Snap, Crackle, Pop: You Thought It, I Said It

My Twitter timeline has been on the up and up lately. What used to be a soapbox for depressing tweets about school and lusty #twitterafterdark thoughts about things that would make a stripper blush is now being phased out by congratulatory tweets for new parents Beyonce and Jay-Z and tweets for joy from the hundreds of women who held on to hope that "Jimmy" would finally propose to Chrissy.

After years of courting, Beyonce and Jay finally delivered to the world yet another special product of their union in the form of a seven-pound baby girl named Blue Ivy Carter.

Now I'll admit, when I first heard the name I thought that Beyonce may have lost it, but I was more disturbed by all of the negativity the name generated. The #namesbetterthanBlueIvy trend should've been #whoareyoutotalk instead, especially if your name is "Quandufylieshia Lawndellarta Nartiqua Smith Walker the Third" as one Katt Williams parody Twitter account declared.

Despite attacks from the Twitterati, Jay showed nothing but love in his newest song "Glory" featuring baby Blue herself. In the song, Jigga also alludes to the couple's previous difficulties having a baby. A truly genuine and heart-wrenching ode to his baby girl, it's just one example of how the idea of black love and family may be changing from images of dysfunction and single parent homes that we're accustomed to seeing in the media.

Whether you could care less about the new baby or you are already hailing Princess Carter, what you can't deny is the love and respect that Beyonce and Jay have demonstrated and continue to demonstrate in their relationship. As one of my followers always reiterates, "they dated, waited to get married, and then had a baby," an idea that is not often portrayed among many black couples in Hollywood.

However, if you weren't gushing over the birth of Blue Ivy, perhaps, like my mother and sister, you were crying because Chrissy finally got the proposal she had been waiting seven years for. For the fellas, did a part of you at least take pride in that moment when Jim Jones stepped up for the guys out there, even if he did step to her like he was going to ‘Chris Brown' her on national television?

Although these are just small examples of a shift in the portrayal of black love and relationships, it is necessary to note that the images are at least changing somewhat. Some young black girls now want to be in love like Jim Jones and Chrissy, which isn't necessarily a terrible thing, especially considering that there are still those unfortunate ones who tend to find love "in a hopeless place."

It's inevitable that the media will help to dictate a significant portion of how we view black love and what it means to commit to another person. So while the media is helping to generate some more healthy examples of black courtship, why not enjoy it?

Tweet me @writefrombk to share your thoughts on the state of black love in the media!

George Chapman Jr. is a senior broadcast journalism major from Brooklyn, N.Y.