Going Polar

In ones professional and personal fiscal journey, there are many stages of success and newfound levels of achievement that they encounter. Many of these stages can be furtive and clothed in levels of grey because they are not instantly evident. They are the subtle results of discipline, focused effort, foresight, and positioning. Unless you are one of the lucky few that came up very suddenly, success plays out as a journey where cosmetic improvements and an upgraded change of scenery occur naturally and without abrupt modifications to your livelihood. You might notice that you have a taste for top shelf liquor recently or that your cube TV might have metamorphosized into a nice plasma. These occurrences happen when you come-up but you are not going to gut your apartment and then order all new furniture and accoutrements all of the sudden. Success is time consuming. But the question I ask of you today is, when in one’s success journey, does their recently former way of life get played out and not good enough for them anymore? When does the luster of a 5 star hotel suite become customary or even passé to a sports figurehead? When does a model, or a straight 10 become obsolete and interchangeable to an entertainer? And when (even for the moderately successful brother or sister out there) does waiting an extra minute and a half for your valet car exasperate you when you could have been wearing that red vest in the not so distant past. I call that increasing lack of empathy for those on a lower tier and mounting shallowness regarding your good fortune “going polar”. I only use that term for the abusers of their own privilege. Im not saying go hang on the block you used to in high school so you can prove that your keepin in real, im saying just don’t cuss out your intern cause he brought back 2% milk in your latte when you told him skim. Always keep your considerate mind and wits about you as you transcend up that slippery slope called success. Because if you slip you will be kept company by the ones that you shitted on when you were on the other side of the velvet rope. Peace

I hate to break this to you, but. . .

. . these are some inevitable truths that 2008 has already presented us:

a) Britney really has lost it, poor thing. .
b) Race is still an issue on the Presidential campaign trail.
c) There hasn’t been a real “dynasty” in major league sports since the 90s.
d) The dollar in your pocket isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on outside of the U.S.
e) The Writers Strike is not letting up anytime soon.

While I’d love to dialogue about all of these revelations, let’s be honest, by the time it’s all said and done, you’re probably gonna miss the last two new episodes of your favorite show. . . .and given the circumstances, you might not want to waste that precious time.

If you haven’t been keeping up with the ever-present Writer’s Strike, here’s a brief re-cap of the situation:

The Writers Guild of America, East and the Writers Guild of America, West are labor unions which represent film, radio, and television writers. The two unions, are striking against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) over the WGA contract as it pertains to “DVD residuals; jurisdiction over animation and reality program writers; and, perhaps most importantly, compensation for "new media"-- content written for (or distributed through) emerging digital technology such as the Internet.” (cited: from “2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike”: http://www.wikipedia.org/). In other words, David is standing up to Goliath and we’re all suffering the consequences.

Basically, the writers want to negoiate a new contract to ensure that they are being fairly compensated (residuals) for all forms of new media in which their work is broadcast (TiVo, online streaming, iTunes, etc.) and for reprints/re-runs of their work (DVDs, etc.).

With no end in sight, the real question becomes how will you fill your time? For those of you who, like me are cable-babies and are already experiencing withdrawal symptoms, I would like to offer some tips in order to fill the estimated 3.5 hours daily you used to spend watching TV:

1) Start from the beginning and watch the re-runs of your favorite shows or rent/buy DVDs. -Reminisce on how it all began. . . .

2) DVR your shows now and don’t watch them
-Kind of like spreading the jam a little thinner on the sandwich, make ‘em last as long as possible. (then if you were smart, cancel your cable until the strike is over- ain’t nothing on anyway. . .)

3) Find a friend -There’s probably one or two that you haven’t heard from in a while.

4) Watch more YouTube
-People never cease to amaze me at the things they put out for the public to see.

5) Read a book
-I know this foreign for most of you who haven’t picked up a book since college, but give it a try.

6) If you’re single, go on more dates. If you’re not, compromise and refer to bullet #2.

7) Have a house party.

8) Give into “reality TV”
– American Idol, FOL3, Celebrity Apprentice, ANTM (season 10 –please make it stop!), Project Runway, Top Chef, Deal or No Deal, etc.

9) Succeed in actually fulfilling your New Year’s Resolution.

10) Keep reading The Collective. We promise to education and entertain!

More than just getting your mind right...

On Tuesday (Jan 8th), friend to the family and mentor Terrie M. Williams released her most revealing work Black Pain: It Just Looks Like We’re Not Hurting. This book serves as a wake up call to the Black Community, especially those dealing with pain and depression. The book came as a result of the enormous out-cry of help/relief/need from her 2005 article in Essence Magazine in which Terrie shared a very private and sensitive chronicle of the years she spent masking her depression and putting on her game-face. Terrie is a trained social worker and founder of The Stay Strong Foundation, so one would think that she would know how to deal with depression. This goes to show you that EVERYONE can be affected.

All too often, we ignore the signs of depression by saying, “Oh, she is just crazy.” “You just need to give it over to the Lord.” “Stop acting out!” Instead of looking at the underlining cause of many problems, we simply brush it under the rug and categorize our strife and something else.

This book gives a voice to the disease. Through her personal accounts, those of everyday people and even personal stories given by celebrities, Terrie shows that depression is prevalent in the Black community. She offers hope and proves real talk for when there is nowhere to go but up.

For more information on Black Pain, visit http://www.thestaystrongfoundation.org/ or email at twms@terriewilliams.com








Until next time...

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