My bad, I forgot about the Hot Man Candy for the last couple of weeks. I guess it's easy to forget about it when I'm surrounded by hot Frenchie goodness. I kid, I kid...although I have seen some beautiful French men lately. Speaking of Frenchies, this week's Hot Man Candy is the way-too-beautiful-for-a-man Gabriel Aubry. OK, technically he's French-Canadian, but whatever he's still hotness. Halle Berry is a lucky woman!

I’m learning a lot about the Frenchies from my time in Toulouse. I’m learning that the Frenchies know how to throw down when it comes to cheese (that’s another post). I’m learning that the French really do appreciate food (Yay! So do I!). And I’m learning the French will park anywhere. Seriously. Anywhere. For example:

• On the side of the street. Sure, that’s normal.
• In bus lanes. OK, not necessarily legal, but it’s done in plenty of other countries. However, I think parking in the bus lane and then running across the street to do your grocery shopping might be pushing it just a wee bit.
• In bike lanes. Not very nice for bicyclists, but again it’s not necessarily out of the ordinary.
• In the divider between opposite lanes of traffic...and without batting an eye (although I’d fear for the life of my sideview mirrors…and my doors). 
• In the middle of a one way road that's so narrow no one can possibly squeeze by, not even a bicyclist. Yup, I’ve seen folks do it, mosey away to deliver something/drop something off and take their sweet time coming back...if they come back at all.
• On the sidewalk. The Frenchies in Toulouse park on the sidewalk on such a regular basis, I now see the sidewalk as a natural extension of the parking space/street (I’m not even going to address the cars I’ve witnessed drive on the sidewalk). Granted I’ve been to other countries where parking on the sidewalk is the norm, most notably Poland. But in Poland, one only parks the front end of the car on the sidewalk…as opposed to the entire car like my beloved Toulousains.
• In handicap parking spaces when said driver is not handicap. And I’ve seen many a Frenchie take up 3 handicap spaces at once (one was gunning for four, but the car just wasn’t quite big enough…had they used one of the monster cars we drive in America, it would have worked).

These last two actually annoy me a little. More than a little. A lot. A friend of mine has to use a wheelchair. Every time I see a car parked on the sidewalk or see several handicap spaces being taken up, I think of him. There’s no way he could squeeze by a car parked on the sidewalk in his wheelchair on the already narrow side streets of central Toulouse. His only option would be to use his wheelchair in the street, which clearly isn’t terribly safe.

In my limited exposure in this land of fromage and Frenchies, I’d argue that France isn’t terribly wheelchair/handicap friendly anyway. To be fair, it’s because the cities and buildings in France are so freaking old. Beauitful, but old. It's very difficult and very expensive to make all the buildings wheelchair accessible. There's not much I can do about that except shoot the shank eye at sidewalk parkers/handicap space hoggers, secretly hope that karma really is a bitch and and laugh silently when said karma bites them in the ass.

On a random side note, my father used to yell at me whenever my car's bumper (lightly) tapped another car while I attempted to park. He would go insane with French parking. Let's just say the Frenchies put those bumpers to the test and then some.

P.S. When I have a good example of French parking, I'll put a picture up with this post.

...and I'm still (not so) secretly loving Larry Wilmore.

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And not just because my future husband-in-my-head-only is sexy as hell:

I wonder how many people would run into a volatile situation to help a little boy?

Let's play finish the sentence. Write the completion of this sentence by posting a comment: I have a dream...

And in case you've never actually heard Dr. King's entire I Have A Dream speech, please take the time to do so. The man was a lot of things (both good and not so good), but it's hard to deny that he was a great speaker. Like most Southern preachers, it takes awhile before he hits the crescendo of the speech, the meat if you will:

I remember hearing about this speech in elementary school...and I also remember my father making me listen to the entire speech. Let's just say a 7 year old doesn't appreciate the speech as much as a 27 year old. Ah, the difference 20 years makes.

Since Dr. King was born in my hometown of Atlanta (he even mentions Georgia in his speech), Atlanta always does what I call MLK Day + . Anyone else grow up watching Little Boy King every year? Anyone else know all the words to the theme song and can sing it by heart? Atlanta folks can. Never heard of Little Boy King? Most folks haven't.

Dang, I meant to post this a few weeks ago. I was interviewed last year for Black Expats Magazine about my experience living in London (clearly this was before I moved to Toulouse). The interview was put up on their website in December. If you can stomach seeing my ugly mug, click here to read the interview. As an added bonus you can find out my real name. Although American Black Chick in Europe is a pretty kick ass name, sadly I don't use it on a daily basis.

Ah, the beautiful man that is Wentworth Miller. I mean look at him. Is there any question as to why he's this week's Hot Man Candy?

By the way, am I the only one who just recently found out that Wentworth is part black? Yes? Really? I'm the only one? Dang. I'm so far behind on this one it's just sad.

P.S. Best Wentworth Miller related quote I've ever heard: "I'll be his prison bitch any day." - My Wentworth obsessed friend L

Instead of doing actual work (of which I have tons), I'm catching up on my Glenn Beck watching. First up: the 1st and 2nd part of a show Beck did earlier this week talking to black conservatives.



The rest of the segment is on YouTube.

I've already written my thoughts on Blacks and the Republican Party, but I haven't tackled the wider topic of black conservatives. I've got a lot to say on that one, but not enough time to write it. What do y'all think?

Although I'm quick to call Glenn Beck a dumbass (see here and here), I must admit this piece has me thinking:

Click here for the transcript of this radio program.

I'm not sure I'd exactly refer to the term African-American as a "bogus PC made up term." I definitely get why we (black Americans) use the term African-American...I think it's an attempt to solidify our claims of being American, to cut off questioning of whether or not we're really American...plus I think it sounds significantly nicer than previous terms used to describe us (see: Colored, Negro, and the N Word). But I think race is a very complicated subject anyway, trying to describe/define it even more so.

When most folks think African-American they think of people with brown skin. And yet, white Africans are considered African-American in the U.S. census. A friend of mine is of Indian descent. He's the only member of his family born in the U.S. Everyone else was actually born in Africa. So technically, his entire family (except for him) could be considered African-American.

Another friend of mine is of Nigerian descent, but born and raised in the U.S. His parents are African and now live in America. While he considered himself African-American (of Nigerian descent), I think his parents consider themselves Africans (Nigerians) living in America, not necessarily African Americans.

How does one define race? One can't merely base it on where one was born/the place of origins of one's ancestors...especially since a lot of Americans (both black and white) simply don't know. They can't articulate there bloodlines beyond saying "my family's from Europe" or "my family's from Africa". And let's be honest, a good chunk of black Americans can claim ancestors from both Africa and Europe (*sheepishly half raising my hand*). Even for folks who can definitively say where they're ancestors come from, using a country as a measuring stick for race somehow rings hollow. Plus one's country of origin defines your nationality, not necessarily your race.

One can't merely go on skin color alone either. Someone who is considered black can range in hue from "light, bright and damn near white" to a dark ebony color. Hell, you can just take a look at my extended family to see all the colors of the black folks spectrum. Someone considered white can range from very pale to darker than me (trust me on this...I meet folks who were way darker than me in Naples...and one very nice couple who tanned to a shade of brown that I would have burned at long before reaching). And what exactly is considered white?

For example, is future Hot Man Candy pick Wentworth Miller considered white? He "looks" white, but also has black (Jamaican if I'm not mistaken) ancestry. If we were following the One Drop Rule, his (beautiful) ass would be firmly placed in the black camp, but he is rarely (if ever) cast in black roles. In America at least, what it means to be white tends to change over time. The Polish, Irish and (especially) the Italians, for example, weren't always considered white.

Like I said before, I think race and trying to define it always difficult, possibly even impossible. What do y'all think?

I haven't written anything on Haiti yet because, well what more can I write that hasn't already been said? The earthquake is a horrible tragedy. If you can help, please do:

American Red Cross
British Red Cross
Croix Rouge
Disaster Emergency Committee (UK)
Doctors Without Borders (US)
Medecins Sans Frontiers (UK) 
Medecins Sans Frontiers (France)

I've listed just a few organisations that I know of, but there are tons of others out there. And for my American readers, you can donate $10 to the American Red Cross by texting "Haiti" to 90999.

Just a quick note: I can tell you from experience that the American Red Cross doesn't send new volunteers on international disaster relief operations. The teams that get sent out have several years of experience and receive quite a bit of specialised training. However, please check out your local Red Cross for volunteer opportunities and help them provide relief for the disasters that happen every day. I used to both volunteer with and work for a local American Red Cross chapter, so needless to say, I'm a big fan of the work they do.