of snakes, slaves, and shamrocks – fact and fiction surrounding st. patrick’s day

St. Patrick’s Day is one of those really random holidays that lots of Americans celebrate mainly because it gives us an excuse to get drunk, wear green, and pinch total strangers. But few know the real story about the man who originally inspired the celebration, and even less about the images associated with the annual bacchanalian festival.
So I thought I’d share and dispel some of the most common myths and misconceptions associated with St. Patrick’s Day.

St. Patrick was Irish.
Nope. St. Patrick, whose original name was Maewyn Succat (Can you imagine celebrating St. Maewyn’s day? Lame.), was British born. At 16, his family was attacked by Irish raiders and he was shuttled off to slavery. He spent 6 years as an enslaved sheep herder until a vision from God inspired him to escape. After that, he entered the priesthood, where he assumed the name Patrick.

St. Patrick drove the snakes out of Ireland.
Um, not really, since Ireland doesn’t have any snakes. What St. Paddy did do, however, was return to Ireland after his escape from slavery and begin spreading Christianity to the largely pagan Irish folk. Thus the notion that he drove ‘snakes’ from Ireland is probably more of a figurative idea. The pagan Celts of ancient Ireland also used the symbol of the snake in many of their rituals, so that also plays a part in the erroneous snake-ridding legend.

St. Patrick’s Day is always celebrated on March 17.
It is! Except… occasionally, it isn’t. St. Patrick’s Day always occurs during Lent. The Catholic church has a policy against celebrating saint feast days when they fall on a solemnity. For brevity’s sake, we’ll just say a solemnity is a reeeeally important event on the Catholic calendar (for instance, Good Friday is a solemnity). On the rare times that March 17 falls on a solemnity, dear old St. Paddy gets shifted to another spot on the calendar. The last time St. Patrick’s Day was moved was in 2008, when it was shifted to March 15. The next time will be 2160. So, I doubt you’ll have to mark your calendar for that one.

The shamrock is a symbol of good luck.
Well, kinda. Back in the day when St. Paddy was trying to convince those pagans to switch to Christianity, Powerpoint slides and Venn diagrams hadn’t been invented yet. So, trying to explain a complicated concept like The Holy Trinity was a bit of a hassle. Luckily, there were all these little three-leaf clovers growing about that he could pluck and use as a visual aid. And that’s how the shamrock became linked to St. Patrick.

The color green is the traditional hue associated with St. Patrick.
As this clip from the History Channel reveals, the original color associated with St. Patrick was blue. The color green came into play when Irish Catholics would wear a shamrock on the feast day of St. Patrick. Eventually, the Irish adopted more widespread use of the color as a political and patriotic statement during the Society of United Irishmen’s rebellion against British rule in the 1790s.
So now you know the truth about St. Patrick’s Day. In case you’re wondering what you should do with these valuable new brain wrinkles, I recommend the following: go to your local pub, and bet a drink to anyone who thinks they know more than you do about St. Patrick’s Day. Because in the end, it is all about getting sloshed, isn’t it?

Here are some choice St. Patrick’s Day celebrations in Atlanta where you can flaunt your newfound Irish knowledge:

2010 Atlanta St. Patrick’s Parade & Festival (March 13)
Peachtree Street, Downtown. Noon. Coach Vince Dooley is this year’s Grand Marshal. Visit http://www.stpatsparadeatlanta.com/ for parade route and details.

The Junior League of Atlanta’s ShamRock N Roll Road Race (March 14)
Highlights of the race held at Atlantic Station include entertainment at the start and finish, a pre-race warm up by Operation Boot Camp and bands like Consoultant and Stratogeezer along the course. Kilt wearers are welcome! 5k race starts at 8am; 10k at 8:30. All entrants will receive a free running shirt. For more info, visit: http://www.jlatlanta.org/?nd=shamrock_n_roll

St. Patrick’s Day Party at AltoRex Rooftop Lounge (March 17)
The open-air lounge, situated atop nationally acclaimed restaurant Pacci Ristorante, will serve up green beer and drink specials including their signature Lemintcello, made of housemade Limoncello, Midori and fresh mint, as well as Irish food specials. Win raffle prizes and take pictures with a real leprechaun! For more information, call: 678-412-2402 or visit: www.altorexlounge.com .

St. Paddy’s Day at Stats, (March 17)
Celebrate with $2 pints from 2 p.m.-2 a.m., live music by Whiskey and Stout, and giveaways from Baileys, Bushmills, Guiness and more. Call 404-885-1472 for more details.

St. Patrick’s Day at Fado Irish Pub (March 17)
Pub opens at 6 a.m. Bagpipers and Irish dancers start at 12:30 p.m. After that there will be an outdoor festival with live music all day and a DJ at night. $15 cover charge for adults after noon. Kids enter free. You must be 21 or over to be in the event area after 4 pm. Tickets available at: http://www.fadoirishpub.com/atlanta/

cheers,

k

photo credit: Loci Lenar

v-day poll results and some unconventional v-day events in atlanta

A couple of weeks ago, I polled guys and ladies separately on what sort of gift you’d like most for Valentine’s Day. Well, the results are in!

 

While they weren’t all that surprising – women overwhelmingly prefer ‘experience gifts’ to stuff like flowers and candy (wait, you guys did know that already right?), and men didn’t really have a preference -  what was surprising is that more women than men responded that they thought Valentine’s Day was for suckas, and 10% of the ladies who responded said that they just wanted ‘to be left alone’. C’mon girlfriends, it can’t be that bad out there… can it? 

Whether you’re single or seeing someone, here are my picks for some unconventional ways to spend this Valentine’s Day in Atlanta.

Witness the Black Man-o-logues – This play by DreamCatcher Productions at the 14th Street Playhouse answers the question, “What runs through the head of a black man when he is confronted with the subject Love?” Shows Saturday and Sunday. For more info:  http://www.catchingdreamz.com/

Take a Trip to Jeju Sauna -  A spa retreat like you’ve never experienced before. Just a short trip to Duluth, and you can lose yourself in another world for a whole day. Check out my review of Jeju Sauna on Trazzler.

Celebrate Valloween – A combination Halloween costume party with the sexiness of Valentine’s Day for both singles and couples. Because there’s “nothing better than playing dress-up to make a depressing holiday more palatable.” For more info: http://professionalmuse.net/

Hey Love: Bilal, Foreign Exchange, Jesse Boykins III – Sexy soulfulness takes Center Stage on Friday. Bring your boo or plan on finding one when you get there. Tickets at Mood’s Music in Little Five Points and Ticketmaster

Bloom at Lenox Mall - Lauri Stallings, the choreographer behind the 2008 genre-blending production big, that thrust ballet dancers onto the stage with Atlanta’s own Big Boi, will be taking dance to another platform this weekend at Lenox Mall. Bloom, the 3rd site-specific art installation from Atlanta-based gloATL, will feature dancers interacting with shoppers in the arteries of the mall. Spoken word artist Big Rube will also perform. It’s sure to be a sight! For more info: http://www.fluxprojects.org/bloom/index.html 

V-Day Mixology Massacre – If Valentine’s day makes you want to kill something… why not make it a cocktail? The Mixology Meetup group is hosting this event at Room at Twelve on W. Peachtree. You’ll learn how to make 3 V-day inspired cocktails at your own bar station. Then you can immediately drown yourself in them. For more info:  http://www.meetup.com/Mixology-Atlanta/

Make Sweet Chocolate Love at Cacao – If cocktails ain’t your thing, how ’bout some chocolate? Make your own chocolate treats and package them up for yourself or a loved one. Might I suggest: chocolate salty balls. Cacao Atlanta in Va-Hi hosts. For more info: http://www.cacaoatlanta.com/events

To El with Valentine’s Day – El Taco says, ‘be glad you’re single”, and invites you to celebrate your solo-ness with drink specials (like $4 Hornitos Mischieve tequila shots), special prizes from the Wheel of Taco, and an in-house photo booth and tarot reader on Sunday. Get all the details here.

cheers,

k

photo credit: Sister72

y we remember – current perspectives on the future of black history

The name of the comedian escapes me (Chris Rock maybe?), but there’s a standup skit about Black History Month that, unfortunately, is a pretty accurate summation of the Black History curriculum that I and most of my peers received in school: 

“Once upon a time there was a thing called slavery. Some time later, Martin Luther King was born….” 

While that synopsis of Black History education was grossly exaggerated for comic effect, it still wasn’t too far from the truth. Throughout elementary and high school, each February was the time for recounting the familiar narrative: we were once slaves, we were once denied the education and opportunities that other Americans were given, and had it not been for the illustrious leaders of the post-Reconstruction and civil rights era, we might never have made it through. Then we’d sing We Shall Overcome three times, listen to an excerpt of Dr. King’s I Have a Dream speech, learn an African dance routine, and return to our regularly scheduled educational programming in March. While I always enjoyed hearing the familiar stories and speeches, I began to notice that, each year, the gap between the era of Black history I was being taught about and the era of Black now I was living in kept growing wider and wider. 

It wasn’t until I made it to college – where I enrolled in a freshman World History course at Clark Atlanta University – that I got a more comprehensive understanding of how Black and African history figured in the larger context of human history. On the first day of class, the professor walked in, headed straight for the blackboard, picked up a piece of chalk and drew three figures. The first was a straight line. The second was a circle. And the third, a straight line that then arced back upon itself. It was only after he’d finished his drawings that he addressed the class. 

“This,” he began, pointing to the straight line, “represents the European worldview. Everything is about forward progress.”
“This,” as he motioned to the circle, “represents the Asian worldview. Everything is cyclical and eventually returns to where it began.”
“And this,” referring to the straight-line-arc, “Is the African worldview. Ever moving forward, but always drawing on the lessons of the past.”
I would later recognize the straight-line-arc being represented in the Adinkra symbol of the Sankofa bird. Sankofa being a word in the Akan language that means ‘go back and get it’, referring to the idea of taking the wisdom of the past and using it to make progress toward a beneficial future. 

It occurs to me that many of us are still celebrating Black History Month the way were taught in elementary school. We recall those icons of the past, laud their praises, recount the stories, and sing the old hymns for 28 days, then it’s back to our regularly scheduled lives in March. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying we should stop talking about Malcolm, Martin, and Rosa. But the ’old way’ of approaching Black History Month has caused it to lose some of its relevance in the now. We African-American artists, intellectuals, activists, and entrepreneurs are the ones who are creating the history that future generations will look to to help them guide their own progress. And now that we have ‘gone back and gotten it’… what do we do with it today? 

A couple of my contemporaries have dedicated these 28 days to answering that question in their own ways. One, by spotlighting today’s diverse leaders of new media, and the other by issuing a unique call to action for the latest tragedy to hit the Diaspora. 

Wayne Sutton, Social Media and Community Strategist at Twine Interactive (an internet marketing firm), has launched 28 Days of Diversity on his blog, www.socialwayne.com. Each day in February, Sutton will highlight an individual who is a leader or influencer in IT, the web, new media, etc. In an industry that has too few brown faces, this is a huge way of exposing those that we might not ever hear about otherwise. Case in point: today’s spotlight is on Atlanta-based blogger, video producer, and media consultant, Amani Channel. In addition to being the founder of Visual Eye Media, Amani is also the community manager for PBA’s Lens on Atlanta, and in his spare time (yes, that’s sarcasm) he blogs at www.myurbanreport.com. Keep an eye on Wayne’s blog for more folks you should meet this month. 

Bren Herrera, an Atlanta chef and food writer, is rallying the global community of food bloggers, chefs, restaurauteurs, and foodies to raise funds for victims of Haiti’s earthquake via Stir It 28. Stir It 28 is a prime example of 21st century community activism, leveraging new media in a 3-part campaign to raise $50,000 within 28 days. 100% of proceeds will be donated directly to Share Our Strength and Yéle. The fundraiser is a multi-city collaboration between Hererra, who blogs at Flanboyant Eats, Chrystal of The Duo Dishes and Courtney of Coco Cooks. Read all about Stir It 28 and how you can participate . 

(You’ll be hearing more about Stir It 28 from me soon, as I’ll definitely be participating!) 

cheers, 

k

QUICK POLL: what do you want most for valentine’s day?

 

I’m doing some research for a future post, Dear Reader, and I could really use your input.

Valentine’s Day is fast approaching, and from my experience, it’s a holiday that seems to cause more angst than any other. There’s the increased pressure of what to get your beloved, and the heightened expectation of what you’ll receive. Then there are those who relish the once-a-year opportunity to vocally denounce love, the commercialization of love, and the love of commercialization. And finally there’s that lonely lot – that each year we all secretly hope we’re not a member of – of unattached, uninvolved folk who feel compelled to treat V-day as a national day of mourning.

So I thought it’d be interesting to get a pulse on what kind of things people actually want for V-day. I’ve created two polls – one for the ladies, and one for the gents. When you get a moment, give me your thoughts. I’ll share  the answers with you before V-day.

Here’s the poll for ladies:

LADIES: What Kind of V-Day Gift Would You Prefer This Year?
	A store-bought gift (e.g., flowers, lingerie)
	An experience gift (e.g., dinner, spa, travel)
	A sexual gift
	I want to be left alone
	What gift? V-day is for suckas!
pollcode.com free polls

 alternate link: http://poll.pollcode.com/A8N 

And here’s one for the guys…

GUYS: What Kind of V-Day Gift Would You Prefer This Year?
	A store-bought gift (e.g., cologne, clothing)
	An experience gift (e.g., travel, spa)
	A sexual gift
	I want to be left alone
	What gift? V-day is for suckas!
pollcode.com free polls

alternate link: http://poll.pollcode.com/CrYq 

cheers,

k

don’t worry kids, mama’s still here.

Hello there, dear reader.

I know I’ve been off the grid for a while, but just thought I’d pop in to let you know that: Yes. I’m still alive. And no, I haven’t abandoned the blog. But I have intentionally taken some time away from it to work on and begin planning a couple of other pursuits.

One of these pursuits, I’m really excited about. I will be writing / blogging for Beer Connoisseur Magazine. One of my work colleagues who’s also working on the magazine extended the invitation for me to chat with Lynn Davis, the founder of Beer Connoisseur Magazine. After we talked, they agreed to let me write a blog all about my experiences in becoming a beer connoisseur. Is that a perfect gig or what? Drink beer. Write. Repeat. Love it! This magazine is going to be an excellent addition to the growing culture beer geeks and aficionados. The online version of the magazine launches in June. If you want to keep up with the progress outside of me telling you, check out Beer Connoisseur Magazine on Facebook and on Twitter. And keep your eyes on www.beerconnoisseur.com

Since starting the blog over a year ago, I’ve had other great opportunities like this one come up, and I’ve met some really cool people, many of whom actually dig my writing. It feels good when that happens. It feels even better when I can leverage those experiences and contacts to write more often and in different capacities.

A few weeks ago I read my horoscope in Creative Loafing. I’m not big on daily horoscopes, but I always like reading Free Will Astrology in the Loaf. It’s very creatively written, and always makes me smile or ponder. Here’s what I read that day:

You’re trying to look relaxed even though you have one foot on a dock and one foot on a boat as the boat pulls away. How should we interpret this scene? Here’s what I think: It seems likely that at any minute now you will have to commit yourself to either the dock, the boat, or the water.

A very poignant message that made me stop for a second and think. I sort of am in this in-between place of wanting to succeed at the full-time gig, but also wanting to succeed at writing. Which is why I decided to take some time and really give thought to what I want to do with this blogging/writing thing long term. Plus, birthdays are always a good time for self-reflection and goal-setting, pace changing and the like. Oh, I did mention that Friday was my birthday right? Please forward along cash, credit, adult beverages, and well wishes as you see fit.

Yep, it’s the official start of Year 32 for me. Not the most exciting of milestones. But it does mean I’m only one year away from being the same age Jesus was when he blew up. So, if I’m using JC as my role model, between now and next May I have to learn how to: walk on water, turn water into wine (Or beer. For research purposes, you know), raise the dead, heal the sick, make the blind see, and recruit me a down-ass crew of diehards. I’m hoping I’ll also learn how to spot a hater from a mile away, so I won’t have to deal with that messy betrayal and crucifixion bit. Yep, it’s going to be a busy time for the empire.

Good thing is, I’m writing you from day 3 of a 6-day Mexican vacation, so I’m already resting up in preparation for the year ahead. I’ll be writing about the trip and posting pictures after I return, but I thought I’d share some travel planning tools that I’ve found to be very useful for this and other vacations. If you’re a frequent traveler, a lot of these might be old news to you, but quite a few people I’ve spoken with hadn’t heard of them, so I thought it was still worth sharing.

Here goes:

First, A Word on My Travel Style

I’m a little bit more adventurous than a lot of folks, but not completely. I like to get a taste of the local culture, food, and people, so I’m okay with being in places that are a little off the beaten path. I prefer not to stay in all-inclusives (Jamaica being an exception), or extremely touristy areas. I often try to get in multiple destinations in a single trip, if they’re reasonably close together. My idea of a vacation is getting away from what my everyday experience is like, not going to someplace that is almost exactly like my everyday experience.

Pricing Flights, Hotels, Packages

Whenever I decide to travel somewhere, I spend a lot of time on the Internets price-hunting, and comparing different deals on different sites. I’m not a bottom basement bargain traveler, though. I’ll pay a little extra if a place is really unique, or it’s a special occasion. Or to know my exact flight time and hotel name before I purchase. Here are the sites I relied on heavily for this trip:

Kayak

Cheap Caribbean

Trip Advisor – the reviews on this site are absolutely indispensable if you want to know the real deal on any number of hotels and vacation destinations. Opinions from real people will give you the details that the hotel websites simply won’t.

Beachdestinations.com – lots of reasonably priced vacation packages to different beach destinations, arranged by region. Their sister site, europeandestinations.com offers the same types of packages for Europe.

Expedia – tried and true. Especially good for comparison price checking on hotels.

Getting to Know the Area

Once I decided to go to Mexico, I narrowed down which areas I’d be interested in. On the list was: Cabo, Manzanillo, Oaxaca, and the Mayan Riviera on Mexico’s Caribbean coast. Flights to Cabo and Oaxaca were kinda steep, and Manzanillo seemed a little too laid-back and quiet. I finally settled on the Mayan Riviera because it seemed to offer the best of both worlds. As a compromise with the beau, I decided on 2 days at an all-inclusive in Playa del Carmen, and the rest of the time in nearby Tulum – which has a get away from it all, beach-bum kind of vibe and is close to a major ecological preserve. Here’s where I went to help make that decision:

Frommers

Loco Gringo

Budget Travel
Tulum Living

Uncle Sam’s Advice

2 days after I booked my flight, swine flu. Great timing. I immediately added the following site to my list, which I’d also checked beforehand to make sure I wouldn’t end up getting shot by drug lords.

US Travel Advisory

Speaking the Language

I’m decent at Spanish, My vocab is a bit better than basic, and I can fake a good accent. I really enjoy getting to practice when I travel, it makes for some memorable moments and is part of the overall adventure, as evidenced by last year’s trip to Panama. Radio Lingua publishes free podcast lessons for Spanish and many other languages. The lessons are arranged by type of situation (e.g., driving, eating out, etc.), which I like, because I can select the situations where my vocab is weaker. Easy to carry along on my mp3 player, for listening on the plane and in the car. One funny thing about these podcasts is that the ‘teachers’ are Scottish. It’s funny as hell hearing a Scottish person speak Spanish. So even if I retain nothing, it was free entertainment. Check them out here.

Oh, and given the swine flu situation, I made sure that I had the following key phrases memorized:

Estoy enferma.

I am sick

Donde esta la hospital?

Where is the hospital?

Donde puedo comprar una mascara quirurgica?

Where can I buy a surgical mask?

Perdona me, Senor. Pero si no cobres tu boca, voy a cortarte.

Excuse me sir, but if you don’t cover your mouth, I am going to cut you.

Si voy a morir, quiero morir a la playa.

If I’m going to die, I want to die at the beach.

Of course, the travel advisory has been rolled back, so I most likely won’t need any of these phrases.

Oh, darn.

Packing Smart

I got my merit badge on packing smart during my days as a road warrior consultant. The basics haven’t lapsed, but there were a few things in the following article on Dumb Little Man explaining tips on packing smart that I hadn’t considered before, namely:

If you’re traveling with a partner, discuss your joint luggage strategy

And…

Tuck a written list of toiletries in your bag.

Head over to Dumb Little Man to see the other tips.

That’s all for now kids. Talk to you soon.

Salud,

k

what’s twitter and why you should (or shouldn’t) bother

Imagine this. You arrive at a bustling, networking event and casually walk into the center of the very large, very crowded room. All around you, groups of varying sizes are engaged in lively conversation. From where you stand, you can catch snippets of every discussion, and a little smidgen of what each person is saying. That guy over in the corner is the promoter for that hot new nightclub downtown, and he’s offering all of his group free admission this Friday. The young lady a few feet away from him is happily sharing small business marketing advice and is giving a referral to a friend of hers who provides half-off discounts to the best restaurants in the city. The guy standing next to her isn’t saying as much as everyone else, but when he does, it’s the wittiest / funniest thing you’ve ever heard! And the woman on the far side of the room looks like Erykah Badu. No, wait…she IS Erykah Badu! As you stand there and listen some more, hundreds of other useful tidbits buzz by your ears. It’s hard to keep up with them all and you’re worried that you’ll never have enough time to meet and connect with all of the cool, funny, interesting, and helpful people in front of you. Plus, you’ve got valuable information and witty repartee of your own to share… but how are you ever going to be able to engage with everyone?

Just then, Rod Serling magically appears at your side, and says, “There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man’s fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call ‘The Twitter Zone’. ”

Suddenly, the room goes dead silent. Everything begins moving in slow motion. When the next person opens their mouth to speak, you see their words appear written in a little bubble over their head with a time and date stamp on the end of it. You – and everyone else in the room – can go around and literally cherry-pick out of the air those bits of conversation that are interesting to you and put them in your book of acquaintances. Every time you open your book, you’ll have a growing history of everything those people said since you picked them. Those you don’t pick, won’t show up in the book. And because of the time / date stamp, you can see how long ago the words were said. Likewise, anyone who’s put your name in their book, will be able to see everything you’ve said. “Wow” you think to yourself, “This is pretty friggin’ amazing!” “No,” says Rod Serling, “This. Is Twitter.”

Read more

april fool’s day at the office

5:30 pm Tuesday March 31: It’s done. I’ve set up my April Fool’s Day office joke and I managed to do so without being detected. Sweet. Now I just need to pack up my things and head home for today. If it didn’t look weird, I’d pat myself on the back for being so clever. My joke is simple, effective and to the point. I rock.

5:45pm Tuesday, March 31: A sudden feeling of nervousness is creeping up on me. What if they don’t think it’s funny? Well, that in itself wouldn’t be bad. Plenty of folks don’t get my sense of humor. But – that’s not what’s making me nervous. What if they think it’s offensive? What if someone thinks I’ve singled them out specifically, and complains to management? Hell, I’m not even an employee at this office. I’m a hired gun. A contractor. Technically, I hold less rank than the mail room guy. Oh, no. What was I thinking? I shouldn’t have done it. I’m not part of the team. I’m an outsider. An interloper. I’m going to tarnish the image of my firm. There’s going to be repercussions. I could be reprimanded. I could be fired. I could be drawn and quartered at dawn! Ahhh ,well…too late now.
6:30 pm Tuesday, March 31: On the ride home from the Marta station, I explain my prank to the beau. He laughs. “That’s a good one.” Whew. Okay, well if he finds it funny, I should be okay. I mean, he’s a good natured wholesome kinda guy – If it doesn’t offend his sensibilities…. Though there was that one Katt Williams joke he laughed at uproariously…. Maybe he can’t be trusted.

Oh, how did I get myself into this?

9:30am Tuesday, March 31: I’m sitting in a room the size of a large storage closet, having a discussion with one of my coworkers. A trio of people are peering in through the glass door to the room smiling broadly. One of them opens the door. “See, look at the transformation!” The others oooh and ahhh. They’re apparently oblivious to the fact that my colleague and I were attempting to have a private discussion. After a few moments, they close the door and walk away. Their excitement is due to the fact that today, someone decided to arrange the chairs and tables (the same ones that have always been in the room) into café-style configuration. They’ve even placed white paper napkins on the table and a printed sign on the door that reads, “Café Tres” (we’re on the 3rd floor). Since we 3rd floor dwellers haven’t had anywhere before now to eat our lunch other than our desks, I too can appreciate the subtle changes, but “C’mon people,” I think. “It’s the same room, the same chairs. Now there’s just napkins and a sign. Seriously?” Just then, another group peers in smiling and repeats the ooh and ahh session of the previous group. Seriously.

A few moments later, I’m chit-chatting with two other coworkers over coffee. I decide to hip them to the new ‘café’. “Oh, have you guys heard about the new restaurant in the building?” I’m hamming it up. They’re eating it up. “It’s called Café Tres! The décor is simply sublime! I hear the wait list is as long as your arm. But don’t worry. I know a guy who owes me a favor. I can get us in.” They laugh hysterically. I’m high off the feeling of making them laugh hysterically. Then it hits me: I’ve got the perfect April Fool’s Day joke!

9:00am Wednesday, April 1: I slide into my cube and set my things down. Something looks awry. Was my monitor angled that way last night? Uh-oh. Maybe they’ve found me out and pranked me back. Or maybe they were searching my computer for evidence of the crime. That’s ridiculous I tell myself. Just play it cool. I go about preparing my morning coffee and decide to query one of my team members that arrives earlier than I do. When I run into her in the hallway, I ask “So…uh, anything interesting or exciting happen this morning?” She squints suspiciously. I drop the coy routine. “You know, like anything about the…uh, café…?” Her eyes widen. “That was you!?” In the next second I contemplate either running from the building or pleading for leniency. Then, she starts laughing uncontrollably. “Oh my god, that was hilarious. We were wondering who did that. It took us forever to figure out it was a joke!”

“So, nobody was offended, right?”

“Offended? Noooo….” she says, still laughing. “It was hilarious. You should have seen our faces. I gotta go tell Nancy! She’s gonna get a kick out of this!”

So like I was saying…. I wasn’t worried. I knew it would work all along.

cheers,

k

the lena baker story – limited screening this weekend

BUY MOVIE TIX | BUY THE BOOK

I heard about this movie during last year’s Atlanta Film Festival. But unfortunately, I heard about it too late to get a ticket to the sold-out premiere. Fortunately – for me and for you – there’s a second chance to catch the film this weekend.

Hope and Redemption: The Lena Baker Story is a film that was inspired by the book, The Lena Baker Story written by Dr. Lela Bond Phillips. Both works cover the real-life account of the complex relationship between a black woman with a sordid past and a white man with an abusive personality in Jim Crow era Georgia. The black woman is Lena Baker, the only woman to have been sent to the electric chair in Georgia.

The film – which was written, produced, and directed by Ralph Wilcox – is set and shot on location in southwest Georgia, and stars Tichina Arnold (Everybody Hates Chris) as Lena Baker, and Peter Coyote as her employer/abuser and the man she is accused of murdering.

Read more

Next Page »