i am

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harlem, usa
same-gender-loving contemporary descendant of enslaved africans. community activist, feminist, health educator, independent filmmaker, mentor, playwright, poet & spiritual being. featured at, in & on africana.com, afrikan poetry theatre, angel herald, bejata dot com, bet tonight with tavis smiley, blacklight online, black noir, brooklyn moon cafe, gmhc's barbershop, klmo-fm, lgbt community services center, longmoor productions, nuyorican poets cafe, our corner, poz, pulse, rolling out new york, rush arts gallery, saint veronica's church, schomburg center for research in black culture, sexplorations, the citizen, the new york times, the soundz bar, the trenton times, the village voice, upn news, uzuri, venus, vibe, wbai-fm, wnyc-fm & wqht-fm. volunteered with adodi, bailey house, inc., black men's xchange-new york, colorofchange.org, drug policy alliance, east harlem tutorial program, imagenation film & music festival, presente.org, save darfur coalition, the enough project, the osborne association, the sledge group & your black world. worked on films with maurice jamal & heather murphy. writing student of phil bertelsen & ed bullins. mjt975@msn.com.

Sunday, January 28, 2018

Caroline Wozniacki and Roger Federer win 2018 Australian Open Singles Titles

world #2 caroline wozniacki of denmark on saturday night in melbourne defeated world #1 simona halep of romania 7-6, 3-6, 6-4 to win the australian open singles championship. this was the first career major singles title for wozniacki, and she was in tears after match point.

wozniacki lost her first major singles final at the u.s. open to serena williams in 2009. while clutching the winner's trophy, wozniacki said, "i'm sorry i'm just taking a second to hug daphne. i dreamt of this moment so many years, to be here now, it's a dream come true." neil diamond's "sweet caroline" played over the speakers as she carried the daphne akhurst memorial cup around rod laver arena.

on monday the popular 27 year-old regains the top ranking for the first time in six years - beating williams' record of five years and 29 days between stints at number one. wozniacki, humbly cognizant of being criticized by the pundits for being #1 and not winning a major, said, "i'm never going to get the question about being a world number one without a slam." 

world #2 roger federer of switzerland on sunday night in melbourne defeated world #6 marin cilic of croatia 6-2, 6-7, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 to win the 2018 australian open singles championship. federer's 20th major singles title is the most by any man in history. 

''i'm so happy, it's unbelievable. of course, winning is an absolute dream come true...the fairytale continues for us, for me, after the great year i had last year, it's incredible. i love you guys. thank you," federer said. he held up the trophy and got a standing ovation as tears streamed down his face. 

at the age of 36 years, 173 days, federer is the second oldest man to win a major singles final in the open era. ken rosewall won the australian open in 1972 at age 37. federer missed the last six months of 2016 due to injury. yet he's won three of the last five majors. he now joins margaret court (24), serena williams (23) and steffi graf (22) with 20+ major singles wins.
  





Wednesday, January 24, 2018

Aetna to pay $1.15 million civil penalty after leaking 2,460 members' HIV status

aetna will pay a $1.15 million civil fine, and vowed to improve it's privacy settings to settle charges it leaked the hiv-positive status of 2,460 new york members. during a mailing last summer, the confidential information could be seen in large transparent envelope windows.

new york attorney general eric schneiderman on tuesday said names, claim numbers and hiv medication instructions in the july 28, 2017 mailing were "clearly visible" to outsiders because of how aetna folded letters and inserted them into the envelopes. 

the mailing was intended to notify members of a class action settlement permitting them to buy hiv medication at discounted prices, rather than by mail - where their privacy might be compromised if families or neighbors saw the drug packages. 

"through it's own carelessness, aetna blatantly violated its promise to safeguard members' private health information," schneiderman said in a statement. the attorney general said his office uncovered similar issues with a september 25, 2017 mailing by aetna to 163 new york members with atrial fibrillation, an irregular heart condition.  

the hartford, connecticut-based company neither admitted nor denied any wrongdoing. however, aetna did agree to retain an independent consultant for two years to monitor its efforts to improve member privacy. 

also, last week they agreed to a $17.2 million settlement in the federal court in philadelphia of private litigation over similar claims by more than 11,000 members in new york and other states.

"we have worked to address the potential impact to members following this unfortunate incident. we are implementing measures designed to ensure something like this does not happen again as part of our commitment to best practices in protecting sensitive information," aetna said in a statement.

last month, aetna was bought by cvs health corp in a $69 billion transaction.      

Saturday, January 06, 2018

ESPN fires McNabb, Davis after sexual harassment allegations

espn has severed their professional relationships with former all-star football players donovan mcnabb and eric davis because of sexual harassment allegations which surfaced during their recent employment with nfl network.

mcnabb and davis were named in a lawsuit this past october alleging sexual harassment at nfl network. the suit alleges mcnabb sent explicit and inappropriate text messages to former wardrobe stylist jamie cantor. davis allegedly touched cantor's genitals without her consent.

both mcnabb and davis were employed by espn after leaving nfl network. espn confirmed friday neither mcnabb nor davis would be employed by their network after an investigation into the allegations were concluded.    

mcnabb and davis served as nfl analysts for espn. they were both suspended by the network in december, when the allegations by cantor were initially made public.  

Sessions abolishes protections for state marijuana laws

the department of justice on thursday said they've abolished existing policies to prevent federal prosecutors from interfering states who legalized marijuana. attorney general jeff sessions indicated he'll use the power of the federal government to attack each states' ability to decide their own laws.

sessions' intentions will affect millions of americans who voted to approve the legalization of marijuana in their state. his decision may encourage federal raids on licensed, regulated and tax-paying businesses. 

these companies employ thousands of employees and generate hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue for various public services, which include new school construction and substance abuse treatment programs.

president donald trump agrees with sessions. during his presidential campaign, he said this should be an issue to be decided by the states, not the federal government, despite the overwhelming feelings of many americans who feel otherwise.