It's been a loooong, a long time coming, but I knooow a change gon come!

That's a lil Sam Cooke for ya. If you don't know Sam Cooke's name but know Justin Timberlake's name, remove yourself from my blog immediately! LOL. Just kidding. Or am I?

Anyway, it's been a long time, I shouldn't have left you without a dope blog to step to! (That's a lil Aaliyah.) I know I've been terrible about updating my blog, and I know that every time I do update I say, "I won't ever leave your side this long again." But this time, I mean it! I'm going to take the time out, every Friday morning to write a blog because you deserve to hear the voice of the angry Black girl who sits in the back of the class steaming over the latest pseudo-racist comment that the teacher or student has made. You need this voice!

What's new with me? Glad you asked. In my very first appearance as a graduate student at UIS, I received two As and one B on my report card (doesn't "report card" sound so very grammar schoolish?)! And so that leaves me with a 3.75 (or thereabouts). Not bad for the girl who really didn't want to get a Masters but felt it would be incredibly dumb to not get one seeing as someone else was going to pay for it.

For the last past month, I've been at home in Chicago (my hometown), chilling and taking in all the polluted air. Feels so fresh! I'll admit that, at times, I do enjoy the slower pace of Springfield, but nothing beats home! I mean, our news is always so exciting! Somebody got shot! Somebody smuggled money! Someone's corrupt! Somebody burned down somebody else's house! That's quality stuff right there! Where else in Illinois can you go and see Dreamgirls on Christmas Day and walk out into a parking lot full of cops inspecting every car as it leaves the parking lot? Nowhere!

And let's not talk about the food. I've tried to have every Chicago staple food in the book since I've been here. Giordano's and Lou Malnati's deep dish pizza. Maxwell Street Polish sausages. Joy Yee's pan-Asian cuisine (sorry, but the Asian cuisine in Springfield is sub par, at best). The Greek Islands lamb. And today, I'm going to Maggiano's Little Italy to eat Italian food until I blow up!

I also got a tattoo (an equal sign) and a haircut (take it all off, taper the sides!).

I'll be returning to school in time for MLK Day and I'll be hitting you with a blog to talk about what I think about the holy grail of America's obsession with trying to seem as if it isn't a racist country. (And if you don't believe we live in a racist country, well, then, I don't know what to tell ya!)

Until then, love, peace, and SSSSSSOOOOOOOUUUUULLLLL!