What'choo Looking At?

Aren't those glasses fabulous? I'm loving the big, bug-eye glasses everyone's adorning this season. I call 'em Jackie Os, who, to my knowledge, brought this look to fashion divas everywhere in the 60s and 70s, and now new divas like Miss Nicole are giving them a y2k5 twist... I don't know what you call them... but I digress...

Good Monday Morning Everyone!!!

Do you settle for more? Or settle for less? It's something I was thinking a lot about over the weekend. Birthdays tend to get you thinking about the state of your life, if you're doing all you want to be doing, etc... I'm in a pretty good state and place (well, I could get rid of clutter and learn a few decorating tips... just putting it out there to the universe...) And then, voila! I get a great note in my e-mail box.

I subscribe to Cheryl Richardson's weekly e-mail... one of those "Life Makeover" kind of e-mails that she specializes in. Today's entry -- Raise Your Standards: Settle For More -- really resonated with me. Take a look.

Fratman1906 wrote up a cool review of Down For Whatever on his site. Check out his blog here.

Did you know about the 2005 Black Weblog Awards? Well, if you don't, now you do...

Keith Boykin always has something interesting to write about, but today's column on Rene Miranda is especially worth reading and responding to... if you can.

My friend Liza Palmer's book, Conversations With The Fat Girl, will be out soon. So will my friend Cherlyn Michael's book, Counting Raindrops Through A Stained Glass Window. Did I tell you how important it is to buy books at bookstores? It matters to authors. So as tempting as it is to share books among friends... ya know...? :-)

And for those of you still shop at Abercrombie (you know, the store with all the white... and ONLY white... people working the main floor)... well, the store settled a lawsuit with black, Latino, and Asian civil rights groups for discrimination. Check out this news...

It's important to be a smarter shopper. Just because it looks good, doesn't mean it's good for all people. And just because it's cheap, doesn't mean the workers aren't suffering... (i.e. no benefits, long hours, no unions, no cause to re-dress management...) The Garment Worker Center has great resources to help you become a smarter clothing consumer. And an article I wrote for LOUDmouth Magazine this summer titled, Clothing With A Conscience. It's on page three of the magazine.

Have a nice Monday... I'll be back later with a wrap up of the latest in my writing life.
fs