Positivity Challenge

We have two weeks left to August and America is up to it’s neck in controversy and scandal, first with the presidential candidates (Clinton and Trump) and secondly with the constant killing and imprisoning of Black protestors and citizens and the nonexistent aftermath of Jade Helm. It seems that the media in our country churn negative stories and often the horrifying side of our society. It ignores, usually, the successes of the community and choses to focus on the trials and tribulations of the rich.

What if we started celebrating the breakthroughs and positive news of the population instead? What do you think would happen? What would change? To combat this constant production of negative media, I will be posting and sharing positive news articles and stories for the next month and yes this is a challenge. I challenge you, dear reader, to do this same. For the next 30 days, commit to only posting posting positive things online, that includes Twitter, Facebook, Youtube and Tumblr. After those 30 days have past check your progress and let me know what impact you made and how it made you feel.  #PositivityChallenge

Namaste!

#ArchthatbackChallenge and My Farewell to Feminism

via Triton TV

I refused to call myself a feminist anymore. I can’t take the popularized, media-driven and brain-washed masses. I am really tired of watching the after effects of reverse psychology work its way through the movement like some virus. The latest disease, er, trend is the #ArchThatBackChallenge, which, much as the name insinuates is a challenge that has been issued all over twitter for women to take pictures to show how far they can arch their backs. While this trend has quickly picked up momentum, it has also picked up alot of backlash from conservatives, concerned citizens, feminists and has earned the ever thirsty eye of the chauvinistic male. As this week concludes, the online feminist society is torn.

Some believe that the challenge is degrading to women and that those who participate should be ashamed of themselves. Others believe that those people are just scolding women for being sexual. I believe that both sides of crazy. First off, I don’t claim to be an expert on feminism or women’s issues but this isn’t the first time that the movement has been divided by something like this. And it won’t be the last. We are all people just trying to get on in the world and with our lives. We all want a little fun every once in awhile, right? I think this was the initially purpose of the challenge but like everything it has it’s down side. The right wingers are right to some extent, women are being degraded. They are being examined, dissected and treated like pieces of meat but they are not merely victims but also perpetuators of a larger cultural norm that keeps women oppressed.

This goes beyond slut-shaming, body-shaming or anything like that.  By participating in a challenge like this, people ignore the larger social implications for self-gratification. Everyone must have their five seconds of fame but I wonder if those women who accepted the challenge contemplated the impact that you have left on future generations of women. With one picture, just like with one word, or one comment, you can change the projection of someone else’s life, wether you mean to or not. Don’t get me wrong, I think that every woman should be proud of her body but as a self-proclaimed feminist, you took on the mission to stand for choice and to support other women, including the future generations of women. People are using your pictures to shame others, to tell others that this is what they should be trying to be. You posted a picture, enjoyed the likes and the views and thought nothing of the little girls who may one day come across this. You let the media play you for a fool. Bravo.

This is why, I am letting go of the title feminist. I can[‘t accept partnership with women who are quick to get behind slut-shaming hastags and Miley Cyrus but won’t picket Capitol Hill for affordable birth control and appropriate sex education classes. I’m tired of going to rallies that quickly turn into conversations about sexual promiscuity (your sex life is your business, I don’t need to know) but we never talk about the negative side of the makeup industry. I am so sick of women talking about all this shit but when you ask them about pornstars they wrinkle their noses and clench the arm of their significant other. I’m ready to talk about inclusion, and how to make sure that young women or women in general world wide are being treated fairly. Let’s have that discussion.

I want to encourage other women to be proud of their bodies AND their accomplishments. I want women to know that you don’t have to accept such a challenge to be considered popular. I want them to know that their beauty and the magnificence of their souls can be found in more than just the arch of their backs or the sizes of their asses.

Real women stay strong!

Namaste

June 22nd, 2015 – Gratitude List

1. Lights and Electricity 

Usually, the things that I am grateful for are not so….concrete for a lack of better words. Today, I felt the need to show gratitude for something that many people in developed countries take for granted and that is electricity. I find myself forgetting sometimes that this truly is a gift. There are countries were people live in the dark and families who live in this country or countries like it who cannot afford electricity. I want to recognize my blessings and the importance of them in my life because I don’t know what I would do if I couldn’t charge my laptop or flick a light switch at night to illuminate a corridor. I am so grateful and thankful and I pray for those people who do not have such luxuries.

2. Freedom (To a degree)

I am thankful for the freedom that I am able to enjoy. I can say what I want, post what I want and live how I choose too. In other countries and in certain places, people do not have the level of freedom that we enjoy here in America.  As a black woman, I must say that America does still have some way to go in establishing equality for all its people. But at the moment I am happy to say that I can speak freely and am in control of my own body and spirit. That is an amazing thing to be able to say.

3. Life

Should I say anything else? Really? Life in itself is a blessing, every beautiful, painful, sad, happy, delicious moment..

4. Food

It is delicious, isn’t it. I am grateful for the sustenance and flavors.

That’s all for today guys. If you want to share something that you are thankful for, share below or pm me and I’ll put it in the next post. Namaste!

May 31tth, 2015 – Gratitude Log –

I know I haven’t been on here in awhile. I do apologize to all of the fans of this blog. I was hospitalized from stress. I’m back and much better now with much more to be grateful for. A few words before I begin with today’s gratitude. In these stressful times it is always important to remember that we are all people. And that to help each other and improve communities, we must let go of bias and think and act with love. With that being said, today, I am most grateful for community.

The riots in Baltimore have been highly televised with many stations taking a limited view on the issue at hand. What I have witnessed from stations like WJZ, ABC NEWS, and many radio stations, is that their views are very black and white and fail to address the systematic problems that led up to the riots. They also portray African American citizens of the city of Baltimore as ‘other’. We are depicted as the problem and seldom have we been included in the solution. Some of the instances of violence were aggravated or perpetrated by racists in the city and people who live in different parts of the country but this fact, in most cases, has been avoided.

The rest, the burning of the Penn-north station’s CVS and other places like it are the people’s responses to prevalent tactics to gentrify, segregate and render the A.A. population, without power, without community and without hope. This has been boiling in the backdrop of urban advancement for years but as more people are being forced from their homes onto the streets or into the county we see stuff like this happening. The riots were much more than a response to gentrification. This was about the mysterious death of another young African American in which the city police department had no real answers. It isn’t just the rioting that is the problem and we can’t view the issue as white against black or vice versa anymore. This is a problem caused by injustice. Baltimore, calls itself Charm City but it is only charming if you have the money and power to enjoy it (not to mention the skin tone to bypass police brutality). In the poor communities, their options are slim, for healthy food, for healthy lives and for livable conditions. When you try and make the best out of what you have in a bad situation and no matter how hard you try it still isn’t good enough, wouldn’t you be mad as well?

I am not saying that burning buildings, looting or harming city officials is okay. I would never say that, but I do think that treating said officials like demi-gods is a problem. These things could be fixed. If we stopped allowing big businesses and the media to force feed us their agendas and help the little guy. for a lack of better words. Also, we need to hold the government and the officials to the same standards that we ourselves are held to by those officials. We cannot continue to turn a blind while others die. We must fight for equality and justice together or we all risk become Freddie Gray to some extent, no matter what color you are or what tier of the socioeconomic statues pyramid that you fit into.  We must fight to build and keep their communities together and fight against drugs and crime together, the community or communities and the public officials.

Community is more important now than it has ever been with Jade Helm 15 just around the corner and mounting global economic tensions, we all need to stand together as a nation. I am so thankful for the community that I have, for my family, friends and you dear readers. I am even thankful for the strong new leaders who leave this city each year to change the world. I hope that they are able to make a great contribution to our larger society. I also hope that we are all able to transcend into a higher and more positive state of consciousness together.

Quote for Thought: 

“We must become bigger than we have been: more courageous, greater in spirit, larger in outlook. We must become members of a new race, overcoming petty prejudice, owing our ultimate allegiance not to nations but to our fellow men within the human community.”
― Haile Selassie, Former Emperor of Ethiopia

-Namaste!

Daily Gratitude Log – April Fools Day 2015

Love

As the world moves into a greater state of consciousness and as I move into a greater state of consciousness, I find myself contemplating love and life more. Both things have been capitalized on, quantified and morphed in American culture and reduced to include only things that can be counted in physical wealth. For example, love is what everyone is looking for. It has been mystified, demonized in its truest form and corporate America has done everything possible to disconnect us from the simple truths of this element of life.

If you are a person living in America than you are privy to the ideology that people of greater social status are somehow more glamorous and spectacular than regular people and thus…somehow!…more worthy of affection and reverence. It’s all a lie. These people are no more worthy of love than you or me. Who decided that they were better than you? Why do those people matter? 

They are still human at the end of the day, despite the copious amounts of makeup  that may make us think otherwise. We are all loving and worthy of love. I am not just talking about loving one another but also loving life and what you do to get by.

On my journey, one of the first things that I had to let go of was this notion that love was only good if the person met this or that or if the position met a certain salary range. (I am not telling you that you shouldn’t have standards)  But deep down, I had issues loving myself. I didn’t feel like I was worthy of love because I didn’t have the dream position or the Prince Harry human replica that I always wanted. To get to this point of happiness I had to let go of the notion that these things made or broke my life and that I wouldn’t be good enough until I got them. I have since, re-evaluated what it means to love, to be loved and to live lovingly..for me! But I am very grateful to have had love in my life through each stage of this transformation. I am grateful to be able to cultivate self love. It is the paint that color’s the canvas of life. So, today I would like you all to take a moment and think about what you are most grateful for and why? Write it down and start keeping a journal of these things.

What are you grateful for today?

Quote to consider:

“Be not the slave of your own past,

Plunge into the sublime seas, dive deep and swim far, so you shall comeback with self-respect,with new power, with an advanced experience that will explain and overlook the old.”

By Ralph Waldo Emerson

Your 2015 SEO Checklist [INFOGRAPHIC]

I love this! So helpful.

Actualization

As the search ranking algorithms used by Google and the other major search engines have become more sophisticated, the practice of SEO has gotten easier to explain (create great content, earn links) but much more challenging to execute. This infographic by IDF Marketing illustrates SEO best practices—the key “do’s” and “don’ts”– for 2015.

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Black Culture and the Issue of Rape (To be continued)

I have been researching distros and proper zine templates for the last few days. The image is the completed layout. I can’t wait to get this out there. The idea for this issue came from a rendition of The Vagina Monologues. Given that the month of February is also black history month, I smooshed in some stuff about my own experience with the month of love. I wanted to bring awareness to the lack of awareness about rape culture in the Black community.

One thing that I found incredibly interesting is that for the most part, in America, manipulation of the female specimen is not considered rape. I don’t mean force by the way. What I am referring to the idea of a man having sex with multiple women and using blatant lies, the manipulation of a woman’s weaknesses or bullying to get her to bed. We hear it in popular music, we see it reiterated in television shows and for some of us, it is prevalent on our college campuses and/or our communities. What I find even more chilling is that for many women, they go on with their lives without pressing charges or even telling their stories.

In the Black community rape is looked down upon in black and white terms but the cultural awareness of such issues seems to mirror that of the larger society. We view it as our peers view it. But…rape is still rape and you cannot get around that. Last Month’s issue is my take on rape culture and it’s prevalence, with some black history thrown in and a little smidgen about healthy relationships. It will be ready for publication by the end of next week. I am so excited!

Do you think emotional manipulation and trickery could/should be considered rape?

5 Things To Love About Your Nerdy Lover

1. They are always down for an adventure.

When an imagination-stimulating adventure is to be had, your nerd is never too far away. Whether, it’s a new video game, a trip to a far off land or merely a zombie apocalypse strategy session, your lover is always there to enjoy. Most times, you have to admit, it’s pretty fun to see him or her fawn over something, even if it is just the latest edition of Black Ops.

2. They teach you how to be constructively creative. 

I don’t know about you, but I have had too many experiences with my nerdy S.O. to say that this isn’t true. Humans want activities. We want to do things and be apart of the world as well as learn from it and nerds seem to be extremely drawn to such activities. They want to learn. They thirst to create and to be stimulated. It is amazing to experience some of the things that come from a nerd’s imagination. As long as it doesn’t explode. If it looks volatile…run!

3. They aren’t afraid to be themselves.

Nerds know that some of the things they like may be weird so you don’t have to worry about the hours you spend looking at videos of cute puppies doing silly things. Also, nerds tend to be more open and honest about what they like and don’t like, which lends to higher communication skills and overall relationship satisfaction.

4. They plan Halloween like a high paid executive plans the next fiscal year.

Maybe it’s from years of cos-playing but somehow, every year, nerds have the best and most well-thought through costumes in the galaxy…or at least the neighborhood comic bookstore. And if they don’t, they look damn cute anyway.

5. You have a kick-ass partner for ANY end of the world scenario.

One day…all that prepping and hard work will be needed, whether it is to fend off all the blood thirsty brides in the dress shop or fight off gnarly ‘zombies’ trying to get the last half off camcorder on Black Friday- you’ll be thankful to have someone so coordinated and creative to brave it with.

Bonus: They are beautiful! With all of their quirky habits, loves, likes, fandoms and RPG’s, something has to be said about the sheer beauty of their radiance.

Nerds(some of them) are beautiful, radiant, creative individuals who seem to exist in a realm of self-awareness and acceptance that many of us wish we could go to. So, the next time your nerdy significant other asks you to take part in one of their many eccentric hobbies, cuddle close, and enjoy their company.

Water: A Haiku

Spiritually

You clean me

Glinting pebbles

devoured by your love

By S.K.Davis

‘A Taste of Power’: The Woman Who Led the Black Panther Party

Courtesy of Elaine Brown

Longreads

Elaine Brown | A Taste of Power, Pantheon | 1992 | 30 minutes (7,440 words)

Elaine Brown is an American prison activist, writer, lecturer and singer. In 1968, she joined the Los Angeles chapter of the Black Panther Party as a rank-and-file member. Six years later, Huey Newton appointed her to lead the Party when he went into exile in Cuba. She was the first and only woman to lead the male-dominated Party. In 2003 she co-founded the National Alliance for Radical Prison Reform and released a second nonfiction book, The Condemnation of Little B.

Her 1992 autobiography A Taste of Power is a story of what it means to be a black woman in America, tracing her life from a lonely girlhood in the ghettos of North Philadelphia to the highest levels of the Black Panther Party’s hierarchy. The Los Angeles Times described the book as “a profound, funny and…heartbreaking American story,” and the New…

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