Here comes the end of my teenage years... 2000-2009.

War. Hurricanes. Tsunamis. Deaths. Depression. Scandals. Music. Politics.

I feel like we've seen so much in the past 10 years, I don't think I could even try to recall all of the significant events.

(Image via Flickr)


Everybody's been putting together lists (see: Complex's Best of the 2000s) to commemorate the biggest achievements, the biggest disasters, and the biggest stories. A lot of these lists make me think about how much attention we give to unimportant "news." Remember when Paris Hilton was arrested in 2006? Remember how it was all over CNN and other major news networks? Why do we pay such a ridiculous amount of attention to what are actually fairly insignificant stories? Don't get me wrong -- I'm definitely not immune to this entertainment-hungry disease. It comes from the countless hours I've spent watching TV, reading magazines, surfing the internet, and listening to the radio -- I'm now trained to keep up with the little tidbits. I know my fair share of celebrity news. And it's definitely not always a bad thing to know what's going on -- commemorating Michael Jackson's life after his death this summer was absolutely necessary -- but sometimes it's a bit extra. Why are people hawking celebrity twitter pages to stay up on all the drama and "beefs"? Why is it even relevant?

Okay, so maybe I'm just complaining. But I do think it's kind of ridiculous that, of a list of events/stories/moments/discoveries/people from this decade that I could potentially create, the majority would be fairly silly stuff. Kanye acting up on MTV? Rihanna's new haircut? Paris & Kim's sex tapes? Janet's wardrobe malfunction? The explosion of horrible (... okay, horribly, entertaining) reality TV shows? Jennifer/Brad/Angelina? Britney Spears (in her entirety)?

It's hard to know where to the line between acceptable & unacceptable, so I'm not going to try to do it. I know I'd be making exceptions for particular stories and people. But, I hope that as I live out my 20s in the next decade, that I will be able to pay attention to more that goes on around me. Especially things that directly (or indirectly) affect me.

Well...

I need to stop slacking.

Back at it, soon enough...

A Huey Freeman Christmas

(The Boondocks, season 1 episode 7)

Happy Holidays :)

Clutch Magazine: "Blacks Need Not Apply: Whitewashing of the Modern Résumé"

Tuesday Dec 8, 2009 – By Sky Obercam

Among African Americans, the practice of whitewashing the résumé is a long-held strategy, and a practice that is increasing in the current job market. Apparently, Black applicants strive to “dial down the Blackness” in the hopes that it will improve their odds at securing a job interview.

The New York Times reports that measures such as altering ethnic sounding names (Bonquisha J. Smith reemerging as B.J. Smith) and omission of ones affiliation to an HBCU or other connections to the Black community are standard practice for many on the job hunt.

...

Proof of Affirmative Action’s limited reach, this bleach-like tactic is viewed as a method to prove to potential employers that this one can be relied upon to keep his or her proverbial head down. NYU law professor Kenji Yoshino adds, “My notion of covering is really about the idea that people can have stigmatized identities that either they can’t or won’t hide but nevertheless experience a huge amount of pressure to downplay those identities,” he said. Mr. Yoshino says that progress in hiring has meant that “the line originally was between whites and nonwhites, favoring whites; now it’s whites and nonwhites who are willing to act white.”

Picture & text from Clutch Magazine. Click the link to read it all!!

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