“With hair, heels and attitude, honey, I’m through the roof!” — RuPaul
If You Ask Me, I’ll Let You Touch It!
If you ask me, I’ll let you touch it! I’m talking about my hair! Well, it’s been 4 ½ years since I went to a Dominican hair salon to BC (that is, “big chop” in natural hair lingo) my relaxed hair. Like so many, I’d been addicted to the “creamy crack” like, forever. I accidentally became a kinky-coily-curly Type 4a naturalista, purely out of necessity.
After going to a new hairstylist for a relaxer and trim of my signature bob, 30 days later, my hair was falling out like I was undergoing chemotherapy treatment or something! I was loosing my tresses, strand by stand, until finally I HAD to cut it all off!
I wasn’t mad about the loss of my hair; but it really perplexed me about what caused it. I knew it wasn’t alopecia, since there were signs of hair growth. Anyway, it’s hair, and my hair grows fast, like a weed; so, I didn’t fret. I saw my BC as a fresh start, and I was inspired by the Afro of activist, scholar and author Angela Davis along with memories of my mother and aunt wearing the style in the 1970s. Because the styling of Black hair can be so labor intensive, I gave myself permission to embrace a new sense of freedom with my hair. My goal was to grow it out for three or four months, then get a relaxer for a short Halle Berry ‘do. That was January 2011. I haven’t had creamy crack in my hair since! Two years later, I met Davis, the ultimate soul sistah, at the Pan African Film Festival, and it was such an honor to take a picture with her, ‘fro to ‘fro.
TOP FIVE REASONS WHY “I CAN’T BREATHE!”*
Looks like we’re having a “Selma” moment. While the entertainment industry awaits the much-anticipated historical film, directed by Ava DuVernay, the country is already up in arms, and marching about incidents that have taken place in the last 90 days. With recent historical films like “Selma,” and the critically-acclaimed “The Butler,” Millennials are getting a flashback to the Civil Rights Movement, and kind of scratching their heads, wondering “if this really happened in America.” Well, now the Millennials have awaken to a cause – that is, #BlackLivesMatter because police brutality and the beatings and killings, specifically of young, Black men, continue to make headline news: Oscar Grant. Trayvon Martin. Michael Brown. Eric Garner. Tamar Rice.
Who needs #TGIT (Thank God It’s Thursday) on television with uber-producer Shonda Rhimes, when you can just turn on MSNBC, CNN or network news to find out “How To Get Away With Murder.” It’s looks easy, if you’re wearing a badge: Illegal chokehold. Check. No grand jury indictment. Check. I call that a “Scandal!” Wanted: gladiators.
L
ast year, the industry was buzzing about the performance of award-winning actor Michael B. Jordan (“The Wire,” “Friday Night Lights”), and his portrayal of Oakland shooting victim Oscar Grant in the award-winning indie “Fruitvale Station. It opened a dialogue of conversation about police brutality and the gunning down of African Americans boys and men. Then, the Trayvon Martin case hit, and all hell broke loose. And thankfully, Black America hasn’t been the same since. No justice, no peace!
“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.” – The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
#BlackoutBlackFriday
Did you shop Black Friday? I didn’t. I joined directors Spike Lee, Ava DuVernay, Ryan Coogler along with Russell Simmons, Nate Parker and David Oyelowo and others across the country for a National United Retail Boycott on Black Friday, November 28, 2014. Looks like it worked, sales were down 11 percent.
The Time Has Come
Artwork and Video courtesy of Blackout for Human Rights. Visit www.BlackoutForHumanRights.com
Featuring the Turfeinz
Produced by Ephraim Walker + Chanelle Pearson
Executive Produced by John Burris
Written, Directed, and Edited by Terence Nance
Photographed by Evan
Edit and Sound Design by Raphael Mora
“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.”
– The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
The Dirty, Little Secret of the BET Awards
Legendary photographer Bill Jones shares a moment with Oscar winner Halle Berry
Sometimes, you have to do the right thing, and let the chips fall where they may fall! I’ve been meaning to share this post with you, but my day job got in the way!
Anyway, in my last post, I wrote some funny commentary why I was glad the BET Awards show was over –that is, the constant need to suck in my stomach and wear shapewear to look good in all of my dresses, posing next to twentysomethings! Read it, here. I’m happy to report that since the writing of the post, I’ve begun my workout regimen! A girl can only suck in so much! Plus, I’m eight months away from being the BIG 5-0, and I want to be fit and fine! But again, I digress.
Anyway, the dirty little secret that I didn’t tell you about the BET Awards was how the powers-that-be didn’t credential Black press to attend and cover the awards show. Yes, you heard that right: BET brass denied access to Black press to cover a show, whose demographics target Black people. Did I mention that the “B” in BET stands for “Black.” And yes, this is beyond cray cray!
The Bumps, Bulges & Bootylicious Bodies of the BET Awards
GIVING GOOD GLAM! (l-r) Kudos to Jai’Lauren Griffin, 21, and reality star Brandi Maxiell, twentysomething, for giving good glam on the red carpet at the BET Awards. xo
I’m so glad the BET Awards are over! I’m physically exhausted after endless days and nights of beauty suites, special events, and parties. Most of all, I’m tired of holding my stomach muscles in, as I posed for the cameras and worked side-by-side with my glamorous clients. Case in point: the lovely Brandi Maxiell of VH1’s “Basketball Wives LA.” With model good looks and built like an Amazon, she towers over me at 5’ 10” flatfooted!
After a week of festivities, I feel I can finally breathe again, because my stomach area isn’t all bandaged up with some type of shapewear, albeit Spanx or the new line, Shaped by An Angel, designed by my friend and celebrity fashion designer Angela Dean. Every day, I’d spanxed (is that even a word?) myself up to give the illusion of a very flat stomach! Once upon a time, I had the flattest stomach of them all. But, I was also in the gym five days a week, running at least 15 miles on a treadmill. Those were the days, when I lived for the gym. I was a regular gym rat!
Luckily, I’ve always been physically fit and athletic. I really never had to watch my weight. And yes, it’s a wonderful luxury. My freshman year in college, I weighed 100 pounds, and some of my friends would call me “Slim” on the yard because I was well … slim! Of course, I didn’t appreciate my body back then because I had other issues to worry about – like being skinny with no curves and flat chested. Oh lord, I can only laugh now when I think about of ALL OF THE AGONY I put myself through over a bra size! Shoot, I wish I’d known back then that I could just buy some boobs as big as I wanted to my heart’s content. I would have saved up some cash! LOL Oh well, I’m over it now. I’ve accepted myself as I am.
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