Sunday, June 5, 2011

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Saturday, June 4, 2011

Black Women for Wellness Power Shift - Call for Abstracts


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Power Shift: Black Women for Wellness' Annual Conference. A call for Abstracts!
bww mission

Each year Black Women for Wellness holds an annual conference to provide an open forum and space for Black and African American women to dialogue. In these conferences, women learn about reproductive justice and leave empowered to better educate our communities about what reproductive justice means for us and our right to live the life that we choose. This year's objective is MOBILIZATION. Currently, black women's health is repeatedly being attacked at both the national and state levels through short-sighted and mean-spirited budget proposals and negative political rhetoric. In 2011, we witnessed the nationwide launching of a very dangerous and fictional anti-choice campaign that directly attacked African American mothers. As the nation gears up for the 2012 Presidential election, it is imperative that communities of color are educated and equipped with advocacy skills for the fight not only to protect our reproductive rights, but to demand reproductive justice.

Who Should Submit:

All researchers, community advocates, organizers, health care professionals, health educators, administrators, policy makers, elected officials and their staffs are invited to attend and share the work that you are doing to promote the health and well being of black women toward achieving reproductive justice in our community.

Black Women for Wellness is seeking conference presenters to lead a workshop or participate on a panel that addresses African American/Black women's reproductive health. Sessions will be presented within the following four focus areas.

Propose a topic within one of the following focus areas:


1. History/Health Status

Presenters will provide information on the reproductive history of the African American/Black women's experience in the US or other countries of the African Diaspora. Presenters may also present on current research that illuminates the factors affecting the reproductive health status of African American/Black women in the US or other countries of the African Diaspora. Sample topics could include:

Social, Cultural and/or historical perspective on the Black/African American women's reproductive experience


2. Policy/Advocacy

Presenters will provide conference participants with a description of what advocacy is, provide tangible tools and/or strategies for how an individual and/or community advocates for their rights. Presenters are encouraged to provide an interactive workshop to assist participants in building advocacy skills, such as:

Policy/Advocacy 101 Administrative vs. Legislative Advocacy How-To:

Oppositional Research • Political Mapping • Landscaping


3. Media & Communication

Presenters will discuss or present current research on the role of media as it relates to black women's image, reproductive health and/or reproductive justice. Presenters are also encouraged to provide participants with information on how to effectively communicate with the media as an advocacy tool. Discussions can include:

Social media as an organizing and educational tool Social marketing campaigns to organize and mobilize Taking an effective stand against racial imaging in the media Media communications 101-developing OP-ED pieces, press releases, articles, etc.


4. Special Topics

Presenters are encouraged to propose a workshop which relates to African American/Black women's reproductive health, justice, access to resources and advocacy. Possible topics include, but not limited to:

Environmental Health Workforce Diversity Reproductive Health Technology Spirituality and Reproductive Choices


Abstracts will be reviewed and scored based on:


1. Relevance to the goal of conference (see Conference Purpose for full description) 


2. Organization and clarity, minimize jargon. 


3. Description of objectives, content and teaching methodologies to the educational needs of participants 


4. Special consideration will be given to abstracts that provide experiential skills building opportunities for conference participants.

How to Submit a proposal:

All workshop proposals must be sent via email to powershift2011@bwwla.com or submitted online here

Conference Information and the Registration Form can be found here.


Email questions to powershift2011@bwwla.com


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Friday, June 3, 2011

OH, You fancy huh? perfect!

 
 

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via Liquor&Spice on 5/19/11



OH, You fancy huh?

perfect!


 
 

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alicewonder: erykah badu — out of my mind just in time / first...

 
 

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via Composed. on 6/2/11



alicewonder:

erykah badu — out of my mind just in time / first movement


 
 

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Jammin’ Geminis!

 
 

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via Shawty Got Skillz on 6/3/11



Jammin' Geminis!


 
 

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Thursday, June 2, 2011

SUPPORT SHAWTY GOT SKILLZ IN GETTING TO THE AMC! Mia and I are...

 
 

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SUPPORT SHAWTY GOT SKILLZ IN GETTING TO THE AMC!

Mia and I are so ecstatic that our Shawty Got Skillz fam will be heading to the Allied Media Conference this year! Shawty Got Skillz is a crew of 18 media makers of color coming together this summer at the AMC to do a carnival-like skillshare around how to use and make media. (Here media means anything you use to communicate a message - hairstyles, tagging, blogging, etc.) We are so thankful for Shawty Got Skillz and for this important space at the AMC. We know that both disability justice and To the Other Side of Dreaming would not be where it is today without the AMC and Detroit pushing us to think and live beyond what we have been told is possible.

Please support Shawty Got Skillz in attending the AMC! You can chip in to their fundraising efforts at shawtygotskillz.tumblr.com.

Love,
Stacey and Mia


 
 

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xelaphotography: “Sheba Fro” medium: Charcoal, eraser and...

 
 

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via on 6/1/11



xelaphotography:

"Sheba Fro"

medium: Charcoal, eraser and sharpie

$10.00

 [blue/greyscale art of an exquisitely beautiful person with a crown of natural hair, looking over their shoulder, full lips, cheekbones and vast almond eyes bright.]


 
 

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Man Down: On Rihanna, Rape, and Violence

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via The Crunk Feminist Collective by crunktastic on 6/2/11

Earlier this week, Rihanna released the video for her song "Man Down" in which her character struggles with the choice to kill her rapist. In Hip Hop and pop culture where rape is glorified and celebrated, this is a welcome intervention. The video reinforces a very basic point: the choice to be sexual and sensual on the dance floor should not be read in any way as consent for future sexual activity. For once, the critique of rape is unambiguous. It is wrong; it is not the woman's fault; and it should be punished.

Hat/tip to Rihanna for offering a complicated portrait of womanhood. On Twitter, in response to the video, she said in part, "Young girls/women all over the world…we are a lot of things! We're strong innocent fun flirtatious vulnerable, and sometimes our innocence can cause us to be naïve! We always think it could NEVER be us, but in reality, it can happen to ANY of us! So ladies be careful and #listentoyomama! I love you and I care!"

That is good, accessible advice for young women who are bombarded with mixed messages about the value of their bodies and lives.

Yet, controversy has ensued, with a range of parent-led media watchdog groups including Mothers Against Violence and the Parents Television Council calling the video violent and asking for it to be banned. These critics say that Rihanna perpetuates violence rather than urging young women to get help. The most ignorant and illegitimate of these critics argued that 'If Chris Brown shot a woman in his new video, the world would stop. Rihanna should not get a pass. The video is far from broadcast worthy.' That statement is what one would call "an exercise in missing the point." Porter needs to Go.Sit.Down and rethink his position. Period. There is no need to dignify such inanity with a further response.

As a child survivor of domestic violence, I believe in non-violence as a way of life. In American culture more generally and in Black communities in particular, we have to commit to non-violent ways of loving, disciplining our children, and addressing conflict. At the same time, this video shows a young Black female rape victim, vulnerable and hurt, struggling with how to make sense of the act of violence perpetrated on her. She makes a choice that many would and have made, and rather than banning this video, we need access to grapple with its moral and political implications as a community.

Somehow, I do not believe the outrage would be comparable if this were a white woman, although this rampant rape culture shows its white victims no love either. Yes, Rihanna may simply be a good celebrity target, but it is utterly disturbing the manner in which any portraits that offer complicated, three dimensional representations of Black women are now unceremoniously banned from the air. These days, Black women and our experiences of rape and sexual violence are forced into invisibility when they don't fit mainstream, pristine narratives of how to cope. Whether it be Rihanna's teenaged fans, immigrants working as hotel maids all over this country, eleven year old Latina girls in Texas, or the Black girl next door to you, women of color are deemed deviant even for voicing our narratives of rape and sexual assault, especially when our stories insinuate that we are morally complex human beings. That is unfortunate, dangerous, and frankly infuriating.

Rihanna is apparently considering re-shooting the offending scenes: namely the rape and the shooting. That's unfortunate, because it makes more sense to me that we would be interested as a society in pursuing actual alternative endings for young women that don't involve rape and brutalization in the first place, rather than creating "nicer," "more palatable" endings in video land.

Please share your thoughts about the video with us. Does this video open up the space in Hip Hop and (Black) popular culture to have a conversation about rape and consent? Is retaliatory violence a legitimate and effective response to rape? Since Rihanna is considering re-shooting the most violent scenes in the video, can you offer some alternate endings? We'd love to hear from you.

A Cause You Can Support:

If you are interested in helping to equip young women to deal with the realities of sexual violence, please consider supporting the Girl/Friends Summer Leadership Institute sponsored by A Long Walk Home, Inc. and "sponsor a girl"for the program. Your contribution will help support our girls as they become leaders in the movement to end sexual and dating violence against girls and women and become role models to their peers.


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Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Submitted by sippinonjennyjuice. Lesbian.

 
 

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Dominique Daniels-The Number 1 BMX Biker In The USA

 
 

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via The CFC on 6/1/11

Dominique Daniels-The Number 1 BMX Biker In The USA:
[Picture of Dominique Daniels brown skin black...

 
 

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