I cannot write and say that I didn’t notice something was a little off with my companion. She was getting tired very quickly during our weekly Sunday walks, I could feel her spine, and there were even times when she lost her balance. However, she seemed perfectly fine, and was acting like herself.

The year prior Ikea (kea, I often called) had surgery, her breast had enlarged and needed to be cut off. The veterinarian told me that she had breast cancer and that they were ready to operate if I was ready, I said “I’m ready”. During this time I decided to let the veterinarian do the basic test that they either needed to do or suggested. After the surgery Kea seemed perfectly fine, a little drugged, but fine.

Yesterday as I prepared to take her for a walk she came out of her dog house slowly and it was then that I noticed the cancer had returned, perhaps it never really left. Kea had lost weight dramatically, so much in fact that her skull could be felt. She was unable to walk, trouble breathing, very thirsty, and a strange odor, some symptoms of dog cancer.

As my mom, myself, and everyone in my house scrambled to find a ride to get her to the hospital Kea rested her head beside me, sometimes resting it on the floor. Finally around 3 p.m. my mom found someone to take me and my sister’s father to the hospital on the way there I held Kea while telling her that I was not going to let anything happen to her, that I was right there with her.

We arrived at the hospital where my sister’s father hopped out and ran to get the veterinarians. I’m not sure what he told them specifically, but they already had the option of putting her to sleep open. I filled out the paper work, not knowing where my friend was, or how scared she must have been.

“Do you want to be present?” the receptionist asked.

“Yes” I replied.

I waited in a small room, boxes of tissues were already waiting, and Kea was pushed in too weak to really put up a fight with these unfamiliar hands touching her. The entire story was told to the doctor, who had already had the needles, and told me what it was he was going to do.

“First injection will put her to sleep; the second will stop her heart.”

I held Kea’s head and patted it repeatedly as I told her how sorry I was, how her pain was my fault, and how I should have paid more attention to her. How we had good times chasing the squirrels and cats and as I went on with these funny tales, the doctor uttered the words that I didn’t want to her…

“She’s gone.”

My house is quiet now, Ikea is gone, and it hurts so much.

One of the things that make the summer season worthwhile for me, is having the chance to sell Alex’s Lemonade. A few years back I had the chance of meeting Alex’s father, Jay Scott, when dropping of a donation to the organization. He was so thankful that he gave me and those who had accompanied me some souvenirs, hats, keychains, and the story of Alex and her lemonade mission.

It felt great donating to such a worthy cause such as Alex’s, so much in fact that each summer season I have been selling Alex’s Lemonade, attempting to raise a good amount of money that can be donated like before. So far this summer, $176.00

Despsite these rough times, we can still help each other out and what’s the worst that can happen when we do, feel bad about doing something good?

I rarely watch BET, and after last nights award tribute to The King Of Pop I’m glad that I don’t. When arriving home yesterday evening, Jamie Foxx was on the downstairs television dressed in a red jacket much like the one Micheal wore in  his “Thriller”  video.  Quickly I rushed upstais to my room to watch the rest of the show, where I was able to catch Jamie’s moonwalk and figuring that it would be an outstanding tribute…how naive of me.

Past award shows were always avoided by me  simply because there were times wheere one, such as myself,  would become lost because of the loud unncessary rap music filled with cursing.  In BET’s case this was saved… until the end, and after the final tribute to Micheal Jackson.

Now, not all of the events that had taken place was a complete wreak, there were segments that were actually good, but yesterday’s  awards was supposed to be a tribute to Michael Jackson, not an invitation for folks to act a fool at certain points, wear weird clothing, promote their upcoming tours and reality series, and then claim  the inspiration that The King Of Pop gave them. As a friend of mine mentioned earlier today on facebook, “I wish BET died and MJ did a tribute to them”.

Speaking of which, both Facebook and Twitter were hot last night with comments and updates regarding the supposed tribute , here’s a few:

The BET awards was some damn foolishness! Black celebrities that patronized this spectacle are an embarrassment and should never do tributes…ever

3-4 days even if you had 3-4 months this show would have looked like crap. EXCEPT KERI HILSON, TARAJI P. or TRAVIS BARKER!!!!

Is it just me…or is anyone else bothered or disturbed by Joe Jackson and Al Sharpton’s presence….

I wish I could say this show was great and all…but as my g’ma says: Give me my roses whilst I’m alive. MJ should have been given all this tribute a long time ago

thinks the best part of the BET awards, was when they actually did a tribute to Michael Jackson

BET’s president  stated that it took 3-4 days to prepare the tribute award show once they had learned about the death, though it was really hard to tell, maybe they should have done a seperate show. My high school teacher actually had an idea of how the show should have been presented, perhaps BET should have hired her, now as you read imagine the awards show if it were like this:

I think if you asked anyone to appear at the last minute to the BET awards to do a tribute to Michael Jackson–they would have. What I think is that BET wanted to be the black people last night and “claim” Michael Jackson as ours and hence hog the tribute glory. In my fantasy–the tribute would have gone something like this:

1. The show opens with Mary J. Blige singing “Man in the Mirror” backed up by full on gospel ensemble.

2. Towards the middle of the show, we have Ne-yo and the great black hope–known to many of us as Justin Timberlake–do a dance/sing-off of MJ’s greatest hits.

3. We close the show with all the musical guests singing “We are the world”

The best part of the show,  in my opinion,  was when they finally did a tribute to Michael. Near the end of the show Janet Jackson  came out onto the stage,  pausing for a moment before speaking, “…To you Michael is a icon, to us he is family” .

There are folks out there, most around my age I would think, who thought yesterdays tribute was spot on. Why the hell do they think that in order to show tribute to someone as great as Michael that you just smash acts together and add a little rap accompanied by loud cursing, I have no idea, but everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

After Janet left the stage, a tribute to Michael was finally given, though there were “supposed tributes” throughout the one at the end was the best. Maybe if BET wanted their tribute to Michael to be felt by their viewers, they should have calmed down a bit on the excessive rap performances that just seemed out of place.

It was in music class in elementary school where I first heard of Michael Jackson, and though I didn’t understand who the man was one thing was certain,  he could dance better than anyone I had ever seen. My favorite, the moonwalk. So much in fact, that I would try to mimick it myself.

Unlike most of the adults that I know who had the privaledge of growing up with Michael, some actually having the chance to see the star king of pop in concert, the only glimpse of him for folks around my age (I’m 19) was on the television about his weird ways. Sadly, that was the only thing the media was interested in and one would think what future generations would remember him by…one would think.

Larry King once said that the thing about death, is that it is so damn final. Michael’s death does not have to be, not if we remember him for what he was, a true entertainer. He will always live on in his music and his phenomenal dance moves that others will attempt to mimick. There are not many memories that I can say I have of Michael except for the one mentioned earlier and the not so forgotten images of him appearing in the media as “whacko jacko”,  so maybe having  one true  memory of Michael is an ok thing.

Woud you let your 8 year old child see this?

This past Saturday I went to the Pearl theater to see the new movie, Watchmen.  The Pearl is not my ideal theather because of their laxed rules, but who am I to know what you are or what you are not supposed to do at at a theather. Anyway,  despite the reviews that were already circultating, rather  by the web or by newspaper critics about ‘Watchmen‘ I still decided to go, overall I think the movie was good.

‘Watchmen‘ is rated R, obviously because of  the mild nudity, language, and fighting. There are more reasons that I probably missed, but knowing this I ask, would you bring an 8 year old or younger to see this movie?

Yes, there were a lot of adults who actually brought their child(ren) to see this movie and I really don’t understand that. For those of you who did not  go and see it, their is passionate scene involving heroes Ms. Jupiter and Nite Owl. Another scene that comes to mind, the anti-hero the Comedia shooting and killing a pregnant woman.

This, to me, really says something about the parenting that is going on today in society and it bothers me. Is it that parents just don’t care what they take their children to see? Is it that they just don’t care? Perhaps this is the reason why kids do whatever they want.

It should not matter if you ,the parent, really want to go and see a movie that is rated R, you have to be responsible and think.  When picking out a movie to see for the weekend, do a little research, find out the movie’s rating and what else is family friendly. You are responsible for what your child sees, do not take them to a violent sexed out movie because you want to go see it. Please be the parent and set the example, educate these young minds, don’t destroy them.

Around last year was when I really started paying attention to the news or at least trying to stay up to date with what his happening in the world, so that I could ultimately write/blog and voice my concerns and opinions. Throughout the stations that promises to deliver the best on the spot news the one that I chose for supposed ‘fair and balanced’ news, was Fox 29.

One should already know that we as the viewers of stations such as, channel 6 news, KYW, NBC, etc. will never truly obtain news that has not been filtered in someway. You can say that your favorite station is legite and still be wrong because, as I learned in my Social Communications and Mass Media course, if we knew how the world really worked, we would not be able to sleep at night.

The thing is the truth is too frightening for us to hear so much in fact that we don’t want to hear it at all and we instead pay attention to such garbage such as, The Tim and Eric Show Great Job. There is an entire world out there that is being hidden from us and until we decide to take action we will never discover it.

Why sit on your ass and worry about Paris Hilton or Lindsay Lohan when people are dying because of a war they do not wish to be part of. You should not be worrying if your favorite rapper Chris Brown suddenly got arrested for what may or may not have happended. How about kids who are dying because of cancer, people who are homeless, kids who are not being properly educated in these god damn schools.

As I have been watching different news stations these past few days I have noticed that most of what is being shown is mostly the “sweet and cutsie” stories that make people feel good, not the reality that we need to be aware of. We need ro be aware of this reality, no matter how scary it is, or become ignorant of everything.

Sure, some people are probably forgetting this “mistake” already because there was an apology, some people are probably wanting everyone to leave the man alone, however, he knew what he was doing and should not have been doing in the first place. But who am I to say when and where the man can smoke his pot? But if  he is supposed to be a role model for kids eating Tony the Tiger cereal in the morning, has he no morals or feelings about that? That is where the issue, for me, starts to become dissapointing.

How can you promote something for kids, portray a character on television, and not be ashamed of what you have just done? You’re a beacon of light for some kid in the world, you are their hope, they want to be just like you. Let us not forget that a lot of children favorites are not being mindful of their surroundings and for the hell of it are doing what ever they please, most noticeably the young ladies of Disney. Miley Cyrus with her underwear photos that I was shocked to see and then there were the nude photos of Vanessa Ann Hudgens that hit the world. Millions of little girls look up to these stars, my eight year old sister being one of them. Though it appears that if you have money and you then do something stupid, as long as you apologize everthings cool…I totally understand the way the world works now.

 Update: And so Kellogg’s has decided to not resign Phelps, good move, Phelps is also suspended, even better news. Why, because he knew what he was doing.

I must admit that I was a bit skeptical at first about donating because of the recent report about a soldier going door to door to collect money “supposedly” for soldiers over in Iraq, but surprisingly he decided to use it on himself. However, I decided that I would not let that fact decline me from being able to help someone in need, so I dug into my wallet and pulled out a crisp $10.00 bill and shoved it into the bank. I know its not much but the guy ringing the bell said thanks and then went back to ringing looking gloomy once again. No thanks needed to be said I just want him and the others to keep ringing those bells.

A few blocks later I was passing another Salvation individual, who made anyone who passed not want to donate a dime. As I walked passed she said “happy holidays…,” gloomily mumbling the rest. But I guess if I had to stand outside all day in the cold I wouldn’t be happy either, but still.

This Christmas a lot of Philadelphians I believe will be thinking about politics, budget cuts, jobs, and other things that plague our unfortunate city, perhapes even our great country in general. Hell, even our beloved eagles owe us money, 8 million to be exact. I was reading last weeks Philadelphia Weekly when I found this interesting tid bit out and guess what folks, they owed us this amount since 1985 and were supposed to pay us back in 2001.

According to youngphillypolitics.com the eagles owed us this money as part of a deal to create luxury boxes at veteran stadium. These are things that even Santa Claus can not fix, sorry kids. It seems that everywhere you turn corrupt politicians are, if I may borrow a phrase from Mr. R. Kelly, “coming out of the closet.” The name that comes to mind is Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. If he did it, and I have a lingering feeling that he did, how wrong can you be? Attempting to give the senate seat away to the highest bidder and he doesn’t consider it to be wrong.

Anyway, lets get back to dear old Philadelphia, and the beloved libraries that are being shut down. Recently today a lawsuit was filed in common pleas court ordering and decreeing Mayor Nutter and others to hold off on library closures, the hearing will be held Monday at precisely 10am.

Even though there is a list of things Philadelphians wish to get for Christmas,perhapes Philadelphia couldn’t ask for anything better from Santa. For this moment in time this might just do, for now in our city of woes. Lets hope things shape up in 2009 shall we, I mean we still have an inauguration to look forward to, right?

Yes there are issues that need to be fixed rather quickly such as, the troubled economy, the 10 billion dollar war, more jobs, and most recently the auto industry. Lets not forget the many budget cuts that are going around. Just because Barack Obama is African-American does not mean that our problems are going to fly away, I know, but we needed this change more than we needed the Phillies to win the title of world champs.

A few days after the election while I was in class there was a young lady sitting behind me, a McCain supporter. My professor, who liked Obama, suggested to the class that instead of our normal routine we would create a ballad about Obama’s winning victory. The class willingly agreed to this, however, the young lady was very upset and did not appreciate the ballad or the Sara Palin jokes that were on the tips of everyones tongue. There was a point when we were discussing a line for the ballad of how Obama gave us the audacity to hope, the girl replied in a whisper, “he didn’t give me shit.”

I wished at that moment that myself and her could have switched skin colors and history for a few minutes because maybe then she would have realized how important it felt to myself and others of my race that Barrack Obama was elected.

In focusing on this election I had hoped to find out in each candidates economic plan who would provide more jobs and how for the future youth of the United States we all know, especially now, how hard it is to get a good sustainable job. Overall the Obama-Biden plan will create new federal policies, and expand existing ones that have been proven to create new jobs.  The President elect believes that there can be and will be new available jobs through national infrastructure investment and technology, infrastructure investment meaning the rebuilding of our nation’s highways, bridges, roads, etc. Though there seems to be more that can be stressed about than just highways and such, read what Steve Bozzone had to say about this in his letter to Barack Obama.

The overeall idea of President elect Obama’s economic plan, I think, is that if you have an idea of doing things then that idea is welcomed, however, you must have the necessary skills and knowledge to back it up.

Now despite the many issues that have been promised to be looked into I feel that some African-American, not all, might have only voted for Obama because of the fact that he is an African-American. This can probably be viewed as either a good or bad thing depending on how you look at it, though there were blacks who only voted for John McCain because of the fact that he is white. It is just hard to believe that an individual who spends a majority of their time out on the streets smoking, selling drugs, causing trouble, would vote for Obama because of his policies.

Furthermore what’s ridiculous is the amount of hate that has generated since the begining and passing of the election date. Rumors flying around that blacks are getting hang for talking about Obama in coversation, anti-obama shirts, colleges going agaisnt each other because of racist slurs  being made, references of Obama to a monkey.

A co-worker of mine, her son, works down in virgina and has been doing so for some time and his co-workers/superiors are mostly white. Everything was cool with them until the results of the election came out. Now any little thing can get this young man in trouble, he was actually written up three time within a week…a week.

The bottom line, get over it, Barack Obama is and will be your president this coming January. Statistics state that youth voters did not vote in 2004 because they were not interested in the election. Other reasons are that they believed that they would be less likely to meet registration deadline and some did not know where to go or how to get registered. The voter registration rose a little in the years of 2000-2004 with the year 2004 totaling 60%. This time, however, 80% more of young people were paying attention. Yes good people, things have indeed changed.

I don’t mean to ask such a cliché question, but isn’t this supposed to be the city of brotherly love? When did everything begin to fall apart in our fair city? Did the violence begin to escalate more when former mayor John F. Street was in office and Sylvester Johnson was commission or further back? 179 people aged 7-24 were killed in Philadelphia last year. Of those who were killed, 94% were killed with firearms. Philadelphia police have made major crime busts in recent months where “justice” has been served, however, why can’t this continue. With the sudden police deaths almost every officer could be found trying to find the individual responsible. Or they could be found on television abusing their power. Though what about the other countless murderers who are lose in the city, why aren’t they being looked for as drastically as the police killers were?

Questions like theses are starting to make people wonder if Mayor Michael Nutter and police commissioner Charles Ramsey are doing as they promised to protect the city. Though as of the first six months this year, homicides are down by 20% while violent crime is only down by 6%. Though Despite this, it does seem that the two are on their way to reducing crime in Philadelphia. One of the objectives listed in Police Commissioner Ramsey’s Crime Fighting Plan is to add 200 more police officers to the streets of Philly.

But I wonder if increasing police on the streets, will there be some kind of retaliation by the citizens of Philadelphia. My feelings are similar to the ones when first hearing about the “stop and frisk” policy. According to an article on philly.com entitled ‘Nutter seeks even lower crime rates’ Ramsey states that the policy is showing nothing but good results. Furthermore police have so far stopped 103,433 pedestrians during the first half of this year, a 58 percent increase, and 193,300 vehicles, a 17 percent increase. Police have so far seized 1,570 weapons which is a 2.3 percent increase over last year. A concern for some Philadelphians is trying to build better connections with Philadelphia Police and actually being able to talk to them.

Another point that Philadelphians bring up is that city officials should just stop ignoring the facts and stop releasing criminals early.Though when you think about it, why should we be the ones to judge Ramsey and Nutter when all they’re asking is for us, the citizens of Philadelphia, to help them. All we can do is be afraid of telling who hurt our next door neighbor, friend, cousin, sister, our brother. On June 17, 2008 Strawberry Mansion High School held their graduation at Temple University’s Liacouras Center. This day was supposed to be one of the best of days for Khiry Caldwell and all of his friends who were graduating and going on to college. Graduation day is supposed to be the best day for anyone who is graduation.

Graduation is not supposed to be filled with fear. It is not supposed to be filled with tears, and it is not supposed to be filled with gunfire and fights. On Khiry Caldwell day of graduation he did not only receive his diploma. He received an injury to the back by a gun that was fired as a result from a fight that was between a group of young men. Luckily the injury was not life threatening. Khiry only suffered a cracked rib and a bruised lung. Two days before this incident a 23 year old man who came from Minnesota with the dream of teaching in Philadelphia was shot and killed for his iPod.

There is a solution to this; we need to start looking out for one another. Let’s support one another and stop letting each other down. As stated by Mr. Wade Jackson, “we are all supposed to be as one, love each other as one, no matter what color you may be.”