September 13 on ESPN was mine “Rhapsody moment.” Talking about my mother, who has Alzheimer’s, on national television for the first time was cathartic. It was also directly inspired by the North Carolina MC and her song “Loose rocks”, which deals with dementia, a form of Alzheimer’s disease.

Rhapsody said that “(allowing) myself to be human” was a brand new, out-of-body experience on her deeply personal recent album, y. But the quaver in her voice on this song was all too familiar.

“,” she told her Aunt Dale, whom she calls her “second mother” in the song.

“I remember when I was myself,” my mother told me last week. “I just don’t know how to be myself.”

As we have fun World Alzheimer’s Day, the emotions expressed in these two quotes are part of my life story.

On “Loose Rocks,” the Snow Hill, North Carolina native peels back the layers of her aunt Dale’s dementia diagnosis. “She raps, ‘In the hundreds of conversations I’ve had with my mother since her diagnosis, this is her greatest fear. She forgets a lot these days, but she doesn’t forget the things she’s most afraid of losing. There will come a day when she doesn’t recognize who I am. When she doesn’t remember everything we’ve been through as a parent and a child. But most importantly, when she doesn’t remember the grandchildren and daughter-in-law she’s always prayed for. It’s hard to know what to say when these conversations come up, and honestly, I haven’t figured it out yet. I don’t know if I ever will, because how do you tell the person in charge of your life that the very essence of who they are won’t be a memory? They’ll never know they ever existed.’”

“Loose Rocks” isn’t an exact replica of my life. But the anger, sadness, and fear expressed in the song are only as palpable. At some point in the past two years, becoming a parent, essentially my mother, became an inevitable part of my life. Paying bills, scheduling doctor’s appointments, filing taxes, talking to lawyers to rearrange wills—it’s hard to assume all of that becoming a component of life. And yet, it’s even harder to assume life without it.

She was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s a couple of days before Christmas last 12 months, and symptoms began appearing no less than two years earlier. The consensus I’ve gotten from countless individuals who have reached out to me since this piece is that their family members have lived with the disease for 4 to seven years. How much time do I even have left with my mother? How do I prepare for the emotional burden when it inevitably gets worse? How do I live in a moment after I can’t stop serious about the whole thing? And what did she do to deserve this? These are only a snapshot of the questions that paralyze me day by day.

My mother’s stroke and automotive accident were clear signs. I’ll all the time imagine that the quarantine and the coronavirus pandemic did irreversible damage. She kept saying, “I feel different.” Or, “Something is wrong. I just don’t know what.” A natural extrovert, she was forced into isolation. That isolation modified the woman who raised me. Physically, it’s still there. But looking into her eyes, you may see it is a woman fighting to carry on to the pride that made her who she was — but it surely’s a disease that feeds on itself, emotionally crippling her patients and family members. She can still do some tasks on her own, and her commitment to, as she says, “beating this thing” is inspiring. Her indecision is painful now. Her confidence sometimes ebbs and flows by the hour. We communicate day by day via FaceTime, phone calls, and texts. But seeing her misspelled words, especially after spending her life as a teacher, creates a burden that may’t be ignored. The image of him sitting at the kitchen table practicing writing along with his left hand is burned into my brain. Writing with the “non-active” hand helps with cognitive function, or so the doctors tell us.

My parents divorced in 1988, and from there my mother and I moved to my grandmother’s house in central Virginia. They have lived together ever since. At 93, my grandmother, who resides with breast cancer, is quick to inform me that she doesn’t have one other 93 years ahead of her. She recently returned from the hospital after a gentle stroke that she doesn’t remember. My grandmother continuously jogs my memory about the checking account she arrange that may pay for her funeral and burial costs, and “whatever is left, you’ll make the best decision.”

Like RhapsodyMy father and I never had a relationship. I wore our lack of connection almost like a badge of honor. The feeling was greater than mutual, if he didn’t need a relationship with me. Lately, though, I felt offended and resentful.

My mother all the time tells me she’s afraid of being alone. In the future, I’ll sell the house I grew up in and move her into an assisted living facility. I’m wondering what that may do to her Alzheimer’s. Will it speed it up? Will it slow it down? But the query I ask most frequently is pointless. Why did my father’s actions a long time ago ultimately leave my mother alone in a spot she doesn’t know?

The questions we cannot answer are the most difficult.

2023 study by the University of Exeter and King’s College London examined the impact of the pandemic on the brain health of people over the age of 50. Published in the journal, the study found that older people’s memory deteriorated significantly in the first 12 months of the pandemic (and even after quarantine), regardless of whether or not they had contracted the virus. The study found that cognitive decline was exacerbated by aspects reminiscent of loneliness and depression.

During the pandemic, my mother continuously spoke about how lonely she felt and how often she cried about not having the ability to see her family. As an outgoing and extroverted one who was all the time shuttling between Washington, D.C., Virginia, and wherever her beloved South Carolina State Bulldogs were playing football, the change in lifestyle during the lockdown did irreversible damage to my mother.

The most crippling reality of Alzheimer’s/dementia is the stripping away of an individual’s dignity. The person isn’t who they’re or who they may eventually change into. My mother struggles to take care of the independence she has proudly carried throughout my life. But the effects are visible. In the same conversation where she asks the same query five times in five minutes—like when her next therapist appointment is, or when my daughter’s birthday is so she will write it down on her phone—she may offer you the lyrics to her favorite Luther Vandross song or anything related to her college alumni chapter.

I took her and my son to the Children’s Museum of Richmond this summer. She did nothing but push a stroller while her grandson played with toys, but the joy in her eyes jogged my memory of the woman I’ve all the time loved. As we drove home, she said, “Thank you for making me feel like a real grandma today. I needed this more than you know. I know I won’t get to do it again, so I appreciate it.” That positivity didn’t fade even when she got a phone call a short time later and was told she needed a checkup for her surgery the week before. In that moment, all she wanted was the peace she’d spent years trying to find. Alzheimer’s would eventually rob her of that feeling, but not then. That smile on her face is something I’ll always remember.

What is so bad is how Alzheimer’s takes away time. This stress has affected every part of my life, including marriage and parenting. The conversation with my friend on Wednesday might have been God speaking through her.

“Justin, knowing what I know about your personality, you can’t be everyone’s Superman,” she told me. “You’ll break down and it’ll take years to get back on your feet. You can’t afford that luxury with kids. Or marriage. Because they remember you the way they remember you.”

In a world dominated by Alzheimer’s, being here and now is difficult because I’m clinging to the past. The woman she was once. The relationship we had before all the things turned the other way up. The life she fantasized about but never knew. But it isn’t fair. Not to me, my children, my wife, and even my mother. What matters is the future. I can not lose my mother and family to Alzheimer’s. She would never forgive me for that.

I still have not come to terms together with her diagnosis and there is a likelihood I never will. Her love stays the same, but I see that the disease is already taking away the one one who has known me longer than I even have known myself.

Every day, every hour, with one and all, this type of emotional theft is depressingly fruitful. Money is all the time needed, but somewhere along the way we realize that experiences are the strongest currency. Experiences create memories, and that’s all we will take with us.

It’s hard to say whether “Loose Rocks” will likely be the best song of 2024. But I can say that there probably won’t be a more essential song to me. This song makes me take into consideration what was, what’s now, and what could occur in the next few years. I could never have imagined a world where my mother couldn’t be the grandmother she all the time embodied, and that’s a reality I struggle with each day. In life, we control the things we will control and let all the things else play out the way it does. I can’t control my mother’s Alzheimer’s the same way Rapsody can’t control her aunt’s dementia. “Loose Rocks” isn’t only a painful song. It’s a stupendous song. But it’s also a reminder of responsibility and blessings.

If we’re lucky, we will see our parents get older. Visits mean more, and phone calls change into ornaments that we supply with us for the rest of our lives. Nothing in life is fair or free, because even happiness has its price.

Under a warm September sun at Liberty National Golf Course in Jersey City, New Jersey Eastside Invitational Golf Tournament It felt like a historic moment within the making. With sweeping views of the Manhattan skyline, black athletes, celebrities and business leaders gathered on the pristine fairways not only to play, but to redefine what golf could appear to be.

Invitation, presented by Mercedes-Benz USAwas greater than only a sporting event — it was an announcement about inclusivity, luxury, and the facility of representation. Stars like Anthony Anderson, Terrence J, Angie Martinez, CC Sabathia, and Victor Cruz got here out in support, adding their voices to the growing chorus that golf really is “everyone’s game.”

Erica J. Bolden, head of diversity and inclusion at Mercedes-Benz USA, was the driving force behind this groundbreaking partnership with Eastside Golf, a brand founded by Olajuwon Ajanaku and Earl Cooper. Both former collegiate athletes, Ajanaku and Cooper founded Eastside Golf with a mission to make the game more accessible to communities of color. Their iconic logo—a black man in mid-swing in jeans and a sweatshirt—quickly became a logo of cultural fusion, combining streetwear with a sport that had long been the domain of the elite.

“When we first approached Eastside, we knew it was about more than just sponsoring an event,” Bolden said. “We wanted to help them create real, lasting change, and golf was a powerful way to do that. This partnership is about more than branding—it’s about changing the way people see the sport and who has a place in it.”

The relationship between Eastside Golf and Mercedes-Benz USA goes beyond the superficial level of sponsorship. Bolden emphasized the importance of constructing long-term, sustainable change within the communities they serve. “Anything I do in the community, I want to make sure it’s mutually beneficial. I don’t want it to be just a sponsorship where we slap our logo on something and go away,” she explained.

The partnership not only lifts up black athletes and entrepreneurs, but additionally opens doors for future generations. Mercedes-Benz has supported the Morehouse College golf team and provided scholarship funding for college students excited by the game. “We’ve made it clear that we’re building a pipeline for talent,” Bolden said. “There are internships, scholarships, even emergency funds to make sure students don’t lose out on opportunities to succeed.”

Liberty National Golf CourseWith its world-class facilities and iconic backdrop, it has hosted prestigious events just like the PGA Tour. But the sight of black golfers, celebrities and entrepreneurs having fun with the course was groundbreaking in a sport where diversity had been left behind. For many years, golf had been synonymous with exclusivity, a world that seemed far faraway from the lived experiences of many black athletes and fans. But the Invitational was a daring statement that it was time for change.

The roots of exclusion in golf run deep. From the times of Charlie Sifford and Althea Gibson fighting for his or her place on the course to Tiger Woods breaking barriers, the game has struggled with diversity. But Ajanaku and Cooper are a part of a brand new wave of innovators pushing the game into uncharted territory. Mercedes-Benz, with its heritage of luxury and innovation, saw the vision and joined forces with Eastside Golf to make an actual impact.

The day of the Invitational was electrifying. Celebrities and competitors strolled the course, joking with one another, however the camaraderie was full of purpose. Eastside Golf, which began as a vision between two friends, is now making waves in an industry that has historically been slow to alter. “I love seeing how diverse it is now,” Bolden noted, taking within the scene. “Started by two black men, originally thinking about the black community, but now expanding beyond it. That’s what makes the partnership so special—now it’s everybody’s game.”

The Invitational wasn’t only a golf tournament; it was a culture shift. Eastside Golf’s signature apparel, from fitted caps to polo shirts that remember black culture, was worn with pride by attendees, a walking billboard for what the brand stands for. But as Bolden notes, it’s the brand’s growth and continued deal with giving back that sets it apart. “They started small, but now their ambassadors are everywhere, and they’re still giving back. That’s what I love most—they haven’t lost sight of where they came from.”

By the top of the day, the event’s significance was undeniable. Black athletes, influencers, and executives reclaimed an area that always felt off limits. “That’s how you make a lasting impact—you have to engage, feel it, and be there,” Bolden said. “And we’re just getting started.”

Looking ahead, Bolden sees even larger things for Eastside Golf. “I’d like to see more women involved in the game. And with the pace at which Eastside has grown, I know we’ll see even more progress. This partnership is about more than just golf—it’s about changing the culture.”

As the sun set over Liberty National (with a closing performance by rapper Fabolous), the Eastside Golf Invitational wasn’t just in regards to the celebrity competitors or the luxurious setting. It was in regards to the power of representation and the long run of black excellence in golf. Eastside Golf and Mercedes-Benz USA are coming together to prove that the sport isn’t only for the elite—it’s for everybody.

Katt Williams at all times knew what he desired to do and be. He told his parents when he was just 9 years old that he desired to be a comedian.

Born Micah Williams in Cincinnati, Ohio, Williams was raised in Dayton and spent a yr in Haiti on a mission together with his family. He grew up in a strictly religious home and infrequently felt that the constraints of faith prevented him from being himself. He broke away from his parents at age 13 and moved to Florida. He soon got a job as a door-to-door salesman.

Katt began his comedy profession while still in Ohio, improvising as an adolescent. He honed his routines and toured the country as a real American hustler. By 1999, Williams was an everyday at The Improv, The Comedy Club and Hollywood Park Casino.

While he has his own style, Williams was undoubtedly influenced by a number of the legendary black comedians of his time. Most notably, he drew inspiration from Bill Cosby, Eddie Murphy, and Richard Pryor.

Katt Williams’ profession on stage and screen

Katt Williams has a novel way of weaving almost any topic with each humor and intelligent remark. He can spin about politics, race, or the state of play between men and ladies, and he’s sure to say something each funny and heartfelt. His sort of comedy works since it’s funny enough to get fun, but believable enough to maintain you taken with his sharp commentary. In interviews, he’s way more reserved than his energetic stage presence.

Although stand-up is Williams’ bread and butter, he’s had a couple of different talents over time. He switched careers within the early 2000s and started working in television and film. His first role was in “NYPD Blue,” but his real breakthrough got here as Money Mike, a proud clothing store owner, within the 2002 comedy “Friday After Next.” You may also remember him from “My Wife and Kids,” “Norbit” and Nick Cannon’s “Wild ’n Out.”

How Katt Williams Unleashes Laughter

In a way, you might say that Katt Williams himself is the show. His distinctive, nasal voice and flat perm add one other layer of frivolity to Williams’ stage persona. His flamboyant and sometimes bawdy stage demeanor also brings a component of physicality to his humor.

For Katt Williams, delivery is as necessary because the joke, if no more. He often does impressions to inform a story and uses a frantic pace of speech that keeps the audience on the sting of their seat until the punch line, which he normally repeats multiple times for optimum effect.

And it is not just William’s lyrics that can make you laugh out loud, but his physical comedy as well. This guy will sit on stage in front of 1000’s of individuals simply to get fun. He’s also been known to make use of stools and water bottles as props during his performance so as to add to the humor.

Watching a few of Williams’s older work, it is simple to know how he rose to fame in comedy. “The Pimp Chronicles Part 1” is probably one of the comedian’s most iconic specials. Fans can probably picture him in an emerald green suit and a side-swept perm right now. He whipped audiences into a frenzy as he raged about the life-changing power of marijuana, implored people not to put leashes on their kids, and reminded us all why we need to have white friends. In “Live: Let Playa play”, the short king joked about his size and wondered aloud why he never grew to be “big and strong” despite drinking milk and vegetables.

Katt Williams Today

His most up-to-date works have been released as specials on Netflix.World War III“in 2022, he was rambling on concerning the opioid crisis and his skepticism concerning the chicken wing shortage, and as you already knew, he was just pretending to be a chicken in that bit.

The next special, “Woke Foke,” aired in May 2024, right after his infamous interview with Shannon Sharpe. Katt clearly has a number of life left in him, but fans noticed a special tone on this special. Touré of TheGrio wondered in an article about Katt’s latest special if he relied an excessive amount of on his charm and didn’t skimp on the jokes themselves. “He doesn’t put in the work to write great jokes, which I know he can do. That’s what I expect from him,” Touré wrote. Despite that, Williams still gets his $10 million bag from these specials.

Katt’s longevity within the comedy world is impressive. He has managed to remain relevant and continues to perform across the country. At full throttle, Katt Williams normally tours 100 nights a yr. Pre-sale tickets for William’s 2025 Heaven on Earth tour at the moment are available.

There’s no denying that Williams has kept his name within the highlight with controversial statements about other comedians. It gave the impression of nobody was secure during his time on “Shay Shay Club“as he took his anger out on a lot of his family members, including Cedric the Entertainer, Steve Harvey and Kevin Hart.

At one point, Williams disparaged Harvey’s comedic talent, saying, “There are 30,000 new scripts that come out of Hollywood every year. None of them required a redneck black guy who can’t talk well… and looks like Mr. Potato Head. There’s none. You have to have range.” Dave Chappelle got here after Williams earlier this yr after Chappelle felt he had unfairly targeted other black comedians in an interview. Some industry veterans, resembling Marlon Wayans, have come out and said they consider that feuds between comedians are detrimental to the sport.

One thing to notice about Katt Williams is that she might be controversial, but there’s at all times room for comedy.

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