Education, Research, & Advocacy

Yesterday, on the radio, I heard a DJ say that those who can't have children naturally shouldn't be allowed to adopt.  Really?  He later tried to dig himself out of a hole by saying he meant homosexuals, not that the new statement was any better.  But regardless of how he tried to "fix" his earlier statement, it still stung.  There are so many people in the world who aren't able to have children, some that do have children but aren't able to have anymore, and those who keep on having children...

Continue reading...

I know I have been consistent with this three people to a blog theme; however, today, I'm going to stick with two multi-talented men:  JQue and Eman

Patrick Michael Smith, aka J. Que, could be considered a hodgepodge producer and songwriter.  He is a fan of all genres and has worked with such artists as Fantasia, Usher, Avant, Chris Brown, Bryan-Michael Cox, Keri Hilson, Tricky Stewart, Chris Brown, Lil Jon, Antonio Dixon, Adonis, Eric Dawkins, and Jordan Knight, to name a few.  Yes, there's...

Continue reading...

We interrupt this blog, once again, to talk about what goes on behind the scenes of the musical artists, i.e., the producers and the promoters, and the songwriters.

StrayCat promotions is a one-woman army who has worked long and hard at getting new artists known and heard.  Kelly, or Stray as she is better known, became a friend of mine through a mutual love of the New Kids on the Block; however, I have watched how her initiative and persistence has paid off for her in a very big way.  She i...

Continue reading...

My next three artists are deftly diverse in genre:  LeeAnn Anderson, Rob Lewis, and Jimmy Marsh.

LeeAnn Anderson was introduced to our radio station, NKAirplay, by way of our listeners.  One of her friends tweeted us on the day her single came out and asked if we would play it.  As we had already set a precedent of playing New Kids' fans' music, we said okay, and LeeAnn got us the single.  Her musical background involves dance, drama, and singing in her church choir. Her song, "No Words Left...

Continue reading...

Before I post another blog about some amazing artists, I want to share a contest I recently held with our NKAirplay Radio listeners. I'm not a big fan of autographs unless they are personalized and I already have Joey McIntyre's new album on Itunes, so when I received his autographed picture and physical CD of his new album, it made sense for me to either give it away or sell it.  Granted, I could have made some decent money via paypal, but part of being a blockhead (aka a New Kids on the Blo...
Continue reading...

The next two artists I want to share don't actually share the same genre, but I love them just the same.

Again, all of these artists I met as a result of my support of NKOTB.  Remember my earlier blog about how being a fan taught me more than I ever thought I'd know about music?  Well, the majority of that is my introduction to new artists such as Soul and Roscoe Umali.

Soul or Solange currently resides in Montreal.  Actually, she's originally from South America and is trilingual, speaking ...

Continue reading...

Since I have a few blog posts about music, I thought I would use this blog to talk about a new genre that is quickly becoming a favorite -- Irish Hip Hop.  I first heard about one such artist, Shaymin, through his connection to the New Kids on the Block.  He grew up with the NKOTB and he says that they inspired him to be who he is today.  I had the opportunity to met Shaymin at one of my New Kids on the Block concerts.  The other two artists are from Ireland and were introduced to me through ...

Continue reading...

I began my most recent quarter at Capella University while I was still in the hospital.  I obviously had no time to say anything, but now I'm considering taking a quarter off in April.  Of course there are pros and cons to the decision, so I'm really not sure which direction I should turn.

The advantage is that it will give me some time to reflect on whether I truly want a PhD without feeling guilty for not feeling motivated to work on my literature review.  Yes, I realize I'm so close, so why...
Continue reading...

Today was my first trip out of the house since being in the hospital. I don't want to bore you with the details, but suffice to say, I returned home on the 15th with a walker because I have generalized weakness on my right side. I've been couped up in the house until today, so I was very excited to get out.

My husband and I went to Costco to use a gift card one of my aunts had sent me.  We didn't have a handicapped placard, so my husband wasn't able to park up close.  But, as soon as we did pa...
Continue reading...

Lately, there seems to be a lot of New Kids on the Block fans writing blogs about what the band means to them.  A lot of them are reading more and more like a “what did I do last summer” type of essay, but I’m finding that more than anything else, the blogs are the fans' way of legitimizing their love and trying to explain what I can only say is unexplainable.  That might sound a bit egotistical and biased, but the truth is, if you read any journalist’s critique of a NKOTB appearance ...

Continue reading...