Things About MagnoliaDiva

I got the idea to do this from NerdGirl and Facebook.

1. I am a news nerd (I read 3 or more newspapers a day and scan others online). I also can watch the news for hours on television.

2. I secretly want to be a professional photographer (photojournalist and sports photography) or a investigative journalist/reporter.

3. I have three pet peeves: lying (UGH), staring (if you look that hard, SPEAK for crying out loud) and popping gum (just plain rude….NO ONE wants to hear what is going on in  your mouth…..No, we don’t…..really!).

4. I grew up in a two-parent home with a much older brother (8.5 years older) and sister (12 years older) and we ate dinner as a family every day, with whoever was home (seeing that my siblings are much older, some of them were off in school as I got older). So um, yeah…no one can tell me that I was planned……….WHATEVER!I KNOW I wasn’t! LOL….

5. I literally grew up on a college campus (Jackson State University) because my parents worked there and NEVER had a summer where I wasn’t in a summer program, working or taking part in practices for extra curricular activities (in other words, my parents never let me have in idle summer….BOOOOOOOOO!). Of course now, I appreciate EVERY MINUTE of those summer programs and “village” raising!

6. I play the piano (mainly classical) and organ (no, they are not the same play) and took weekly lessons from the age of 4 until I was 17. I cannot play by ear, but I sightread very well.

7. I am one of a few (very few) Delta’s in my family (others mainly via marriage). My Mom, sister, and a host of aunts and cousins are all AKAs.

8. Earth, Wind & Fire and Mint Condition are my all-time favorite bands. I love GOOD music.

9. I am an 80s rap head (minus the west-coast gansta rap). I love Run DMC, M C Lyte, etc.

10. I was born in the mid-west (Hoosier baby), raised in the deep south (Mississippi) and now reside in the mid-atlantic area of the US.

11. I am really an introvert……no, really…..I am….

12. I have been secretly called “The RainWoman” because I tend to know little facts about useless stuff (blame that on the newspaper reading)….LOL.

13. I am a STAUNCH manners and etiquette person…..those who know me best can attest to this! LOL..

14. I think that there is so much to be learned from people from other cultures, countries, and backgrounds. Diversity isnt’ just a buzzword for me…..

15. I suffer from ulcerative colitis (a form of Inflammatory Bowel Disease) and there is no cure. It is an auto-immune disease that attacks your colon and immune system. There are no REAL know causes and no current cure. Google it to find out more….

16. I am a Christian and try to live my life, daily, as I should from His teachings, but some of ya’ll make it REAL HARD ……………LOL!!!

17. I am a die-hard sports fan…….I subscribe to NFL Sunday Ticket and will apply a hurting on someone if they change the station when I am watching my teams play (no joke)…

18. I fell in love with volleyball, by accident, in junior high. We were in study hall with a mean teacher and an announcement came over the intercom for any women interested in playing volleyball to report to the gym. ALL OF US left out of the room (LOL). I ended up playing, for real, LOVED IT and played for 2 years! I still like playing beach volleyball, when I get a change (SPIKE!).

19. I am very interested in Web 2.0 and its tools and how they impact our daily lives….(there it is…..the nerd coming back out).

20. I am an engineer, by educational training (BS and MSEE), and am a techy to the core! Yes, I am an engineer, but NO, I WILL NOT FIX YOUR COMPUTER!! Call a technician! LOL….. Yes, I went to school and earned an engineering degree, but they don’t teach us how to FIX those things…..they teach us how to DESIGN THEM!! There is a difference, people!

21. I HATED, HATED, HATED being tall growing up (I was 5’6″ in the 6th grade)! I grew to 5’10” by the 10th grade. As I got older, I learned to LOVE it.  Now, I wish I was about 2″ taller…….no kidding. I LOVE being tall.

22. I love being challenged! I guess my parents and I had that love/hate thing going on when I growing up (LOL)!

23. I love my siblings more than they know…..we fight like cats and dogs and then play like puppies and kittens when it’s all over! LOL!

24.  I am afraid of heights. BUT, I have to have the window seat on airplanes. I can’t walk along the glass  half-walls at malls on the upper floors (where you can look down). I get light-headed.

25. I am DEATHLY afraid of guns……..can’t stand to be near them and

shake if I get close to one. I just need to go to a shooting range and get this all over with (the fear, that is…).

26. I love lemons in my tea and LOVE homemade lemonade, but don’t like lemons pastries and desserts and other lemon stuff (lemon pound cake, lemon tarts, pie, etc.).

27. I used to want to be a medical researcher (cardiologist doing research on non-invasive methods for heart surgery). That was until I took the MCAT……I stayed in engineering! LOL….

28. I used to sneak and eat the kids’ Tylenol that had the orange flavor. I thought it tasted good when Iwas a kid and would pull the tall chair in the kitchen up to the fridge and get in the cabinet and pop them like candy. Thank you for God’s grace and mercy because I should be DEAD after that…..

29. I wish people would stop relying on things of the past as an excuse to not do NOW.

30. I never realized how blessed I was being raised in Jackson and having a “village” raise me and look out for me when my blood relatives weren’t around.

31. Both of my parents hold PhDs. They actually had me when they were in their PhD programs (see #4). My Mom told my sister that she was preganant and my sister promptly told her, “That is impossible! We can’t AFFORD another child in this house!” because they were living on graduate stipends with 2 kids! LOL….. My sister, I tell ya….she’s a funny woman (back to this one in a sec……).

32. I thought my brother and sister hated me growing up because they never wanted me around them, in their rooms, etc. It wasn’t until I got to college they they “liked  me” (in my eyes)….

33. I was  an 80s music Night Tracks JUNKIE in junior high and high school! We had cable but the parentals REFUSED to pay for a cable box, so our cable went 2-13 (until cable-ready TVs came out). So, WTBS (now TNT) it was on Friday nights! Duran Duran, Brian Adams, White Lion, etc……..yeah, I was an 80s pop girl!

34. I love Faith Hill and her music. Yeah, I said it! We are Mississippi Girls!

35. I am a crier………..I am very emotional….

36. My favorite numbers are 9, 16 and 34.

37. I’m very observant…I don’t miss much. I may not say anything about what I see or have seen, but I am VERY observant.

38. I used to be a TERRIBLE pack rat. Kept notes from undergrad and grad school…..just threw them away last year.

39. I hate designer advertising. Like BeBe on t-shirts, the big ‘C’s on Coach bags, etc. I like A LOT of their stuff, but I refuse to be a walking advertisement. I purchase items because I like them and they are usually of good quality and will last, but that whole walking advertisement stuff………not me, kid…..

40. I hate pretentiousness. Who cares about where you live, how much money you make and where you work and what kind of car you drive?! No, really?! When we die, God isn’t going to ask those questions.

Alive and Kicking

If you are one of those people that exist in this world and thing racism isn’t alive. Think, again. Yes, matters may be perceived to be better, but on the inside, racism is still alive and kicking.

Here it is 2008 and this kind of crap is STILL going on. Only this time, instead of the crosses being physically burned in our front yards, they are being burned at our schools (mentally), at work, and at the most segregated hour of the week, Sunday morning.

Great Sounds Heard Last Night

Last night, I heard one of the best sounds ever……………… No, I wasn’t playing Earth, Wind and Fire or Lalah Hathaway. Instead, I heard NFL FOOTBALL on my TV!!! Who cares if it was the Hall Of Fame game! It was NFL FOOTBALL!!

August through early February is my favorite time of year. Hubby’s birthday, my birthday, HBCU homecomings, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s and…………FOOTBALL!! AH!!

As a kid who grew up in the deep south (where Football is a second religion), I can remember MANY a Saturday, going to Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium attending Jackson State football games. I remember the large crowds cheering their team on, the bands battling til midnight (that’s now affectionately known as 5th Quarter) and the tailgating. I LOVE SOME FOOTBALL!!

Just thought that I’d share this with ya’ll because this is MY time of the year! Cooler weather is just around the corner, the leaves will be changing colors, and football will be on EVERY WEEKEND!! WHOO HOO!!!
Oh, sidenote: PLEASE tell me what possessed Steve Smith to punch Ken Lucas and break his nose? I am a HUGE Panthers fan, but this is crazy! I mean, Steve, what did he do? Say something about your Mom? Seriously, dude………

I LOVE my alma mater!! TUSKEGEE UNIVERSITY!

Dog gone it! We have done it, yet, AGAIN!

Now, let me give you a little history here, in the five years that was there (back up, now…….engineering was a five year program when I was there..all 144 hours of which NO pre-calculus math courses counted!), our football was off and on (more off). Mind you, we are the hold the title of winning more games than ANY other HBCU(not percentage, number of games……the late Eddie Robinson holds the title of percentatge of wins). This was all before MY CLASS arrived on campus, okay?!

Of course, AFTER we all graduate, Tuskegee decides to start having a WINNING football program, again <>.

This year is no different, we are UNDEFEATED and licking our chops at Alabama State to destroy, yet, another homecoming for them. See, the Turkey Day Classic is the longest running HBCU football classic. No, not the Bayou Classic or any of those other games, but the Turkey Day Classic (which is also ASU’s homecoming). It all began in 1924 when Alabama State College and Tuskegee Institute met in the Turkey Day Classic in Montgomery, Alabama. From that, all other “classics” grew (respect your history!).

Oh, if you’d like to view the personal butt-whooping that will handed to the ASU Hornets, see here:
THE ADDRESS FOR THE WEBCAST OF THE TURKEY DAY FOOTBALL CLASSIC – Tuskegee (10-0) vs. Alabama State (5-5): http://www.wsfa.com. THIS IS CHANNEL 12(TV) OUT OF MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA. The game is slated to kickoff at 1:00 p.m. CT.

Now, to the accolades at hand:

SIAC ANNOUNCES 2007 FOOTBALL ALL CONFERENCE TEAM, ALL ACADEMIC TEAM & SUPERALTIVE AWARDS

….

yadda yadda yadda (go to the link and read it in full)

….

2007 ALL ACADEMIC FOOTBALL TEAM [bow]

QB Eric Palmer Tuskegee JR 3.90 Mechanical Engineering <—— can you say, "You’d betta go, boy?!"
DL Casper Kamau Kentucky State JR 3.86 Political Science
RB Jonathan Cunningham Benedict SO 3.83 Recreation
S Gavin Campbell Kentucky State SR 3.75 English/Political Science
DB Terrance McGhee Albany State SO 3.67 Biology
DB Linden Johnson Albany State JR 3.66 Engineering
WR Debreon Williams Stillman RFR 3.64 Mathematics
RB Wade Edwards Benedict RFR 3.57 Business Administration
QB Nathanial Samas Fort Valley State SO 3.56 Mathematics
WR Jeremy Cody Miles College SO 3.50 Education
DB Mario Fuller Albany State SO 3.50 Accounting

Now, I didn’t play a LICK of sports in college and I didn’t graduate with a GPA anywhere NEAR that! YOU GO, ERIC PALMER!!!

So, before (or during) your turkey chomping, tune your computers into the website above and watch some good football! Nothing like turkey and football…. Gobble gobble!

Tuskegee’s 2007 Football Schedule

ANYONE who knows me, knows that I am a SPORTS JUNKIE!!! WHOO HOO! My alma mater’s schedule is FINALLY out (we’ll talk about that issue, later) and I am not THAT thrilled with the schedule.
I WILL be in Birmingham, Labor Day weekend, God willing and the creek don’t rise….that is the same day that Southern and FAMU play and TUSKEGEE plays Miles that evening! GREAT football at the same stadium the same day! WHOO HOO!!!!

Sept. 2 Miles College + (ESPNU TV) Birmingham, AL 6:00
Sept. 15 Benedict College+ Columbia, SC 6:00 ET
Sept. 22 Fort Valley State University + Tuskegee 1:00
Sept. 29 Concordia College-Selma Tuskegee 1:00
Oct. 6 Morehouse College+ (72nd Tuskegee-Morehouse Classic) Columbus, GA 2:00 ET
Oct. 13 Stillman College + Tuskegee 1:00
Oct. 20 Albany State University + Albany, GA 7:00 ET
Oct. 27 Kentucky State University Frankfort, KY 1:30 ET
Nov. 3 Clark Atlanta University (Homecoming) + Tuskegee 1:00
Nov. 22 Alabama State University (84th Turkey Day Football Classic) Montgomery, AL 1:00

I HEART basketball and football!

I’ve loved basketball since I was the 7th grade when Mississippi Valley State and Duke played in the NCAA tournament (that was 1983)!. I watched that game with my Mom and Dad (um, yeah……my Mom is a sports junkie, too……..don’t let the smooth act fool you!). So, today, I am doing okay. This is the first time I’ve been HOME for more than 8 hours to just sleep in a while. I’ve been in my jammies all day, doing some cleaning up, etc……

BUT, back to the game………did I hear Georgetown’s pep band playing Young Joc’s It’s going down? Lemme find out…..

I am pulling for Georgetown to take it all. I have been an Indiana, Georgetown, UNC fan for YEARS (yeah, I said Indiana! BITE ME)! I have the Indiana love, honestly…..it’s where I was born (down to the town). I even have an infant-sized white, IU sweatshirt with my name ironed on the back in VELVET letters (tell me that ain’t OLD SCHOOL)! I doubt I wore that long as an infant, seeing that I was the size of a three-month old when I was BORN! So, Georgetown and UNC were due to my “initiation” basketball years in the mid 80s. I even lived in North Carolina for 6 years. Graduated from a tobacco row school (not UNC) for one of my graduate degrees. Lived in the HEART of a tobacco row for 6 years. It was lovely!

Where I am originally, from, though, FOOTBALL RULES! Aw, yeah! The SWAC and SEC RUN the deep south in football. There is NOTHING LIKE it. NO other conferences can compare to the tailgating, the DEEP-rooted rivalries, the halftime shows, and the SMACK-talking for months before the season starts (like, it starts NOW).
So, today is a good sports day! GO, HOYAS!!!