the boston globe ran a story on sunday about the new black barbie dolls and francie latour’s words hit home:
Here’s what I remember about the black girls I knew: They had Mickey Mouse afro puffs tied in giant gumball barrettes or tight cornrow braids, or hair that was bound by nothing at all. For a little while, they had no idea what the word “nappy” meant, until one day they knew exactly what it meant. Read the rest of this entry »
george alexander wrote in the photo essay book, ”queens:”
Hair is about identity, beauty, racial pride, race politics, self-acceptance, self-expression, self-realization, class, status, fun, glamour, romance, fantasy, art, passion, joy, pain, freedom, enslavement, power.
we’re officially moved. the movers have arrived with our boxes of stuff. let the unpacking commence!
it’s been four years since the last move (to denver). i guess i forgot how exhausting it is to relocate. when i was younger and single, i remember it being so much less effort: throw your crap in the back of a uhaul truck and get wherever you’re going. now … damn, i’m tired. and cranky. poor andy.
i’ve moved a lot in my life. some childhood relocations were due to familial unrest. then i wen to college and decided i should get as far away from familiarity as possible. thus started the nomadic life: from athens to atlanta. from there, beaumont, midland, seattle, houston, albany, denver and — in a few days time — boston.
a recent new york times article got me thinking about what i’m going to do with my hair after the big boston move. finding a new stylist is proving to be so much more difficult than i was expecting.
Getting “good hair” often means transforming one’s tightly coiled roots; but it is also more freighted, for many African-American women and some men, than simply a choice about grooming. Straightening hair has been perceived as a way to be more acceptable to certain relatives, as well as to the white establishment.
i was on a plane from new york to houston on sept. 10, 2001.
the pilot flew over lower manhattan to point out the towers and the statue of liberty. i casually glanced out from my window seat and went back to my book, blissfully unaware that the world was about to change.
by morning, the world trade center towers — that had for a few seconds been framed in the oval of the plane’s window — were gone.
16. Quality remains the most important quality.
The Internet debunks homogenous bulk goods. Only those who are outstanding, credible and exceptional will gain a steady following in the long run. Users’ demands have increased. Journalism must fulfill them and abide by its own frequently formulated principles.
are you listening? read more, my soon-to-be-former-newspaper-people.
it’s official: we’re moving to boston.
while the logistics of a cross-country move are interesting enough, i’ve been fascinated by the reactions of people i tell about the move. if i’m talking to a white person, the reaction is generally positive. when i tell a black person the very first response is almost always some variation of “that place is really racist!” my father is the only person who was initially only concerned about my baseball allegiance. after confirming that i’ll never trade the yankees for the red sox, he immediately followed-up with “boston’s really racist, isn’t it?”
i firmly believe the best antidote to racism is to talk openly about how to overcome bias.
from an article in the boston globe about our unconscious bias:
“unlearning’’ unconscious racism will require systemic change and a new understanding that everything, from portrayals of race in the media to the friends we hang out with, influence our unconscious biases and that our choices affect our biases. Read the rest of this entry »
i can’t tell you how many times i’ve been asked “what’s it like being married to a white man?” i used to get annoyed but people just don’t know any better. that’s like asking me what it’s like to have arms. my arms may be a different shape, size and color than yours but they are fundamentally the same.
Read the rest of this entry »
between a mobile phone that is always with me, two email addresses (work and personal), facebook, gmail, flickr, ichat, skype, google voice (see the new widget in the lower right), and this blog, i’m as plugged in as i think i care to be. and, no, i don’t use twitter because that’s just one more thing to keep track of. frankly, i don’t think so much of myself as to believe anyone cares what i’m doing right now enough to “follow me.” hell, i’m not sure anyone even reads this blog.
it’s a common stereotype that americans don’t know how to form a single-file line. remember when we all learned what the term “single file” meant? it was an elementary school technique for keeping a group of usually wayward children organized. i’ve noticed that, more often than not, as we get older many of us forget how to form a decent line.
cook | dishwasher | housekeeper | barista | valet | chauffer | personal assistant | accountant | florist | concierge | psychologist | massage therapist | sexual plaything
long live the king!
the people for the ethical treatment of animals wants barack obama to “be more humane” with flies in the white house.
PETA Obama Fly-Swatting Story Creates Buzz
seriously?! with all of the other drama going on in the world right now, this is all these these people can focus on? booo! go away already!
i got mine: facebook.com/kelli.parker
6:30 a.m. is the absolute wrong time to be honking a car horn to get someone’s attention. especially when said car is right underneath my bedroom window and i’ve only just gotten back to sleep.
if you honk once and your intended target doesn’t respond, it’s unreasonable to expect that continuing to lay on the car horn is going to have a different result. early in the morning, there aren’t many other sounds to compete with. he’s either deaf, ignoring you or not where you think he should be. please, PLEASE, lay off the fucking the horn and pick up the phone if you really need to reach him.
these are days i wish i owned a pellet gun.
our wedding vows did not include the phrase ” ’til death do us part.” it was a deliberate choice as we agreed it would be stupid to make promise we may not have been prepared to keep. instead we agreed to stick it out for as long as we could. and after being married for 4 years i feel like we’re the old married couple in our circle. many of our relative and friends are in some kind of marital turmoil if not full-on divorce. it makes me sad, really. Read the rest of this entry »
i don’t really want to make new friends. i’ve often felt like an outsider with my blood relatives so the tight circle of girls that have known me since high school and college are more like family sisters to me. but here lately i’m losing old friends as fast as i can make new ones.
it’s the babies. Read the rest of this entry »
i’ve lived all over the country. east coast, west coast and a fair amount of time in the middle. no matter where i live today, new york city will always be the place my heart calls “home.”
most people find it odd that i am soothed by the sounds of manhattan. yelling, honking, foreign languages, the clomping of police horses on asphalt. trains rumbling underfoot, bikes whizzing by, strange music coming from portable stereos and cars and windows and men dressed like a barbershop quartet.
paul scheer went to the michael jackson neverland auction display. see his photos of more “interesting” items here.
um … mike,
listen, we understand things have been a rollercoaster for you in the 27 years since “thriller.” the public and the press certainly haven’t been kind when it comes to your … proclivities. it’s no wonder you’re practically a hermit. even with all that, i don’t think anyone expected some of the items of a recently cancelled auction* at neverland to be so disturbing. even for you. Read the rest of this entry »
a good friend of ours is running for colorado state senate. while i certainly don’t have the constitution for politics, i am awed by his tenacity and ambition. i have no doubt he will be governor someday. Read the rest of this entry »
Mid-Century Modern Furniture Poster Originally uploaded by James Provost
all the big names are here: eames, bertoia, van der rohe, noguchi … illustrator james provost created this cool poster highlighting the pillars of mid-century modern furniture. Forty pieces in all and great work.
now, if i could only afford some of these.
european design dynamo jacek utko asks, “can design save the newspaper?” | Video on TED.com | he believes “there is no practical reason for newspapers to survive,” but he’s got an interesting proposition: take the future of a dying industry and place it in the hands of the creatives. i like it. i really do. Read the rest of this entry »
our culture has devolved a little, i think. what ever happened to human-based transactional services? from buying groceries to pumping gas to banking, increasingly we’re expected to do it all ourselves. and for what? to save corporations a few bucks in labor costs? oh, they tell us it’s better for us but the companies are saving money while we lose basic customer service. Read the rest of this entry »
