...you dont have to say a word

did i hear senator mccains speech tonight...no.  but i didnt hear senator obamas until the day after it aired either...but in both situations i did check the facebook status updates.  in both cases i saw people claim that the senators respective speeches moved them to tears!  tears, i guess im too cynical to be moved to tears by the rhetoric of career politicians, especially those who dont address the issues most important to me.  i also saw facebook status about how horrible john mccains speech was, but none about how bad obamas was, only about how he failed to address certain issues (as is customary for all good politicians).  point being that i realized that i have a large social network with bleeding hard liberals, ultra conservatives and everyone in between, as well as those beyond the spectrum of the two considered extreme positions.  through these facebook status updates though, i am able to get some insight into the mentalities of these people.  like the white male conservative who quotes 50 cent but considers it out of the question to even consider voting for barak obama.  or the black feminist who has damn near nakked pictures next to quotes about women respecting their bodies and how men should stop objectifying them.  tying it in to the recent events was a status message by a high school classmate of mine who is currently in the military and has served in the war whose status said that mccains speech brought him to tears...knowing what we (should) know about the iraq conflict and what mccain plans to do about it...and the impact it will have on not only him but many of his comrades...he still supports mccain and his plans for the country...people are complex. lot of megalomaniacs out there (see me using the word of the day) if you really 

just watch the updates you can learn a lot....its written all over your face(book)

~charity

you know what i hate #2

baggage claim!!

common sense is seldom used in airports; but its at its worst when its comes to the baggage claim.  people act like its a concert staring...the bags.  they rush the conveyor belt as if being closer will ensure that their bags come out more quickly.  they all crowd the belt following bags that "look like" theirs, grabbing them to check the tags, only to throw them back on the belt, oooooor; they have their kids stand in the front knowing that they're not strong enough to pick up the bag if it were to appear right before them.

so during all this commotion i just sit back and then i see my bag come drop down and then i weave and bob between the onlookers as i swoop up my shit, chuck the deuces, and laugh at the losers looking at me like i magically made my bag appears while they wait for theirs.

so now, i try to stuff everything into 2 carryons

you know what i hate #1

obligatory return compliments!!

you know what i'm talking about.  when you tell someone, hey nice shoes, watch, parfume, shirt, haircut blah blah blah, and you can just tell they're surveying you for an appropriate return compliment.  'cause it's like, you can see it in their eyes they're thinkin somethin like:

nah im not gonna say nice kicks, cause the niceness of the kicks surpasses the niceness of the item i got complemented on...but if i say nice shirt, they'll know its bullshit cause that shirt is wack.

and all the while you're standing there waiting for some kinda response and thinkin...yo just say thanks and keep it movin.

yea i hate that shit

its been a long time...

i apologize to the readers for not posting for the past few days, but life in the real world has been hectic lately so i've been neglecting the blogsphere; deadlines for my thesis, other articles, work, family, working on this album, being a friend blah blah blah you know how life goes.  but being back in my own crib has helped me to regain my balance which is good because i can get back to blogging.  im currently putting together a format for this blog to keep it in a category that no other blogs can be in...

thanks for the support

solidarity

summertime chi...

so i'm here, in chicago to spend a week...of my summer.  gotta love it.  its gonna be a blast.  so in true david letterman fashion i'm going to give you the top 10 reasons why i love chicago in the summer

10.  the daytime events....hella festivals, live performances, block parties and what not

9.  the cta...even without a whip i can get around pretty well

8.  the shopping...2 words, magnificent mile

7.  the skyline...depending on where you're coming from, it can cover the entire horizon, amazing!

6.  the attractions...that bean is intriguing, then when you add things like the museums and zoos, the fountain and shit, its pretty fun

5.  the night life...i dont really club but whenever i get the inkling to, there are places in the chi that i can go to get my fix

4.  the landscape...maybe its because i got my undergrad degree here in public policy but i can see the city's history and future play out in the building and layout of the different neighborhoods

3.  the lake...weather walking down the "beach" or drivin up lake shore drive, its an awesome compannion

2.  the food....the food here is like nowhere else, the deep dish pizza is just the tip of the iceberg

and the number one reason i love chicago in the summer...

1.  the people...c'mon, people make the world go round and my chi town folks...they're great

who am i...wu-tang?

actually i am charity clay; thats the name my father gave me and i try to embody it. charity meaning love and clay meaning from the dirt; so i try to sincerely show love and stay grounded.

i have a lot of aliases, so many in fact i should be wearing pink and green. *pause*

i'm currently a phd student at texas a&m univers

ity in the sociology department. im finishing up my thesis on hip hop. the premise is on allowing members of the culture to establish the foundation for understanding it instead of letting outside researcher that are not a part of it use negative representations as the basis for their analyses of the culture (you can inquire about it), its going to be dope. i study hip hop because im a hip hop head. i honestly believe that hip hop has largely shaped me into the person i am, and i know other people who feel the sam

e. unfortunately, our voices have been silenced in academia because we haven't had our own scholars. I think that this generation of hip hop heads who are beginning their professional careers now are in the position to recapture show positive representations of our culture and redefine it on our own terms instead of accepting what we hear about us. i see our position not only as a wonderful opportunity but as a responsibility to the culture that has made us who we are.

i'm a lyricist extraordinaire. i make music because i love it and i have important things to say, that are articulated well over rhythms.  my lyrical influences are (in no particular order): 

elzhilauryn hill

black thought

az

rakim

jean grae

nas

blackstar

yo-yo

jay-z

common

i take influences from other singers and musicians and get inspiration from everything that the most high has blessed me to experience.  i'm currently working on both a spoken word album and my rap album . badu said that being humble was 2007 so i will say that i am pretty good and by good i mean i think i can hold my own with anybody.  but i'll let you check that out for yourself and be the judge. click here to experience my lyrical abilities i welcome all collaborations and you can contact my manager for booking hahaha

in a previous life; before a near fatal accident where i was a pedestrian struck by a car; i was one of the best basketball players in this country...my jump shot is still cash money for anyone who wants to go shot for shot.  my phd research will be about black women and basketball.  i've noticed that there is a lot done about black men and sports, but very little research about black women and sports so i'm hoping to fill that gap a bit

besides a little bit of everything,  i don't do much (c) beanie sigel.  hopefully you'll get bits and pieces of me through these posts

simply stated... charity is for the children...

...kinda like wu-tang