I definitely commend our efforts in aiding Haiti and giving releif in their time of need. There are already a countless numbers of charities and foundations from Hope for Haiti Now (which raised over $50 million last Friday) to Yele Haiti to the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund.

When the earthquake hit on January 12, I was instantly bombarded with text messages telling me to text “Yele10″ to 501501 for $5. Then the day after, we were all told that if we texted “Haiti” to 90999 a $10 donation would go to the Red Cross and the charge would be placed on our next cell phone bills.

I know technology progresses in leaps and bounds each year, so in four years our technological advances have improved light years. In 2005, however, which was when Katrina broke down those levees in New Orleans, if we could text to save our favorite contestant on American Idol (where standard text messaging rates applied), why couldn’t we text to save our brothers and sisters?

This also made me wonder too… We saw the telethon for Katrina (remember Kanye’s famous “George Bush doesn’t care about black people?”), it too raised millions of dollars,  but fast forward to 2010. Things are nowhere near where they need to be.

We didn’t really help our people at all. Yes, people volunteered to build houses with Habitat for Humanity, but what’s the point of building houses when most residents didn’t come back? Housing was torn down but was never built back up in some areas. Schools closed, and hospitals never reopened. Who can live somewhere like that?

Where did the money go?

Now, we can try to make up for the emotional scarring and wrongdoing that was done in the city by helping Haiti, but how far is that money going to go?

Since Haiti was in disarray before the quake, I would have assumed that the donations brought in by Wyclef and his Yele Haiti Fund would have done wonders for the country (but with his funny money, I guess not).

I know things like this take time to rebuild, but with that amount of devastation who knows how long it will take. Will the money really go to good use this time? Or will our history of selfishness be destined to repeat itself?

For those of you who love Steve Madden shoes and handbags — get ready. The brand is launching a jewelry line in May at stevemadden.com and the Steve Madden stores and also will be coming to Macy’s and Dillard’s in August, according to Women Wear Daily.

The prices range from $20-40, so they’re definitely recession proof, and will come in about 40 to 50 styles, ranging from hoops (of course) to pendants.

Daniel Landver, CEO of Lucas Design (they’re partners with Steve Madden for the line) said that the jewelry will have a “cohesive look” that suits the shoe line. “The jewelry and shoes tie together really well in terms of accessorizing an outfit and, as for design direction, it’s been great being able to use so much material taken from the shoes,” he said.

I think the idea is cool. For those who love Steve Madden, the line is definitely long overdue. For those who dabble in Madden like I do, I can take it or leave it. And judging from those zipper earrings above, it would have been much cooler if they left the hoop out. I’m just saying.

For more of the story check out WWD.

Our beloved Beyonce is on the February cover of Allure. In the issue she explains that she can do without her sassy alter ego, Sasha Fierce.

“The thing that’s interesting is I don’t need Sasha Fierce anymore, because I’ve grown, and I’m now able to merge the two,” she said. “I want people to see me. I want people see who I am.”

We’ve known about Sasha Fierce for a few years now, and we know that Bey used to be shy, so she had to creat this superhuman alter ego to give her the strength to writhe and slink across the stage.

Does anybody remember Beyonce Knowles pre-Sasha? I do, and she was wack! All she talked about was eating Popeye’s chicken in Houston. Beyonce makes me yawn. Seriously!

But that Sasha Fierce! Gotta love her! Everyone tries to dance and sing like Sasha. Every time I hear “Single Ladies” I can’t help but dance. My hand gets teh twitching and then my fists get the pumping (not Jersey Shore style), and that’s just when I’m in the car! If you saw her concert that aired on Thanksgiving, “I Am Yours,” (or live in concert, obviously) you got the full Sasha Fierce scope. She told her female audience members, “Ladies, put yo’ hand in his face!” while she sang “ohh-oh-oh!”

Beyonce during interviews though? Horrendous. Her answers to questions are so calculated and forced. It takes her about five minutes to say one sentence. She’s like the female Foghorn Leghorn from Looney Tunes. I always find myself rolling my eyes when I hear her sllllooowww, husky Houston drawl. She appears to be so poised and perfect all of the time, it makes you wonder who she really is.

Here’s a clip of Skye Townsend spoofing Beyonce, and she’s dead on. (It also spoofs Rihanna, too):

To Beyonce: Keep Sasha Fierce! We only want her… deal with Beyonce behind close doors. We don’t want to see her anymore. Thanks so much!

The news has been dead for me in the new year. There’s nothing I’ve been passionate about; nothing’s been grabbing my attention.

Here’s one thing that has been grabbing everyone else’s attention though. It’s been all over the black blogosphere, and quite frankly I’m tired of hearing about it.

In an ABC News segment, cameras caught four career driven black women who are on the verge of being single for the rest of their lives. Think I’m over exaggerating? Think again. Watch the clip.

If you’re thinking, “Oh, my god, this is horrible! How are these women ever going to find anybody??? There are no eligible black bachelors out there.” Don’t feel bad, and don’t let ABC’s stats fool you. They’re saying there is only a pool of  54% of black men for educated black women to choose from. That is men who are college educated and have careers. We have a 1-in-12 chance of jumping the broom. Yikes.

I believe their stats are correct, and like I told you before, I’m no fancy pants numbers cruncher. However, black women (and men) have the ability of changing these stats if we want to. Let’s stop playing the blame game.

Let’s take Jekene Ashford from the special as an example. She was by far the worst offender of them all. Ashford is a chemist for a pharmaceutical company. She said she dated all kinds of men, from the unemployed to the struggling artist to the rich. What exactly is her problem?

1. She’s 5-foot-9 and wants to date someone who is at least 6-foot-3. Since that hasn’t been working out for her, she is willing to date someone who is at least her height. I’m not really sure what height has to do with anything, but for real, beggars can’t be choosers, doll.
2. She gave the story about how she was “vibing” with a Caucasian guy and he hit her with the “maybe I will see you again” when she thought he was going to ask for her number.

Now, you might not see anything wrong with that scenario, but it was loaded with stupidity. Her friends asked her why didn’t she ask for his number? Ashford just wrinkled up her nose and said, “Oh, I don’t do that.” Huh? Am I missing something?

It didn’t say how long that Ashford has been without a boyfriend, but I am assuming it is a good while. My deal with her (and this includes all the women out there who are nodding their heads at the clip or already saw this mess on TV) is if you have been doing the same thing for, let’s say, the past four years, and by that I mean, letting men pass you by or having great convo and with no end result, YOU have to be the one to change.

Forget about what Steve Harvey has to say. He’s telling black women to date gramps. Not gonna happen, Steve. We can’t be doing the same thing over and over again and expect to get different results. It’s not feasible. I know as a chemist, Ashford has some business cards. She wants everybody to know she gets paid for knowing all of the periodic table of elements. Hell, she may even be working on her Nobel Prize. All she had to say was, “Hey, enjoyed the conversation. Take my card. We can chat again sometime.” And that’s it. In this day and age, we know almost everybody has a cell phone, a Facebook page, a twitter account, a BlackBerry PIN, an iPhone, and at the very least an e-mail address. There are seven million different ways to keep in touch with someone.

And believe you me, if I was 34 and did not have any prospects, but wanted one, you best believe you will see me on Match.com. Username: Cupcakelover. Owwww.

Let’s not let this ABC special get us down. That was a trifling way to begin the new year! We need to better ourselves before we try bring someone else into our lives. Once we do that I truly believe that everything will fall into place…