Strength, love, unity. Those three words define the ethos of my city – Houston. There has been so much destruction, loss, fatalities and everything else heartbreakingly devastating under the sun but the spirit of the city has remained as persevering as the people fighting through every inch of water.

Hurricane Harvey touched down in northeast of Corpus Christi, Texas as a category 4 hurricane and ripped through Rockport in just a matter of hours. What Houstonians didn’t anticipate were categorically catastrophic storms ripping through every inch of the 4th largest city in the US. We’ve had several major floods over the last 3 years and endured Tropical Storm Allison, that has haunted us for 16 years, but this was something we never experienced.

Rockport, Texas photo courtesy of Jeff Piotrowski.

Late into Saturday evening, waters began to rise on the streets and within minutes, homes. Many reported rescue calls began increasing around 1am/2am. The water continued to rise, neighborhoods became lakes, and streets commonly traveled became rivers. Though the storm bore reminiscent to Allison, we all knew it was 100 times worse. Neighborhood after neighborhood, rescue call after rescue call – the pot began to boil over. Homes were evacuated and destroyed, families separated, people were literally lost in the rising waters within their homes and on the streets trying to escape…but we witnessed the resilience of our first responders and civilians risking their lives to come the aide of others.

Photo courtesy of AP / David J. Phillip.

The news of Harvey has broken the hearts of those living in Texas and all over America but the people of Houston were built to take on giants.

Photo courtesy of AP / Charlie Riedel.

Houstonians are united and volunteering their services. People have opened their hearts, homes, and wallets – all while in the midst of the storm. Keep in mind, we’re in day 3 of a 5 day tropical storm. I’ve witnessed social media act as a tool to report people in need of rescue and resources. I’ve seen messages of love and support. So yes…Houston is greater than Harvey. Houston has proven to be greater than the politics, religions, races, and financial classes that have separated the country. Houston is the America our country strives to be.

I live in a small apartment compound in a neighborhood called The Heights…

Streets surrounding me are flooded, bayous surrounding me are flooded. My family is not here but I feel loved and safe just if they were. The anxiety of rising waters kicked in last night after nearly 24 hours of no sleep and I reached out to my landlord who told me I was welcome to “hunker-down” with him and his family next door. My other neighbors texted with me throughout the day and made plans for any emergency situations that might arise. I knew that even though I was afraid, I was blessed to be in an environment where neighbors took care of neighbors. I imagine it’s what my parents and grandparents grew up with, knowing their neighbors. And the crazy-amazing thing is that this little family of misfits is made up of incredibly unique and extremely different people. We vary in race, age, financial disposition, and likely religious practice but we are united by our humanity. We’re neighbors.

Photo courtesy of AP / David J. Phillip.

I know I get a little crazy and sometimes have all the jokes on Facebook but I truly love people. That frame of mind came from my family and the city I call home – Houston, Texas. At the core we are good. Food, music, and culture unite us. We’re brave and bold. We’re creative and athletic. We want the best. We work for the best and for that reason, Houstonians, I love you. You’re an amazing people. This storm is another challenge that we will overcome. While some of us might not fully embody the the true spirit of Houston, there are so many of use that continue push this city forward. We are a world class example of what Blacks, Whites, Latinos, Asians, Africans, Indians, Muslims, Christians, Atheists, LGBTQ, Cowboys, and other randoms can do unified under the fight to preserve life.

Photo courtesy of Reuters / Adrees Latif.

Houstonians, we gon’ be alright and remember, Houston > Harvey. <3

-D.Wright

I was excited to hear about Diddy’s Apple Music documentary Cant Stop Won’t Stop earlier this year. You guys know how much I love all things nostalgic and Bad Boy pretty much provided the soundtrack to my super awkward, yet somehow-cool-girlhood. I was a tween jamming out to Biggie, Lil Kim, MA$E, Faith Evans, 112, and Total on the school bus – it was especially my favorite thing in the summer time. I listened to practically everything Bad Boy put out. Shoot I thought I was going to Howard University so I could be a Baby Diddy and start my own Bad Boy!

As for the doc, Can’t Stop Won’t Stop is a fun piece where the viewer gets to really see a raw version of Diddy and his anxieties as he prepares for his biggest project to date – a 20-year anniversary tour. The film starts with the 2016 reunion of former and present Bad Boy artists for the preparation of the tour and interweaves the story of this young intern turned legendary CEO.

Now don’t get me wrong, there are a few moments of overdramatized situations that come up, but it wouldn’t be Diddy if you didn’t have at least a little bit of drama. I also kinda wish they had gone further into detail on a couple of artist’s stories. Aside from that, it’s pretty cool to see where he has managed to go in his career and this documentary is a good look into a big piece of hip-hop music history.

Check it out for yourself. <3

-D.Wright

Netflix’s Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt has to be one of the most random, PG-rated comedies I’ve ever enjoyed.

The premise of the story is Kimmy Schmidt is 29 and newly rescued from a cult in Indiana where she and three other chicks were being held by a crazy “Reverend” for 15 years. That creeper Richard Wayne Gary Wayne couldn’t keep Kimmy, her high hopes and positive attitude down so she decided to step out and live her new life in New York. The Concrete Jungle is where she befriends her gentrification fighting landlady Lillian Kaushtupper, flamboyantly fantabulous actor and new roommate Titus Andromedon, and new boss/socialite Jacqueline Voorhees. It gets weird and definitely really funny as her story unfolds.

So let’s set some expectations – it’s corny, it’s quirky, and it’s over the top ridiculous. I feel as if  Tina Fey and Robert Carlock sat down one day and said “Hey, DeAndre needs something low-stress and goofy to watch to counter her Game of Thrones anxiety.” One could only dream right? But anyway…in this season of my Insecure, GOT and Law & Order addictions, I needed something to help mellow me out. All the cheating, dragons, and sex crimes were wearing me out! Enter, my little ray of sunshine, Elle Kemper aka Kimmy-mutha-effin-Schmidt!

But whatevs, check out the Season 3 trailer below. It’s fun and for the offbeat viewer. <3

-D.Wright

America’s dirty little secret is White supremacy. There I said it.

As an African American woman in this country, it’s not safe for me to turn a blind eye to the climate of race relations and civil rights in America. We can no longer afford to pretend that racism isn’t weaved throughout the very fabric of America’s existence, and the march on Charlottesville is huge reason why.

Over the weekend, on the campus of the University of Virginia, we witnessed about a hundred or so white men and women march throughout the sleepy college town a night before their big “Unite the Right” rally. They proudly held up Nazi salutes with one hand and their now famed tiki-torches in the other. They chanted things like “blood and soil,” “you will not replace us,” and “White lives matter,” along with other reported racial epithets. It was like something out of the 1960’s. They confidently, no they angrily paraded throughout the campus and finally stopped under the statue of Robert E. Lee where all hell practically broke loose.

Photo courtesy of Vox.

There was pepper spray and chemical spray used amongst the protesters and counterprotestors…clubs and torches being flung. There were recorded fist fights and beatings. The news swept through Twitter like a wild-fire and took the world by storm. There were responses of sorrow, indifference, fear, anger…you name it, the world expressed it. The one emotion that annoyed me the most was that of surprise. Why are we surprised? Why are we now just getting “woke,” because it’s trendy? These people have lived amongst us, dormant, for decades. If you’re Black, you’ve likely experienced stories of these types of people from your family, friends, and community. They were our “Boogie-Man.”

African Americans have continuously rallied for support against these people for years but it’s almost been as if folks thought we were crying wolf – citing things like Black Lives Matters, Black on Black crime and drug epidemics as the supposed root of the problem. But the internet has ripped off the band-aides and rose colored glasses, and now here we are. These are your teachers, preachers, politicians, cops, doctors, nurses, lawyers, business owners. These wolves hidden in plain sight are the future of America and they hate all people who don’t look like them or represent their beliefs. They are domestic terrorist. You all are finally seeing “post racial” America for what it really is…a hot, disgusting mess.

Photo courtesy of Yahoo.

Writer for Vox, German Lopez, said it best when speaking to the fragility of these self proclaimed “victims” who marched at UVA…

[su_quote cite=”But they’ve seen their racial security challenged. They saw the first black president with Barack Obama. They see demographic statistics that show white Americans will no longer be the majority in the coming decades. They see all of this talk about Black Lives Matter and the importance of diversity, including through policies like affirmative action. They see recent moves to tear down Confederate monuments in the South. And they themselves may have been accused of racism at some point in their lives, perhaps after they raised concerns about any of these issues.”][/su_quote]

These folks are mad because they will one day no longer hold the majority of this country. So on Friday, August 11th, 2017, the pot officially boiled over .

Photo courtesy of Slate.

The next day, hundreds more of neo-Nazis and Ku Klux Klan members met for part two of their rally but something was a little different. The news had spread about the evening before and a larger group of counterprotesters and media outlets joined. It all ended with a fatal car crash killing thirty-two-year-old Heather Heyer with 19 other people injured. The driver was 20-year-old James Alex Fields Jr. of Maumee, Ohio.

Photo courtesy of CNN.

There is still fallout happening after this whole debacle. The President made a statement that was actually applauded by the likes of David Duke, there’s been more criticism of the police, two officers actually died in route to the rally, the Republican party is scrambling, Deandre Harris has been talking about his beating, and the public is just stunned. It’s all so amazing to see unfold, and I don’t mean that in a good way. It’s insane, and all I can feel is interchangeable sadness and numbness. Most embarrassingly, the world is watching. Our dirty little secret, is secret no more. It’s just dirty.

Time to clean house. <3

-D.Wright

So in this week’s stories of women murking the game, we have TV vet Judge Judy Sheindlin who is literally sitting on a gold mine!

She’s in the works of selling her 10,400-show archive back to network giant, CBS, for a whopping $95 million! That’s more money than I could ever fathom but really want to because who wouldn’t want to wish that much money on themselves? Like what do you do with it? Scrooge McDuck it? Buy a boat? Invest in the next big start-up? I don’t know, but this 70-year old diva is in her 21st season and currently makes around $45 million a year helping people realize how dumb they are for trying to “get over” on the law. Anywho, this is such a boss chick move.

But what’s the lesson?

The lesson is to work hard and know your worth! This is a woman who clearly understands her power and her demand.

I used to have such a difficult time with requesting pay for my creative services and now I feel like like as my star rises and my services are requested more frequently, the value of my time also increases. I can’t sell myself short for the sake of playing the nice-girl card. Who said it? Ms. Yoncé, I think it was, told the world “eff you pay me.”

Over the years she’s made incredibly smart, strategic, and very consistent moves with her brand as well as her business. She knows her 10-million viewers like the back of her hand and gives the people what they want – a smart and sassy, no-nonsense incarnation of the law.

She’s been #1 like forever and lives a quiet life with her family. This is the way to do it folks! Invest in yourself, live happily, build your empire quietly and shock the freaggin world without personally announcing a got-dog on thing! Yassss Ms. Judy…Just yasssss.

Give me my money. –#JudyTaughtMe <3

-D.Wright