for colored girls

colored girls phaseout

2007-09-09T18:50:00.001-04:00

So, I'm phasing out "for colored girls" a bit in favor of a new blog I started "Black Feminisms." I kept feeling like I was going to have to rename this blog "Mourning for New York" as almost everything I wanted to write about had to do with how much I miss the city. So in lieu of a whiny blog, I've decided to embark upon a productive one: one that incorporates my teaching, cultural criticism, and feminist politics. Maybe I'll return to "for colored girls" at some point. Maybe not.

conjuring nina

2007-08-24T09:13:00.001-04:00

Last weekend when my girl Lynn and I went to check out the African World Festival in Detroit, I told her I was "conjuring Nina Simone." I had forked out my fro and draped a floor-length sundress over my sunbrown frame. I was looking good and feeling really diva-ish, ya know.

But conjuring Nina is more than a matter of style. Cultural critic Mark Anthony Neal posted this piece recently that acknowledges Simone's impact on our [the hip hop] generation. Lauren Hill, Talib Kweli, and Common have evoked Nina either verbally or through sampling. To be sure, Nina's music transcends time and generation.

But for me, growing up a dark-skinned girl in a Eurocentric environment, Nina was [and still is] also visual reminder of fierce, unadulterated black beauty and bravery. She was outspoken, or as Neal describes, "ornery," and unapologetic about it. I'm so grateful to have seen her perform before she passed on. Between intermissions, she would saunter onto the stage with her head held high and command the awe she so deserved. When I think about the model of black womanhood she represents for us "women of a certain age," I feel a little sad for the black girls coming up today (some who have no idea who Nina Simone is: I know, I asked my students). Whenever I'm feeling "less-than..." I'm glad I can conjure Nina, tilt my head high, fork out my fro and get my strut on.

midwest weather forecast ... sucky again

2007-08-23T07:28:00.001-04:00

Heat+rain=humid

the walker and the walk

2007-08-19T10:03:00.000-04:00

I've long been an avid walker. As a city kid, I walked the Mission and downtown San Francisco, the Wharf, Pier 39. I grew up walking to and from school, scaling the towering hills that make up SF's signature landscape. Then I'd spend summers with my father and other family in small-town Tejas where I was convinced we could walk the whole town. Quite often we'd follow the railroad tracks like those kids in Stand by Me. Luckily we never stumbled upon a dead body. We did sneak around unpopulated corners and under bridges to smoke cigarettes though.

New York by far is my favorite walking city. The city is filled with so many attention grabbing shops, vendors, people, performers that you can walk miles and miles up and down streets and avenues and not grow very tired (at least not quickly). Today's Times features lovely meditations on the walk:

"The walk unfurls according to mood, physical endurance and visual appetite," writer Nicole Krauss tells us. Historicizing the walk, Alex Marshall reminds us, "The 19th century was the age of the flaneur and the boulevardier, figures who made strolling down Fifth Avenue or Broadway, often vividly attired, a fashionable activity worthy of their counterparts in Paris or London." Other avid walkers share their stories as well. Feel free to share yours too.

yep, another reason to love new york

2007-08-13T07:14:00.000-04:00

New Yorkers live longer! Could it be that walking promotes a longer healthy life? I've always believed this, but not at a snail's pace ...

"Researchers have long known that people here walked fast—far faster than anyone else in the country. Indeed, the easiest way to tell a New Yorker from an out-of-towner is by walking speed: The natives blast down the sidewalk at blitzkrieg pace, and the visitors mosey along like pack mules."

keep reading here

New Study: Making Black Girls "Ladylike" Discourages Achievement?

2007-08-09T10:49:00.000-04:00

(Big ups to my girl at brown girl chronicles for bringing this to my attention.)

WASHINGTON – A new study shows that teachers tend to view the behavior of black girls as not "ladylike" and therefore focus disciplinary action on encouraging behaviors like passivity, deference, and bodily control at the expense of curiosity, outspokenness, and assertiveness.

click here to continue reading ...

improper jogger

2007-08-07T09:34:00.000-04:00

Since women are not allowed to run topless in public (even at 96 degrees), isn't it only fair that men with boobs follow the same prohibition?

i heart janeane garofalo

2007-08-05T23:05:00.000-04:00

It's a wonderfully stormy night and I just watched The Truth About Cats and Dogs. It reaffirms everything I love about Janeane Garofalo. She's dynamic, a great actor, funny, pretty, smart, on the right sight of politics ... I know she's playing a character but come on, "Abby" plays the violin on one end of the phone line then her love interest reads to her from Camera Lucida in turn. Okay, maybe it's just me.

p.s. I watched Dirty Dancing earlier and decided to listen to Otis Redding for two hours. "Nobody puts Baby in a corner!"

not everything is about race ... really

2007-08-03T09:42:00.000-04:00

Is the NAACP running out of relevant causes to support? To be sure, no one should be presumed guilty (not even an "alleged" despicable abuser of animals) until he's had his day in court. But really people, Vick has more than enough money to hire the best lawyers in his defense. Why doesn't the NAACP do something useful for a change? Like make sure kids in low income school districts get proper textbooks and access to technology! Or why not offer some useful commentary about black men and how too many are entangled in the sports industrial complex (oh yeh, a critique of masculinity would need to be launched here as well; not sure all those male mouthpieces of the NAACP are ready for that).

And check out the way R.L. Wright addressed the following question:

When the Duke lacrosse players were accused of rape, the NAACP came out early in favor of the accuser. Isn’t that the same thing PETA and the Humane Society are doing?
In the case of the Duke players, everyone did form an opinion before the trial, and I’ve been reminded several times that the NAACP came out in favor of the young woman who was the accuser in that case. And I’ve said that just because you make one mistake doesn’t mean you have to continue to make mistakes. In other words, instead of saying, “Let’s rush to judgment in this case because the same thing happened to those boys at Duke,” we should be learning from what happened there and stopping the prejudgment of people’s guilt outside of a courtroom.

Wrong Answer RL! How about, "Well, in the Duke case we might have rushed to judgment but white men DO have a history of raping or otherwise sexually abusing black women with impunity. And the um accuser in that rape case is not a dog."

my so-called midwestern life

2007-07-31T16:29:00.001-04:00

I haven't posted to the blog in weeks because I was in a real city and had better things to do. In case you can't read through the sarcasm, I'm feeling sad that I had to return to the midwest from New York (sorry midwesterners; you are really lovely people BUT ... New York is, well, it's New York).
I had a fabulous summer. I got some work done in Columbia's beautiful reading rooms, played A LOT, went to Scotland, saw one of my favorite groups Brazilian Girls, discovered a new live ass group The Cat Empire, reconnected with some fabulous friends, met some new fabulous artists I hope to work with and continue to befriend in the future (shout outs to Kim and Tonya), and ate lots and lots of great food (no I didn't gain any weight; I walked it all off: my motto was actually "What I eat in New York stays in New York" and hey, it worked).

Now I'm getting back to the grind, preparing for fall classes and working on an article. My goal this year is to find the joy in writing again. Really I lost it while writing my diss. It was such a fucking chore, I started to dread writing, which is totally traumatic for a writer! Anyway, I'm trying to remember that I actually like to write and still keep to my deadlines (that I set for myself now).

I'm also giving myself until the end of the week to get out of my funk. I chose to leave NY and come to the midwest for good reasons (I think). And as one of my dear friends (Alison) said to me, New York will always be waiting for me with open arms. For that I am truly grateful.

i'm baaack...

2007-06-23T10:11:00.000-04:00

Back in the city for some professional edification (that's scholar-speak for a summer seminar). I'm only here for a brief stint but couldn't stop smiling for three days when I returned to NY last week. Even landing in LGA was an experience. As most of us know, midwesterners tend to be a tad more portly than city-dwellers. In comparison, New Yorkers seem so skinny to me now, but a good skinny not a "give that girl a sandwich" skinny. All the walking probably helps. I should have brought my pedometer to clock how much more I've been stepping since I got back.

My first weekend back, I went to Central Park Summerstage (one of my favorite summer to-dos in NY) to see Olu Dara and Cassandra Wilson (one of my favorite people). It was awesome just being in the midst of multiculti, international, beautiful fucking people!

Charles Burnett also guest-appeared at the IFC to talk about his 1970s film Killer of Sheep. The film has been restored thanks to UCLA and it's great that it's getting a national run. Burnett really touched upon the difficulties of a working class black family in a way that doesn't fall into stereotypes or feed into masculinist ideas about black family. Go see this film if you haven't already!

Besides enjoying summer in the city, I've been working and taking advantage of the resources at Columbia (where my seminar is being held). I'm also psyched to catch up with my girls, revisit some of my haunts (like Cafeteria and Pipa) and discover some new places (like "A" -- a tucked away organic French Caribbean spot here on the UWS). More to discover. More fun to be had. So glad to be back!

joining the ancestors

2007-06-11T09:55:00.000-04:00

World renowned Senegalese filmmaker Ousmane Sembene has left us for otherwordly adventures. May his journey be a peaceful one.

the end

2007-06-11T09:40:00.000-04:00

(spoiler alert in case you were under a rock when the final episode of The Sopranos aired last night)

David Chase is effen brilliant. I don't care what anyone says. Those final minutes of suspense were classic. My heart was racing when Tony sat down in the diner and those suspicious looking guys kept eyeing him from the bar. Then Meadow couldn't park her car. And what was up with that cat?! Damn.

The family meets as this uber-American diner. Journey blasts from the speakers. And then, total blackout. Way to anticlimax Dave. As one who hates neat and tidy endings, I love that Chase honored our intelligence and fidelity to the show by leaving us with a conclusion we can think and talk about for years to come. Check out other discussions of The Sopranos finale in the Times and Salon.

joan armatrading

2007-06-03T09:49:00.000-04:00

Joan Armatrading discusses the blues and her new CD on weekend edition.

i think i've been oprahed

2007-05-30T08:12:00.000-04:00

What better way to spend time recovering from minor surgery than watching hours of bad television and movies curled up on the couch? Day 4 into that, I caught one of those episodes of Oprah that fires up the consumer capitalist in us all: a giveaway show. Her theme for the show was the summer beach bag and all the goodies we should charge on our credit cards and put in said beach bag (unless we were one of the fortunate who were given these goodies on the show). The first summer "must-have" was Robin Thicke's latest cd (you know the cool son-of-Alan [thanks Rana] with a falsetto smooth enough to woo smoking diva Paula Patton).

Thicke performed a couple of tunes on the show to back up Oprah's claims that The Evolution ... is the cd to have and you know what, I was totally sucked in. I imagined riding down the midwest highways on my way to the beach, visor back, Robin Thicke pumping through the speakers ... In other words, I was Oprahed.

Any of you who have been Oprahed know what I'm talking about (anyone who's gone out and bought The Secret has been Oprahed). She just has this uncanny ability to convince her viewers to do things: read certain books, stop eating beef, buy "must-have" products. And while I have neither time nor the inclination to be a regular watcher of the show, each time I kneel at the altar of her stage in Harpo studios, I am totally converted. I want to teach at her school or go hunt down one of those sickass internet predators all on my own and sacrifice him at the feet of Oprah. I want to download Robin Thicke's album (which wouldn't be that big of a deal except that I'm not a fan of sappy R & B).

I'm also not exactly a "fan" of Oprah though I do admire her. Her gift to motivate people to aspire to better lives can be channelled toward good ends. Trying to negotiate that motivation with the dose of consumerism and materialism that accompanies it can be really tricky though.

shark diva

2007-05-23T09:33:00.000-04:00

sistas are doing it for themselves ...

4 hero

2007-05-17T11:45:00.000-04:00

I must have been under a rock in February not to notice that one of the most amazing groups I've heard in some time had dropped another album. My buddy, the dj-ing librarian introduced me to 4 Hero a few years ago and usually keeps me up on the newest and hottest underground transnational shiznick. But he slept on this one or I did or I was busy. Probably the latter. Anyway, check out their myspace page.

so good

2007-05-14T16:17:00.000-04:00

School's out and I've finally had a moment for one of my favorite pastimes: downloading new tunes. I'd seen Amy Winehouse's video for "I'm No Good" on Vh-1 soul and have been meaning to check her out for some time. I've finally downloaded (legally) her CD Back to Black and it's sooooo tight! I think I've found my summer CD (along with Jay-Z's Unplugged and Feist's The Reminder; last summer Gnarls Barkley's St. Elsewhere dominated my players as I was all-but-defended and feeling "Crazy!!!").

Because she's white, British, and soulful (something that really shouldn't be considered a rarity anymore), Winehouse elicits comparisons to Joss Stone, whose voice is good, but in my opinion a little over-affected (you know, one too many riffs sounds like a singer is trying too hard). To be honest, I think Winehouse can sing Stone under the table. Both are around the same age, but unlike Stone, Winehouse sounds natural and effortless, sorta like old school soulful Brit Lisa Stansfield. Winehouse just has that Something. It usually takes awhile for a CD to grow on me (like with Van Hunt), but Back to Black is already "in rotation" and will be for some time.

simulated sex or simulated rape?

2007-05-10T11:20:00.000-04:00

When I first heard the chatter about Akon's concert in Trinidad and his on-stage simulated sex with a minor, I thought the performance was a repeat of the routine bump, grind, and wine that goes on at numerous dance hall and/or hip hop concerts and that Akon probably had no idea that the concert-goer, Danah Alleyne, was underage (and perhaps he didn't). But after reading about Verizon's decision to drop the singer from their annoying cell-phone ad and to no longer support Akon and Gwen Stefani's tour (due in part to the efforts of groups like What About Our Daughters), I decided to take a look at the offensive video on you-tube (yep, it's still up there).

To my surprise and dismay, the performance looked more like a simulated rape than an erotic dance! Regardless of the girl's age, she does not appear to be a willing participant as Akon throws her around the stage and gyrates violently on top of her numerous times (and the girl makes noises that sound like screams!) then leaves her tossled body on the stage floor as he walks off. What the *%&@?!

It doesn't matter how she was dressed or whether or not she should or should not have been allowed into the club or if she was dancing along at first. It doesn't even matter that she's rumored to be a preacher's daughter! When is it ever acceptable to publicly humiliate a woman (any woman) in the way that Akon publicly humiliated that girl?! I'm sure she didn't imagine a "dance" would entail her head being banged around and her body being assaulted in that way. Why are people blaming HER for such treatment? What if she had been eighteen and thus legally entitled to enter the club? Would Akon's behavior have been given a second glance? Of course not because any girl fan who agrees to dance with a superstar is "asking" for whatever she gets. Sounds just like the logic used to blame victims for being raped, doesn't it?

i love ladies in hats!

2007-05-05T12:27:00.000-04:00

niggas, bitches, and hos

2007-04-25T08:45:00.000-04:00

You know we're in trouble when Russell Simmons becomes the spokesperson for the hip hop generation. His most recent brilliant idea to bleep three more derogatory words from hip hop lyrics (what about other genres that use those three words? Like Meredith Brooks's "Bitch," for instance?) does nothing to address the social inequalities that actually produce the sentiments that some rappers espouse. Why bleep more words? I can hear it now: most mainstream rap (the kind they play on the radio) will be 3 minutes of bleeps with a few words worked in. How about promoting hip hop artists who actually have something thoughtful to say? Like Jean Grae, or Flo Brown, or Talib Kweli, or Dead Prez... and so many others (time for the underground to come above ground perhaps?)

I can't promise all these hip hop artists adhere to a politics of respectability but they will be a welcome change from the souped up commercial jingles that dominate the radio stations presently.

does hip hop hate (black) women (too)?

2007-04-15T08:35:00.000-04:00

I decided not to write about Imus's remarks for various reasons, one of which is the mass amount of media attention paid to his racialized sexist comments. His was not an abstract invocation of jive rhetoric (as he claimed). Rather, he insulted a real group of women who didn't warrant such vitriole. People spoke out, and he was fired. The end?

Perhaps while people who claim to care about racialized sexism have the attention of CBS, we can use this opportunity to call attention to one of their channels that revels in the exploitation of black people in general and black women in particular: BET. Contrary to popular belief, BET is not owned by black people, it merely targets black audiences. To be sure, the caliber of shows and videos thrive according to audience taste. Hence, the circulation of petitions to cut BET's semipornographic "Uncut" succeeded in the network's cancellation of the show.

But I suppose we couldn't stop at BET, especially since VH-1 seems to have morphed into the "all cooning, all the time" channel with shows like "Flavor of Love" and "I Love New York" leading their line-ups. And I'm not suggesting "we" whoever "we" are engage in a censorship campaign. But it is important to use these media fiascos as teaching moments and opportunities to continue drawing attention to the violence (both verbal and physical) black women encounter on a daily basis.

At the same time, some Imus critics and defenders have called out hip hop for its misogynistic lyrics, as if hip hop scholars, critics and activists have not been critiquing its lyrical content for a number of years now. So before we applaud Imus (like some folks did "Kramer") for raising a mirror to black communities' intraracial problems, we should remember that critiques of hip hop have been waged from within black communities since the cassette tape was still in circulation. T. Denean Sharpley-Whiting's new book Pimps Up, Ho's Down: Hip Hop's Hold on Young Black Women furthers these analyses, offering a fresh feminist perspective on hip hop's misogynistic culture and its association with the sex industry. Joining Professor Sharpley-Whiting in a national tour, critics Bakari Kitwana, Mark Anthony Neal, Joan Morgan, and Byron Hurt have scheduled a number of rap sessions (well before the Imus debacle) that address the question of hip hop's hatred of women. It's a pity that the interventions these scholars have been making into hip hop culture, gender and sexuality doesn't garner the same attention as Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson's sermonic pontification.

a blues exorcism

2007-03-10T09:44:00.000-05:00

The white girl chained to a radiator wasn't what fueled my skepticism of Craig Brewer's Black Snake Moan. Afterall, I'd sat through Boxing Helena, which was some real sick and twisted misogynistic shit ... but I digress. I was initially skeptical of Black Snake because of Brewer's debut film Hustle and Flow, which admittedly I didn't see. I just couldn't find any compelling reasons to sympathize with a pimp nor could I buy Terrence Howard as a rapper. Call me crazy.

I also wondered why Brewer was so fascinated with black culture: first hip hop, then the blues. Was he trying to do something provocative with race or was he -- like Eminem -- using the most bankable commodity (blackness) to his advantage?

After reading salon.com's interview with Brewer, I sensed that something other than fetishism and misogyny might be motivating Brewer to create racially and sexually provocative films set in his homestate of Tennessee. I'm also a student of the blues and know full well how it can complicate and entangle spirituality, magic, and sex.

Brewer obviously is aware of the intricacies of blues music and blues mythology as well as Black Snake lays to bear a full out blues exorcism of painful demons: of sexual trauma, of lost love. The film is not without its problems, but the on-screen chemistry between Christina Ricci and Samuel L. Jackson is not one of them. Not sexual chemistry, but a kinship induced by shared pain. The film delves uncomfortably into the reluctant intimacies that sometimes develop between blacks and whites in a racist and segregated south. But that's one of the things that makes it interesting. No doubt Brewer was well aware of the controversy that would arise when he decided to feature a black man chaining a white woman to a radiator. That image alone holds an entire history of sexualized racism and violence. But I applaud Brewer for treading into such scary territory. Black Snake is not a flawless film to be sure, but it is visually interesting (especially the scene in the juke joint when Sam Jackson performs) and the plotline is complex. And though I hate to admit it, Justin Timberlake ain't half bad either.

a girl like me

2007-02-10T10:30:00.000-05:00

I got linked up to this short while reading blackprof.com this morning. Several mature and insightful young sisters weigh in on the struggles black girls encounter as they grapple with notions of beauty in our culture. Quite impressive.

am i the only one who doesn't get the joke?

2007-02-09T10:01:00.000-05:00

Eddie Murphy is indeed a master of comedy. He has the uncanny ability to transform himself into different characters and adopt various voices, personalities, and dialects. But am I the only one who doesn't find the "Flip Wilsonesque" tradition of dragging as black women in ways that promote stereotype and caricature NOT FUNNY? Some Tyler Perry fans (yes I have met some) have defended his Madea routine as flattery and a show of fondness for his granny. I also think most folks were too doubled over in belly laughs to pay very much attention to the way Martin Lawrence's ghettofabulous alter-ego "Shanana" or Jamie Foxx's "Wanda" caricatured certain types of black women. Now, I'm not hypersensitive about this stuff. I just don't get the joke. I don't understand what's funny about black men making fun of their grannies, the girl down the block, or the booster next door. Maybe it's me. Can someone please clue me in?