On the Occasion of Starting Kindergarten (A Love Song)

If I were a poet this would be a poem. But I'm not. So let's just call it a song. Without tune, meter, or rhyme. A love song. For you, grandchild.

::::

Beloved child of my child.

A warrior girl at five, you have already survived great harm. 

Fierce. 

Resilient. 

Strong. 

Sassy.

Smart.

Ready. Set. Go. 

Twinkle twinkle little star.   

Your star's ablaze. 

The fire in your eyes announces, "I am here. I demand to learn."

Some might think you less, being brown and poor. A girl. 

Don't let them. Knowledge is a necessary weapon for your survival.

ABCDEFG...won't you come and sing with me.  

Rise above and play together. You already know how. Rise above the playground chatter, the mean teasing, the fronting about others. Do not fall for the subtle (or not so subtle) ways some teachers will try to say who is less, who is more. Don't listen.

You were born to lead. 

You are equipped.

Ready. 

Set. 

Go.

Rise above and play together. You already know how.

Sepia Queen Photography: A Woman’s Mystique

Stephanie Morris, my good friend/sister-in-spirit, is an amazing photographer who has been increasingly bringing her art to the world. I asked her if she would write a guest post about her work, about emerging more publicly as an artist, and most recently, her participation in Big Blaq: The End of Acquiescence. Here’s what she had to say:

Emergence

By Stephanie Morris

Below are three photographs I exhibited in Big Blaq, a recent show created by TAWU (The Artist Within Us), a Twin Cities-based collective of artists of color. My participation in TAWU and this event is meaningful because it was an opportunity to make my debut in a community art forum.  This show was about bringing art in a big and bold way to a community of folks that don't customarily seek out art in traditional galleries and exhibitions.  It was a great turnout for the opening and the goal of Big Blaq was accomplished. There was some amazing art shared by a group of very talented local artists of color.  This was the first of many more shows to come.

The pieces I chose to include in the exhibit are a narrative about the mystery of women.  Each of us has our own unique story. There is much to be considered about what we think, how we feel, how we love and what we do.  This work is a deconstruction of a composite female.  It asks us to contemplate that which we do not see – to conjure the story behind the woman and to appreciate that there is often more there than what our eyes can perceive.

I call this series “A Woman’s Mystique.”

Keyhole Silhouette - 33x57

Fancy Feet - 38x50

My Muse is a Muse - 49x34

Artist’s Statement:

I have been a lover of photography for many years and continue to be amazed by the majesty of nature, and the juxtaposition of the human form in nature.  I am most intrigued by that which is not obvious at first glance.   My goal is to create images that reverently extend my worldview.  My hope is that my work will be a provocative commentary on life. 

Contact information

Stephanie Morris

Sepia Queen Photography
Email

How to scare (some) white people

I've been trying to figure out for weeks how to better talk about the way the "race card" is being played by the right wing conservatives/tea baggers to manipulate white voters. Well, here is the best analysis I've seen yet and it is hilarious.

Elon James White, who brings us This Week in Blackness (TWIB)," brings it all together with "TWiB! Season 3 Ep#7 - The 'How To' Guide on Scaring White People." 

#browntwitterbird

Twitter is my favorite hood in cyberville. Anything and everything can happen there. The news, the analysis of the news, twists and turns, the good fun, the mashups on issues are endless. Maybe it is that I follow funny, smart people, but you never know what might trend, or at least offer lively commentating on any given day.

Yesterday, thanks to my friend Erica (@swirlspice) I noticed some black folks on Twitter were starting to use all these fabulous, hilarious #browntwitterbird avatars. So I had to investigate.

Seems it all started when "How Black People Use Twitter" was posted on Slate. The article focused on the habits of *some* African American people on Twitter and especially the use of hashtags designed for play, such as #itsallfunandgamesuntil (currently trending as I type). And the article included this graphic of a #browntwitterbird.

Then it all broke loose, in the style of laser-sharp-hilarious-run-with-it variety, when @InnyVinny posted "…oh, Slate…" in response. 

You must go to the post to see her full dissection of "How Black People Use Twitter" and what happened to #browntwitterbird, but here's an excerpt or two:

Slate decided to post an article about “How Black People Use Twitter” (shouts out to @ManAboutIt for providing the link).

Umm…yeah.

I’m sure this was all based on actual research (because we need to fund worthy research projects in this economy), and that the title of the article itself was meant to generate “discussion,” but damn.  I’ve said it once and I will say it again:

BLACK PEOPLE ARE NOT A MONOLITH.

I managed to make it to the end of the article where a bail-out attempt is made in the “of course this isn’t all black people” vein.

Ahh, redemption…

I’m still not sure whether this is a surreptitious attempt to talk about class differences in America or if the writer really, REALLY thinks that what *some* black folks have to say on Twitter is THAT interesting…then again, I don’t usually participate in trending topics or do “the Twitter” into the wee hours of the morning, so what do I know...?

Then, this: (Again, go to the post to see them all - there are many, any variations - and the comments)

...Either way, I’ve taken the graphic used for the article, a brown bird holding a blackberry and wearing a fitted baseball cap, and altered it a few times over.  I figure that if Slate and the world are really that intrigued (and because Twitter can’t provide empirical data on who is who), those individuals who want to be identified as a black person using Twitter should be able to do so with a brown bird wearing a fitted cap in a color that best represents them.

UPDATE: I seem to have gotten a bit carried away…birds now available in more than fitted caps!  ON SPINNING RIMS EVEN!!

(The #browntwitterbirds here are just a sample, and many folks have contributed their own)

Brilliant.

It didn't take long for Black folks on Twitter to take the ball and run with it with tweets and graphics. (Follow #browntwitterbird for more. Also found at #blacktwitterbird). It's become a meme!

Like these (via @LidiaAnain)

And then #howwhitepeopleusetwitter broke out. Hil-ar-ious. Check it out.

So what's a white girl like me to do with all of this. Just sit back and enjoy/learn from the sidelines? Not me. I posted a comment, of course, on …oh, Slate…:

"How bout a #browntwitterbird for white people who profess to 'get it,' feel left out, and want to appropriate!"

Oh, and then I blogged about it.

Update: I took @InnyVinny up on her invitation in her comment below to find a #browntwitterbird to call my own. It's up at @dancingdiva and here. I took the light skinned one even though I don't look cute in ball caps, because, as my five-year-old (light skinned) granddaughter says, "Grandma, you're the lightest skinded in the family." And I am. 

 For other great takes on this phenom/meme, read "Brown Twitter Bird: Origins and Legacy" by The Pretty Brown Girl (@thepbg), and "Things That are Not Surprising: Black People use Twitter" by The Black Snob (@blacksnob)

Voting makes me cry

I voted today in Minnnesota's primary election.

And as usual, I cried. Not a tears-falling-down-my-face cry (though that's happened, too) but a eyes-swell-up-and-almost-spill-out cry.

It happens every time I vote. Doesn't matter if it is a primary election, an off season election, or a presidential election. I cry.

It's my mother's fault. She believed in voting with a fierce passion. She called it the bedrock of our democracy and instilled in we children that voting was not a choice, but a right.

She taught us that our right to vote was hard won and was never to be taken for granted. She reminded us that not everyone has the chance to have a say through the power of casting a vote, and therefore it is a right we must never squander.

And then she led by example, voting in each and every election.

So I vote. In every election. Just like my mom.

And then I cry.