I like this picture. It's a little girl in Ghana standing next to a boy and they're both holding up toys.
I don't know where they got the toys or who took the photo, but I like the picture. I'm not even sure it came from Christmas, but it came up on a search when I looked for Christmas photos.
For me, Christmas the gift giving holiday, is mostly about the kids. But of course there's still a little kid in all of us.
I hope that your Christmas brings out the kid in you, and allows you to remember the days when life was simple and you could be free to be yourself.
After searching and searching, I couldn't find too many more sexy Santas of color. So we're going a new direction.
Today we're featuring celebrity Santas.
At the top is LL Cool J playing Santa Claus. In the middle is boy band B2K playing Santa. And at the bottom is 80s TV star Mr. T playing Santa Claus for First Lady Nancy Reagan.
Mr. T was invited to the White House? Apparently so. The photo comes from the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and appears to have been taken in the main corridor of the residence.
Nancy sat on his lap, and Mr. T apparently was kind enough to bring her a Mr. T action figure, which she is holding proudly.
Between the holidays, the end of the year, and the end of the website, I'm finding it very hard to come up with hard news to write about.
So back to basics. Every year at this time I like to celebrate Christmas with a "Sexy Santa" contest in the Out In Left Field column. I got the inspiration a few years ago from the Beverly Center in Los Angeles, which hosts an annual "Hunky Santa" contest.
But this year I went to the website and discovered they had already picked a Santa, apparently without ever holding a contest.
I don't have anything against their Santa, but I was hoping to find a few "sexy Santas of color" that I haven't already featured on this site.
So I scoured the Internet, and this is what I came up with today. If you have any ideas, let me know, or I'll see what else I can find for the next few days.
We made it. This is the last daily post I will make on the site. Of course I will continue to write on the blog during the next few months, especially about the presidential campaign. But you will notice that the site will begin to change starting today.
The first change you will see is the URL address for this page. The new address will move from keithboykin.com to keithboykin.com/blog2. The main address for the site will remain the same, but the keithboykin.com URL will soon point to a different entry page. We are also in the process of redoing the other pages of the site, including the bio page, the media page, speaking page, books page and contacts page. It's a work in progress, and it all begins right now.
The world has been on edge for months as it watches the elections in the U.S., Russia and Pakistan, three very different nuclear powers. This morning in Pakistan, the election campaign took a dramatic turn as former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, the first female political leader of a modern Muslim nation, was assassinated at a campaign rally.
Pakistan has been an ally to the United States in the war on terror, but some suspect that the Pakistani government has not done enough to rein in Al Qaeda. Bhutto, a Harvard-educated leader, emerged from exile earlier this year and returned to her native Pakistan to run in elections that have been repeatedly scheduled and re-scheduled. Her death as a martyr will surely put pressure on Pakistan's President Pervez Musharaff to step down from power very soon.
As I think over the past year, I am glad to say that I feel that I’ve had a wonderful year. Despite the disappointments, there were many precious moments of realization and countless others where I feel that I was blessed with the gifts that life on Earth has to offer. I feel that I have learned a great deal during this year, especially from writing on this site. And while I fancy myself as a writer, I am not able to describe fully my gratitude for the experience this site has provided for me. My life has come so much closer to being a testimony of my faith and beliefs. I feel affirmed and yet, I also look forward to learning more, experiencing more, meeting more of the wonderful people with whom I share this life and this fascinating planet, and becoming more of the person I was created to become.
As we close the year and this site, I encourage everyone to take time to look back for a brief moment. In the tradition of the sankofa, it's taking from the past what is good and bringing it into the present in order to make positive progress through the benevolent use of knowledge. I encourage everyone to say goodbye to yesterday so that you can sincerely say “Hello!” to tomorrow and the rest of your God-given life. One of the ways I do this is by looking at my past year, as well as planning for the new year, with respect to the Nguzo Saba, the seven principles of Kwanzaa. Here are the seven principles and the definitions provided by Maulana Karenga. Happy Kwanzaa everyone!
'Twas the night before Christmas
And all through the site
Not a person was posting
Or starting a fight.
The people were quiet with nothing to share,
In hopes that the season would lighten the air.
When out of the blue there arose such a chatter,
I sprang from the couch to see what was the matter.
Away to the keyboard I ran in a dash,
Logged onto the net and suddenly it crashed.
I returned to the tube my eyes all aglow
And pushed the remote to the channels below.
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But another politician pushing his career.
There's Rudy, and Romney and Thompson, and Spitzer!
On Matthews! On Cooper! Olbermann and Blitzer!
Republicans and Democrats all ready to brawl!
But dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!"
The candidates fled from Nashua and Des Moines,
To be with their families and save a few coins.
But I heard them exclaim, as they flew out of sight,
"Today we celebrate, but Wednesday we fight!"
I am sad to report today that my colleague Tom Morgan, a legendary journalist, has passed away. Tom was a native of St. Louis and during his career he served as a reporter and editor at the New York Times, Washington Post and Miami Herald. He came to my attention in the 1990s after he had become the first openly gay president of the National Association of Black Journalists. I did not know Tom well, but I admired and respected him immensely.
An attractive, well-built man with a serious journalistic pedigree, he left a strong impression on me the very first time we met. I interviewed Morgan for my first book, One More River To Cross, and he talked to me about the challenges of being openly gay in a leadership position in a major black institution. The experience of being a trailblazer was not entirely new to him. His great-great grandfather, Captain Charleston Hunt Tandy, led the fight against Jim Crow segregation on the streetcars of St. Louis. "I grew up understanding that there were people who put their lives on the line for the civil rights struggle," he said during our interview.
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We made it. This is the last daily post I will make on the site. Of course I will continue to write on the blog during the next few months, especially about the presidential campaign. But you will notice that the site will begin to change starting today.
