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Kwanzaa is  derived from  Swahili phrase “matunda ya kwanza,” meaning “first fruits of the harvest” During the holiday of Kwanzaa, many people exchange greetings in Swahili.

The official colors of Kwanzaa are black, red and green? These colors, represented in the candles lit each night, also are included in home decorations. Other decorations feature traditional African items, such as baskets, cloths, and harvest symbols.

The New York Times cover story on Thursday highlighted the growing spending power of the super rich. While average American families struggle to make ends meet, the wealthy are flooding high-end stores to the point where Nordstrom has a waiting list for a Chanel sequined tweed coat for $9,010. But instead of emulating the frivolous spending habits of the select few, perhaps we need to instead spend wisely and save.

In the time it took Washington to reach an agreement on raising the debt ceiling, I wonder how many more of us fell into our own financial crisis? If we’ve learned anything out of the debt debacle, it’s that some in Congress are willing to hang the American people out to dry in order to advance personal agendas, and we must therefore handle our business. Time to get our own fiscal houses in order.

As perhaps the largest consumers of goods in the country, African Americans continuously purchase products – some we don’t even need – in great numbers. Despite our median income remaining at only 60 percent of the median income for white households (Black Enterprise Magazine), we routinely flood the economy with our hard-earned dollars often as quickly as we receive them. Our buying power is undoubtedly tremendous, but we have to start using it wisely.

We cannot spend our entire paycheck on that new pair of shoes or that name brand purse when our bills are due. And we cannot charge our lives away. The problem of spending before we have it isn’t confined to African Americans only; our own federal and state governments are still struggling to balance their books. But if we don’t want to keep racking up debt and run around trying to find ways to raise our own credit limits, we’ve got to start budgeting, cutting our spending and investing.

Money clearly is power. And believe me, I include myself when I say that as women, we sometimes forget that economic strength empowers us across the board. I can admit, that I have at times bought a pair of shoes that I didn’t need or grabbed a bag that really wasn’t necessary. But all of us have to begin steps to change our buying habits and avert our own debt crisis in the future.  For the men out there, I haven’t forgotten you. There are many who think they just can’t live without that brand new car, or customize their ride with ridiculous upgrades, and yet they’re still living at home with mama! Some men indulge in high-end watches or clothes as well, but no matter what our ‘thing’ may be, we’ve got to start making sure economic power is our focus.

Washington just reached a national debt agreement. It’s time for us to work on personal debt resolution in order to prevent serious consequences in our lives — and instead progress ahead — so that the great income and wealth disparities in this country cease to exist.

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Archuleta will be the first Latina to ever hold this position.

Her appointment comes as President Obama heads to Puerto Rico next week courting Latino voters. According to the 2010 census, the Hispanic population of the United States grew 43 percent in the last 10 years.

The Latino vote will be essential to Obama’s reelection and Archuleta’s duties will include “political outreach and an emphasis on Hispanic community outreach,” a campaign source said.

Read more at the NYpost.com

Black Enterprise has compiled a list of the top ten college degrees that can really pay off for African-American job-seekers.

The list is based on a recent study from Georgetown University that investigates the economic value of 171 college majors, providing a breakdown of the highest and lowest-paying degrees by sex and race.

Some of the careers that paid the most for African-Americans included Computer Networking and Telecommunications ($54,000), Architects ($55,000) and Medical Technologies Technicians ($55,000).

Check out the list here

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With his tweets, 33-year-old Sohaib Athar, who moved to the sleepy town of Abbottabad to escape the big city, became in his own words “the guy who liveblogged the Osama raid without knowing it.”

Soon the sole helicopter multiplied into several and gunfire and explosions rocked the air above the town, and Athar’s tweets quickly garnered tens of thousands of followers as he apparently became the first in the world to describe the U.S. operation to kill one of the world’s most wanted militants.

Athar did not respond to an Associated Press request for comment – he explained in another tweet that a filter he set up to stop his email box from flooding could be culling out requests for interviews. He was up to more 70,000 followers by Monday evening.

“I apologize for reporting the operation ‘unwittingly/unknowingly’ – had I known about it, I would have tweeted about it ‘wittingly’ I swear,” he tweeted after realizing what he had witnessed.

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Later, he gave an interview to Al-Jazeera’s English-language news network via Skype as he sat in a cafe. When asked if he was scared, he said that he’s from Lahore, “so I’ve had my share of bomb blasts.”

His first tweet Monday was innocuous: “Helicopter hovering above Abbottabad at 1AM (is a rare event).”

The noise alarmed Athar, who had moved to the upscale area of Abbottabad to get away from city life after his wife and child were badly injured in a car accident in the sprawling city of Lahore, according to his blog in July.

Nestled in the mountains around 60 miles (95 kilometers) northeast of the capital, Abbottabad is a quiet, leafy town featuring a military academy, the barracks for three army regiments and even its own golf course.

As the operation to kill Osama Bin Laden unfolded, Athar “liveblogged” what he was hearing in real time, describing windows rattling as bombs exploded.

He questioned whose helicopters might be flying overhead. “The few people online at this time of the night are saying one of the copters was not Pakistani,” he tweeted.

Athar then said one of the aircraft appeared to have been shot down. Two more helicopters rushed in, he reported.

Throughout the battle, he related the rumors swirling through town: it was a training accident. Somebody was killed. The aircraft might be a drone. The army was conducting door-to-door searches in the surrounding area. The sound of an airplane could be heard overhead.

Soon, however, the rumbling of international events far beyond the confines of this quiet upscale suburb began to dawn on Athar, and he realized what he might be witnessing.

“I think the helicopter crash in Abbottabad, Pakistan and the President Obama breaking news address are connected,” he tweeted.

Eight hours and about 35 tweets later, the confirmation came: “Osama Bin Laden killed in Abbottabad, Pakistan,” Athar reported. “There goes the neighborhood.”

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Mama Why?  Stage play that’s sweeping the nation depicting a single mother trying to live a Christian life while raising both her children and grandchildren.  A daughter on drugs; one in love with a man that she wants to marry, one who hates the world, and two nosy neighbors who stay in their business. She hopes that pray and trusting God will keep the family together.

Click here to buy your tickets today!

There are foods that play a positive role in overall mind health.

Blackberries

Whether it’s a new dance or a foreign language, the older you get the harder it is to learn new things.

The reason? In order to process new information our brain cells need to “talk” to each another. Yet, as we age those cells become inflamed making it harder for them to communicate with one another.

Blackberries can get the conversation flowing again. They provide potent antioxidants known as polyphenols that zap inflammation and encourage communication between neurons, improving our ability to soak up new information according to a 2009 Tufts University study.

Coffee

If you’re trying to kick your java habit you might want to reconsider. A recent Finnish study of 1,400 longtime coffee drinkers reveals that people who sipped between three to five cups of coffee a day in their 40s and 50s reduced their odds of developing Alzheimer’s disease by 65 percent compared with those who downed fewer than two cups a day.

Researchers believe that coffee’s caffeine and ample antioxidants are the keys to its protective affects.

Apples

Here’s a new reason to munch on an apple a day: Apples are a leading source of quercetin, an antioxidant plant chemical that keeps your mental juices flowing by protecting your brain cells.

According to researchers at Cornell University, quercetin defends your brain cells from free radical attacks which can damage the outer lining of delicate neurons and eventually lead to cognitive decline.

To get the most quercetin bang for your buck, be sure to eat your apples with their skins on since that’s where you’ll find most of their quercetin.

Chocolate

You’ve heard the good news that chocolate can lower your blood pressure. Now researchers have discovered it can also keep your mind sharp.

A 2009 Journal of Nutrition study found that eating as little as one-third of an ounce of chocolate a day (the size of about two Hersey’s kisses) helps protect against age-related memory loss. They credit polyphenols in cocoa with increasing blood flow to the brain.

Cinnamon

Beta-amyloid plaques are one of the trademarks of Alzheimer’s disease. The other is tangles in the brain made of tau proteins that can cause brain cells to die.

Emerging research from the University of California at Santa Barbara reveals that two compounds in cinnamon — proanthocyanidins and cinnamaldehyde — may inactivate these tau proteins.

While this research is still in its infancy, a sprinkle of cinnamon on your oatmeal or yogurt certainly couldn’t hurt.

Spinach

This leafy green is packed with nutrients that prevent dementia like folate, vitamin E, and vitamin K. Just one-half cup of cooked spinach packs a third of the folate and five times the amount of vitamin K you need in a day. Maybe that’s why a 2006 Neurology study reveals that eating three servings of leafy green, yellow and cruciferous vegetables a day can delay cognitive decline by 40 percent.

Of these three, leafy greens were found to be the most protective. Try your spinach drizzled with a little olive oil. Its healthy fats boost absorption of fat-soluble vitamins E and K.

Extra virgin olive oil

You may not have heard of them before but ADDLs (or amyloid B-derived diffusible ligands) are Alzheimer’s-inducing proteins that are toxic to the brain. In the initial stages of the disease they attach to brain cells rendering them unable to communicate with one another and eventually leading to memory loss.

Extra virgin olive oil may be a potent foe against ADDLs according to research conducted at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, PA last year. It’s rich in oleocanthal, a compound that disables dangerous ADDLs.

Salmon

This swimmer isn’t just good for your ticker, it’s good for your grey matter too. Salmon is a top source of DHA, the predominant omega-3 fat in your brain, believed to protect against Alzheimer’s disease, an illness that affects over five million Americans.

It’s also nature’s number one source of hard-to-get vitamin D, a nutrient recently shown to ward off cognitive decline.

A study published in the July 2010 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine reveals that older people who are vitamin D deficient are 40 percent more likely to suffer from age-related memory loss.

Curry

Turmeric, a cousin of ginger, is one of the principal spices in curry powder. Turmeric is especially rich in curcumin, a compound believed to inhibit Alzheimer’s disease in multiple ways according to experts at the University of California Los Angeles Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center.

Not only does it block the formation of beta amyloid plaques, it also fights inflammation and lowers artery-clogging cholesterol which can reduce blood flow to your brain.

Concord grape juice

Alzheimer’s researchers like to say what’s good for your heart is good for your brain. Now they’re finding that the same heart-healthy polyphenols in red wine and Concord grape juice can give your brain a boost.

When researchers at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine gave 12 older adults with declining memory a daily drink of Concord grape juice or a placebo drink for three months, they found that the volunteers who drank the grape juice significantly improved their spatial memory and verbal learning skills.

Researchers believe that — just like blackberries — grape juice polyphenols improve communication between brain cells.

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Although the causes remain a mystery, African-American and Hispanic mothers are more likely to give birth to a preterm infant. In fact, babies born to African-American mothers are twice as likely to have low birth weights compared to Caucasian babies.

According to the CDC, 18% of African-American women give birth to a premature baby meaning nearly 100,000 African-American babies are born early every year in the US. This is compared to pre-term birth rates of 12% for Hispanic moms and 11.6% for Caucasian moms. Premature birth is a leading cause of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).

Often mistaken for the common cold, RSV is a common, seasonal respiratory disease that infects all babies at least once by the age of two; however, it can be especially serious in preemies because of their underdeveloped lungs and immature immune systems. In fact, RSV is 10 times more lethal than the flu, and studies have shown that RSV accounts for one of every 10 visits to a pediatrician and one of every 38 trips to the emergency room. Recent data indicates that infants from multicultural communities are also at increased risk to develop severe RSV.

Many parents are unaware of the threat RSV poses to premature babies because symptoms in most infants mimic the common cold. In fact, it is the number one cause of infant hospitalization. So, take steps to educate yourself on RSV, and ask your child’s doctor for ways to help protect your child from the virus.

For more information, visit www.rsvprotection.com