Jill Scott, Hallmark’s scholarship for inner-city kids
Jill Scott’s Blues Babe Foundation to Launch National Scholarship in partnership with Hallmark
Jill Scott, a Grammy Award-winning singer and songwriter, is in partnership with Hallmark’s Mahogany brand. Scott’s Blues Babe, a registered 501(c)3 foundation, established a national, merit-based scholarship for college students interested in pursuing a career in the writing arts. The collaboration unites Mahogany’s commitment to a genuine, progressive and optimistic reflection of African American culture with the Blues Babe Foundation’s extensive work in initiatives supporting minority students pursuing a college education.
“To be able to give inner-city students the opportunity to receive a scholarship and pursue a career in writing is phenomenal,” JIll Scott says in a statement to press. “My love and passion for writing is reflected in my music and my poetry and I am sincerely grateful that Mahogany decided to partner with the Blues Babe Foundation to help nurture young creative minds.”
Currently enrolled college students interested in applying for the scholarship may visit hallmark.com/truemahogany to submit qualifying information, a writing sample and an essay for consideration. Two winning applicants (as selected by representatives from Mahogany and the Blues Babe Foundation) will each receive a $10,000 scholarship. Both winners also will be invited to Hallmark’s headquarters in Kansas City, Mo. for an all-expenses paid workshop with Mahogany’s team of writers during the summer of 2016. This personalized workshop will help students hone their craft over a three-day period and fully immerse them in the day-to-day experience of a Mahogany writer.
Mahogany and the Blues Babe Foundation will promote the importance of education and creative writing skills during sessions at this year’s Camp Jill Scott. CJS is an annual summer enrichment camp for underserved middle school students in the North Philadelphia area. Mahogany writers will work directly with the campers, serving as positive role models and inspiring them to explore their creative writing abilities through guided activities.
“Our greeting cards’ messages are rooted in inspiration, positivity and cultural connection,” said Tara Frank, vice president of multicultural strategy for Hallmark Cards. “This partnership provides an avenue for us to put that message into action — nationally and locally — and we’re excited to partner with Scott’s Blues Babe Foundation to do so. We hope that our shared vision leads to rewarding and enriching opportunities for college-bound students.”
Applications for the Mahogany & Blues Babe Foundation Scholarship will be accepted through Oct. 30, 2015. For more information and official rules, visit www.hallmark.com/truemahogany
PRAY! FOR BOBBI KRISTINA BROWN, IT’S IN GOD’S HAND NOW!
Sadly, Bobbi Kristina Brown is showing no signs of improvement.
A source close to the family tells ET exclusively that Bobbi Kristina is now off all medications and could pass away at any moment. Another source tells us that her organs are failing.
"Despite the great medical care at numerous facilities, Bobbi Kristina Brown's condition has continued to deteriorate," Pat Houston told ET in a statement Wednesday. "As of today, she has been moved into hospice care. We thank everyone for their support and prayers. She is in God's hands now."
Bobbi Kristina -- the only child of the late Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown -- has been on a ventilator in a medically-induced coma since she was found unresponsive in a bathtub on Jan. 31. She turned 22 on March 4, and was moved to an Atlanta rehabilitation facility later that month.
Just last week, Bobby Brown's lawyer slammed reports that Bobbi Kristina was being brought home to die. "Bobbi Kristina is not going home to die as numerous news affiliates and websites have reported," attorney Christopher Brown said.
Janet Jackson To Receive Ultimate Icon: Music Dance Visual Award At BET Awards
Janet JacksonJanet Jackson will receive the first-ever Ultimate Icon: Music Dance Visual Award at this weekend’s BET Awards. The announcement was made on twitter that pop icon will be honored during the 15th annual BET Awards show at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on Sunday, June 28, at 8 p.m.
.@JanetJackson will receive the 1st ever Ultimate ICON: Music Dance Visual award! #BETAwards LIVE SUN JUNE 28 8P|7c pic.twitter.com/6g8zq3jRIC
— #BETAwards (@BETAwards) June 23, 2015
But before she accepts her award, the 49-year-old singer will receive a dance tribute from Chris Brown, Ciara, Jason Derulo, and Tinashe. Other performers hitting the BET Awards stage Nicki Minaj, Kendrick Lamar, Meek Mill, Ne-Yo, and the cast of Fox TVs “Empire.”
Janet released her new single “No Sleep” earlier this week, and her first album in seven years is scheduled to be released this fall on Rhythm Nation. Congrats ICON!
R.I.P Dick Van Patten Passes Away at 86
Given his prolific presence in Tinseltown for multiple decades, it’s no wonder the entertainment industry is mourning the loss of Dick Van Patten.
The “Eight is Enough” star passed away at the age of 86 on Tuesday (June 23) in a hospital bed at Saint John’s Hospital in Santa Monica, California.
Van Patten’s rep told press that he died due to complications related to type II diabetes and he is survived by his wife of more than 60 years Pat Van Patten and his sons Vincent, Nels and Jimmy. Dick starred in memorable projects such as “The Love Boat,” “Spaceballs,” “Robin Hood: Men in Tights” and recently had a cameo on “Hot in Cleveland.”
Meet HK Edgerton … The Black White Supremacist and a COON!
Meet North Carolina native HK Edgerton. Over the years, Edgerton has made a name for himself by dressing as a Confederate soldier and parading the Confederate flag around the South. Edgerton describes himself as an activist for Southern heritage and has appeared at dozens of rallies in support of the flag and its history.
Earlier this week, just hours after “Black Lives Matter” was spray-painted on a Confederate monument in Asheville, Edgerton appeared on site to lash out at the vandals. “I’m not going to blame it on a Yankee, because I’ve seen some southern folk around here that are real questionable too, that don’t know anything about who they are and their families and the honorable people in the southland of America… red, yellow, black, white and brown!” Edgerton said in an interview with the local NBC affiliate.
Edgerton, a former president of the North Carolina NAACP, is a real life Clayton Bigsby. As for people who have an issue with his outlook, he remarked in a separate interview, “I don’t know why anyone would complain about an old handsome Black man standing here, embracing the flag of his ancestors and his homeland.”
The Confederate flag has become a hot topic after Dylann Roof, a White man photographed wearing the symbol, entered a Black church last week and opened fire on nine Black people, killing them. Wal-Mart, Amazon and eBay have all announced that they will no longer sell merchandise with the flag on it, and politicians in several Southern states are working to have the flag removed from state flags and license plates.
MENTAL ILLNESS IS A DISEASE!
Prince's Ex-Wife Writing a Tell-All Book
Prince's ex-wife Mayte Garcia writing a tell-all book about their marriage…
Former Hollywood Exes star Mayte Garcia is writing a tell-all about her three-year marriage to rocker Prince and hopes to have it in stores by Christmas.
Mayte will open up about their bizarre lifestyle and the struggle of dealing with the loss of their child, who died days after his birth of a rare genetic disorder, which ultimately lead to their divorce.
Mariah Carey and James Packer Talking Marriage, ALREADY?
Earlier this week Mariah Carey went public with her new romance with Australian billionaire James Packer.
Now insiders are claiming the happy couple are already talking marriage…
Sources tell TMZ James is utterly obsessed with Mariah and has already told her he wants to marry her.
Apparently Mariah is very open to the idea.
The couple, along with Mariah's twins, have been sailing the Mediterranean on James' yacht over the past month.
Autopsy Report: Freddie Gray Suffered “High-Energy Injury” To The Neck & Spine
Freddie Gray’s autopsy report was obtained by the Baltimore Sun yesterday (June 23). According to the details, Gray suffered a “high-energy injury,” to the neck and spine, likely brought on by riding in the police van, which abruptly changed directions several times.
Gray was not belted in, which is against police. The coroner concluded his death to be a homicide after examining the vehicle and speaking with witnesses. An autopsy was completed on April 30, but has not been made public as of yet.
Reports the Baltimore Sun: The state medical examiner’s office concluded that Gray’s death could not be ruled an accident, and was instead a homicide, because officers failed to follow safety procedures “through acts of omission.”
Though Gray was loaded into the van on his belly, the medical examiner surmised that he may have gotten to his feet and was thrown into the wall during an abrupt change in direction. He was not belted in, but his wrists and ankles were shackled, putting him “at risk for an unsupported fall during acceleration or deceleration of the van.”
The medical examiner compared Gray’s injury to those seen in shallow-water diving incidents.
“Reportedly, Mr. Gray was still yelling and shaking the van,” wrote the medical examiner. “He was removed from the van and placed on the ground in a kneeling position, facing the van doors, while ankle cuffs were placed, and then slid onto the floor of the van, belly down and head first, reportedly still verbally and physically active.”
According to the report, after the vehicle made five separate stops, Gray was found kneeling and slumped over the in the van. His hands and feet were shackled, and he also appeared “lethargic with minimal response to direct questions.” There’s a possibly that he could’ve suffered a seizure as well. Opiates and marijuana were reportedly found in his system.
Baltimore State Attorney Marilyn Mosby brought charges against six officers involved in Gray’s arrest. “I strongly condemn anyone with access to trial evidence who has leaked information prior to the resolution of this case,” she said following the autopsy leak.
Georgia Man Claims He Was Beaten With Baseball Bat for Being Gay
South Fulton County police are searching for a man they say assaulted another man with a baseball bat for making a pass at him.
It all started when Adrian Wilson spotted a man fixing a flat tire outside his apartment on Cascade Road in southwest Atlanta. Wilson said the man asked him for help fixing his tire.
The man, who police later identified as Denzale Johnson, was wearing his pants sagging low. Wilson said Johnson asked him how much money he wanted for the help.
Wilson probably took that as a sign that Johnson was trade — gay slang for a young heterosexual man who is willing to trade sex for cash or other favors.
“I said you already gave me a free peep show, so I’ll go ahead and do it for free,” Wilson told Channel 2 Action News.
Wilson said Johnson didn’t take kindly to the sexually suggestive comment.
“He asked me then if I’m straight, and I said, ‘No, I’m gay,’” said Wilson. “He went off telling me, he wasn’t gay he was straight, he hated gay people.”
Wilson said he turned to leave and Johnson struck him from behind with a baseball bat.
“He said he hates gay people. I’m gay, he hit me with a bat so apparently he hated something about me,’ said Wilson, who received 13 stitches to close a head wound.
South Fulton police are looking for Johnson who is wanted on aggravated assault charges.
Georgia is one of 5 states that has no hate crime legislation on the books. So Johnson won’t be charged with a hate crime.
But critics of hate crime legislation say the law is used unfairly in cases where victims instigate violence.
New Google App Let’s You Get Your ‘Oops!’ Email Back!
Don’t all of these apps start getting on your nerves after awhile? It seems “there’s an app for that” now applies to everything you do, think, feel, or care to be.
Damn. Even the things designed to make life smoother for us can become overwhelming.
But sometimes, not often, but at times, an app comes along that seems to be right on point. And that app appears to be Google’s latest revelation: “The Oops, I didn’t mean to send that to him app.”
Well, that’s not the formal name for it, but that is what is was created for.
Here’s an example:
You: “I can’t stand this damn job. My supervisor is so stupid. You won’t believe what he came in here and said to me this morning. I swear, sometimes I think a monkey could do the job better than him. I’ll talk to you later girl.”
You press send.
You: “Wait. What? But I thought …No! No! Noooooo!”
You thought you were sending it to your gal-pal. But you actually sent it to the “supervisor” you referred to.
Oops!
Not to worry, now you can get it back…Retrieve it before they ever see it. Whew! (I hear your sigh of relief way over here.)
But first, you’ll need to have a Gmail account, because it is this email account that it works through.
Using the “Undo Send” button, you can utilize a delay on your outgoing messages by at least five seconds. And if you are a member of the “I’m so paranoid” set, you can add delay time in the form of a 30-second lag.
Now, of course, this still may not be enough time. Especially, if you’re like me, and that nagging thought that I may have sent it to the wrong person catches up to me say, 10-minutes-later. But oh well…
For those who already have a Gmail account, the “undo button” is not really new. You may have already gone to Gmail Labs, the experimental section of the site since 2009, and installed it.
But now the Google crew has seen how popular it has become, so they decided to give it an upgrade on Monday. Wonder why they waited so long?
To turn it on, click “Settings” under the gear icon, and choose your cancellation time period. Users who had already opted for the function under Google Labs will have their preferences turned on by default.
Jada Pinkett Smith Hosts ‘Magic Mike XXL’ ATL Screening; Porsha Williams, Monyetta Shaw, Phaedra Parks & More Attend
Jada Pinkett Smith hosted a private screening of Magic Mike XXL in Atlanta last night. The screening also doubled as a celebration for Porsha Williams‘ 34th birthday, and Monyetta Shaw, Keshia Knight Pulliam, and Phaedra Parks were also spotted.
Rockin’ a bright yellow dress, Jada was accompanied by a number of shirtless men, while introducing the movie. Catch a few more candids from the evening inside.
Fab times! MAGIC MIKE XXL grinds into theaters nationwide on July 1st!
AND FINALLY FROM “THE CRAZY PEOPLE SHOPPING AT WALMART” FILES
‘SOCKS + SANDALS’
This is what happens when you pair the same pair of socks for 10 years without taking them off. #YOLO
HAVE A GREAT DAY ALL!!!
EFREM
