Rodney's Rambling's

  Hustling as a rite of passage Hustle hus·tle   To obtain money by any legal means necessary. As opposed to dealing, which is obtaining money by any illegal means. Hustling is not only an art but a way of life. To hustle is to live in many of the places where the underground economy rules and the above economy denigrates. Hustling is the reality in which decent jobs are denied, limited, or nonexistent, in which hope is decried amid the backwash of negativity, and in which dignity is found in humble abodes often bereft of other comforts. Hustling fills the void between household earnings and household needs. Hustling is where dreams meet reality, where myth meets essence, and where life meets eternity. Hustling is where my reality began at the age of 6.   My first hustle was as a shoe-shine boy.  I would show up at the barbershop with my box filled with polish and an eye on potential customers.  I would get their attention by declaring, “Brilliant shine,...

  Black Mamas/Madams, Sexual Oppression and the Truly Determined Today, in recognition of Black History Month, I celebrate my Aunt, Momma Dot. Momma Dot was a business owner, a Madame, and an active church member. Her full name was Dothulia Groce Gaddis. She was the de facto Matriarch of our family, my mother's eldest sister. She was the first to leave Jackson, Mississippi, in the mid 1920s' and venture North. She jokes about having to decide whether to ride in the white or the colored section of the train. Never ashamed of who she was, she decided to ride in the colored sections. Momma Dot was a character. She operated the 38 Club in the strip between "Goose Hill" and East St. Louis. This No-man's land was really just a strip of clubs and bars, aiming to get the attention of the men and their money as they left the "Stock Yards" on their way home. The 38 Club got its name because that was what Momma Dot always carried (a 38 snub-nose revolver)...