‘YOUR WEEKLY TOP TEN’ GUIDE OF THINGS TO ‘DO’ …and ‘NOT DO’ DURING THE CIAA TOURNAMENT
By Lena Hopkins-Jackson
10. Please DO observe ALL traffic laws:….. If you see your old classmate or frat from back in the day….DO note that there will be a ‘five-minute-limit-showboating” violation in effect, so pull your freshly detailed vehicle over to the side and KEEP IT MOVING!
(Thank yewww!)
9. Please DO partake of all the delicious, down-home Southern cuisine during your stay…but DO know when to say ‘enough’ though. Dealing with the “ITIS” later on at that after-party will NOT be cute!
8. Attention ALL Sigmas, Zetas, Kappas, Deltas, Alphas, AKAs, Rhos and Ques:
DO NOT become a “Super-Greek;” keep paraphernalia down to a maximum of three…in a combo (hat, sweatshirt, jackets…car keys count too)… AND if you are old enough to remember “The March on Washington,” keep it down to two… those days are long-gone and y’all seniors outta’ know better!
7. Try not to scare the older white people in the city,… please! Some of them are STILL getting over PRESIDENT Obama being elected and the sight of so many beautiful, brown people converging like the emerald city scene in “The WIZ” could send them to that good ole’ “Dixie-land” in the sky! So fellas, DO be mindful of overt and sudden gestures cuz’ we don’t want anybody having a “Jim-Crow” flashback.
6. Please DO wear practical footwear for sight-seeing! I can’t stress this enough to the ladies in particular. Be ‘cute-over comfortable’ if you want, but DO note that even Hammer doesn’t wanna’ see toes named-after him in the soft light of day!
5. Visitors from ‘up-north’ and the Midwest: ….DON’T dress like it’s “Juneteenth,” Charlotte may be the ‘dirty-dirty’south, but don’t get it twisted ….it’s winter down there too… (so bring a coat ladies and show off your hour-glass later on at the dance)
4. “All The Single Ladies, All The Single Ladies trying to put a ring on it…:” DON’T be fooled this weekend! Amongst some of the gorgeous, professional men hanging out in the city there will be some ‘scrubs’ in the mix as always. So DON’T be fooled by a fake CEO business card that anyone can get printed up at KINKOS! (That’s how some of y’all end up in Steve Harvey’s “Strawberry Letter 23”) 
3. Attention single men: DO get your ‘Gold-Digger’ hard-hat out. Now, I love my fellow sistahs, but I DO believe some of us have a ‘Platinum-Visa-Card’ tracking device hidden up under some of that weave! So fellas get your ‘jump-off radar’ out now OR complain about it later in say,….nine months!
2. Speaking of hair-weaves: ..DO note that Black Business side of town is located on the ….(wait for it…wait for it) WEST SIIIIDE!!! So any last minute: haircuts, extra eye-lash buying, airbrushed nails, sudden and necessary doctor’s appointments, Obama T-shirts, oils and incense or three piece combos can be located along side the many fine establishments over that-a-way. Support your own!
….and the number one thing to DO while at the CIAA Tournament is….(drum roll pleaze…..)
GET YOUR PARTY ON BLACK PEOPLE!!! You won’t be able to turn a corner without falling up into someone’s house party, after-party, day party, …The ‘next-day-after-that-party’ ( I heard there’s actually a party called “BLACKNESS” by Bossman Entertainment, just in case ya’ weren’t sure exactly where you’ll be welcomed!)
So gon’ head and party like a rock star, pop champagne, pop your collar, or just pop ‘it’….. and do it up like Obama is in town and he’s in the VIP room with you!
JUST HAVE FUN!!!! ( ….and um,…oh yeah, DO go see the games too while you are there!)
LHJ
