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.