I love JM!

Janelle Monae on NPR's Fresh Air

from Wondaland Arts Society by Jovian Zayne

An interview with Janelle Monae aired yesterday on NPR's Fresh Air radio show. Full audio can be heard online at www.freshair.npr.org
Fresh Air, is an hour-long interview show broadcast on 500 public radio stations across the country with 5 million listeners weekly.
Songs from Metropolis:The Chase Suite (Special Edition) will be played.

Click here Listen to Janelle Monae on NPR's FreshAir!

Enlarge

By: Scott Gries

Janelle Monae has said she uses her imagination as an escape from a rough childhood, which was marked by her father's addiction to drugs.

Fresh Air from WHYY, June 17, 2009 · Janelle Monae, the singer, songwriter and performer from Kansas City, blends cabaret, soul, funk and rock 'n roll in her music.

Her 2007 debut album Metropolis: The Chase Suite featured a character named Cindi Mayweather, Monae's android alter-ego from the year 2719. "Many Moons," a single off the album, earned the singer a Grammy nomination, and helped Monae catch the ear of Sean "Diddy" Combs, who signed her to his Bad Boy roster and re-released the album.

In 2005, Outkasts's Big Boi included two of her songs on his compilation, Got Purp?, Vol. 2. Monae also performed in Outkast's Idlewild soundtrack.

See this article here!

Act Like You Know It!

The Young Women's Leadership Council

The Young Women's Leadership Council, an advisory board to the Pro-Choice Public Education Project (PEP), is seeking new members to continue its mission to be the voice and raise the voices of diverse young women in the sexual and reproductive justice movement.

We are looking for potential YWLC members that are:

· Between the ages of 16 and 29, with diverse backgrounds and a wide range of interests within the reproductive justice movement including HIV, abortion rights, LGBTQ issues, community organizing, blogging, racial justice, and media/pop culture.

· Passionate about these and many other issues that affect women, particularly young women of color and low-income women.

· Interested in opportunities to travel, network, and/or facilitate workshops on behalf of the YWLC and PEP, all of which will help build skills that will be useful for school, career, and beyond.

If you would like to apply as well as to help spread the word about this great opportunity, please visit the attached link:

The application deadline is July 1st, 2009.

My Two Lives - Trials and Tribulations of being Black and Technical

crossposted from my african diaspora Written by EB

I’ve written about it before, but when the topic rears its ugly head again, I feel compelled to whine…again.

I live in two worlds: one online and predominately white and one offline and predominately black. Technology has been a part of my life since I saw and consequently fell in love with my first computer in middle school. The black screen on the old Radio Shack computer called to me in a way that only books had previously. I wrote my first program - my name scrolling across the screen in white letters. I was hooked.

That path led me down the road to a long career in technology, working for someone else before launching my business with my partner (of course, I still read voraciously and write). Through the years, my network of contacts online have guided me through Windows blue screens of death, more hardware/software upgrades and conflicts than I care to remember, and more recently, the adoption of the Linux way of life. Since I can see most of them via their avatars or pics (no, I generally don’t post one), I know they don’t look like me. Yet in this tight knit community, we chat, help each other through our various technical conundrums, seemingly available at all hours of the day and night. These people I’ve never met in person and probably never will.

My other life is full of family and friends - mostly people who look like me. This group probably knows how to send email - and some, rarely use this nifty tool. I love this group, yet they frustrate me. It seems that technology is an afterthought, an annoyance, something to use only when they have to. “I use a computer at work,” they say. “I don’t want to see one when I get home.” In a recent meeting, where we discussed preparing a member directory for our group, I of course suggested this must be done electronically, to which someone immediately replied, “But everyone doesn’t have access to a computer.” I wanted to cry. I mumbled and stumbled through an angry response, one I’m sure people either didn’t get or resented. (note to self, do remember not to speak in anger, think first). You see, in my other life, the one spent online, this would be akin to someone saying they still used a circa 1988, IBM PS/2 for their primary development box.

Let me be clear - I’m in no way implying that all African Americans despise technology. But what I am saying is that far too many of us are lagging behind. And I fear that if we don’t catch up, we’ll once again be left behind.