Category Archives: Fathers

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Comedian, TV & Radio Personality Rickey Smiley Set to Release Debut Book ‘Stand By Your Truth: And Then Run For Your Life!’

Hello World,

Visit a church, comedy club, college campus, or barber shop, and it’s not easy to find people who aren’t familiar with, or lifelong fans of, Rickey Smiley and his outrageous morning show radio crew. As the host of the huge nationally syndicated The Rickey Smiley Morning Show, which draws in at least 4 million listeners every day, he’s also the star of his hit TV show Rickey Smiley for Real – one of the only reality show series to address life as a single dad. Plus, he has 8 chart-topping comedy albums.

But Rickey’s always had something more offer — and it’s more revealing than anything he’s done so far. STAND BY YOUR TRUTH: And Then Run for Your Life! (Gallery Books; Hardcover; October 24, 2017) is part memoir, part testimonial, and part life guide – mixing Rickey’s down-home humor with values learned from three generations of elders, the Baptist church, and some of the most celebrated mentors in entertainment (aka Steve Harvey).

Written as much for parents as it is for their young adults, STAND BY YOUR TRUTH offers tough-love conviction, both in turns funny and earnest, on straight talk such as:

  • How it’s impossible to come back from mistakes without self-forgiveness
  • Why “The Deadbeat Dad” is a myth
  • How to break out of that comfort zone — because you are not a chicken
  • The often untold ups and downs raising kids (and teenagers) as a single father
  • Proof success can only happen when opportunity meets long preparation
  • Ways speaking up for yourself is nothing to be ashamed of, so “Handle Your Business”
  • Why, now more than ever, our lives depend on what we stand for — and then sticking by it

In a time when we are craving world-wise humor as much as insight, STAND BY YOUR TRUTH by the one and only Rickey Smiley is here to deliver on both.

Pre-Order STAND BY YOUR TRUTH Today!

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Greenleaf Recap Season 2 Episode 14: The Father’s Will…

Hello World,

Y’all, I was worried I wasn’t going to be able to stay awake enough to take notes as I watched this week’s episode of OWN’s “Greenleaf,” after a looong first day back to work after Hurricane Irma! But chile, I worried in vain because the Lord provided the strength and the writers provided the shenanigans necessary to keep me scribblin’! I feel like I say this ere week, but this episode right here was a DOOZY, and I’m not sure how I feel about it all, but let’s discuss throughout this Greenleaf Recap Season 2 Episode 14: The Father’s Will.

Father Figure…

Last’s week episode ended with Bishop Jeffries of Charlotte, North Carolina initiating a cryptic call to Bishop Greenleaf, and this week’s episode begins with the bishops meeting face to face. Apparently when the chief counsel of Bishop Jeffries’ church had a stroke, he decided to fly to Montgomery, Alabama where his son Aaron the attorney now works for the Southern Poverty Law Center. He wanted to tell him about the job in person and surprises him at his apartment. But instead of surprising his son, Aaron surprises his father: Aaron and KEVIN were cozying up to one another so to speak! Bishop Jeffries is surprised for two reasons: the fact that his son is gay AND sleeping with Charity Greenleaf’s ex-husband! So I have so many questions about this scenario? Is Kevin living in Montgomery now? Did Aaron leave Calvary to pursue Kevin in Montgomery? Are they a couple? Greenleafers, help me out here…

Triumph’s new spiritual father Jacob Greenleaf and Kerissa are Marvin Gay getting it on too, as it’s Jacob first day on the job and Kerissa wants to start his day off right. In addition, she plans to show up late for her job to accompany him on his first day. I think she’s more excited than he is to be pastor of the megachurch.

Jabari, whom Charity probably hopes will be a father figure for Nathan, calls her with exciting news: Tamela Mann (who I interviewed) wants Charity to be a background singer on her tour!

Obviously, Aaron sees Bishop Greenleaf as a father figure and meets with him and his actual father in Memphis to discuss what his father discovered. He tells Bishop before the meeting, “I can’t change who I am” to which Bishop replies, “only God knows your heart,” citing 1st Kings 8:39. Aaron says, “Tell my father that. He will listen to you.” Bishop tells the father and the son once they are together, “Let’s try to find the will of the Father.”

Now that Charity is the sole provider (and parent) for her son, she doesn’t want to pass up the chance and asks Lady Mae if she can borrow their maid to be Nathan’s nanny for the 10 weeks she will be on tour with Tamela. Lady Mae hesitantly agrees and then drops one of her trademark one-liners. “It just seems like a lot of moving pieces to sing back up.”

Father, Forgive Them…

If Jacob and Kerissa thought they would just slide into roles of Pastor and First Lady without any pushback, they should have stayed outside. For one, Tasha’s office remains right next door to where her husband used to be. For two, Britney, Triumph’s treasurer is not a doormat, and the treasurer is an integral part of most organizations, particularly churches.

Bishop Jeffries continue to discuss Aaron’s sexuality with Bishop Greenleaf as a mediator. Bishop Jeffries throws out that his son is violating God’s word according to Romans 1. Aaron counters with, “Judge not lest you be judged.” Bishop Jeffries says, “The way that you are is unacceptable.” Bishop Greenleaf chimes in, “No wonder he kept it a secret. Who would choose this?”  Lady Mae meets with her husband afterward and cautions him against siding with Aaron, “The boy is not child. He’s not Faith.” What did she mean by that? Did Faith disappoint her parents somehow and they treated her the way Bishop Jeffries is treating Aaron? Did they regret their actions? Hmmm…

Back at Triumph, Jacob tells Britney that he wants to integrate people from Real Church, where he served the homeless, into Triumph. Britney cautions him against doing so because not everyone knows the financial specifics of what went down and how that would look odd to some church members.

After the meeting with his father and Bishop is done, Aaron sees Charity and approaches her. She looks like she wants to cuss him out but says with diplomacy, “How can I help you?” These are the words that he always said to Charity when she approached him about facilitating her divorce never suspecting that Aaron was cavorting with Kevin! He tries to apologize for his role in Kevin’s untimely departure. Charity is not trying to hear that. “He left his son without a father!” When Aaron tries to explain that Kevin left because he felt ashamed, Charity shut him down again. “I don’t care how he feels.” She tells him, “If I were a lesbian, I would still be a mother.”

Honor Your Father & Your Mother…

It seems like Aaron, his father and Bishop meet again. Bishop Jeffries asks, “Why can’t you just try to change?” Aaron tells his father that he already tried to change and failed. “It’s just me.” After he says, “I love you” to his father, he walks toward the door but stops when his father says he is glad that his mother passed before discovering he was gay. Aaron says,”She knew. I told her when I was 13.” Bishop Jeffries calls his son a liar before Aaron says, “She knew about you too. All of them. Just because you did it with women doesn’t mean it wasn’t a sin.” He got him there…

So this next scene where Zora and Sofia are preparing for the debutante cotillion was filmed at the Biltmore Hotel in downtown Atlanta. I know because I attended a wedding in the very room where this scene was filmed. Anywho, Zora is reciting some “trap gospel” when her boyfriend Gospel Chris Brown otherwise known as Isaiah busts in the ballroom, calling attention himself as he is wearing shades inside and his baseball cap.

After Aaron spilled the tea on his father, Bishop serves it for Lady Mae. “He seemed to imply that Patrice knew about Lionel and other women.” “Women, plural?” Lady Mae responds. “He’s just making up stories to deflect from himself.” Lady Mae, who was friends with Bishop Jeffries’ deceased wife Patrice,  seems particularly riled up by the news about Bishop’s Jeffries’ serial infidelities and we will discover why later in the episode!

Wanting to appear congenial (the key word is “appear”), Kerissa invites Tasha, who still answers to “First Lady,” to the parsonage for dinner. During dinner, Tasha expresses concern about Basie’s whereabouts. “I hope he’s safe out there. I really miss him.” Jacob puts his hand on her hand while Kerissa, who is opposite Tasha, rolls her eyes.

Darius also makes dinner for Grace and she asks him, “Where does you see yourself in five years?” He says in a house with more land. (The Greenleaf estate, perhaps?) He also tells her that he wants to write a book. Grace further probes and asks him does he want children. He tells her that he is a bit too old to have children.

Once Bishop discusses what he learned with Lady Mae, the two of them meet with Bishop Jeffries, who is staying with them while he is in town. Bishop Jeffries apologizes for his son’s involvement in what happened with Charity. Lady Mae says, “Thou shalt not commit adultery.”  Bishop says, “Mae, let it go.” Lady Mae then cautions Charity about chasing a man and losing your self respect in the process. It seems like her advice comes from personal experience.

Father, father…

Gospel Chris Brown claims he was trying to be “incognegro” with his stunna shades on but totally contradicts that statement when he’s flirting with two or three of the other girls instead of supporting Zora. Sofia calls him out for it too. “The guy is the frame and the lady is the picture. Everything is always about you.” Isaiah gets mad and says, “This is some ish right there. I’m out.” Zora follows him outside to a courtyard where he knocks her into a column before apologizing yet again. “I don’t want to lose you Zora,” he says before telling her he loves her and that he will never abuse her again. What she sees in that boy I don’t know. But I’ve seen it for myself. Some women are attracted to abusers.  Like Chris Brown, Isaiah may have grown up in a household where he saw his father abuse his mother.

Later, Bishop Jeffries and Lady Mae have a conversation alone. She confronts him. “Were there other women?” When he doesn’t give her the answer she wants (plus calling her brother a rapist), she goes off. Apparently, she contemplated leaving her family for him not knowing that she was one of several women he was seeing! Lady Mae cheated on Bishop!!! Lady Mae says,”You’re just a space where a person should have been” and slaps the man!

Across town, Grace is having a better night than her mother. When Darius assures her that all he wants is her and doesn’t want to have children, she does not flee fornication. So how do you feel about an unmarried pastor having sex?

Jacob manages to get Kerissa to put aside her “First Lady” scheming aside (she wants Tasha to move her office to another location in Triumph) for one night at least so that the two can get their lovin’ on too. That woman is more like Lady Mae than her own daughters.

Speaking of Lady Mae, she is nowhere to be found when Bishop Greenleaf bids farewell to his friend in front of the Greenleaf home. “She’s not feeling well,” he tells Bishop Jeffries. Bishop Jeffries says, “Tell Mae I’m sorry we didn’t a chance to say goodbye.” Something about the way Bishop Jeffries says that statement has Bishop wondering, “what’s going on?” Father, Father…I’m sure things will escalate next week!!!

Check out a snippet from “The Father’s Will” below…

Thank you sooo much for reading my Greenleaf Recap, Season 2 Episode 14: The Father’s Will and my other recaps so far. If you would like to keep up with OWN’s “Greenleaf,” and my recaps, please click on this link to subscribe to my blog 🙂!

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Greenleaf Mid-Season Premiere Recap, Season 2 Episode 9: The Bear…

Hello World,

Clutch your Bibles to your bosoms, the Greenleafs courtesy of OWN are back! (This Greenleaf recap is brought to you by the letter “B.”)

Bad Boys…

The episode begins right where the Mid-Season Finale ended with Grace and her Uncle Mac on the glass-littered floor of his apartment. She’s coughing and he’s writhing as blood spews from his jugular. She summons enough strength to get the upper hand and croaks out, “Tell me where my daughter is!” Mac pleads with his niece to call for help, but she refuses to comply unless he answers her. By the time she finally understands that he is saying, “I don’t know,” Mac dies right there on the floor, but not before his final two words are: “I’m sorry.”

Only then does Grace call 911 and explains to the police that Mac slammed her in the wall and tried to choke her. She tell them that she thought he had her daughter, and they tell her the bottle that was used to fatally wound Mac bears her fingerprints.  Mac, the bad boy we all love to hate, leaves in a body bag while Grace goes to the hospital.

It’s the morning after for Aaron and Kevin who are no longer just boys kickin’ it. Aaron is fast asleep in bed while Kevin sits up in bed next to him, contemplating what they’ve done. He hears his son Nathan crying on the baby monitor and leaves Aaron to tend to his son in the nursery.

Meanwhile, at the hospital, like an episode of “COPS,” pictures of Grace and all the wounds covering her body are taken. Grace asks a detective, “Am I under arrest?” He replies, “No, pastor, you are free to go.” Bishop and Lady Mae worry in the waiting area hoping to see Grace soon. While they wait, Lady Mae begins to reminisce about her deceased brother, but Bishop nips that in the bud. “Our daughter nearly died tonight so pardon me if I ask to be excused from hearing some fond memory of the man who tried to kill her.” When Grace finally appears, Lady Mae says, “I’m so relieved that you are alive. I know it was self defense.” In a rare moment of affection for her daughter, Lady Mae tells Grace that she loves her and Grace tearfully responds with, “I love you, Mama.”

Back at the Greenleaf estate, Grace finds her own daughter asleep on a sofa. Once she awakens her, she is stunned to discover that Mac had nothing to do with Sofia’s whereabouts. She had been with Zora at a recording studio all along. While Sofia is glad to see her mother alive, she doesn’t hesitate to call her out on her bad behavior, pointing out that Grace went to Mac’s home after she promised that she was done with her vigilante justice.

Finally free from the grip of Bad Boy/Pastor Basie Skanks, Jacob and Kerissa hatch a plan to get back in the good graces of Bishop since they now own the property where Triumph 2 was going to be built.

Buck the System…

Charity has bucked the system by being the happiest divorcée ever it seems. She totally skipped over the mourning period of the death of her marriage and is kee keeing it up with Jabari in his Nashville recording studio. Wearing a black and white striped, tight dress, she is elated that a girls group is singing one of her songs in front of them. When Kevin calls, she tells him that she is happy they can be friends. Kevin seems to agree with her, at least verbally, but a tear drops from his eye and slides down his face at the same time. I’m not sure if he misses Charity or feels guilty about his night with Aaron or a bit of both.

Grace goes back to her office at the church in an effort hold her head high and not appear to be hiding away due to guilt. Darius, whose call she did not answer the night before, is waiting on her in her office. They discuss her ordeal as they proceed to the sanctuary of the church. Grace has to convince the police that she did not go to Mac’s house with malicious intent. Good luck with that. Darius, who is not a religious man, bucks the system and asks the pastor has she prayed about it. “It might be a good time to toss one up,” he says. They embrace in front of the altar.

Bearing good news, Jacob meets with the Bishop in his office and tell him what happened with Basie and the fact that he now owns the property across the way from Calvary. Bishop calls Basie a “diminutive demon!” LOL. Jacob suggests with Basie and Triumph out of the picture, he and his father can be co-pastors of Calvary and use the land however the two of them see fit. Bishop bucks the system and shuts his son down yet again. “I don’t need a co-pastor anymore than I need a cane to walk with.” Y’all know the Bishop has Parkinson’s disease, right?

While Aaron and Kevin may have shared a bed, Kevin has bucked the system, avoiding Aaron by leaving the Greenleaf estate too early to have contact with him and avoiding his calls as well. Aaron leaves a message on his voicemail, hoping to hear back from Kevin at some point.

Cousins Sofia and Zora discuss the incident in which Isaiah confronted Zora about expressing an opinion about his music and how he came off like he wanted to throw some blows with his girlfriend as a result. “You shouldn’t see him again,” Sofia tells Zora. At first Zora bucks, but then says, “I’ll dump him but you have to help me find a new bae.”

Although Kevin put the brakes on Aaron, the Greenleaf counsel still has business to conduct. He tells Grace how to buck the system before an interview she has with the police. He instructs her to tell the police that she only picked up the bottle because she was afraid she was going to die and after that, she remembers nothing.

But for the Grace of God…

Despite following Aaron’s direction, Grace is worried that she could go down for killing her uncle. She makes her father promise that he will do all he can to hold on to Sofia as she is worried that Sofia’s father, Ray, will try to get her to come with him since she may be off to jail. Bishop tells her that she is not going to jail. Grace responds, “I wish I had your faith.”

At Calvary, Kevin busts into a Fortitude for Families meeting and yells, “I screwed up!” He continues, telling the people gathered in the room that “it’s all a lie. All of you are lying to yourself.” He was trying to remain in God’s good graces by attending these meetings but obviously feels betrayed that the meetings did not help him at all.

Grace seeks the grace of God as well as she finally kneels in front of the sanctuary’s altar and says, “I’m so sorry. I tried to do the right thing. You know my heart. Don’t take my daughter away.”

Back at the Greenleaf estate, Charity comes back in a hurry after Kevin tells her what happened with Grace. When she goes into Nathan’s nursery to check on her son, she finds a note from Kevin that is so painful she begins to cry. What did that note say?!!! I guess we will find out tomorrow!

While Lady Mae is glad that her daughter is the one who survived the death match with Mac, she admits to her husband that she is still grieving for Mac. She also and finally admits that his abusive behavior may have been something he learned from their father. “Maybe Mac became the way he was by watching Daddy do what he did to me.” So yes, Lady Mae was molested like her daughter Faith was molested. But for the Grace of God, her life could have ended the same way her daughter’s ended.  For some reason, Lady Mae was able to continue living while daughter Faith chose to take her own life.

While Grace is her bedroom, Aaron comes to tell her some good news. “The prosecutor’s office is not going to pursue charges against you,” Aaron says before hugging her. Grace doesn’t quite believe him but then he says, “Sometimes the bear gets you and sometimes you get the bear.”

With that, Grace runs outside to take the good news in, sho nuff evidence of God’s grace, on the lake which is where Faith drowned. While she is there, somehow, mysteriously, she hears the voice of Mac. “You know how many times I prayed not to go to jail? Hundreds.”

Hmmmm….Is Mac really dead? Maybe not although I’m not sure how. In my interview with GregAlan Williams, who portrays Mac McCready, last week, he told me, “As to whether he [Mac] will live or die, I will say this to you: every goodbye ain’t gone.”

I can’t wait till tomorrow night!!! Check out a video preview below…

Thank you sooo much for reading my Greenleaf Mid-Season Premiere Recap, Season 2 Episode 9 and my other recaps so far.

If you would like to keep up with OWN’s “Greenleaf,” and my recaps, please click on this link to subscribe to my blog 🙂!

Any thoughts?