Hey Soul Sista

So what's been going on in my life for the past three weeks you ask??! A LOT. In the past 3 weeks I've started a new job as a payroll and staffing coordinator for a big company, met a boy, and discovered some very interesting stuff about myself along the way lol.

I like my job most days... However, lately, it's been a real bitch. Dealing with people (especially when it concerns money/working) will really test your patience. I always try to act very professional but I'm human. I have been telling clients and workers just how it is and not holding back. I no longer care if people think I'm a total bitch or a bowl of sunshine. Either way I'm still the boss of the mulah$, so what I say goes. I also took my anger out on my desk phone at work while speaking to a rude lady who wanted an interview.

Let's just say the receiver fell on the transmitter repeatedly, and hard. Yeah, the company is ordering me a new one. What has made my job so much more stressful is this new huge account we just got that has a lot of workers whom work many positions with different payrates (i.e. balancing the account and its checkbook is a total nightmare on elm street). I'm just ready for their contract to run out with us, or for them to finish this effing project. Which ever comes first, I don't really care anymore.

Moving on to the new guy I met. I met him online, which I know some people might consider that to be a little ehh way of meeting people. Here's the thing though, between juggling work, family, friends, and my volunteer obligations, I never have time to go out and mingle. So how else do you expect a busy gal to find a guy in this world?

I figured I might as well take advantage of the Internet like everyone else does. He's 33, has dreads (yumm), intelligent, and is really involved in politics. There's only one catch though, and I know I'm gonna catch hell from my readers about this in my inbox lol; he's a conservative and a Republican. Yes, you read right, I'm seeing a Republican.

He's a financial advisor who makes over $80,000 a year. He's a Republican because of how he feels that money should be spent, but his feelings on pretty much all other issues lean more towards Democratic. Anyhow, I'm definitely getting a crash course in how to see a person as person separate from their political views.

He's funny, intelligent, nerdy, sweet and classy. I love all those things about him. We have fun together and a great time talking (as long as it's not about the Stimulus Package lol). I think subconsciously I might have picked him out because he is a Republican. He holds a different view from me. I like when a guy isn't afraid to challenge what I say.

I want a person with the same amount of conviction and spice that I have ya know. But, I also want a guy who thinks that everything about me is perfect, even the traits that other people may find annoying or dislike. Something like Orianthi's song According To You. I just want my cake and want to eat it too. That's not too much to ask when it comes to a relationship, is it??

Telephone

India Arie (singer/songwriter most well know from her hits "Video" and "Hair") doesn't like Lady Gaga's and Beyonce's video for Gaga's latest single "Telephone." On March 18th Arie tweeted, "Don't be offended this is all MY opinion... Am I the only one who thinks the "telephone" video is going a bit too far?"

She then goes on to tweet the next seven tweets on the subject:

"I'm not referring to the abstract nature of the video ... I'm talking about the IMAGERY - the unspoken back story, the language the message. I agree gaga is being her image .. I dig her creative mind But still ... Thers a such thing as socially irresponsible... I'm just sayin. Its not long before somebody does a straight NAKED video. Not like Alanis morrisette "thank you india" like NAKED dancing around. LOLhahaha. Let's be CLEAR! I know it gaga M.O. - I don't live under a rock. And I get that a lot of work put into it. I'm talking social responsability. There's an artist ever 10 years who pushes the envelope ... but its bout to fall off the Table. When is it too far? I respect the creative mind but disagree with the "choices" as a dish meant to be served for mass consumption... Crazy to me that the Dark, underbelly, s shock at all cost thing is a TREND like asymetrical hair and big shoulder jackets. Slippery slope!"

I see what Arie is trying to say but, I'm going to have to respectfully disagree with her. In the "Telephone" video, Beyonce and an incarcerated Lady GaGa play lovers on the lam who have plans to take revenge on a cheating boyfriend by killing him with poison; along with all the other diners at a truck stop type diner. The video ends with the two holding hands in the Pussywagon while driving off into the sunset and avoiding capture.

It's very clear based on the "Thelma & Louise" inspired exit, the couture in the video, the fashionably vulgar name of their getaway vehicle, the honey poisoning, and just the overall gaudy nature of the video, that the whole thing is meant to be taken very tongue and cheek. It's just pure playful. Nothing more. The way the video is presented it makes it pretty hard to take it seriously. So, with that being said, I don't know how you can consider it to be violent or dark.

As for Arie pointing to the partial nakedness (which was mainly only during the opening of the video when Gaga's still in the prison), is was just women in very skimpy bikinis. You could see the same thing or worse in any rap video, beach travel channel, or on any fashion runway show. There was no extreme nakedness in the entire 9 minute video.

You can't respect an artist's thinking or mind then attack their creations because the two are inseparable. It's very true that trends come and go, but Gaga isn't following a trend, she is the trend. To say that she made a video with the purpose of shocking at all cost to be part of this trend is incorrect in my opinion. That's just who she is.

She's a shocking artist. She thinks so far out of the box that it seems extremely shocking and maybe even appalling ordinary people. An artist doesn't produce art with responsibility to society in mind. They follow the responsibility they feel to themselves to express themselves. As an artist herself, I expected Arie to understand that.

However, while Arie obviously loses points in my book for her interpretation of Telephone, she gains some for understanding that John Mayer is not a racist. He's just a guy who tries to appear clever with words who put his foot in his mouth.

And on a sidenote, was that thing about big shoulder military jackets in her tweet a jab at Michael Jackson?? Idk.

















Ciao,
Gabby

Here Without You

I know we've all heard the "if you were stranded on a desert island what would you take" scenario, but really, what parts of your life or possessions could you not do without? What necessities make you tick and your world go 'round?

The 6 things in my life that I could never do without period:

God
Family
Friends
Animals
Journal
the beach

The 6 material things I could never do without:

Textbooks
Smart phone
ipod
my hair moisturizer (I would be lookin' a filthy hot mess w/o it child)
purse
Internet

Another Slice

On Monday I'll be starting yet another new job. I'm going to be a payroll and staffing coordinator for a corporation. So how did I find myself right back where I swore I would never be again-working for a corporation??

The jobs I had before where I was trying to save the world were wonderful because I was helping people, but they didn't fit my lifestyle needs on so many levels. Social workers work all crazy sorts of hours, have no help from the state, and are terribly underpaid.

I need some stability (i.e. set hours) right now, because I am starting my graduate courses for my Masters. I have to have time to do the assignments and learn. I also need a little more money to be as financially stable as I would like to be.

Does leaving a job because I want more stability and I need a little more green make me a selfish, money grubbing bitch? Absolutely not. It's good that I am learning what I need to get myself established early on in life. I have to do what's right for ME now if I am ever going to be in a place to do anything great to help others in the future.

And as for working for the big bad wolf corporation, all businesses and corps. aren't created equal. I have found one that is more on the ethical side than the dark side lol. Things always work themselves out for good for those who have good intentions.

Yours Truly,
Gabby Baby

Reforming America

I am so happy that the Healthcare Reform passed!!!! The President is expected to sign the bill into law tomorrow! This reform is exactly what American needs. Approximately 32 millions will now get the healthcare coverage and benefits that they need and deserve. What I am most happy about is that as soon as this bill is signed tomorrow, insurance companies can no longer place lifetime caps on policies, or drop a patients insurance if he or she gets sick.

And going into effect this year, insurance companies will be barred from denying coverage to children because of pre-existing conditions. Taking place in 2014, insurance companies will be prohibited from denying coverage to adult patients with pre-existing medical conditions or charging them more because of these conditions.

Also effective this year, insurance companies will now be required to cover preventive services such as, health screenings and vaccines that are recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Here's some wonderful news for college age kids and young adults, parents are now able to keep their kids on their insurance plan until the child(ren) turn 26.

Older Americans on Medicare who hit the cap on their Medicare prescription drug benefits will be given a rebate. Once they spend $2,830, they will receive a $250 rebate. In 2011, older Americans who go past the allotted amount will be given a 50% discount on prescription drugs. This aims to close the doughnut hole in Medicare prescription coverage completely by the year 2020.

The bill also holds employers acoountable for providing insurance to their employees. Approximately 60% of Americans get health insurance through their employers. If those Americans make less than $250,000 a year, then they are unlikely to see any major changes in copays or premiums. The healthcare bill's aim here is to make sure that employers are offering their employees insurance. Small businesses will receive a tax cut so they can offer coverage to their employees.

Employers that don't offer insurance will be penalized. Every business should have insurance for their employees. It's the responsible and right thing to do. People are human beings, not mules made to work without peace of mind for them or their families.

This legislation is going to change the entire landscape of how insurance companies and businesses operate for the better, and I can't wait to see what other great improvements President Obama will bring about during his term. :)

Sincerely,
Gabrielle S. Robinson

Ignorance or Innovation?

The case for open relationships and open marriages, along with polyamorous relationships, seems to be growing in this new age of the sexually liberated modern couple. An open relationship is when two people who are already in a relationship agree that they can both take part in sexual encounters with other people, without it being considered cheating. The term open marriage typically refers to a marriage in which the partners agree that each may engage in extramarital sexual relationships, without this being regarded as infidelity.

There are many different styles of open marriage, with the partners having varying levels of input on their spouse's activities. Polyamory is the practice of having more than one loving relationship at the same time, with the full knowledge and consent of all partners involved. The relationships are long-term, intimate, and usually (but not necessarily) sexual. Swingers are in a class of their own when it comes to open relationships. Swinging is when a members of a different couples, especially married couples, exchange sexual partners.

Now, relationship experts have said that the benefits of these types of relationships can be great. Open relationships and marriages and couple who swing can reap the benefit of an added spice to their sex lives and not have to worry about dealing with a cheating partner. People in a polyamorous relationship get the opportunity to develop relationships much deeper that just physical with more than one person.

Ofcourse, these types of agreements only work if jealousy is not present, and the communication between everybody involved is good. This era of the new age relationship makes me wonder, is the idea of a totally monogamous relationship an out-dated concept in a forever changing world? I am going to have to go old school on this one and say that I wouldn't even consider engaging in this. It's just not for me.

Where's the commitment?? If someone is going to be with me they have to be totally with me and all mine, and I'll be that way with them. To me a relationship is between two people and that's it. Otherwise, what's the point of even getting into a relationship? You might as well stay single so you can go around and sleep with or form any other bonds with anyone you want.

But ofcourse that's just my point of view. How do you guys feel about it? Is it just naive for people in these types of relationships to believe that they can have their cake and eat it too without someone getting hurt, or are they innovative leaders in the field of relationships?

Yours Truly,
Gabby

Celebrate Good Times

Here is a collection of random facts regarding Black history and culture to celebrate Black History Month. How many of them did you know?

1.) On February 21, 1961, Otis Boykin patents the Electrical Resistor.

Otis Boykin, Inventor, patented the Electrical Resistor. U.S. 2,972,726 He is responsible for inventing the electrical device used in all guided missiles and IBM computers, plus 26 other electronic devices including a control unit for an artificial heart stimulator (pacemaker). He began his career as a laboratory assistant testing automatic controls for aircraft. One of Boykin's first achievements was a type of resistor used in computers, radios, television sets, and a variety of electronic devices. Some of his other inventions included a variable resistor used in guided missiles, small component thick-film resistors for computers. The innovations in resistor design reduced the cost of producing electronic controls for radio and television, for both military and commercial applications. Other inventions by Otis Boykin also included a burglarproof cash register and chemical air filter.

2.) On February 21, 1936, Barbara Jordan was born.

Jordan would go on to become the first African American woman elected to the House of Representatives.

3.) On September 25, 1886, Peter "The Black Prince" Jackson wins the Australian heavyweight title, becoming the very first Black man to win a national boxing crown, 1886

4.) March 5, 1939, Charles Fuller was born.

Playwright Charles Fuller was born in Philadelphia March 5, 1939. Fuller co-founded the Afro-American Arts Theatre in Philadelphia, his hometown, in 1967. The Perfect Party (1969) was the first of Fuller's plays to receive critical acclaim. Zooman and the Sign won an Obie Award in 1980. A Soldier's Play, about a murder on a Louisiana military base, won the 1982 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It was adapted into a film, A Soldier's Story, in 1984.

5.) February 5, 1990, Columbia University graduate and Harvard University law student Barack Obama became the first African American named president of the Harvard Law Review.

6.) February 1, 1926, Negro History Week Begins.

What is now known as Black History Month, was first celebrated on this date as Negro History Week by Carter G. Woodson. It became a month long celebration in 1976.

7.) On October 10, 1901, Frederick Douglass Patterson, veterinarian and founder of the United Negro College Fund, was born.

8.) On June 26, 1956, Physician Bernard A. Harris, Jr was born.

Physician Bernard A. Harris, Jr was born in Temple, Texas. After completing his residency training in 1985 at the Mayo Clinic, Dr. Harris then completed a National Research Council Fellowship at NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California. While at Ames he conducted research in the field of musculoskeletal physiology, and disuse osteoporosis, completing his fellowship in 1987. He then joined NASA Johnson Space Center as a clinical scientist and flight surgeon. Selected by NASA in January 1990, Dr. Harris became an astronaut in July 1991. He served as the crew representative for Shuttle Software in the Astronaut Office Operations Development Branch. A veteran of two space flights, Dr. Harris has logged more than 438 hours in space.

9.) In 1970, Maya Angelou (Marguerite Johnson) was the first black to have an original screenplay produced, "Georgia, Georgia," which she directed. Angelou was also the first black woman to have a non-fiction work on the best-seller list.

10.) On January 7, 1890, inventor W.B. Purvis patents the fountain pen.