Like millions of other Americans, I too, anticipated and watched CNN's Black in America. Prior to watching the documentary, my Ethnic Studies background provided me with knowledge on what the program attempted to address. In college, I was constantly reminded of how my undergraduate education would teach me how to "think critically." Similarly, my mom advised me to take all things with "a grain of salt." Consequently, I viewed the documentary from this framework. I knew even CNN's resources and "experts" would not be able to expose everything there is to know about the "black experience" (as if there was only one experience) into a two-part series, but only touch the surface.

Introduction

In a previous blog, I discussed how as a person of faith, my identity as being pro-life stretches beyond the abortion and death penalty debates; instead, there is a need to defend life vis-a-vis access to quality education, employment, healthcare, political expression, and a clean, sustainable environment. I am cognizant of the fact that my definition of what it means to be pro-life does not hold true for many of those who identify themselves as being part of the latter.

I was at the gym earlier this afternoon, working out beside a gentleman twice the size. Though superficially it may have seemed we had nothing in common other than our shared commitment to physical fitness, the most amazing thing happened between sets: we rested. For those of you who regularly go to the gym, this might already be common sense. Even one of my closest friends who earned the title Mr. Junior World Bronze (fyi: Arnold Schwarzenegger is Mr. World) takes time to rest in between sets. Likewise, in my yoga class, there is great emphasis on pranayama, the art of breathing, as well as taking the child's pose, which you are recommended to take anytime during class to recenter yourself. Now what does all this talk about exercise, bodybuilding, even yoga, have to do with leadership?

Since the end of state sponsored segregation in the 1954
with Brown v. Board of Education decision,
the prevailing myth of American prosperity has convinced the people that there
are no structural racial barriers to keep minorities from reaching the American
dream. Fancy cars, stately houses prestigious educations, high powered jobs,
and a life of material wealth is available to all who work hard enough to
achieve it. According to this mindset, it is thought that all individuals have
the freedom of social mobility. These individuals, despite race or class, are
believed to have the ability to live anywhere they please, working their way up
from low income areas to the suburbs if they so desire. In light of this claim,

Heather Mac Donald wrote a remarkably ignorant column in the LA Times on Sunday titled "What campus rape crisis?", in which she decides to project her own warped version of reality in order to deny the experiences of so many of our female peers who have experience sexual assault.

I've been labeled a lot of things since I started ChronicBabe, my web site for young women with chronic illness who prefer to think of themselves as Babes...who just happen to be sick chicks. Since I launched the project, some women have held me up as role model (slightly daunting). I've even been called a superhero (made me blush). But today, I received a first: a reader said that I was "negative." Let's call this reader Jane.

Life Coach Jennifer Louden has declared May 15 Freedom From Self-Improvement Day, a chance to spend some time just loving ourselves exactly the way we are right now. What an incredible concept!