Jen Twirls Basketball for Ivan

Jen and I went to a nice new spot called Chopsticks III, which is Christian owned. The owners son, Ivan pulled out a basketball and Jen decided to give him a lesson. Ivan only speaks Chinese, so unless you understand Chinese, you won't understand what he's saying. He's my little buddy and I think Jen has taken to this energy filled 3yr old as well. He's so adorable and gives the biggest hugs.

Holiday Updo

Here's a few pictures from Christmas in Galveston with my God-Daughter Kalee. Her sister's friend hooked me up with a Holiday Updo. So ya'll will know whenever I get married, this is the way I'll have my hair. But I'll have more like Shirley Temple curls coming down the side instead of them looking like big waves. I'd say she did an awesome job for a last minute request.
More photos are in my Fotki Album.

Small Sisterlocks or Large Sisterlocks?

That is the question that DejaVu asked both Jen and me. Jen's response is here.
Here's our dialogue below:

Hey DejaVu,

First of all, congratulations on getting your Sisterlocks.
You will just love them!  As you have heard from many,
many folks in their blogs/albums, they are happy they did
get Sisterlocks and wish they did sooner.  I agree.  It's
funny because I wish mine were a lil' thicker than they
are, but for other reasons...I'll get into that on
my blog when I have time to update that particular topic.

Maryee

Deja Vu wrote: Thanks! I'd also be curious to know why you wish
your were thicker?  My consultant typically does a smaller
loc on her clients but I am wanting larger locs because I
will have to do my own maintenance. The fewer the locs,
the more manageable the maintenance as far as I am concerned.
My consultant did mention, however, that with the larger
locs one loses the “distinctive” Sisterlocks look. I’d be
interested in knowing what you see as the drawbacks. Thanks
again for your help.

Deja Vu 

Deja Vu,

Sorry I'm just now emailing you back. It's been busy, busy,
busy!!  I like my size, the problem arose when I went too
long between retightenings.  During that time, IMHO, the
root beds start to thin out, thus making them smaller and
weak.  I've lost more than my share of locks behind that.

But I had no control over moving back home to Waco and not
having money to get my hair reightened for almost 5 months
and taking the retightening class which I now retighten my
own hair.  The closest consultant is in the DFW area.

That's where the major damage came in.  If I continued to
get my hair retightened on schedule it wouldn't be a problem.
But, since that was/is not the case (I still have lazy days
in keeping my own retightening schedule) I have paid dearly
for it.  I like my size, I just don't like small weak root
beds.  You lose locks easily that way, IMHO.  This is no fault
of my initial installation or consultant.  It's me just being
poor and lazy.  Hope this helps.  Take care!!!!!

Maryee

Now my question to those out there in blogland who've had
locks for at least over a year:  How are your rootbeds holding up?
Lose any locks for reasons such as mine?  Are you happy with
the size of your locks?  If so/not why?  Comments please! :-)
Jen's locks in the early stage.

Here's current pics of my hair!

Visit Wiley Dog's Blog

For those of you who know me or have gotten to know me, I love a lot of things. Two in particular are writing and photography. Since I've been teaching and going to school, that has taken away a lot of my "writing" time. The photo time has suffered in the case of "editing" but never snappin' shots where ever I go.

Anywho, since we have 5 days off for the Thanksgiving break, I've been trying to do a little "catch-up" on the dozen or so blogs I have among studying and other things. I know, I really need to get into the "condensing" mode. Well, one of my blogs that's been a bit neglected is that of my Mom's dog named Wiley. According to her AKC records, the dog was born July 17, 1976. Yep, that's right. He's supposedly 30 yrs old. The only confirmation I can give is I was in my early 20s when I met the dog after he was given to my Mom by a previous client she privately sat for. That would have been, 1992 circa. He was old when she got him but she never paid any attention to his actual DOB until I questioned her about him about 2 yrs ago. The rest is history.

Well, Mom and Wiley came over for Thanksgiving yesterday and he did his usual lazing around between trips to the kitchen to see if he needed to help with cleaning the floor. I took a few pics and of course that guilted me into updating his blog for him. I created the blog to help me in my creative writing and I tell you, putting yourself in the "paws" of an old male canine is no easy feat. Feel free to ask him any questions, but be prepared for some doggone straight forward answers from this ole' yet wise Doxie. Also, keep Wiley in your prayers, cause he has congestive heart failure. Jen seems to think he's losing his hearing and eye sight, but that should be no surpise. With that being said, visit Wiley Dog's blog and show him some love. Thanks in advance for visiting.

Blessings!

Maryee
ps
3 yr Sisterlock update coming soon!!!!

Maryee's Amazon Store

Since the holidays are almost upon us, I wanted to share the link to my Amazon Store. Well, it's not that I house any of the products in the store, but I do get credit $$ when you purchase through my store.

If you are thinking of purchasing anything through Amazon, please think of me and enter through my store to do your purchases instead. Since I'm substitute teaching, over the holidays there will not be any income coming in and I'm trying to plan ahead. School has also made it hard for me to list books I usually sell on Ebay for extra income. But, I am close to my first check from Google Adsense, so that's good. I guess I consider it a nice little "stipend" for my blogging efforts. Hope you'll be able to support me. I don't plan on posting on my blog until my 3 yr anniversary, but I will always lurk when I need a break from studying or planning lessons for class. Continue to pray for a sista!

Blessings to all my online friends in blogosphere!

My very own updo with the Brunsli Hairtie

I wanted to get that hair off my neck and after I went to the bathroom and started twisting the back up, I decided to keep going. Here's the results. Kinda cute for a first try. I did it all by myself.

Photos from The DFW Gathering

With the exception of the videos, I think this is all I have. I had to upload them to my premium fotki account so ya'll can see all the pictures. pw: locks

Enjoy!

Maryee

Here's a photo montage for your viewing pleasure.

Free MySpace slideshows, photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Sisterlock and Locked Hair Testimonies

These are video testimonies from the DFW Sisterlock Gathering this past weekend (10-15-06). The sound is not good because the Cheesecake factory was packed that afternoon and the only place we could get interviews done (it was raining outside) was in the hallway leading to the bathroom! (LOL). Each lady genuinely shares why she's locked or natural.

We've come to find that it's more about becoming natural than focusing on any particular style or method to wear your nappy hair! Of course since it's a Sisterlock gathering, most of the women talk about why they love Sisterlocks. Each video can only be found here, on the Locked Hair Blog Exchange, or possibly on each ladies blogs, if they have one. You will not find their testimonies in a search on google video because I uploaded them as "unlisted" in a search on google. My photos from the event are in my fotki. Your comments are welcome and please forward this blog post to your family and friends who are curious about going natural and especially about the dynamic versitility of wearing your hair locked! Enjoy!!
























The next DFW Sisterlocks Gathering will be in Waco, Tx at Beatnix Coffeehouse on Sunday February 18th from 2-5pm. The pre-paid cost is $17 which includes dinner and tea catered by Blaneks Catering of Waco. If you'd like to attend, please email me off line at sweetiepp03-bloggin at yahoo.com

Sneak Preview from DFW Sisterlock Gathering

For those of you who attended, you know I took a lot of pics. This is all I have time for today, but I wanted to share a few photos. It was great seeing everyone!!!

Meet David From the Cheesecake Factory

David was wondering why I had two to three women following me to the restroom every five minutes and got "curious". More videos to come later. Back to studying...

Cheesecake Factory:
DALLAS
7700 West Northwest Highway, Dallas, TX 75225
(214) 373-4844

That girl looks good for 36

I'll be away from the computer all day tomorrow on my birthday because I'll be at school teaching from 8am til' 4pm and then I have to head to night school at 6pm. I doubt I go back home so that will mean a long day for me. The last two years on my birthday I've celebrated. Last year at the first DFW Sisterlocks gathering and the year before at my cousin's wedding in Norfolk, VA. This year, it will be work and school. But that's all good. I'll have a cool new "do" to sport and a nice pedicure compliments of my sissy, Jena. I did a roller set and put a little lotta body on my hair. I also used the Sisterlock Moisture Treatment after I shampoo'd my hair. I have also come to realize that I must retighten my hair every 4-5 weeks and not a day later. So by the first week of every month I will need to turn on the juice and get to retightening. It seems to be really growing as I near my 3 yr lockversary 11/28.
I've already received calls and emails from afar and that's been so nice. I love hearing from folks who love me and I love them, too! It's been fun blogging about my hair, meeting so many cool and interesting folks and learning how to love the natural me.

When is the last time you've Googled yourself?

This link on college students managing their on line reputation is not just for college students to check out, but anyone who does a lot of on line blogging or has a website, like myself. I google myself often and suggest anyone whether they are on line a lot or not to do the same. Anyone find anything surprising when you googled yourself?

I learned the hard way when I had a psycho guy who wanted to marry me 3 yrs ago that google is my best friend. He was caught red handed lying to me about getting his Doctorate in Religious Education from a "no name" institution back west. The nerve of him.

This picture was taken at Beatnix Coffeehouse's 1-yr anniversary party. I had my hair pulled back with a few wispy lock bangs. Jen was taking a quick break from playing on the guitar at the celebration.

Daddy's Little Girl

Today was a really long day. But the evening proved to be more of a drainer than anything. I attended a scholarship banquet the local AA Chamber hosted and afterwards, a friend gave me a ride to my car. Well, it was late, more like near 11:30pm already because we sat outside at the Cultural Arts Fest chatting about life, family and relationships.

Well when she drove around to my car we both witnessed what looked like at first, a couple making out. The man had his back to us and all we saw were hands locked around his neck and whomever he was hugging seemed to enjoy the affection. The hands and arms looked pretty small but since it was dark, we initially assumed perhaps it was a baby. The man started rocking from side to side while holding on to her. She appeared to be sitting in his lap, legs straddled, but later I found out she was standing in front of him. Her hands would drop down and he kissed her, seemingly in a passionate way. My friend and I both sat in the car because in that instant we both got a queasy feeling like the guy wasn't with a woman and it wasn't a baby (infant) either. I told my friend, "Boy, I hope that's a really petite woman he's all hugged up with."

Well, sadly enough, it wasn't. He stood up and in front of him as what looked like a cute little 8 yr-old with a pretty pink and white dress on standing there embracing him. My friend and I both had a look of dread on our faces. I said, "That's inappropriate. My dad never held me like that. OK, that was nasty!" The man didn't flinch nor move in a way that would reveal to us he thought he was "caught" by our curious eyes. He just grabbed the girl by her hand, with her in complete submission and took off walking across the street further away from the venue they were attending which was a wedding reception.

I told my friend that as soon as I got into my car I was going to head across the street to see where he was going with her. I waited about 2 minutes after she drove off and then proceeded across the street to the Marriot Courtyard's parking lot. I drove all the way to the back and thought they perhaps went into the hotel because I didn't see them at first. Just when I made the last curve, to my wonderment, there they were both far off in the back of the lot, back in the same close cuddling position. Now you tell me, why would a father carry his daughter off around midnight to go and "cuddle"? Ugh!

I drove by trying to figure out if I was going to call the police or just head back to the parking lot where I saw a car that a lady and a small child were getting into before I headed on the scout. Well, I drove back to the original parking area and asked the lady if she knew the guy and the little girl. She said that he was her brother-in-law and the little girl his daugther. I immediately told her that what my friend and I saw was inappropriate and that I have a Daddy and she probably has one too, and that's not how Daddys are supposed to be with their daughters. She started sighing and pacing back and forth as if what I was telling her was nothing unusual. I started to get a little nervous and then suspicious.

She decided to follow me in her car and we cased the lot and when I pulled around to where the guy and his daughter were, the little girl jumped up and then he got up, staggering like he was drunk, clinging tight to her hand. I drove my car past the guy and it was then I noticed he only had on a tuxedo vest, with no shirt on and he was trying to put the vest back on as I drove by. OK, by now I'm getting pretty sick in the pit of my stomach. The lady pulled up to both of them, but I was too far ahead to hear the conversation. It was quiet. He didn't speak loud and neither did the girl. They chatted for about a minute or two.

I motioned for her to pull up next to me and the lady did. She started in with some song and dance about how there was a commotion at the reception (sounded like she was making an excuse for him) and bla bla bla. I'm thinking to myself, what does that have to do with this drunk guy in the parking lot a half a mile away from the reception near midnight with his daughter have to do with some "commotion"? I just said, "Did you see him pulling his vest back over his shoulders?" She just looked at me shrugging her shoulders. I then told her, "Well, I'm just telling you what I saw. You have seen for yourself. Now you know." I then just drove off. I saw him with his daughter, still hand in hand walking across the street back to the reception hall as if nothing was going on and I wanted to throw up. How could this have gotten this far without no one's observation? Or was the lady revealing to me that what I saw was what they already have been knowing and they don't know what to do?

This reminded me of when I saw Woman Thou Art Loosed when the daughter tried to tell the mother about the problem and she was simply ignored or told she was lying. At this point, I don't think this little girl thinks she's done anything inappropriate with her father. My question is, are women still lying to themselves when they see petiphile men/husbands/fathers taking advantage of unsuspecting innocent children by not confronting these sickos? Lord, Lord, Lord! Please pray that what I saw was just my imagination, and if it wasn't that justice be served swiftly. The saddest part about what I saw was how comfortable the little girl seemed with this man, as if it was an everyday occurance. He was just as comfortable. The video below is from a Slam Poet friend of mines sharing a true story in his presentation about the matter. It's kind of deep, but I had to share. It's called Daddy's Little Girl.

This heart wrenching poem is shared by Ft.Worth Slam Poet and host, Michael Guinn at Beatnix Coffeehouse, Waco, Texas. http://mikeguinn.com/ http://www.beatnixcoffee.com ****I spoke to my girlfriend who was with me that night and she said she was going to call a friend of hers who works for the sex crimes unit here in Waco to see what can be done. The good thing about following up with this is that there was only two Wedding receptions going on Saturday night. If we are able to contact the Visitor's Bureau who books the rooms at the Convention Center, the crime unit can start there with contacting the folks in the planning of the reception. It appeared that the guy and his daughter were in the wedding, since I saw groomsmen earlier that night with the same burgandy vests on, with tux shirts underneath of course!!! Thanks for everyone's prayers in this situation.****

Three Great Things about the beginning of Fall

#1 - It rained real good today! Here in Texas we were ready for both rain and cooler weather.

#2 - I dropped by SAM'S Club and filled up the tank with gas at $2.12 a gallon! Yippee!!!!

#3 - Time for a wardrobe change! Jena and I love wearing turtlenecks, jackets and blazers in the fall/winter.



Hosted on Fotki

The photo collage above is of Jena and me testing out my new Casio Ex-Z700 camera that was an early birthday present to me from Penney, the owner of Beatnix Coffeehouse, for my collection of pictures and videos I've captured during their 1st year in business. Most of the photos and Video footage used on Beatnix's website were taken either by me or Jena. Beatnix is Jena's and my home away from home. I'm the host of Open Mic Poetry and "the in house social Butterfly". Cafe, culture and community is their slogan.

Jena has her Brunsli Tony Hair Tie on, which she wears religiously. Me, I'm free styling, but already needing another retightening. Boy does one's hair grow fast with Sisterlocks. Whew!!!

Sisterlocks at G.W.Carver Academy

Yesterday I heard the coolest thing while I was substitute teaching in my 8th grade Math/Algebra class at G.W. Carver Academy. It is a 2006-07 Professional Development and Magnet School that focuses on Science and Technology through a NASA partnership here in Waco. One of my students (Hispanic young man) was clarifying to another student (Black young lady) about my "Sisterlocks." It was so funny because it caught me off guard. The conversation always comes up with them about what I would do if I decided to no longer want them and secondly, what they are. He was so smooth in how he told the girl about my "Sisterlocks". I've educated enough of them to the point where they are proud that they know what to call my hair "style". I sometimes clip my retightening tool on to the back of my hair and that always becomes a conversational piece. "Miss, what's that white thing hanging on your hair?" They are always so intrigued. I usually send them either to this blog, my fotki or my website. They sign my guestbook when they visit Maryee's Place which always warms my heart because I know they will be inspired when they visit. I'm always like, "Click on the Teens link. That just reminds me, I need to update that page since school has begun.

I'm finding out that the more they see me, the more comfortable they will be around "locked" haired folks. Of course kids at this age are usual very curious and uninhibited. My sister subs at the same school and there's another substitute who has natural dreadlocks, so between the three of us, they've seen a healthy dose of natural hair. It's sad to say that the number of black teachers there is scarce, but when we do show up, we try and reach, connect with and engage with all of the students. I'm happy to be a light to educate and stimulate the desire for our youngens' to love their natural selves. I think they don't choose natural because there's not enough of it around and no one to answer questions they may have. It's braids, perms and lot's a twig tails. You'd have to live here to know what I'm talking about.

Here's the ethnic breakdown of the student population at Carver Academy:
African-American: 41.3%
Hispanic: 48.7%
White: 9.2%
Other: .8%

I will be teaching at Carver until the holidays because the teacher I'm subbing for is on maternity leave. She had fraternal twins. Also, in case I didn't mention it, I decided to go ahead and get certified in Generalist 4-8 through the Teacher Alternative Certification Program through McLennan Community College, where I earned my Associate of Arts in 92'. I'm taking the content class right now to help in preparation for passing the State Exam. It's costing a pretty penny, so I'm always looking for creative ways to pay the bill, since they don't offer scholarships or grants to folks who want to get certified to teach who already have four year degrees. Bummer, huh? Anywho, that's also motivating me to use my God-given talents to get my hustle on. Pray for a sista and wish me well! Pray for all of our students in schools everywhere that they value education (especially free) enough to take full advantage of it.

Brunsli Hairties Review #2

OK,

Jen's away and Maryee's missing her sissy and deciding to play! Since I am all retightened and I had a fresh shampoo and roll, I decided to give my Brunsli Hairtie a try again. Let me tell you, I had FUN!!!The first set of pictures are of me using it to get the hair off my neck. It's sad to say that today of all days, it finally rained! No hot weather all day! Jen wears her hairtie DAILY and I mean DAILY. She was "eyeing" mine and I was like, Un un, girly. As you can see, the curls gave it a lot of body and I was wishing I had some hot date to go to tonight. I will at least go get something to eat in a minute cause I've only eaten once today. Now the last collage was a blast to create. My hair is in this style right now. The hairtie is so snug and comfortable. My "bun-like" toni pony is so cute!! I like the bang locks cascading down my forehead. I have a sneaky suspicion I'll be wearing this until the weather decides to stay cool. Thanks Brunsli!!! Your hairties are the bomb!!!

Perm Roller Set

OK, I guess I have to break the bad news. I "lost" my beautiful camera about 6 days ago. I'm not going to get into how it disappeared cause it's too irritating.




The pictures in the collages were taken on my camcorder's still picture mode. Needless to say, the quality is no where near Casio 7.2 meg quality. I shampooed my hair and rolled it yesterday morning. I didn't put any setting lotion on it or anything, and slept on the rollers with my satin bonnet. The sun finally decided to give us a break and today it even sprinkled here and there. The pictures below are what's left after all the curls fell quickly. These are the same white perm rollers I used in the beginning back in 2003 when my journey began. I guess if I would have put some kind of setting lotion on, they would have kept longer. Since Jen's in New York, I didn't have anyone to take a good picture. I promised pics, so here they are.
Now that my hair is as long as it's ever been in my entire life, I'm learning that I have a lot to learn about shoulder-length and longer hair. Although it's not "heavy" feeling, I guess I have to find a way to keep my style longer when I roll it. Anyone who has long locked hair wanna give me some tips? I'm open for anyone's help in the matter. Thanks!

Here's some results of curling my hair using Pipe Cleaners.

Jenny's Birthday Party

Jen celebrated her 37th birthday at Beatnix Coffeehouse this year. We had a private showing of her Experimental Video work from grad school (1992) all the way to her tenure work while teaching at the University of North Texas in 2002. It was a small intimate audience and those who attended had an opportunity to discuss the work and ask questions. Jen was all dolled up compliments of "moi". We had 31 flavors (two ice cream cakes) and she received a card signed by lots of folks who wanted to wish her well with a nice American Express travelers cheque in the middle for her to spend on her trip to New York on Sunday.

She'll be treating herself to a trip to see a good friend and colleague along with his family in the NYC area til next Friday the 8th. I'll do my best to keep busy until my sissy returns. I hope she has a wonderful trip and that her birthday was enjoyable as well.

Thank you to everyone who sent Jen shout outs for her birthday as well! Much love and peace!!!

Maryee

Month 33

I've been spending the weekend retightening my hair. I'm realizing at about 5 weeks, I have to get hook and clip tool in gear to retighten. When I'm finished I hope to do a nice roller set. I'm really curious to see what it will look like. Puffy sides always reveal it's time for a retightening. Also, no parts in my scalp (except on top) is another major indicator. I always start off good on the right side and then get lazy heading around the back to the left side. Hopefully I won't drag my feet. I don't know how I overlooked this feature with picture pile, but in Picasa, if you choose picture pile collage, you can click on the pictures and they move around. You can also add a picture (random) from the collage as the background. Cool!!
Added 9-3-06
Here's more pictures. Just click on the thumbnail and it will enlarge.
I rolled my hair this morning on perm rollers and will see what the results of that look like with 33 month old locks. I'm pretty excited about my growth and progress. This has been fun!

A MUST SEE Video!

OK, one of my dear line sisters sent me a forward a day or so ago and although it was a forward which I usually don't open from folks, I knew she had to be sending me something intentionally. It was. Well, in case you haven't seen this video, please click on the link to A Girl Like Me.

Now, some of you may have seen this, and some of you perhaps have not. I still have a queasy feeling in the pit of my stomach from watching what I only feared was true. This young lady, who's only 16 yrs old filmed this mini-documentary about black girls and beauty. I have to gather myself before I respond totally to what I saw. It hurt and stung at the same time. I've been there, done that in more ways than I care to remember or recall. But...if we tell our black selves the truth, we know it's REAL. I thank God for everyone who's telling their story in their blogs, because the more sistahs share what they have gone through and how free they are since releasing themselves to love their natural selves, the better!!! This is reason enough for anyone who's made the transition to write about it and share it with the world.

Here's another link on Mahagohny Butterfly called Fighting For Our Joy, which has photos and a forum for discussion about self-esteem in black girls.

May we continue to pray for natural black beauty and self love.

Maryee

Heat written 7-18-06

Heat
It’s 105 today 2pm
The sun blinds my eyes and I don’t want to look up
The thought of moving into it’s rays sucks the very life out of me
Inhaling is like depositing a cake to be baked into a 350 degree oven
Exhaling is like blowing out candles on Grandpa’s 95th Birthday cake
The ten minute drive home seems to take an eternity
And this invisible wildfire puts my mind in a state of emergency.
Heat 2:20pm
I drive my dad’s car cause mine is broken. Something about a wire
That keeps draining the battery and the car just won’t start anymore.
His car is a stick shift. I still remember how to drive. Smooth as butter.
So I drop by and see my niece and we sit a minute too long in the car while it’s idling.
The radiator immediately overheats and my black polyester skirt and top
With black-heeled mules didn’t plan for all this and I think I might be
pushing this clunker off the side of the road when the fan belt finally snaps.
Pissssssssssshhh! The air conditioner busts and I race into a panic believing I might die of suffocation with the driver’s seat window broken. I can’t even roll it down. I call Dad and he gives me solutions.
And then he tells me the gas gauge is broken, as well. So half full, really means empty.
Did I mention it’s now 106 today? Heat 3:00pm
Sprinklers jutting out from the lawn of the house across the street from the laundry mat on Bellmead Drive splash a healthy amount of water on the thirsty concrete. And the sidewalk is thankful. A dozen black birds find recourse with the nearest live oak trees. Cause you know black attracts heat. I then take a deep plunge in to the sky blue pool to find a quenching cool; well, only in my thoughts.

Heat 3:19pm
Sizzling
Burning
Bronzing
Churning
Scarching Marching
Heat 3:27pm
Frying in a pan
Dying to get a break
Sweat browing
Flinging drips and drops from my drenched forehead
Beating pounding
Dirt drying hard and crusty on the ground
And I feel as if the air don’t care
Choking me out
And I hope and pray tomorrow will be a much cooler day


The one I ordered was Sugar Free Blue Coconut. Umm Umm Good!
Hosted on Fotki

Who influences who the most? Men or Women?

I was lurking in Lovinlocs yahoo group and saw a discussion about who influences who where women were concerned. The question came from brother Tai, a blogging and fotki friend who's sported natural dreads for over a decade. Here's what Tai said:

ok, i'll put it out there. i'd really like to hear from the sistas
honestly, H-O-N-E-S-T-L-Y!

besides yourself, whom are u most concerned with such things as
personal appearance and hair styles? i'm not speaking on the "i'm
going out and wanna look good" tip. i'm talking about who says what
to u, and how much meaning or influence does it have on u, for u.

i made the point earlier that it seemed women were more influenced by
their female family/friends/co-workers, etc. and therefore i believe
women do play a much larger role on them and their decisions
regarding appearances than men. conversely, men do NOT seem to be as
tied to each other, eg., i don't care or give much thought to what my
boys think of my hair, clothing etc....i do what i want to do, and
they do what they want to do. i will say tho that i DO care what
women/sistas think about my appearance, and so will most other men
admit as well.

so, sistas, enlighten a brotha.....

or, for the male members out there, feel free to chime in as well.

peace

This was my answer:

Hey Tai,

Just droppin' in from lurkmode for a moment to respond to your
question. IMHO, women and girls alike become more concerned about
their appearance from other women because that's who we are around
mostly. Girls look at their mothers, sisters, cousins, and friends
and a natural comparison starts taking place. It gets bad when
boasting about what "who" has becomes an issue to the one who "has
not". That sense of belonging starts at an early age and for some
never goes away.

Another thing is we are always trying to "fit" in whether we admit it
or not or realize it is happening unconsciencely. I've had most all
of my boyfriends just "love" whatever I did to my hair in the past. I
think when we look neat and cute, it really doesn't matter what we
come up with...as long as it's neat and cute...or sexy for that
matter. Guys love a woman who takes care of herself. They just
haven't been exposed to enough women taking taking care of themselves
in a more natural way, especially when it comes to hair. I'm not in a
relationship now, but I know if I were in one, the brother probably
wouldn't be able to keep his hands out of my hair. It contagious!! (LOL)

As an adult, more drama about my hair came from female friends and
family members than males (with the exception of my dad). But I will
say that I hung out with a few natural sistahs, and one in particular
cut all her long permed hair off and went natural while we were in
collage. Making that bold statement was hard for her at first, but
her true essence rose and pretention started to diminish. She started
asking herself the hard questions we women avoid about natural beauty
and hung around to get some answers from herself and her spirit.
Going natural changed her and set her apart from everyone else trying
to "look" the part to "fit" in. Now she had a strong influence in her
life which was her older sister, who sported a fade for years. Today
they both have fades, both are happily married, with children, and
working in banking and education.

Their mother has worn her hair relaxed for as long as I've known her. I can
only guess she probably has made her feelings known to her daughters, but to their advantage, she raised strong black women who weren't afraid to color outside the lines.

My sister and I are both locked and coming home to Texas (Central)
where we have to drive to Dallas (1 1/2 hrs) to get our hair
maintained has been quite interesting. We are strong and could care
less about what anyone has to say about our hair. She wore dreads for
10 years. I on the other hand had issues with not wanting to embrace
my "natural" me and it took longer to erase those negative tapes in my
head about me, my appearance and my hair. But thank God, I's FREE
now! All LOCKED UP, but FREE.

Maryee

And lastly, here's his response to my response:

hi mary, and thanks for an excellent response to my
question, and i appreciate it. a few things i wanted
to say in response is u where u said:

"women and girls alike become more concerned about
their appearance from other women because that's who
we are around mostly"

but that's the same way it is with men too, we spend
alot of OUR time around each other as well. and yet,
it's u lovely SISTAS that we are concerned with in
ALOT of our dressing/appearance behaviours. from the
shoes we wear to the way we style and groom our heads,
is often done to impress U.

we do enjoy just about anything u ladies do to
yourselves, as long as it's, as u put it, neat and
cute. but what's even more attractive is confidence,
and it's just something about seeing a "natural" black
woman that stirs something within the black man. not
all of us go crazy over the "beyonce's" of the world.
yeah, she's attractive, but does she stand out more
than an india? my opinion is "no", b/c the beyonce's
come a dime a dozen. and i'm only using her as an
example b/c more women seek to emulate her than they
do india.

and lastly, perhaps more women should be concerned
more with those men who DO embrace natural sistas than
those who don't. if i were a black woman, i would NOT
WANT a man who couldn't dig the "natural" me. perhaps
more sistas need to think about the guys that DO get
it, instead of focusing on those brothas who don't.

continue to be FREE!

Does anyone else feel the same or different?? Just curious.

Brunsli's Hairties

I wore the HairTie for the second time and it was very comfortable. The first time I wrapped it too tight and it made my head hurt. With the thickness of my hair all I need to do is wrap it one time and stick the stick through the hole and up she goes!! I think I got my Summer Ponytail now! Thanks Brunsli!!

Hosted on Fotki

Nia singing Can't Hide Love by Earth Wind and Fire at age 4

I was lurking in my writing group RealSistaWriters that I've been SUPER MIA in and saw the discussion about Nia. Not sure if anyone has seen this seeings how she has 274,000 hits on this one video. She declares her love at the end, which is cute. I'd say someone needs to keep up with her. She is going places.



She sings a ton more and her dad/mom has em' all on YouTube. Rick James, Alicia Keys, Billie Holiday, and more! Check it out!

Locked and Loving It

Is this not a cool picture or what?? My Casio Z750 Camera has it's own internal sfx. This is called illustration. My fellow poet/artist friend Laura Walton took the picture. Man I love this camera.

Here's some more pictures with this cool effect. I think I'm going to work on a mini video with this and see what comes of it.

Bantu Knots and length comparison

Bantu05_06
Originally uploaded by Maryee_pc.

I'm experimenting with flickr and blogger, so I pulled this picture up of my bantu knots comparison in eleven months. Big difference, huh? I may just go ahead and knot em' up next weekend on the 29th so I can see a whole year's difference. With flickr you can email a post to your blogger account like you can with blogspot, picasa, photobucket, and others.

Free Photo Sharing Website-Photobucket

I wanted to share with those of you who visit my blog about one of my favorite on line photo sharing websites-Photobucket. I started using Photobucket at the suggestion of friends from my Ebay groups community of sellers to upload pictures of items I wanted to sell on Ebay. I've had an account for about 3 yrs and stopped using it briefly when I didn't pay for my premium renewal of $25 (when I was not working). When you have a premium account you can upload tons of pictures no matter how large or small and that was the biggest plus in investing in a premium account. You can have a non-paying account, which is what my was reduced to but since I had a few thousand pictures already uploaded I had reached my limit. They didn't chop me down, but they did disallow me to continue uploading more pictures. I still had the ability to share but I couldn't upload anymore.

Well, a few months went by and low and behold, Photobucket changed their tune. It may have been because of the other online photo sharing communities like fotki, snapfish, flickr, picasa and others just to name a few who were catching on to the photo community craze and were giving away more bandwith for free accounts. Photobucket got smart and did just that, but with some restrictions. Check out all their features here.

• Free accounts automatically resize large pictures that are uploaded. No problem here.
• Your account can be private with a password or public, your choice. If it is private you can email friends and family through Photobucket and they send an email out with the password attached. Then recipients can view the album at leisure.
  
• Another great perk with Photobucket is they allow you to resize photos that actually need to be reduced in size for various reasons. For example if you have a blogger or fotki account and you want to post your picture in your profile, you can upload the picture into Photobucket reduce it 25%, 50%, or 75% and then use the html link for the blog or save the picture onto your desktop to upload later to whatever site you want to send it to.
• A major big plus with Photobucket is you can send pictures via the internet with Photobucket by copying the picutes you upload and preview. Tons of pictures are sent either in their original form or as thumbnails that can be clicked on and they only take up like 5kb in your recipient's inbox. No more sending folks pictures that take a long time to downloand and then a long time to send and then they have to download the pictures to see them. Nope, with Photobucket, the pictures can be seen instantly. The only bad part about it is if you as the owner move the picture around from one folder to another, you will lose the direct link. Other than that, you have a feature that allows folks to save whatever pictures they want or just view them and that's all without clogging up their email with large files.
• They offer contests that you can win $2,500 for your best shot!
  
• You can post your pictures like Picasa to your blogs and myspace accounts.
• You can post "Bucket Stamps" which allows you to create a stamp with 4 or 9 picture max at a time. Like this one of my sister and me. I call it "Sisters".
  

Another feature is called Photo Strip. Here the photos are displayed horizontally but smaller. This feature allows you to create a strip with 5 or 10 picture max at a time. With the exception of the nappy sister, all the pics here are my creations from photo software.

Lastly, Photobucket has the Bucket Show. This is a slide show of pics. You can put up to 10 pictures at a time in the show.

There's no controling how fast the photos change, but it is continuous like the others. The only way these pictures would cease to display is if the owner moved a picture, closed the account, or Photobucket was experiencing technical difficulties. One cool thing about sharing your photos in this manner is it reduces the probability of sticky fingers taking your original photos. Plus it adds some pizzazz to your blogs. There's lots more photobucket has, but these are a few highlights. Check it out. It offers a lot for free accounts.

Opps! I forgot one more feature: The video upload!!!!!!!! Upload your own video and share it with friends. You can embed video into your blog without having to upload it to youtube, google video, or yahoo video, which folks then have the ability to leave unwanted comments of your video. You can do this even through a free account. Sweet!! This is Red, the steer. That's me screaming. I edited it and I was saying, "Ooooo, that's nasty!!" Ugh!!!

A day getting retightened with Gigi in Euless, Tx

Felicia who was waaaaaaayyy overdue for her retightening went first. Gigi was gracefully fast and got her done in about 3 hours. You'll see the picture with Gigi crying and Felicia whimpering because this was her first official retightening since getting locked May 1st. She had absolutely no parts and a lot of slippage. Oh yeah, and a lot of new growth. Needless to say we all were happy when she got tightened up.

Jen was next and hers only took about an hour and a half since she has about 300 or so locks. She was concerned that Gigi was gonna be fussing but her locks were in pretty good shape also. Long huh??? And yeah, she still regrets not listening to Imani when she encouraged her to keep the locks small in the beginning. The cool thing about Jen's hair to me and others is how it grows in layers. That's nice!!

Mine took right at an hour and a half as well. She even added a lock in the back for me that I accidentally cut off several months ago. She said my hair looked good seeings how the last time she had her hands in my head was a year ago when she taught me how to retighten my own hair. She is such a good teacher as well cause anyone who retightens their own hair knows that seeing a consultant at least a couple of times a year is ideal and recommended. When my money gets better, I'm gonna do better. Lawd know's Ima do better. Gigi is fast, pleasant and very professional. If you are in the DFW area, go see Gigi!!

Sheriff Strain's views on Trash coming into St. Tammany Parish

Dreadlocks and Che-wee hairstyles, right?

hmmm? Looks like most of the folks they are looking for don't fit this description.

http://www.stpso.org/mostwanted.php?start=0

More on the subject by Jersey Goddess.

Art Anyone? Black Pearls Natural Expression 2006

One of the best advantages of blogging about natural hair is finding talented and unique people along the way. This post will be about an artist who's far, far, far away from me in lil' ole' Waco, Tx, but allows me and others to experience the beauty of an island and culture like Bermuda.
My girl Vanessa George of Bermuda is an extremely talented sistah. I met her in the fotki natural hair community. She doesn't have Sisterlocks, but she is definitely a natural sistah. Check out her Website to learn more about Vanessa. She's got skills. Take a look at some of her work on fotki here! That's one of the beautiful blessings of being a part of online communities. I have had the opportunity to meet so many talented and inspirational women and men. I doubt if I'd ever run into these folks ever in life, but with the internet and friendly environments, we all have the opportunity to connect, spread love, be inspired and go on and do what's in our heart to do as well. I'd say that's good news, huh??
Let her know you heard about her from my blog on when you visit her website/fotki album. Oh, and also, buy some of her work!! Blessings!

India Arie's Video~I Am Not My Hair

With so many locversaries and more movements to totally embrace our natural selves, I had to hunt down the video for India Arie's "Sistah Girl Hair Anthem" I Am Not My Hair. http://www.youtube.com saved the day.

Since I'm like Brunsli and my sister Jen, who do not watch TV, this was actually my first time seeing the video. I heard the song on line and read the lyrics, but tonight was able to see and hear. So, Blaqkofi and everyone else celebrating Natural Freedom, enjoy!!! For the lyrics, Click on Blaqkofi's name.

Inflammatory Breast Cancer (IBC) The Silent Killer

I was sent an email from my cousin concerning this highly unknown type of breast cancer and after seeing the video wanted to share it with those women out there in blogland. It has graphics because of the nature of the video so be prepared. I, myself had never heard of IBC either until today. If anyone of you is familiar with this or knows of someone who is, please leave your comments. Knowledge is power and detection in this case is a life or death situation. Blessings to all!

View the Video Here

Make sure you release the pop-up because it opens in another screen from the website.

Experimenting and Pondering Changes

I thought I'd add some pictures taken within the last week of me experimenting with my camera's continuous shot feature. It's so cool. It takes 25 shots in 5 seconds. You can read more about the camera here. **I didn't pay that much for it, believe me. I got a major holiday hook-up and paid only $134 for it at The Sharper Image in Baybrook Mall while in Houston after Christmas.
Jen also took some pictures of me with my hair in it's free style state.
I think I'm gonna do something curly coming up here real soon. I just need to retighten one patch that's got me down and out. The root beds are so small and fragile (in my humble opinion anyway) that I am just not motivated to fool with em'. Jen suggested I go ahead and make an appointment with GiGi. I'm really considering it cause I also am seriously thinking about two things: #1 combining my locks so I'll have thicker locks and also a thicker root bed, and #2, coloring my hair. Ree-C got me all "lock envy'd up" with her full color and thickness. It's just beee-au-tiful!!!!
My girl Dread_Princess on Fotki has shown me that you can do major styling with thicker locks. Her locks are just fabulous!!!! I mean it! Well, off to bed I go. I have a much needed dentist appointment in the morning. Wish me well!!

Maryee and Jen updated pics

Taken 6-11-06

Watch out now!!!

Jen and I are at our 30 month (2 1/2 yr) mark. I was locked 11-28-03 and Jen 12-13-03. It has been such an exciting journey for the both of us, mixed with more ups than downs. My stress level has actually gone down considerable since getting locked. Cause I promise you, I've lived a full 30+ yrs of hair care drama until getting Sisterlocks. I am sure I would have had high blood pressure by now considering most everyone on both sides of my family (mom and dad included) have hypertension. If you aren't familiar with it's deadly effects on Blacks, I'd suggest you click on the link above.

As you can see there has been tremendous growth, in more ways than one. As a matter of fact, for me this has been the longest my hair has ever been in my life. I always knew I had it in me (he he), but when you are a child and you have no control over the maintenance of your hair, you well, submit to what's given to you, right? Then when it was time to "take control" of my hair, I was rather ignorant of the "how-to"s of it all. Like India.Arie said in her song, I Am Not My Hair, I called myself getting a perm at 15 and by the Spring of the next year, it had all fallen out, thus forcing me back into a Jherri Curl and only 1 inch of hair for the beautician to work with. I'll have to upload pics later. Not to mention, I'd already suffered during my formative years under being misidentified as a "cute little boy". That does a lot for the self esteem doesn't it?

I'm getting closer and closer to my "summer ponytail", but I shant fret. Patience is a virtue they tell me. It's all good. I do think I need to get one of Denise Reed's loc socs Leighann and others have spoken about. I promise to post some fun and interesting stuff here real soon.

Last week was a major transition week. Jen and I found out we can't substitute teach over the summer because we're not "certified" to teach. With the No Child Left Behind Act and all they want more than just college educated folks teaching today's youth. They want proof you got some kind of training to reach and teach young people. When you read my guestbook of students who've visited my website, you'd have to wonder if certification means expertise. hmmm?? It's all good.

So we've been hanging out a lot at Beatnix Coffeehouse hosting Open Mic Poetry and staying Creative. I need to be listing more stuff to sell at Sweet Pea's Corner on Ebay, clearing out all these books, reading more, working on my soundclick and of course writing more. And I am...day by day.

Well, I'll leave you for now. Check back soon or visit my fotki album. There's some updated pics there, well a few anyway. Thanks B for the nudge!

Lots of Beautiful Locs Collage

OK folks, I know it's been a long time coming, and I haven't gotten done what I wanted, but for those of you who have been patiently waiting, here is the wonderful beautiful collage of lovely locked ladies. For those of you who sent me your photos after March 2nd, I wasn't able to add your photo, but I'm sure we will have another nice collage going real soon. Until then, enjoy the pictures of these fabulous sistahs! Thanks Brunsli for helping a sistah out with the collage while my computer was on the fritz. I have a new computer now, but am a bit fearful with downloading picasa for fear of getting unwanted spyware and adware. Until I add more, enjoy!!!!!

30 Month Mark or 2 1/2 years