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All posts by Urban Eve
Adventures of an Awkward Soul Sistah
Before Issa Rae, it never would have occurred to me that I could get hooked on a web series on Youtube. But after being introduced to “The Mis-Adventures of and Awkward Black Girl” I was rushing to Youtube every week to see how J was going to deal with racial and cultural insensitivity in her workplace, making friends, dating interracially, dealing with obnoxious and annoying co-workers with odd and irritating behaviors (people who speak in really a really tone when they’re right in front of me drive me crazy as well) and also being conscious of the ways in which her own awkwardness defines her and her relationships.
Being a Black woman, working in an office, dealing with ignorance, pet peeves and tough dating choices is something that as women of color we can all relate to. But Issa’s exploration of the role in which “Awkwardness” plays in her every day life and her use of it as a metaphor for the discomfort caused by a range of social insensitivity was an application of comedy as it related to the life of a woman of color that I had never seen before in quite this way. What it means when someone really gets you has long been relegated to comedies like “Friends” and “Seinfeld” where the New York locations we natives are familiar with all feature prominently but our faces are for the most part are non-existent.
As producer, writer and director of “Misadventures of and Awkward Black Girl” Issae took it upon herself to fill a void in the white washed world of comedy and tell a story she had never seen told on network television. This web series was very much a do it yourself collaborative effort by a group of people who dedicated themselves to very involved and detailed shooting schedules while still working day jobs themselves. Thanks to the overwhelming response of viewers, followers and fans of the series, Issa has been able to finance entire seasons in response to the demand for more. Which reminds me I really need to catch up!
Since the success of this web series Issa has written a book, developed other youtube webisodes and also signed a deal with HBO to release a new show called “Insecure.”
I can’t wait to see where Issa’s adventures on a major network take her next.
Go Sistah, Soul Sistah!
I’ve had some very interesting conversations with women of color since we created the SOUL Sistah Series page and promotional commercial for the first in the series of discussions on March 29th.
One woman whom I had asked to interview for our promo commercial declined on the grounds of personal loathing for the label “Black woman.” She was born on the continent of Africa and has a very different relationship to race than that of Blacks born in America. She said that she had experienced hatred and been ostracized by Black Women because of this. While I understood her reason for declining, I also understood why Black Women born in America would find her position offensive. I was probably one of those women not too long ago before I read Chimimanda Adichie. And to be honest I still felt a sting hearing the sentiment of not wanting to be identified as “Black.” So in a way I still feel that resentment a little but like I said, after reading “Americanah” I have way more insight into the experience of people of color not born in America and their difficulty with relating to our experience here. Being raised as the daughter of a Trini-born mother helps with that as well.
The other most recent conversation was one I had at work yesterday afternoon with a co-worker who did participate in the promo commercial. It started when she shared a bad experience she had on her previous job at a Black owned and run educational organization which lead to the sharing of bad experiences we both have had at other Black run establishments in Harlem that we regretted because we wanted so much to have the opposite experience.
Both of these conversations lead me to think about the roles these negative experiences play in what we as women of color believe about what is possible for us to achieve together, with one another and for one another. It’s like the old “Black women can’t get along” stigma. It exists to divide us before we even seek to reach out to one another. And it’s not true.
Which lead to this podcast.
Seriously Funny Soul Sistah
Daughter of legendary diva, Diana Ross, Tracee Ellis Ross is best known for a her role as the controlling but loving and supportive, Joan Clayton in the hit comedy, “Girlfriends” and now as the hilarious mother and wife, Rainbow Johnson on the hit comedy “Black-ish.”
I won’t lie. Although I was super excited for the premiere of “Black-ish,” I wasn’t taken with the modern Black family comedy right off the bat. But my husband never misses it and since I love spending quality time with him, I now watch it every week. And I have to say, I really love it. It’s smart, funny, fresh, bold, a perfect vehicle for Tracee’s quirky brand of humor. One of my favorite Tracee moments so far is the one where she goes off on her husband’s mother, played to perfection by the great Jenifer Lewis for changing her daughters hair. Nobody performs a melt down on camera as hilariously as Tracee and she manages to turn the situation into a teachable moment about tolerance and boundaries at the same time. I love it when a woman known for beauty and style is just as comfortable being apart of and creating moments where looking ridiculous and silly are required. I don’t know how I would get through life without the ability to laugh at myself and make others laugh as well.
Tracee is the creator and moderator of her very own website, traceeellisross.com where she does commentary on everything from style, beauty, rap lyrics (She’s obsessed with T-Murda), her deep love of bowls and oh yeah, her bodacious booty. She is also a huge supporter of organizations like Black Girls Rock that promote acceptance and self love among women of color and uses her own unique brand of infectious humor, honesty and self acceptance to inspire and motivate. She is a true renaissance woman; outspoken, eclectic, mutli-faceted, and seriously funny.
Toni Morrison: Literary Giant
“In order to be as free as I possibly can, in my own imagination, I can’t take positions that are closed. Everything I’ve ever done, in the writing world, has been to expand articulation, rather than to close it, to open doors, sometimes, not even closing the book — leaving the endings open for reinterpretation, revisitation, a little ambiguity”
-Toni Morrison
The first book I read by Toni Morrison was assigned in high school. It was “The Bluest Eye.” In my senior year I signed up for a class dedicated to understanding Toni Morrison’s work. We read “Sula,” “Jazz” and “Tar Baby” a book I was obsessed with understanding for a period of time and which is still one of my favorite of her novels that I’ve read. “Tar Baby” is a broad, unfurling narrative, sprawling and unwinding from the shores of a Caribbean island haunted by the slaves who washed up there to the streets of New York and back again. Point of view shifts across race, gender and even plant species as Morrison incorporates even the island flora as minor characters and witnesses to the history and lives of it’s inhabitants and visitors.
Morrison’s literary voice is among the richest, most inventive, unique and celebrated among her peers. A single mother, award-winning author, editor and professor, Morrison has created Black female literary characters who are as complex, intuitive and supernatural as they are resilient, determined and conflicted. In their development these characters speak to a myriad of epic themes, which are often defined in large part by the post traumatic effects of slavery and systemic racism and sexism in America.
Morrison’s refusal to be pegged by critics as any one type of writer is a testament to her desire as a artist to be embraced for all parts of her multidimensional talent. On the page she spreads her literary wings and soars beyond the boundaries of monolithic chains and in doing so is an example to women of color everywhere to accept nothing less than the capacity to express all that we are.
Dark & Lovely Soul Sistah
“You can’t eat beauty
It doesn’t feed you”
-Lupita Nyongo’s mother
The world became aware of Lupita Nyongo in her break out Academy Award winning role as a slave named Patsey in “12 Years a Slave.” But it was her Essence award acceptance speech that really defined what Lupita has come to represent for women of color everywhere. When she shared the letter she received a letter from a young Black girl struggling with the perceived burden of her dark skin, Lupita was prompted to share her own experience being taunted and harassed because of her dark skin. She spoke of the self-hate that lead to destructive aspirations to lighten her skin as well as her journey toward self- acceptance with help from words of affirmation from Oprah, her mother’s love and compassion and the emergence of the dark-skinned model, Alek Wek.
This was an unforgettable, timely and touching moment in history, a moment when dark-skinned Black women watching everywhere were joined in the validation of their own struggles with colorism and also in gratitude to Lupita’s fearless, loving and beautiful testament to truth about beauty. Wherever she appears in print gracing fashion magazine covers and larger than life Lancome ads or on screen, lively, intelligent and sparkling with joy and curiosity, Lupita represents to young black girls and Black women alike what Alek Wek once did for her. The beauty of self acceptance that exists within is what illuminates what we see on the outside and no shade of Black, Brown or shades in between should ever be exempt from the definition of beauty.
Directher
Ava DuVernay’s handle on her IG account is Directher, simply, powerfully and concisely telling you who she is by transforming a term that is dominated by white male directors to tell the story of a black female film director. And in so many ways Ava has directed not only her own films but also the trajectory of her life through her passion as well as directing our attention to her phenomenal talent.
I first learned about Ava DuVernay through a good friend of hers who is also a dear friend of mine. CeCelia Falls who shares my deep and sometimes fanatic love of film invited me to the AFFRM (African Film Festival Releasing Movement) film festival for the first time in 2010 to see the debut of Ava’s film “I Will Follow.” I loved everything about it, the story, her direction, lighting, editing, score choice, the fact that it was an all black and predominantly female cast. I even wrote a review of it back when I had a film review blog on blogger.com. I wanted to promote the film as much as possible and put the full weight of my own support as a writer and movie goer behind it.
Since then she has gone on to direct and produce films, such as “Middle of Nowhere,” “Say Yes” an episode of “Scandal,” the fashion film “The Door” and her latest “Selma” an epic biopic about Martin Luther King Jr. and the formidable pioneers who were integral to his fight to represent and gain civil rights in the early post integration era of the South. I actually just saw the film myself last weekend and am certain I will never watch another Oscars ever again until they nominate at least three black black films in the same year. Fact.
Ava’s mastery of visual language, story-line, pacing and richness of character exhibit a breadth of experience that paints the experiences of women of color with broad, nuanced strokes that depict our depth and complexities with pride, reverence, honesty and care.
#soulsistahseries
How Do You Enter The World?
Like anyone else I go through these periods of stress wherein I feel like I just need quick management devices just to get me over the latest hump and into the light of “sanity.” This can be anything from eating, to music, binge watching television. The last few weeks it’s been B&J Chunky Monkey and “West Wing.” Don’t let anyone tell you that comfort and revelation cannot be had while shoveling cold hunks of banana ice cream into your face and watching Anna Deavere Smith explain a plan of U.S. military attack to President Bartlett in the situation room.
In Episode 17, “US Poet Laureate,” Laura Dern who plays the poet Laureate tells Toby Zeiglar, the President’s Speech Writer (I made a mistake in my podcast and called him the Communications Director) that poetry is the way in which she enters the world. It was a rare moment of tenderness she shared with Toby given the dark, gruff, curmudgeonly know -it-all behavior he usually reserves for most of the people he works with. I was just kind of blown away by that idea of ways in which we enter the world. Her exact line, “I write poetry. It’s how I enter the world.” just kind of hovered in a cloud over my head and deeply resonated with me.
You can listen to me talk more about the ways in which I enter the world here on my soundcloud podcast for Urban Eve. I understand the way we enter the world as the bridge we build collaboratively from birth through relationship with others, with nature and with spirit. The way I enter the world has brought me along the path most closely associated with being an artist but it has also allowed me to cross paths with a broad range of other travelers who define their art in ways that broaden my understanding of what it means to be an “artist.”
How do you feel you enter the world? What are those things that you are aware of on a very basic level which connect you to the understanding you have about the world and your place in it? What brings you fully into the present, fully and completely?
Use One Word to Describe Black Women
My word is: multidimensional
Just when I think I understand everything it means to be a black woman in America, I discover yet another layer and another and another, another story, another perspective, another way of seeing and being and expressing ourselves in an infinitely evolving dialogue. During the time I spent conducting interviews with women of color in collaboration with SoulSistah4real to launch this special project, I discovered that there really is no one black woman who can represent all. While we all have experiences and perspectives that are similar, there is nothing like a good old face to face chat with our sisters to begin to immediately recognize the rich, broad and various complexities that make each of us so incredibly unique, beautiful, intelligent and inspirational.
It is with great honor, excitement and joy that I extend this invitation to you my sisters, to be a part of the first in a series of bi-monthly conversations created for and by woman of color, brought to you by Urban Eve and Soulsistah4real.com.
The very first in our exciting series of discussions is “Manicures and Mimosas.” The goal of this series is to create a safe, nurturing and supportive space in which women of color are free to engage in stimulating and enlightening discussion about what it means to be a woman of color in America all while getting pampered and fed the way we deserve to be. Don’t miss your opportunity to join in the conversation. Click here or on the link in the title above for more information on the SOUL Sistah Series and to register for tickets to our first event on Sunday, March 29th.
Why Shouldn’t I Care what Smart Black Women are Wearing?
I don’t comment on Facebook threads very often that appear outside of my network. But every once in awhile, situations present themselves that I cannot resist. For instance whoever posts for Harry Belafonte (is it really you Harry?) posted some anti Kanyeness story last week, positing something like “He doesn’t have all the answers.” To which I commented, “No one has all the answers.” Someone later responded to that by saying, “God does.”
…okay. That’s fair. Not relevant. But fair.
Yesterday there was a post on Chimimanda Adichie’s FB page, which directed interested readers to see what she was wearing on a page titled “Day 3 of Nigerian novelist’s Vogue Today I’m Wearing Photo Blog.” There was a long list of comments responding to that which expressed displeasure about why they should be interested in what she wears, that they only wanted to know what she was writing or thinking. To which I commented that I was interested in everything she did, what she’s wearing, writing, thinking…
I mean it just so happens that in addition to being a highly educated brilliant writer, thinker and speaker, Adichie is also stunningly beautiful. Her dress game is sickening. Her hair is always tight and on point. Her skin is flawless and she has an infectious inner glow that pours out from her eyes and her voice whenever she is on camera. Are we’re supposed to not notice this?
Continue reading Why Shouldn’t I Care what Smart Black Women are Wearing?
Urban Eve 