Things are looking up

After the drama of Monday, I've been eager for some good news. Well, I got some. Mom is home from the hospital. Usually, she is very weak after a stay in the hell-hole, but this time she seems to have some pep in her step. Her oncologist gave us some comforting news...the cancer cells they have been monitoring have not grown since she was rediagnosed back in March. It seems the chemotherapy is stabilizing the cancer, which is good news. She is still dealing with some nasty side effects from the therapy, along with the fluid buildup, but we'll take any good news we can get. She's gained 5 lbs, and the doctors have lowered her morphine dosage. That says a lot, considering how DRUG-HAPPY Kaiser Permanente has become lately (I'll save my rant on Kaiser for another blog.....it's deep y'all). All the medical stuff aside, i'm just glad to have my momma back home. Although she can work my last nerve at the drop of a hat, I'd rather have her here in her own house than in some impersonal hospital room hooked up to machines. So YAY, mom is back home!

To add to the good news, I think I've stumbled across a cool lil' social group for gay/bi black men and straight allies in LA. It's called "In the Meantime". On Tuesday I attended one of their weekly discussion groups at Catch One, a popular black gay joint here in La La Land. The topic of the night was "The Impact of the Ballroom Scene on the Black Community".

The organizers of this week's discussion flew in an old school member of the New York ballroom scene. I walked away from his colorful account on ballrooms with an sense of appreciation for all the creativity, strength, and love that goes into this ballroom culture. The old school head had his protege up there speaking, and whooeee he was FIRE. He did more than rile up my social consciousness, lemme tell ya :) Anyways, it was very nice to spend an evening meeting other brothas in the life without the shade and bullshit of being in a clubbing environment. I had the pleasure of meeting Herndon Davis, TV Host and author of "Black, Gay, and Christian", along with other upwardly mobile, culturally aware brothers. "In the Meantime" is definitely my scene, and I'll be attending another meeting.

So yeah, things are looking up. Tonight I got to see two of my nephews and my baby niece. I swear, my brother and his estranged wife are both crazy as hell and so not good for each other, but they produced some BEAUTIFUL children. I usually don't get all gushy over children, but my nephs and nieces are so TIGHT! Little Vincent is starting to hit puberty, which is ridiculously amusing...Junior is five and has just learned how to krump dance...such a HAM...and the little one, Miss Jaleya aka. Lay-Lay, just turned 1 yr and is already a DIVA. So funny, the antics of this lil' girl. Ahhhhh, family.

Ok, time for bed and prayers. HOLLA!

-J.