This is a celebration of black men and all of their wonderful attributes and contributions. The fathers of civilization deserve praise and this format is here to make sure they receive it. BLACK ARE DELICIOUS!!! HOLLA IF YOU HEAR ME!
Please accept my apologies for not writing in such a long time. Charge it to my head and not my heart. Life and other things have got a sister on the run LOL. I have missed you all and thank you for continuing to check this site. I got inspired by the election events and the president's victory speech. He adds proof to the statement that black men are truly delicious.
Can you feel it? The change in the air and it all because our President Barack Obama has been re-elected to serve another term. I love that man, I mean I really do. While listening to his victory speech I got chills when he thanked his wife for making him the man that he is today. Simply because she agreed to marry him 20 years ago. Prior to their marriage and during their courtship Michelle was his boss. She didn't let that hinder neither he nor her from finding love. She saw past his exterior, even though it is mighty fine to his interior. The content of his character and not the contents of his pockets. I love black men and black love. I love love period. It just something that's supernatural when I see a black man look at a black woman like there is no one else in the world but those two. Mr. President is intelligent, compassionate, calm, cool and collected. He fabulous!!! Just like all the black men out there who make a difference in the lives of those the meet and greet everyday. For every woman out there I pray that you either have or find your Barack and for every man that you are blessed with your Michelle. Thanks for reading. As always Church Hugs Gents, Diva Waves Ladies!!!
New year, new attitude and a new entry. I took the time over my short vacation to interview a delicious black man that is doing the work of Jesus. Jesus is the most prolific person the world over. Regardless of whether you believe in him or not. Debate about his color of skin, origin or his date of birth. It can not be denied that Jesus was a worker. He came to do a job and to deliver a message. My friend Mr. James Hughes is doing the same. He has taken it upon himself to go to the masses of the forgotten to help them in and out of their situations. James has started a charitable organization for homeless men, women and children. His organizationThe Captn's Closet Capers was established to help those who are most in need. As we all know with the current economic climate in our country we could all be a paycheck away from from being homeless. I took the time to ask James some questions about his organization. Please enjoy our interview.
BMAD: What inspired you to start Captn's Closet Capers? (Side note: James is affectionately known to his friends as The Captain).
James: I couldn't understand why there was money to fight wars but none to
help every homeless persons in America get off the streets but it was through my
F.O.I. training in the Nation of Islam I was taught that we who have the ability to go in
the streets where those who are suffering and need help should go and help. That
training took away any fear of dealing with those who we may sometimes look at as
rough and hard to deal with. A year ago a good friend of mine named Pink asked me
if I could go with her to take blankets to those living on the streets and to
anyone in need but we never got the chance to do it. I was very excited too and
over the year my urge to help the homeless just grew. It wasn't something
that happened or I saw, Allah really just laid it on me hard to do this. It was
actually Pink who gave me the name of my charity organization The Captn's Closet Capers.
BMAD: I've often heard you say that you are doing the work of Jesus. Tell us why.
James: Without going all into the Bible, we all know that Jesus was about helping
the poor and suffering and it is through Minister Farrakhan who to me is the greatest
example of a human being following in the footsteps of Jesus that I learned what
it really means to be a servant for God's people. So I say humbly that my mission of helping the homeless is my way of following in Jesus' footsteps.
.
BMAD: Do you feel that homelessness and homeless men in particular are overlooked in this city?
James: I am just really getting started but I think its safe to say that over the
years homelessness has been over looked for sure. Baltimore City is now
working on a 10 year plan to end homelessness and I think the County is looking
into it as well but for the City its a done deal and plans are on the way. The
Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Housing and Resource Center opened on Fallsway in Baltimore City back in June. Its holds 275 men and women (I only see the men there) it provides food, showers, Internet and other services. State Delegate Jill Carter this past summer also introduced a bill(HB 248) that will grant the funding for a new shelter for homeless youth. So it seems like some in State and City government are trying to really end this problem. This national problem of homelessness.
BMAD: What has been your experience working with your charity? How have the people you served responded to you?
James: Well my charity is also for those who are in need as well. My experience with the
homeless has been very emotional and I have met some great people who are living
on the streets but my highlight so far was the adopting of 20 families. I received names from Social Services for the holidays through a charity program my childhood friend Keion Carpenter been doing the last few years called the Special Delivery. Just the feeling of helping these families and putting a smile on the kids face, because they wouldn't have had anything for Christmas.
BMAD: Do you feel that you are making a difference and how can others help you with your cause?
James: I believe through Allah's grace that I am making a difference and I am just
getting started. I have plans to grow this organization to the point we are able
to help statewide. Right now my main form of communicating with others on what
I am doing next and just getting information is through my Captn's Closet Capers page on Facebook. I'm always inviting anyone who would like to go out with me. I usually go to the shelter on Fallsway every other Saturday.
I wanted to start the new year off with a brilliant example of a delicious black man and encourage you all out there along with myself to be more compassionate towards those who are most in need. Everyone needs help sometime and some need more help than others. Excellent job James. If you would like to help James in his mission please friend him on Facebook. Until next post please enjoy the picture of a delicious black man, Mr. Hughes of course and Kanye West's video Jesus Walks. I think the song is fitting for this post. As always have a great week. Church Hugs Gents, Diva Wave Ladies!
Now it's time to say good bye to all our company and the year 2011. This year has been incredible for me and my blog and the delicious black men that I have encountered. I would like to thank each and everyone of you who have taken the time to read my enteries. You have no idea how much it means to me. In the coming year BLACKMENAREDELICIOUS will be coming at you with new and exciting topics. I pray that everyone makes it safely into the new year. Also that you make not resolutions but attainments in your life. Life is short so chase your dreams with butterfly nets instead of spoons. Something my grandfather would say. I love you all. Peace and Blessings. As Always Church Hugs Gents, Diva Waves Ladies!!!! Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!!!
Hey Party People! I know it's been a minute since my last post and I do apologize for the delay. Well since we last spoke, conversed. Not conversated (LOL) the summer has come to a close and the fall is quickly approaching. It's about to be boo loving season. That would be excitement for some and sighs of frustration for others. Thinking about boo loving season made me think of a conversation that I had with one of my sister girls. She was telling me about a guy that she was dating and had recently let go. So me being the curious person that I am, asked why. This was her exact response," He was everything that I had ever prayed for in a man. He was handsome, funny, loving, EMPLOYED! He was good with his children and mine. He was spiritual and creative. Girl was he smart and he could cook his ass off! Not to mention that the loving was like fireworks. The only thing I didn't like was that he didn't go to church."
Well now I'm really confused because if the only flaw that he had was that he didn't go to church then honey you have less of a problem than you think. I appreciate the fact that church is important to her. She did say that they had conversations about him going to church with her and he was accepting of that. He never said that he didn't want to go. She said that he was very spiritual and had a good knowledge of the Bible. Again, I was confused. I asked," If he is everything you prayed for and you let him go, then what are you going to do now.?"She said she would pray for someone else just like him that goes to church. Umkay! What if there is no one else just like him. Often times the mold is broken when a masterpiece is created in an effort for it not to be duplicated.
When I was a little girl I use to pray for enormous breasts like my Aunt Lillie Mae's. She had to make her own bras they were that big. One day my cousin heard me telling my other cousin that I wanted breasts just like Lillie Mae's. My cousin said to me, "Be careful what you pray for because you just might get it." Thank God! I was not blessed with what I thought I wanted at the time. However, when you are blessed with what you asked for but then you come to the realization that you don't want it when you get it. Is that a slap in the face of God? Delicious black men for some women are few and far in between. I really don't think that a seemingly little thing like not physically going to church should be a tie breaker. I really believe that people ask for things out of haste and frustration. Not having full knowledge of what they are really asking. Then when the blessing appears it is not that the thing they asked for is not ready to be received but the person who asked is not ready to properly receive and accept the blessing. Thinking about my friend and the impending boo loving season gave birth to the poem below. Please enjoy the picture of my good friend LT(he's the only one standing up) doing what he loves to do and that is talk about love, lust, lies and relationships. Oh and please enjoy the old school video from Salt and Pepa What A Man!!! As always have a great week. Church Hugs Gents, Diva Waves Ladies!!!
MY PRAYERS FOR HIM
I pray for him, prayers reminiscent of those of made men.
I pray that God would have mercy on my soul for committing the most grievous sin.
The sin of searching for him in a sea of boys when he’s the man amongst men.
He’s the standard by which all other gems are measured.
I pray for him while wading through the storms of unqualified whoevers, miscellaneous fair-weathers and a multitude of
Mr. I Wish I Had Never Met Him at all.
I pray for him on bended knee with tear stained cheeks until I see the clouds part and give birth to the dawn.
I’ve prayed for him for so long.
I pray for him like a mother prays for the unseen blessing in the deepest recesses of her womb.
I pray for him like a dying soul prays for one more breath.
Pray like the weary pray for rest.
I pray for him like mourners do when asking the question why the parting of their loved one had to come so soon.
While praying for him I realized that I had never really taken the time to pray for myself.
I never prayed for my strength or for my health.
I never prayed for the help to be able to recognize him when he finally appears.
Even though I have given a vivid description of him in my prayers for years.
So again I pray for him.
Prayed that he would recognize me as the answer to his prayers.
That he would shoulder some of this burden and pay some of the fare that I have paid for this waiting game.
While I have patiently watched everyone else enjoying the one that was specifically made for them.
I feel as if I have prayed my whole life for him.
Because I have.
I pray for him like the homeless pray for shelter.
I pray for him like the famished pray for an end to their hunger.
I prayed for him harder and longer than anyone or anything.
I pray that when he finally arrives he would be my king and I his queen and we would share a last name.
I would wear his ring. I think that is the fairytale dreaming little girl in me because my prayers seem as if they will not be reality because the woman in me is still praying for him.
Have I prayed so much that I missed my blessing in disguise, turned a good man away, gave another the side eye?
Because he didn’t come packaged as I had envisioned.
Did I set myself up for a trip on the road to perdition because I was more distracted by the contents of this ones pocket and not by the contents his character?
Infatuated with this ones physique and the girth below his navel and not the substance contained within his heart?
Did I doom many a promising relationship before they really got their start?
So in retrospect did I pray shallow prayers for him when they should have been weighty prayers for me?
Are my unanswered prayers for him the reason for this purgatory?
I can only pray, wait and see.
Until then I will continue to say a little prayer for both him and me.
Hey Party People, this week has been interesting to say the least. I had the opportunity to do one of my favorite things which is people watch. It might seem weird or quirky but that's what I like to do. I was at an all white theme party with some of my best friends and I was watching all of the brothers in their white looking clean and fine. A couple of them looking really fine. I mean finer than fine. Okay you get my drift. I just love black men and everything that comes along with them. The good, the bad and the ugly and when love someone completely and unconditionally you take everything that they are and accept everything that they are not. I also read my sister's blog and I won't say her name because she would kill me (Maria) and it made my heart melt.
She was describing something that is close and personal to her which is her intense love for her husband. I appreciate the man that he is and how he handles my sister. Watching them gives me hope for black love and black relationships in general. I actually cried while reading what she wrote because she basically described what it is I feel in my heart for my brothers. After reading her blog I was compelled to write this poem. Please enjoy!
With All of His Flaws
I love him more than he’ll ever know.
More that I could possibly ever show.
He’s everything I ever wanted and I told him so.
What he feels or thinks about that I may never know.
Tattooed his name across my heart in cursive script.
His presence is a present, definitely God’s gift.
What I see in him goes beyond the surface.
Despite what others may think he’s so worth it.
Because in my eyes he’s perfect, even with all of his flaws.
I think that just about sums this blog entry up so until next week. Same time, same channel I leave you with a picture of a delicious black man. My friend GS and a song by an awesome singer Heather Headley appropriately titled He Is. As always have a great week. Church Hugs Gents, Diva Waves Ladies!
I live in the city that the HBO TV series The Wire is based upon. I am a Baltimorean born and raised. I have never lived anywhere else. I have visited a multitude of places but this is home. I recently cast the lead male role for the sitcom that I have written. I cast Mr. Anthony Kelly Sr. an up and coming filmmaker based on our conversations about the city in which we both live and his perspective on what it is like to be young, black and living in America. Specifically living in a city where the average black male is sure to be incarcerated at least once in his life. A city where most of his peer don't graduate high school or live past their 25th birthday.
Anthony is a documentary film maker and during his travels along the corridors of Baltimore he films the struggles and frustrations of his peers. He is trying to address some of the issues causing young black men to go wayward. Issues such as poverty, fatherlessness, drug addiction(selling as well as using) and not having productive role models to help shape young men. I found it interesting that he has an aspiration is to be a film maker where most only see their ticket out of the "hood" in form a basketball, football or mixtape.
He sees this city and the people in it in a totally different light. Where one my see raw anger he knows behind that anger there is a story to be told. He is currently in the process of producing several 30 minute movies focusing on different scenerios that take place with black men within the community where he lives. I can't wait to see the finished product.
Our men are intelligent, caring, sensitive and misunderstood all at the same time. Anthony is making an effort to show the hows and whys things are the way they are for his peers and get from them what they feel may be solutions to their problems. Bravo!
So until next week, same time, same channel. I will leave you with a picture of a delicious black man Mr. AK and Kanye West's song Through The Wire. As always have a great week. Church Hugs Gents, Diva Waves Ladies.
"It's been a long time I shouldn't have left you without a strong beat to step to." I know I've been gone for a minute please accept my apologies. I have been under major construction and your girl can't bring you trash because I'm not a half-stepper. So with that being said I'm back and ready to rock and roll for my cause. I love black men with all their flaws and strengths. Who wouldn't?
While I was on my brief hiatus I observed a couple of things within my own family that made me feel that there is hope for young black men. I live in a city where there's a countless amount of fatherless children. The amount of single mothers far out weighs that of single fathers. However, there are some men who are out here really putting in work and making it happen to better the lives of their children.
Last May my cousin Timothy Gaskins was murdered on the corner of my grandmother's house. He was in his early twenties and left behind two toddler sons. My other younger cousins who were with him everyday took his death the hardest. One moved out of my grandmother's house temporarily to get himself together. They were close in age and more like brothers than cousins. Since his passing my three cousins have taken on the responsibility of being fathers to the sons that Timothy left behind. Two have sons of their own and the third has no children. However, they have taken it upon themselves to make sure that the sons of their cousin would never be without a dad. I think that is commendable.
In a world where so many of our young black men run from fatherhood. These young brothers are running to it. They are providing a missing piece for my smaller cousins in the absence of their father. Although he can never be replaced in their lives they will still be able to have a reference from men within their own family as a guide to manhood and a reminder of the father who loved them. This should be an example to older men who have lost their way with their children or who think that caring for your child should only come once or twice a month in the form a check that the government forces you to send.
I love my cousins for the actions that they have taken to ensure that no male child in our family is left behind or lead astray. They have made a pack to properly raise and guide their sons both biological and newly adopted. The black man is God and their acts of compassion and kindness are a wonderful testament to who He is and who we are. Fantastic job guys! I appreciate you.
Until next week I will leave you with a question to ponder and the song Be A Father To Your Child by Ed O.G and Da Bullsdogs(that's the old school in me). Also you know I have to give you a picture of a delicious black man. Please enjoy my brother CTH. As always have a great week. Church Hugs Gents, Diva Waves Ladies!
Question: With Father's Day being a few weeks ago. I would like to know how did having an active father or not having a father present impact your life?
Talk back to me people.
