the plot thickens...

The father of Bristol Palin’s Baby Speaks

Successful Women Series: The Healthy Hair Architect

Hair Architect- adj.- skilled artisan who handcrafts professional care and personal attention into every client’s style. One who provides unconditional service and uncompromising attention are trademarks of my business. As your hair architect, I administer a regimen of professional hair care designed to stimulate and promote healthy hair. I pledge to address you hair care needs with an unwavering commitment to making your hair your crowing glory. WHEN YOU LOOK FABULOUS I FEEL GREAT

Mimi Armstrong, a modern-day “Girl Friday” hailing from the suburbs of Houston made the bold move to follow her dreams and channel her creative talents in the beauty industry. Having a background in corporate America and the entertainment industry, Mimi has always dabbled in hair. She began in high school as a shampoo assistant at “Headliners Hair Salon”, in Houston, TX, to being the resident hair stylist in her dorm room during her college days at Dillard University. Under the encouragement and advisement of her long time stylist, mentor and owner of Blendz Haircare Studio, Paula Britt, Mimi decided to embark on a new journey. Mimi began working with the Blendz team in June of 2006 as a mentee and apprentice under the advisement of Paula. In January of 2007, Mimi began working as a full time licensed stylist. Mimi left Blendz in July of 2007 to pursue other aspects of the beauty industry bringing her to where she is today. While Mimi enjoys all aspects of hair care, she specializes in custom blend color, cuts, and natural hair press/silk out..

THE IMPORTANCE OF CLIPPING YOUR ENDS

Welcome to your 1st of many posts about hair...men...you may have daughters, mothers, sisters, lovers, wives, baby mommas, boos or girlfriends that you may need to pass some of this information on to so feel free to share the link!

Most people don't like to clip their ends, simply because they perceive this as cutting, however, if you seldom clip your ends...you may need a cut. Clipping your ends is ESSENTIAL in maintaining healthy hair. Frequent use of heat (i.e. curling/flat irons) can damage the ends. Lack of proper conditioning and lack of hydration/moisture at the hair ends may also cause splitting of the ends. When the ends of the hair begin to split, they split up the shaft. This may cause the ends to be be unruly and hard to maintain. Hair that needs to be clipped at the ends WILL NOT CURL and if you are successful in curling the ends, it will give off the appearance of frizzy ends and/or thinning hair.

So....how do we repair split ends and/or prevent it? PROPER CLIPPING OF THE ENDS CAN PREVENT THIS...PROPER CONDITIONING TO THE ENDS OF THE HAIR SHAFT CAN PREVENT THIS...AND DRINKING YOUR DAILY ALLOTMENT OF WATER CAN PREVENT THIS AS WELL. Yes water...if your body stays hydrated, your scalp stays hydrated and less likely to be dry and thus will not break.

Feel free to email mi with any of your haircare questions or concerns...mimi@healthyhairarchitect.com

MO HAIR!

When your hair is beautiful...I feel FABULOUS....

THE HAIR ARCHITECT

Some of Ike's missing may have just washed away -

Hackers Access Palin's Personal Email, Post Some Online

By Michael D. Shear and Karl VickWashington Post Staff Writers Thursday, September 18, 2008

A group of computer hackers said yesterday that they had accessed a Yahoo e-mail account of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the Republican vice presidential nominee, publishing some of her private communications to expose what appeared to be her use of a personal account for government business.

The hackers posted what they said were personal photos, the contents of several messages, the subject lines of dozens of e-mails and Palin's e-mail contact list on a site called Wikileaks.org. That site said it received the electronic files from a group identifying itself only as "Anonymous."
"At around midnight last night some members affiliated with the group gained access to governor Palin's email account, 'gov.palin@yahoo.com' and handed over the contents to the government sunshine site Wikileaks.org," said a message on the site.

Rick Davis, the campaign manager for Republican presidential nominee John McCain, issued a statement yesterday afternoon condemning the incident. "This is a shocking invasion of the Governor's privacy and a violation of law," he said. "The matter has been turned over to the appropriate authorities and we hope that anyone in possession of these e-mails will destroy them. We will have no further comment."

The episode focuses attention on Palin's use of her personal e-mail account as lawmakers in Alaska look into whether she fired the state's public safety commissioner, Walter Monegan, because he refused to take action against her brother-in-law, a state trooper at the time.
Palin has been criticized in recent days for using a personal e-mail account to conduct state business. An Alaska activist has filed a Freedom of Information Act request seeking disclosure of e-mails from another Yahoo account Palin used, gov.sarah@yahoo.com. That account appears to have been linked to the one that was hacked. Both accounts appear to have been deactivated. E-mails sent to them yesterday were returned as undeliverable.

Andrée McLeod, who filed the FOIA request, said yesterday evening that Palin should have known better than to conduct state business using an unsecured e-mail account. "If this woman is so careless as to conduct state business on a private e-mail account that has been hacked into, what in the world is she going to do when she has access to information that is vital to our national security interests?" she asked.

McLeod's Anchorage attorney, Donald C. Mitchell, said Palin declined to comply with a public records request in June to divulge 1,100 e-mails sent to and from her personal accounts, citing executive privilege.

Michael Allison, chief executive of the Internet Crimes Group, a private company specializing in Internet security, said the hackers may have accessed Palin's account by using publicly available information to guess her password, or by using a small program called a trojan to capture her keystrokes.

"I would hope the authorities would be all over this," Allison said. "The only deterrent is that people know the certainty of being caught."

Another Podcast - More of the 80s and 90s

Hey yall, Dj LapTop back giving yall some more tunes! More to come soon!

A mix of 80s and 90s joints.
http://generationxer.mypodcast.com/2008/09/90s_and_80s_stuff-142350.html

Method Man f /D'Angelo - Break Ups 2 Make Ups
SWV f/Puff Daddy - Someone
New Edition f/Missy - You Don't Have to Worry
Lalah Hathaway - Baby Don't Cry
Slick Rick - Teenage Love
Jodeci - Come & Talk to Me (Remix)
Salt N Pepa f/En Vogue - Whatta Man
Artifacts - Wrong Side of Da Tracks
The Firm - Phone Tap
Smif N Wesson - Bucktown
Busta Rhymes f/Zhane - It's A Party
Mystikal - Yall Ain't Ready
OutKast - Dirty South (Lil Jon Mix)
OutKast - Dirty South
Lil Kim f/Junior Mafia - We Don't Need It
Mya f/Jay-Z - Best of Me
Brownstone - If You Love Me

The Legacy of Afrika Bambataa
http://generationxer.mypodcast.com/2008/09/The_influence_of_Afrika_Bambataa-140872.html

Afrika Bambataa - Planet Rock
Planet Patrol - Play At Your Own Risk
Cybotron - Clear
Electric Funk Mega Mix featuring Connie/Cybertron/Debbie Deb
Daft Punk - Technologic
DJ Laz - Move Shake Drop Remix
Flo Rida - Get Low
Flo Rida f/ Will I Am - In the Ayer
Three 6 Mafia - Lolli Lolli
Kardinal Offishall f/Akon - Dangerous
Colby O'Donis - What You Got
Rihanna - Disturbia
Sir Mix A Lot - Baby's Got Back
2 Live Crew - Hoochie Momma
20 Fingers - Boom I F&*&* Your Boyfriend
Salt N Pepa - Push It
JJ Fad - Supersonic
Le Tigre - Cars That Go Boom
DJ Smurf - Pop That P****
2 Live Crew - One and One
Tag Team - Whoomp! There It Is
Uncle Luke - U Need D**k In Your Life

Kwaz's 2008 Hottest TV Anchors

Man, time flies when you're chopping wood. I guess no better time now then to introduce the 2nd year review of Kwaz's, "Hottest Anchors". I was fortunate to bless 2007 with my personal faves. (peep last year's darts) I'll try not to be biased, being that I've worked with a few of them. But these picks aren't based on just looks alone. A combination of intelligence style and persona must also fit the bill. Now it's 2008 and as we post under the Shadetree, check out this years top picks.

Jackie Guerrido
Univision's weatherperson and journalist

Stephanie Elam

This super smart Bay Area bred worked her way up from chief copy editor for Howard U to a business news correspondent.

Suzanne Malveaux

For the older cats out there, I know you feel me! Y'all can appreciate this ragin' cajun.

Maya Kulycky

Maya has a master's degree from the University of London, Goldsmith's College, a law degree from Yale Law School, and is a member of the New York State Bar. Nuff said!


Melissa Theuriau
the French television bombshell

Eunice Yoon

And Yes Kwaz has that 'asian persuasion' goin' on (in Full-Effect!)
Lady E holds it down @ CNN's Jerusalem bureau.

Isha Sesay

Quality Control! This Sierra Leonean journalist and anchor for CNN-international is Top Drawer!


honorable mentions: Sara Sidner

Successful Women Series by Saddi Khali

The Future





Together



The Way



Mother's Love




Hands Of Love

Shadetree shoutout: Speak Easy!!!

If I wait too long to give it up, will I lose him?....
Is a well educated woman too intimidating for a man?....
Honestly, is ....America.... ready for a Black president?....
Sooo…a dime has to be light skinned with wavy hair?....
Should I give you a second chance…you cheated on me?....
.. ..
Are you ready to SPEAK EASY???....
.. ..
SPEAK EASY is a landmark event where people from all walks of life can come together and discuss topics that relate to young through middle-aged adults. The discussions are facilitated by a moderator and often times there is a special guest or celebrity in attendance. Each SPEAK EASY event provides intellectual, provocative, and sometimes flat-out, crazy dialogue in a comfortable, friendly atmosphere.....
.. ..
At each SPEAK EASY event you can expect to enjoy a full catered dinner as well as a full free open bar. The Mission of SPEAK EASY is to provide a comfortable venue for folks to learn from one another, network, make a possible love connection, or just have a relaxing good time.....
.. ..
Raleigh,NC is the birthplace of SPEAK EASY, but soon the show will be on the road and in a city near you! If you would like to be in attendance and express how you really feel, please send us your email address. In the meantime feel free to discuss topics in the SPEAK EASY blog. Hear us when we say you have never been to a party, club, or social event quite like this! Come experience the vision.....
.. ..
Speak boldly….Speak freely….SPEAK EASY!....

check it out at:http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=160304778

a penny for your thoughts

Last night i had a nightmare. In my dream I was back at my old job. It was the first day of class and I was completely ill-prepared. I could not find my classroom and when I did, I was greeted by a room full of students waiting to be challenged. I quickly realized that I had no textbook and no prior experience teaching Biology. I couldn't understand what I was even doing teaching a Biology class, I had always taught English and History... where are my lesson plans?

"Okay, do an ice breaker... I can't remember how it goes... Why did I even come back to work?" Oh yeah, I remember. because being an unknown poet is a terrible occupation. "Okay Red, wait until a recession hits, quit your good government job and go on the road being a poet." Now, I've had some success in my career and I've travelled quite a bit doing shows in many cities. But I have recently come to a strong realization "People do not think they have to pay poets." Especially not ones without the Simmons/Lathan stamp of approval. And from the looks of things, even that is not a clear signal to quit your day job. I've even seen poets from the Broadway cast at the same open mics I've attended.

Funny thing is, if I were a singer, it would be understood that I was to be paid for performing. I've seen rappers refuse to go onstage until their check was cut. But to turn around and ask me to do a 30 min set to "help you out" is beyond amazing. I know singers who will do two complete sets of covers (other people's songs) and be paid. but you expect me to write original work, memorize it and give a stellar performance for a "thank you?" Not Okay!

What's even more disturbing is seeing Soljah Boy on tv complaining about how much it costs him to gas up his Hummer... shit, I'm trying to put $40 in this Saturn and I'm hurting. But every venue wants me to be understanding and take pennies in exchange for my soul's deepest expression. If I demand what I'm due, then I'm difficult or a diva. If I take less, then I'm hungry. And in the profound words of a beloved poet (Saddi) "Poets gotta eat too..." I hear you brother, I hear you.

So, this is my official apology letter for all the poets who have come to my school over the years and volunteered their time and talents to help my students become better writers and performers. I apologize for not fighting my administration for you. I apologize for only heralding your praises on the mic and not where it could really help you. I want to say to you that your sacrifice is duly noted, but don't ever do that again. Your work is valuable and you should be compensated for it. So, Armen Rah, Deana Dean, Harold Green, Malik Yusef, 720, Enigma Poets, Binky, Ugly, Avery R Young, e nina jay, Ainsley Burrows and M'reld. I say to you now that I appreciate you and I love you for what you have given me and my students. I will NEVER ask that of you again.

So, thank you for listening and Ladies and Gentleman remember to tip your waitresses and please pay your poet

You can check out RED SUMMER at http://www.twofingerspress.com/about_us.html

s

Black ‘issue’ hangs over presidential polls

By ADAM C. SMITH
St. Petersburg Times
Monday, September 15, 2008


Of all the mysteries in this confounding presidential election, this may be the most significant question of all: How many voters will ultimately decide they can’t vote for an African-American?

“It’s definitely a factor,” said Republican pollster Frank Luntz. “How do you count for it? It’s almost impossible. But you have to assume you’re going to have about a two-point margin of error in almost any poll because of race.”

“I don’t see what else they could cite, quite frankly,” said Stanford University political scientist Shanto Iyengar, who noted that with the anti-Republican climate in the country, any prediction based on historical trends would have had Obama well ahead.

“The fact that the race has been much tighter than that, even before the conventions and vice presidential picks, suggests that there’s some kind of drag on the Obama candidacy,” he said. “My suspicion is that it has to do with his race.”

Or it could be Obama’s lack of experience. Or that he’s perceived as aloof or too liberal. Or that Republican John McCain, a national figure and respected war hero, has been largely immune from the taint on his party. No one can know with certainty how much race matters and probably no one ever will.

Roughly 20 percent of Democratic primary voters in the critical battlegrounds of Ohio and Pennsylvania, which Hillary Rodham Clinton won, told exit pollsters that race was a factor in their decision. On the other hand, the fact that a black man named Barack Obama defeated a Democratic icon for the party’s nomination and now is in a win?nable contest for the presidency suggests skin color might not be such a hurdle after all.

“To the people who we believe are truly undecided voters and we spend a lot of time trying to figure out who’s in that pie race is not going to be a hindrance because they’re open to supporting Sen. Obama,” said David Plouffe, Obama’s national campaign manager.

A pollster calling Sandra Cichon, a 60-year-old Democrat from Spring Hill, would hear her identify herself as an undecided voter. But is she really?

“I can’t imagine having a black president, and I think he’s inexperienced,” she told a reporter recently, eventually acknowledging she was leaning unenthusiastically toward McCain. “I don’t think we (Democrats) have a chance to be in the White House with Obama.”

Many analysts wonder how many voters answering polls hide their racial biases or mislead survey-takers about their real preferences.

It’s known as the “Bradley effect,” after former Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley, an African-American who in 1982 was leading nearly every poll in the California governor’s race but lost to his white opponent. The theory not universally accepted as valid is that some white voters tell pollsters they support a black candidate out of political correctness but won’t vote for one.

In 1989, African-American Democrat Douglas Wilder barely won the Virginia governor’s race though polls pointed to a Wilder landslide. That same year, David Dinkins narrowly won the New York city mayor’s race despite polls showing a double-digit lead.

In North Carolina in 1990, African-American candidate Harvey Gantt led Republican Jesse Helms in the polls, but Helms won soundly. More recently, a 2006 proposal before voters in Michigan to ban affirmative action looked too close to call, according to polls, but it passed with 58 percent support.

“As pollsters, we have to believe what people tell us. We cannot look into people’s soul and know whether or not they’re lying,” said Democratic pollster Tom Eldon, whose clients include the St. Petersburg Times. “But what we have been told in recent polls is that people are less apprehensive about electing an African-American than electing a woman or electing a man in his 70s.”

The Bradley effect may be a bygone relic. In 2006, many observers questioned the polling in Tennessee’s Senate race, featuring African-American Democrat Harold Ford and white Republican Brad Corker, but Ford’s narrow loss closely matched the polls.

In this year’s hard-fought Democratic primaries, exit polls an especially tricky process that involves talking to voters as they leave their voting precincts frequently overstated Obama’s support. Yet the pre-election polls were mostly close to the mark, with the exception of the Northeast, where Clinton outperformed the polls in states such as New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

“Everyone has always assumed the South has had more racial issues, and yet the Northeast is where this thing hit much more often,” said pollster Luntz, predicting racial issues could also be a factor in the more competitive industrial Midwest where the race may be decided.

Mark Mellman, John Kerry’s pollster in 2004, dismissed the Bradley effect but not the potential importance of race.

“Are there people who are not going to vote for Barack Obama because he’s black? I’m afraid there are,” Mellman said. “Are they going to hide their racism? Probably yes. Are they going to hide their vote? Probably not. There’s no evidence that’s happening in any systemic way.”

Obama is banking on high African-American turnout to give him an edge that Kerry and Al Gore lacked in 2004 and 2000. That could counter any potential racial backlash. In Florida, for instance, Obama’s huge get-out-the-vote organization sees great opportunity in the roughly 500,000 registered black voters who skipped the presidential election in 2004.

Still, high turnout among blacks is not enough. Consider Florida:

In 2004, President Bush beat Kerry in Florida by 381,000 votes in an election when Kerry did well among black voters and roughly 917,000 black voters turned out. Even if Obama increases black turnout by 25 percent a huge challenge and wins even more black support than Kerry, he could still fall 100,000 votes short of matching Bush’s total.

Anything that diminishes support for Obama among white voters could put McCain into the White House. Bush won white Florida voters by 15 percentage points in 2004. A Quinnipiac University poll released last week found McCain winning the white vote in Florida by 24 points, while a Rasmussen poll showed McCain leading by 17 points among white voters.

“It would be naive to think racism isn’t a factor, but the question is how much of a factor it is. We don’t know,” said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. “As to the Bradley effect, we won’t know that until Election Day.”

Successful Women Series: Two Fingers Press

Red Summer

Red Summer is a Chicago native who was raised in a
world of words. Coming from a talented and musical
family, Red Summer was trained in many forms and
styles of performance. She is a model, actress, dancer,
writer and performance artist. In her latest and dearest
venture as a spoken word artist, she has been able to
travel the globe sharing her words and thoughts. As an
educator, she has created avenues of self-expression for
youth in the Chicago area. She is a poetry slam
champion and has prevailed in numerous dramatic and
poetic competitions. In 2008, Red Summer will be
releasing her second collection of poetry, Raw Sugar,
and her highly anticipated performance CD, Shades of
Red.

http://www.twofingerspress.com

Dramatic Wall Street moves slam stocks

NEW YORK - Wall Street plunged and Treasury bond prices soared Monday as investors reacted to a stunning reshaping of the landscape of Wall Street. A series of events took out two storied names Sunday: Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and Merrill Lynch & Co.

Stocks posted sharp losses in markets across much of the globe as investors absorbed bankruptcy plans at Lehman and Merrill Lynch’s forced sale to Bank of America for $50 billion in stock. And perhaps most ominously, American International Group Inc. is asking the Federal Reserve for emergency funding. The world’s largest insurance company plans to announce a major restructuring Monday.

The swift developments are the biggest yet in the 14-month-old credit crises that stems from now toxic subprime mortgage debt.

See full story at: www.MSNBC.com

DATTNER!

this gal is funny as hell! (a nice filmmaker as well.)

"I love SF, but the neighborhood politics are complicated.
The people next door put up a sign that says, "No on 226",
and it freaks me out, because that's my house number."

Who's Your Mommy?

While pregnant with Child No. 1, when her "Mommy senses" kicked into high gear, our resident writer ate, slept and breathed all things mom, dad and baby.

More children came – three more, to be exact. And it was only a matter of time before Felicia Pinkney's two passions, parenting and writing, merged. Thus, that became her "beat."

She also dabbled in copywriting at J.C. Penney's corporate headquarters in Plano, Texas.

Felicia's column about stay-at-home parenting appears regularly at themombeat.com. Her articles have appeared in publications and Web sites from Hawaii to Canada to the Middle East.


A native of Shreveport, Louisiana, she lives in Texas with her husband Matt, who is an award-winning artist and interactive-graphics genius (Sure, she's biased, but the proof is in the portfolio). They have four children, who range from college-age to Terrible Two.

www.Themombeat.com

Successful Women Series: Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou was born Marguerite Annie Johnson in St. Louis, Missouri. Her parents divorced when she was only three and she was sent with her brother Bailey to live with their grandmother in the small town of Stamps, Arkansas. In Stamps, the young girl experienced the racial discrimination that was the legally enforced way of life in the American South, but she also absorbed the deep religious faith and old-fashioned courtesy of traditional African American life. She credits her grandmother and her extended family with instilling in her the values that informed her later life and career. She enjoyed a close relationship with her brother, who gave her the nickname Maya when they were very young.

At age seven, while visiting her mother in Chicago, she was sexually molested by her mother's boyfriend. Too ashamed to tell any of the adults in her life, she confided in her brother. When she later heard the news that an uncle had killed her attacker, she felt that her words had killed the man. She fell silent and did not speak for five years.

Maya began to speak again at 13, when she and her brother rejoined their mother in San Francisco. Maya attended Mission High School and won a scholarship to study dance and drama at San Francisco's Labor School, where she was exposed to the progressive ideals that animated her later political activism. She dropped out of school in her teens to become San Francisco's first African American female cable car conductor. She later returned to high school, but became pregnant in her senior year and graduated a few weeks before giving birth to her son, Guy. She left home at 16 and took on the difficult life of a single mother, supporting herself and her son by working as a waitress and cook, but she had not given up on her talents for music, dance, performance and poetry.


In 1952, she married a Greek sailor named Tosh Angelos. When she began her career as a nightclub singer, she took the professional name Maya Angelou, combining her childhood nickname with a form of her husband's name. Although the marriage did not last, her performing career flourished. She toured Europe with a production of the opera Porgy and Bess in 1954 and 1955. She studied modern dance with Martha Graham, danced with Alvin Ailey on television variety shows and recorded her first record album, Calypso Lady (1957).

She had composed song lyrics and poems for many years, and by the end of the 1950s was increasingly interested in developing her skills as a writer. She moved to New York, where she joined the Harlem Writers Guild and took her place among the growing number of young black writers and artists associated with the Civil Rights Movement. She acted in the historic Off-Broadway production of Jean Genet's The Blacks and wrote and performed a Cabaret for Freedom with the actor and comedian Godfrey Cambridge.

In New York, she fell in love with the South African civil rights activist Vusumzi Make and in 1960, the couple moved, with Angelou's son, to Cairo, Egypt. In Cairo, Angelou served as editor of the English language weekly The Arab Observer. Angelou and Guy later moved to Ghana, where she joined a thriving group of African American expatriates. She served as an instructor and assistant administrator at the University of Ghana's School of Music and Drama, worked as feature editor for The African Review and wrote for The Ghanaian Times and the Ghanaian Broadcasting Company.


During her years abroad, she read and studied voraciously, mastering French, Spanish, Italian, Arabic and the West African language Fanti. She met with the American dissident leader Malcolm X in his visits to Ghana, and corresponded with him as his thinking evolved from the racially polarized thinking of his youth to the more inclusive vision of his maturity.

Maya Angelou returned to America in 1964, with the intention of helping Malcolm X build his new Organization of African American Unity. Shortly after her arrival in the United States, Malcolm X was assassinated, and his plans for a new organization died with him. Angelou involved herself in television production and remained active in the Civil Rights Movement, working more closely with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who requested that Angelou serve as Northern Coordinator for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. His assassination, falling on her birthday in 1968, left her devastated. With the guidance of her friend, the novelist James Baldwin, she found solace in writing, and began work on the book that would become I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. The book tells the story of her life from her childhood in Arkansas to the birth of her child. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings was published in 1970 to widespread critical acclaim and enormous popular success.


Seemingly overnight, Angelou became a national figure. In the following years, books of her verse and the subsequent volumes of her autobiographical narrative won her a huge international audience. She was increasingly in demand as a teacher and lecturer and continued to explore dramatic forms as well. She wrote the screenplay and composed the score for the film Georgia, Georgia (1972). Her screenplay, the first by an African American woman ever to be filmed, was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.

Angelou has been invited by successive Presidents of the United States to serve in various capacities. President Ford appointed her to the American Revolution Bicentennial Commission and President Carter invited her to serve on the Presidential Commission for the International Year of the Woman. President Clinton requested that she compose a poem to read at his inauguration in 1993. Angelou's reading of her poem "On the Pulse of the Morning" was broadcast live around the world.


Since 1981, Angelou has served as Reynolds Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. She has continued to appear on television and in films including Poetic Justice (1993) and the landmark television adaptation of Roots (1977). She has directed numerous dramatic and documentary programs on television and directed her first feature film, Down in the Delta, in 1996.

The list of her published works now includes more than 30 titles. These include numerous volumes of verse, beginning with Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'Fore I Die (1971). Books of her stories and essays include Wouldn't Take Nothing For My Journey Now (1993) and Even the Stars Look Lonesome (1997). She has continued the compelling narrative of her life in the books Gather Together in My Name (1974), Singin' and Swingin' and Gettin' Merry Like Christmas (1976), The Heart of a Woman (1981), All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes (1987) and A Song Flung Up to Heaven (2002).

In 1991, 1994 and 1997, Maya Angelou participated in a series of live broadcasts for Achievement Television in which she took questions submitted by students from across the United States. The interview with Maya Angelou on this web site has been condensed from these broadcasts.

ALLOW ME TO RE-INTRODUCE MYSELF....IT'S YA BOOOOOOY!!!!!!!

Monday thru Friday I look forward to my daily routine of jumping in my energy efficient Nissan Sentra, hitting 285 east and listening to my favorite radio show “The Michael Baisden Show”. He is nationally syndicated in over 50 cities and can be heard world wide via internet between 3:00pm to 7:00pm eastern time. I love this show because… And I gotta throw this out there, but I think this dude stole my idea! This show is on some real Under The Shadetree type shizzle, Nah mean! Now I know Michael Baisden was no where in New Orleans secretly hiding at Kinko’s back in 1996 while we were plotting our next issue of Under The Shadetree but his show is based on the same principles of providing information to the masses with the sole purpose of empowerment and bringing the masses together on a common ground. Anyway while I was chasing females between Dillard and Xavier University, Michael Baisden was lighting up the airwaves with his own radio spot in New York. So I was just kidding about Michael Baisden stealing our ideas but it is a beautiful thing to see that great minds think alike. Knowing that sometimes all you need is a dream and the drive to make those dreams reality has been a great motivator to how I would like to live my life.

WWW.MICHAELBAISDEN.COM

The other reason I dig this show is because there is no other show on free radio like this show. This show is totally “Out Of The Box” of any Talk Radio or Music radio format that is on the AM and FM dial. Now I haven’t broken down and created that other bill for satellite radio, but as far as that free radio goes with those commercials every five minutes, Michael Baisden got that time in my ride. If there is a social issue that needs to be discussed it most likely has been talked about on the Michael Baisden Show. The Michael Baisden Show is the show that got everything poppin in Jena, Louisiana (Jena 6).

I can remember the show when they started talking about the Jena 6 and if my memory serve me well the discussion got so live that the next few shows were completely engulfed with Jena 6 and similar cases throughout the U.S. Well, discussions of the Jena 6 continued and the Michael Bells case was approaching. Somewhere in the discussion Michael Baisden said to George and Juan Dee, “I’m going down there!” Before you knew it...calls were coming in from everywhere saying that they were going to ride with this brotha. I heard people calling in who were Caucasian, Asian, Latino, Black, and people who lived outside of our borders organizing to meet in Jena. That was a powerful thing that happened; all this man said on the radio was I am going to Jena. He did not asked anyone to come along, but of course his boys Juan Dee and George were down for the ride…..but because this man is so passionate in what he does the masses felt they had get down with the cause. Now that’s Shadetree! Passion, hard work, commitment and uplift. That is what you can expect from every project that Shadetree stamps it name on. So stay tuned, listen to a lil Michael Baisden and join in on the discussion and believe that you can make a difference.

I LOVE YALL!
SHADETREESOUP

Successful Women Series: Oprah Winfrey

In 1983, Winfrey relocated to Chicago to host WLS-TV's low-rated half-hour morning talk-show, AM Chicago. The first episode aired on January 2, 1984. Within months after Winfrey took over, the show went from last place in the ratings to overtaking Donahue as the highest rated talk show in Chicago. It was renamed The Oprah Winfrey Show, expanded to a full hour, and broadcast nationally beginning September 8, 1986. On her 20th anniversary show, Oprah revealed that movie criticRoger Ebert was the one who persuaded her to sign a syndication deal with King World. Ebert predicted that she would generate 40 times as much revenue as his television show, At the Movies. Already having surpassed Donahue in the local market, Winfrey's syndicated show quickly doubled his national audience, displacing Donahue as the number one day-time talk show in America. Their much publicized contest was the subject of enormous scrutiny.

Time magazine wrote, "Few people would have bet on Oprah Winfrey's swift rise to host of the most popular talk show on TV. In a field dominated by white males, she is a black female of ample bulk. As interviewers go, she is no match for, say, Phil Donahue...What she lacks in journalistic toughness, she makes up for in plainspoken curiosity, robust humor and, above all empathy. Guests with sad stories to tell are apt to rouse a tear in Oprah's eye...They, in turn, often find themselves revealing things they would not imagine telling anyone, much less a national TV audience. It is the talk show as a group therapy session."
Winfrey on the first national broadcast of The Oprah Winfrey Show in 1986.
TV columnist Howard Rosenberg said, "She's a roundhouse, a full course meal, big, brassy, loud, aggressive, hyper, laughable, lovable, soulful, tender, low-down, earthy and hungry. And she may know the way to Phil Donahue's jugular."

Newsday's Les Payne observed, "Oprah Winfrey is sharper than Donahue, wittier, more genuine, and far better attuned to her audience, if not the world."

Martha Bayles of The Wall Street Journal wrote, "It's a relief to see a gab-monger with a fond but realistic assessment of her own cultural and religious roots."

In the mid-1990s, Winfrey adopted a less tabloid-oriented format, doing shows about heart disease in women, geopolitics with Lisa Ling, spirituality and meditation, and gift-giving and home decorating shows. She often interviews celebrities on issues that directly involve them in some way, such as cancer, charity work, or substance abuse. In addition, she interviews ordinary people who have done extraordinary things or been involved in important current issues.

In 1993, Winfrey hosted a rare prime-time interview with Michael Jackson which became the fourth most watched event in American television history as well as the most watched interview ever, with an audience of one hundred million. Perhaps Winfrey's most famous recent show was the first episode of the nineteenth season of The Oprah Winfrey Show in the autumn of 2004. During the show each member of the audience received a new G6 sedan; the 276 cars were donated by Pontiac as part of a publicity stunt. The show received so much media attention that even the taxes on the cars became controversial.

During a lawsuit against Winfrey , she hired Dr. Phil McGraw's company Courtroom Sciences, Inc. to help her analyze and read the jury. Dr. Phil made such an impression on Winfrey that she invited him to appear on her show. He accepted the invitation and was a resounding success. McGraw appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show for several years before launching his own show, Dr. Phil, in 2002, which was created by Winfrey's production company, Harpo Productions, in partnership with Paramount which produced the show.

Winfrey recently made a deal to extend her show until the 2010–2011 season, by which time it will have been on the air for twenty-five years. She plans to host 140 episodes per season, until her final season, when it will return to its current number, 130.

The 2004 Nobel Peace Prize Concert was hosted by Oprah and Tom Cruise. There were musical performances by Cyndi Lauper, Andrea Bocelli, Joss Stone, Chris Botti, Diana Krall, Tony Bennett and others. The concert was broadcasted in the United States on December 23, 2004, by E!.
As well as hosting and appearing on television shows, Winfrey co-founded the women's cable television network Oxygen. She is also the president of Harpo Productions (Oprah spelled backwards).

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