TYRA BANKS and how she bankable!

I love Tyra Banks, granted, I think every now and then she goes a little off top on America's Next Top Model or has gone off top on her talk show but these are some reasons as to why I admire her. I think she is incredibly sexy and inspiring. I know plenty of people who think that she is annoying, but man, she is dynamic, innovative, creative, relevant, and with what she's pulling in at the bank, haters can keep hating. I think it's awesome that America's Next Top Model has been adopted in numerous other countries.

1. Instead of CHANGING HER BODY to fit the proportions of high fashion runway models, she CHANGED HER CAREER and became a face for Victoria's Secret.

2. She constantly says that she feels her mission in life is to help girls with their self-image and self-esteem, she even leads her own camp around this topic. As cliche as it may sound, I can appreciate a gorgeous woman who understands the importance of inner beauty and who wants to help women empower themselves.

3. She was the first African-American swimsuit model on the cover of Sports Illustrated.

4. Her talk-show had a broad range of relevant topics, from orgies to infidelity to race and homosexuality. Ladies and gentlemen the world is changing, and I believe she was fearless in approaching these "taboo" and "controversial topics".

5. Homegirl is attending HARVARD!!!!

6. She's real, I remember on one episode of either Top Model or the Tyra Show she said, "I have a really saggy booty, in case you haven't noticed, every Victoria Secret runway show, I either have a see-through skirt on my backside or something that doesn't fully expose my booty." Who says stuff like that? She does. :)

7. I was watching a special on her on E! and she said something that resonated with me, she's overworked herself to the point of hair loss and disease, and I don't encourage that, however, she said, "I think the reason I work so hard is because if it fails, it reflects on me, and if it's successful, it reflects on me." Boom, I want that type of work ethic.

8. She knows when to stop, when she released a track that wasn't received well, she let it be, she said during her special, "I quit the modeling industry before it quit on me." Powerful.

Besos Miss Tyra.

"The Help" and the hype

A friend of mine posted on Facebook that she finally saw "The Help" and that her reaction was contrary to the reactions of others who have written on Facebook, "Oh my gosh, this movie is life-changing!" "Oh my gosh, I cried the majority of the time, what a powerful story." Some people posted their opinions and defended why they felt the way that they did either agreeing or disagreeing.

I later sent this person a text and said, "I like what you posted on Facebook about 'The Help', ever notice that the majority of people who like the movie aren't Black?" She responded, "Funny how that is, huh?"

I personally enjoy movies surrounding issues of race, successful minorities, and social problems. Some of my favorites are Selena, Stand and Deliver, Whale Rider, Crash, and Sin Nombre. But, these types of movies seldom portray the realities of those the movie is attempting to depict.

Ryan told me a long time ago, "Black people don't like movies like 'Precious' or 'Jumping The Broom' because it's a White man's perspective of our culture, not our own." I thought that was powerful. My friend Malachi told me, "My grandma doesn't have to go see 'The Help' because she lived through it, why go and see her story through someone else's perspective?" Malachi mentioned that the movie was offensive because they portrayed White women standing up for Black women's right as if Black women did not have the power or capability to do so on their own.

Race has always been a controversial issue and my purpose in this post was to acknowledge what my friend had posted, I haven't even seen the movie but "The Help" is a movie marketed to attract mainstream America, and if you look up the directors and producers (Tate Taylor, Chris Columbus, Jeff Skoll) it's probably easy to understand why my friend didn't enjoy the movie.

Church "isms" that I disagree with.

-"Lift your hands if you love Jesus." - Naw bro...I used to think that I was rejecting my Jesus to his face if I didn't, but with due time, I became comfortable with the way that I express my praise during Praise and Worship time and I don't feel the need to do every little thing that the worship leader says.

-"If your Bible is falling apart, your life isn't." - My Bible isn't falling apart because I read my Bible on my iPhone.

-"Oh, I can tell the ones that God has brought through something. These are the ones screaming and shouting and jumping up and down." - Worship and thanksgiving shouldn't look the same from one person to the next because God has designed us all differently, therefore if we're all different, the way that we worship God should be unique to the relationship we have with him.

-"God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve." - I believe that God did make Adam and Eve, but this statement isn't going to stop Adam and Steve on acting for what they feel for one another.