Miniya's blog

After being laid off from her job in public health, TaMara Dillard did what few professional women would consider in order to keep her self busy, she took a series of pole dancing classes. For many, this would be where this story begins and ends. But for TaMara, what began as a way to stay in shape turned into a business she truly loves.

Since creating Beautifully Me, LLC, a dance fitness, sexuality education and online adult novelty boutique in September 2005, TaMara has embarked on a mission of female empowerment. Her business venture, one of the hottest and fastest growing segments in aerobics for women, has been recently featured on local media stations and at national trade shows including, Erotic LA.  Read More »

Massa Thomas and the good ole boys laid their bets down as Big Buck and Black Sam threw down in the cotton field. All it took was for Massa Thomas to tell Big Buck that Black Sam was bragging that he was the baddest slave on the plantation and then tell Black Sam that he caught Sallie Mae 'round the cabin with Big Buck for it to be on.

After the fight Massa Thomas walked away counting the money that he had won, while Buck and Sam lay on the ground in a puddle of blood. Although they fought each other with everything they had, the bottom line was they were still slaves and Thomas was still the master.  Read More »

From the moment Stokley Carmichael (Kwame Ture) grabbed the mic and yelled Black Power! the phrase has struck fear in the heart of white America. Not that they were overly concerned that we posed some sort of military or economic threat, as the white power structure had those two options on "lock" but the possibility that the phrase would galvanize the masses of Black youth to action. Motivating them to do more than get their groove on Saturday night and their praise on Sunday morning sent chills up the spines of those who had a vested interest in holding the Black community down. Something had to be done to destroy this uncompromising desire for FREEDOM, JUSTICE and EQUALITY.  Read More »

The "engrained" provides the vocabulary. The "born with," likewise. The identity leading to ruminations from vegetarians to word binges, from those darker of tinge, the sounds and words hissed, determined by the turn of the wrist. Upbringing, financial status, anger, and current school of thought grades the art we all revel in. But this bell curve has a steep incline and I'll explain what I mean if I can have a bit of your time.  Read More »

The global warming debate is really getting on my nerves. We were taught in elementary school about the greenhouse effect and the whole in the ozone layer and the need for recycling and a bunch of other stuff that I don't even remember. But we didn't listen. We didn't recycle, we continued to drive our gas-guzzling cars, we didn't do anything to slow global warming. And now the weather is continually gettign warmer, the sea level is up, natural disasters are occurring at alarming rates, and instead of doing anything about it, we're just sitting around debating on whether global warming exists or not.

The program is more than the typical five day, production centered competition. It is a preparatory course in self development designed to equip the young women with a defined sense of self and purpose that leads to a more disciplined and courageous life.

The contestants are educated in both technical and practical life enhancing skills through the use of written materials, participation in enrichment sessions, and hours of hands-on training.

The excitement began July 7th - 23rd, 2006 in the Queen City Charlotte, North Carolina.  Read More »

Democracy is best defined as government of the people, by the people. In the West, especially after ideological conflicts such as the Cold War, we can tend to assume that democracy is the only valid form of government. However, this assumption must be justified. The classical example of a democracy is that of Ancient Athens, where the whole populace would meet in the marketplace to vote on decisions. It can be argued form this position that modern ‘democracies’ are not in fact democratic.  Read More »

Many groups advocate reparations being made by developed countries. This is commonly viewed in two separate but related contexts. The first is a general argument about former colonial masters (e.g. Britain, France, Belgium, Italy) making reparation payments to their ex-colonies (e.g. Ghana, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Cameroon, Congo, Somalia). This is part of a wider discourse about how to facilitate development in the developing world. The second context is a more specific argument, about reparations for U.S. slavery. This tends to be argued in the context of U.S. race relations, where it is suggested by some black leaders that the U.S. government should make payment to blacks for the historical wrongs of slavery. This topic will focus on the first set of issues, but many of the arguments have relevance to the US experience as well.  Read More »