Wishing you all the best- for 2021! I'll be keeping my nose to the grindstone (ouch!) and getting a few projects done. What's on your agenda for the new year? Let's all start with a bit of gratitude because we survived 2020 (sheesh...) and keep looking toward the future. Love ya!

Guess what? I'm writing a slightly fictional, somewhat humorous memoir, and I'm experimenting with ways of sharing it. First, I need to see if anyone even likes what it promises to be, and that's where I need your help. Please check out the introduction by listening to it via my podcast, "Whatcha Ain't Gon' Do!" The memoir introduction is a special episode that will only take 16 minutes of your time--and you can listen at your convenience any time between today and December 12th. Then, please leave your brutally honest feedback (trust me--I can take it!) as a comment in this Facebook event. You can also email your feedback to [email protected]. Here are some questions you can answer to give feedback:
1.) Would you listen to more of this memoir?
2.) Is this something that you'd pay to listen to, say, on Audible?
3.) Should I hire a professional to read the memoir (instead of myself, lol)?
4.) Is the pace of the story and narration to slow? Too fast? Just right?
5.) Do you get it? Does the memoir make sense?

Thank you so much! I hope you enjoy the introduction! 

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Real Stupid Smart Girl: A Memoir By Karima I. Abdul-Sharif Bouchenafa   ©2006, 2020

Acknowledgments

To God, my family, and my friends: I love you with all my heart.

To Sallie Mae, PHEAA, and AES: Go to Hell. No...strike that.

To Sallie Mae, PHEAA, and AES: Thanks for ruining me financially before I even realized what thirty years at 7.8% really meant. Ehhhh...strike that, too.

To Sallie Mae, PHEAA, AES, Navient, and--well, hopefully Navient will be the last student loan servicer that I ever owe: Thanks. Seriously. I don’t know if I’d have written this memoir if it weren’t for you.

Nothing to heavy this episode! Just checking in to see how you're doing...and to ask whether you're thinking about what's on the other side of the pandemic...

The ABWHE ladies (Kuan, Michelle, Valerie, and Juanita) and I get together for another wide-ranging conversation, and, this time, the topic is "Polite Racism." Whew! Ain't NOTHING polite about it. It hurts in so many ways, and it takes so many ugly forms. Join the conversation-and please forgive the audio quality. Recording a podcast over Zoom isn't the best situation, but it's what the pandemic dictates. Hopefully, I'll find a better safely-socially-distanced alternative for the next season of the show!

If you're like me, then you're a "ten toes down" loyal friend who believes what your friends tell you...but what happens when your friend tells you that they're the victim in a situation, and you later learn that your friend is actually the *problem*? Hmmm...

It's only right that we take care of the elders in our family and our village--but eldercare is more than a notion (as the elders are wont to say)! How do you balance living your own life with taking good, loving care of the very people who gave you life? Join my conversation with my dear sisterfriends, Michelle and Juanita, as we try to figure this out. The secret weapons in this battle? Grace, respect, empathy, and friendship...

This week, I need a favor from you! First, please listen to some old episodes of "Whatcha Ain't Gon' Do!" Maybe there's an episode that you missed, or just one that you really enjoyed...either way, please give it another spin and share the show with a friend (send them to www.wagdpodcast.com)! Next, think about your own creative "crates," and dust off some pieces from your "creative catalogue." Finish that poem, that painting, or that piece of music you started but never finished. Break out that fabulous thing that you made ages ago, but were afraid to share with the world. This week, I want you to remind yourself of your own talents!

Senator Kamala Harris has already affirmed that she was born Black, she'll die Black, and she's proud to be Black. That assertion of her identity makes her Black enough for me...and it ought to make her Black enough for you.

 So-called "White Supremacy." "White privilege." Why do some people hold onto these expressions of "Whiteness" (which is a fiction anyway) so tightly? When you remove "Whiteness" from someone's identity and worldview, what's left? 

This week, my super-smart sister-friends from the Association of Black Women in Higher Education pick up our conversation that centers on the question: "Is Whiteness really all you got?" We talk about generational differences in combating racism (this "I'm not my Ancestors, and you can catch these hands!" stuff isn't really new), getting caught up in anti-Blackness at work (listen--when you're the new Black Person at your job, don't disrespect the Seasoned Black Person at your job). What happens when Black folk pull ourselves up by our bootstraps (the ones we had to make from nothing)? Tulsa? Rosewood? Tune in and join us (and we apologize in advance: we cuss a little).

Your girl is TIRED--so I'm taking a break this week! Check out this quick episode to find out where I am, and what's in the queue for the next few episodes. Take care of yourselves! Love ya!