What I Don't Like About You...Texas

So, basically in the four months that I have been in Texas, I have not felt the need to complain about anything...until this week. I don't know, maybe it is because I am homes sick and am counting the days until I can go back to Cali (16 days to be exact) or maybe it is because it is no longer new to me and I am seeing it for what it is...eh.. who knows. Anyway, here come the complaints.

#1: Why do I feel like everywhere I go, and almost every person(black) person I talk to do I feel like I am being judged because I don't go to church? This was not a big deal in California, at all. If you went to church you went, and if you didn't, you didn't. End of story. But here I feel like people chastise you and seriously judge you if you don't go to church. Just because I don't go to church does not mean that I am an atheist or even agnostic (not that there is anythign wrong with that either)...the only thing it means is that I don't go to church. One of my friends was like really adamant about it too, he was like, "I just really want you to come to church with me"...like it hurt him that I don't go... I just don't understand. I'm a bedside baptist...it is the way that I deal with things...please do not judge me. Everyone shows their faith differently. Understand and accept that, how bout it?

#2: Why can I not get decent chinese food here? I mean it is Mexicanized or something, I can't even explain it really. I suppose growing up in the Bay Area has spoiled me but come ON! And I thought Maryland chinese food was lacking...OH WAIT, there's more. Why can I not get a decent Italian food meal here either? I mean, there is a problem when you have to go to Red Lobster or Dave and Busters to get a decent pasta dish. AND WAIT, there is even more. Why did I go to Dairy Queen a couple of weeks ago and I couldnt even finish it because the smell of grease made me sick to my stomach. Please also tell me why my house smelled like grease for 3 days... no BS.That being said... they can tear up some queso down here though. Case in point... food here (sans Mexican food) is seriously lacking.

Road To Health and the ENT Doc.

So I am listening to 98.1 this morning and Tavis Smiley was on there promoting his, "Road to Health" tour sponsered by Kaiser Permanente. So he was calling off all of these random facts about health in the black and brown communities and it was extra disturbing to me. And it really wasn't anything new, it was just the fact that I guess I was listening to it on the moring commute not expecting to hear it. Except he lost me when he said that the black community has produced historically the best athletes yet they are the most unhealthy people... there is no correlation. Just because A does not mean B. Come on now Tavis. But seriously, it is so sad that black people are so unhealthy. And a lot of it is all about eating. Actually, I think all of it is all about eating. In the old days, black slaves had to eat things that were NOT supposed to be eaten because it was the only thing they were given. They were not given the more "healthy" parts of animals... naw naw... they were given the parts that white people refused to eat (uh lets see... chitlins, pig ears, feet, hamhocksm, gibblets all come to mind and more). That junk is not good for you... I don't care "how good it is"... it is not supposed to be consumed by humans. Blacks in the past ate this because they had to survive... but blacks now eat it because of tradition and it is making them unhealthy. It's all about this culture of good soul food... but man, you are becoming so unhealthy because of it.

It makes me think of the movie, "Soul Food". I had never thought about that movie until I watched a "Boondocks" episode where Riley goes to say how the movie was about a black family who ate alot of bad food. Then "big mama" got sick and died of all the things that black people usually die of and then the family kept the tradition alive by gathering every Sunday and eating the same food that probably contributed to big mama's demise.

I can't help but think that things that help instill a culture in black people are also killing us... hmmm. Think about it.....