Envy McKee

Maybe we have a problem, Houston. Maybe the loss of so many “greats” in this small fragment of time is actually an issue. Maybe folk who seem to have already served their purpose on this planet and know what’s coming are all too instinctive to jump ship and be out before stuff starts to get real, um, real. Out here. I’m just saying.   Etta James, Steve Jobs, Joe Frazier, Andy Whitfield, were kindof understandable. They were ill. Amy Winehouse, Heavy D., DJ Mehdi , Gil Scott- Heron and Don Cornelius were all surprises. To me anyway. Weird. Philly’s own renowned journalist Fatimah Ali’s passing was incomprehensible.  There are many more who are worthy of mention. Yes… many, many more…   So to be in the movie theatre with my mom, watching my colleague Q Deezy’s indie feature film Exit Strategy and hear that whilst we were sitting, giggling aloud and I was gushing over my friend’s accomplishment–one of the greatest greats who ever opened her mouth to sing a note was rushed off this life plane. I didn’t know how to … Continue reading →

Please. Believe I’m teetering myself between intrigue and not caring. I can’t say I’ve ever been a baseball fan. It has been, to me, a bit like watching paint dry. Plus, I don’t drink beer. I’ve lost a lot of friends saying those two things out loud and in that order. Yes. I’ve set this post up in this way. Even at the risk of forever turning future husband, Matt Kemp, off to me for good. I do this for a very good reason. To make a very important point. Duh.   I had a dream. I would like to say MY dream was even a smidgen as compelling as MLK’s blockbuster. And yet, I won’t know until I share it. Shall I?   My dream was actually a movie. Serious. I couldn’t tell if I was watching the movie or in it. But I’ll assume I was watching it because I had no speaking parts. The dream felt a lot like I imagine how Scrooge felt being dragged about time at the hand of those awful spirits to witness his treachery … Continue reading →

Dear People of Color, Particularly young girls. If you don’t yet know. If no one told you today. I am here to tell you. Emphatically!!! You are beautiful. True beauty, however, stems from and grows from within. True beauty is knowing you are a divine reflection of the highest source: Love. Truest beauty needs no “embellishment”, it already is. IT is so. So BE it. And all that now means for you….   I am beautiful. Yes, I am full of myself. I should be. I’m beautiful. No one on Earth looks like me. Sure, there’s beauty in the world. But none,  comparable to mine. I am beautiful.   My hair may not be straight Like greasy hay sticks. My hair curls when my fingers pull through it. My hair is called kinks or pugs or gnarls or snags. The many colors of my hair are more beautiful than any rainbow.  and I need no leprechaun to tell me so. My hair has character. My hair is beautiful.   My nose may not be pointy like the tip of a … Continue reading →

And so. February is in the fast lane. You know what that means don’t you? Don’t you?! Nope, it has nothing to do with that silly day two weeks in that finds folk scrambling and in a panic about red, chocolate, and illogical jewelry preferences. I digress.   February, dear ones, is “National CLEAN the Gunk Out of My Insides” month! I mean, it’s actually African-American History Month. Same thing though. Sort of. Okay, one has little to do with the other. Except the fact that it should. But it doesn’t. But it should.   It is unfortunate that people of color have the worst statistics following them around. There are tons of them floating about– most of them we know by heart. The one’s about our general poor health, lagging education, incarceration, unemployment, morbidity, crime rates per capita, etc. and what have you. The most important statistic, however is this one: Percent of men 20 years and over who are obese: 37% Percent of women 20 years and over who are obese: 51%           Source: Health, United … Continue reading →

Good EEEEEEvening. It’s been a long time. I’ve been, how do they say, lunchin’ on the blog tip. Been working on my tweet game. My tweet game is popping, btw. @QueenEnvy, in case you were curious.   And so, welcome to the new year. Welcome to 2012. You ready to either save the world or watch it crumble to dust before our very eyes? You ready? Me neither. I just got here.   But I’m fidgety. I’ve been doing all kinds of cleaning. Some of it wasn’t even intentional. Folks just irked me so badly, I got scarce. My horoscope said I would. But whatever, horoscopes are bullshit. Mostly.   Anyway, I’m not here to talk about horoscopes or 2012 or my lip gloss. I’m here to talk about Twitter. And those people who clog up my timeline with their bullshit. Well… did.   A few days ago, I found myself going through my twitter followings. Most of the folk I follow are a varied, indie bunch. They possess wit, sass, positive thinking and sometimes a bit of snark to share. … Continue reading →

For most of my life my father has told me this exact thing: “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result”. Of course, any of us who are familiar with Google and/or Albert Einstein know my dad didn’t come up with that gem of wisdom on his own. Nor would it matter who came up with it.  The fact is, it’s true.   Doing the same thing over and over and expecting something different to happen is crazy. It’s nuts. It’s stupid. It’s the exact definition of INsanity. Meanwhile, seemingly perfectly sane-ish people do it every single day. And then have the nerve to show off their *aghast* face when the stuff they’re doing produces the exact same results as they experienced the 90 hundred thousand million other times they did that same thing before this last time. *aghast face*   I can’t really talk so strong. I’ve been doing it too. In at least one noteworthy aspect of my life. Which is probably why I’ve self proclaimed (myself) the expert on this particular … Continue reading →

   Do you mind if I share a little advice? You don’t? Good. Because I had planned to share it anyway (this is my blog after all). Now brace yourselves because this will be a little hard to hear (er…read) at first. But just like any good medicine, once the dagger part of the jagged little pill goes down, the rest is heal quickly or bleed out. I get astounded very easily, I guess.   I expect my best from myself at every given moment–even if my best is barely getting out of bed to get on with a drudge-like day in the making. I get out of bed and do my best at the moment anyway, because I know what I am capable of on my actual best days. If I fall short of what I’m capable of, I’m still okay. At least I know what lies dormant on those days that suck for everyone involved (and not in a good way). With that in mind, I look at some of the people I know, some I work with … Continue reading →

Sunday Night @ 9:30pm. I’m in the market buying groceries. Whilst at the check out, the cashier begins asking me about the fare in my cart: 1 big bag of Kale Greens 2 bottles of Agave nectar 1 small bottle of Organic (California) Olive Oil Mind you, this was my second trip to the grocery, because I forgot the above items on my first go round, a mere few hours earlier. Anyway, she asks first about the Agave. Cashier: Is this like honey? Me: Not exactly. It’s made from cactus. It’s supposed to be good for diabetics because it sweetens without raising sugar levels. I use it in my smoothies. Cashier: *blank look, nod* oh. So she rings them up. She’s now eyeing the Kale greens with a look of wonder. Or maybe that was a look of perplex. Anguish? Exasperation? Cashier: So what do you use these for? Me: I put them in my smoothies. Cashier: *blank look* Me: I make Kale, pineapple and chia seed smoothies. Cashier: *blank look* Me: Chia seeds are an Aztec superfood. Cashier: *blank … Continue reading →

I promised myself I would mind my own business about this. I promised myself I wouldn’t get caught up, I would keep my political and/or social rants to myself. On this. I promised myself I had nothing to add to the already full sea of adages. It’s tiring sometimes how rock solid dense and hard headed some people are. How some people stay. And then I saw this.   A human being–living, breathing, thriving, surviving–said the above things about another human being. Fry him up, she said. Hold the lettuce and the pickle she said. Better yet, don’t fry him, flame broil him. Wow.   I get it. Ann Coulter is now infamous for saying THE most retarded things a person can form lips to say in order to swindle a buck or two from any number of unsuspecting doo-doo heads who don’t know any better. She sells books. That’s what feeds her lone self. She’s not raising any children (THANK GOD) that have greedy mouths that need feeding or whom need to be properly educated by an education system … Continue reading →

“The greatest work of art created first by God and then by man, is the creation of life. The whole process is an amazing art in itself. The fact that it takes two artists, man and woman, each bringing their own parts of a pallet to create a work of art that not only has a piece of both artists but is also a living, breathing, ever-changing piece of art with an identity of it’s own.”  ~Bethany Jane Andrews Hoey       It was bitterly cold that morning. Everything in that ordinary town was covered in ice and snow. Only four sets of parents-to-be made it to the hospital that night… and one single mother-to-be. The doctors were worried that when the storm came, they all would be stuck with limited supplies, but it turned out all right.       The babies came one by one, as though on cue. The last child to be born was from the woman on her own. She arrived to the hospital by herself, in labor, but not at all in a panic. … Continue reading →