Choose DonorsChoose.org!

if you want the chance to do something GREAT for public school kids, the fab-u organization DonorsChoose.org ,which was "conceived [by Charles Best] in the cafeteria of a Bronx public high school", is for you!

They are trying to win millions for our kids--and here's where you [American Express Card holders] can help:

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Last week, we made the Top 50 of the American Express Members Project. Now we’re in the Top 25, and it’s time to vote once more.
You are critical to winning up to $5 million for public school classrooms, so please vote now for our submission:
"Teachers Ask. You Choose. Students Learn."
If you voted last week, your vote this round will take about 30 seconds. If you’re voting for the first time, registration will take a couple minutes and you can refer to these simple instructions.
This round of voting ends in tomorrow. On behalf of the thousands of schoolchildren whom you could impact, thank you for voting now.

Sincerely,
Charles Best and the DonorsChoose Team

P.S. Please reply to this email with the word "Yes" so that we can thank you for voting. We will not email you again unless we make it to the Top 5 finals.

P.P.S. Please forward this email to all your friends, asking them to vote for us at this critical moment!
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Vote for our children.
Be the "citizen philanthropist" you were born to be.
Pray for peace.

Blessings,
DivaCardista
blessedstarcards.com

summer movies!!

Hey there!

Just a midday holla to let you know that you really should see the fantastical animated gem that is Ratatouille!

No, you don't need to have Michael's Ben as your ringtone to be into this kind of film.

While it is rather photo-realistic, shall we say, about all things rodential, Ratatouille is hysterically reverential about what it takes to really pursue your heart's truest desire.

And, Lord have mercy, if Paris-centric humor makes you smile and/or if you can at least scramble an egg, you should have seen this twice by now.

What a beautiful & funny grown up animated film.

And, before it leaves your DivaCardista's mind, do rent/find Surf's Up. That's another bit of animated genius that's way better than you will have anticipated.

Pray for peace.

Blessings,
DivaCardista
blessedstarcards.com

it's hard to keep a good woman down

i'm here jammimg to classic Queen Latifah [and her "European partner"] & thanking the good Lord for a good breeze in a week noted for its 90+ degree weather. Whooeee.

taking a break to holla bout the happy phenomenon that I've noticed in my heavy Broadway viewing of late--

sisters are holding it down!

from Tonya Pinkins to Angela Landsbury and Marian Seldez to Fantasia (by way of Oprah), whether it's magical thinking you're after or if you just need it to rain real bad since, after all, it's 110 in the Shade, it's a sister thing happnin on the great white way.

Welcome into my Queendom, come one come all...

110 in the Shade
when we found our seats at Studio 54 last week to see "110 in the Shade", we could barely contain ourselves whenever Diva Audra McDonald spoke, much less sang. mercy. the cast is excellent, but Audra is extraordinary. really.

spring awakening
one of the few reasons to sit through the too many Tony Award-winning teen sex / masturbation musical set in bad old Germany (so that makes it ok, right? it's all about the setting, after all...) is newcomer and LaGuardia Arts High School student Lilli Cooper. nice strong voice, good acting, and very pretty. she'll do well, i'm sure.

ok. i was clearly not in the demographic intended for this show, as i spent many a moment looking as far away from the dead center stage action--eww--as possible...but, i did actually appreciate [well deserved Tony winner] bill t jones' choreography/stage movement, and the set design, and, shoot, the costumes, and, dare i say it, even the performers, just not the "eww" factor that had the teens & tweens totally enraptured, titillated [as Chester Himes would say] and absolutely giddy. how do i know this? we could hear them giggling during the sexual scenes and stomping and hooting during the tremendous applause, especially at show's end.

this very same factor, by the by, had the other half of the audience--we who are nobody's prude but just don't necessarily need to see a teenage boy lose his whole hand inside of a teenage girl to get the fact that they are finna "do it", as twere--leaving the theatre as swiftly as possible at show's end, making eye contact with no one as if to say, let us never speak of this again.

made me wish i had Tyler Perry on speed dial. (Madea wda beat every child on that stage.)

the color purple
interestingly enough, my church sisters were down the street to see Ms. Fantasia in "The Color Purple" at the same time i was watching those intensely irritated girls sing well and frantically stomp about their mamas who bore them. go see this show! i've only heard amazing things about what Fantasia brings to an already fabu show.

grey gardens
dang. missed it. but not for lack of trying...

spamalot
you want to have a fun evening of theatre? go see this happy hodgepodge of in-jokes, Monty Python references and sight gags. just go. you know you need a laugh. and Marin Mazzie is just pure-d funny. [of course, the d stand for Diva!]

and, speaking of divas...

radio golf
now, your DivaCardista initially went to see this piece because of our alumNoir hero pal and brilliant star Harry Lenox, but stayed because...well...in significant part because this was August's last piece. I tell you, every time I see the Hotel Edison--where he took many a meal and wrote many a brilliant theatrical scene--I get all wistful. August was the man. (more about him in another post.) but radio golf stands well and is an excellent show. i wish Diva Tonya Pinkins had more to do, as she did in "Caroline, or Change" or even "Wild Party", but she takes the scenes that she has and, as always, works them well.

ahhh...it's a great time for theatre, y'all. whatever your flavor.

enjoy the day.

Blessings,
DivaCardista
blessedstarcards.com

throwing elbows & such

"Take 5 minutes to read this. It may save your life or love one's life.

Because of recent abductions in daylight hours, refresh yourself of these things to do in an emergency situation ..."

Have you gotten an email that starts like this? Well let me introduce you to snopes.com.

snopes is your friend, people. If you have recently received "Nine Tips" from one of your dear e-buddies, rather than throwing elbows and wallets at various perceived predators, peep the link.

As always, snopes will give you clarity and help you separate the wheat from the chaff.

Blessings,
DivaCardista
blessedstarcards.com

zapnin!

just thought i'd take a break from prep for an end of the week blessedstarcards.com vendor opportunity on Saturday--yay! but sheesh!--and say howdy y'all!

hope all is super well.

so glad it's summertime i don't know what to do!

love just throwing on a 1/4 lb. of cloth, grabbing my keys and a coupla Jacksons and out the door! now, that's what i call liberation.

speaking of which...

your DivaCardista finally got herself some wheels!

holla if you, too, are loving the SUV life! my initial intention was to get myself a sweet lil Toy-yota, but then this pretty lil SUV just caught my heart, let me tell you. Her name is Baybee. And, Lord have mercy, with all the pure-d stress that i have had to endure just to get something as quotidian as a doggone car, you would have thought I was trying to adopt an Eritrean orphan child! SO much we have gone through since last we spoke. Mph mph mph. but Baybee is mine now, tags and all.

now... all we need to do is learn how to park and rock the K turn without blemish or flaw. (Pray my strength!)

and, yes, they have finished mashing my insides around and draining off my life fluids for a while because--yay!--they didn't find a n ything rare or terribly disturbing going on inside. Thank you Lord!

now we just have to make our annual LadyDr. appointments and we will be straight re: the medical professionals in my life.

oh, and I joined a gym! the Good Lord built one right on the corner, as in: no matter what i do in the neighborhood i have to pass it anyway, so i may as well git in where i fit in...before i can't fit no more (clothes, furniture, public/private transport...)

got me a trainer and everything.

now how blessed is that?

now, you take care of your lovely self as well, ok? promise?

Blessings,
DivaCardista
blessedstarcards.com

PS: HAPPY [142ND ANNIVERSARY OF] JUNETEENTH!

Mira! Usted necesita ver "In The Heights"!!

Yo...

(it's a lotta slashes coming, ok? but it's just because...oooh...read on...)

If you have to wear a Starbucks patch for the next month, do it. If you have to miss the next sale at SYMS/Barneys/BabyPhat/Modells, do it. If you have to make eyes at the tkts salesperson, mami/mi'ijo, do it. Do whatever you have to do to see this hot with the hotness musical play.

Yes, I went to see it initially because my Diva girlfriend is in the show and your DivaCardista was reaching the unspoken limit on how many times you can tell another Diva

I'm coming to see your show soon,
fa reeah doe...

--and this past Sunday was the "due date" for soon--so, yes, I went because of my friend, but I stayed because

********"In The Heights" is hot to death! *********

Omigoodness.

Who should/must see this show:

If you are under the age of 95, you should see this show.

If you are under the age of 45, you really should take your peeps to see this show.

If you have ever watched the Puerto Rican Day parade [on TV]....

If you like hip hop even a little bit...

If you are kinda nice on the mic...

If you got the essence of "West Side Story" & "Soul Food" &...

If, whenever you see "Meet Me In St. Louis", you think: what would that be like con Dominicanos...

If you have/had an abuelita...

If you took Spanish in the seventh grade...

If you live/have ever lived or even been above 96th Street...

If you have ever been walking down the street and, seeing somebody spinning on his head on a cardboard box mashed flat, stopped to watch [in awe]...

If you can get down with some pan dulce and arroz con pollo even though your people are from Roanoke, Virginia...

If you are a classically trained dancer with a booty...

If you sometimes stand transfixed at the beauty of a NYC bridge at twilight...

If you are yet and still looking for the perfect beat...

If you have ever attempted to pop and/or lock...

If you love musicals...

If you have a pulse...

If you've ever been in love...

If you vowed never again after seeing that poetic bait&switch barrage of expletives that had some of the city's biggest reviewers all in a lather while you wanted to wash your mind with soap, all the while wishing that someone would one day be bold and skillful enough to unite hip hop & theatre...

If you haven't seen a show in a while because no one seems to tell you/show you anything new and if you see/hear about one more all white revival you swear you may commit a crime, go see this show.

Your heart will thank you.

Blessings,
DivaCardista
www.blessedstarcards.com

Tilapia & Me (a fish tale)

Just after I bless my food, I hear this raspy little voice:

"Don't get the coffee. It's 2.25."

Excuse me? I ask, as I am not only a tea lover but currently have a 14 inch tall glass of water in front of me. I am neither thinking nor drinking coffee.

She was a small woman with shocks of amber hair styled in a small sea of tiny swirls. She wore a London Fog trench coat. She looked frail.

"Now, I don't even know if you like coffee," she began, "but Dunkin Donuts has good coffee." She pauses for emphasis, looking disgustedly at her narrow brown mug. "And you're certainly not gonna pay 2.25 for it." She lowers her voice two more decibels while covering her mouth with the margharita menu. "Can you believe this place? Now, my shrimp were delicious, with the baby spinach, but 2.25 for this? I could see 1.50, 2 bucks, but 2.25? Come on..." she said, clearly indicating not only the crime & the cup, but the very incredulity of it all.

"I asked for another piece of garlic bread...fifty cents! I mean..." she trailed off. "Thank God water is still free." We both had to laugh. "What'd you get?"

Tilapia, I said. It's on the Weight Watchers menu. Three grams of fat.

"Oh," she said. "Fish."

It's spicy, but nice.

"Oh yeah? Mine was good too, except I didn't have near as much shrimp as I'd like. What can you do. Everything is more expensive these days. But my shrimp was good."

I began to eat again. She stood to leave a tip and button her coat. She smiled wistfully.

"You have a nice evening. It was nice talking to you."

You too, I said.

"And be sure to try the Duncan Donuts coffee."

I will I said. I will.

Single Divas eating solo: 1
Lonliness: zip

(And may you also eat good in your neighborhood this rainy spring day.)

Blessings,
DivaCardista
www.blessedstarcards.com
5/13 is right around the corner...