Finally!
Someone makes a movie about the revolutionary icon, Angela Davis.
I can admit that I am one who is not super-well-versed on her entire story, and this would be a great cinematic opportunity to be educated and entertained simultaneously.
Though I wish the title was more movie and less send-a-blatant-message-to-push-an-explicit-agenda (A very amateur move), knowing the way movies of this scope and nature are distributed in theatres, I suggest we all go check this movie out while we can.
So the homie “Media Sweetheart” has taken up the mantle of guest blogger on this prestigious site.
She’ll be bringing you her thoughts people, from the perspective of a young woman in the world of PR from this concrete jungle called New York City.
Knowing her and her flair for quirk and flyness, I can assure you its going to be a fun ride. Stay tuned.
With that, look up above this post for…
Fresh off of a carefully planned and well prepped launch on the perfect day, Tatiana King‘s brainchild was welcomed to the world yesterday on the big V.
Love @ 1st Byte encapsulates everything tech savvy and quirky you can expect from the brand new site in the cleverness of its name alone. A nod to it’s creator’s origins as a lover of all things computer, anime and the like, this space serves as a hub for keeping like-minded souls in the loop and also a platform for the soon to be Mrs. Jones to share her personality and creative spirit.
Pooling together her experience in media and business, visitors to the site can expect gadget reviews and opinions as well as interviews and an overall sharing from her bevy of knowledge.
And it is a bevy. She’s come a long way since the Howard University dorm days when I had a slight crush and me and the homie Derick used to call her “T-Skoozi”. Yet she was always a cool nerd then and it seems she always will be. Now she’s a grown woman putting that business acumen to practice with her first love and working on marriage to her other love. Peep her and her future husband in our Alma Mater’s special couples Newsletter. http://hosted.verticalresponse.com/390799/59cb180ced/1665500525/f1b4fb623d/
HU!!! U Know!!! Bringing couples together since….
Although it shouldn’t have to be mentioned, something has to be said about the fact that Tatiana represents a seldom acknowledged or heard from demographic of young African-American women who are in the know and love of technological developments and innovation. There are millions like her who haven’t had enough voices. Here’s to hoping hers rings loud. And here’s to hoping she does a far better job of staying consistent than I do on this blog. For more info, visit http://loveat1stbyte.com/ or click the pic above.
A graduate student of USC’s film program, and my fellow Bison, Josef Sawyer has been diligently at work for a few months now pushing his IndieGogo campaign for a book and movie he’s planning on optioning titled Inwood Street.
With a thorough breakdown and clear vision of what he wants and how he plans to execute it, I can’t do more justice by writing a description than he does by explaining it in his own campaign video. I mean, the kid cut his journalism chops at Howard after all…Check it out.
With only a little over 48 hours to go in his campaign, he’s almost halfway to his goal, which will allow him to travel from Sunny Los Angeles to this crappy winter wonderland we love so much to shoot a pilot/trailer. I totally can relate to Josef’s story and his drive to go for broke to get his dream out there. Help out however you can and check out the IndieGogo link for more info. http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/inwood-street?c=home
You know that feeling of being in the presence of a Dynamic person (Yes, Capital “D”)??
Ms. Jannelle Cortes is that indeed. And I knew it from my first conversation with her, but I learn so much more everytime we speak. A vibrant master of too many dance forms to name, she might be single-handedly responsible for bringing the art of belly-dancing to Harlem!
She’s so about it, she organizes yearly trips for her most devoted students to travel to one awe-inspiring geographic location for an experience like none other! Last year, it was Turkey. Where will this year take her??
Her entrepreneurial spirit drives her to expand her Groovefit empire(the real one) from DVD’s to multiple studios. She travels to instruct different classes from borough to borough in NYC, while still operating out of her main dance studios in Chelsea and midtown. She gives back to the community in several ways but always spreads the groovefit name, even offering free yoga classes every Tuesday. Just recently, she opened her Harlem studio space this month and threw a launch party (that I bartended). She’s also pretty damn good at that too!! Not very much that this well traveled, educated and proud Dominican trailblazer cannot do!
And on top of all of that, She’s from my second home, the DMV Urrrreahh!!
For more info, check out the site http://groovefit.com/and sign up today!
On this enormously monumental day full of so many moments, it works out mathematically that the number in my namesake equals the same number of days before the release of my first official single ever!!
This is the not-quite COUNTDOWN.
Since this differs from anything I’ve put out before, mostly because it’s original music and secondly because it’s on a professional and national scale, I’m asking for your support like never before!! For all you who have enjoyed reading this blog over the years, who’ve listened to the mixtapes and watched the videos I’ve been featured in…It’s now time to make it real. I’m behind and in front of the camera this time, going for dolo, going for BROKE. Literally!
This is iTunes, VEVO, Radio level I’m stepping into now. Don’t let me fail ya’ll!
I’ll check in with you all in 11 days…
There’s no way that I can write this post without sounding sexist, so I won’t even begin to fool myself into falling into the trap of taking a defensive tone.
Let me say this…I feel that the objectification of women, be it by male or female is not a win for anyone. Self-exploitation is still exploitation. Rihanna is no more a heroine than is Anna Nicole Smith. The worst thing is when the slaves define their success by becoming the slave-masters.
So on return back to the glorious internets from being buried beneath a pile of psycho and legal babble this season, I come across a slew of response videos to one JennaMarbles clip questioning the motivations of what White girls call “sluts” and what Black girls call “hos”. 3 of these response videos feature very intelligent diatribes from dynamic women, including the talented Ms. Franchesca “Chescaleigh” Ramsey (the genius behind “Shit White Girls Say To Black Girls”), who I had the pleasure of meeting earlier this year. What I take issue with is the dominant argument of the two other women’s videos (HayleyGHoover & LaciGreen) that spout the same reverse rationalization rhetoric that those in the aftermath of the bra-burning era have been pushing for a while now. Hiding behind the very IMPORTANT issue of date rape and the misconceptions surrounding that, these women passionately defend promiscuity in the name of bringing awareness to an area that needs much attention. But I can’t help but wonder if there was no misconception picked up from JennaMarbles’ comments about sloppily drunken girls and the typical results, or if there was no mention of that type of stuff at all, if there would still be such a sharp response from these same well spoken individuals coming to defend a woman’s “right” to fuck whomever and however many. It’s pretty clear that JennnaMarbles’ main point didn’t surround drunk and hot girls getting taken advantage of as much as that was a scenario she mentioned among several others to illustrate her disapproval of overtly sexual female conduct. Using this part of her argument as the catalyst to cry foul and rally the next march just seemed so sadly convenient and blown out of proportion that now we have her villainized as the chic who doesn’t feel sorry for rape victims.
Let’s get to the elephant in the room. This whole ordeal prompted Chesca to share her very personal story for fear that JennaMarble’s video comments would fuel the myth that it’s the rape victim’s fault if she allowed herself to dress scandalous or get drunk and end up in the tragic position. Even in the most WTF Robin Givens 2AM situation, this should never be the case. What she’s addressing here is called “Victim Blaming”. For all of the women who I know who have experienced this horrendous crime, I’m still appalled to this day that they have to endure cops questioning them in the manner that they do. I’m driven to the point of rage every time I think that I probably meet a dude every week who has forced himself on a woman. I’m baffled that in this world where women outnumber men almost everywhere that there is still rape going on. I wonder what is wrong with the messages we’ve been sending men for decades and centuries. I question rap music. I question my own music, I question the banner on top of this site with two women blowing my….Candles. There is NO excuse possible for women-beating (again, that’s for you Chris Brown defenders) or sexual offense of any kind. It is NEVER the victim’s FAULT. Even if she was butt naked on the 6 train going downtown (literally).
Yet and still, Women are NOT men.
We are equal in many ways, but we are inherently different. The day we accept that and stop trying to best each other will be the brightest day in modern history. Maybe then women will get paid the same exact rate as men (cause I certainly don’t understand why they don’t now), maybe then rappers will stop acting like the word “bitch” is interchangeable with the word “woman”, maybe then women will stop trying to play football and body-build. But for now, double standards exist for a reason. This is not simply some derivative remnant from oppressive masculinity that defined women as property. Vag’s hold the key of life. In my opinion, that makes them a little more precious than dicks. That’s just my uncouth opinion. I’m not here to convince you of evolutionary psychology and biological science that demonstrates behavioral patterns and instinctual wiring that developed for survival, or that we – like every other living thing on this Earth have the same mission of procreation before we die. I’m not here to convince you that men are given the ability to procreate freely and easily for a reason and that influences urges. I’m not here to remind you of how many unwanted pregnancies there are every fuckin day or question what the emotional toll has to be of taking different people INTO your body.
What I do know is that for all your open-mindedness, and all of your “don’t-judge” blah blah blah,
NOBODY,
male or female,
really respects a slut.
Does this mean they are not human? No! Does this mean its okay to do with them as you want? No! But let’s not start acting like it’s ok for anyone to throw their body around like it’s some show of honor because they chose to do it and no one made them. This applies to both men and women. We have this warped idea that being super sexual is liberating. All of a sudden Lady Gaga is more of a symbol for women’s lib than Alicia Keys because she wears S&M get-ups and shows her pale ass cheeks every other month. Liberation is only for those who were restricted in the first place. In high school, I’m sure we can all recall that girl who was so flirty and out there but was a virgin who did everything else but vaginal intercourse in some kind of weird attempt to maintain her purity. Meanwhile, the girls who had actually got it poppin were pretty calm and quiet about it. If you have to become a sex shooter to display your sense of freedom, I see that as more of a sign of sexual immaturity and attention seeking. Is it really more empowering now that women like going to strip clubs and spend their week-nights calling pole-dancing exercise? I’d say they just actually made men’s jobs 1 hundred percent easier. It’s no big secret that pussy is power. It makes the world go round more than money. At the end of the day, what does it matter if I took your panties off or you did if they wind up on the floor either way?? Are we really that hung up over the technicality of it all? If you don’t see how frivolous and distracting of a debate that all is while we have bigger things going on in the world like gun wielding madmen and global warming, then you’re truly gone.
Even Ice-T, for all of his pimp bullshit, cries on twitter when his woman crosses the line. When it’s all said and done, nobody wants to claim the whore. Women are the mothers of our children, the mothers who made us, the daughters we make. When we see other women, we see them. No man wants to think of any of those females getting treated like porn stars (only porn stars should be treated like pron stars). We’re territorial. That same protective and masculine energy that attracts you to us in the first place. The same shit that makes you say “nuh-uh” to a threesome when your man asks you is the same shit that makes us say “nuh-uh” when we find out that there’s been more than 10 dicks in you. Is it ego? Isn’t LOVE ego??
You can’t be the first to walk on the moon for the second time. But nobody wants to be the 338th person. Our problem is when we start thinking about children. This new generation wants to lead this reckless adult life full of porn, hookah, Ciroc, jeggings and neck tattoos, but raise kids on these hundred year old morals and doctrines. There’s a Puritan-esque clash and conflict of interest there. How hypocritical can we be?! What’s the point of protecting our children from behavior that we indulge in ourselves and believe is wrong?
I personally am not a fan of anything extreme. Moderation has worked for a long time with no complaints. Referring back to my favorite model of good-womanhood, nobody ever said that Claire Huxtable wasn’t sexually free and you never saw her run upstairs with anyone but Cliff and you never saw more than a shoulder of hers. Committment doesn’t have to be for everyone, but why does sex have to be how you translate your dating life? I can’t name one promiscuous person, especially not a female, that I know who doesn’t express lament and weariness from the bed they have made and laid in with so many. After a certain point, they all just want their past forgotten, forgiven or accepted. They want babies. They want to settle down. They want a clean slate. They say they have “no regrets” but they don’t believe it wholeheartedly themselves. They’d take back half of their experiences if they could. It’s a vapid game that leaves you asking what was it all for? It’s like those documentaries where they show gangbangers when they were young and dumb and ready for whatever and then they’re all old Muslims or born-agains 20 years later doing outreach programs. The good girls think its fun to cheer on the Samantha’s of the world but in their private lives they wouldn’t want to be them. There’s a fantasy women embrace about being the “bad girl”. But we all know that in most cases, the bad girl just makes for good iconic photography and Halloween cosplay. They want the shoes she has on but don’t really want to endure the hollowness, anguish and confusion it took to walk in them.
Being in your 20’s is no excuse for being a fuckbox. This “Y.O.L.O.” wave is fleeting. Don’t believe the hype. As a woman, you’re gonna have waaaaay more disappointments the more your numbers add up than a man with numbers ever will. Women claim not to be satisfied by most dudes they’ve been with, averaging like 1 good partner every 5. That’s a alot of trial and error just to wind up using your toy later on anyway. Men are stupid. They’re just happy to be in something soft and wet 85% of the time so discriminating factors aren’t priority. Does this mean it’s ok if we throw our bodies around? No! Just pointing out another difference in why women trying to adopt the same flawed behavior isn’t a good idea. 2 Wrongs don’t make a right. You wanna express yourself? Help these dudes learn how to properly respect and treat you. That’s not going to happen by you spreading your free love and independence everywhere. That just continues you making yourself synonymous with sex. I don’t care what Ivy league degree you have and how you try to make it sound intellectual. What I like about JennaMarbles’ point is that she clearly noted that you can be super smart but the logic that justifies promiscuity is warped and stupid. Ill-advised choices are not reflections of academic intelligence, but can be a barometer of social intelligence. As much as we want to be all I-Don’t -Give-A-Fuck in a non I-Don’t-Give-A-Fuck world, you’re never really doing anything new under the sun. Everyone you admire who quote-unquote “doesn’t give a fuck” is either dead before their time or dealing with some serious shit. We’re humans. We Judge. Embrace it, and get the fuck over it. And honestly, Once you’re an object, it becomes hard to see your inner soul.
Something should be said for personal responsibility. This goes far beyond just making sure you use a condom every time. This is about knowing that despite all of our idealism and progressive thinking, it is still a cruel place out here. Be mindful of the messages you send and people and places you surround yourself with. By all means, your choice is your choice…Be honest with your self about your sex, but just like thinking ahead about why you got that butterfly on your left breast and what it’s going to look like at age 65, think about what this step now means in the long run. I just told my oldest nephew about leaving drunk girls alone and not ever being pressed for sex. I can’t count how many times I had to ask my little sister what she gets out of taking booty shots and putting them on Instagram then getting offended by someone’s comment. Our actions still speak a whole lot louder than our words, most times before those words ever even get heard.
What we’re NOT about to do is treat the act of making sluts question their actions and self-worth like its a fucking hate crime. And we are NOT going to confuse telling our daughters and nieces to be careful and don’t make certain choices for blaming them for some half-a-man’s lack of impulse control and beastial actions. These are 2 separate conversations. This is not about accepting rapists’ actions and molding our women around that to avoid incurring the wrath. This is about raising wise, strong women who have solid definitions of their rights, values and worth and not some abstract concept bourne out of repression. We’re raising mothers here, not basketball wives. Psuedo-feminism is the most useless agenda next to the NRA right now. Fuck a battle of the sexes. Men: lift these women up. Women: lift these men up and everyone start respecting your private parts a little more. I’m tired of hearing how many other celebs have fucked Joe Budden’s girlfriends. The world is too small.
I roll with JennaMarbles on this.
But then fucked up shit like the Connecticut mass killing takes place and makes me question why these things were even invented. The adage goes that guns don’t kill people, stupid people with guns kill people…But as I wake each day to the aural assault of rappers threatening me with their automatics and newscasts dutifully covering the latest in socio-pathic behavior, the reality dawns on me gloomily that while we may not ever be able to rid the world of so-called “stupid people”, we can more reasonably rid it of the great coward’s equalizer. Being from the ghetto, I quickly embraced the practicality of not only wanting a pistol to not be fucked with and show some sort of skill as a man (especially after going to the gun range with my older cousins), but also the possibility of NEEDING one. Somehow, after making it past the predicted statistical age of endangerment for Black males (25), this all became less important. The more people I started to know who actually got shot or actually killed people made it all seem much more desperate and hopeless. The whole appeal of having the skill of shooting made less sense when the majority of people shooting are psychos and untrained kids who are scared themselves. It all became a little lamer in the larger scheme of things.
The comic book character, Batman, who I often relate to in terms of disposition is notorious for his firm stance against guns, as they were the things that took the lives of his parents. He discarded them every chance he got, knowing it was a battle that would prove endless and futile. Somehow the futility of that battle rings so true in the real world for those who constantly lobby for harsher and more steadfast gun control laws. It’s almost like the rational call for restriction is a sign of disrespect to the manufacturers and right-wingers who swear by their Americanism on these weapons that are used for BAD 9 times out of 10. Ted Nugent be damned, I’d rather throw a million toys for guns drives than hear the President apologize to dozens of families every season for someone’s insanity.
I get it,
right to bear arms.
I used to tout that same ethos, citing that same document which I admittedly know very little of. The constitution has not done much to this amendment which as the Black Panthers elucidated so virulently in the 60’s clearly referred to a limited kind of firearm and not the intricate variations of death tools we’ve come to know in the post-modern world. There’s a difference between a simple rifle to protect your person or property and a military-issue, multi-cartridge personal handheld version of a stylized Gatling gun. What war are we fighting so close to home that we need to strap up to these extents where access is so fluid and facile? Is killing Bambi’s mom that much of a cultural necessity that we need Wal-Mart sections devoted to this??
I’d like to see these same aggrandized “hunters” do the same shit with nothing but a knife…
But NRA politics aside, our fascination with things that can change our world in the blink of an eye within the palms of our hands is nothing new. It can be argued that this is human nature. Since man discovered that he can make fire I suppose this has been our understanding of power. It’s hard to detach the awe and fear that comes with that.
It’s a moral discrepancy of course. I don’t care about your “culture”. Fuck that. What I do care about is the family home that gets broken into and that need to protect your children amidst the threat of an intruder. I care about the bank security that couldv’e shot back if they were properly equipped and stopped hostages from being killed. But on a far too uneven slope, I think of all the gunned down innocent minorities because trigger happy police officers mistook their skittles or wallets or whatever for one, the dead wives from crimes of passion, the innocents shot for their freaking sneakers and phones, the good folks just trying to enjoy the Batman movie or get through their classes and jobs for the day who didn’t have the faintest idea that they’d be front page news the next morning. More impending than any Uranium, the shit that kills us the most any day is our own obsession with the ability to extinguish another life at our hands in seconds, just like downloading an app or rubbing two sticks of wood together – but without the waiting.
“No one man should have all that power”
The craziest crazy person still understands the gravity of murder. For some reason, in their greatest compulsion not to live any further, they adopt the concept of taking others with them. Sometimes I wonder if they dare themselves and finally pump themselves up into doing it like bungee jumping or skydiving. What does it do for them? What does it satisfy in those last few minutes of life to know that just before doing the weakest thing a human can do, you did the second weakest thing?
Now make no mistake, given the field that I’m in and my own personal experience, I understand the cognitive mechanics behind suicidality and how much of a disease it is, but nowhere in the diagnostic material is this equated with homicidal tendencies. And how much homicide fulfills whatever mission you’ve convinced yourself you’re on? 20-something sound about right?!
I know,
why am I asking questions of the crazed, irrational and worse yet, the dead? On a scarcely active blog nonetheless?
It’s just that we live in a dichotomous world filled with paradoxical forces that push us to hate the things we embrace the hardest. A world where we love sex and punish it, we want to kill people who have committed the worst atrocities but protest killings, where parents strive to keep their children away from even the most common legal drugs like Advil but clap every time legislation moves towards legalizing marijuana. We’re our own Jekylls and Hydes.
And its the raising children part that worries me every time. How do you prepare your kids for a day when they might have to walk into their kindergarten class to their death? How do you teach them how ugly this world is while still letting them know to appreciate the beauty of it? What a responsibility. What a cross to bear. It’s a job I couldn’t imagine having to do. And Lord knows I’d risk every sentence in the world and murder the bastard who did this to my child with my bare fuckin hands if he hadn’t done himself in. So from a place that I couldn’t relate to and wouldn’t begin to insult those who could, my heart goes out to all the parents and loved ones of those innocents lost this week to illogical violence from the power found in a palm of cowardice.
I write this as someone who used to think that they were pro-guns, but is now just utterly stumped and conflicted.
I write this, knowing that soon after I’ll be enjoying the guilty pleasure of some rap song making mention of it, or watching some movie which might get postponed but eventually hit theatres glorifying it. It’s not their fault. I blame it on all of us…
Never before have I felt more like Batman.
So this what it feels like huh?
Or should I say, this is what it’s supposed to feel like? It hasn’t quite sunk in yet. I probably won’t have a reflection on it until the end of this day because right now, I’m trying to catch up to my own life. As I write this, I’m supposed to be in class. For the first time, I’m approaching my birthday like a teenager (because even when I was one, I wasn’t one), and feeling like blowing everything off and making it all about me! But that’s what turning this age signifies…It’s the reaching of that level of maturity to discipline yourself against those urges. Those urges have led me to all of the worst decisions of my 20’s. And while tonight will be the very first full scale “Party” I’ve ever had for my birthday (besides counting baby years), it’s still going to be tame compared to the Diddy-esque delusions of grandeur I originally envisioned. Then again…I’m not the one really planning it, so who knows?? Maybe there’s a threesome in the cards for me tonight…
Yeah…Right. That would be too much of a birthday wish. This is still 2012. A year that has been the worst one in my life. Just wish me luck today. It’s probably the best thing you can do for me.
I’ll let you know how it feels when I know…
Let me just start by saying that this video is wonderfully put together and beautifully displays the Hair styles.
Elisi’s Room is the brainchild of the mother of 2 of my best homegirls on the planet, Indigo and La’Rayne, Who I affectionately call “mom” as well. Located in Jersey city where the ladies all came up, this is a family operated salon and wellness center that is much needed in the community. All that’s missing to make it a reality is you. Today is the last day in a contest that’s been going on this month to help aspiring businesses get funding to help them launch appropriately. Your views of this video directly make the difference! So please, on this last busy weekday, take all of 38 seconds to watch this video and share it with as many people as possible. That’s 2 clicks people. Let’s make it happen for “mom”!
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