There is nothing like hanging out with someone you connect with and not saying a word or much of anything. You can just chill and do whatever - and words are minimal. But it feels like you’ve had some of the greatest conversations ever, especially if a bed or sofa is involved. I definitely like it when my SO realizes this, because she has to be one of the biggest talkers EVER.
This post was inspired by Sosodeb’s post about being a listener who tends to date talkers.
Beautiful!
I try not to reblog porn, but I couldn’t help it.
Bacon really does make everything better.
(via teeandcrumpets)
“Many Africans gain their perceptions of the Diaspora through a colonized, White Supremacist lens. I grew up in New York City for most of my life, first Queens and now Brooklyn, and I noticed, when I got older, a certain attitude among African classmates (particularly Nigerians and Ghanaians) who were trying so desperately to emulate pop images of what society deemed was an acceptable representation of “African-American Culture”. A lot of what entails Black American cultural influence on communities outside of Black America isn’t a 100% accurate portrayal of Black American culture at all. In fact, a lot of what I see counts as “Black American influence” on-Black American communities is actually a bunch of rubbish as well as cultural appropriation. I find it very telling that non-Black American people know more about “ghetto culture” and thugs and gangsta rap imagery and all of these other problematic images of Black Americans, but know nothing about Gullah-Geechee culture, Southern Negro folktales, Black American spiritual traditions, the History of Black American music. Africans will come to America with no knowledge of who Black American History whatsoever, and say some of the most horrifying things imaginable against us; classifying us as “uneducated”, “lazy”, “dirty”, “castaways”, despite our glaring, ongoing accomplishments. However, I understand where these sentiments come from. Blacks have forever been the pariahs of American society. All other groups, even Indigenous peoples (with which we have a long and complex history) have, one way or another, sought to elevate themselves above us because they knew that, in the system of White Supremacy, Black peoples were at the bottom. This is called Anti-Blackness, and it exists in Caribbean countries as well, especially those such as Trinidad and the Dominican Republic where a sizeable part of the population is non-African in origin.
When nationality is added to the mix, it becomes anti-Black Americanness. Black Americans, forever the caretakers of this society, have been in competition with other ethnic groups who immigrated here throughout its entire history, such as Italians, the Irish and European Jews, all of which “achieved Whiteness” by participating in the subjugation of Black Americans. Black Africans and Black Caribbeans also participate in this subjugation in various ways, but it’s essentially futile because they are Black peoples and cannot gain the graces and favors of White Society at all. I think it’s incumbent upon Africans to learn about the History of the African Diaspora, holistically, just as it’s incumbent upon the African Diaspora to learn about the History of Africa.”
(via theafrosistuh)
“What is a club in any case? Not the buildings or the directors or the people who are paid to represent it. It’s not the television contracts, get-out clauses, marketing departments or executive boxes. It’s the noise, the passion, the feeling of belonging, the pride in your city. It’s a small boy clambering up stadium steps for the very first time, gripping his father’s hand, gawping at that hallowed stretch of turf beneath him and, without being able to do a thing about it, falling in love.”
This is pretty much what I feel it should be with any team - college or professional - regardless of the sport.
—Sir Bobby Robson (via miniboro)
I really need to find time to just go out and take photos or just do shoots for myself. My skills have eroded tremendously, and I don’t even want to give my lame ass grin and grip pictures to clients anymore. I felt that I was mediocre with a camera in my hands, now I am total crap. I used to think about taking photos worthy of putting on my walls. Several years later, I may have 3 or 4 that I feel are worthy. With work and life getting in the way of just shooting for pleasure, I’ve even contemplated not shooting at all. I even delete my #teampervert submissions instead of sending them on :)
I’m open to suggestions.
What do any of you do to get out of a malaise?
Their sound was pure genius. I call it organized confusion (I know it is an oxymoron). The collection of samples and beats and how they put them together was f’ing amazing! It is like you’ve been dropped into their personal battleground where your heartbeat is being sped up by the sound coming at you. Then Chuck D’s lyrics rain on you and help you to navigate through this minefield of sounds/noises/beats. Chuck’s messages are that of a commanding officer briefing you about the objective of a particular mission or giving you a current status of the overall situation. The message comes through and you get hyped and amped to do your part for the cause. Flavor Flav acts as both screwed up drill sergeant and comic relief to reinforce the point or to lighten the mood when necessary. Militant, vigilant, educational, angry, defiant - call it what you like. Public Enemy got your attention and held it, and educated you about some issues that are still evident and relevant today.
Give them a listen if you never have. Go listen to them again if it has been awhile. It’s a journey well worth traveling for the first time or all over again.
I’m finding Solange a lot more attractive physically than I am Beyonce. I don’t know if it is the natural hair thing or what, but in the photos that I have seen recently, I prefer Solange’s look more. This isn’t about talent, just physical attractiveness. Is anyone with me on this?
Smart. Think about it folks
It annoys me to no end to see people on dates or just out and they aren’t talking to each other, but texting away or playing on their damn phones!
There’s major problems with black “Americans” (myself included) considering other blacks of the Americas specifically, and many peoples on or more recently from the African continent generally, lucky for having a connection to some “authentic culture.”
Doing so:
Erases…
i rarely weigh in on things like this but i actually think this is a well thought out post. i would add that i think the reason why a lot of black Americans think we have no culture is because we play such an active role in creating and forming and changing our culture in comparison to what seem like pre-created cultures done by previous generations. i think a lot of people constantly see us at the starting line of a race and other people continue to jog right past us because they have a more identifiable foundation than what some black americans perceive we have.
also, black americans really need to stop comparing ourselves to other african diasporic cultures and saying “oh well because they have this and we don’t obviously we’re culture-less”. especially since such a reductionist view is usually done with a hyper-romaticization of african diasporic cultures in mind that is usually historically and sociologically anachronistic.
i mean call me crazy, but what would you call hip hop, the harlem renaissance, jazz, blues, motown, black artistic movements, slave artefacts, classic and contemporary african american literature, african american vernacular english, spoken word/slam poetry, inventions people still benefit from today, advancements in science, womanism, black power, civil rights movement, vogue/ballroom scene culture, and so much more. we’ve been creating and producing long before we were “legally liberated” {and i put that in quotes because i think that sort of thing falls under the idea of two truths and a lie}, and we need to own and be proud of what we have created considering our positionality in american society. being proud doesn’t mean that you have to have an attachment to the place where production took place. but at least have enough respect for those who came before you to honour the sacrifices and contributions they made before sweeping them under the rug of “no culture”.
The SO and I had a conversation along these lines last night. It would have been nice to have you in the room to add your insight.
(via daniellemertina)
She could talk and sing to me all day.
(Source: the-freedomwriter, via jadebadu)