Is There Hope Not Just for Haiti, But the World?

As I sit here watching the Hope For Haiti telethon, I'm hit with the same emotions I was when I first heard about the earthquake. I was at work when I received a text alert about the earthquake from CNN, and for the rest of the day and night I was glued to my computer and CNN.com, checking back for the latest updates, watching videos and looking at pictures of the devastation.

But ever since–and I don't consider myself particularly political, but I am a thinker and a "wonderer"–there's a thought that keeps creeping into my mind. I see all of these celebrities, read about all of these big donations, hear about my friends and even myself donating money to help...and I can't help but wonder, where is all of this generosity, these funds, this compassion, during any other time? Does it take a devastating natural disaster to open our eyes to people in need? What about the millions of people in the world who are dehydrated, starving, homeless, and orphaned every day?

Love, Marriage and...Cancelled Subscriptions?

With the creation of sites like Blogspot and Tumblr, any and everybody can create a blog and call themselves a blogger. As someone who used to blog daily on other sites, instead of wanting a "blogger" label, I created this particular blog as a way to display some of my writing from time to time, and chose to write when I felt like something truly struck me.

And something has. My jaw literally dropped when reading about the latest controversy surrounding Essence Magazine's February cover featuring New Orleans Saints player Reggie Bush. The issue, which was celebrating black love and black men, displayed an eye-candy photo of Bush with an open shirt, with a coverline reading "Live Your Fantasy." Bush is a black man, who happens to be in a relationship with an Armenian woman, the notorious Kim Kardashian (of infamous sex-tape, reality TV and celebrity socialite fame).

So why is my jaw dropping, you ask? It wasn't, until I read the comments on the website from hundreds of Essence readers who are outraged at the fact that this magazine, aimed toward a black, female audience, featured a black man who isn't in a relationship with a black woman, on the cover of an issue about black love. So outraged, in fact, that they are canceling their subscriptions–some who have even been subscribers for years.

Um, what?