Respect and Cupcakes

I am in the middle of reading two books at the moment,my progress has slowed a bit because as you know midterms are upon us :( so No Disrespect is by Sister Souljah and A Piece of Cake is by Cupcake Brown. Yes,her name IS Cupcake and she considers that her "good girl" name her bad girl name for when she does bad things is LaVette. Both books are memoirs and they are exceedingly interesting, again if you want that urban flair with some risque-ness. So Cupcake's story is heartbreaking,especially to me because it could have been avoided if the child services system wasn't so uncaring about the welfare of children, Cupcake and her brother Larry are placed with the literal foster mother from hell after being torn apart from their Dad (who supposedly wasn't their biological Dad) because he wasn't biological they were entrusted to their true father, who was only after the life insurance money from their Mother. The biological father dumps the kids off to a foster home after he finds out that the kids won't get the money until they are 18 and 21, plus their Uncle is in charge of the trust so he has all the power. At the foster home Cupcake and her brother Larry are abused and beaten if they don't clean the whole house everyday. The Mother is really a neat freak and since she has such a big house and keeps it SO clean social services sees her as their best foster parent. The Foster Mother, Diane, actually had to move to a different state after her foster license was revoked for killing a child. So, she switched states and names leaving her former life behind. The system couldn't even find this out because computers weren't around then. The only people who knew that Diane was guilty of killing a foster child are the new foster children whom she threatens with this information every time they fail to clean everything perfectly. Diane allows her nephew to sexually abuse Cupcake whenever he can because she wants him to stay out of trouble before he enters the military. Cupcake runs away for the first time when she is eleven,right into the path of a young prostitute who shows Cupcake how to make money introducing her to the street life. Cupcake only goes with a man once, then decides she doesn't want to give all her money to the pimp she becomes associated with, she runs away. Sitting on a tree stump Cupcake get returned back to her foster home by the police, who blinded by the nice,big ,clean house is fooled into believing nothing is wrong with the situation. Cupcake gets beaten horribly for bringing the cops to the foster home by Diane.

All throughout the book Cupcake runs away and is returned to Diane's house about six to seven times even after people in authority have seen the massive bruises that are the results of the whip Diane uses for discipline. Diane even gets her daughter and some of the other foster girls to attack her while she is pregnant causing her to miscarry. Cupcake finally leaves for good and is introduced to drugs and exchanging rides to different places for sex...until she is reunited with her Uncle. Unfortunately her Dad is in on the same things that she did before coming back home, they sell drugs together and sink into a lifestyle that could have killed them both. At one point Cupcake is even in a sect of the Crips ,until she is forced to go back to Diane's by the legal system.

In No Disrespect Sister Souljah provides a look back on her life,growing up on welfare and hatred for the situation,poverty. Her mother was a strong woman and taught her not to let men run your life, as well as not to poison yourself with drugs and alcohol. As she grew up her mother became softer,she stopped teaching her kids how to be strong. So she became the only child who knew right from wrong. She was very interested in the Black situation in American, even went to Rutger University to study Black Affairs and American History.

The Stories in the book are about how she dated a few men in college who exemplified everything wrong with Black men in America today. They are depressed by self loathing and being shared among black women because most of them are in jail. She creates programs for kids in the ghetto who live in welfare hotels to get them out and save their lives. The programs she creates are to save the kids who otherwise would end up in jail or dead because of where they grew up and learned how to survive.

I just finished this book...

I just finished reading Hot Girl by Dream Jordan and it was crazy!! First of all to be named Dream must be the coolest thing ever, then to have graduated Magna Cum Laude from New York University :O this girl definitely worked her butt off. The book was so good, it's filled with real life slang and New York city flavor, I can tell that Dream knew what story she was going to tell and exactly how to tell it with style and flair. The book is definitely real life as the main character "Kate" is a foster child dealing with moving from house to house because of issues with herself and the families. Kate is a ward of the state because her parents gave up their parental rights when she was a year old, Brooklyn toughened her up so when she finally lands in a place she can deal with she tries to stay on track;getting all As
Now, over the long weekend I'm going to read A Piece of Cake by Cupcake Brown...yes that's really her name and I LOVE IT. I can't wait to read this book because it's about another inspirational Black woman who has overcome the odds by getting an education to get out of the adversity. Sister Soulja is next on the list, right now I'm really into that theme; Black women struggling and coming out of their setting triumphant.
I plan to finish the Sister Soulja series just as I read all or Mary Monroe's novels. But back to Hot Girl the main character; Kate, is a ward of he state.Which basicallt means she doesn't have parents because they gave up their parental rights, she goes from foster home to foster home and has found a place where she can survive. All her luch changes after she starts hanging out with the glamorous 'Gucci Girl' Naleejah. Naleejah tries to introduce Kate to a world where money is easy to get from men,for a price. Kate's morals won't let this new girl drag her down that road completely but she does let her change her tomboy image into a cuter one that attracts her love interest's eye. What Kate doesn't know about her crush is that since they have known each other so long and have been through many of the same things,being placed in foster care, and dealing with rough home lives, he also carries a torch for her.To make a long story short Kate's best friend comes home from her trip to South Africa so she isn't forced to hang out with Naleejah anymore. By that time the two girl's relationship become very stale. Kate vows to keep friendship feeling like it does with her bestie Felicia instead of how it had with Naleejah, with Felicia they can be intellectual and have comfortable conversations but with Naleejah Kate had to constantly hold back what she really wanted to say, because she wouldn't want to hang with her anymore. Kate also knew that what Naleejah did to get money wasn't right, but she couldn't say anything because of all she had done for her: gave her cute clothes,fashion tips, boy advice and pretty hairstyles. Kate felt she owed Naleejah too much but still she couldn't stand the way she was. I thought the book was a fun read and i'd definitely recommends it to a friend...actually I have already :)

Apparently this was a summer Kate wouldn't forget, she got some moral readjustments that strengthened mind and her hope to stay with her foster family for good. By the end even her foster mother is talking about the future, its obvious she and her husband are interested in keeping Kate for good because even though she got caught up with the wrong girl once she still has a bright head on her shoulders and a good moral character even though she was raised by the system. It's known that 'the system' is not the best parent, but Kate is learning how to handle her own, with the help of her social worker Tisha who she gets understands and loves because she isn't scared of her initial tough demeanor and was a street kid back in the day too. Tisha grounds Kate and tells her that if she can't find a way to get along with this foster family there isn't much more hope because not many families are willing to take a 15 year old they know is at risk.

Hot Girl by Dream Jordan is definitely a good read for someone who likes realistic fiction with urban flair.

We'll start here...

HEY everybody this blog is anything that's interesting so it will be pretty varied between books and movies, the views are mine and the opinions are too :) I will find some good books to review as well as movies also. First I will share a little about myself though, I turned 18 on December 14th and am a proud Sagittarius,
my favorite color is Purple, I find myself liking yellow a lot too because it goes with purple so there are my favorite colors. I like different colors in general though, especially in jewel tones of purple,blue,green,red etc. I am very artsy.

I don't watch tv much anymore although I used to. Nowadays I tend my farm :p, update my status,read and call it a day...School also takes up the day. BUT, When I do watch tv it will be for The Office, Law and Order (SVU), CSI Las Vegas and sometimes Heroes I wish I had more time to watch these shows because I really do adore them especially The Office but I have other things to do...plant corn and blueberries mainly :) I like playing Superstacker 2
as well as Happy Aquarium on Facebook. I feel these games aren't wastes of time because your little fish and all the crops you have planted depend on you :)

I have tried to break my addiction to Farmville...it was VERY successful, but after like 2 or 3 months when the urge to be on it at least 4 to 6 hours a day decreased I started playing it again. It was really hard to switch from being on all day ( as I was over the summer) to actually having to go to school and write essays, as well as homework. Not to mention my MOM had become savvy to the fact that I was the owner of an online plantation, lets just say she got a bit concerned at that point. But i Still play from time to time because I find both games very influential on my life.

I plan on going to RIT next year for Biomedical Photographic Communications. I've researched the program a lot and it's the only one of it's kinds...truly unique. I wanted a major that would let me be artistic and of value in some kind of workplace according to my research I will end up working in the medical field as either a forensic photographer or a Ophthalmologist
either way I know that RIT will prepare me for life and set me up to be successful as I am very dedicated to working on things that interest me...and frankly eyes interest me.


"To live is so startling it leaves little time for anything else." -Emily Dickinson