Divine Developments with Ali

I Launched a WordPress Website & Deleted It Within 3 Days WordPress.com is Pissing On Our World: Hidden Costs, Frustrating Issues, and Lack of Support. Photo by  Fikret tozak  on  Unsplash On August 3rd, I created a WordPress website to drive traffic to my content. The content writing and freelance gurus tell us to do that, right? Those people are a conversation for another day, but the “I made $10,000 from my website in 6 months” headlines are provocative and get people interested. Besides the fact that I consider myself intelligent enough to know that all of that is nonsense, I wanted to conduct a test since that is the key to success for so many “pioneers” in the industry. I mapped out a plan: Create a homepage with a strong headline and call to action. Develop an “About Me” page that showcases my core values and personal journey. Create a “Contact” page. Showcase my blog and social media posts from different publications and media platforms. Easy enough? Not really. The basic p

Forrestchump44 - Reddit “…the world assumes white people are naturally good. So when something bad happens, it’s a good person doing a bad thing. They assume black people are naturally bad, so when something good happens, it’s only a matter of time before that animal’s true nature rears its ugly head.” — Mr. Nancy, American Gods

Photo by Peter Fogden on Unsplash Have you ever gone job hunting? It’s that time again — time to dive back into the world of job applications and resume building. We’ve all had those sit-down conversations with friends who share how they landed their dream jobs, assuring us we can do it too. It feels like taking a nice shower, putting on your best clothes, and going to a speed dating event recommended by your happily married friend of ten years. You know, the “love will come when you least expect it” situation. That’s what looking for a job feels like right now. I’m sure anyone reading this has felt the same way recently. Ha! Let me tell you a story. Earlier this month, I decided to change my career trajectory. Most of my experience has been in healthcare, but I’m still young and have time to explore other options. I discovered a passion for writing, culture, and community action, so I have been refocusing. I deleted my old LinkedIn profile and created a new one. I updated my resume to

. . . Shhh...I see dead people. Yes, Kendrick Lamar and Drake's beef seems to have come to a raging head, and the internet is going berserk. There's so much to unpack, but for now, I want to discuss two of the main tracks people have been talking about: "Push-ups" and "Meet the Grahams" . Let's start with Drake. From an artistic standpoint, I will be the first one to admit that "Push-ups" is a great diss. Initially, it seemed as though KDot was mad without merit and might have just been a little bitter about something super arbitrary. As things have begun to unravel, we are seeing that all is not as it seems.  *I spoke to a former counseling instructor, and he noted that we are seeing a cultural expression bringing many black issues to the surface.* This segues into the point that Drake has been stepping on the toes of other black artists for a while now. Longtime emcee and recent podcaster Joe Budden suggested that Drake seems to be an agent

Letter to the DIRECTOR... Hey! Today is February 23rd, and I've been up all night. In the wee hours, I prayed and read my Bible, as it's believed that these times of the day or night are when God can speak more clearly to you due to the lack of daily obligations and distractions. Anyway, I'm about to try and update my car, even though I'm broke (as a joke ha!). So, I was going through my documents to make sure that I had my title readily available. While doing so, I found one of the papers I wrote during my time in undergrad. It was for an elective film class I took in the Fall of 2019 when I was still a freshman. It's funny because every now and then, I think about how fun that class was and how much it sparked my interest in cinema and writing about things that matter to me. At that time, I even considered trying to get into film school to learn more about the craft, but you know, practicality and life got in the way. Anyway, I read one of my papers, and it was ab

Heyyyyyyyy! What's going on folks? Long time, no hear from - I know I've been AWAL, but a lot has been going on.  I essentially just finished my first semester of grad school, and it went about how you would expect. I feel like I just got jumped by a bunch of kangaroos on steroids - but I made it with all A's so that's good! It has been a very stressful experience moving to Maryland from Rhode Island - and it is only about 5 months in the making of my life here. Currently, I would not say that I am particularly enjoying my MD experience - but I will make due until I obtain my degree.  I've met some pretty nice people in my cohort so far, but I still have not managed to go out much other than to school, or to babysit so that I can pay my rent. The job market is very difficult right now, even with a bachelors and a decorated resume. I've applied to just about anywhere that accepts my medical and clerical experience. I got a few interviews, but ultimately all went