Relax! Relate! Release!

Editor's Note: I posted this a few years back on a previous blog, but (Good or Bad) it still rings true....

For anyone between the ages of 20 and 40 there is an important milestone that I feel the need to discuss. It defined my idea of black college life and made a damn sexy accessory of the flip up glasses well into the mid-90's. If you don't already know where I'm going with this, I pity you. Let me give you a hint.

"I know my parents love me..."
"Stand behind me come what may."
"I know now that I'm ready, yeah"
" 'Cause I finally heard them say..."
IT'S DIFFERENT WORLD! WHOO! FROM WHERE YOU COME FROM! YES, IT IS NOW, YEAH!

I'm sorry ya'll I had to go back for minute. Anyway, the Oxygen channel has been showing reruns of this hallowed institution and it has brought back many a cherished memory and not a few embarassing fashion choices. I will be the first to admit I had a few neon green outfits in the closet, no shame.
Looking at the show again in the naughts made me realize how important it was to the shaping of who I am today (After Denise left, of course. I don't care what certain people say, the show was not worth a damn till Lisa Bonet left).
Here you had a handful of young African Americans from all walks of life going to college. There were no drugs, no gangs, justed educated men and women trying to make a difference in not only their lives, but the lives of others. It dealt with social issues, i.e. AIDS, Domestic Abuse, Date Rape, etc. And it also addressed relatively realistic campus life on an HBCU (that's Historically Black College or University for the uneducated).
Sure, Mom always stressed the importance of a good education, but it was Dwayne Wayne and Whitley Gilbert that made me believe I could learn something. I'm sad to say I've already lost some of those important lessons.
Does anybody remember the "Mamie" episode? During one of the earlier scenes Ron tries to cheer up a depressed Dwayne by playing "The Dozens", a pseudonym for "Ya Mama" jokes. They are informed by, I can't remember who, that "The Dozens" were away of slave traders degrading and devalueing those slaves on the block that they deemed not fit for sale. I wonder if Wilmer Valderrama would be so proud of his little MTV show if somebody supplied him with that bit of info. (He should already be embarassed just because Ya Mamma jokes were old in the 90's)
Getting back to my point, A Different World, and The Cosby Show as well, were a positive for many in my generation. It told young African Americans that you could go to college, that you could be the doctor. What African American shows do the youth of today have to learn from? Heck, what shows do they have period? \

......(Crickets)......

Yeah, sad, isn't?

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