Beyonce: Lip Sync or Live?

The big question of the day, the latest scandal, the most serious concern on everyone’s mind is did Beyonce lip-sync the Star Spangled Banner or sing it live? Apparently, people can’t eat or sleep until they get and answer to this burning question. It’s all anyone can talk about and frankly I don’t get it. I watched her sing it. It was her voice. It looked like she was singing live, but I don’t care if she was lip-syncing to her own pre-recorded tape or singing live. If she wasn’t singing live, you could have fooled me.


What’s the big deal? It was her voice, she sang it, it was flawless, it was an awesome arrangement and an inspiring performance. So what if she was lip-syncing? If she sang live and made a mistake, everyone would be talking about that today instead. Whether it be a flat note or she forgot a word or got a lyric wrong. Do people really have nothing better to do and nothing more important to think about. While they are harping on this “controversy,” while they are embroiled in a debate of “did she or didn’t she,” another shooting took place yesterday at a college in Houston, Texas. While they are criticizing Beyonce, some of the victims of storm Sandy still have no heat or money to repair their homes. While they are waiting for answers to lip-syncing, the families of Sandy Hook are still grieving their loved ones. While they shine a spotlight on Beyonce’s “disgrace,“ Lance Armstrong’s 13 plus years of lying, coercion, cheating, intimidating, suing get swept under the rug and Oprah’s saying he can come out of all this a “hero” goes unnoticed. All I can do is shake my head. I just don’t get it.

What is wrong with this country that makes so much ado about nothing while serious matters fall to the wayside? Are we really that superficial and mindless that we can’t focus on important matters and we make something trivial the number one news item of the day? I think she did an outstanding job with her rendition of the song. I don’t care how it was delivered. She did justice to the solemnest of the inauguration. Honestly, while people were all a buzz about Beyonce, my mind was on the shootings in Texas, the fiscal cliff, the people freezing thanks to storm Sandy, the families still crying for their precious children in Newtown…Beyonce was the last thing on my mind.

And what if she was lip-syncing? Does that put a black mark on her record? Does that tarnish her career? Will Pepsi take back their 25 million dollar contract? Will her record sales drop? Will fans think less of her? I don’t think so. It’s over. It’s done. She was amazing. Let’s move on!

Beyonce Breast Feeds In Public…

Beyonce was out having brunch with her little family, when her daughter, Blue Ivy, got hungry and Beyonce breast fed her at their table, in public. This stirred up a another conversation about women breast feeding their babies in public. It shouldn’t even be news because it is not against the law for mothers to nurse their babies in public, but of course it’s even bigger news because Beyonce is the mother in question. This long ongoing controversy would have nursing mothers take their infants to a public restroom to feed them, rather than make a public display of it. I hadn’t given the issue much thought before, but now I have and do not see what the problem is. 

Besides being a natural act, it’s not against the law to breast feed in public. I always here people against it referring to “whipping out the breast” as though nursing women are going to strip down and become topless. Others call it nasty and lewd. This is just not the case. there are bras designed to open and just expose part of the breast, so the baby has access to it. Nursing mothers often carry a light blanket to place over the baby’s head and their breast, while the baby is being fed. Nothing has to be exposed. It can be done discreetly. There are even garments created for this purpose shown in the photo above. Babies benefit greatly from mother’s milk and a new mother should be able to make that choice without having to be confined to her home from six months to a year or longer. We are just an intolerant society, resistant to change. 

Maybe someone famous, like Beyonce, will cause us to talk about this issue and re-examine our positions on it. Maybe many women who are choosing not to breastfeed because of the reactions they might get, will reconsider. Maybe people will get educated about breastfeeding and it’s value to infants and feel differently about it. 

I guess I just don’t get what all the fuss is about. When I visited Boston a couple of years ago, the streets were full of homeless people sitting or laying down on the sidewalks. I find that a much more disturbing and unacceptable public display than a nursing mother. Maybe people who object to breast feeding in public should channel their time and energy into generating funding and housing for the homeless and let mothers go about doing what they do best…nurturing their children?

Beyonce's Baby Girl: Blue Ivy

Well somehow pictures of baby Carter have been leaked to the internet before being sold for millions to a magazine. When I first saw the picture this morning, I was captivated for some reason. This little girl, being held in her mother's arms, seemed to have the face of an old soul. Beyonce, of course looks great, even after giving birth. I don't look half as good as she does on my best day. I know how Beyonce feels as a first time mother of a new baby girl. You cannot describe the joy and love that fills your heart, but it is written all over her face. Baby Blue is already on the billboard charts too! Her cries were incorporated into a song that her father, Jay Z, wrote for her, called "Glory", which was released two days after her birth. Here is another close up of Blue Ivy:

It takes me back to when I first gave birth to my older daughter. That was a moment in time I will never forget. It's the wonder and awe of seeing this beautiful, precious little bundle, a miracle really, that I have been carrying around for nine months. I love her unconditionally. I count her ten little fingers and ten little toes. I study her. She's perfect in every way. She smiles in her sleep. She has dark hair and hazel eyes. She is so small and fragile, I am almost afraid she will break. She has to go back to the nursery.

The next day, the nurse brings her to me for a feeding and tells me to wake her up by opening the blankets and tickling her feet. I try doing all that, but my precious bundle won't wake up to eat. She is in a deep sleep.  I'm already a failure on day one. The nurse comes back to get her and sees she hasn't taken her formula. I get reprimanded for not calling her for help. My first day as a mom and she cuts me no slack. I'm exhausted from all the noise and visitors that the other two women had all day and night. I can't wait to go home with my daughter. My mom is coming to visit, she will make everything ok.

When my mother arrives, I am expecting her to be thrilled. She has been waiting for grandchildren a long time and this is her first. I ask her if she has seen the baby in the nursery. She says yes. I ask her what does she think? She answers, "She looks like a wet cat." I said something like what do you mean a "wet cat"? I studied her little face and she is so cute! "Sorry, she looks like a wet cat to me." And that was the beginning. 

I went home two days later. I was nervous and so was my husband, who had been buying formula for when we got home. We had a hard time getting our baby into the car seat. It was raining that morning too. I was in pain from the stitches. I finally got in the back seat of the car and held her in my arms, while he drove home as carefully as possible. We made it home and our lives as a little family began.

Beyonce Expecting!

I am so tired of bad news, bad storms, bad moods so when I heard Beyonce was expecting I decided to blog about it. What can be more joyous than a little newborn? I am a fan of Beyonce and her music. I love so many of her songs. She worked hard to get where she is today.

There is a little irony to her story though, which made me laugh. As she announced her pregnancy on MTV’s Video Music Awards, Beyonce was slated to start a new project, which may have “foreshadowed” her new bundle of joy. She was going to be shooting the remake of “A Star Is Born,” which may be delayed by her condition. So Beyonce is actually is working on the production of two stars are born!

I can’t help but remember the version of “A Star Is Born” with Judy Garland and James Mason. That was a real tear jerker. I don’t know how many times I watched it. Now Beyonce’s version is an updated, modernized and I’m sure it will also tug at heart strings.

I wish her the best of luck with both productions!