Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Really Regis?!

 
 

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via The Crunk Feminist Collective by moyazb on 11/30/10

Dear Regis Philbin,

Please watch this video of YOU, Regis Philbin, co-host of Regis and Kelly, SMACKING NICKI MINAJ'S ASS! I'll wait…

No I won't, min 3:40

Other Crunk women of color have waxed poetic about this so I won't belabour the point.

It doesn't matter that her last name is Minaj or that she's black and a "she" so you thought it would be ok, that her ass is awesome, rumored to be fake, that she talks about sex explicity in her music. That's not an invitation to sexual harassment on national television.

You don't get a pass because you're an elder and white and like Lil Wayne.

You don't put your hands on people!!!

And Kelly, I see you with your not at all innocuous "How BIG is your…waist?"

My friend Cee-Lo Green has some choice words for both of you.

Sincerely,

MB



 
 

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Of Fire and Exhibition: Oh, wow. I don't even know where to begin.

 
 

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via Brown Girls And Bois on 11/30/10

Of Fire and Exhibition: Oh, wow. I don't even know where to begin.:

exhibitnumber1:

1. Regis slapping Nicki Minaj's ass isn't funny.  It's degrading, dehumanizing, and just all-around reprehensible.  

2.  It's easy for spectators to comment, "Why didn't she say anything? I would have!"  The fact of the matter is, however, you were not there and this did not happen to you.  Nicki Minaj was on national television and in front of a live audience, which automatically puts her at a position of vulnerability.  Hell, her position as a performer puts her in a vulnerable state; her livelihood depends on the audience.

On top of that, but society tells girls and women all the time, "Don't be loud.  Don't be a drama queen.  Don't be too emotional, because people will take that as a sign of your inability to cope and think rationally.  Smile, and be nice, and be respectful.  Mind your manners."  This is why it's often so hard for some women to stand up to sexual harassment, or to be bold, or to say, "No. Fuck off. Go away, you fucking creep," when bathed in continuous unwanted sexual attention.   At the very least, it's hard for me.  At the back of my mind, there's always society's little voice telling me, "Don't cause a scene."  And when I do cause a scene, when I do raise my voice and tell these men to back the fuck off, I get painted as a bitch, as melodramatic, and irrational.  I've had friends turn around and tell me, "Whoa, it wasn't that big of a deal."  Except a guy's hand on my ass, touching me non-consensually, IS a big deal.

So yes, it's a big deal that Regis smacked Nicki Minaj's ass— but I'm not surprised that she didn't say anything, and that her reaction was to laugh awkwardly.  How many times have I done that in the fact of sexual harassment?  How many times have I seen other women do that?  And we weren't on national television, and I've never had my reputation or career on the line.  

3. I'm not even going to touch the "there is a difference between black people and n—-" and "bitches and queens" bullshit.  You got yourself worked into a fury there, didn't you, hun?  Well, keep on rockin' with your ignorant self.  I just refuse to even grace that sexist and racist shit with a counter-argument. 

4. Y'all don't have to agree with Nicki Minaj's Barbie alter-ego to acknowledge sexual harassment or to be outraged by it.  Moreover, just because Nicki Minaj has this Barbie alter-ego, doesn't mean she's any more deserving of sexual harassment, or any less deserving of support.  You also don't have to agree with how she calls herself a bad bitch; that's fine, and while I personally find power in reclaiming the word, it's understandable that others don't and find it sexist.  But again, just because she's a self-identified "bad bitch" doesn't make her deserving of sexual harassment, or any less deserving of our support.

5.  Barbies may be disposable, but human beings aren't.

6.  The hypersexualization of women in the hip-hop industry is a real thing.  However, before we start engaging in a dialogue about how "Nicki Minaj hypersexualizes herself, so what does she expect?" let's first learn a little about the hypermasculine hip-hop culture and the ways women must present themselves to have their voices heard.

7. Oh, and the "Nicki Minaj hypersexualizes herself, so what does she expect?" argument is pure bullshit.  Women can represent themselves however they damn please; they are still women, and thus, still deserve respect from the feminist community.  Feminism is supposed to fight for women, not just women you agree with, not just women who dress "sensibly" and don't market their sexuality and have Women's Studies degrees.  Feminism is for women— even sex workers, even hypersexual, self-proclaimed Barbies and bitches.

Outstanding commentary.


 
 

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champagnecandy: rosietherioter: All Oppression is Connected-...

 
 

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via maia medicine on 11/30/10



champagnecandy:

rosietherioter:

All Oppression is Connected- Staceyann Chin

If you're going to watch ANY of the Staceyann Chin videos- WATCH THIS ONE.

"THE TIME TO ACT IS NOW. NOW  while there are still ways we can fight. NOW because the rights we have left are still so very few. NOW because it is the right thing to do! NOW before we open that door to find they have finally come for you!"

I am madly in love with this woman. 


 
 

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Nicki Minaj On Live with Regis & Kelly

 
 

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via Liquor&Spice on 11/29/10

Nicki Minaj On Live with Regis & Kelly:

exhibitnumber1:

At 3:40, Regis slaps Nicki Minaj on the ass.

Where is the outrage?

Jesus Christ. Kanye West takes away a white girl's mic and suddenly he's hounded by the media and boo'd in public. Regis sexually harasses a black woman and, hey, no one gives a fuck. We'll just call it a love-tap, right? Or a joke. He was just joking, right?

Fuck that shit. I ask again: where is the outrage? Why is this acceptable?

UGH! I hate everything!!!! I HATE when this happens and I'm reminded of how America looks at me! I hate hoping that maybe THIS time a big org will care and notice and be outraged on Minaj's/my/colored girls behalf. Uggghhhhhhh I was SO not in the mood to read this right now! :(


 
 

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Monday, November 29, 2010

dancingonembers:ancestryinprogress:naturallyunorthodox:henr...

 
 

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via Liquor&Spice on 11/29/10



dancingonembers:

ancestryinprogress:

naturallyunorthodox:

henry-tubs-undrgrndbeercave:

str8nochaser:

thehuskybro:

Don't need Disney to tell me what I what I've known since the day I took my very first breath…

(via mssjones)

Damn straight. But… replace 'Princess' with 'Goddess'. Thanks. 

D'aaaaaawwww

Too adorable


 
 

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Fa la la la Fail

 
 

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via my best friend gayle by summer of sam on 11/29/10

I've been nursing a lemon pound cake jones by going to Starbucks a bit more often than I'd like.  I know it is not a business that I should patronize with my graduate student funds, but a craving is a craving.  Anyway, I'm standing at the counter listening to the Starbucks employee recite my order for clarity because 1. N's order is always complicated and leaves me tongue-tied, and 2. I refuse to employ Starbucks' asinine ordering language.  I say "small," "medium," and "large."  As much as I pay for tea at Starbucks, I pay for that right--or perhaps Starbucks justifies their prices because they have fancy names for sizes on their board.  But I digress.  As I was standing at the counter waiting for the employee to hand me my luscious and fresh slice of pound cake, I look down and notice that the first mate has its holiday gift cards on display.  And, what do you know, but Starbucks has Kwanzaa gift cards. 

At that moment precisely, I heard Maulana Karenga say, "Brooklyn, we did it!" all the way from Floss Angeles, California. 
Kwanzaa, meaning "first fruits," was first celebrated in December of 1966.  A seven-day celebration created by Maulana (nee Ron) Karenga, Kwanzaa's main purpose was to celebrate African culture (because it's monolithic like that) and create a connection among people of the African diaspora.  Each day of the holiday coincides with one of seven principles, in no particular order: Nia, Simba, Umoja, Imani, Nala, Kuumba, Mufasa, Ujima, Ujamaa, and Kujichagulia.  People, so I've heard, can celebrate Kwanzaa by participating in drum circles, pouring out libations to the ancestors, and watching the first disc of Roots.  The holiday gained popularity when everyone was black and proud in the 70s  I know approximately zero black people who celebrate Kwanzaa. 

All, okay most of my joking aside, I've long been under the impression that part of Kwanzaa's purpose was to help steer folks away from the consumerism of the Christmas holiday, and that hand-made gifts were in order.  Well, two stamps and a Starbucks gift card later, Kwanzaa is officially official.  Score another one for team capitalism. 

It's amazing; nothing gets passed these guys.  I can actually go to Target and buy several Kwanzaa cards, place Starbucks gift cards inside of them, stamp the envelopes with Kwanzaa postage, and mail the cards to friends and homies.  People will, indeed, do this--and somehow think that their behavior is different, progressive, or I dare say, "conscious."  Perhaps we are not what we eat, but what we buy.  I'm neither appalled nor surprise by the scenario.  Personally, if someone sent me a Kwanzaa card with a Starbucks gift card in it, I'd be excited.  I really like gift cards (and sneakers and watches and books, if you're interested in sending me something), and prefer them over hand made gifts with Kwanzaa symbols.  Still, I simply think the scenario is worth noting.  That said, please know, if you're not sure what to get the black person[s] in your life, Starbucks got you.  Nothing says "Happy Merry Joyous Kwanzaa" quite like fifty dollars worth of iced venti white mocha frappucino lattes with soy and no whip.

Enjoy your holiday shopping.

'Tis the season.

 
 

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A Return to Myself: A Delayed Response to For Colored Girls

 
 

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I finally saw For Colored Girls yesterday with ambivalence.  I had promised myself that I would not go, that I would not give Tyler Perry another 8 of my dollars, that I would not subject myself to false images of myself, and that I would hold on to the For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf that I knew and fell in love with by myself– I knew I could not resist forever.  A colleague has asked me to offer input on a piece he is writing about the film.  I will be teaching the text again in the spring and I need to know what distortions of the story my students (may) have been subjected to.  Further, a need to be a part of the conversation seduced me to the theatres.  I arrived early and sat in my seat defensive, arms closed, head tilted, mouth smirked. 

I have been protective of black women's stories for years, and particularly For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf, the choreopoem that my white professor introduced me to in a performance class when I was 23 years old.  I could not believe the words we were reading and the words that performed themselves when I spoke them out loud, sounding just like myself.  I did a performance of "no assistance" and fell in love instantly, wondering why in the world I had never heard of Ntozake Shange before—and committing myself to learning to pronounce her name correctly.  Ntozake (n-toe-zah-kay), formerly Pauline.  Shange (shaun-gay), formerly Williams.  Her new name, the name she chose, was Zulu and meant "she who comes with her own things" and "she who walks like a lion."  I was immediately impressed.  I was instantly moved.

 Two colleagues met me at the theatre and we watched together, one colored girl, and two white women, all marginalized.  I wondered, at times, if they could sense me suffocating in the dark.  There were at least three times.  The first time was when I found some characters unrecognizable.  The poems, which I have read one hundred times, felt familiar but missing.  Their lives were blurred.  Their voices were too blended.  Who were they?  Where were they? 

The "colored girls" lives were so combined it was hard to recognize ourselves, my self.   And I wondered how that was any different from any other black woman representation–different versions of various stereotypes.  This was not what shange had told me (in the original version).  I was not a stereotype in the text, I simply was… finally and on paper.  My broken-hearted self.  My tough and sassy self.  My little girl and grown up self.  My elegant and fearless self.  My "behind my waist is aching to be held" self.  My "usedta live in the world" self.  My "tryin not to be that" self, leavin "bitterness in somebody else's cup."  My "lost touch with reality" self.  My "hot iron scar, leg wit the flea bite, calloused feet and quik language in my mouth" self.  All of these selves at the same time.  But not a damn stereotype.  

We (women of color) are always fighting to be heterogeneous because people can't tell us apart, our lives, too broken, too (un)familiar, too pathological.  The delicious difference(s) between us is often lost in translation.  But it was not lost in the text.

 Lady in Red (from the poem One)'s vulnerability was taken away—disguised beneath profanity and a tough exterior that was not my interpretation of  Lady in Red at all.  Her need to be held, no different from my own.  Her love of sex hidden behind a lack of self esteem.  But a black woman's sexual agency is not always about sexual abuse (though I believed she had been hurt/left/not loved back so much that sex and sexuality became her way of being desired and wanted in decadent moments of discovery, rather than left, sleeping, and hopeful for connection).  The crying herself to sleep part was left out.  We never saw her by herself.

Crystal's strength and pushback was silenced.  Black Mother Women, as Audre Lorde says, are both beautiful and strong.  Crystal fought for her children but her words were lost in the parade of black women's bodies in ten shades.  She defended her children, if not herself.  She threatened to kill Beau Willie Brown.  She took out papers.  She consciously refused to be his wife because of the physical abuse and infidelity.  We never heard her talk back, or take up for herself.

My need for imagination was lost in the movie and so was my identity.  The beauty of the text, the complication of the meaning(s), over-simplified.  Another moment of held breath.

Though my day was filled with other interactions and responsibilities I kept thinking about the inconsistencies of the movie and wondered where my emotion went.  I had heard of people seeing the movie and crying, feeling moved.  I was not moved. I was offended (at times), I was pissed off (at times), angry (at times), confused (at times). 

I cried when I first read the words, not fully understanding them yet, but recognizing myself in them.  I cried watching the broadway version, which left the nuances of life in the room for individual interpretation.  I cried when I taught it for the first time, knowing without the class, the requirement, the reason, so many women would have gone their whole lives not knowing the text existed.  I cried when they cried, portions of themselves scattered on the pages. 

A black girl's song. 

A black woman's story. 

Taking "our stuff" back and owning ourselves.

Moving to self-actualization.

In an interview in the early 80s with Claudia Tate, Ntozake Shange said that the audience she writes for are little girls who are coming of age.  She says, "I wanted them to have information that I did not have.  I wanted them to know what it was truthfully like to be a grown woman.  I didn't know.  All I had was a whole bunch of mythology—tales and outright lies.  I want a twelve-year-old girl to reach out for and get some information that isn't just contraceptive information but emotional information."

I appreciate that.  Because "colored girls" don't have the luxury of fairy tale fantasies.  That is not what our lives are like–and sometimes to be saved, we have to save ourselves.

And while disappointed I was not utterly disgusted by the movie.  For the first time in a while I did not walk out wanting my money back.  But I did want my words back.  And the connections I made on the page that I didn't make in the theatre.  So I came home, sat on the floor of my office, and read the choreopoem out loud until I was finished.  I remembered myself while remembering them, recognizing some of the words that were spoken in the movie, but finally, recognizing myself, returning to my self.

 In 1976, shange closes a preface to the text saying:

"i am on the other side of the rainbow/ picking up the pieces of days spent waitin for the poem to be heard/ while you listen/ I have other work to do/"

And all this time after

now that the poems have been/are being heard

there is still (other) work to do.


 
 

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Saturday, November 27, 2010

#20 Examples of Neoliberalism:or/ Fuck yo retirement plans

 
 

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via New Model Minority on 11/27/10

Under current law, a medium-income worker (someone making about $43,000 a year) is projected to get about $15,000 a year in Social Security benefits in 2050. Under the Simpson-Bowles plan, he or she will get about $12,700. That's not nothing, but it's not much. Social Security is not currently a generous program—it's actually among the least generous offered by any developed nation—and in making it less generous, we raise the question of what seniors with insufficient retirement savings are supposed to do.


 
 

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simplysupreme:Those girls are getting so big!

 
 

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via New Model Minority on 11/27/10



simplysupreme:

Those girls are getting so big!


 
 

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Friday, November 26, 2010

An Open Letter of “Support” for Karrine Steffans and Domestic Violence Survi...

 
 

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via Black Youth Project by Fallon on 11/26/10

This month Vibe Magazine featured an open letter from Karrine Steffans telling of her struggle to leave her abusive relationship with former Family Matter's star, Darius McCrary. What Karrine Steffan is known for is her truth-telling first about the gender and sexual violence of being a "video vixen"in the rap industry and now she is known for her truth telling about her struggle to end her domestically violent relationship with her ex-husband. Of course, both forms of truth telling provoked great backlash from both men and women who believe that "a real woman keeps her mouth shut." However, Ms. Karrine continues to speak her truth irrespective of how people interpret it.

After reading Ms. Steffans' open letter to Vibe Magazine, my heart grieved for her and the countless women who struggle for various reasons to leave their abusive relationships. Overall, Ms. Steffans' plea illumines the visceral complexities of domestic violence, love, trauma, and escape. Her letter reminded me of my mother and grandmother's story of spousal abuse. In particular, how my mother continued to love a man who would beat her and other women senselessly. Yes, the open letter made my heart weep, but it was the depredating comments about Ms. Karrine Steffans on various websites that really pissed me off made me angry. So, in solidarity with Ms. Karrine Steffans, I have decided to write an open letter to all the people who responded negatively about her struggle to leave an abusive relationship.

Dear Negative Comment Writers,

I am utterly appalled and disgusted by your lack of empathy regarding Ms. Steffans' struggle to leave her abuser. I know many of you believe that Ms. Steffans' sexual past and egregious violation of the black man code—Bitch keep your mouth closed unless it is filled with my third arm—is reason enough to laugh and to sneer at her current struggle to escape domestic violence. I know many of you believe that her truth-telling like the truth-telling of Kat Stacks or the truth-telling of Ntozake Shange or the truth-telling of Alice Walker deserve a quick and decisive back full hand slap.

But, I tell you today that you are wrong. I mean dead wrong. And, not only are you dead wrong, but you a part of the problem. Your lack of empathy and lack of understanding helps to shape why so many women find it difficult to leave abusive relationships. Because if they are not virginal in either the physical or metaphorical sense than they must have done something to provoke their spouse to blacken their eye. And given Ms. Steffans' public sexual history and her speaking out against the Good-Ole-Boys Black Male Rap Club, she like all women who speak out when men tell them not too is automatically guilty and must be stoned to death or at least smacked publically when sitting at a bar like Kat Stacks simply because she refused to play by the man's rules—"Bitch, suck my dick and be quiet."

And, you know something; I also realize that part of the problem is that we as a western culture love heroic and gallant narratives. We love when a man rises above the obstacles and conquers the beast. We love to see people "pull themselves up by their own bootstraps" and conquer. This idea of conquering against all odds is part of our imperialistic his-story. Therefore, when a black woman writes an open letter saying how she is struggling to leave her abusive relationship parts of our collective psyches cringe because we have been taught to believe that simply believing and working hard one can overcome any challenge including leaving a physical, emotional, and spiritually abusive relationship. But, that is a manufactured lie to keep people from thinking that structures like patriarchy and capitalism do not exist that we in ourselves have all the power to change our destinies. And of course, you have to add race to this discussion where we believe that black woman can endure and overcome all types of physical and psyche violence because they are Strong. That's another lie.

Therefore, the narrative of someone like Ms. Steffans who literally is "limping" forward and always looking back like Lot's Wife waiting to become salt is a story we recoil from because it shows that we are not as heroic and as strong as we have been told we are. Furthermore, it shows that domestic violence is not simply a door to walk out of that it is about power, love, male privilege, finances, joblessness, past trauma, patriarchy, love, love, and biology. Fundamentally, it is about loving a man and finding it hard to leave because you believe he will change. Yes, it is difficult to leave. And, so, we do not want to see Ms. Steffans' as a victim. We do not want her to acknowledge her pain and her struggle to leave because it makes us look at ourselves.

Furthermore, it makes us as women feel secure that if you play by the rules that men create we will be safe. That's a lie. It makes men feel "okay" about hitting a woman because she is not obeying him. That's another lie. You see, we get something from believing that women like Ms. Steffan are not victims. We do not like to see women as victims of male violence. Sure, they can be victims in need a saving by a Prince Charming, but they cannot be victims of male violence.

All this is deeply troubling. All the comments about Ms. Steffan are deeply wounding because for every story of triumph, there are countless stories of defeat and countless stories of women who are victims of domestic homicide. We choose not to see and to blame the woman for her victimization because to acknowledge her pain and struggle would be to acknowledge a culture that seeks to crush women and girls both good girls and bad girls. We are not a self-reflecting culture because self-reflection requires seeing the most defile, the most debased and looking it in the eye and figuring out how to address it.

And, herein lies that the crux of the matter, to acknowledge Karrine Steffan's truth-telling we have to acknowledge our complicity and denial. And, based on the comments about her, we are woefully in denial about violence against women and girls.

So, I know this was supposed to be a letter instead of an essay, but I thought I would do my own brand of truth-telling.

Now thinking about that.

Fallon


 
 

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SisterSong Let's Talk About Sex Conference - July 14-17, 2011, Miami, FL




Hello everyone,

I am on the planning committee for the SisterSong "Let's Talk About Sex" National Conference, scheduled to be July 14-17, 2011at the Eden Roc Renaissance Hotel in Miami Beach, FL.

The mission of the SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective is to secure reproductive rights by amplifying and strengthening the collective voices of Indigenous women and women of color.SisterSong's 2011 Let's Talk About Sex National Conference is a celebration of the movement for reproductive health, reproductive rights and reproductive justice. This will be a four-day conference that will include workshops and plenary sessions on topics such as birth control, senior sexuality, STDs, microbicides, gynecological health and wellness, erotica, militarism, youth sexuality, and more.The theme for the conference is "Love. Legislation. Leadership", and the focus of the workshops will be "Before Sex", During Sex" and "After Sex".

Please click here to learn more about the conference, how to submit workshop proposals, register for the conference, have your organization become a sponsor, and apply for scholarships. We are especially looking for workshop proposals from organizations that serve young women, women with disabilities, and Indigenous women.

Thanks!

--
Nicole Clark, MSW




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Thursday, November 25, 2010

Native American History Month (needs more Black people!)

 
 

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via Liquor&Spice on 11/25/10

So I was doing some reading on the Wampanoag for Thanksgiving/Indigenous Peoples Remembrance Day. Went to the "see also" section on the wikipedia page and saw Crispus Attucks listed. Curious, I clicked and was pleasantly surprised to find HE WAS BLACK INDIAN! Yessir, Crispus Attucks, first martyr of the Revolution was Wampanoag as well as Black. Attucks is apparently a common surname of Wampanoags who converted to Christianity. Algonquin linguists say it's an anglicized version of the word 'ahtuk' meaning 'deer.' And first hand accounts around the time recognized him as a mixed race man.

But whatevs, all you need to know is SCORE TEN POINTS FOR THE NEGROES! We be all up IN yo bloodlines! Straight smashin hegemonic constructions of indigeneity!

Make sure your Native American History Month readings smash the SHIT out of the Red-White binary so popular here in the US of A.

::resumes eating::


 
 

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Facebook aims to trademark the word 'face'

 
 

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via BBC News - Home on 11/25/10

The social networking giant Facebook is a few steps away from trademarking the word face, online documents reveal.

 
 

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Wednesday, November 24, 2010

afro-punk: Me & Sugg releasing stress :)

 
 

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via Brown Girls And Bois on 11/24/10



afro-punk:

Me & Sugg releasing stress :)


 
 

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sapphrikah:thefeeloffree:ladene clarki saw her at a bus...

 
 

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via bklyn boihood on 11/24/10



sapphrikah:

thefeeloffree:

ladene clark

i saw her at a bus stop at nostrand and halsey. nearly fainted. wanted to bite her locks. didn't say shit cos i'm a shy bunny.

If I see her. I will bow.


 
 

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Tuesday, November 23, 2010

I was feeling kinda blah, but then I remembered…WILLOW...

 
 

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via Liquor&Spice on 11/23/10



I was feeling kinda blah, but then I remembered…WILLOW SMITH EXISTS!


 
 

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Lovely Advice

 
 

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via bklyn boihood on 11/20/10

Lovely Advice:

yupispatrick:

l0velyanne:

Health:
1. Drink plenty of water.
2. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar.
3. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants.
4. Live with the 3 E's - Energy, Enthusiasm and Empathy
5. Play more games.
6. Read more books than you did in 2009.
7. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day.
8. Sleep for 7 hours.
9. Take a 10-30 minutes walk daily. And while you walk, smile.

Personality:
10. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
11. Don't have negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.
12. Don't over do. Keep your limits.
13. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
14. Don't waste your precious energy on gossip.
15. Dream more while you are awake.
16. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
17. Forget issues of the past. Don't remind your partner with his/her mistakes of the past. That will ruin your present happiness.
18. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don't hate others.
19. Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present.
20. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
21. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.
22. Smile and laugh more.
23. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

Society:
24. Call your family often.
25. Each day give something good to others.
26. Forgive everyone for everything.
27. Spend time with people over the age of 70 & under the age of 6.
28. Try to make at least three people smile each day.
29. What other people think of you is none of your business.
30. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.

Life:
31. Do the right thing!
32. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
33. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
34. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
35. The best is yet to come.
36. Your Inner most is always happy. So, be happy.

I think ima jus leave this here. really need to start listening to this type of advice.

I need this on my blog


 
 

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Study: Wi-Fi Makes Our Trees Sick

 
 

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via maia medicine on 11/22/10

Study: Wi-Fi Makes Our Trees Sick:

loveandzombies:

itsthemusicpeople:

i don't want wi-fi anymore.

infoneer-pulse:

Data centers hum day and night. More often than ever before we connect to these cloud environments through Wi-Fi networks.

According to PCWorld, now it looks like the radiation from Wi-Fi networks is making our trees sick, "causing significant variations in growth, as well as bleeding and fissures in the bark."

All deciduous trees in the Western hemisphere are affected by the radiation. The study was conducted by the Wageningen University. The research was ordered by officials from the city of  Alphen aan den Rijn who began discovering trees that had a sickness that could not be identified as a virus or bacterial infection.

After further study, it was discovered that the disease occurred throughout the Western world.

» via ReadWriteWeb

THIS IS EXTREMELY UPSETTING.


 
 

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wocsurvivalkit: blackgirlphresh: she get it from her...

 
 

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via Liquor&Spice on 11/22/10



wocsurvivalkit:

blackgirlphresh:

she get it from her momma.

intergalactic black family sh*t.  loves it.

YES! Look at that smug-ass look on Jada's face! "Yup. It's me and my baby. Lookin fly as shit."


 
 

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Saturday, November 20, 2010

Crunk Feminist Roundtable — NWSA 2010

 
 

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via The Crunk Feminist Collective by crunktastic on 11/19/10

Below are links to our most recent CFC Roundtable at NWSA 2010. Enjoy and tell us what you think.

Part I

Part II



 
 

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penichimp:shanaelmsford:auto reblog(via bradicalmang)be...

 
 

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via maia medicine on 11/19/10



penichimp:

shanaelmsford:

auto reblog

(via bradicalmang)

be careful with each so you can be dangerous together


 
 

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#blackgirlsarefromthefuture

 
 

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via New Model Minority on 11/20/10



#blackgirlsarefromthefuture


 
 

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Thursday, November 18, 2010

The Crunk Feminists Fire Back

 
 

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From the Crunk Feminist Collective:

When our (white) colleagues call for work that is "rigorous," often what they really mean is that feminism, particularly the kind of feminism that focuses explicitly on calling out white supremacy in all its guises, is in state of rigor mortis. In other words, if feminism is gonna do all that, it's better off dead. In fact, given the way that some folks lament the past, you would think that something precious had died. 

Certainly, the premature death of so many of our feminist foremothers— Gloria Anzaldúa, Barbara Christian, Audre Lorde, Nellie McKay, and too many others—is a cautionary tale about how deadly this work can be.

This is why we give the side eye to all the mumbling and grumbling about the so-called lack of rigor going on at the NWSA conference and in other spaces where women of color come together unapologetically. We know what those folks really mean. It means they're tired of talking about us and want to return to talking about themselves. It means they want us to be silent, to be invisible, to, in fact, disappear. Well, we've got news for them: we're here to stay.

 

Shots fired bitches. And I mean that in the most FEMINIST way possible.

Read the rest over there. Saludos mujeres! I love yall!


 
 

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Jump at the Sun: Ancestor Energy as a Renewable Resource



Greetings loved ones!
There is a lot of sunshine in my life this week. The MobileHomecoming is in Northern Florida, I got to go to Eatonville, hometown of Zora Neale Hurston, the black woman genius who inspired me to become a writer when a was just a wee girl, and I spent yesterday listening to my Nana tell me about her childhood, and I'm in love and right now I'm writing to you!!!!! Brightness everywhere and only a little more than a month before solstice time.
I am writing to share my gratitude for the intense inspiration and energy that I know can take us all the way through the darkest day of the year. I am affirmed and energized by each of the 15 interviews we did for the Mobilehomecoming in the past few days. I am humbled and honored to see my mother's face in my grandmother's face and my grandmother describes her transformative first conversation with her 5 day old daughter. I felt an electric charge standing in the all-black town (still all black run incorporated town y'all!!!) that inspired Zora Neale Hurston to be her quirky fearless self. Our incredible legacy is an renewable energy source...when we nurture it, focus on it, cherish it and share it.

Use this forum to talk about the sunshine in your life right now! How are your ancestors recharging you?
https://grou.ps/quirkyblackgirls/talks/5541181

And if you want to hear QBG's Lex and Julia about our journey in Florida listen to us on the radio!!!! http://www.blogtalkradio.com/sippin-on-ink/2010/11/18/queer-black-mobilehomecoming

and if you want your community to be a MobileHomecoming stop on our journey across the Southeast and Southwest and up California in February and March send us an email at mobilehomecoming@gmail.com!!


AND since the recharge supernovas happen when QBG's interface in person...much gratitude for QBG's Almah and Melissa who are dreaming and scheming about a QBG retreat/aka sanctuary/aka best thing ever!!! Please help them continue to plan (and let them know that YOU want to help plan) by answering these questions and emailing your responses to almah.alchemy@gmail.com (don't you just LOVE that email address!!??!!):

Welcome to the dream of the QBG Retreat! With your help, we'll create a temporary
autonomous zone of QBG restoration and resistance--replete with workshops and
ample opportunities to connect and commune and cause revolution....

We're thinking of staging this sanctuary at Sewanee: The University of the South
(Sewanee, TN) or at Berea College (Berea, KY).

If you are interested in gathering with us, would Berea work for you? Y/N:
What about Sewanee? Y/N:

Please rate your interest in the following workshop categories on a scale of 1 - 5.
With 1 being "OMIGODDESS--this is a QBG dream come true! I couldn't be MORE
interested!" to 5 being "I'll pass."

Treasuring Ourselves: loving our QBG selves, in-bodied and embodied, from soul to
skin. ___

Strange Black Earth: living an Earth-centered lifestyle/veganism/vegetarianism/low-
impact living/urban farms/homesteading/self-sufficiency __

Toward a QBG Planet: building solidarity/making the world safer and sweeter for
QBGs/crafting communities of support __

To be Ageless, Gifted, and Black: Performing art/spoken word/fine art/experimental art/
crafting/creative living __

So that we may live abundantly: Exploring livelihood, staying true to your heart AND
financial thrival. __

Dark and lustfully: Sex, desire, polyamory, kink, tantra, reclaiming/inventing your
sexuality ___

Sacred space: ritual, Earth-based faiths, Buddhism, reclaiming African indigenous paths,
Christianity, Hinduism, shamanism, "the unnameable way" ___

Open-ended questions:

Is there anything you'd like to experience at the retreat that wasn't mentioned above?

Would you like to help organize this event...facilitate a workshop...assist with fundraising
and/or promotion...or be otherwise involved (please share how)?

Do you have any venue/location ideas? If so, please share:
****************

Yes! Solar powered even through winter and ready to grow together. I love being a QBG with YOU!!!!



Bright kisses and infinite LOVE,
Lex
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fuckyeahblackbeauties:Goddess Stance

 
 

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