Fruit for Thought: the Intersection of Education, Culture, and Performance

It is 3:34 am on Black Friday and the Christmas season has officially started. Some stores have been open for three and a half hours, some will be opening in less than a half hour and there are others who are going that 5:00 am route. All this to accommodate those early birds who want to get those Christmas gift worms before anyone else does. I would be out there right now taking part in the madness, but I am heading to bed. There is no need for me to go shopping. I got myself an early Christmas gift: DJ Hero . I will say this: I was not all that excited about the whole Rock Band/Guitar Hero fad. I get what all the fuss was about. I love DDR (America) and Beatmania IIDX (Japan) – watching them being played, not playing them – as much as the next person. So bringing those rhythmic, hand-eye coordination games to the home console is pure video game innovation. With that being said, I am not a big rock person. I have always wanted to play the drums or the guitar, but my parents picked t...

Since early November, people have been disrespecting my favorite holiday by decorating their houses, advertising their sales and getting in the Christmas spirit. I only thought it fitting that I bring it back to focus. Friends and family flock for a fabulous feast of food while following the festivities of football. This is my Thanksgiving alliteration because the only preparing done in the 11th month should be for the last Thursday in November revolving around the 4Fs – friends, family, food and football. The friends, the family and the food are great, but for me, Thanksgiving means nothing without football. The retirement of John Madden also meant the retiring of a timeless Thanksgiving Day tradition: the turducken . An eight-legged chicken, stuffed inside a duck, stuffed inside a turkey made NFL Thanksgiving Thursday special . I sure miss that turducken. Maybe the Madden turducken should be revived at the Superdome for the festivities at the Bayou Classic . As a Historically Black ...

If this were Feudal Japan and I, being a loyal follower of the emperor, badmouthed him – even after he made some very questionable decisions – my only option would have been to fall on my sword – 切腹 or 腹切り. Good thing this is Twenty-09 US of A where football teams honor the 60s by wearing awesome throwbacks. As a loyal follower of the Broncos, I only want what is best for the Mile High Empire. However, my treacherous thinking first began after Pat Bowlen (owner) fired the same person he once called “Coach for Life.” My dissatisfaction with the organization continued when they brought in a young (officially the third youngest coach in NFL history ), New England trained (I dislike anything New England except clam chowder) head coach. Before he had a chance to officially coach his first game, he shipped out a QB with a once in a generation arm, brought in an average QB and beefed back and forth with a receiver who has once in a generation abilities (accompanied with the all too common wi...

I tip my hat to Brazil. They deserve to be the first South American city to host the games and that is what this is about: who deserved it. In my opinion, Chicago did not. Every site has their own issues and I can only speak for the city I live in. When young black males (and females) continue to fall in a city where the first black male president calls home, this is not a city that needs to host the world. People who took off work to gather at Daley Plaza and show their support for the bid either do not know, do not care or think the Olympics Games are going to instantly clear up Chicago’s mess. Honestly, Chicago hosting the Olympics was going to cause more harm than good and increase the economic disparities. I had personal, financial reasons for wanting the Olympics in Chicago. I had planned on buying my first house before the December 1, 2009 deadline to take advantage of the $8,000 credit. Then in the summer of 2015, I would list my house as available for rent the summer of 20...

I believe the GOP and their loyal followers - who refuse to send their children to school for fear they might listen to President Obama’s “Stay in School” message - are not only ignorant, lacking mental acuity, but they are part of the problem and the reason this country is in shambles. If you object to his message and his philosophy that perfectly fine, but please, please be prepared to share your own solutions. Otherwise, in the words of elementary school teachers around the country with absent students, " if you do not have anything construct to say, be quiet ." Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty is one of the guilty parties who he stepped up to criticize President Obama for targeting the classroom by saying it “is no place to show a video address from Obama.” Interesting. Well, Gov. Pawlenty, what do you say to Laura Bush who supports President Obama saying, “There’s a place for the president of the United States to…encourage schoolchildren” and what about those thousands o...

I vowed I would stay out of it. Since everyone took sides on February 9 – namely the side of the attacked, condemning the attacker – I felt I did not need to say anything. Instead, I kept my mouth shut. While I sat back and took it all in, celebrity after celebrity after celebrity after celebrity quickly ran to the defense of Rihanna and saw her as the “victim” while labeling Chris Brown as the “bad guy.” I waited to see how many celebrities would be peer-pressured into saying something one way or another. Waited to see which personality would be next to bash Chris Brown . To see how emotions influenced people to rush to judgments without getting the entire story and hearing all sides. So I waited and my opportunity presented itself when Larry King was given the first Chris Brown interview . In has knack for pushing the issue, Larry King tried to get Chris Brown to tell what happened for the sake of his audience who wanted to know the truth from the mouths of the parties involved....

The draft has come and gone. All the hype about potential players has died down and teams are preparing to debut these rookies in hopes that their presence will help the team. Well, all except one. The Timberwolves are still licking their wounds after Ricky Rubio (their 5th pick) decided he needed a couple more years in Spain to prepare for the NBA . Maybe, in this Post-NBA Age Rule Era , Rubio thinks it is too complicated for a 19-year old European to make that big of a transition right now. This news just adds to the continuing disappointment the NBA has experienced since the anticlimactic, five-game NBA Finals. Everyone expected or at least hoped for the Lakers and Magic to go seven games especially after both Conference Finals Series went six. And kudos to Nike (three Kobe-centric commercials featuring an at home Lebron) and Vitamin Water ( Dwight Howard debating with himself over who he think is better) for doing a decent job recovering from their botched campaigns. The ensuing ...