Monday Moments - American Fiction movie

 What better way to celebrate President's Day than with a movie satire. American Fiction is fire! 

Thelonious "Monk" Ellison (the brilliant Jeffrey Wright)  is an African American upper class writer and professor. His novels are praised by not widely sold. Newcomer Sintara Golden (Issa Rae) panders to black stereotypes with We's Live in Da Ghetto and that irks Monk to no end. 

The man has money troubles and he writes a ridiculous cliche book - deadbeat dads, gang violence, drugs and he calls it Fuck  (sorry by me for using the word) - just asking for trouble.  It goes on (spoiler alert) to win awards.  

There are SO many conflicting issues going on in this movie and it's well done. I'm not explaining it well, but trust me this is worth watching.  I laughed out loud, cringed, and well...so much of the situations for black writers, educators, performers are darn too true. This movie makes you think, laugh, and appreciate the acting. 

Wellness and Vision for 2020

 Last Saturday, I had a day with Oprah (and 17,000 others - mostly women).  It was better than I even expected - very motivational, very uplifting, very positive. You get the idea - very, very. So much is common sense, and yet from the mouth of Oprah, it sounds like true message.

 Well, I did not get to hug the real deal, but here Oprah and I bonded in the arena.  I bought the ticket back in November and was extremely psyched. The woman commands a room. She'd speak for an hour, have us to some workbook exercises, then tell some stories about her life. All very conversational, like she was just talking to me, and with me.

 Special guests included Julianne Hough who got us on our feet to dance in our space. Just move and be uplifted. Who cares what you look like? Have fun.  She's a teensy sprite and really pretty.

 My goal for 2020 is to try new stuff, exercise more, try to be more positive, and just exert a tad more potential. Eat better too. I do sleep fine - scored well on that category.  Another guest Oprah had was Tracee Ellis Ross (actress currently on blackish tv show). She's also the daughter of Diana Ross. So that was interesting. She talked about her mom, talked about career,  talked about life choices, fears, etc. Funny and personable - Ms.Ross definitely held her own with Oprah.

Yep - fabulous here.  I came away from the day very upbeat. The crowd was predominately women - all ages, all sizes, all colors. It truly was a mix of black, white, latino, asian. Very representational of America. People stayed in their seats, were quiet when they needed to be, kept phones off during serious portions of the day. It was refreshing and showed the power of Oprah. She put on an impressive DAY and gave us a 2020 Vision of possibility, wellness, and focus.


(No, we did not each get a car)