The Focus Magazine October 2015

Oct. 2015

is comingA change

The Official Magazine of Focused Radio

KAMILALOVE

Host of Focused Radio’s Word Play

Nufocus October 2015


CONTENTS8

14

30

8 .One Black Man’s Prospective of The Million Man March

14. I am KAMILA

36.GOOD HEALTH

24. AT HOME SPA

30. Snacks

Editor in Chief: TommyPEditor at Large: Naadir LoveArt Director: KHAR

4The focus October 2015

The focus October 2015 5


And we’re back, we’re back, we’re back! The Focus Magazine has taken on a new look and full of new content in order to make sure we are giving you what you need. We’ve listened to your feedback and we have packed this month’s edition of The Focus with pertinent stories that speak to the obstacles in the urban community. We are also giv-ing you more pictures and artwork from the eyes and the ears of the streets, business world, and entertainment.

We are excited to add on to our line up of radio personalities on Fo-cused Radio as well as story contributor to The Focus Magazine, Ms. Kamila Love. Her eclectic style, various genres of music she plays, and her selection of topics to talk about make #WordPlay from 4p-6p each weekday a must listen. Learn about the woman inside the show this month as she shows you one of her other many talents, writing. Her father Bro. Love, the mind behind “Love In Action”, speaks with a community advocate that attended the Million Man March 20th Anni-versary in Washington DC and writes a story to really inform you what took place at this historical event.

As always we appreciate you staying FOCUSED and we will continue to do our part to #1 Urban Professional Publication. #StayFocusedMy-Friends

TommyP

Words from the Editor



Imagine an intrepid, altruistic and focused black man: who thinks black should live for, by and of one another, That is Shawn Hunter originally from D.C., came to Roanoke almost a decade ago, to adopt this city as his own. Now a

caring, loving husband and father of 2 beautiful children ages 3 and 7, Shawn’s life story is that of a person who rallied from a life of a troubled man who found himself incarcerated to a truly rehabilitated man who has turned his life around.

Shawn exited prison with the thought to help his fellow brothers, he calls them “Returned Citizen (Ex-offenders), get their lives back on point. So he became an activist for the cause of “Re-turned Citizens.” Shawn left D.C. and implanted himself in Roa-noke in places and organizations where he could help “Returned Citizens”, homeless and indigent people get jobs and their rights reinstated.


This is not my first article about Mr. Hunter. He along with Khalid Jones and Martin Jeffery organized an im-mensely successful job fair in N.W. Roa-noke that resulted in 80 people receiving full time jobs. You can see how a man like this from Roa-noke, VA could end up as a representative

and organizer on the committee for the 20th Anniversary of the Million Man

March in Washing-ton, D.C., which took place on October 10th.

Shawn begins to describe his experience at the gathering as “a beautiful event.” He spoke at Union Temple Baptist Church in Wash-ington, D.C. On October 9th, at the pre-march event, many important

people, celebrities, mothers of slain black youth and peo-ple concerned with real positive change for black people in America and the world. Shawn spoke on his crusade for “Returned Citizens”, assisting them in reestablishing their lives in Roanoke after serving time in prison. He said that the subject had

consequences in the whole nation, he spoke to the fact “that even though Roanoke had no incidences of black deaths by cops, black people were still killing each other and that must stop.” He noted that “this was some of the same subject that Minister Farra-khan spoke on.”

“I really believe a million men and women were in attendance on Octo-ber 10, 2015 at the National Mall in D.C., it was crowd-ed and there was an atmosphere of unity, even though there was a heavy police presence which hap-pened to be mostly black. The military was there also but they were around the outskirts of the event. Everything was very peaceful. Celebrities such as Puff Daddy, Snoop


Dogg, David Chap-pelle and Dr. Cornell West walked around with no security. I sat very close to The Minister as he delivered his address from behind a bullet proof glass.”

I asked Shawn about the title of the event “Justice or Else.” Shawn said “Some people did think that the title implied a threat of violence but that’s not what it was about. The Minister explained that America needs black people’s money and we will use that fact to show Amer-ica not to be unjust to us and stop death by cops and other injustice by not par-ticipating in Black Friday (the big sale day after Thanksgiv-ing, in case you did not know) shopping and Christmas to have our voices heard and impact

America through its pocket.” I brought up that black people who did not attend the march but look at Min. Farrakhan as a leader could be put on “Front Street”. He concurred, that “Yes, the title could be taken as incen-diary and we don’t have tanks and guns but black people are not silly. The event was well organized and the main ob-jective was to show America, we are a peaceful people gathering to mo-bilize our peaceful plan to let our mon-ey show our disgust for all the injustice suffered of late starting with Tray-von. So we will not participate in Black Friday or Christ-mas to dramatically show Treat us with Respect and Justice. I witnessed many youth speakers, ages 20-30, (that is the

main age group of those losing their lives). The Minister allowed them to ex-press themselves.

Shawn are you a member of the N.O.I.? “No, not anymore, when I was incarcerated I was because I liked the discipline, clean-liness and camara-derie of the group, but now I consider myself a part of the universal love of god, no labels, living right, treating people right. The Autobi-ography of Malcolm X did transform my life but I look out for all downtrodden people regardless of race or creed. What I want Roanokers to take from my experience is, we can organize, unify ourselves without asking politicians or groups outside our community to give us handouts,


when they are really making money off of our misery. When someone gets killed in our commu-nities, they write and receive grants and do things like buy vehicles, go on training trips while people are dying or homeless in our community. The funding can come directly to us and we can take charge of our issues such as revitalizing all the abandoned houses in our community. I see a community de-velopment center in our neighborhood, where we don’t need to seek outside help and we can oversee our own projects.”

“The churches need to come togeth-er. We need to do it ourselves! We will fund raise and reach out to those who are sympathet-ic and come from

a similar background to obtain success. We will stop letting our wealth be stripped from our neigh-borhoods. I know we can do it! When I worked at TAP, I personally connected 500 “Returned Citizens” to jobs. They went from assisted people to taxpayers. That’s a win, win solution.”

This reporter found himself, very impressed with this young strong black man – I recommend that any-one this sincere about helping their community in this feasible manner should be supported. So when you hear that Shawn Hunter is speaking somewhere give him a listen.-Brother Love

Shawn Hunter(right) shaking hands with Benjamin F. Chavis Jr. (left)as they take a minute from the day to take a photo.




I AM

KamilaA brief look

at the woman behind the Voice

of FocusedRadio’s show

WORDPLAY


KamilaA brief look

at the woman behind the Voice

of FocusedRadio’s show

WORDPLAY


I am Kamila Love, host and Radio Per-sonality of Focused Radio’s show WORD PLAY which airs 4pm-6pm, Mon-day-Friday. I am also a freelance writ-er for The Roanoke Tribune. When you hear my show and/or read my articles you will quickly learn that I am not defined by one genre. I enjoy many types of music which I attribute to my dad, Brother Love, who exposed us to and taught us to appreciate all types of music. Music is to connect with the soul, to feel joy, pain, laughter and the energy of the people. Music, it’s our heartbeat. It tells the world who you are. I have an-cestors from Africa, America, Bermuda, Cuba and other West Indian islands, so it makes sense that I am drawn to differ-ent types of music.

I sing, compose and play music. My in-struments are guitar (electric and acous-tic), bass guitar, keyboard and piano. I’ll be honest I need to brush up on the piano.Because of our many talents and I will also say our slim phy-siques a lot of people have compared me and my siblings to The Jackson 5 grow-ing up. Needless to say I am Michael. Our parents encour-aged us to follow our passions (meaning skills and innate talents), to excel at all that we do.

We have been volunteering in the community since we were little. Handing out flyers, holding up posters, working at camps, on farms, doing graphics, whatever is needed we put our backs into it.

Our latest adventure is as Love in Action partnering with Tommy P at Focused Radio and Faith 4A Cure to host Thriller Night Comes to Ro-anoke. We are new to Roanoke having come from Macon, Georgia – this was an event that we participated in and one that the whole city looked forward to annually, so “Hey, why not bring it here pre-show and all.” The highlight of the event is a group coming through the crowd dressed as zombies and ghouls dancing to Michael Jackson’s Thriller.

What else do I do? I draw….check out www.facebook.com/popworldartI bake….check out www.facebook.com/fatcatbakedgoodiesI crochet and yes, I do teach others.


I am focusing most of my energy to do-ing music, perform-ing and writing.

I am constantly working to improve my skills and to learn new things that enhances my life and those around me. You would be amazed at what you can learn on You-Tube.

My advice to others is to have a plan, work on it, fine tune it, revise it, throw it out if it isn’t work-ing and get a new plan. Also surround yourself with people who support you and will give you honest criticism. As my crochet students will tell you, we take our work a part until we get it perfect. Practice, practice, practice -repetition is how you improve. You have to be will-ing to invest the time and the work into achieving the things

that you want.

Please remember to give back to your community, to help the ones coming behind you and the ones that were ahead of you. We have all needed help at sometime in our lives…just be there when someone needs your help.

Be good, do right and keep moving forward. Twa-la.






AshleyLeonia

Meet Ashley, a master cosmetologist who enjoys singing and dance, with a passion for modeling. She enjoys skating in her spare time, vacations with her three sisters and loves going to the beach.

Want more Ashley? Follow her on Instagram

@ ambitious_leonia


AshleyLeonia

Want more Ashley? Follow her on Instagram

@ ambitious_leonia


At Home SpaEver want to look young and radiant?Well you may have helpjust hiding in your fridge..

Here are a few tips easy tips forthe cosmetologist in all of us..


People often say that “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder” which I believe to be true, but in a world that is so fixated on aesthetics it’s always good to bring your A-GAME. But I also believe that beauty starts on the inside out, not only personality and ho you treat others but your actual insides, inside you body.You must treat your body as a temple, I know that must be cliche but it’s true. And I’m not saying go on some super strict diet but it is important what you are in taking.Point blank, you are not going to have clear, radiant skin if you eat nothing but junk all day. Nope, not going to happen. And you’re not going to have a toned body if you do nothing but sit on the couch. Think again. And you won’t have healthy, shiny, beautiful hair if you do nothing but put chemicals on it, over and over. Uh-uh.And not to sound harsh but, putting foundation on broken out skin is not a good look, it honestly just brings more atten-tion to your skin. But I’m not just going to say all the things you shouldn’t be doing, I do have some solutions!Ladies! And yes gentlemen! I think men should take their

looks just as serious as we women do. Because ain’t no-body want a man who doesn’t take an effort with his looks. So I will give you some inex-pensive tips on the beginning of beauty (Cleaning, Bathing) That you can use, and you more than likely have most of the items you need already in your kitchen. BODY: First things first, let’s start with what you intake. You should start your day off with a warm glass of lemon water be-fore you eat anything. Use fresh lemon and not concentrated lemon juice. Simple right? But just from this simple task you get all types of benefits.1. It clears skin (if not the most important benefit) The vita-min c in the lemon juice aids in decreasing wrinkles and blemishes. The lemon juice also helps rejuvenate the skin from inside the body. Plus the alka-lizing powers kill some types of bacteria that causes acne.2. It aids in digestion.3. Cleanses your system.4. Boost your immune system.5. Balances pH levels – Lemon is an alkalizing food.6. Energy.7. Promotes healing.8. Freshens breath – Don’t brush your teeth with lemon because

At Home Spa

Well you may have helpjust hiding in your fridge..

the cosmetologist in all of us..


the citric acid is known to erode teeth enamel. So brush your teeth before you have your morning warm lemon drink.9. Hydrates.10. Aids in weight loss – Lemons are high in pectin fiber, helping fight hunger cravings.

FACE: Now look in your cabi-net, do you have any honey? Go ahead, I’ll wait...............If you do, great! Now let’s get to mak-ing some facials. Raw honey is an antibacterial but any real honey will do. It being an anti-bacterial is good for acne and preventing it. Honey is also full of antioxidants which is good for slowing down aging and it’s also good for opening up pores. You can combine honey with a number of different things for different purposesHoney and Lemon Facial (My Favorite) Cut a lemon in half and put honey on the exposed side and use the lemon as an applicator. The honey works as an antibacterial and the lemon works as a brightener or should I say bleacher, most people put down bleachers, but this is all natural and not a chemical and if you have blemishes and dark spots, lemon will even out your skin.Honey and Aloe Vera Gel Fa-

cial – This is good for sensitive skin, aloe working as a soothing component.Body and Face: Exfoliate, re-move dead skin. A favorite of mine is a brown sugar scrub. When you use this scrub ladies and gentlemen! Stepping out of the shower, you are going to look like you just stepped out a R&B music video, no lie! You will look hot! So now let me tell you the benefits of this scrub besides looking extremely sexy naked. The brown sugar will work as an exfoliant, removing dead skin (And it adds a hint of sweetness to your skin, I’m just saying! I only know because I use it on my face also) And the olive oil has anti-aging antiox-idants and squalene which is great for hydration of the skin and hair and you can add any essential oil that you fancy for an amazing scent and other benefits pertaining to that spe-cific oil that you choose.Great for an overall body scrub but just be careful when apply-ing it to your face, be gentle.Now everything I told you guys in this article I do myself, so I can say for a fact that they work, and I do have a lot more tips for y’all. -FOCUSBEAUTY


LIKE US ONPopworldart




HAlloween TREATS

and DRinksDark Candy ApplesINGREDIENTS6 Red Delicious apples3 c. sugar1 c. water½ c. light corn syrup½ tsp. cinnamon-flavored oil¼ tbsp. red food coloring

DIRECTIONSRemove stems and skewer apples (see “Tricks for Sticks,” below).In a saucepan over high heat, with a candy thermometer attached, heat sugar, water, and light corn syrup, stirring until sugar dissolves.Bring to a boil until mixture reaches 300 degrees F. Remove from heat, and stir in 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon-flavored oil and 1/4 tablespoon red food coloring.To make red apples: Dip apples, one at a time, then transfer to a greased baking sheet. Let cool, about 10 minutes.To make black apples: Add 1/4 tablespoon black food coloring to your red syrup. (If the syrup has thickened, reheat briefly.) Dip apples, one at a time, then transfer to a greased baking sheet. Let cool, about 10 minutes.


HAlloween TREATS

and DRinks

Green Gobliningredients

1 ounce vodka1 ounce coconut rum1 ounce peach schnapps1 ounce dekuyper sour apple liqueur1 ounce prepared sweet-and-sour mix ginger ale, to top (optional)DirectionsPour all ingredients into a cocktail shaker half-filled with ice cubes. Shake well and pour over ice cubes in an old-fashioned glass. Serve with a lime wedge.

Dark Candy Apples

Melted WitchIngredients:8 oz cream cheese, softened½ cup sweetened condensed milk1 cup powdered sugar1 tsp vanilla extract6 drops green food coloring (more if desired)¼ cup mini chocolate chipsOreo cookie and Hershey’s Kiss for decorationFruit/Graham Crackers/Pretzels for dipping

Instructions:In a large bowl beat the cream cheese with a mixer until light and fluffy (no longer clumpy), then slowly add the sweetened condensed milk. Beat until smooth. Add the powdered sugar and vanilla, mix until blended.Drop in 5-6 drops of green food coloring and mix until fully incorporated. Fold in the mini chocolate chips.Pour into serving dish. If desired, drop a couple dots of green food coloring on top and use a toothpick to swirl around to give it that “melted witch” look.Place half of an Oreo cookie on top, then top that with the Hershey’s Kiss so it looks like a witches hat. Serve with fruit slices, graham crackers and/or pretzels. Store in an air tight container in the fridge.


Those Making it Happen

BEASTBrother Love

Co -Founder of Love in ActionJournalist and Music Virtuoso


Those Making it Happen

BEASTBrother Love

Co -Founder of Love in ActionJournalist and Music Virtuoso




GOOD HEALTH:THE GROWING ISSUE IN THE BLACK COMMUNITY TODAY


Dear Friends,

I am your Focus Fitness Coach. I am not a physician, but I do have 40 years of experience in fitness and nutrition.

The times we are embarking on and my love for you all, dictates that I con-vey these words of direction through this dismal fiction of what we encounter in this world today. These messages and warnings are not things that I want you to accept at face value, NO!!! You must check them out for yourself via the internet, books, CSPAN and health food stores, etc. Due your due diligence, OK!

The format for my conveyance to you is as follows; First, I will outline the clear and present danger;

and the solutions, that I stress you research. You must know these things for yourself.

History is repeating itself, example: WWI and WWII; prolif-erating and escalat-ing. The breakdown and deterioration of global societies today is just a culmi-nation of incompre-hensible planning by very evil people over a period of many, many years.

These things you NOW! can expect. There will be many major diseases and pandemics world wide: you must strengthen your im-mune systems. I will tell you how but first I will outline some of the ways these major diseases will be con-veyed. Take time to research Agenda 21 and Codex Alimen-tarius. This is how we are hurt, through

our food supply, you may not be aware of this but our coun-try’s diet consists of meat (uric acid), starch or car-bonic acid (rice, pas-ta, potatoes, wheat, flour, etc), sugar (meaning unnatural, not that which is provided by na-ture), milk products (if its not the milk that comes from your mother made especially for you, then NO!!! Milk producing animals generally have been injected with growth hormones and antibiotics. These animals enzymes are designed to be digested by their offspring not ours), bread (is probably the most dangerous of starchy foods with ingredients such as azodicar-bonamide-an ingre-dient that is banned in Europe, the UK and Australia. Azo-dicarbonamide is an

THE GROWING ISSUE IN THE BLACK COMMUNITY TODAY


ingredient that is in most popular brands of bread in America. Do your research!!!

Let’s further exam-ine, could any of you that are reading this article be over-weight, suffering from painful joints, mucus congestion, headaches, shortness of breath for mini-mal exertion, skin problems, gas and/or heartburn, emotion-al ups and down and much more. It may not just be the food, but also: 1. antibiotics-over-use of antibiotics re-sults in super mutat-ed bacteria, fungus and spores which have been created with the mis-use of antibiotics in several industries over the years, refer to TIME Magazine September 12, 1994-Revenge of the Killer Microbe. Some herbs are great alternatives to antibiotics such as

maringa, pau d’ arco, golden seal, echina-cea and many more.2. STOP spending all your time in front of the television or cell phone, cooking with the microwave, playing video games, etc. Radiation ab-sorption is deadly to the body’s immune system. 3. Most foods from supermarkets fall far short of giving you the nutrition you need to sustain good health; the average overweight person and everyone else most times are walking around mal-nurished and they don’t even know it (one malnutrition disease is macular degeneration of the eyes causing the loss of eyesight).4. Inactivity-your heart can not pump blood to your an-kles and then to your brain, YOU MUST MOVE!!!! for good circulation.

The simplest thing for you to do is to WALK! Walk one mile a day, heel toe. Start with ¼ mile, and ½ mile, then ¾ mile until you are comfortable walk-ing a whole mile. Walking is good for circulation. Blood is the fluid that carries your spirit.

Here are further solutions for repel-ling the evil sick-nesses that I have spoken to you about.

Some of you may be suffering from one, two or all of the ailments I spoke of, so we quickly have to vanquish this evil from your body and spirit. Out with the bad, in with the good. I recommend if it started with a face, don’t eat it. I also recommend not frying because all oils turn toxic at 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Upon doing my re-


search I found good oils are: olive, palm, sunflower, coconut to name a few and I found bad oils also based on my re-search at the library, on the internet and most health food stores so I DO NOT USE: lard, soy, corn, cottonseed or canola oils.

Another important thing to remember is cooking your food kills the nutrients. I will elaborate more on this in a future column.

Drink plenty of clean alkaline water, not tap or bottled mu-nicipal water: if you must use tap water, filter it then alkalize it with lemon.

Fruit (no GMO aka seedless). Real fruit especially berries-blue, black, mulberries, raspber-ries, strawberries etc. Don’t forget to eat

melons, limes and grapefruit occasionally for medicinal purposes.

Remember, I’m not a physician, just your Focus Fitness Coach.

For any questions, hit me up on our face-book page FocusedRadio


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The Focus Magazine October 2015

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