Before and After Blog Awards

I’m learning more and more about the blogosphere. One thing I recently learned more about is Blog Awards. My opinion about them is split into two categories: Before I knew what Blog Awards were and After I knew what blog awards were.

Before:

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Ah, those lovely things hanging on the sides of everyone’s blog. If I didn’t know any better, I’d sworn I’ve walked into the home of a very prestigious individual. You know the feeling, when you walk into the office of someone with hundreds of plaques on the wall; seems like they have a PhD in everything except your life. You scroll through a blogger with like 10,000 followers and 10 plaques to back it up. More than this, they are surely experts in their field. I am guaranteed that the “Whatever You Wanna Call It” Blog has been given the “Blog of the Year” award because of its capacity to understand whatever. I am rest assured that this person has worked long and hard to put out a product that has garnered him this award. Indeed, blog awards are a sight to see. It made the person’s blog look so official and so important because they had won. They had been recognized. They had been selected among the best of the best by the WordPress higher ups. Yea, blog awards are pretty neat.

 
After:

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But then I found out that Blog awards are not given out by the chairman of who knows what, but that they are actually given out by bloggers to other bloggers. That’s cool too. But understanding that they are made up awards by members of the blogging community does degrade my level of awe a bit. It’s like walking into that room with all the plaques on the wall and being told that they are made up certificates by the person’s best friend. It doesn’t make it look any less cool, but it does degrade the initial assumption of expertise. It’s almost like I initially thought they were accredited, and then I find out they were printed off a Word Document. I still think they’re awesome. Just not as awesome as when I thought they were given from the outside. So for those of you thinking of me, I would still accept it (plug).

I have an idea: What if a blogger created a Blog award that was actually based on something a tad bit deeper than recognition? An award created specifically for the bloggers who meet the qualifications and recognized Publically by WordPress or some other fancy guy in a suit. Something Bloggers can both hang to the sides of their blogs as well as on their walls at home. Something only those qualified bloggers can get so that it’s a real competition? Something unique that can become the global standard for Blog Awards; that thing bloggers actually work hard to get and strive to achieve? Now that would be awesome.

 

Exodus Gods and Kings: Whitewashing History

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The ancient Egyptians were the descendants of Noah’s son, Khawm, or Ham in English. Khawm means black, hot and burnt. Kush is Ham’s first born son. The Kushites are the Ethiopians and Nubians today. Ancient Ethiopia was located south of Egypt in what is called the Sudan today. Ethiopian comes from the Greek word Atheops, meaning burnt face. Egypt, Ham’s second born son, name means Burnt Black. The ancient Egyptians called their land and themselves Khemet, which in their tongue means “THE LAND OF BLACKS.”

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The word Khemet is nothing but a variation of the word Khawm in the language of ancient Egypt. Shem’s descendents, the Israelites, are also a black skinned people. This is why they were often able to hide in Egypt and why they were often mistaken as Egyptians (as in the Israelite Moses who passed as the grandson of Pharaoh for 40 years). On the other hand, the descendents of Noah’s son Japheth has been traced back to the Russians, Celtics, Ashkenaz, Goths, Greeks, Indo-European people, etc.

Why are these basic Historical foundations excluded from today’s movies?

You telling me you couldn’t cast Denzel Washington as Pharaoh? Not even Idris Elba? Chiwetel Ejiofor is good enough for 12 years a slave but he can’t be Moses?

 
You couldn’t have made Angela Basset Pharaoh’s wife? Vivica as his daughter? Like could Jada Smith just be Mary? After all, the Egyptians did look like these people, or am I the only person who notices that Egypt is not in Europe?

 
And where are all the black producers with the capacity to make movies? Tyler, can we get an exodus movie? Spike Lee? John Singleton?

Guest Feature – Language

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Silence is one part of speech, the war cry
of wind down a mountain pass another.
a stranger’s voice echoing through lonely
valley’s, a lover’s voice rising so close
it’s your own tongue: these are the keys to cipher,
the way the hawk’s key unlocks the throat
of the sky and the coyote’s yip knocks
it shut, the way the aspens’ bells conform
to the breeze while the rapid’s drum defines
resistance. Sage speaks with one voice, pinyon
with another. Rock, wind her hand, water
her brush, spells and then scatters her demands.
some notes tear and pebble our paths. Some notes
gather: the bank we map our lives around.

 

– Camille T. Dungy

Tomato and Beef Casserole With Polenta Crust

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Photo: Beth Dreiling Hontzas; Styling: Caroline Murphey

Today’s special recipe is a feature from Kathy Gizzi, of Rotonda West, Florida. It looks so tasty I cannot wait to try it myself. This time, we’re all going to do it together, yall with me? Tonight’s dinner is: Tomato and Beef Casserole with Polenta Crust. We’ll need:

1 teaspoon salt
1 cup plain yellow cornmeal
1/2 teaspoon Montreal steak seasoning
1 cup (4 oz.) shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
1 pound ground beef
1 cup chopped onion
1 chopped bell pepper < or zucchini. I don’t care too much for it so I substituted with bell pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 (14 1/2-oz.) cans diced tomatoes, drained
1 (6-oz.) can tomato paste
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Bring 3 cups water and 1 tsp. salt to a boil in a 2-qt. saucepan over medium-high heat. Whisk in cornmeal; reduce heat to low, and simmer, whisking constantly, 3 minutes or until thickened. Remove from heat, and stir in steak seasoning and 1/4 cup Cheddar cheese. Spread cornmeal mixture into a lightly greased 11- x 7-inch baking dish.

 
2. Brown ground beef in a large skillet over medium-high heat until meat is well done; drain and transfer to a bowl.

 
3. Sauté onion and bell peppers in hot oil in skillet over medium heat until crisp-tender. Stir in beef, tomatoes, and tomato paste; simmer, stirring often, 10 minutes. Pour beef mixture over cornmeal crust. Sprinkle with remaining 3/4 cup cheese.

 
4. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until bubbly. Sprinkle casserole with parsley just before serving.

Enjoy!

Do you have a tasty recipe you would like me to try? Send it in! I love recipes and will try it seriously, no joke. :). Just be sure to send a picture along with it so I can feature it on Recipe Sunday.