Leggings and Lunacy: The Quirky Superhero's Anthem

i understand the cape,
the leggings, the whole
ball of wax.
you can trust me,
there is no planet stranger
than the one i'm from.

-from Lucille Clifton's "note, passed to superman"


Superheroes are very weird. Their clothes are strange. Their day-jobs are just a front to allow them to do what they really want to be doing with their time. They seem to attract other weirdos and, this is the really strange thing...they believe that they can save the world! Quirky Black Girls, if you haven't noticed yet, every comic book, every animated series, every cliched movie, every superhero everything is about us.

We are that strange tribe of visibly dressed visionaries, fly and flying with skills and powers that nobody even thought were useful until they witnessed us, saving our own lives. But this is complicated. As cranky and brilliant Black feminist Michele Wallace points out superwoman is a myth, an internalized expectation drawn from the fact that everyone exploits Black women and forces us to do the world-making physical, domestic, emotional and spiritual labor that they don't want to do. Sometimes we identify so heavily with the idea of the superwoman that we don't take care of ourselves and run out of adrenaline, and the buildings we made out of our best intentions come crashing down on our heads.

But, as the Superfriends, Captain Planet, the Amazons, Queen Nzinga's court, the crew of black women who travelled across the Atlantic to see Anna Julia Cooper awarded her PhD, the Combahee River Collective, the lifetime of letters between Audre Lorde and Pat Parker, Batman's lasting love for Robin, and the Crunk Feminist Collective (crunkfeministcollective.wordpress.com) remind us, our superpowers are not individual, they are collective, activated in community when we recognize the priceless power each of us is holding, when we nuture the miraculous possibility that each of us will be our badass, transformative self! When like, Lucille Clifton's note to a fellow superhero, we reassure each other. I get it. This strange planet thirsts for our transformative quirkiness. For more on Lucille Clifton and superpower's check out this week's Lucille Clifton Rebirth Broadcast here: http://vimeo.com/13643586

So hail the Quirky Black Girls, superhero tribe fierce on the planet. Tell us about some of your superpowers and the feats you have witnessed from your fellow quirky black girls! Or join the convo on writing and tapping into divine superpowers already strated by QBG Shonell: http://grou.ps/quirkyblackgirls/blogs/item/claiming-our-divine-supe...
Here we go!

And speaking of going....here we went!!!! 720 of us have moved onto our new free social network the money that y'all donated towards the move has been returned.

Please help with the transition by moving your photos, uploading videos and making the new site feel like home by filling it with your superquirky shine!!!

Also if you created a group on the old site (you inspiring organizer you!) upload an image for it here on the new site. (Ooh I think I need to go do that myself for the QBG Writer's Salon.)

And QBG's around the world avail yourself of the brilliance of Quirky Exemplar Janelle Monae during her nationwide tour...just announced and let us know of any QBG meet-ups:
http://www.afropunk.com/profiles/blogs/janelle-monaes-nationwide-tour

If you will be in the Durham Area the weekend of August 21st...please do sign up for the Lucille Clifton ShapeShifter Poetry Intensive to share your superpowers: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/3LH6G9J

And QBG's in the SouthEast don't forget to save the dates Sept 3-5th for splendid quirkiness in Atlanta during the Black Pride festival...

AND if you are really on top of your calendar game save the first weekend in January for MotherOurselves Bootcamp in Durham, NC. More details to come!

I love you! You rock! You are saving my day, and its about so much more than that wild outfit you have on.

Love always,
QBG Lex

Administrator of Quirky Black Girls sent you this message. To visit the group: http://grou.ps/quirkyblackgirls