INT. NOTE TO SELF- PRESENT
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INT. NOTE TO SELF- PRESENT
EXT. #afropunk TINGS- DAY 1 (at Afropunk Festival)
INT. FEELING BLUE- PRESENT . . . . . . . #blackgirlmagic #naturalhair #naturalhairstyles #bluehair #marleytwists
INT. BLACK EXCELLENCE - DAY Congratulations, Julian!!! #NYMFW #NYMD #WOODHOUSE #CFDA #blkcreatives #designer #model (at Industria Superstudio)
INT. FREEDOM FREED DOOM - PRESENT
INT. EMAIL CORRESPONDENCE - WHEN ALTON STERLING & PHILANDO CASTILE WERE STILL ALIVE
MP: If you could live anywhere and in any type of housing (assuming money isn't an issue) where/what would it be?
Me: In a world that doesn't see someone like me as lesser.
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I've been feeling a lot since I (finally) read Ta-Nehisi Coates’ letter to his son, which is actually a book titled Between the World and Me. It is an unpretentious, beautifully written novel about the state of our world and the reality of a black body in it. The book, along with other recent events and revelations that I won't get into here, have put me in a dream like state filled with anger and fatigue. I have been able to run from the reality of the world we live in for almost 5 months now. The finish line to my sprint was New York City. Once I crossed the finish line and spent more time in the city, the glitz and glamour of the award ceremony wore off. Don't get me wrong, I expected to be brought back down to earth after receiving my gold medal and bouquet, but I did not expect to see what I did when I stepped off the podium- a world that looked scarily similar to surroundings at the starting line. Underneath the dirt, the smell of piss, the subway, and the hoards of beautiful and differently colored people that pour out of it everyday, I saw the same America- the land where freedom is only afforded to some and the rest are vulnerable to the discretion of how the free use that freedom.
Essentially, my answer to my friend’s question was to live as a free person but that is a luxury that countless Black Americans do not ever get to experience. Alton Sterling was murdered by the hands of police for trying to earn a freer life. He died never knowing what freedom feels like. Philando Castile was murdered less than 2 days later. He essentially did “everything right” to survive in this country and it was still meaningless. Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, Mike Brown, a total of 115 black men, I repeat, specifically just black men this year alone died never knowing a life of freedom in the United States. There have been hundreds, thousands upon thousands of people who have been murdered never knowing this fact. I type these words in a coffee shop in Brooklyn sitting in a life of moderate privilege (educated, well-employed, able-bodied, heterosexual), privilege that is starting to fade into an illusion so long as I exist in a black body, I dream of what a life of true freedom would look like. As I stand on a country built on the backs of black bodies devoid of liberty, looking at the finish line which looks a lot like the starting line, I wonder if I ever will.
INT./EXT. HERE- CONTINUOUS #AltonSterling rest in peace and power. ✊🏾🙏🏾
EXT. THE DIASPORA- DAY Celebrating African Freedom. #everydayafrique #everydaypeople #redblackandblue #thistooisamerica
EXT. BABY'S FIRST BOOMERANG- PRESENT - - - - - - - - - - #blkcreatives #blackgirlmagic #melanin #afro (at The Chipped Cup)
Défilé Natural Flower - Natural Hair Academy 2016 Artistic Direction & HairStyles : DydyNaturalHairLover Assistant Hair : KrazyHair Afro Wig Designer : Séphora Joannes MakeUp Artists : Jay Asani & Gaëlle Make Up Artist Dresses : Ekeeya Creations Wax Accessories: Elokans Photos : Winnie Pix #NHAParis #NHA2016 Modèles : Joann, Astrid, Sandrine, Leïla,Julia, Marine, Estelle, Florine, Lioness Of-Judah, Gahi
@belowbedlam THESE RIVAINI VIBES THOOOOO
Everyone looks like superheroes and I’m weeping
EXT. MADDIE- PRESENT I'm baaack (well at least my camera is). A little bit about Maddie, coming soon. #AfricaTheCountry #newproject #photography #storytelling #Brooklyn #BlackGirlMagic
INT. THE SHOE DOESN'T FIT- PRESENT
On the 15th anniversary of my mother’s death, I finally realized that the shoe does not fit.
I laughed with my father today. We spoke of the past, his accomplishments, love, loss, gain.
He mentioned Mom in passing. I don’t think either of us remembered.
Until later.
Muhammad Ali died today. A champion. The greatest. I remembered the shoe doesn’t fit.
Powerful blood has spilled today. Shoes have been cast aside. Greatness has been realized.
I have been fighting for so long. Rejecting my portion. Forcing the shoe on my foot.
But it doesn’t fit.
My life was not an accident. This was not a coincidence.
The world is different today. I have accepted that the shoe doesn’t fit. It was
Too small a price for the blood lost.
From Cassius Clay to Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali on Parkinson, 1971
[x]
Amazing.
This Asian-American woman beautifully corrected Hollywood’s “yellowface” problem
Actress Michelle Villemaire is 100% fed up with this problematic trend in film, and she’s not the only Asian-American entertainer to call it out.
Omg yes
I can’t wait for the day we represent actors of all ethnicity fairly. I hope I live to see the day.
“Muhammad Ali was The Greatest. Period. If you just asked him, he’d tell you. He’d tell you he was the double greatest; that he’d ‘handcuffed lightning, thrown thunder into jail.’
But what made The Champ the greatest—what truly separated him from everyone else—is that everyone else would tell you pretty much the same thing.
Like everyone else on the planet, Michelle and I mourn his passing. But we’re also grateful to God for how fortunate we are to have known him, if just for a while; for how fortunate we all are that The Greatest chose to grace our time.
In my private study, just off the Oval Office, I keep a pair of his gloves on display, just under that iconic photograph of him—the young champ, just 22 years old, roaring like a lion over a fallen Sonny Liston. I was too young when it was taken to understand who he was—still Cassius Clay, already an Olympic Gold Medal winner, yet to set out on a spiritual journey that would lead him to his Muslim faith, exile him at the peak of his power, and set the stage for his return to greatness with a name as familiar to the downtrodden in the slums of Southeast Asia and the villages of Africa as it was to cheering crowds in Madison Square Garden.
'I am America,’ he once declared. 'I am the part you won’t recognize. But get used to me—black, confident, cocky; my name, not yours; my religion, not yours; my goals, my own. Get used to me.’
That’s the Ali I came to know as I came of age—not just as skilled a poet on the mic as he was a fighter in the ring, but a man who fought for what was right. A man who fought for us. He stood with King and Mandela; stood up when it was hard; spoke out when others wouldn’t. His fight outside the ring would cost him his title and his public standing. It would earn him enemies on the left and the right, make him reviled, and nearly send him to jail. But Ali stood his ground. And his victory helped us get used to the America we recognize today.
He wasn’t perfect, of course. For all his magic in the ring, he could be careless with his words, and full of contradictions as his faith evolved. But his wonderful, infectious, even innocent spirit ultimately won him more fans than foes—maybe because in him, we hoped to see something of ourselves. Later, as his physical powers ebbed, he became an even more powerful force for peace and reconciliation around the world. We saw a man who said he was so mean he’d make medicine sick reveal a soft spot, visiting children with illness and disability around the world, telling them they, too, could become the greatest. We watched a hero light a torch, and fight his greatest fight of all on the world stage once again; a battle against the disease that ravaged his body, but couldn’t take the spark from his eyes.
Muhammad Ali shook up the world. And the world is better for it. We are all better for it. Michelle and I send our deepest condolences to his family, and we pray that the greatest fighter of them all finally rests in peace.” —President Obama
Meeting people like Elaine Welteroth and being in the same space full of beautiful, talented, successful black women like Morgan DeBaun give me such hope that I can do it too. I'm so grateful to be in the space. We can do it, ladies. Follow your passions and materialize them! -- #blackgirlmagic #blackgirlsrock #Blavity #EmpowerHer16 (at 404 NYC)
INT. FINDING HOME - CONTINUOUS
I actually wrote a blog post last week but didn't publish it for reasons unknown until today. I wanted to proclaim that I have been struggling with my blog and what it means to me and that I have become disenchanted by it and what I've been writing about (still true). However, the post lacked something. It lacked true insight. It covered why I was disenchanted by my content (because it lacked a sense of vulnerability about thoughts I have on issues I care about) but it didn't address the purpose of all my previous posts to date. Why do I always veer towards writing about pearls of wisdom gifted from life experience? I realized it is because I am trying to find one thing: home.
Yes, I know, that doesn't make much sense. Let me explain. I just filled out a job application at a performance art non-profit that asked some very simple but brilliant questions. One of them required me to state what I would bring to the table- what my voice is and how my perspective would enrich the team. As I started writing about my unique life story and all the countries I have lived in and moved to, I found myself sharing that I always look at the world as an outsider. I am rarely from the place I reside. I stated:
"A lot of what I create stems from the desire to find where home is and what it even means, starting with the home found within myself."
... Whuutt... I had no idea*. It makes a ton of sense though. I often balk at the question "where are you from?" Now that I've moved to NYC, I say MN which is true- it's where I moved from but it doesn't feel right to say I'm from there. When I'm in MN, I say I'm from "lots of different places" or Nigeria or "well... I went to high school in Scotland". When I lived in Scotland, I said I was from America but that didn't seem right because my life experience didn't fit the "typical African or Black American experience". What they expected of me- what they saw on TV or through media was no where near my truth.
It is this reason that I have always found interest in personal stories/experiences, in people's lives, and in the way they think. It is why I am so drawn to TV shows that highlight the human experience and why I want to become a screenwriter to add and improve on the telling stories of black women and other PoC. It is because my story is my home. My life story is where I find comfort. In all the places I've lived the thing or person that has always been with me... is me. Of course I would want to understand who I am. Of course I would want to continue to learn from what life gives me (pearls and coal) and reflect and grow from it. Because I am my own home and if I don't understand where I come from, how can I begin to navigate where I'm going?
That is why I have written all my previous posts. I want to make sense of my story aka my home. However, while I think my previous writings are beautiful and necessary in their own way, I want to shift the direction of my blog. While I will continue to try and understand myself through my stories and experiences and reflect on them on a deeper level, I want to start writing about the issues that I care about and how they affect not only me but other people. In reality, writing about those issues is just another way to make sense of my personal home- if you like to think of things metaphorically, it's just like organizing the living room instead of the bedroom. I really care about identity, feminist issues, intersectionality, the black experience in America, racial injustice, and on a wider scale, issues concerning LGBTQ communities of color. Those are things that are close to me and affect my life and the lives of people I care about everyday. Those are the reasons why I started this blog in the first place. It has been great to explore myself and my journey. Now it is time to start exploring these societal topics through the lens of a black woman just trying to make sense of it all.
*This is one of the reasons I love writing. It is the act of digging into yourself and finding invaluable truths you never knew you had.
EXT. BIRTHDAY SWAG - PAST Thought I would start participating in #melaninmonday every once in a while now that I’m a year older. 😜⚫️◾️▪️ #melaninpoppin #24swag #birthday #aries #late #blackgirlmagic #afro #naturalhair #allblackeverything (at New York, New York)