has been fun watching it grow and evolve in the short time that i have been a member... and i feel privileged to be a part of it.

in April 2007, plezWorld wrote: "...the AfroSpear is the realization of a think tank of Black (African-American) progressives to discuss, muse, and ruminate issues that affect our communities. Inasmuch, we are not a monolithic entity, the AfroSpear will encourage lively debate, discourse, and an occasional disagreement as we hone a thought or platform on a particular issue. With the power of the current bloggers on the AfroSpear list, I'm encouraged that positive and actionable results will become self-evident."

BLOG ON!

The AfroSpear BlogRoll

More Good News For Genarlow Wilson

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that Genarlow Wilson, freed on October 26 by Georgia's Supreme Court after nearly three years in prison for oral sex with a 15-year old girl during a hotel party in 2003, has received an offer of financial aid from the Tom Joyner Foundation so that he can go to college.

Joyner announced during a show this week that he will provide Wilson with financial aid, and Wilson's lawyer, B.J. Bernstein, confirmed the offer Wednesday. The help will come through the Tom Joyner Foundation and will cover what's needed after Wilson seeks aid from other sources, Bernstein said. Wilson, 21, said when he was released that he hopes to pursue a degree in business or sociology.

Read the entire story here.

plez sez: this is good news... no, this is really GREAT NEWS!

i've seen Genarlow Wilson interviewed after his release; he is obviously a very bright young man and he has definitely learned a very hard lesson after having to spend 3 years in jail for his indiscretion.

i really wish him the best and i have no doubt that he will succeed with the love and support of his family and generous benefactors like Tom Joyner (click here to hear the Tom Joyner Morning Show).

Genarlow Wilson Released from Prison

BREAKING NEWS: On October 26, 2007, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that the Georgia Supreme Court had ordered his release, calling his 10-year prison sentence "cruel and unusual punishment" under the Georgia state and federal constitutions.

Over four months after a judge ordered that Genarlow Wilson be freed from prison, where he had spent more than two years for receiving consensual oral sex from a 15-year-old girl when he was 17, the Georgia Supreme Court finally gets him out of prison.

Read the entire Atlanta Journal-Constitution article here.

plez sez: several plezWorld blog posts have touched on this story in the past couple of months, like this one and this one.

all along i have contended that i did not like the law with which he convicted; it was a miscarriage of justice to charge this boy with such a heinous crime. the punishment seemed to far exceed the crime and this poor boy lost over 2 years of his life for nothing.

i now hope that Genarlow can work to get his life back on track (he was planning to attend college when he was convicted), i pray that his family can heal the wounds of this horrible ordeal, and i hope the next time that i see this young man's name in the news, that the news will be GOOD NEWS!