Christina Faulkner - Style and Grace

Christina is the latest installment in 'style and grace'. Christina is an inspiring singer, dancer, actress, and model.

If you are looking for new talent and a fresh face, contact stewlarge@gmail.com

Earning Money in Illinois Politics - LOL!

This is how it works in Illinois.

Three contractors are bidding to fix a broken fence at the Governor's Mansion in Springfield . One from Springfield , another from Plainfield , and the third, a union contractor from Chicago . They go with an official from the Governor's staff to examine the fence.

The Springfield contractor takes out a tape measure and does some measuring, then works some figures with a pencil. "Well", he says, "I figure the job will run about $900: $400 for materials, $400 for my crew, and $100 profit for me."

The Plainfield contractor also does some measuring and figuring, then Says, "I can do this job for $700: $300 for materials, $300 for my crew and $100 profit for me."

The Chicago union contractor doesn't measure or figure, but leans over to the Governor and whispers, "$2,700."

The Governor says, "You didn't even measure like the other guys! How did you come up with such a high figure?"

The Chicago union contractor whispers back, "$1000 for me, $1000 for you, and we hire the dummy from Plainfield to fix the fence."

"Done!" replies Blagojevich

And that, is how business is done in Illinois! LOL!

Nike Bringing the Retro Pain- White Men Can't Jump

VORY Presents Their First Line of Shirts - Official!

What are your comments?

Kanye Shows the New Louis Vuitton Don's - June 2009

New Sneakers from Leaders 1354

From Leaders: "We brought you the blue lines in November and now we’re bringing you the red lines. They’ll be releasing this Saturday at our brand new downtown location (672 N.Wells). The “Leaders1354 Jam” is made up of metallic silver, 3M, perforated suede, crackled leather, patent leather, premium leather, ostrich, and croc’d leather. The sole inspiration was from CTA (Chicago Transit Authority) train system map and the actual train. Chicago operates around the red, blue, green, yellow, orange, purple, brown, and pink line trains so they’re all represented by the speckles. The red and blue line trains the cities major lines and both run close to both store locations (hence the two colorways). The transparent blue tinted out sole represents Lake Michigan with the Chicago Transit map visible through it."

Mikkey Halsted- Argubly The Best MC in Chicago! See for Yourself.

VIMBY - Mikkey Halsted

Notorious in Theaters Today

Gospel Hip Hop is Dope! Check Out R Swift feat. Iz Real - Lifetime

R-Swift ft. Iz-Real - "Lifetime" Music Video (Cross Movement Records) from Cross Movement Records on Vimeo.

Honoring Buisness: Does Profit Mean Getting Over?

As I observe many emerging teenagers develop their own businesses, I have witnessed the difficulty students have in understanding the cost of running and conducting business.

It is my opinion that due to past business experiences for many African-Americans and Hispanics i.e., years of being priced gauged by white business owners and manipulated by big business, and even being denied equal access to conduct profitable trade, today's generation of emerging entrepreneurs under the age of 21 feel compelled to price items 'fairly'. For example, let's say it costs a young business owner $2.50 to produce an item and the competiton sells a similar, of equal quality, item for $10.00. The young business owner may feel compelled to sell the item, for less than $10.00 for a number of reasons.

1. A lower price will equal higher sales volume

2. $10.00 is 'getting over' on the customer, even if they are willing to pay $10.00 for the product

3. Simply put; they don't want to charge the customer, 'too much'

My concern with this concept varies. The concept of 'voluntary exchange' means is consumers are willing to pay the agreed upon price, it's not getting over. It's conducting business. Of course if the business onwer put a gun to the customer and forced them to purchase, then it's no longer voluntary exchange; that's robbery! Look at Nike. It costs Nike little to nothing to produce a pair of dunks, right? Let's guesstimate somewhere around $10.00 including shipping (I'm shooting high). Nike turns around and resells that same pair of shoes for what, $80.00? And, to Nike's defense, consumers purchased, many with no objection to price. This is partially due to supply and demand as well as, many consumers just wanting to fit in at any cost.

My point is this, in business (and I am not talking hustle game, street game, or Wall Street 'debunk the investor' game) for the business owner the objective is to get the highest price for your product or service that the customer is willing to pay. On the other hand, the consumers objective is to pay the lowest price for the highest QUALITY product on the market. Business is the abilty to findthe common ground, where the business onwer and the consumer are both happy.

For my young entrepreneurs reading this, I also want to disucss dividing up the money. But I'll save that for a later BLOG!

Peace and Break Bread!

VORY - The Hottest Installment in Fashion

VORY Clothing™, Vivid Obsessions Radiating Youth, was created to bring originality to the evolving trend of being “exclusive” . There are five different editions within VORY™ that creates versatile and unique trends. Business, Hood, Black, White and Street editions are the beginning to the many different styles that are expressed throughout fashion. No matter who you are or where you are from, the feeling of fresh is shared throughout all of the city blocks in the nation. VORY™ are intended for those who are obsessed with being fresh. The idea is to be seen! So make a list and double check your fresh with VORY™.

Break Bread PodCast on iTunes

Check out the newly added PodCasts on iTunes. Just search Break Bread and you'll see it.

Thanks for the continued support!

Maison Martin Margiela