Blog

Recent Chat with My 7 Year Old Son

Anjuan Simmons — Wed, 16 May 2012 18:52:23 +0000

SON: Dad, how old are you?

ME: 37.

SON: What year were you born?

ME: 1974.

SON (jaw dropping): What? That's like Civil War days!

Question About Buying a New Computer

Anjuan Simmons — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 21:45:16 +0000

One of my Facebook friends recently asked me this question:

Hey Anjuan. How are you and fam?

Im looking at getting another computer. What do you think about this?

This Averatec All-In-One desktop features a 18.4-inch WXGA TFT LCD (1680 x 945) screen, AMD Athlon 3250 1.5GHz processor, and 2GB SDRAM memory. This desktop computer is a great way to conserve space while keeping the Convenience of a desktop computer. « less

My response:

Help My Son Turn a Dollar into a Difference

Anjuan Simmons — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 19:50:51 +0000

My son is raising money for his school's Citizens in Action program. All donations will be used to help Woodlands Interfaith's Food bank. You can enter any dollar amount and click the button to make a donation to my son's cause using Amazon:

What the World Needs from Trayvon Martin

Anjuan Simmons — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 07:07:29 +0000

The murder of Trayvon Martin weighs on my heart in ways that only two other events in my life have done. The first event occurred in middle school when a white student called me a nigger for using the water fountain for too long. The second event occurred in my senior year at the University of Texas at Austin when an anonymous person left a note on my dorm room door wondering why a nigger would study electrical engineering when I should be out committing crimes. The note also included a crude drawing of the anonymous person raping my girlfriend in front of me.

These are the types of events that change you. You’re never the same. Life takes on a hint of bitterness and never quite returns to its previous sweetness. Other successive events in my life like getting married and the birth of my three children helped to slightly blunt the pain, but a part of me become forever hardened.

And then the news about a young kid in Florida shot and killed after buying iced tea and Skittles came into my life. Shot and killed by an overzealous neighborhood watchmen who was let go by the police without being searched, tested for drugs, arrested, or forced to surrender his gun license.

Why I Believe in Affirmative Action

Anjuan Simmons — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 11:55:29 +0000

Most of you probably associate me with technology. After all, I work as an information technology consultant, and a lot of the content that I post to Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, my blog, and other online social networks is about technology. However, I also write and speak about minority advocacy issues, and, with Black History Month coming to an end this week, I thought I would discuss a topic about minorities that has gotten a lot of attention in the past week: affirmative action.

Before I continue, I want to warn you that I will discuss this already difficult topic in a very candid manner. I will also discuss how my views on affirmative action are tied to my personal experience with being called the "N-Word", but I will write out the full word because, well, it was always fully spoken or written out against me. If you don't like frank discussions about race or don't like reading the n-word spelled out, then I advise you to stop reading now. Actually, I assume that most of the people who would be offended have already stopped reading and have moved on to some other less challenging part of the internet.

My Second Letter to the Daily Texan about Affirmative Action

Anjuan Simmons — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 04:19:31 +0000

After seeing my first letter to the Daily Texan about affirmative action published, the debate about the use of race in college admissions continued to rage across the campus of The University of Texas at Austin. The conversation branched in multiple directions, and I decided to write another Firing Line letter in response to one written by another student. It was published on July 1, 1996 and was titled "Race the Marathon". I attempted to again present a logical view of affirmative action since so many student opinions seemed to be based on emotion instead of the racial reality of the United states.

My First Letter to the Daily Texan about Affirmative Action

Anjuan Simmons — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 03:49:18 +0000

In light of the recent decison by the U.S. Supreme Court to review college affirmative action, I thought I would post two letters I wrote as a student at The University of Texas at Austin during the controversial Hopwood Decision which prohibted the university from using race as a factor in admisisons. The Hopwood Decision was made in March 1996 when I was a junior electrical engineering undergraduate student at the university.

In response to articles and letters written to the Daily Texan's Firing Line section (where letters from students were published), I wrote my own Firing Line letter which was published in the March 1, 1996 edition of the Daily Texan. It was titled "Column Was Flawed", and, although almost 16 years have passed since it was printed, my thoughts about the need for affirmative action at the university level remain unchanged.

My SXSW 2012 Release

Anjuan Simmons — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 23:39:29 +0000

This Release Agreement (“Agreement”) is granted by ___________________________ (“Presenter”) to SXSW Media LLC. (“SXSW”).

SXSW proposes for Presenter to appear as a speaker or panelist at one or more SXSW conference presentations and to present oral, written, audio, and/or visual information (collectively the “Presentation”). As a condition of Presenter’s appearance and presentation, and in consideration of the mutual promises contained herein, the parties agree to the following:

Proprietary Rights: Presenter hereby grants SXSW a perpetual worldwide royalty free license in any copyright, trademark, trade secret, right of personality or publicity, or other proprietary rights associated with the recording of the Presentation. SXSW shall have the right to do all of the following with respect to any and all parts of the recording of the Presentation: (a) distribute, show, and adapt it or any portion of it for any medium throughout the world; (b) cut, edit, add to, subtract from, arrange, rearrange, and revise any or all of it; provided that any such changes do not materially alter or misrepresent the content as presented; (c) assign or sublicense any or all rights hereunder; and (d) promote it in any manner. SXSW reserves the right to remove content at its sole discretion.

Performer’s Likeness: SXSW shall have the right to use the Presenter’s name, voice, likeness, and similar characteristics for the purpose of advertising, promoting, selling, and otherwise promoting SXSW and the Presentation.

SXSW reserves the right to remove content at its sole discretion. Please refer to our Terms of Use.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, Presenter has signed below.

3 Career Success Strategies for Minorities in Business

Anjuan Simmons — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:38:08 +0000

This is a presentation I gave at the Mays Business School of Texas A&M on Saturday, January 28, 2012 during the Admission Department's Diversity Forum. I spoke with several prospective MBA students about the realities of being a professional in the business world and shared three strategies that helped me succeed.

You can find the Prezi I used for this presentation here:

prezi.com/zemlvk6rpiik/3-career-success-strategies-for-minorities-in-business/

Unfortunately, my "good camera" inexplicably shut down about five minutes into the presentation which forced me to start recording on my iPhone. So, you'll see that there is a loss of about ten minutes between my intro and our review of an episode of the "What Would You Do?" TV show that focused on racism. The video and audio quality varies throughout the clip, but I decided to not let perfection be the enemy of good and posted it.

I hope that my presentation gave the participants an idea of how to work as a minority in business, and it is also my desire that we continue to have open and honest conversations about race and gender in the business world within an atmosphere of respect and understanding.

Here are the two "case studies" about racism that we discussed:

Countrywide Settlement on Biased Lending Charges

What Would You Do TV Special on Racism

I enjoyed the opportunity to speak about a topic I'm passionate about: minorities taking control of our careers instead of simply complaining about the lack of a level playing field. I know racism and prejudice are uncomfortable topics for my lot of people (especially in business), but I think it's important to have these conversations. Harmony cannot be achieved through silence.

Talking Tech on KHVN 970 AM with Shawn P Williams

Anjuan Simmons — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 04:00:50 +0000

This is the radio interview I did on Thursday, December 29, 2011 with my friend Shawn P Williams. We discussed some of the misconceptions about minorities and technology, tech trends to watch in 2012, and a few nuggets about my upcoming book!