Apparently Kerry Washington, the actress who bored us in She Hate Me, charmed us in Ray and then unhinged us with her portrayal of Kay Amin in Last King of Scotland was experiencing a décor dilemma. It would seem (if we are to believe all that’s fit to print in O and we kinda do), the Bronx born activist did not know how to fuse her desire to live an eco-friendly existence with having a fly looking place to call home. After rallying crazy hard for Obama’s Presidency, Kerry returned to what looks like a dreary, drab dreg of an L.A. apartment. She is quoted in this month’s O as saying, “I thought I didn’t care about that stuff. I always prided myself on the fact that I could live out of milk crates forever. It was kind of my way of detaching from materialism.” This is the same chick that rocks the red carpet wearing Jean Paul Gaultier, diamond bangles, and black satin nail polish to match her black sequined silk organza’d appliques. Detached from materialism? Not into that stuff? Uh, right!

Homegrrrl wowed them at Cannes (where no one is impressed), but somehow back home in West Hollywood, Kerry’s apartment resembled a dorm room. The color palette was cold mashed potato with gravy except for the bedroom, which was decidedly Maalax blue. Clearly money, fame, and talent do not equate or make up for authentic style and taste. Thank God for stylists and now for interior designers like Danny Seo (an environmental designer) cause he really hooked her apartment up while keeping in line with Kerry’s “Go Green” lifestyle. I love the citron green walls (paint is toxic-free) in the kitchen, the red and white organic cotton fabric from Rubie Green in the living room and especially love that revamped patio. And yeah even though I hate the idea of doggy steps, recovered with a $15 woven Peruvian rug, it’s too fresh!

See more pics of the makeover here including those doggy steps.

Okay well I’m not really Sonia Sotomayor, but I can identify with the 54-year old judge who is poised to become the Supreme Court’s first Hispanic justice and only its third woman.  Firstly, she’s a Boriquena from the Bronx (my hometown) who went to Cardinal Spelman H.S. Supported solely by the wages of her single mom she went on to attend Princeton and then Yale Law where she served as Editor of their Law Review.  And yeah she may be Ivy-League educated, but something tells me she still appreciates the sabór of a simple bowl of rice and beans over foie gras any day. If confirmed by the Senate, Judge Sotomayor would succeed retiring Justice David Souter and would join Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg as the second woman on the current court.

And of course the GOP is in a tizzy over the whole affair. It seems the following comments made by Judge Sotomayor in the past has them very tight.

“Our experiences as women and people of color affect our decisions.”

“I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.”

“Court of appeals is where policy is made. I know this is on tape and I should never say that, because we don’t make law.”

It’s funny how they cannot stand, never mind understand, that a woman of color recognizes the role her ethnicity and femaleness, if you will, play when discernment and perspective are required. Rush Limbaugh and the rest of his cohorts have their Fruit of The Loom in a twisted jumble because of identity politics? Gimme a freakin break! These guys have been using their whiteness and their maleness for decades to filter, interpret and enact Law. When analyzing constitutional issues it is necessary to be fair, objective and unbiased, but it is also just as necessary to be understanding, culturally educated and inspired. I thought the practice of Law was connected to activism– Roe v. Wade, Miranda v. Arizona, Brown v. Board of Education. Now to see much of what I loved about the history of this profession devolve into an idle medium of major corporate firms moving major paper with the brightest moments being Law & Order episodes, Judge Judy letting them have it and the testimony about the pubes on Clarence Thomas’ Coke can, well it’s quite disheartening. I am excited by President Obama’s selection. I’m sure Thurgood Marshall must be smiling now.

Recently I spent an entire day reaffirming myself, my sense of purpose and my personal goals for prosperity all in the company of a very powerful sisterhood. Our gathering was extraordinary in its depth of knowledge, passion, and reverence for the ancestors and for its respect for current sisterhood. As much as I write about the importance of having your grrrls and repping for women’s issues, I, theHotness Grrrl had even forgotten how good just a simple hug of encouragement from a sister you don’t know can make you feel. In NYC, like every other metropolis city I have ever worked or lived in, there is almost a cut-throat competitiveness amongst women, and the competition is that much fiercer between women of color, specifically Black grrrls. Whether you’re looking for a job, a husband or even a fly pair of shoes, so often I am confronted with jealousy, secrecy and a myriad of non-supportive gestures from many Black and Latina women I encounter. And I would be skrate lying if I said that after awhile this didn’t start to harden a sister up like a chewy piece of caramel left out of of its wrapper for too long.

There’s this email my homegrrrl sent to me about 5 years ago and I read it from time to time when I start feeling my edges hardening. She wrote:

What do goddesses do when they get lonely? There are times when my hurt consumes me so much that I can’t even remember the goddess in me. I want to honor her and myself. I want to find my creative healer spirit again and this is my process. I need these answers to help find something really real. Those very still truths found in conversations with your grandmother when she was just cooking, pressing hair or telling you something she knew your butt would need later.

And my response, which I need to heed more often:

Girl everything you need, you already have (read The Alchemist)! Use the time spent alone figuring out what makes you happy instead of dwelling on why you are sad. I’m saying this because I’m just coming out of one of the MOST difficult times of my life. I know about being lonely and waking up sad only after crying myself to sleep. But my lonely alone time has made me so much more independent and mindful and focused. So yeah, I’m still dealing with pangs of sadness and loneliness, but I try to find ways that I can consistently move through that ish. I have this line in one of my rhymes that goes, “That’s what sistas do, we bitches brew when sh*t gets hot…” So what are you gonna start brewing? That’s what you have to ask yourself. Clearly you have the talent, so cry your tears and get it out and then work on you– create, think, rest, and (re-)build your foundation.

Yesterday just reminded me that piecing together that foundation has to begin with me, but that does not mean I must work alone. If there is strength in numbers, (and there is), then certainly there is a lil’ sweet softening in the midst sisterhood.

Santogold is the new evolution or should say revolution of Stiffed. It’s Santi White remixed and renewed and right on time.

I’ve known Sant for awhile now– at least 10 years. We even lived together for a minute in ‘96 and during that time, especially on weekends when we were both around, I really got to know and love her. She’s mad ambitious and passionate and always has a ton of things on her plate. Authentic, outspoken and mad funny, this Philly grrrl loves hard, but will also waste no time in letting you know when you have effed up. Just ask some of her homies or a certain rapper/actor ex.

When I heard she was writing songs for Res I wasn’t surprised. She’s always had a gift for telling great stories and is always following her mind and intuition like during the Internet boom of the 90’s when she launched 2GEE Ltd, a virtual boutique filled with the flyest goodies and wears. Then sensing, errr… knowing that she could rock the mic just as fiercely as the singers she was writing for she decided to put a band together and like that Stiffed was born. I guess in dealing with the death of her father and finding true love and then moving back to BK she got that itch again and now she’s blowing wigs back as Santogold (now Santigold)– her solo persona non grata. Her eponymous debut is a disc dipped in delicious eclecticism and edge. My favorite track is Creator. I just love the sultry, playful, boasting attitude she emits in her vocals.  It’s so damn fresh!

“Brooklyn Go Hard” her collabo with Jay-Z and tribute of sorts to The Notorius B.I.G. is another one of my faves. I guess I kinda prefer when she steps a lil more into her dub-ska-hiphop zone than her pop-retro niche (although L.E.S. Artistes is a banger). I can’t wait to see what Santi pulls out of her proverbial bag of tricks next. I know she’ll be touring the US again this summer and I hear she’ll be working with Kanye (who produced “Brooklyn…”), the Beastie Boys and David Byrne on new material.

I still love this lil’ tidbit which really sums up Santi’s outspoken, smart and non-conventional stance:

In a May 2008 interview, White stated that critics and online music vendors were labeling her music as hip hop, rap and R&B because she is black, saying that that was racist. “Everyone is just so shocked that I don’t like R&B. Are you shocked that Good Charlotte isn’t into R&B? Why does R&B keep coming into my interviews? It’s pissing me off. I didn’t grow up as a big fan of R&B and, like, what is the big shocker? It’s stupid.”