BWIP: Fantasia is the Reason for the (BWE) Season.

GS, that was the one I spoke about upthread, I saw it about a month or two ago so she was midst of this drama when it came on. I personally thought American Idol wasn't a dream come true, she seems to have even worse problems now. And you're right she has a daughter and it's great to hope she rises from the ashes like a Phoenix when she's 40 or 50 but her daughter don't have time for mommy to 'get it together' all that time and even if she does, that's great for her but the kid is screwed.

And you’re right she has a daughter and it’s great to hope she rises from the ashes like a Phoenix when she’s 40 or 50 but her daughter don’t have time for mommy to ‘get it together’ all that time and even if she does, that’s great for her but the kid is screwed.

I meant I hope the daughter doesn't grow up to repeat this cycle...I should've specified. Maybe Zion can grow up to be different than her mother, but it doesn't look like it's gonna happen if all she sees is this dysfunction and drama.

GS, I agree I'd hope that her child is not scarred by her bad decisions but most of the time the children don't get out unscathed. In all this Fantasia is going through, her child is watching and taking it all into her little spirit. SMH.

I think this is a well known fact - if the mom's pre-natal diet is poor, it will affect the baby's development. Also, formula fed babies do less well than babies who were breastfed. That's also why they tell pregnant mothers to seek advice on just about every single medicine before she takes it, even a headache pill, b/c of the potential impact it could have on the foetus. Mothers who are also substance abusers also give their child a poor start from jump. Their babies are born addicted to alcohol, crack, cocaine, heroine or nicotine - along with other birth defects, providing the baby actually survives in utero.

About black people having a predisposition to hypertension and diabetes because our bodies somehow mutated because of poor food intake, I don't know about that. I think that trend stands because of the continued high salt - high sugar diet of many people. Black people who eat healthy foods from jump don't have this problem. I think that's rooted in current dietary practices rather than in genetics. Gene related diseases arise as a result of a mutation that is passed down through the generations. Type II diabetes is far more common than the gene related type I diabetes.

Robynne, you're right I'm a type 1 diabetic. Type II is much more rampant b/c of bad diet which leads to obesity. But type II is preventable, I'm never really sure why people don't do the small things that would actually prevent it. Type I is genetic and from I know talking to my physician(s) over the years (31 years of diabetes LOL) things may happen that will make that genetic mutation arise and not stay sedate. My thought is that I got a bad flu at the age of 7 and it kick-started my genetic mutation. One of the reasons I try my best to keep my weight under control, it could cause severe complications for my diabetes, unmanaged stress does too. The mental and physical are hand in hand in health.

Type I runs in my mom's family as well, so I have to be careful with my sugar intake. Almost all my mom's sisters have it, save my mother and maybe an aunt or 2. It took my grandmother's life, and my uncle's life. In my uncle's case, it led to the onset of renal failure, and it went downhill from there. It's not something to play with...

No one in my family had it, at least in this generation but my guess someone probably had it previously it passed to me. Yea, it's so tough to deal with older people how have or people who develop when they are older. They are so set in their ways. I was so young, so I was easily moldable, so my family took all the classes and I went to diabetic camp every year. Everyone had to learn how to give a shot to themselves so they could give one to me, if need be. And my brothers know what to do if I have a hypoglacemic reaction. It changes your whole life and everything I do pretty much revolves around being a diabetic, it's always there. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. I get upset when people who could prevent getting type II, just don't.

a friend of mine has DT1 and she said its unavoidable....hence why she is strict about her food choices. Genetics can mess you up truly....in my family high blood pressure and rheumatism is a reality. Hence, why my mom is always conscious about healthy living.

As strict as the diet is for type 1, it's 10 times stricter for type 2. If you have a good nutritionist/dietician they can certainly help you find way through the food maze, I just try my best to eat a balanced diet. But I can eat sugar, I just have adjust my insulin, only thing I can't do is drink sugary soda or juice. Most type 1 diabetics can have different ways their bodies react to carbohydrates and sugar. The diet for type 2 diabetics sucks and if they don't control it, they become insulin dependent. In many ways, I'm glad I have type 1 instead of type 2.

I believe the issue and discussion over 2 Khadija's blog was about the toxic environment and conditioning of African American, not about poverty per say or some 'low breeding' in the traditional sense. There are millions of poor and overworked people around the world from India to China, yet they do not suffer from the conditions that created a stagnated generations within the black community. Its about the weakest among us having children without any family structure, without fathers, without community unity.....which in turn results in the likes of Fantasia and many like her who continue the same cycle over and over again.

Quote: "Back in the day, when blacks couldn’t do any better, they ate substandard foods, like animal entrails and miscellaneous animal parts. Over the centuries, the substandard diets began to affect blacks on the cellular level to the point of disease creation (blacks are now more prone to high blood pressure & diabetes as a result of multi-generational poor diets)."

Hodan: I beg to disagree from a scientific perspective. Chinese people during the famine era, even to this day in certain Asian communities.....all they had access to was very sub standard food (mice, cockroaches, cats, dogs), yet it has never impacted their physical and mental functions. We black people whether here or in Africa do actually eat a lot more rich and heavy on substance food.....yet we all share the same disease profile with South Asians and Arabs. I believe it has more to do with high level cholesterol and glucose concentrated food that is costing us life. Its eating these processed food without leading a healthy life style.

Quote: "Irrepairable damage done by diet is the same as damage done by lifestyle and environment over multiple generations. Hood is as hood does and no matter how much money she has or resources she has access to, she will NOT get better, only worse, and her children will be no better off than she is. This is multi-generational abuse and neglect and I am almost 100% sure that her offspring will turn out the same, as well."

Hodan: I agree.

You're right she has issues, we all have issues. The best hope is that she actually comes to realize that b/c only SHE can do something about it. For most people, we don't do much introspection so we may not realize we're screwed up. That kind of dysfunction is probably normal to her and even the uncomfortable becomes comfortable when you do it long enough. She'll have to get to her bottom, whatever that is and hopefully she will do some self-reflection and get whatever she needs to be better and do better in her life. She can't do anything about anyone else, but she can do something about herself.

LOL!!!!

ditto

I hope so, out of all the women you mentioned, I rather see her follow the path of MJB who is happy and married. Aretha, Patti and Tina have all wasted their youth, talent and finance on utter losers and only in their 40s/50s did they wake up to a real revolutionary life changes. I know Tina has been with a French financier for 30 yrs now, Aretha and Patti keep their private life just that.

OMG Kola Boof! Beautifully said. Btw, I'm a HUGE follower of your work and loved your recent posts on Womanist Musings(Tyler Perry & How to Make Generations). Keep up the great work!

I agree.

You know I say that Hodan, b/c with most stuff on this blog I speak from personal experience. Those were my greatest lessons. I spent 12, 9 of them married to a man I shouldn't have been. We probably should have broke up a couple of months after we meet. But I did what a lot of women did, I sacrificed myself, I wanted it to work and I'm thankful I caught a clue and got out of there and found a wonderful man to share my life with but that's still 12 years of my life, gone. It's not a good feeling.

I might not directly relate, but I know what you mean. Evia over @ her blog always talks about how important it is for BW to take a good advantage of their youth and child bearing yrs (even if they have no intention to procreate) by seeking and marrying quality men who make them happy.

A friend of mine has been dating her guy for 7 yrs and now he proposed, but we don't think it will last. Their on-off union was never a stable one and she's often 2nd best for him.

Hodan, that is true. I learned a lot of lessons in that marriage, a lot about men, a lot about me, a lot about relationships but boy I wish I hadn't had to learn it the hard way. But I tell you what it's one I will never forget. :)
7 years before an engagement, pssshhh, sounds like manipulation is at work somewhere in there. Somebody doesn't want to be alone, so they do just enough to get you to stay then you stay and they go back to whatever drama they had in the first place.

you are still young and have a 2nd chance @ a happy union. I'm sure you have so much advice and wisdom to embark on your nieces and young girls on sites like these.

Thank you Hodan for those kind words. I'm hard on myself sometimes much harder than I am others. I realize I still some youth along with some maturity that's helpful in my new relationship and I'm thankful I do. And it's nice to have a second chance at a real, loving, fulfilling, supportive marriage. I'm just glad that it wasn't till my really late years that it happened. But it's nice to be able to actually live a real-life love story. And yes, all that wisdom I give over to my nieces and other young women I know that are willing to listen. I hope any women young or old, are able to take something from all of us. It's really brave of everyone to come on here and share.

Cosign. Well said.

because they are stupid and think anything you put on the net is safe. The queen of lewd pictures are all the disney chicks from Vanessa Hudgens to Miley Cyrus.

Here's my motto about stuff I put on the internet, stuff I say on my FB or whatever. If I can't put it on a billboard for the world to see then it shouldn't be on the internet. Because when you put it on here, in essence, that's what you're doing putting it on a billboard.

exactly and now employers and even school admins are looking and searching for FB accounts. The moment you put a picture of yourself out there, you lost the right to any legitimate privacy. In fact, facebook tells you its their bloody property.

Do you know all that stuff on FB and Twitter is stored at the Library of Congress? I friend I have whose an IP attorney told me about it after she learned that in an CLE. I'm real careful now. Hmm.

that's creepy, why would it be there if you are not an elected official? Then again with the passing of the Patriot Act, nothing is out of bound when it comes to electronic communication. Its a legislative power given to government, where all telecom. companies cooperate with them. Hence, why I always says there is no anonymity on the net unless you are a master hacker with multiple IPs, even then it will take less than 24 hrs to crack it.

Not to mention it's so low budget. You're a celebrity, you have money now! If I was going to take sexy pictures you best believe I'd be getting a professional photographer and an airbrushing team like you wouldn't believe. That way when it leaks (which it always does) at least I'd look damn good.

its simple: attention. ANY attention is good attention to celebrities. its doesn't matter if the things people say about them are good OR bad they'll just say/think, "well, at least i'm still being talked about..."

I agree about the boycotting. Heck I do it by default as I hate reality television universally. However, I think that you have to temper any pity for Fantasia with the simple fact that she, unlike 99.999999% of girls who have had her life, has resources. AND, WITH those resources, she can/could do better. She can AFFORD to seek help. At this point, it's a choice. She keeps making the wrong ones.

I agree, we shouldn't kick a person when they are down. Besides, this should be an example for everyone if they are not @ this state of self damage.....then make sure to advice and guide young impressionable BGs in your life so they don't continue this sick cycle.

About VH1, it all started with Flavor Flave, then 2 of the girls in his show were given a spot and the cycle of damaged beyond repair black caricature continues. In the words of Wanda Sype, we should've got rid of Flave long time ago.

I watched her biopic not too long ago, the one she starred in, have no idea why just came on and I started watching. But in, she does get raped while in high school before she quit. It may have been that she was raped earlier and it was just too painful for her to act out in the storyline.

i don't think that's true at all; people talk the way they talk... childhood trauma (sexual or otherwise) really has nothing to do with a person's voice. c'mon, now...