What is theHotness?
It never fails. I give someone my business card and I get an, “Ooohh, what’s theHotness” and, usually if it’s a dude, a raised eyebrow and a wink will accompany this sentence. Um no. Sorry, wrong kind of hotness, sir. I’m not running a Heidi Fleiss den of sex and scandal. “It’s a dotcom… we celebrate the brains, backbone and beauty of brown girls,” I respond. I hate to do it, but I always Read more…
Hot Grrrl: Ntozake Shange
Last Monday afternoon, after switching up my schedule, I nervously went to the Nuyorican Poets Café website to purchase tickets. I had postponed a conference call and changed my dinner plans, yet I wasn’t even sure if there were still tickets available for Ntozake Shange’s rare appearance that night at the legendary hot spot for spoken word, poetry and music. I clicked “1-Ticket” and sho nuff my card was charged $12 to see the woman Read more…
For Colored Girls, For Goodness Sake
‘For Colored Girls, please for goodness sake do not be another Diary Of A Mad Black Woman,’ I thought on the train ride down to the movie theater where I was meeting up with almost 40 other women to see Tyler Perry’s adaptation of Ntozake Shange’s groundbreaking, powerful call-to-arms for Black women “For Colored Girls Who Considered Suicide When The Rainbow Is Enuf.” I can say, with relief, FCG is TP’s best Read more…
Brand You: Colored, Crazy & Confused?
Even though I’m not a big fan of Halloween, I do find the dress-up, costuming aspect very interesting. It was kind of telling to go out on Sunday night and see the majority of little girls dressed as witches, Dorothy of the Wizard of Oz and princesses and then to see grown women as sexy nurses, sexy teachers and of course very sexy Dorothys. As little girls, our fantasy is to be really evil, really 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…
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…
Sex & The City II: Reflections
Whoo-weee Memorial Day Weekend is here and for many of us that means the first real break since January. Now summer is upon us and I can feel New York City finally ease back into a rocksteady sexy sway. This weekend as I remember all those, including my uncles and father, who courageously fought for a country that so often denied them their manhood, their American-hood, I’m looking forward to celebrating life with all of Read more…
Wannabes & Jigaboos
Conceited. Pretty. Entitled. Ignored. Ugly. Marginalized. The Wannabes versus The Jigaboos is a psychosocial battle of the Light-skinned versus the Dark-skinned. Cafe au lait, high yella, and red boned on one side. Chocolate, ebon, and tar baby on the other.
It’s so crazy illogical to me that in 2010, even with a happily married and madly inspiring wannabe President and jigaboo First Lady, we still don’t see that Black is Black is Black. No matter Read more…
Just Wright: Gold Rings & Glass Slippers
Thanks to Linda Villarosa and the folks over at The Root (Teresa Wiltz & Sheryl Salomon), I had the opportunity to attend an advance screening of Just Wright and to interview Queen Latifah along with the film’s director, Sanaa Hamri for my first assignment for the “online magazine that provides thought-provoking commentary on today’s news from a variety of black perspectives.” Here is my story (in part), which focuses on the Cinderella fairytale in the Read more…