In the spirit of things that have given me life since this latest of tragic American blunders I offer this my personal Top 5 Post Election Healing Kit list.
1.Tribe called Quest “We got it from here, thank you for your service.
I don’t know how a rap group just comes back together after 18 years and drop fire like no time has passed but the timing could not be better. My immediate faves so far are
- The Space Program
- Dis Generation
- Black Spasmodic
- Enough
- Conrad Tokyo
2. Crush of the month: Mahershala Ali (I think I spelled that right) *Luke Cage Spoiler Alert
Soooo… the only reason I even entertained watching “House of Cards” was because Ali was in it. The moment he came on screen as the charismatic villain, Cottonmouth in “Luke Cage” I was transfixed. When he was killed, I tried to keep watching the show but it just wasn’t holding my attention anymore. So I just following Ali to the next series, “House of Cards,” which is a diabolically fabulous show in it’s own right. But when Ali walks on as Remy Danton, my God.
And he’s not just a dark chocolate, statuesque, stone carved looking, beautiful face and eyes. He’s an amazing actor. I’ve seen him now on “Luke Cage,” “House of Cards,” “The 4400,” and “Moonlight” which I saw this passed weekend. He really inhabits his characters. He’s a hundred percent present in a way that makes it hard to believe that he’s actually acting. He fully commits. He also has the rare talent of being able to communicate as much through his facial expression, his eyes and silence as through dialogue. There is something disarmingly familiar and every man about him.
3. Kerry James Marshall: Mastry at the MET Breuer NYC
I’ve seen Marshall’s work before, somewhere on line but I didn’t know who he was until a friend of a friend raved about an exhibition of his that she saw in Chicago. Now, just because I like art, doesn’t mean I have the language to critique it. I like Marshall’s paintings of Black people for the very specific reason that they are all Black. Like midnight Black, Black like a silhouette. I just love that. His technique is also evocative of Romare Bearden whom I can tell was one his major influences and I love Romare Bearden because I love collage art. The retrospective of Marshall’s work at the MET Breuer is huge. I mean, it’s a lot. It’s two floors and it’s a lot of work, spanning many years. I like to take art in quietly, piece by piece so I was there for nearly an hour or more and still hadn’t seen everything. I took lots of photos and had many favorites. His portrait of Nat Turner and the head of his slave master in his bed just behind Nat after he has decapitated him, is just so unapologetically Black gangsta and timely. Looking at it while surrounded by white people was indescribably satisfying. 
And the other one I love is this large format painting of two escaped slaves, a man and a woman running passed a field of tall grass. The man with a large Afro, has a medallion of the continent flying in the air on his neck. Butterflies which are a symbol of freedom flutter around the woman with thick woolly locks as if ushering her in her chosen direction. Among the bird flying around them, I recognize the cardinal, a yellow bird, a geese and two other birds I’m certain they all special significance as well. I love the transitory moment of this painting so much. In my eyes, it’s a moment of pure possibility, a return to Eden.
My partner in crime at soulsistah4real told me about Elastiquedesigns on etsy. I mean these Afrocentric postcards are like something straight out of our many collective musings, conversations and imaginations! They are brilliant, snarky, witty, and politically challenging commentary on the struggles of being a Black woman in America. Definitely on my list of must have items come next pay day.
5. Pat McGrath: Metalmorphosis
Yes, Pat McGrath is a Black female make-up artist.
Yes, my heart stopped when I saw this.
Yes, I am transported to an afrofuturistic reality whenever I watch it.
Yes, I am an alien.
I literally only learned about this woman a yesterday. I saw a make-promo on IG. My jaw is still on the ground. Her line hits Sephora on November 22nd. My entire face is beside itself.
Urban Eve 