Month: February 2024

I love Kelly Rowland and the Black experience.  Tyler Perry, meh.

After a long weekend and a slow Sunday, I decided to cue up Netflix and watch Mea Culpa. I didn’t hate it either.

The movie had depth even with all of the action packed in the final 30 minutes. Kelly’s character, Mea, had a troubled marriage and fell for her client, the seductive Zyair. He was an artist and basically made love to her admist paint and a canvas. There’s much more and you must follow the story carefully but she nailed her role. She wasn’t just eye candy or relying on her singing, she was acting!

Tyler Perry has certainly did some good for the Black community and Netflix has given him that platform to continue when the movie theaters were tired of Madea. He still has flaws and a lot of holes in his productions. Mea Lupa is not his best work but it’s watchable with depth.

Good bad or in between, movies like this bring my culture and people together in this month.

#ImJustDrew

I’ve supported local my entire life, especially once I realized the importance of it.

I will continue to support local. You may not see me as much in Cherokee County, specifically Blacksburg, for a while.

Blacksburg and Gaffney have businesses that I will make time to support for sure. I’m focusing on cities like Spartanburg, Clover and Rock Hill with sustained growth and community support.

In just the past week, both the 440 Grill and the Aunt Ms have announced or already closing. Yet you see more Dollar Generals and QTs (I am a fan of both).

Blacksburg, and in a larger part Cherokee County, goes through these phases, especially when there isn’t a large base of support and more big business around. It takes numbers and more people to support local and speak out against these changes.

I was talking to a small business owner just last night and he cited his space and setup being a barrier for doing bigger things. The $1 million dollar insurance policy being levied onto bar and grills also hurts.

It’s a hard deal and I won’t give up on those small businesses I see fighting for sustainability and growth.  I will simply go where I feel change is happening and like minded people like myself are and are looking at the future.

#ImJustDrew

By this, I don’t mean the highlights from social media.

This calendar year, I will record my 100th episode of the ##imjustdrew podcast and I’m 72 episodes in currently. I have interviewed several different folks and have reached out to a couple of bigger names. It seems my audience connects with more and senses the energy when I have local guests or at least someone I go back with.

During my weekly podcast evaluation, I looked at the episodes that got the most views and the ones that were more high octane. Interviewing more guests I’m familiar with and through my connections embodies the #imjustdrew brand as well. I will continue to interview and seek guests that I don’t know as well and are doing great things/have great stories. However I’m going to make more of a focus on the people in my circle/sphere to keep the energy of the podcast the best it can be.

Either way, stay tuned for more big things from the #ImJustDrew podcast. I look forward to being able to do another Live show as well!

#ImJustDrew