happy birthday, Lyn

See? I didn’t forget like that one time. Love you. Now go celebrate yourself.

THE Lyn Thomas

you are the sauce beneath my wings

This past work week had “crummy” scrawled all over it but I was looking forward to the reward of hanging out with my sons at week’s end. Circumstances beyond my reach aborted those plans but I still had an opportunity to share lunch with them on Saturday at this small little spot in Austell called Ruchda (pronounced roosh-dah) Wings. Pictured below, you can see that Kenn 2.0 was more than excited to get out of the house and Spencer dug deep in his wallet to pay. Not.

rich spencer and excited kenn

Love you, Spencer and Kenn. You are the sauce beneath my wings 🙂

1989, 20 years later

1989 was funky summer. 20 years later, the summer is still… funky.

This past weekend, my namesake and I participated in celebrating the 20th anniversary of the groundbreaking film by Spike Lee, Do The Right Thing at the Fox Theatre. We had opportunity to meet the visionary icon of film and spend a bit of time in exchange with him. Apparently, not many people knew of his scheduled appearance at a bookstore in Atlanta so we enjoyed the casual accessibility.

Do The Right Thing is such an amazing film and I was reminded of my previous fixation with it and the anthem by Public Enemy that permeates throughout the movie. It was awesome to see Rosie Perez gyrate to the opening titles and share that experience with my son.

If you haven’t viewed the movie in a while (or ever), I urge you to check it out (regardless of your ethnicity). It is not a black movie. There were no reported race riots that immediately followed the release of the film as the irresponsible and fear-mongering media attempted to provoke. What there was was a dialogue between cultures and ethnicities that is still quite relevant today.

Spike Lee meets Kenn 2.0

“Elvis was a hero to most
But he never meant s** to me you see
Straight up racist that sucker was
Simple and plain
Mother**** him and John Wayne
Cause I’m Black and I’m proud” – excerpt from “Fight The Power” by Public Enemy

happy birthday, James Tomasino

Dear, Mr. Tomasino,
Now everyone one will know
That you love drinking cheese dip
And you have monkey toes
You’re smarter than a chess move
That has no where to go
You’re a living circus act
And your cat has a sniffy nose
Oh… and today is your birthday
So go on ahead and strike a pose

In honor of your born day
Enjoy your repose.

Love you, Brother.

and so it is…

And so it is… 30 days later. July 1st. It seems much of my celebration of my birth month, June, was met with a lot of busyness but I got some serious reflection and celebration of self in there too.

I’m not sure that I’m cut out for blogging everyday but I do plan on blogging more regularly when time and inspiration allows.

In case you’re wondering what I’ve been up to… I’m currently shopping for an agent for my novel (Pious), illustrating my children’s book (A Jar of Mayonnaise), drafting a short story (Clean), and finishing writing edits on a second children’s book (Better There) that I will illustrate later this year. (whew!) Now what was that I said about busyness?

we got game

It’s hot outside and but that’s ’cause we’re outside. Oh yeah.

we_062709

fam_062709

kenn and spence

saturday away

Today, I’ve taken the day off from blogging and the internet and all to spend with my favorite little dudes. I may post pictures of our adventure tomorrow. And stay tuned for a new piece that I’m writing that I plan on posting on Monday. See you then.