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Remember, When Going Natural…

“It doesn’t have to be dreads. You can wear an Afro, or braids like you used to. There’s a lot you can do with natural hair” ― Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

I was speaking with a sista recently who recently tried the natural challenge. That is, she went out on a limb and got locs. Thing is, she got tired of them and washed them out. While there are tons (I means TONS) of benefits to dred locs, I just want to encourage my natural sista’s in prolonging this journey with a reminder: When going natural, there are other styles you can try. Dred locs is the first thing that we think about because it is the most popular and we are in a time of re-awakening which, as with every movement, is always occupied by a specific hair style. In the 60’s and 70’s it was the Afro, today it is the locs. But if you aren’t too sure about it, there’s a lot of experimenting you could do. There are tons of YouTube videos with tons of styles on how you can twist and pull and shape your antennae* in the way of your desire. Then, once you are comfortable with your natural hair, you can decide if you want to loc it up, which because it’s a permanent style, provides security in that you will endure the natural journey a little bit longer.

*Antennae: Hair is not just strands coming out of your head, but every body part exists to perform a certain function. Hair does not just protect your skull, but hairs are filled with your DNA and often act as Human Antennas or feelers to the physical and spiritual realm. For instance: All matter (solids, liquids, gasses) is made of particles called atoms. And as we learned in school, atoms are made of sub-atom particles called “electrons”, “protons”, and “neutrons”. These sub-atom’s all have electromagnetic fields. That means they are like “mini-magnets”. Your bones, your blood, your skin and your hair are all made of “mini-magnets”. As for your hair, it plays many important roles for your body. The least known role is that of antenna. Your hair is capable of sending/receiving information to and from your body exactly like a radio antenna. We have a large population of Wasps down here in Louisiana in the summer time. A couple summers ago, I noticed that I could hear Wasps buzzing in my ear as I swapped at it, (I hate the sound of bees and wasps buzzing) but I didn’t see anything. That is until a few minutes later when one was coming across the room. I noticed that the locs on the left side of my head were picking up the sound of the wasps before they got near.

According to Wikipedia:

“Antennae are jointed, at least at the base, and generally extend forward from the head. They are sensory organs, although the exact nature of what they sense and how they sense it is not the same in all groups, nor always clear. Functions may variously include sensing touch, air motion, heat, vibration (sound), and especially olfaction (smell) or gustation (taste).”

#Ronovan Writes #BeWoW Weekly Blog Prompt – Connections

What connects one person to another? What provokes them to inspire, encourage, and to display characteristics of kindness? What makes them care so deeply about the whereabouts and well-being of others as if come from themselves? As if attached at the hip, what makes an individual go out on limbs, what makes them sacrifice?

In “A Child is Born” a great photographic look on life inside the womb, Lennart Nilson and Lars Hamberger begin their work with love:

“Love is an incredibly strong, enduring force and has been since time immemorial. The pattern is recognized in every culture in our world: two people are mutually attracted and feel the irresistible urge to unite.”

When a baby first emerges from his mother’s womb, he is looking for Love. It is the reason he comes out crying. Once safely enveloped in the serenity of his mother’s womb, he emerges into this strange place and must instantly reconnect with love. So he cries, and she cries for it. And in their innocence this love connection is worn like a sacred garment until we reach the age where we are taught to hate. This teaching may take many forms, but we are taught it and eventually we lose our innocence, we lose the ability to love. Maybe we saw something that disturbed us; maybe we were traumatized by an experience. Whatever the reason, when we reach a certain age, a world that is absent of Love eventually teaches us how not to Love, and we thus spend the rest of our lives in search of this connection.

I seek to re-connect with people through love. Despite the stigmatizing of this word, the carelessness in which it is handled, and the abuse it has endured, Love is not just a word. It is not just here for our convenience when we need something or when we think it will be of benefit to us. Love is not just a four letter word we use to justify our wrong, but Love is action. It is not just spoken, it is seen. We see it when people forgive each other. We see it when a homeless man is fed. We see it when a wrong person is corrected. We see it when a hug is distributed. Not only do we see it, we hear it. The beautiful thing about love and how it connects one person to another is that it surpasses language barriers, and culture clashes. If I travel to China and I see that an elderly man has fallen while walking down the street, I will move to assist him so that he stands back on his feet. I have no knowledge of Chinese, but I do know the language of love. Likewise, for many of you good people out there, if you saw that I was in distress, you will move to give encouragement when you see that it is needed. So love is also an interpreter. It has the ability to discern motives and acts as a guide. In this way, we build a bridge of cohesion that makes room for further understanding of one another as individuals. Because there is an absence of Love in the world, it has caused us to disconnect and forget how to treat one another and how to build positive relationships.

So for this week’s Positive #BeWoW Post, I am re-connecting through love. Continuously seeking to better understand what it is, how to distribute it, and how to accept it.

$2,500 Small Business Grant to Help Entrepreneurs from Underrepresented Communities to Grow their Small Businesses

Special thank you goes out to Rich McIver, Founder of Merchant Negotiations, for reaching out to The PBS Blog in regard to this tremendous opportunity for small business owners!

MerchantNegotiators.com announces a $2,500 Small Business Grant, to provide entrepreneurs from historically underrepresented groups with the seed capital they need to start or grow their small business. The contest is open to any current small business owner or entrepreneur who meets one of the following eligibility requirements:

• U.S. military veterans or active military
• Minority Owned Businesses
• Women Owned Businesses
• Persons with a diagnosed disability as defined by the ADA

If you fit the following criteria, you have the opportunity to apply for a grant and finally make your aspirations of becoming a business owner a reality. But get ready! This small window will not be open for long. Applications, available at MerchantNegotiators.com’s website, are open June 1 through August 1.

Below is an excerpt from the Press Release as obtained from the website:

Why Supporting Minority Entrepreneurs Is So Important

Entrepreneurs and their small businesses are the engines of the American economy. Half of all private-sector workers and 70% of all new jobs are generated by small businesses, and small businesses are responsible for more than 50% of US GDP or over $6 trillion dollars annually.

Today, minority owned businesses make up almost 15 percent of the 28 million small businesses and employ 5.9 million workers in the United States and are one of the fastest growing subsets of small businesses. Despite this growth, however, Hispanic and African-American owned companies still comprise just 15% of American small businesses, a massive under-representation considering they make up 37% of the US total population.

This under-representation is due in part to the fact that the banking, grant, angel funding and private equity communities consistently underfund and inadequately support minority’s entrepreneurial ventures.

“There’s clear statistical evidence that minority entrepreneurs have been disproportionately denied capital when they apply for it,” said Rich McIver. Because more than 80% of small businesses use some sort of financing to launch their business, the fact that minorities have a harder time accessing start-up capital means fewer minority-owned businesses are started.

Raising Awareness of Systemic Underfunding of Minority Entrepreneurs

The MerchantNegotiators’ Small Business Grant is a small but tangible step that the company is taking to help rectify this disparity, and raise awareness of the problem of the systemic underfunding of minority entrepreneurial ventures. Beyond providing seed capital to three entrepreneurs, the company views this as an opportunity to raise awareness about the abundance of minority owned businesses that are currently being underfunded.

According to Rich McIver, founder of MerchantNegotiators, “Given that minority entrepreneurs have a harder time accessing start-up capital, there are a lot more great business ideas in that community that are going untapped, that investors and bankers would be wise to consider more closely. We view this grant as not only a way to help a few of those ideas to materialize into small businesses through our seed funding, but also to encourage awareness, discussion, and change in the larger social causes underpinning this funding discrepancy.”

While $1,500, the winner’s grant amount, may not seem like enough for a person to launch a small business, it is in fact sufficient to cover the actual out of pocket cost outlay for most small business launches. Because more than 80% of small businesses use some sort of outside financing to launch their business, the funding hurdle for many minority entrepreneurs is whether they can come up with the 1% origination fee and related costs necessary to secure a small business loan.

Eligibility Requirements:

This grant is limited to individuals who own a small business (defined as having fewer than 50 employees) or want to start a business AND identify as members of one the following historically underrepresented groups in the small business community: Minorities, women, U.S. military veterans or active military, or persons with a diagnosed disability as defined by the ADA.

Submission Requirements:

Applications must be submitted electronically at MerchantNegotiators.com by 11:59 p.m. Central Time on August 1, 2015. Applicants must review and adhere to the full application rules and deadlines listed on https://merchantnegotiators.com/#small-business-grant. This document outlines program details and instructions for submitting an application.

Media Partners:

1. Encourage your readers to apply for the Small Business Grant
2. Add an application badge to your website
3. Write about the problem of the funding disparity for minority entrepreneurs
4. Support minority owned small businesses in your community
5. Engage with other minority entrepreneurship advocates by including the hashtag #GrantUsAChance in all communications regarding the grant

Remember: Every little bit helps!

Click Here to Learn How to Apply

Click Here to View Entire Press Release

Leftover Delights: Maintaining the same good taste in left-over food

Today’s Recipe Sunday, since it’s been awhile since we’ve last had one, is all about leftovers. Since studies show that most Americans throw away too much food anyway, it is easy to see that they also cook too much food. And alas we have the invention of leftovers, when you can have the same great meal today that you had yesterday. The exact same meal. We’ve all had them. Some of us love them and some of us hate them. But leftovers do come in handy, especially for extremely busy days. The problem however, is that not all food taste good the second (or third) time around. For this reason, some have opted out of the LO and just decide to throw away all the extras. But, why waste all that food? Here’s the truth: Not everyone knows how to store and reheat leftovers. Here are some tips on how to ensure your meal stays delicious days after you’ve cooked it in a segment I like to call: Leftover Delights.

Stay Away from the Microwave

We all use the microwave, or at least I do. But when it comes to reheating last night’s dinner, stay away from it. The microwave is going to dry the food out and rob it of its nutrients and natural flavors. A microwaved bowl of chili will not taste the same as a stove top heated bowl. When you re-heat food over the stove or in the oven, it’s the same way you cooked it in the first place and has a tendency to maintain the same flavors. Take French fries for example: Fries is just about the only food that cannot be eaten the next day, or can it? A brother once told me of something I couldn’t believe. But it made so much sense that I wondered why I hadn’t thought of it myself: To re-heat French fries, re-fry them on the stove for no longer than a minute or two. They will taste almost the same as when you had them the night before. I say almost because fries are nearly impossible to re-do, but if you had to, use this method.

And for every other food you wish to have again, just use the stove. We didn’t have a microwave when I grew up so all our leftovers were through the stove. And as children, we barely knew the difference. I just reheated some Asian rice a few days ago as a matter of fact (it was super bomb) on top of the stove instead of the microwave and it was just as delicious as the first time.

Note: If you work in an office, chances are you’ll just have the microwave. To make it taste better, add a little water and stir throughout since microwaved foods tend to get hard on the sides but still be cold in the middle.

Storage

The way food is stored also play a role in how they will taste the next day. Many of us just throw them in a couple of bowls or stick entire pots and pans in the refrigerator and be done with it. But here’s a better way:

• Make sure all food is stored in some kind of a container before putting in the refrigerator. If you can help it, try not to store away the whole pot, this affects the taste of the food.

• Aluminum Foil is widely used to cover food. That’s because it’s good for wrapping and helps food to maintain moisture. But you shouldn’t use foil to cover all kinds of foods. Foods that are high in acid, such as fruits, cabbage or tomatoes, should not be covered with foil because the aluminum can affect the taste of the food.

FYI: How should fruits be wrapped before refrigeration?

• Mold requires oxygen to grow, so air-tight packaging prevents that.

• Fresh-cut fruits should either have the cut surface covered in an airtight manner (with plastic film) or be placed cut surface down in a plastic container or on a plate. This prevents dehydration (melons), discoloration (apples and peaches), mold growth (most fruits), and vitamin loss. (Source: Ethel Tiersky, Susan Brewer, Ph.D., University of Illinois, Dept. of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Virginia Cooperative Extension “Food Storage Guidelines for Consumers”)

Tip: Start paying attention to how fruits and vegetables are stored at the grocery stores for a better idea of how to store them at home.

Timing

OK, everybody hold their breaths. I am sorry to report to you super leftover fans the following fact:

You can only reheat food once.

Earlier, we spoke about reheating food on the stove to maintain a better taste. After all, the whole purpose of having the same meal is to get the same taste. You may have needed to, but wouldn’t you also want it to taste just as good tonight as it did last night? So yes, reheat over the stove, but you can technically only reheat food once. The more times food is cooled and reheated the greater the potential for food poisoning as bacteria may multiply because the food is cooled too slowly, and might survive because the food isn’t reheated properly. It is a good idea not to eat leftovers after 2 days.

When you do reheat, make sure that food is reheated thoroughly so it is steaming hot all the way through. If you must use a microwave, stop to stir occasionally.

Note: Since I just had leftover rice I should also say: Leftover cooked rice is fine to eat as long as it gets cooled and refrigerated quickly after cooking and eaten within 24 hours. This is because rice can contain a tough type of bacteria that can survive heating. Most other leftovers are safe to eat up to two days after cooking. Always reheat leftovers until steaming hot.

Serve Immediately

When serving leftovers, make sure you are getting ready to eat immediately after reheating because the temperature can drop and bacteria could grow. It also tastes wayyy better this way.

The basic key to good leftovers is to remember that reheating means to re-cook, not just to warm up. This alone is what makes the difference between good foods the second time around, or stale food. Don’t just warm up tonight’s dinner, but re-cook it.

Health Tip: When washing your hands, always make sure to dry them. Evidence has shown that bacteria spreads more in the presence of moisture, so always dry your hands after washing them thoroughly.

Movie Night Friday

When I think of Friday nights, I think of rest; of sabbaths, relaxation, peacefulness, calm, repose; time-out. I also think of a good movie to watch. If possible, I would like to fill up my Friday posts (every now and again) with my favorite movies and why I love them. We’ll call this:

At the top of my list is one of my favorite movies called “Something The Lord Made”, starring Mos Def, Alan Rickman, and Gabrielle Union. A made for TV movie back in 2004 and based on a true story, Something The Lord Made is the story of Vivien Thomas, a black man who was not a doctor, not a college graduate, and paid a janitor’s wage and yet, became one of the most skilled surgeons of his time.

In 1930, Vivien Thomas (19) played by Mos Def, was a carpenter from Nashville with ambitions to attend Tennessee State College and then medical school. However, he was fired from his job and took a position as janitor at Vanderbilt University, as learned through a friend, working under Dr. Alfred Blalock, the world famous “Blue Baby” doctor who pioneered modern heart surgery, played by Alan Rickman. Vivien’s plans were to work temporarily as to save for college, but the depression wiped out his savings as well as his hope of going to school.

However, while hired as a janitor, Thomas quickly becomes a key component in Blalock’s medical research and becomes Blalock’s medical research partner. Vivien is not just any partner; Vivien is brilliant, using his carpentry skills, profound intellect, simplicity, and teachings from his father to learn in three weeks what most lab assistants learned in months. Blalock sees potential in Vivien and lets him in on his groundbreaking work on shock, the first phase of the body’s reaction to trauma. In short, Vivien became a cardiac pioneer 30 years before the first black surgical resident. And he was just a High School graduate.

The movie picks up when the men move their work to John Hopkins Hospital in 1941. Mary Masterson plays Helen Taussig, the pediatrician / cardiologist. At a social gathering among the doctors, at which Thomas is the waiter, Taussig challenges Blalock to come up with a surgical solution for her blue babies, babies who practically suffocate due to a blockage in the main artery in the lung, medically termed, Cyanosis ( the appearance of a blue or purple coloration of the skin or mucous membranes due to the tissues near the skin surface having low oxygen). She needs a new way for them to oxygenate the blood. The movie shows the two, Blalock and Thomas, in the lab conducting experiments and experimenting on dogs. Their plan is to figure out how to turn the dogs “blue” by giving them the blue baby condition and then figuring out a way to solve it.

The film dramatizes Blalock and Thomas fight to save the babies and Blalock praises Thomas surgical skill as being “like something the lord made”. But outside the lab, they are separated by the racism of the time. Thomas is a bartender, a waiter, and despite his genius in the lab—conducting most of the experiments, doing the research, and standing over Blalock’s shoulders to ensure the surgical procedures are done correctly—he is paid a janitor’s wage. He is not an invitee to the Belvedere Hotel where they honor those of the Blue Baby surgery, not featured in the magazines, and not given credit at all for his remarkable contribution to the medical field. In what way does Vivien become one of the most talented surgeons of time, training white surgeons with doctorate degrees, at an institution where he has to enter through the back door? How does the story unfold? Who was Vivien Thomas? This movie is a must see.

Trailer:

Spot the knot! (Funny Movie Mistakes)

When you watch this movie (Check Netflix ), when Clara (Thomas wife, played by Gabrielle Union), takes her seat next to Thomas on the bus and begins talking to Vivien, a modern SUV, sedan, and pickup truck are briefly visible in a parking lot behind them. Try to see if you can catch it!

“What’s your favorite movie? Why do you love it?”

#Ronovan #Writes #BeWoW Blogshare – Ordinary vs. Extraordinary

Ron’s #BeWoW prompt today is to explain what ordinary and extraordinary means to us. As I pondered over and over again about the defining moment of these words for me, I found the prompt to be quite the challenge. It was with interesting difficulty for me to talk about these words. To present something more than definitions, but to really talk about these words. While it is an optional prompt, I thought more and more until I was deeply interested in writing on this topic, and there lies my definition. Ordinary and Extraordinary was right there in the midst of my pondering on whether or not to use the prompt at all, standing finger to face, keyboard to post. I could perceive in my mind a subject I thought far more worthy as it would also be easy. Or I could dictionary Webster’s mind for a sneak peek into the traditional history of these words. I could see each day this way too; commonly held thoughts and belief systems coming and going at average pace. Putting nothing less and nothing more into the day at hand. Never pushing limits. Never going beyond. Never taking risk. Never faithfully walking alongside the edge of possibility. The ordinary.

Or, I could create a post out of the challenging. I can break that level of comfort. I could perceive in my mind an opportunity to force the creative mind to produce. Not just to contribute, but to build. I could see each day this way too; holding fast to the individuality I was birthed with. Producing the unexpected. The perceptibly strange. The odd. The extraordinary. Putting forth nothing less than impeccable effort. Pushing limits. Never giving less than 100% of thought. Never settling for traditional, but embracing the different. Fearlessly and boldly walking alongside the edge of possibility. Immersing both my mind and my spirit in the groundbreaking. The unique. The extraordinary.

Race Doesn’t Exist

French physician Francois Bernier was the first to use the word “race” as a category for scientifically classifying humans in a 1684 essay titled “A New Division of the Earth, According to the Different Species or Races of Men Who Inhabit It”.

In addition, Johan Friedrich Blumenbach (1752-1840), a medical professor in Germany, argued that human beings fall into five races: Caucasian, Mongolian, Ethiopian, American, and Malay. He argued that Caucasians derived from the Caucasus Mountain region and embodied the ideal human from which the others degenerated. It was a popular belief that Caucasians were the ideal form based on a skull that had been found in the Caucasus Mountains, near the alleged location of Noah’s ark. What this classification achieved is the setting up of a color line. Blumenbach classified five chief races of mankind and by attributing psychological value and importance to race; this became what we know as racism.

Science has a lot to do with the usage of “race” to identify a people. Although there is uncertainty in the title about the correctness of the term “race” versus “species” to classify human variation, Bernier relied on categories based on outward physical characteristics such as skin color.

A prime example is Swedish botanist Carolus Linnaeus’ system of biological classifications in Systemae Naturae, published in 1735. Linnaean taxonomy is the system of scientific classification of plants and animals now widely used in the biological sciences. He formalized the distinction among the continental populations of the world and his work helped characterize the concept of race. In the tenth edition of Systemae Naturae, which was published in 1758, Linnaeus projected four subcategories of Homo sapiens: Americanus; Asiaticus; Africanus; and Europeanus. In short, the moral components of race–such as beliefs, values, etc., were not as prevalent where racial hierarchy was already established by slavery, but the word race was a general term that was used interchangeably with species, sort, type or variety. This is why there is no such thing as a race of people.

The concept of Race is a new ideology and has not always been with us. Genesis Chapter 10, known as The Table of Nations, gives an example of how people were split into nations and lands and language, not races. In fact, “definitions of who is black vary quite sharply from country to country, and for this reason people in other countries often express consternation about our definition.” (F. James Davis). What has happened then? How has a nation of people now become a race of people? They told you about a brown man, a black man, a yellow man, a red man, and a white man. It’s as if they took their crayons and painted us the colors of their expectations. After coloring they began the tasks of assigning these colors to class and certain geological locations in that they may properly identify them. Not necessarily so that these people may identify themselves, but so that racial superiority would reign supreme.

The U.S. Census Bureau defines race as “a social category recognized by the United States and does not attempt to define race biologically, anthropologically, or genetically”. The Census Bureau recognizes five categories of race: White (people with origins in Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa,) Black or African American (Africa), American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander. The census also includes a Hispanic ethnic category. It is an ethnic category rather than a race category because the Latino community is said to include many races, such as White, Black, Native American, Asian, and mixed.

The truth is that every single person on the face of the earth belongs to a nation of people, as he was so divided since the beginning, and thus he falls into whatever family according to his nationality. Every people have a nation to which they belong, followed by a specific set of laws, customs, and traditions separated only by land and this is why race does not exist, because there’s no such thing as a race of people. Sure, we may use the term for understanding sake, one may say “my race is..” so that the person next to him gets it, but he does not really belong to a race, he belongs to a nation. Prejudices, Biases, and oppression of one people who feel superior over another people does exist, but race within the concept to which we’ve grown to know it, does not.

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