2019 Year in Review (pictures)

2019 Year in Review (pictures)

January

2019 started with a bang as I was FINALLY able to scratch attending a Roots concert off my list. Sherice & I brought in the new year checking out one of my all time favorite hip hop groups...The Roots. They tore up The Roxy for 3 hours. I thoroughly enjoyed their show. 

The kids (Skyler, Brandon, Kameron, & Deion)

February

We went to see Deion as he became a member of the Kappa Kappa Psi band fraternity

Deion & my cousin, Eric

Kameron, Arin, Deion, Brandon, & Skyler

March

Sherice & I hit a nice black tie event

Sherice turned a year "older" lol

April

Skyler kicked it at the Space Museum 

May

My former best friend (now Sherice's best friend...lmao) Jimmell turned 45 and we hit her party. It was a very nice affair. 

June

My niece, Taylor, graduated from high school and headed off to college in the fall. She is my brother's oldest child and only daughter. As you can see, he was extremely proud. 

Johnya, Taylor, Tyler, Brayden, and Damon

Almost the whole family was there

the next generation of our family

Deion missed the graduation because he was in Africa

this might be my favorite picture of 2019

Sherice & I hit the Freaknik concert celebration in Atlanta. While it's impossible to bring Freaknik back, the concert provided folks an opportunity to rock with some of the acts from that era. It was a dope show. 

July

Brandon worked on his summer project that involved gardening

Deion got back from Africa and went on a cruise to Mexico

August

Kameron turned 17

Deion turned 20

The kids went back to school

My uncle, Harry Carson, was back at the Pro Football Hall of Fame as the Black College Hall of Fame has been moved to Canton, Ohio. While he was there, he ran into his old coach, Bill Belicheck and Tom Brady. He also kicked it with Dwayne Wade

And Deion's band played in the Hall of Fame kickoff game so he got to spend some time with him

Little Brother dropped the Album of the Year. If you know me, you know how much this album meant. I'd be lying if I said I thought I'd ever see another Little Brother album. Most fans would have said the same. This album is phenomenal 

September

These crazy kids celebrated 19 years of marriage 

Skyler turned 8

We ran from Skyler's party to watch Kameron host the pageant at his school 

I was glad that my mom made it for both events

October

We hit Deion's homecoming and it was 96 degrees!!!!

It's always great seeing him peform

Sherice & I went to DC to my our friends Russell & Lisa (aka LRenee). Lisa's sister, Mikaela, got married. It was a beautiful wedding and we had a great time spending time with Russell & Lisa. They are our family

Sherice, Lisa, Mikela, & Allison

November

One more thing I could scratch off the bucket list...I hit the Little Brother concert. It was incredible

We hung out with my homegirl, Joyce (right), who came in town from NYC to celebrate Claudia's (left) birthday. We had a good time

Much to my surprise, my beloved South Carolina State University Bulldogs were co-champions of the MEAC conference in football. We were predicted to finished 6th in the conference but we had a great season. Congrats to Coach Pough on becoming the all time winning coach in our school's history!

December

I turned 47 (even at this age...I still mess around on the piano)

Brandon turned 13

Brandon with his godmother, Ambree

2019 was a blur to be honest. It seemed like it came and went pretty quickly. 

Also, I finally met my homegirl from these blogs...Tiffany (aka Proactiff). She lives here in Atlanta and we FINALLY met this spring. We met at a dinner for another blogger friend, Adrienne. She was in town from Alabama. It was good seeing them along with Samantha and Kimberly who were there as well.

In the spring, I finally met Ieisha & LMarie who were both in town from Detroit. We did so much talking that I failed to get a picture with any of these ladies.

It's amazing how many people that I've met (or haven't met) because of this blog. 

And my homie, Juan, came down from NYC this summer and we went out for drinks. No pictures of us. LOL.

In 2019, there were some lows... my cousin Tyshawn was senselessly murdered in Newark, NJ at the age of 25, a lost a good former teammate Big Ty Davis who passed away, and a fellow SC State classmate Tafarji Allen

Ultimately, 2019 was filled with more highs than lows. No matter how things went, we all got to see 2019...and that is a blessing itself. 

May your 2020 be filled with good health, blessings, and prosperity

another me too...

For some reason…people tend to feel comfortable enough to talk to me about their issues. It’s something that I’ve noticed over my lifetime. I’m not sure why they do it. But they have. Normally, I don’t necessarily discourage people from opening up and talking to me. I think I’m in approachable person. But I have often found it weird that random people…and sometimes strangers… will open up a conversation with me. Sometimes in those conversations, they reveal things to me that they probably shouldn’t because they don’t know me that well. Maybe there is something in my demeanor or my attitude that allows people to let their guard down and be vulnerable and share their thoughts or feelings or experiences. For a long time it wasn’t something that I was cognizant of. But as I’ve gotten older, I realize that people tend to do this with me. I’m flattered most times. Other times it’s just weird.

This happened to me just the other day.

I was having a conversation at work with a coworker named Farrah. Somehow we got on the subject of college and she asked me where I went to college. I told her that I went to South Carolina State University. She told me where she went to school. She then asked how was my experience at school. I told her that I loved my time there and it was some of the best years of my life.

Farrah: "Did you party a lot when you were in college?"

Me: "Do I look like the type of guy who would party a lot?"

Farrah: "Yes, you do!"

Me: "I partied a lot. But I kept it in perspective. I understood what I was there to do. So I never let party and get in the way of what I was supposed to do. But I had a GOOD time."

Farrah: "Did you drink when you were in college? What about smoking?"

Me: "I’ve never smoked. Never will. It’s not something that ever appealed to me. I don’t knock anyone who does. But it just wasn’t my thing. As for drinking, I didn’t drink in college. Most of my friends did, so I was the designated driver when we went to parties."

Farrah: "Oh, so you never had to worry about getting drunk at a party?"

Me: "Nope! I just needed to make sure that none of my friends got too drunk and started fighting." (laughs)
Farrah: "I got drunk at a party once. And that was the last time for me."

Me: "Word? What happened? What were you drinking?"
At this point, I was expecting her to tell me some story about how she was hanging with her friends and got drunk and threw up on herself and how embarrassed she was. But the conversation took a different turn

Farrah: "I went to a party with my friend named Becky. We were having a good time. We started drinking something out of a punch bowl. I’m not even sure what it was. But it was good. But the liquor snuck up on me. I remember talking to this guy named Brett. Becky and I were laughing at Brett because he was drunk and we were drunk too. The party that we went to was far from our campus so we were going to need a ride home. Brett said he would take us home back to our dorm. By the time we left the party all three of us were pretty drunk but Brett said that he could get us home safely. And he did. By the time we got to our room I was out of it. I remember helping Becky open the door. And I remember Brett telling me that "You and Becky did great and did not throw up in my car." I remember laying down on the bed and falling asleep. That’s the last thing that I remember. When I woke up, Becky was still asleep. I was just about to crack a joke on her for still being asleep when I realized that I was naked. I don’t remember taking my clothes off. In fact...I didn’t take my clothes off! But there i was...NAKED!! From what I could tell, Becky still had on all of her clothes. But I was totally naked. To me that didn’t make any sense because I always slept in my pajamas. At that point, I began to wonder if something happened between me and Brett. My mind was racing. I rolled over, pick up the phone, and called Brett. He answered the phone. I tried to play it cool and thank him for getting us home.. He said no problem. I then asked him…

"Did something happen in my room last night? Because when I woke up I didn’t have any clothes on?"

He responded…

"You know what happened last night. And you looked like you had a good time in that room."

I responded...

"DID YOU…"

And before I could finish my statement he said…

"You KNOW you wanted it. You SAID you wanted it."

I couldn’t believe it. As much as I tried to think about it I could not remember everything that happened but I do know that something happened!

Later on that day, he tried to talk to me to smooth things over but I didn’t want to hear what he had to say.






At this point of our story, I’m dumbfounded. Speechless. This isn’t what I was expecting her to say. But I didn’t want to dismiss what she had to say. Because she needed to be heard there had to be a reason that she was telling me the story. She told me that she never pressed charges against him because it would be her word against his. She never said he raped me. But that’s what happened. I was really surprised at how she handled it and how she spoke about the situation. She had a certain aura about herself when speaking about this and she came off as someone who was very strong in spite of what had happened. She ended our conversation by saying "I’m just glad that you weren’t one of those kind of guys like Brett."

I replied...

"That's never been me."

She walked away from me and went in the opposite direction. As she walked away, I really didn’t know what to make of the conversation. There was a part of me that was stunned. And then there was another part of me that was familiar with that scenario. While I never participated in the idea or activity of getting a woman drunk to take it vantage of her, I knew that that happened when I was in college in the 90s. There was a great deal of toxic masculinity that permeated those times. And what happened? The women could either suffer silently or face public ridicule and disbelief while trying to prove that they were violated. Fast forward to 2019, not much has changed when it comes to these things...especially when you hear some men talk. Any time there is a sexual assault or rape allegation against someone, look around and take note for who is chirping the loudest. It's usually some man who let the toxic behavior slide in the 90s and now they uphold the BS. More often than not, THEY should be called out for perpetuating the toxic stuff.

And that leads me back to the conversation that I had. After she walked away, all I could think was...

"Damn, another me too..."

she might be the one...

The music was loud as it blasted from the tall, black speakers.


He stood next to them attentively scanning the dance floor...hoping to see "her".


He wasn't sure who she was but for the past 3 Saturday nights, she caught his eye.


Short hair, pretty smile, nice body, legs of track star...to him she was fly.


She moved across the dance floor with style, flair, and grace.


His eyes were focused on her heavenly body and stunning brown face


For three straight weeks, he never uttered a word to her. Only admiring her from afar


He watched as she moved around the club with the confidence of a movie star


She was often approached by different men. Some short. Some tall.


And one by one, they would walk away from her dejected and their spirit would fall


She was never mean or nasty. She would turn them all down with a smile


In his eyes, she was special. He had not seen this type in awhile.


As confident as he was, he wasn't going to approach her. Why do that and possibly get dissed?


But he was extremely drawn to her eyes, her smile, and her lips...and could imagine possibly getting a kiss


The DJ played a song. The crowd yelled. And she threw her hands to the sky.


She started moving toward the dance floor. Head nodding. She walked past a bunch of guys.


Then she started walking towards him. She got closer. Much to his disbelief, she grabbed his hand.


She gently guided him through a crowd of people. It was on the dance floor where they would land.


He thought..."Is this a dream?" This can't be real. Or was this just a part of her game.


She started dancing with him. She smiled. She leaned closer to him. And she said "what's your name?"








He froze.

ride for me

What if it were me? What if you heard that I was unarmed and I died at the hands of a policeman. How would you feel? More importantly, how would you react? I would hope that you would want to bring those who took my life to justice! Would you be mad...sad...angry...hurt...or all of the above? What would you say to my family? How would you honor my death?

These questions are rhetorical but here's my point...you don't know what you would do because it has not happened. I would want you...because YOU are reading this...to do EVERYTHING in your power to bring justice to my killers. While I would never defend the actions of those who burn things and riot for no real reason, the voice of those who feel oppressed and ignored will never remain silent.


I would expect you to do what you have to do to get justice...the right way...BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY.


4-27-15






I posted this on my Facebook page 4 years ago. I still feel the same way. I'm tired of seeing unarmed United States citizens being gunned down and their killers walking freely.

you've got the answers

Kameron walked into the room the other day. He looked at me and asked...

"Dad, when was Pearl Harbor?"

I paused. Then answered

"December 7, 1941. Why do you ask?"

He responded.

"I just wanted to see if you knew."

Then he walked out of the room.

I found the question to be weird. I wasn't talking about Pearl Harbor with him or anything. It was just a random question that seemed to come from left field. He knows that I'm a history buff. But I'm an even bigger fan of geography. That was my favorite subject when I was in high school. Even though the question was a surprise, it wasn't abnormal.

One of the things that we do from time to time in my house is...we watch Jeopardy together. We watch and try to guess the answers. When we watch, I try my best to answer the questions as quickly as I can. I try to answer before the kids do. I'll admit...I get a few right. The kids almost always seem to be impressed with me getting the answers correct. For some reason, they think I know all of the answers.

The truth is...I don't.

But history has a way of repeating itself.

When I was a kid, I'd watch Jeopardy and my dad would get a LOT of the answers correct. It was amazing. Away from the show, I could ask him any question...and he knew the answer. It didn't matter if it was about history or just about life. He had all the answers. I remember I'd ask him what a word meant...or how to spell a word. His response would always be the same... "Look it up." There was no internet in the 80s so when I had to look something up, it meant that I had to look it up in the dictionary. The reason why both he and my mother would encourage me to "look it up" was because if you take the time to search for something...when you find what it is...you're not likely to forget it. That always stuck with me. As much as I'd hate to "look" for stuff, it made a difference. And it also answered a lot of questions.

I've adopted that same theory with my kids. Sometimes I will answer their questions. Then there are times where I will tell them to "look it up". They don't need the dictionary. They have Google. I'm sure in my kids eyes...I have all of the answers. They probably view me the same way that I view my parents. Even to this day, it seems like they have all of the answers.

In reality, I don't have all of the answers. But I'm glad that they think that I do.

the old neighborhood

I stopped by the old neighborhood last week...

I hadn't been in awhile.

Instead of just driving by...I stopped...got out of the car...and walked around.

There were a lot of great memories of the neighborhood. Honestly, when I came to the neighborhood...things were a lot more simple. Life was more simple in a lot of ways. I remember when I moved in. This was late 2007. I didn’t know what to make of the neighborhood when I got there. I didn’t know much about it. I was the new kid on the block...literally. It was a cool neighborhood. I was just happy to be there. I remember when Lisa encouraged me to move in. I was excited. I can’t lie. One of my first memories of the neighborhood was that everybody was very friendly to me. They’d stop by my spot and check me out and chat. And i would return the favor. Every house in the neighborhood was different and the people were different. As much as we were all different, we shared a lot of commonalities. Kindred spirits. We understood each other. It was a cool vibe. Everyday brought something different. It was a great time. Every now and then, some drama would pop off. But it wasn’t that major. Things always seem to work themselves out. In fact, unbeknownst to, some of the people in the neighborhood used to "kick it". Different people. That was cool with me because I was usually the last to know "the scoop" and I really didn’t care because I always mind my business. Nonetheless, the neighborhood was the place to be for the next 3-4 yrs.

When I look back on that time, I am amazed at how much so many of us grew. I saw people grow personally and professionally. Some got married. Some had kids. Some made great strides in overcoming their past. I was genuinely happy for everybody. And I think everyone was happy for me as i grew professionally, personally, and my family grew.

Somewhere around 2011-2012...things started to change. We didn’t realize it at the time but the neighborhood was headed for gentrification. Looking back, it was pretty clear. There was a shift. The old neighborhood didn't look the same. One by one...folks started to move out of the neighborhood. The big lights and excitement of the suburbs were calling. I didn't understand why some would want to leave at first. Actually, i did. I just didn't want to accept it. This was our community. Why would you want to leave? We built this. This is ours. But the reality, the neighborhood was changing...even before people began to leave.


It became pretty clear...the suburbs offered a bigger space and bigger opportunities. In the suburbs, there was a bigger platform. You could reach more people and be seen by more people. Honestly, who wouldn't want more visibility? While it wasn't something that we craved, the idea of it was definitely appealing. Ultimately, I caved in...just like everybody in the old neighborhood. The move was cool initially. One of the reasons why it was cool was because of the interactions that I was still having with the folks from the old neighborhood. This was still a fun time.

And then the fun changed 2 years later.

Something happened...EVERYBODY showed up to the suburbs

Just imagine being able to kick it in a really cool place and then a crowd of people who you don't know show up. And they never leave. Keep in mind, most of these people...you don't know. The influx of people meant that you had more people to interact with who could get to know you. At the same time, we lost that sense of community from the old neighborhood. The gift and the curse. The game changed. One day I stepped on my deck and gazed into my backyard.

Here's what I saw...The 12th Planet went from nothing to something that a few people really enjoyed. In 2010, the 12th Planet birthed The 12Radio Show. That show went from something small to something that quite a few people really enjoyed. Then in 2016, The 12Radio Show birthed The 12Kyle Podcast. That podcast went from something small to something that a lot of people enjoyed. As these platforms have grown, The 12th Planet has faded more and more. It wasn't by design. It just...happened. Or was it just like my homegirl, PrettyBlack, told me back in 2008... 

"In between these posts, life happens. And you've gotta deal with life." 

That always stuck with me. So, as i looked in my backyard, I could only look at my elevation as the same my friends from the old neighborhood. Things changed. I've changed. I'm not mad at anybody or myself for slowing pushing away from "The Planet" and the old neighborhood. It's just happened. Over the years, I've adjusted to life in the suburbs. It's cool. It ain't the same as the old neighborhood. I'm cool here. The one thing that I never did was sell the house in the old neighborhood. One thing that always makes me smile is when I talk to somebody from the old neighborhood and they say "remember back when we had the blogs and we said ___ or we did ____?" Or "Do you remember ___ and that blog they wrote about ___?" We reminisce about the good ole days. And that feels good.

Back to my trip last week. I walked around. It felt good to see Robyn in the old neighborhood. She ain't changed. She's still dope. I saw the homie, Keith. He's still doing his thing. And of course...I see Lee. She's still doing what an Old Girl does. LOL. I even noticed that my homegirl, Q, bought a new spot. She didn't tell me about it but I found it anyway. Before I left, I stopped by Nikki's old house. I never got a chance to meet her face to face. But Nikki was one of the coolest people from Atlanta. It's hard to believe this summer will be 10 years since she passed away. I remember she was in the hospital and I asked her if she wanted me to bring her something. And without hesitation, she said "bring me some wings and some beer...the football game is about to come on."

After walking around, I realized that this was home. And it's always good to home. You don't need to explain anything to the people at home. They understand. They know who you are and what you're about. While the old neighborhood will never be the same, it's ok. It's home. And you're always welcome at home with love and opened arms.

It feels good to be back...