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

My girl Felicia got her some Sisterlocks!!

Lockversary date: May 1st. Locked by none other than the fabulous Gretchel "Gigi" Johnson. I'll add a collage when my computer gets fixed. Let's welcome Fe to the Sisterlock family!

Maryee's Blogging Personality Type

Not so sure how accurate this is but...

Your Blogging Type is Artistic and Passionate

You see your blog as the ultimate personal expression - and work hard to make it great. One moment you may be working on a new dramatic design for your blog... And the next, you're passionately writing about your pet causes. Your blog is very important - and you're careful about who you share it with.

What's Your Blogging Personality?

I'm a lil bummed out because my computer is on the fritz again. Last time it was software/spyware/guck problems, and now it's hardware/hard drive problems. In the BIOS screen, the hard drive is not recognizing the gizmo to make the computer boot up. I hope I don't lose all my stuff. My writing is most important, and my photos come a close 2nd. So, I dropped it off to Evan's this morning for him to take a look at it. And this was the week to go ahead and upload all my beautiful ladies in the locked collage on my blog. Hang tight, folks, it's coming after the dust settles.

Introducing a new member to the Nash-Bey family!

The picture below is of me and my California consultant, Imani Nash-Bey of Pomona, Ca. We took this picture way back in September of 94 at the African Festival in Los Angeles. We had so much fun that day.

Fast forward 5 months after that, February 2005, a month before Jen and I relocated back home to Texas. This is a collage of Imani's only girl (at that time), "Kinah"! She was almost 4 yrs old in this picture and yes, she has Sisterlocks! She's had them since she was two. She loves to say, "I love my Sisterlocks!"

Now, fast forward 14 months later, and you see, another addition to the family. Baby Girl Sumaiya was born April 12, 2006 to two proud parents. Imani gave me permission to share her pictures with the Locked family on line, so please do not copy these pictures. Thanks! Imani is taking a break and all of her clients are being taken good care of by Njeri. Isn't this baby just a doll? And let's not overlook Kinah's beautiful Sisterlocks. I'm sure baby sister will follow suit with no problems when the time is right!

Also, the locked collages are coming soon...hang tight!!!

If you want to see another young cutie with locks, check out Creyole's Blog! Her 10 yr-old daughter has gotten her some locks! Let the Revolution begin!!!

Maryee's Important news in the News today!

I was interviewed last week with the entertainment editor of the Waco Trib about poetry and me hosting the Open Night Poetry readings weekly. The article appeared in the paper today. When you click on the link, the article is there, but minus my picture and poem. So, I'll add my poem for those of you who don't get the local paper. Does that mean I'm now "published"?

Poetry
by Maryee

Recited or read well
Rants, raves or amusing stories to tell
Future songs or picture books
Some rhyme, but not all the time

Poetry
It evokes emotion
Sadness, grief, laughter
Sheer joy, peace, love

Poetry is visual painting written on a paper
It flows from the heart of the poet
to the soul of the hearer or reader

Poetry begins as early as learning your ABC's
and your favorite nursery rhymes

Poetry will never die
From spiritual to lyrical
This muse has longevity

Poetry

Just poppin in...

This picture of me was taken this past Saturday at a birthday party I attended. The birthday girl turned a mere 70 yrs old. My hair is really growing.

OAN, I'm still having computer problems, but I'm gonna make it. It took almost 5 minutes to upload this picture on Jen's laptop. Ughh! I'm having driver problems on my desktop that has my computer still crashing. So needless to say, it's slowing me down in a few areas. I'll post an important message by Thursday. Stay tuned!!