Scratch & Kiss
“The art of living (and loving) is more like wrestling than dancing, insofar as it stands ready against the accidental and unforeseen, and is not apt to fall.” – Marcus Aurelius Antoninus
When I think of love I think of a force that is all consuming. Beyond all our natural and unnatural senses, LOVE at its best (and worst) strips us, whips us, rocks, knocks and locks us in a powerful space that defines and Read more...
How Daddy Made Me a Fly Woman
Last weekend while standing in the condiments aisle of Marshall’s looking for an awesome ginger chile sauce, I bumped into an old friend. Eyes kinda puffy, she had been crying. She just lost her dad like a month ago and just found out while looking for a glass canister that her homegrrrl’s father just passed away too. I told her what I knew firsthand: Be gentle with yourself, grieve when you want and know that Read more...
Whipping My Hair!
Here in NYC it’s been gloomy and gray for the past two days. Monday’s are hard enough to get motivated for me without rain and dark skies smothering my spirit and zapping my zeal. This morning when my clock radio went off that Eminem/ Rihanna song about love and domestic abuse started playing. Talk about a downer. Before I could press snooze I felt my body sag with blah weariness. By the time I got Read more...
Rebooting Life L-Boogie Stylie
Whoa Nelly, my one-week break from this here cipher turned into six just like that! At the outset I knew I needed a break. Blogging, social networking and the whole idea and notion of being theHotness is a non-stop grind. I have to be online everyday from the minute I step out of bed to the minute I tuck myself back in at night. I have to be in the mix for what seems like Read more...
Tamar Kali’s “Black Bottom”
Dang, I missed you! I hope y’all missed yourselves some Hotness. It’s been a very interesting time. Got hacked, but I’m back. Instead of starting off by venting, lamenting, celebrating and reliving the last six weeks, I thought I’d do what I usually do when jump-starting relationships, I talk about music– the communal salve that connects and instantly brings us all back to the middle again. While experiencing both online and offline challenges and revelations, Read more...
Drill Baby, Drill!
All this talk about drilling really has me thinking about one of the items on my Bucket List:
· Learn how to use a drill to absolute perfection.
You see my Bucket List isn’t a summary of things I want to do before I die, but rather it’s a compilation of things I want and need to learn, and here’s the best part, while I am still single. Not to say marriage is akin to Read more...
Sonia Sanchez
Sonia Sanchez– my favorite poet, was honored at this year’s Harlem Book Fair. The Book Fair, which I feel is searching for the relevance it once had was clearly leaning on the popularity of the “street lit” community yet still kept its stride with the legends. Most of the vendors on 135th Street were hawking fried whiting sandwiches and books like “Baby Mamas Got Luv Too” (I made that up!:). But in light of this Read more...
Essence Mag Hires A White Fashion Director
Last Wednesday morn lovely styleaholic Najwa tweeted: “Just heard some very disturbing news about Essence magazine.” I tweeted back: “Did they fold?” Never got a response because I forgot to type the friggin “@” symbol. Then on Sunday I saw this Facebook update by cultural critic & former Essence Fashion Editor Michaela angela Davis: “It is with a heavy heavy heart I have learned that Essence magazine…,” okay by now I’m thinking, ‘Oh God, Susan Read more...
Being A Bad Girl: Badu vs. Minaj (Part 2)
Bad girls make art that comes out of experience and not style. -Linda Goode Bryant
Have you seen the June/ July 2010 issue of VIBE magazine? It’s a double cover featuring Nicki Minaj and Erykah Badu. Both ladies are adorned in body paint. For Erykah it’s the kind inspired by the Indian henna work often seen on Hindu brides-to-be. Nicki’s body paint is more cartoonish than culturally based. Her entire upper body– ta-tas and all, Read more...
Shirley Sherrod: From Racist to Victim
This Shirley Sherrod gaffe speaks volumes about the power of right-wingers, how women, especially Black women, are perceived and treated when ish hits the fan, and lastly, about the lack of investigative reportage nowadays. When Andrew Breitbart, a well known right-wing troublemaker can get the Obama administration to force the resignation of a senior official, this said more about our current administration, media, race and gender relations then it did about bad boy Breitbart.
What Read more...