Vixen Chronicles

Enough Already. MTV started it with The Real World . Let's just call it The Sims in 3D. They took a bunch of misfits from all over and stuck them in a house together, with cameras that never stopped and merciless editing. It was so good, they moved them from city to city and even now to my own city. The sad thing is, we watched, even though the Black women in the house never survived and the Black man never quite fit in even when he tried to become the protector of the white women in the house. There was always one whose self esteem was so low she had to take off her clothes. It was so good to us, we were bombarded with another and another. They tried the same thing with adults, only it was a game and they were trying to rid themselves of other vermin-like housemates by every kind of double crossing imaginable. They took away the house and dropped people into an uncharted wilderness somewhere and we watched them all be cut throat while they ate grubs and formed strategic alliances...

I don't need an excuse to boogie. Hell, I'm grown. Finally. Used to be (when I was Really of club-going age, when PAR-tay was what I lived for), that I would go to a spot with my friends and hug the wall, standing around waiting for someone to find it in their hearts to ask me to dance. Then if they did, we would play it all cool, barely moving, not daring to sweat, knowing that if my folks could see me, they would be wondering why in the hell they paid all that money for years of dancing lessons that I was obviously not going to use. But last week in the Nassau, I don't know what hit me. Me, Shaniqua and ReRe and nem discovered that our ship was staying in port overnight. Now some folks headed skrait (not a type-o) to the casino, but we works hard for our money and we wanted to keep it. So I put on my suede halter top, low rise jeans and bad ass shoes (gotta have those), and we headed to take over Senor Frog's, right on the dock. I don't know what we were expec...

Formal dinner, Pictured (left to right) are Garret Davis, Playwright/Director, Taylor Morgan Midday Radio Host WUKS 107.7 KISS FM, Fayetteville, NC, Best Selling Author Kayla Perrin and me.

We had a free day in the Bahamas this past weekend while participating in TJ Butler's First Sisterhood Cruise. Several of us decided to find out if it was truly better there. Let's just say that the names have been changed to protect the innocent. The not-so-innocent, well, those folks are on their own. (Just Kidding). Most of us donned our few straps of cloth and went out in search of a good beach. I was accompanied by K.P. (initials, a romance and now mainstream author that has written a lot of books), RM Johnson(another best-selling author)and his lady friend, Spike Davis (Comedian Extraordinaire) and his wife, and Taylor Morgan, mid-day radio host & promotions director from WUKS 107.7 KISS FM in Fayetteville, NC. We walked for what seemed like miles in search of libations. A Bahamian gentleman kindly offered to knock open some coconuts and pour out the coconut water, which he kindly replaced with something that tasted like gin and juice. More gin than juice. The heat fi...

I had an active July although it doesn't feel like it. There were a couple of books it just took forever to get through. They seemed to eat up my time. Two that come to mind are Material Girl by Julia London and The Goddess Rules . Material Girl seemed like a worthwhile enough story, sassy rich girl that works in daddy's company meets handyman type all around handsome guy and he knocks her off her feet. Couldn't relate. Life is too short to read books that don't do it for you so I just didn't wait around to the end. I chucked it and moved on to the next one. I struggled through the Goddess Rules , on audio noja (Zulu for no less). The funny sounding British accent was montonous and it killed me, but I made it through. I had to find out who she ended up with. It took me longer to get through that than it did to Read The Kite Runner. I also read Who Does She Think She is by Benilde Litte- a pleasure to read. G Spot by Noire was not at all what I though...

With Francis Ray and other writer attendee at the Reno Convention.

Reno, Nevada. Uhm. Okay the women outnumbered the men by one helluva lot, but there were a few men who had the guts to show up to the Romance Writers of America Conference and proudly wear a badge that announced to the world that they were romance writers. It was all good. One guy stood out in my mind. He posts regulary to a loop I belong to, and although there may be other men that lurk, he is the only one that dares to speak up. Needless to say, I'm sure I wasn't alone as I was curiously awaiting the appearance of this fellow, affectionately known to us as "Chuck Lit." Most of us dressed up or at least wore good shoes to go to our reception, the meeting of the online chapter of this writers group. This time there was no pretense that we were indeed dressing up to impress other women. We knew before we started that there would be one man in attendance and one man only. More than one of us stared at the door waiting for him to show up. We didn't want to ...

Why does summer seem to be the shortest season? I can't believe it is almost August. I was just beginning to enjoy it. You know, first it had to get hot as hell here, and it finally has cooled down enough where you could actually walk outside without your lungs drying out. I just refuse to let summer go so quickly, but it seems like they are trying to rush into fall. First, the kids are getting ready to go back to school. Thanks goodness the Texas Legislature has decided to move that return date back past Labor Day. But then, the stores have put all the summer merhcandise on sale. Now, that is a blessing and a curse. How can I possibly think about buying wool clothing when it is still in the mid-nineties? Besides, it just got cool enough to actually wear all the cute summer fashions anyway. Prior to last week we were walking around buck naked (or wishing we were ) every chance we got. The good part of the early sales though is that there is a chance to snatch up some of ...

I went to Houston this past weekend for a conference. I arrived early, and being that the Galleria was only a few blocks away, I decided to head over to browse the end of summer sales. Luckily for me, I was staying at the Houston Intercontinental and they provided a free shuttle between the granddaddy of malls and the front lobby of the hotel. When my shopping sojourn was over, I called for the car. When I stepped outside Saks, it seemed as if the sky had opened up. It was pouring, raining, cats, dogs, iguanas, well, you get the picture. Torrential downpours such as this would absolutely close down businesses in my native Austin, but the Houstonians seemed unconcerned. The driver hopped out of the car and covered me with an umbrella. His attempt at keeping me dry was useless, it was raining every which way but straight down. I slid in the car with one side of my go-shopping jeans thoroughly wet. He glanced at my worried-looking face. "It rained just like this yesterday," he s...

I went to see the Fantastik Four today. I was one of those atually antiipating a less than R Rated movie, glad to use my kids as an excuse to go. I couldn't wait to relive childhood comic books. The takeaway? The suits they wore were bad ass. Made everybody look good and when the heroes turned Fantastik they did too. I was all into it, but then, the rubber woman wore lipstick in Space. IN SPACE! And I thought I was a diva. Her skinny butt was nearly blown to kingdom come and the lipstck stayed perfect. What brand was that again and where can I get some? Let's review. There are some things that a girl, just has to know. (A man, too, if lip adornment is your thing.) We don't really go to the gym with a naked face. You wear mascara at the very least. Concealer or tinted moisturizer if you have bad skin. You can get away with sunscreen if you are a minimalist. Camping-If you must go, take a nail file with you. A must for the gook that can and will get under your...

Thousands of people lined up in New York Today for the viewing of Luther's Casket. So sad to lose another legend from our community. There are certain times in your life you just remember, when you realize that you are GROWN because youa re losing the things and people that helped you make memories. I was in St Louis for a booksigning in a rental car with a screwed up navigation system when the radio broke in and said that Aaliyah had been killed in a plane crash. At another booksigning when I heard about T-Boz in Honduras. I wouldn't necessarily put these people in a league with Luther, their stars were just beginning to shine whereas his had eclipsed all other male performers for decades, but I will surely remember where I was when Luther died. My sister is such a big fan that her husband called her to give his condolences. We all did. I used to tease her because when you get into her car, the ONLY music you are gonna hear is Luther and it has been like that for a long time,...

I am still getting caught up on my TIVO, but I got to watch part of the BET Awards last night. Will and Jada said they were trying to keep it classy. (Defined as highly stylish and elegant). They were walking a thin line up until Destiny'Child did the "lap dance" that the media was talking about last week. Class went out the window with that one. I realize that it was supposed to be reminiscent of the days where women lounged on top of the piano and winked at a man in the audience, suggesting that it meant so much more. You know, old-fashioned leave-something-to-the-imagination sexy. But they missed the mark. I would bet that some publicist came up with the idea for this segment, thinking it would get them noticed, which it did. I understand wanting to go out with a bang, but when did a behavior that is normally considered not acceptable become acceptable and condoned for an awards show? After hearing what the media had to say, I have to admit that I thought it was going ...

I have been doing a lot of reading this past month. Lots of time in cars and on planes. It scares a lot of folks that I read and drive. Doesn't everyone? ;-) My book club selection was The Life of Pi. I forced myself to finish it and for the life of me I was trying to figure out why the hell everyone was raving about it. I was angry at the end when I found out the twist. I won't spoil it for you. Just skip to the last few chapters, though. On to The Mermaid chair by Sue Monk Kidd. I liked this, although it wasn't as good as her Secret Life of Bees. Why they kept letting that poor woman cut off her fingers I don't know. I wanted her to run off with the priest though. Grown Folks business by Victoria Christopher Murray. I am not a big Christian fiction reader but I enjoyed this. I didn't feel like I was being preached at and you know what, if we were faced with what the main character was, her husband came home and said he was leaving her for another man, I'd be...

A friend of mine from graduate school just moved to Texas. She didn't want to, but an offer she couldn't refuse had her packing her stuff and saddling up her horse. She came to visit first and had that thing about Texas that folks often do, you know, that TV thing that expects cowboys and indians and tough lawmen with spurs. Its sort of the same thing a lot of folks have about New York, except that all expect Gotham City. Anyway, she got here and I felt obliged to teach her how to speak Texan and a few other things. I mean,i f you are going to live here and love it, there are some things you just gotta know. Tequila speak and Mojitos and how to eat a good fajita, and even that it is okay to live in Texas and not eat beef (contrary to popular belief). She absolutely had to know where the Hill Country was and that the Colorado River does not exist here,instead we have water ways where the map says the river is that are called Lake Buchanan (pronounced BUCK-anun), and Lake LBJ and...

Okay, so Oprah got snubbed at Hermes. Let's get this straight. She was walking by the store WITHOUT HER MAKEUP in Paris, after hours and decided she wanted to pop in to buy something for her dinner. Okay. Let's start at the top. She was in Paris. Parisians have a reputation for not being friendly. Well, one of the things I figured out while I was there is that it is not that they are not friendly, the concept of customer service is different. Americans expect everyone to be nice to you, especially in stores, but in Paris, things seem to be based more on relationships. You go to the neighborhood grocery or baker. They know you. You have a relationship, so they are nice to you. If they don't know you, I found them to be equally rude to everyone. Even celebrities. Now, personally, I don't have a problem with that. I mean, as long as its not just me. Two, She went to the store fifteen minutes after closing time. At least they talked to her. In the US, if you showed up at a ...

I'm spending my Father's Day is central Texas. While I bake in the heat, I can't help but reflect and think about the times with my own father. He died exactly eleven years and 3 days ago. Most of us don't have a chance to appreciate the people in our lives until they are gone, but I have to say that my father is one of those people that I think about often. There isn't a major (or minor) moment that happens in my life when I don't sit back and say, "I gotta call Daddy and tell him--" and then I realize I can't call him, unless I have one helluva phone, and THAT kind of phone hasn't been invented yet. That thought doesn't make me sad though. He had a lot of time for us to get to know each other. There are those that believe that the dead go away, never to be seen or heard again, but my father's life and death give me reassurance in the African way of believing. I know that the energy he possessed could not possibly go into n...

I picked SkyLounge out of the blue. Okay, out of CitySearch: Baltimore. Supposedly you could get one helluva martini there on a Sunday night. CitySearch was right. We crept up in the place just after eleven pm. We almost couldn’t find it. SkyLounge was buried deep in Federal Hill, nestled in one of Baltimore’s Famous Alleys. (So, I don’t know if they are famous but if they aren’t they ought to be). I gotta tell you, we drove around the neighborhood scared at first, the way you are scared when you feel like you are lost in someone else’s hood and feel like you might stick out like a sore thumb, but when we did happen upon the bar, we were surprised. It was clean, neat, and almost empty. We sat down, ordered a drink, and stayed anyway. We soon found out that we were a little early. There wasn’t much happening. Or so it seemed. Just an eclectic bunch of folk sipping martinis. We sat back into the cushions and tried to make chit chat among ourselves and ...

The highlight of my Oprah Weekend was not what you would expect. First, Dallas was in for record heat. If you know Dallas, you know then that it was hot as hell. We thought we might walk the block and a half from our hotel to the convention center, but after we took three steps outside we quickly changed our minds and hopped in a cab. Staying dry an extra minute was well worth the two buck ride. We spotted lots of folks we knew while we waiting in the throng outside. At two minutes past ten, they began to let us into big Expo like setting. There was a warning on our tickets that sid no one would be admitted after 11:30 even though Oprah wasn't set to speak until one. Perhaps this was to make sure you went through every Disneyworld like line to get coupons or small gifts from the sponsors. Mots of them were cute things, things I might use. Diet Rite gave us samples and coupons, Maybelline was doing makeovers (I passed on that one. C'mon, was I really gonna to let them take off M...

At Ft Bragg North AAFES