You May Want To Rethink Those Facebook Photos - Seriously!!!

By Peggy Klaus

Admittedly, I am not a heavy user of social networking sites and I don’t blog on a regular basis. However, I have become very mindful about how I might be perceived and the messages I want to convey. After all, any online content will continue to brag on my behalf for months and years to come.

I started thinking seriously about virtual branding after a recent visit from my niece, who, after taking a few months to travel in South America following graduation from college, returned home to apply for jobs. She stopped by for some help with her resume and some coaching for an upcoming interview. Wanting to show me a few pictures from her trip, she logged onto her Facebook page. As we sat together and scrolled through her photo albums, I was appalled. Now admittedly, I’m two generations removed from Millennials and much has changed regarding etiquette and behavior during that time.

However, of the 300-some pictures on her Facebook page, about 280 of them showed her in party mode with drink in hand or tilting towards her glassy-eyed inebriated friends. And the kicker was a photo of her smoking a hookah. When I shrieked at that one, she said very innocently, “We’re not smoking grass, Aunt Peggy! It’s tobacco!”

Although that might be the truth, I explained, a potential employer couldn’t possibly know that. It’s a well-known fact that employers not only Google potential employees but also look them up on sites like Facebook and MySpace. And, though I might be accused by some Gen-Yers of being old fashioned, the photos my niece had posted on her Facebook site did not portray the image of her she would want hiring managers to have. She reluctantly agreed to revise her selection of photos and delete the incriminating ones.

Social media is a powerful tool that can do wonders for our businesses, rekindle relationships, make us feel more connected, and save us time. But unfortunately, if left unattended, it can become a negative gift that keeps on giving. For some tips on making social media work for you, not against you, click here.

Was Heralded Civil Rights Photographer Ernest Withers Actually A FBI Informant?

Turns out Ernest Withers, a revered civil rights photographer who captured iconic images of Martin Luther King Jr. on the night King was shot in Memphis, actually played a different role the day before: FBI informant.

A just completed a two-year investigation reveals how Withers provided the FBI with details about where King was staying and information on his meeting with black militants on April 3, 1968 — the day before the assassination.

Withers' spying, however, extends far beyond the slain civil rights leader.

Apparently Withers collaborated for years with FBI agents monitoring the civil rights movement. Beloved in Memphis, Tennessee, where a namesake museum is scheduled to open next month, it remains to be seen how these new revelations may affect Withers' legacy.

More here...

Favorite New Song Right Now - Bruno Mars "Just The Way You Are"

Days after he was arrested in Las Vegas on a cocaine charge Sept. 19, rising R&B singer Bruno Mars, claimed his first No. 1 on Billboard's Hot 100 singles chart this week.

"Just the Way You Are," which also marks his first charting single as a lead artist, rose two places to the top and ended the two-week reign of Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream," which fell to No. 4. (Mars previously went to No. 1 in May, as the featured artist on B.o.B's "Nothin' On You").

Mars, 24, was arrested early Sunday on suspicion of possessing cocaine after a suspicious bathroom attendant at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino alerted authorities. the Hawaiian native, born Peter Gene Hernandez, is scheduled to perform on Saturday Night Live when it debuts this Fall.

With an incredibly smooth, soulful voice, let's hope the young performer can leave the drugs alone (assuming it's true) and just focus on making great music!

Acclaimed Cosby Show Artist Varnette Honeywood, Dead at 59

By Moses X Ball

The world has just lost an incredible individual. Varnette P. Honeywood has died.

Well-known as an artist and illustrator, Varnette P. Honeywood is highly regarded for her use of color and light, patterns and textures. Her work—primarily paintings, collages, and prints—has received wide exposure in galleries and individual and group shows, as well as in books and on television.

A graduate of Spelman College and member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Honeywood is famous for her upbeat depictions of black family life.

Carrying on the tradition of genre painting, a black artistic movement that followed in the wake of the Harlem Renaissance, her work portrays blacks in a range of settings, going about various activities, always stressing the colorful and creative aspects of African-American culture.

Her work tells stories and communicates ideas and thoughts. Much of Honeywood's art concerns the history of black Americans, their sufferings and triumphs, and celebrates the strength and leadership of black women.

Her work is probably most known for appearing on Cliff and Claire Huxtable's wall on The Cosby Show. I met Varnette back in the early 90's at the [Los Angeles] Crenshaw Plaza's yearly African American Fine Art Exhibition.

This was back when the exhibition featured some of the most well respected artists we have, from Jacob Lawrence, to Samella Lewis, Elizabeth Cattlett and John Biggers.

Varnette stuck out for me because she was so open about her process and full of so much advice for a young annoying kid who loved to draw pictures. I would go back every year (until leaving for college) and always check in with her, showing her new work and always learning something new from her practical wisdom.

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My Journey With Oprah - From Unimpressed Student To Inspired Colleague

Farewell and Hello

By Kevin Ross

When Oprah Winfrey hit the national stage on Sept 8, 1986, who could have imagined that a 32-year-old news journalist with a strange, biblical-inspired name would amass such a level of fame, wealth and influence?

And it all started with a television show.



For me, what initially stood out about the undisputed queen of talk was that she was one of only a few minority personalities on network TV, particularly during the day.

Admittedly, I was underwhelmed watching the A.M. Chicago host interview Mr. T during a brief visit to the Windy City in the early 80's. “Who is this Oprah?” I remember saying disdainfully to my Morehouse College buddy. “People like her," he responded defensively. "She’s more popular here than Phil Donahue!”

(Years later, that same friend would marry a woman who ended up working at Harpo Studios.)

By the time Winfrey’s show debuted around the country, I had just finished college. Although I felt like the same person, the “new” Oprah I was now eying seemed more entertaining. I actually wrote to her the following month, inquiring whether I could be on the show to discuss why students such as myself preferred attending Historically Black College and Universities over mainstream white institutions (in my case the University of Southern California).

Hoping to get her attention, I included a 1986 Men of Morehouse Calendar that some classmates and I had created and sold earlier that year.

Although I was never contacted by the show’s producers, I remained a loyal fan. Between scouring newspaper job listings and filling out law school applications, I always made it a point to get my regular Oprah fix.

But once my student loans started getting uppity and my parents began inquiring whether I was as clear about my career path as I kept insisting, it was decision time. Was I going to continue working the marketing job I had just landed, or follow the path that I felt compelled to pursue?

With a little help from the media mogul and the debut of a one-hour drama set in a fictitious law office, the answer would be revealed.

You see it was the power of television that ultimately gave me the confidence to believe that I had a shot at having a legal career. At the time, I neither knew anyone in the profession, nor did I fully understand what would be required to succeed in it.

What I did know was after watching LA Law, which also premiered in the Fall of 1986, I became convinced that if Mario Van Peebles and Blair Underwood could portray polished attorneys who just happened to be black, then I could actually be one?

And with Bryant Gumbel successfully at the helm of The Today Show, The Oprah Winfrey Show obliterating afternoons and The Cosby Show dominating primetime, the so-called “boob tube” kept reinforcing in my mind one thing and one thing only:

Achievement!

In 2010, that message is making a comeback!

Look no further than the upcoming Primetime Schedule of the major networks and you’ll find more "color" (at least in front of the camera) than we’ve seen in quite some time. And NBC, to their credit, is leading the way with shows like Undercovers, Outlaw, The Event, Law & Order: Los Angeles, and Community.

In daytime, returning programs like ABC’s The View with Whoopi Goldberg and Sherri Sheppard, Meredith’s Better with Audra Lowe, and Debmar Mercury’s The Wendy Williams Show feature multi-talented women conversing with everyone from reality stars to an African American Commander-In Chief. Joining that mix is Holly Robinson Peete, one of the six ladies helming CBS’s new chatfest The Talk.

With respect to syndicated game shows, Emmy-winning host Wayne Brady kicks off a second season of Let’s Make A Deal, while comedian, radio host and NY Times best-selling author Steve Harvey will now have the pleasure of kissing cheeks on Family Feud.

And if you go inside any of the court shows this year, you’ll discover 5 out of 10 feature African Americans dispensing justice They include mainstays Judge Joe Brown, Judge Greg Mathis, Divorce Court with Judge Lynn Toler, as well as Judge Karen’s Court.

I did say five, right?

The remaining one is mine.

And that's because I ended up going to law school and working as a LA prosecutor before serving for several years as an elected member of the California judiciary.

Now, America’s Court with Judge Ross is set to find its niche with audiences this Fall.

"These years with you… have enriched my life beyond measure," Oprah stated when she announced her decision to leave her award-winning show.

In joining my soon to be colleague for her 25th and final season (beginning Monday September 13), I look forward to sharing with the iconic figure what many, irrespective of race, truly feel about her journey.

“Thank you for inspiring me Ms. Winfrey. Mission accomplished!”

Former Superior Court Judge Kevin Ross is the host of America's Court. The show, from Entertainment Studios, debuted on broadcast television Monday, September 20. 2010 (check your local station for show times)

Will 'For Colored Girls' Give Black Actresses A Chance For Oscar Gold?

Tyler Perry's film adaptation of Ntozake Shange's For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf will hit theaters on November 5, according to Variety. The movie was originally scheduled for a January 2011 release.

The film features a slew of stage veterans including Tony winners Whoopi Goldberg, Anika Noni Rose and Phylicia Rashad as well as Kerry Washington, Janet Jackson, Thandie Newton, Loretta Devine, Kimberly Elise, Macy Gray and Tessa Thompson.

More info here

Don't Mess With 9-Year Old Willow Smith - You Hear That Rihanna?

Willow Camille Reign Smith is the daughter of Will and Jada Pinkett Smith. Her elder brother is a fellow child actor Jaden Smith, and paternal half-sister to Trey Smith. She along with her brother are youth ambassadors for project Zambia in conjunction with the Hasbro corporation-which helps children orphaned by AIDS in Africa.

Smith presented an award at the Kid's Choice Awards. She made her acting debut in I Am Legend alongside her father. Her next film, Kit Kittredge: An American Girl, was released on July 2, 2008.

The soon to be 10-year old's first single, "Whip My Hair" leaked on September 7, 2010. As you just heard, it definitely has some kick!