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  • Like Father, Like Daughter

    Like Father, Like Daughter

    It’s no secret that former president Barack Obama had a smoking habit. He admitted in his memoir, A Promised Land, that he would smoke 8-9 cigarettes a day during his presidency.

    Aside from smoking cigarettes, Barack Obama was considered a pot innovator back in his day, having a whole social group just for recreational uses.

    but in 2016 his older daughter, Malia Obama, was photographed smoking what appears to be a joint.

    I actually kind of remember this “scandal” being all over Twitter. Wow, a first daughter smoking pot! I feel like the Obama daughters were very private, so for a photo like that to leak, I loved it. Something about it showed a very realistic side to one of America’s first Black children. Malia Obama, who was 18 years old at the time, was not the first teen to smoke pot, and she’s definitely not the first first child known to  have a good time.  I remember the outrage, but I also remember so many tweets taking up for her, basically saying that she’s just a teen at the end of the day. Most children of public figures keep a low profile in response to leaks and scandals, but her response is one of my favorites. 

    The homemade look of the t shirt just adds this dry humorous tone to the response. I feel like she just dug up a white tee and sharpie at the White House! Another reason why I love these pictures is that she looks absolutely elated.

  • How I prepare for a walk

    I love a good walk. I don’t know what it is about a walk that makes me feel grounded. I haven’t been on a walk in quite some time, but that reminds me of why I love them. When I’m off from work, that’s what I do to get exercise and to clear my mind.  When I feel like life is getting the best of me, I decide to go to a local park and take a long walk. The Langan Municiple park here in Mobile is my favorite. I’ve been visiting this park since I was a little girl, and I love the size and scenery. Before I go to the park, I pick out a comfortable outfit, and usually for me that is a t-shirt, yoga pants, mirrored sunglasses, and my Brooks tennis shoes. I know I’m really getting older because my Brooks are not what one, including myself, would think is a cute shoe, but they are so comfortable! As for my mirrored sunglasses, obviously they block the sun but also help me avoid awkward eye contact with other walkers. Next I get a snack. I’m good for a fruit smoothie, protein bar, or a mix of different nuts. I also pack a cold water bottle. I take a small belt bag with me that holds my AirPods and holds my phone when I get tired of holding it. When I get to the park, I go ahead and put my AirPods in and take this opportunity to see what kind of music I’m in the mood for. I usually listen to smooth R&B music or some fun pop music. At the municipal park there’s a long wooden bridge over a river, and sometimes I stop to admire the ducks in the pond before continuing my walk. Then at the end of the bridge there’s a giant bible, and I take a couple of minutes and sit there before I choose which route to take next.

  • 3 underrated movies as told by me

    If you know me, you know I love movies! Of course I have my favorite amongst the genres. I love indulging in the fairytale feelings of watching a romantic comedy, enduring the ups and downs of a dramatic comedy, and nuzzling in the warmth of a well-done biopic. Every movie buff has run across a movie they thought was so good but so underrated. Here are 3 of my favorite underrated movies.

    1. Heavenly Creatures (1994)

    I discovered this when I was about 9 or 10, just flipping through different channels when people actually bought cable, and I landed on the Biography Channel. Do y’all remember that channel? They usually had decent stuff on there. The movie was Heavenly Creatures (1994). I love this movie because the story was so captivating. This type of movie usually isn’t even something I would watch due to its graphic nature. I’m glad I stayed on the channel and watched the entire movie because it’s one of my favorites to this day. 

    The plot of this psychological drama film is based off of a true story about two teen best friends in the 1950s in New Zealand whose passionate friendship turns into an imaginative obsessive frenzy of violent chaos. I love the dark suspense of this film and the progression of the relationship between the main characters.

    2. Slap Her, She’s French! or She Gets What She Wants (US) (2002)

    I am an absolute sucker for anything early 2000s (before it was trendy), but especially a movie. I randomly found this movie on demand. Ah yes, another premium cable discovery.  The movie is about a popular cheerleader in Texas whose whole life gets taken over by a conniving French exchange student. The popular cheerleader must work to expose the French exchange student for who she truly is.

    I love this movie because of the cliche early 2000s teen movie tropes, themes, and fashions. This movie has lots of twists, turns, and surprises.

    3. In her Shoes (2005)

    I forgot how I discovered this movie, but while this movie was #3 in the box office, I feel this movie is underrated because I haven’t met one person who has seen this movie. It is a mid-2000s romantic comedy drama. All of my favorite movie genres combined! I really like when a movie has two main characters who juxtapose each other in terms of who they are as people. This is one of those movies. The plot is about two estranged sisters, one a career-driven lawyer and the other an irresponsible party girl, who have a falling out but reconnect for their grandmother. This movie shows a true depiction of sibling relationship conflicts and reconciliations.

  • Once upon a app

    I have been using social media for a very long time; like, I remember when you could only post pictures on Instagram. That memory is an example of one of the most fascinating parts of using social media. The evolution of the social media apps. It reminds me that I’m getting older, that times are changing, and that technology is growing. I have had an X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, and Snapchat account for over a decade and have seen all those apps go through weird, sometimes unnecessary changes. Yes, unnecessary! Have you ever updated an app or even a device and questioned why? Who asked for this? Yeah, me too. So I actually want to highlight some memorable now-obsolete social media features.


    1. Snapchat is pretty famous for their 24-hour stories and chats being deleted immediately after you open them. Of course if there is a video, you will replay it, but did you know Snapchat used to charge for additional replays? You could get one free replay before you close the app, and then after that you could purchase 3 for $0.99, 10 for $2.99, or 20 for $4.99. Nowadays if you leave the app, you just won’t be able to replay it again.

    2. Like I mentioned before originally you could only post photos and, like, comment on Instagram. In 2013, in an obvious attempt to upstage the popular 6-second video app Vine, Instagram launched 15-second video capability. I have to be honest, they kind of did upstage Vine, and I’m saying this as a self-proclaimed Vine girlie. Because shortly after Vine went defunct, so many popular creators switched to Instagram, and that switch helped launched quite a few careers. The fifteen-second videos grew into what we have now, which are reels, which actually reminds me of TikTok.

    3. Revisiting Snapchat, which, in my personal opinion, has gone through plenty of interesting changes, but one in particular that no one ever talks about is the public best friends ranking. I feel like this is one of the messier social media features because you could see the top 3 people each friend basically Snapchats the most. They actually haven’t completely done away with this; it just has a more detailed ranking and is private.

    circa 2013
    Circa 2025

  • Fake friends or Jews?? Who knows!

    This is the most miscommunicated celebrity faux pas I have ever seen. In August 2023 Hollywood’s favorite triple threat, Jamie Foxx, made a text post on Instagram stating the following: THEY KILLED THIS DUDE NAME JESUS…

    WHAT DO YOU THINK THEY’LL DO TO YOU???!

    #fakefriends #fakelove

    I feel like it was obviously saying that if Jesus were betrayed or mistreated, it could happen to you as well. A pro-Jewish blog reposted it, claiming that it was antisemitic, I am assuming because of beliefs that Jews were responsible for Jesus’s death.

    Although she was not even mentioned in either post, critically acclaimed actress, Jennifer Aniston‘s Instagram handle is shown liking the original post.

    She posted a response…

    Then Jamie Foxx issues an apology…

    Let’s take a spin…

    I think Jamie Foxx actually had a decent response; I just would’ve apologized less and put emphasis on my explanation of the post! He apologized way too much. The post obviously was not about Jewish people, and Jennifer Aniston amplifying it made it worse.

    “Just to clear the air on my recent post, I was referring to being betrayed by fake friends… Sorry for any confusion.”

  • Queen vs Queen

    It’s not a secret that Nicki Minaj is considered the queen of rap but her thrown was threatened in 2017 when new female MC Cardi B stepped on to the scene. In October 2017 the two were featured on Migos “Motorsport” where there was speculation, they were dissing each other on the same track. Then the music video for “Motorsport” was released and it was obvious they did not shoot any scenes on the same day. They continued to deny the beef. Nicki Minaj claims her hairstylist wasn’t available on those days and cardi b spilled details about a Nicki Minaj changing her verse for the song. Nicki Minaj fires back on twitter. In 2018 met gala they were seen being cordial with each other. Fast forward to September 2018 after years of shady interviews and side comments in September 2018 Cardi B tried to fight Nicki Minaj at a NYFW event. That is just a summary of the 7-year long beef between the two female rappers. Yes! They are still beefing well into the roaring 2020s.

    I understand absolutely that rapping, acting, singing etc. is a job at the end of the day so if you’ve worked a job, you know it’s typical to have a coworker, you’re not fond of or you may have had a disagreement with. The difference between us regular folk and celebrities is they navigate workplace issues on the world stage which I think heightens those issues. They’ve gone from light twitter beef to physical fights and the continuation of demeaning twitter beef activating underlying beef with other artists and even going so far as to talk about each other’s kids.

     

    Here’s what I would have like to have seen not only as a PR major but a fan of female rap! Before beef even manifested, I think their debut collab should’ve been just the two of them on an epic female rap anthem! This would’ve been a great way for Nicki Minaj to show why they call her the queen besides her music instead of insisting she “little sister” Cardi B on “motorsport”. Nicki Minaj also had Queen radio via Apple Music and her and Cardi B promoting “Motorsport”. Cardi B loves twitter beef not just with Nicki Minaj but with any random hater I feel like is she had a social media manager this beef would be more under control I also feel the same for Minaj she’s been famous for a long time. A celebrity of her stature should not be ruining the legacy she’s built by throwing low blows via Twitter. In a perfect world they make up behind the scenes and give us an amazing mixtape collaboration.

  • Bon appétit? Perhaps not

    No one expects a world-renowned athlete to be denied entry to a restaurant, but in 2024, tennis powerhouse Serena Williams was denied entry at the opulent French hotel rooftop The Peninsula Paris.

    She took to X, formally known as Twitter, to blast the eatery.

    “Yikes @peninsulaparis I’ve been denied access to rooftop to eat in a empty restaurant of nicer places but never with my kids. Always a first. #Olympic2024,” she tweeted.

    Peninsula Paris responded with an apology.

    “Dear Mrs. Williams, Please accept our deepest apologies for the disappointment you encountered tonight,” the establishment wrote in the comments.

    “Unfortunately, our rooftop bar was indeed fully booked and the only unoccupied tables you saw belonged to our gourmet restaurant, L’Oiseau Blanc, which was fully reserved,” the venue continued. “We have always been honored to welcome you and will always be to welcome you again”

    Let’s take a spin, shall we?

    I wouldn’t have given this restaurant an ounce of publicity even if it was bad. Instead, Serena Williams could’ve posted a photo with some staff at a different restaurant to her 29 million social media followers. Maybe with a caption thanking them for their hospitality or maybe some candid paparazzi shots in front of the restaurant for a more natural approach. This way The Peninsula Paris may regret missing out on this grand opportunity for exposure.

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