Quiet Please ... I've Got a New Blog to Write

Stop making all that noise.

I’m talking to you, Pandora.com.  I don’t care to hear your Cool Jazz right now.  And as enthralled as I am with “First Christmas without him. Inside MLK's home in 1968” that’s enough for now, 60 Minutes Overtime.  It’s been a nice evening with you but I’ve got to tune everything out for a spell cause’ I’ve got a new blog to write.

Now that I’ve cleared my throat, what ever shall I say?  Should I admit that I don’t rightly know what I’m doing?  To tell you the truth I didn’t even know I was a Facebook blogger until Cascade Patch’s editor, Janita Poe, said it in an article a few months ago.  So that’s what you call this communiqué of words and images I’m always doing.  That’s good to know because all of this time, I thought I was a blog virgin. 

Where should I begin?  Should I tell you about the man who stops every so many steps to smoke a cigarette as he walks around Ben Hill with a rake?  Would you care to know more about Kipper Jones, that brother who sang “Wholly Holy” at the recent Marvin Gaye Tribute?  Should I tell you that as important as the United Negro College Fund is and as much as I love masks, I skipped the Mayor’s Masked Ball Saturday night?  How about I tell you why my daughter and I sang “At Last” by Etta James into the wee hours of Sunday morning?  Or that my oldest daughter turns 21 on Christmas Day.

I considered blogging about the recent “homicide by hazing” incident at FAMU but thinking about it made my head hurt.  When I saw photos of newly renovated Benjamin E. Mays High School, they made me feel like reminiscing.  I was going to tell you what it was like to be in the first class to complete four years at Mays.  I even started to tell you that I ate pomegranate, Cutie oranges, Chicken Tiki Masala, roasted seaweed, brown cage free eggs, marinated tofu, and drank “Green Lemonade” with ginger, spiced apple cider, and egg nog over the weekend.  I could blog about an endless number of topics with arts and culture leading the pack.  For this very first blog though, I thought I’d start with hello. 

I was born M. Joette Harland here in Atlanta and I still reside in Cascade near where I grew up.  I’m young enough to have only heard that Cascade used to be a predominantly white part of town just before black families moved over this way; Yet, I’m old enough to remember our family going to see the outdoor Nativity Scene each Christmas behind what is now Murray Brother’s Funeral Home.  For the past 20+ years, I’ve been known as Kupenda Auset and there’s a lot more I could tell you about me as a matter of introduction, but I’ll stop here for now.  I hope I got this right.  Hope it’s not too long or short.  I just want you to know that I’m happy to be in this space along with you. 

… Now is this the part where I get to give a Shout Out?  Let me see … “First, I’d like to thank my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ … ” who kept me from going off on the brothers standing outside talking so darn loud at 5am last week that I couldn’t get back to sleep.  I’d like to shout out my Mama, Dr. Jennye Harland Emanuel, for holding her breath while she reads this.  She never knows what I might write or do next.  And last but not least, thank you for being interested enough in reading down to this very line of mine.  I like being here together with you.

This is Kupenda Auset, blogging live (if there is such a thing) from Cascade Road in Atlanta, Georgia.  Stay tuned.