Bea's Lifestyle Blog

[abeaslife-blog]

The Time I...

One event I attended recently on campus was an African and African Diaspora Student Organization (AADSSO) meeting. It was the last meeting of the semester and I thought the class was interesting enough, so I figured the Registered Student Organization (RSO) directly related to it would be something I was interested in, as well, because it would be like the class only in a more informal setting, while not being graded for it. In the first meeting, we discussed Conversation Parties, Project South mentoring, setting up a booth at the Week of Involvement Block Party, and even having a film screening night or two. The way everything flowed so nicely and the good vibes I got from everyone made me come back the following meeting and actually join AADSSO. What began as an interest actually blossomed into something much more than that, a family with open minds and welcoming hearts. 

Going to these meetings made me feel involved in something at Kennesaw State University, other than just being a student. My favorite part of it all was the way everyone was so friendly and genuine, in addition to being open to everyone’s ideas and thoughts. For example, at one point in time, we started to talk about the police brutality that has become quite an evident reoccurrence in recent news everywhere in the United States, such as the Mike Brown case and many more, which we had discussed in my AADS (African and African Diaspora Studies) class at one point in time as well. I feel as though my involvement in this specific RSO, in addition to the African Students Association (ASA) and the  African American Student Alliance (AASA) has helped me further my interests in AADS, which has really helped shape my experience here at Kennesaw into an amazing one.

[abeaslife-blog]

21 to Have Fun

America is the land of the free, however, it is constantly bombarding its citizens with laws that they are expected to follow without question. Some of these laws are almost pointless, such as jaywalking. Why not be able to cross a particular part of the street unless there are white lines to guide you? Also, even more ridiculous, the gift tax law states that the government must get a monetary percentage of a gift someone gives if it is valued over $13,000. On the other hand, there are good laws, such as ones set against murder, rape, car theft and so forth. These laws are universally agreed on to be necessary in order to keep society out of a state of anarchy. Then, there are some laws that are a little more controversial such as the legal drinking age. For years, Americans have debated whether or not to lower the drinking age. Countries in South America and Europe have had a relatively young drinking age for years, even as low as 16 years of age in some places. They seem to be doing just fine, however, in America one must be 21 years old to enjoy an alcoholic beverage, legally. After thorough research in tandem with my own social experiences, I believe the drinking age in America should remain at 21 because before 21 young adolescent minds are still developing, young adults are less responsible, and they are also already at a higher risk for collisions while driving without the privilege of being able to legally drink alcohol

The number one reason the drinking age should remain at 21 is minors are not responsible, period. Although, as college students, we may think we are full grown adults, in the grand scheme of things we are nowhere close. We still depend on our parents for most things such as food, money and guidance. Personally, I have seen my growth in maturity from when I was 16 to now. In those few short years I have become a wiser individual and I do not do any of the silly things I did when I was 16. That being said, I cannot imagine how drastically my mind has changed since turning 18 to recent times, since I am of legal age now. Many full-grown adults make some of their worst decisions under the influence of alcohol, anywhere from drunken one-night stands to gambling away their life’s savings. One can only imagine the dastardly decisions a drunk 18 year old will make. Also, if the drinking age is younger, alcohol will be prominent in high schools even more than it is now, which is even closer to middle school children. Although this may seemed far-fetched it is the grim reality that will be if the drinking age is lowered. 

As Americans we cannot let our youth fall victim to this drug as so many adults do each year. Minors are more inclined to binge drink, because minors usually drink in party settings where peer pressure to drink as much as possible is rampant, or with friends where the sole intention is to get drunk as fast as possible. Furthermore, because the adolescent brain is not fully developed, most are not responsible enough or do not care enough that they should not drink for every occasion or everyday. A study done by the National Bureau of Economic Research on the effects of youth consumption of alcohol concludes that there should be laws that “focus on youths because alcohol abuse in adolescence appears to be associated with alcohol abuse in adult life. Thus, policies to prevent the onset of this behavior by adolescents might be the most effective means to reduce it in all segments of the population” (Coate). Basically, the younger the individual starts consuming alcohol, the more likely they are to become alcoholics by the time they become an adult. There is conclusive evidence to prove drinking alcoholic beverages will become a force of habit and their tolerance will be extremely high. Therefore, they will need more alcohol to get drunk and will drink more frequently which in turn is the foundation for alcoholism. Many minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) laws have been implemented in American society since the late 1970’s, and as expected, they are having a positive affect on reducing alcohol related mishaps, especially while driving. Before 1984 the legal drinking age in the United States was 18. States gradually started raising the drinking age, until finally, in 1989, all states complied. 

High collision rates, rapidly developing brains, and irresponsibility are just three concrete reasons why the drinking age in America should remain at 21, but there are several. Alcoholism is a big problem in America as it is, and lower the drinking age will just put more youth at a higher risk to contract the disease at a younger age.Passing minimum legal drinking age laws is a stupendous way to attempt to regulate under age drinking as best as possible. The sad reality is that no matter how hard the government tries there will still be underage drinking. However, having the laws in place is a powerful tool in working to keep the American people safe.    

[abeaslife-blog]

The Looking Glass

When I dance I see myself as the water, flowing seamlessly through the cracks of pebbles and rocks.  I am the calm before the storm, soft and quiet; the rivers that flow to the deep depths of the ocean only to find the sea. Yet I am versatile, ever changing and continuing to grow. I am the tornado, the click clack of rain spatters on a thundering day.  I am the storm, waves crashing against the shore sharp and smooth. I follow the beat of the song, letting the music take me over not the words. I believe that a song with words cannot live without music, and so it is the beat that inspires me to dance. Many people have influenced my dancing and love for the arts, but I cannot say that I have just one unsurpassed favorite. I have multiple favorites because everyone brings some different aspect to the table that they’re best at. At this point improvisation means beautiful spontaneity it’s letting go of something because you love it so much, relaxing with the music instead of trying to vibe with it.

My goal for this year is to simply learn how to let go and do what my body really wants to do. I want to set my mind abroad and let my blood pulse freely. I decided to do this mainly because with all the stress building up in my life, anything could help me relieve myself and actually help me focus. I seek to improve my body’s fluidity with random movements, and release tension from my entire being. I have even started taking a few yoga classes to aid in the process as well. In the end, my improvement will be measured by my happiness. Will I smile more? Hopefully, but not necessarily. Get better grades? Potentially, but highly uncorrelated. Get better sleep? Maybe, or it could just be about escaping for a little while, with no measurements at all, but just being able to express yourself as freely as possible.

[abeaslife-blog]

The “Social Construction” of My Life

People are different, lets face it; there is a difference in your eyes from mine. My eyes may be a shade darker and yours a shade lighter. There are different sized noses, hairs, heights, and weights from you, to me, to the person standing beside you. Our skin tones are of different shades across the world, and of course there is the difference in gender. Being that there is a difference in being a woman versus being a man. What we all have in common though, is that we are human. 

A human is a mammal and an omnivore. We are living breathing creatures that have advanced so drastically in this world from our start as Homo sapiens. We live in communities and cities and we are each made up of cells and matter. We are all human beings, and yet we are all different. No two people are exactly the same in this world. Being that we are all different we have to understand what makes us different and dare I ask the question, do our differences make us unequal? The answer is no. From society’s point of view a woman is often seen as inadequate, or weaker than a man. We grow up with gender roles so promptly and furtively placed in our lives, but we dismiss the inequality of these roles due to the fact that society says these inequalities are “normal” and they are to be expected. The same concept goes for race. Our society displays a myriad of racial inequalities due to skin tone, ethnicity, or the culture of someone and their family. What we see so often is these inequalities being ignored and/or sometimes even accepted by society and we are brought to the inevitable question what is the intersection of racial and gender inequality and how are they socially constructed in our society?

When asking the question of inequalities due to race we have to understand what exactly race is in our society. Some people define race as the color of skin, while others define it as one’s personal ethnicity and or culture. After asking around I realized that no one truly had the same definition of race, in fact there seems to be no true and factual exclusive meaning of race at all. Therefore, race is just one of the many social constructions society has come up with, basically meaning that over time people of the world have theoretically come together to form a shared assumption about a group of individuals. 

Of the many differences there are in this world between human beings, one of the biggest and most obvious ones would be that of gender. A lot of times women are considered inferior to men, period. Even after slavery ended and African Americans were given the right to vote, women were still unable to because their opinions “didn’t matter” in government. Until recently, women have been completely ignored and set in their gender roles. Women are considered weak because they are essentially physically “weaker” than most men, but just because someone is smaller doesn’t mean that they are inferior or weaker in comparison. A lot of times we see a woman being classified as such simply because she is a woman, no other factor being the case. It doesn’t matter if she can benchpress 200 pounds and play the quarterback position flawlessly on a football team, she would still be considered inferior only due to the fact that she is a woman. It is implanted in our society that the woman is supposed to aspire to be a housewife whose sole purpose is to have children and submit to her husband. It wasn’t until recently, some fifty to eighty years ago, that women started stepping out of gender roles and taking control of their own purposes and destinies. This opened the door for people of my generation to pursue so many opportunities that were never offered to women before.

Therefore, myself being an African-American woman in America, I am full of social construction labels, but where do they intersect? One example is how it was often women slaves who did some of the most gruesome and tough work to fight for freedom, such as Harriet Tubman, who helped hundreds of slaves through use of the Underground Railroad. With all that being said, if I let society define the person I was, I would never make it to where i need to get to. The only way is forward and you can't get there by looking backward. I think the best way to get around all these social constructions is to just let your personal impressions of people influence your decisions, not society’s.

[abeaslife-blog]

Racism? “What’s that?”

What is racism? According to dictionary.com racism is defined as “a belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human races determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one's own race is superior and has the right to rule others.” Racism is an ongoing epidemic in the world. Millions of people from different races are oppressed by the inequalities of our society. Bob Marley once stated in a song, “Who feels it knows it,” which essentially means if you are the group being oppressed, you know what it is like to experience that kind of prejudice and vice versa.

First and foremost, some of the most important stories that came from racism began in the 5th century, although a majority of people remember slavery in the United States the most out of all. I even found out that in the early17th century, “the first African slaves were brought to the North American colony of Jamestown, Virginia… to aid in the production of such lucrative crops as tobacco,” according to Dr. King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” (paragraph 1). These African people were brought against their will, for the most part, and enslaved because of the color of their skin. Due to this insignificant difference, they were taken out of their homes, brought to a whole different country, and put to work in terrible conditions. If this is not one of the greatest instances of racism, I do not know what is. Furthermore, in more recent times, racism still exists in everyday settings. For instance, innocent, young, African-American males are being killed left and right due to police brutality. Individuals like Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown have been murdered basically­ for being black. Trayvon Martin, for example, was followed by a “neighborhood watch” guy and killed, just because he was wearing a hoodie and was seen as a threat. What they don’t tell you is he was a threat because for years African-Americans have been grouped together as dangerous beings due to their skin color, which makes no sense.

 Moreover, there have been several influential writers in history that have addressed this injustice in the country. People such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, Malcolm X, and several others have made such a difference in civil rights today, not only for African-Americans but also for other groups of oppressed people. Again in reference to Dr. King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” speech, he addresses that there is “injustice” in Birmingham, Alabama and that “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” meaning if there is injustice somewhere, it will impede the civil rights movement for equality everywhere (paragraph 4). It needs to be stopped in its tracks, so freedom can progress everywhere in the country, including in Birmingham.

 As an African-American girl with several family members and friends of the same background as me, I have seen quite a few instances of racism in my years of living. For example, one time my friend had told me a story about his experience. He was driving home after a long day at school and got pulled over by the police for speeding. Nothing went too wrong, but he had made an observation. When he was with a friend that was black, he always got pulled over. On the other hand, whenever he was by himself, he never got caught. This just made me realize how much racial profiling exists and how racism still affects some people to this day.

 All in all, racism has been affecting our society for a very long time and needs to be eradicated in some sort of way. If we could find a way to change the way certain people think and make others more open-minded to change, this country would be able to reach its full potential and progress as a whole, as opposed to many different groups just barely coexisting. The peaceful protests and other forms of resistance that are currently going on are a step in the right direction, but I think there need to be more powerful actions implemented for a greater change to be made. The legendary civil rights activists from the past would be proud of our progress, but would admit there is still plenty of work to be done.

[abeaslife-blog]

24 – A Song of Experience

24 hours

For time we scour.

As do squirrels in trees

And flowers with bees.

 The fight against time

Proves to be vague

And with such a crime,

Is everyone’s plague.

 For this next post, I decided to craft up a poem to switch things up a little bit from the usual. In my poem I was inspired to write it like a “Song of Experience” in order to make it fit with the poet William Blake’s writing style that I had admired a few semesters ago in an English class I took here at Kennesaw State.

 First off, I tried to follow a similar pattern to the one William Blake had chosen to use in a majority of his poems such as in the Songs of Experience poems “Introduction”, “My Pretty Rose Tree”, “Ah! Sunflower” and so forth. What William Blake does is rhyme the first and third lines with each other as well as rhyming the second and fourth lines with each other in the same way. This is exactly what I chose to do in the second stanza. The first stanza is more so like his poem “Holy Thursday,” such that it rhymes the first and second line with one another and the third and fourth lines with each other.

 On another note, something that exemplifies the Romantic period, which was the same time when he was very popular, from my poem would have to be my reference to the natural world in the first stanza. The last thing I used inspired by William Blake was my attempt at “plain, but forceful language” such as in his poem “The Fly.” He states everything so simply yet paints such vivid imagery for the reader to visualize what exactly he is describing, so I attempted to do the same by describing a somewhat springtime-y image.

[abeaslife-blog]

My Night at the APEX Museum

Recently one of my friends and I decided to visit this interesting museum she had told me about called the APEX (African American Panoramic Experience) Museum. We decided to go on a Tuesday afternoon when we knew we would both be available and it was an eye-opening experience. 

When we first arrived the owner as well as the walking tour guide greeted us at the door. We were the only visitors at the time, so it was kind of nice being able to receive a personal tour that tailored specifically to what we found interesting. The first part of the museum that we visited was the trolley-like streetcar, which was replicated after the ones they had back in the day on Auburn Avenue. The nice lady that greeted us at the door who was going to be our tour guide gave us the option of which video we wanted to watch because they had two videos to choose from. Since it was just my friend and I, we told our guide we wanted to see them both and the film started rolling. The first video was called “The Journey” and went into depth about the forced journey that the people of Africa made coming from their native land to the Americas. On the contrary, the second video named “Sweet Auburn Street of Pride” was more focused on the successes that have shaped what we know today as Auburn Avenue.

The next part of the guided tour was mostly dedicated to the remainder of the exhibit, which was a compilation of mementos used to recreate the experience of Africans in the times during which they were torn away from their families and displaced in a foreign land and African Americans in the earlier years of their newfound freedom in the southern region of North America specifically.

One of the things I saw was a model of what the slave ships during the time of Triangular Trade looked like. The slaves were packed into them like sardines and were given little to no space to move let alone breathe comfortably. Some slaves jumped ship at the thought of living I these kind of conditions for the rest of their lives, while others died due to the horrific conditions they kept in with little to no food, as well. They were given just enough food and water to keep them barely alive. This particular piece in the museum stood out to me in particular because it reminded me of when I visited Ghana for the first time over the summer (because that’s where my parents come from) and saw a similar structure in the Cape Coast castle, which actually housed slave dungeons as well as slaves back in those days. Also, another thing that stood out to me was the recreation of the Yates and Milton drug store because me not knowing much about the history of the south, being able to see the prosperity of African Americans in reality after such turmoil helped me to learn about it then and there. I never knew how successful and meaningful this particular store was to African Americans in the south, but according to Yates and Milton “it provided employment to many African-Americans and was a meeting place for visitors, businessmen and residents.

Personally, this experience changed the way I looked at things a little bit in terms of the southern region of our country. It definitely gave me a lot more knowledge about the south I didn’t have before this semester. It made it a lot easier for me to be able to create a connection between my parent’s native land as well as the country I was born and raised in. Just as the people of Africa were very hardworking and were able to make the best out of what they had access to, the African Americans in the south exemplified this very same work ethic to work their way out of a system that was built against them.With all that being said, if you're ever in the area, it would be an informative, wonderful place to stop by and get your history on! 

[abeaslife-blog]

My Family's Personal Survival Guide...

This past weekend, I visited my best friend’s family for the highly anticipated Mardi Gras holiday. Being around all of their fun-loving shenanigans made me a little homesick, I can’t even deny that. Therefore, I took it upon myself to put that homesickness to use! With that being said, here are a few tips to surviving my wildly hilarious family:

• Understand that even though you may not be heard at all times, there is ALWAYS someone there to listen to you if you need to be heard.

• Make sure you have a sense of humor. For example, my cousins and sister imitate the adults’ accents all the time, but they laugh because they know it’s all out of flattery and in good fun. We mean no harm and they hear how exaggerated they sound sometimes.

• Enjoy being with the group. There are only so many times that a large number of our family member gather under one roof for a few nights, such as for Thanksgiving every year or the occasional wedding. Therefore, you have all the time in the world to enjoy your alone time. When you are with the family, expect at least 2 other family members to be in there or join you no matter what room you are in. That is just how things usually go.

On the contrary, if you like your space, I’m sure you can sneak away from all the chaos and get a quick nap in or work done if you just communicate that to whoever attempts to join you.

• Look on the bright side! Time with the family is the chance to make memories and have conversations that you do not have over the phone that may come to just cause you haven’t seen your cousin in so long or because you cannot believe your aunt who lives 3 states away showed up.

• Let it out. One thing not to do in my family is to hold your tongue if something is bothering you. If you don’t like something that has been said or it made you uncomfortable, make sure you let the person who said it know that. Definitely always doing so in a respectful manner, but still doing so nonetheless. Just keep in mind, the adults always have your best interests at heart

[abeaslife-blog]

Let's Try This Recipe Out!

So last week, I decided I want to make it a point to cook more for myself as opposed to eating outside of my house most of the time like us college kids tend to do. Also, the last few times I’ve gone home to Chicago (where my mother lives), I have taken it upon myself to learn some new meals to cook. Since my mother is from Ghana in west Africa, I was raised eating a popular dish amongst Africans called Jollof rice. While I was home for the break, I was helping my mom cook and I crafted a recipe from what she was doing. So here’s the recipe to one of my favorite Ghanaian dishes:

WHAT YOU NEED

For a serving of 2 - 4

2 large tomatoes

1 large onion

2 tablespoons of tomato paste

Vegetable oil

Adobo seasoning

Onion powder

Minced garlic

1 habanero orange pepper

3 lbs. of beef or chicken (optional: mixed vegetables)

4 cups of jasmine rice

4 cups  (± 1 stock cube, depending on how much meat is used)

1. Warm a very thin layer of oil in a large pot. 

2. Spice the meat with Adobo seasoning, onion powder and minced garlic                                                       and cook in oil. Put cooked meat on paper towel to drain oil.

3. Blend the habanero peppers, tomatoes, and large onion.

4. Dice the small onion and put in oil to cook. 

5. Add blended tomato and pepper mixture to onions and let stew cook. Then, add tomato paste. Then, add the meat. 

6. Wash the rice and add rice and water to the stew. Stir and let cook until rice is tender. 

This is MY personal recipe for Ghanaian jollof rice. It reminds me of the times when I was a child and I used to get so excited whenever a new batch was being made, whether it be for an event, for family coming over or just for dinner. I feel as though this dish brings me back to my roots because no matter what function we would go, if there was jollof there, everyone wanted some. It was just interesting not to mention funny, that this was something almost everyone had in common. I have the theory that their parents all made them jollof rice at some point in their life and they had the same feeling I did as their initial reaction.

[abeaslife-blog]

Hello World!

Good evening Audience! My name is Beatrice and I’m a Senior at Kennesaw State University. I’m an Economics major who just so happens to be taking a Social Media Marketing class, which is one of the reasons I am so pleased to make your acquaintance. Hopefully, upon graduation I will be in the Marketing department of some great, big entertainment company, but let’s not get too ahead of ourselves just yet.

How many times a week do you find your self looking up simple things on the Internet? All the time, right? Well, today, you're in the right place because that’s what this blog is all about! The little, simple thing that you need just to jumpstart your day. Also, I wanted to let you all know a little about why I chose the upcoming topics to write about, as well as the theme for my blog: lifestyle. I would say I decided to create this lifestyle blog for the simple reason that it is so universal. I can encompass anything from tips for school to fun ideas to try on your own at home or maybe even some encouraging words of wisdom. For instance, from time to time I even find myself searching what recipes are some good ones to try if I want to stray away from the “same old, same old” dinner options that we all know we have. In that same way, many people can be reached and nobody is left out. 

On another note, I do notice when scrolling by a post of encouragement or empowerment, I can't help but stop and see what the author has to say. Why might that be? In my opinion, I think people just don't mind a little positivity no matter the source. For example, I know when someone walks by and sees someone do a good deed involving them, they're very likely to relay that good energy to the next person in which they encounter. The same way this positivity is transferred is how I know some posts work on their audience. Even posts on social media platforms have proven to do this because you always see people “reposting” or “retweeting” or “reblogging” words of encouragement letting their followers or friends know how much they needed to hear those words at that time. Therefore, words of wisdom help everyone and that is my goal in the end for whoever is reading.

With all that being said, welcome!