#CuttingSNAPandWICfunding

My last couple of posts have been mostly about what's going on in entertainment.  But if you follow my blog, you know that a few months ago I said I wanted to include a portion of what I do at my job in my blog.  Just as a reminder, I work at the Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance with the No Kid Hungry Campaign.  I assist with increasing SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistant Program formerly known as Food Stamps) participation and increasing summer feeding sites.  Even though the work is sometimes a challenge, I enjoy what I do.  But I feel there is going to be an even bigger challenge in the years to come concerning SNAP and WIC (Women Infants and Children).



This is my sad face if these programs are cut



For the 2012 Budget, Congress is considering cutting funding to nutrition programs like SNAP and WIC.  This could mean a harsh blow to low-income families, especially with unemployment being high.  Before I go any further I do want to mention that I am not a political science major, that I'm not that up on my politics, and not even really that interested in politics.  I say that to say this, starting a political debate with me is a waste of time.  All information is this blog post is me just stating the  facts and not arguing for one party or the other.  If I am arguing for anyone it is for the human party (was that corny?).

But I digress.  If this budget is passed, there will be drastic cuts to not only SNAP but also TEFAP (The Emergency Food Assistant Program) and a $700 million cut (The Chicago Times, 2011) to WIC.  WIC provides foods high in nutrients(beans, peanut butter, milk) that are critical to infants and children during critical growth and development.  Most mothers are eligible for this program.  This program saves billions of dollars in health costs that could be accumulated by these children if they do not get these foods. But yet, this is the program that could be potentially cut.  

In the 2012 Budget, SNAP will not be cut completely. Each state will be given a block grant for SNAP benefits (Public News Service, 2011).  If this happens it could mean that either the Department of Human Services (DHS) would have to change the eligibility for participants which could mean decreasing the resource limit (In Arkansas, you can own a home and still qualify for SNAP benefits) or lowering the amount of benefits a family can have.  Either way more people could possibly go hungry. 

What puzzles me is that programs that help families be at ease because they can feed their families are being cut while billions of dollars are spent on wars and the rich get tax cut after tax cut.  Have those making decisions concerning the welfare of our country become so removed from those they serve that they cannot see how these budget cuts could put low-income families in a deeper hole of poverty?  As I stated before I am not into politics but a blind man can see these potential budget cuts are unfair to those who desperately need them. 

#BETAwards2011

Nicki Minaji hitting on Justin Bieber, a tie between the Smith kids for Best Young Talent, and Rick Ross feeling a need to show the his C-cup breasts to the world, these were just a few of the highlights of this year's BET Awards.  This year's award show, as far as I am concerned, did not let us down in performances (Chris Brown and Kelly Rowland were awesome) and foolery (Tiffany Green).  I also fell in love with Kevin Hart (again) as this year's host. Just going to hit a few high (and low) points of the show. 

High Point: Kevin Hart as the host.  The BET Award Show has had a few hits (Monique and Will and Jada Smith) and a whole lot of misses (Damon Wayans and some other forgettable people) when it has came to picking a host for the show.  But Kevin Hart redeemed BET Award producers' ability to pick a decent host.  Kevin started the show off with a step show (Kevin Phi Kevin) with little kids that were so cute! In his opening, he informed everyone that "No one is safe" and that more celebrities need a "No Man" in their entourage.  He became their  "No Man" by  making fun of celebrities about their outfits (Busta Rhymes' Brain Vest), how some of them need to stop taking their shirts off (Trey Songz' beige greyhound chest), and that certain celebrities need to wear a sports bra (Rick Ross).  Every time Hart was on stage, he was bringing the laughs.  Congrats to @KevinHart4real for a job well done.

Low Point: The first low point I want to discuss is the opening.  As much as I love Mary J. Blige, I do not think she should have been the opener.  Do not get me wrong, Mary doing her greatest hits was awesome (I showed out when Real Love came on) but Mary did not have the energy to start off an award show.  The opener sets the tone for the rest of the show.  BET producers dropped the ball on that.   

High Point: There were some really good performances this year.  Before I go any further, shout out to Ms. Kelly Rowland for that Janet Jackson inspired performance.  Her notes were on point, she had her dance moves down, and you could tell she put her everything into the performance.  Even though I was not that crazy about the outfit Chris Brown had on when he accepted his first award, he made up for it with his performance.  I love to see him dance and he did not disappoint me.  His performance was fun and kind of scary at the same time (the huge eyeballs behind him during his performance) and Busta Rhyme coming out to do his signature super speed verse was a good touch too. 

Low Point: Team Censorship and Tiffany Green.  Apparently, BET is as scared of the FCC as much as Rick Ross is scared to zip up his jacket.  Team Censorship was bleeping everything.  There was certain times when I was quite sure that words they were bleeping were not even curse words.  When a rapper was on stage, all I heard was BLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP.  I get it BET...FCC fines are way out of your budget.  I would be hitting that bleep button too. The most famous name out of this show and still a trending topic a day after the show is Tiffany Green.  I put absolutely no blame on her.  But I do find fault with her fellow presenters, Terrance and Rocsi.  These two host a LIVE show Monday through Friday and they could not even help this girl read a teleprompter and a tablet.  Then she was blamed for being messy.  After the incident Tiffany went backstage and tweeted that she was crying backstage and that BET did it on purpose.  BET, two words: Do Better. 

High Point: Cee Lo being a part of the tribute for Patti LaBelle.   When he came out in that wig, I almost hit the floor.  For a man, he does a pretty good Patti.  Marsha Ambrosa did a beautiful job herself.  Even Shirley Caesar with her fairy godmother, Cinderella, ice princess dress did a good job taking Patti back to church. 

I give this year's award show 6 out of 10.  It was pretty balance with it's greatest moments and foolery.  BET, you doing better but you still got a few loose ends. 

#ManDown-Rihanna's New Video

Rihanna's video for Man Down premiered this week.  Before the video premiered I had heard talk about it's subject matter on the radio.  At first I thought "Oh Lord, Rihanna has went back to her dark side." I was really hoping we were past this whole dark thing and she was back to singing upbeat pop tunes, the Rihanna we all love and know.  But then this video comes out and the first scene is Rihanna shooting a man in a crowded Jamaican market place. 

Let's start off with Rihanna's thoughts on the video.  Rihanna is using this video to address rape issues.  To her this will help girls to be brave enough to do something about their sexual abuse.  Rihanna was not just trying to make a graphic video about rape and murder but was trying to make a video that get issues like rape to the mainstream.  And we all know Rihanna is as mainstream as it gets.  She makes a video about it, people will be watching and talking about it. 

Now let's discuss the parents point of view.  The Parents Television Council did have a problem with the video.  Not because of the rape subject matter but because of the fact Rihanna kills the man who violated her.  The PTC is not too happy that the video promotes killing the violator instead of the victim seeking help for what happen to them.  Others have also bashed BET for showing the video primetime, especially on a show  that is meant for teens (106 and Park).  Rihanna has responded on Twitter by saying that she is a "23 year old rockstar with NO KIDS." (twitter.com, 2011) and doesn't understand why everybody expects her to be a parent.

I love how the PTC and others are making a big deal out of this video as if Rihanna's other songs are children appropriate.  Her song titles include  "Rude Boy", "S&M", and "What's My Name" just to name a few.  Yea....none of those songs are exactly made for teens, or at least they shouldn't be.  Parents need to take back the role of being the MAIN role models in their child lives or at least put their children in an environment (after school program, youth group, sports team, etc) where they can have role models that they [parents] would prefer and won't have time to watch Rihanna's video or anyone else's that might be inappropriate for children.  At the same time, I do believe in social responsibility.  Rihanna needs to understand that a good portion of her target audience are teenagers and teenagers are impressionable.  They are easily influenced and are quick to follow the crowd.  Hell, I know some adults that are easily influenced and quick to follow the crowd, but I digress. 

In a nutshell, Rihanna is not a parent to the world's youth but it was a poor choice to put a video with such violence on primetime on a teen show.  This is a situation where everyone involved needs to #dobetter.

#CommonBeyonceAndLilKim

This week has been an exciting week in entertainment.  There has been controversies with hip hop and the White House, Bey hit us with a new video, and Lil Kim has manage to start beef with someone else.  Without making this too long I am going to try to cover all these events.

"Thug, raunchy lyricist, promoter for cop killers" these are just few of the terms being used to describe Common. Common was invited by the President to the White House for a Poetry Slam.  There was some controversy surrounding it because Common wrote a poem years ago about a convicted cop killer who escaped from prison and now lives in Cuba.  It also did not help it was Police Appreciation Week at the White House.  Some say (especially those who works for Fox News, not a fan of them) that Common should have not been invited to the White House because of this one poem.  After attending his concert in North Little Rock, hearing him speak at Philander Smith College in Little Rock, and being a fan of his thought provoking, positive lyrics, I could not disagree with the critics more.  Common's only crime to me is that he has stayed true to himself as an artist.  He has chose not to degrade his music with dumb, childish lyrics to stay on the charts.  Whenever he makes public appearances, he is encouraging people to do better in their communities.  He is someone people need to hear, especially these so-called informed critics who think that Common makes "gangsta music."

Next on the agenda is Beyonce's new video "Run This World (Girls)".  I will admit that it took me a couple of listens to like this song.  But now I love it! I have my own routine (in my head) to this song and it has  officially been made my theme song for 2011.  Apparently, this song has not been doing too good on the charts.  But my sources tell me that this was not suppose to be the first single off her upcoming CD, "4" but that it was leaked. So Beyonce did not do a lot of promotion for it.  But since it was leaked I guess Beyonce said "The heck with it, let's go head and make a video for it."  Now I am not a hardcore Beyonce "Stan" (stalker/fan) but I heard that she put a lot teasers of the video out to get everyone ready for the actual video premiere.  This past Tuesday, Beyonce premiered her video on American Idol.  My mixed emotions are this: it is a good video but it is typical for Beyonce.  In the last couple of years I have become of a fan of her dancing so I did enjoy the dancing in the video.    I'm not surprised by the girl dancing army or the concept at all.  It was very Beyonce-ish.  In a nutshell, I hope that this album brings it because right now things are looking a little predictable.

Last on this entertainment agenda, is Lil Kim.  So we know about the ongoing beef that Lil Kim keeps fueling with Nikki Minaji.  Well, I guess she has gotten bored with her cause now she has decided to go out for Keisha Cole.  Earlier this week Lil Kim attacked Kiesha Cole saying that Kiesha is not "loyal".  Kiesha responded by saying that they were never "friends" because she takes that term very seriously and that they just came together to make a hot record.  It seems to me that Lil Kim is doing everything she can to make sure she is still relevant.  Here's some advice Lil Kim: if you spend as much energy on your album as you do on your beefs, you would be platinum right now. 

That's all that interested me this week in entertainment.  Excited to see what's next in the crazy idustry we call entertainment. 

#LikeReally?

There are somethings that I refuse to give my attention too.  I refuse to give my attention to the Kardashians because they are famous for absolutely no reason.  I refuse to give my attention to the Royal Wedding.  I don't mean to sound like a sour pus but I could not find enough interest for it.  But what really irritated me this past week, was this birth certificate hot mess going on in the news.

I am now convinced that money can make you stupid and arrogant.  And thank you Donald Trump for proving the truth in the previous sentence.  Is he so bored with all his money that he has to go around demanding birth certificates, driver's license, social security cards, green cards, and whatever other documents he can think of from public officials?  Am I the only one that thinks this is childish/stupid?  At some point, someone has to say this is foolish and I am not going to put up with some spoiled millionaire making stupid accusations.  The point is Donald Trump is a rich, stupid racist and a lot of his actions should be ignored rather than glorified in the media, unless we are glorifying the fact that he is a rich, stupid racist.

Now I know I am going to get a lot of lip for this because when you black you apparently have to agree with everything President Obama does.  I didn't find it necessary for President Obama to show his birth certificate to Donald Trump.  Like really, you are the President of United States, why
are you explaining yourself to anyone?  That is your whole tag line "I'm the President of the United States" and you instantly get extra cool points.  You make major decisions (kinda) that affects the whole country.  When did he even find time to find his birth certificate with all the problems in this country (government almost shut down, there is still a good amount of unemployment, and all those tornadoes causing major damage).  My advice to President Obama is to ignore foolishness.  There is this thing called the *side eye* and I need the President to catch on to it.  The sooner Obama realizes that he doesn't have to respond every time a hot mess says something the better off he will be.

#IWasBornThisWayAndILoveIt

Okay I know this post is not about poverty (once again) but I feel the need to write about this.  So I just finished watching the latest episode of Glee title 'I Was Born This Way' and it was beautiful and awesome.  I don't want to give way the episode but the subject matter was loving everything about yourself including the things you wish with all your might you could change.  The whole episode made me cry and made me remember when I was in high school. 

I would like to think that I had a pretty cool high school experience but like any other teen girl I had my insecurities with my looks and body.  I was an honor grad, on student council, class treasurer, participated in the plays, was a part of the competitive speech team, participated in the plays, and voted by faulty and staff for Outstanding Standing Senior, and voted Most Unique by my class.  But at the same time I was very insecure about size and looks.  I was chubby and dark skin.  When I looked in the mirror, I saw an average girl, nothing special.  Even though I had many friends and have memories from high school that will last me a lifetime, there were many times I went to bed frustrated that I couldn't lose weight.  I felt that if I could lose at least 15 to 20 pounds I could get the guys of my dreams (which I saw on facebook not too long ago and could not for the life of me figure out why I liked him) or maybe I would feel prettier. 

It would take a lot of encouragement  and long conversations from my mother and sister to help me realize that I'm not average....I'm BEAUTIFUL.  It took my sister telling me how we are all made in God's image and if you are calling yourself ugly then you are calling a creation of God's ugly.  This has stuck with me until this very day.  Whenever I would start to tear myself down I would think about what my sister told me.  But just like the sneaky person that the Devil is, he will always try to use your weakness against you to knock you back where you use to be.  So even though I'm in a place where I love myself (both the good and what others might not find attractive), I have been tested.

There is an event in my life that very few people know about me.  At first I was ashamed to tell the story because I felt that it said something bad about me.  But I'm strong enough in myself to tell the story.  When I was in college I went out for a sorority.  I would find out a month later that I did not get it.  It would be the first time that I went out for something school related and did not get it.  I could not understand for the life of me why I did not get it.  I always felt like I was a good asset to any group.  I soon felt myself going back to those feelings of insecurity.  Thinking that maybe I was not pretty enough to be in a sorority.  That maybe if I looked different that would have chose me.  I quickly got rid of those feelings because I knew there was not a thing wrong with me.  I instead turned it around on them.  It was their lost that they could not see how awesome I am.  The love I had for myself help me bounce back for something I realized later that I did not need in the first place. 

I LOVE myself.  If I never lose one pound and even if I am as dark as a chocolate bar, I was born this way and I embrace it, just like everyone should.  What I thought was bad about me actually was what made me unique.  I hope this post reaches someone who really need it and also go look at the latest episode of glee, it will inspire self love also. 

#OffTheRecord

Every now and then I feel I should take a break about just blogging about poverty.  Even though I do feel it is an important issue and I do continue to keep writing about how I am tackling the issue at my job, I also want to write about lighter things too.  These posts will be called #OffTheRecord and will cover whatever is on my mind.

This #OffTheRecord is about my new apartment and my on and off and on again 5k training.  Some of you might now that I got a new apartment.  I LOVE it.  I am rooming with my bestie again (we roomed together in college for 3 years).  Our apartment is so modern and just has a fresh feel to it.  The neighborhood is nice and its affordable.  But most of all, I love the fact that I am rooming with my bestie again.  It was cool having my own apartment but there were times I would come home and wish someone was there to talk too (and believe we talk about EVERYTHING lol).  I have finally got everything moved in but now it's a matter of unpacking boxes and getting the other boxes thrown away.  We don't have a cable yet so basically I have been either reading or watching DVDs particularly Martin season 3 and 4.  It's nice to come home to a place of your own and relax. Yep, I think I am going to like it.

As I stated before, I have been training (kinda) for the 2011 Women Can Run 5k.  I signed up for it last month and have been able to attend a few of the running clinics.  Because of moving, traveling for work, and other random life mishaps I have not been able to go to all the running clinics.  But I have tried to do some running on my own.  Unfortunately, because of the rain I have not been able to run too much after work but I hope in the next week I can get a couple of practice runs in.  My ultimate goal is to finish the race, rather I run the whole thing, run some walk some, or walk the whole 5k.  I just want to be able to say that I finished a 5k.  I know that this is possible. 

Well, that is all I have for now.  I will keep you posted on more of my apartment, training, and most definitely my work and how we are fighting hunger issues.