This is jazz singer, Jose James’, Martin Luther King, Jr.-inspired song, “The Dreamer:” “I saw the dreamer raise his hand Into a world of possibilities” While today many will try to appropriate and sanitize his image and legacy for their own agendas (looking at you PETA), let us remember that King fought for the freedom […]
Read More MLK: Who His Dreams Were ForHere are premieres of two videos from women taking female empowerment to higher levels: Colored Girls Hustle (Taja Lindley and Jessica Valoris) – “Afro Aliens” Donate to their Colored Girls Hustle Hard mixtape fundraiser!
Read More Otherworldly Videos: Colored Girls Hustle’s “Afro Aliens” + Pink Oculus’ “Sweat”After watching their Colored Girls Hustle videos, I wanted to give special highlight to these two women and artists, Taja Lindley and Jessica Valoris and their Colored Girls Hustle artistic creations, including jewelry, poetry and music. I am definitely attracted to their positive message and mission of self-affirmation and self-expression for women of color, whether […]
Read More Moving on the Wires: Colored Girls Hustle Hard Mixtape and Afro Aliens Video PremiereAnyone on social media has probably already come across the shitstorm of white people dressing in blackface/brownface costumes. The recent events have included dancer and actress Julianne Hough‘s Orange is the New Black costume, the 21-year-old Australian woman’s “African”-themed birthday party, the Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman costumers, Italian fashion designer Allesandro Dell’Acqua‘s “Disco Africa” […]
Read More The My-Stery: Holidays, Celebrations and The Pleasure of Racist MasqueradeHere is part two of the Renina Jarmon interview from yesterday. Below Jarmon talks about the significance of Erykah Badu, Octavia Butler and Janelle Monae, her future plans for Black Girls Are From the Future and the future she dreams of for Black girls: 6) The book includes discussions on Octavia Butler and Janelle Monae. […]
Read More Modern Griots Interviews: Renina Jarmon and Black Girls Are From the Future Part 2Renina Jarmon is a writer, cultural critic, blogger and educator whose work centers on Black women’s sexuality and pop culture, as well as race, technology and the concept of self. She recently released her book, Black Girls Are From the Future, a collection of essays based on her popular posts from her blog New Model […]
Read More Modern Griots Interviews: Renina Jarmon and Black Girls Are From the FutureThis is both Domestic Violence Awareness Month and Black Speculative Fiction Month, so, I want to highlight a campaign and a works of speculative fiction that brings awareness to domestic violence. The campaign I want to focus on is 31 for Marissa in honor of Marissa Alexander who fired a warning shot from a gun […]
Read More The My-Stery: Domestic Violence and Speculative Fiction“Narrow views of Blackness lead to a sometimes stalled consumption of challenging art and media.” – Dara M. Wilson While reading the Pitchfork feature on Janelle Monae, some of the issues concerning her art process and the reception of her art reminded me of the balancing act between black intellectuality and black physicality and the […]
Read More The My-Stery: Janelle Monae and the Struggle for Black Complexity in Mainstream MediaBlack women’s mental and physical health are often not at the forefront of news and studies, especially with the continuation of the myth of the strong black woman or medical professionals and the public who make light of our conditions. A few days ago, I attended Jaded the Musical at The Secret Theatre in Queens, […]
Read More Modern Griots Reviews: Jaded the Musical“The erotic is a resource within each of us that lies in a deeply female and spiritual plane, firmly rooted in the power of our unexpressed or unrecognized feeling.” – Audre Lorde Quite a number of people within the past couple of weeks have basically told black women (and other women of color in general) […]
Read More The My-Stery: Honoring Black Women’s Voices, Bodies and Supernaturalness
Sherese Francis 