+Jay Young they did whitney & mj though

+james lee Yeah, I am with you on that. Whitney and MJ were larger than life creatures, so there's no way their deaths could've been given short shrift. With respect to both artists -- and that's what they were -- let me say this. About MJ's death, I was NOT taken by surprise. Like his confederates Janis Joplin and Elvis Presley, MJ's death to me was rather poetic in this sense. He died young and I accept that since I couldn't have seen MJ as a "senior citizen" in a rest home. Too vibrant a human machine. On the other hand, though, Whitney's death caught me flatfooted, totally unexpected. In fact, as I see it, she was just getting started. The singing career was etched in stone, with "I will always love you" the icing on the cake. But her career as a great dramatic actress she was, was on the rise. Whitney, in my opinion, was the equal of the late great Ethel Waters in this sense. Both women had great and dynamic screen presence, capable of expressing a wide range of emotion with just the muscles of the face alone. Me, with my po', broke self, would've had Whitney in an update of the Gloria Swanson "Sunset Boulevard." You see, Houston had all the dramatic power to pull off the role of Norma Desmond, the faded and almost forgotten silent screen star. As her young "secretary," I would've cast Kevin Costner in the role. The two could've made the same beautiful music they did in "The Bodyguard." It looked to me as if Whitney's features would've held long into her years, like Ethel Waters, so she was really just getting started. But maybe her death was just as poetic as MJ's. You see, James, in my view, some people are just not created for that dat ol' rockin' chair!! And I sho hope you agree.

+2tonsolid What do you mean? If you mean the casual dress, then I agree. But then again, this is generational. I came from a different time in black life when you went to a funeral, you put on your Sunday go to meetin' dress. In fact, when I was just seven attending a funeral, I was shocked that so many women of color seem to be walking the runway, as in the Ebony Fashion Fair 'cause they be's stylin'. lol!!!!!

2tonsolid It's generational. These days, the devil himself would blush at what's being worn in church!

+Jay Young Amen

Everyone is famous Sweetheart. Maynot have the money some others do but we are all famous. If you get born in this world, live some days happy and reach your demise then you are just as celebrated and famous as these so call celebrities you all worship. Every person is equal regardless of race, creed, color, money , materialistic posessions and profession.

+Aileen Johnson Yes, she was beautiful indeed, And the beauty came from those almond shaped eyes. I picked up on that when she was just a little girl. Aileen, you know that her "sister" Cookie was adopted by Natalie's mother and was the daughter of her mother's late sister. Also, Natalie had an interesting family resume, being the great grand niece of Charlotte Hawkins Brown, headmistress of the Palmer Institute, an finishing school for young women of color there at Sedalia, North Carolina (Aileen, please fact check me). And if you ask me, I thought Nat's mother really was a "fit" socially for snooty and rejecting Hancock Park, since Mrs. Cole had the manner of a Vassar graduate. However, had I been wealthy, I would've preferred the black Beverly Hills section of Los Angeles called the Baldwin Hills, specifically, the View Park section. Had Nat been a child of mine, I might've preferred Spelman in Atlanta over UMass. Spelman has a magnificent way of providing that positive psychological reinforcement for young women of color and those, like Nat, coming from privileged backgrounds (please see and read anything on our community by Lawrence Otis Graham). I hope I didn't bore you, Aileen, since you don't know me.

I said the same thing she got cakes 🎂