Happy Locversary to me! I got my locks cut....but not off

Today my babies turned 7 yrs old.  Who would have thunk it?  I go back to work tomorrow, so I'll have to add videos, pics and major updates to this post before the week is up.  Check back. Blessings...

1st Amendment Standup - Black Churches - Gary Owen

Insanely funny!

So much to do...so little time

I can get a project done. My problem is, I get bored easily and find myself looking into doing something else. I know I have TONS of stuff on my plate (cleaning my house would be #1), however I get easily distracted. For instance, I have soooo many videos from previous lock gatherings that I wanted to upload. See a year or so ago we had this big idea to put something together to send to Oprah, with hopes she'd invite Dr. Cornwell on the show to talk about natural hair, specifically Sisterlocks and the such. Well, those many videos are hidden on my external hard drive feeling much neglect. So as a forewarning, those of you ladies who volunteered to allow me to video you, just know that you will see some "way back" videos of your own hair, which will give testimony of how far you've come from. Sooo, please be patient with me. With that being said, I planned on doing a good ole' video of my 2, 3, and 4 yr mark and it never transpired. I did however find a sister who posted someone's 4 yr anniversary on her blog and it gave me inspiration to get something accomplished this summer while I have a little time off. So, here's the video. Enjoy! And look for something from me in the near or distant future. Peace...

Barack Obama

I get such a good feeling inside whenever I hear this man speak or see how he handles himself in public. When I think of Barack Obama, I think of the word resilient. As most folks who've been a little disconnected and disenchanted with politics over the years, I too have been rejuvenated by history in the making. I have to check in on "the three" every night on-line before I hit the sack. April 22th should prove to be quite interesting to say the least. For those who will, please pray for our nation and our presidential candidates.

Articles and news about Obama:
Frank Schaeffer's article about Pastor Jeremiah Wright & Christians
Blacks for Barack
AOL-Black Voices- Election Blogs

Turning the Titanic Around- Black Hair Care

Since teaching at a school with such a high concentration of black students, I'll be doing some research over the holidays to find websites and videos to share information about black hair, hair care, natural vs. relaxed, and the industry for my kids, especially the girls to check out.

We have a lot of store front Asian owned hair supply stores in Waco as most small and large cities do as long as there is a decent population of blacks to fork over their hard earned money to. And yes as the videos below display the community in which these stores serve are often poor, depressed and economically disadvantaged.

I know when I was a hair care junkie, whenever I went into, and still if I did today, the beauty supply shops, there was a low interest from the staff in giving me products to help my hair, but instead a high interest in them selling me whatever. I will say that when I lived in Houston, my favorite hair supply store which was in the Hobby area on 8326 Broadway St., was owned by an African gentleman. ANAN Beauty Supply. He was wonderful and extremely helpful and honest about making suggestions for my haircare needs. He had lots of supplies and hair, so I'm thinking he had no problem getting product from the distributors. The videos below are from a few I searched and found this morning on youtube. Thank you Karen Halliburton, for sharing your website as well. Very informative.



And so BOBSA was formed.











The struggle in London as well.



Nappy Roots Documentary




Some of my girls are so "fogged" in their self perception, it's nothing for them to walk up and down the hallways with their hair alllll over their head. They are getting better about not walking around with a comb stuck in their hair. I will tell them in a second that that's "Ghetto". I tell them, "You are a princess" and ask them to kindly remove the comb from their hair. If I can just get them to become "aware" that they can be seen and that they are not isolated. So in one way they are image conscious, and in another way, they aren't.

It's weird because one of the boys was commenting in a very direct manner to one of the girls in class about how her hair was breaking off and that she was becoming bald headed. He told her to "do something" with her hair. The sad part about it was, he was telling the truth. The sadder part about it was, she was trying to do something about it. She is one of mine who has the comb in her hair daily, yet her hair is all over her head. I saw how helpless you looked trying to defend herself, rebutting to him that she was gonna get a perm. My heart sank.

The kids look at my locks and some admire them, but have no clue or idea of how they can get to the place I am in. Jen and I discussed investing in one young lady who's a good braider and getting her trained in SLs and have her help the revolution begin here in Waco. I really believe if they knew what to do, they would do it. I know these girls are tired of damaging their hair at their young tender ages already, but do not know how to get out of this trap. Until then, they will just do what they see in the videos, in the magazines, and among each other, all the while for those who can't take care if it, will continue ruining their hair. My question to the online natural hair community is how do we become an agent for change? Do we just complain about what we see, or do we do something about it?

Surprise - Blogger Video Uploads

Click Here

It rained today! Video added

And I was like...BRING IT ON!!!!!! Jen and I went to the store to get some water, juice and stuff and I heard this chic who had long freshly done either press and curl or perm and curled hair going on to another sistah about how she was not trying to go outside and get her hair wet (cause she just got her hair done)! I know it was none of my business, but Jen had headed on down the water aisle and I couldn't help but to "interject" my sentiments about the rain! I turned around to the young lady and said, "I love the rain and my hair loves to get wet!" OK, I know that was down right uncalled for, but I guess I couldn't help it! I went on to say (as if I didn't already say enough) while pointing at her hair, "I don't miss that!" Now ya'll know by this time she was looking at me like, "Lady if you and yo nappy hair don't get away from me!" I flung my hair around and got out of their business. But, I just had to reiterate that it rained today and I love my hair!!!!!!

Runaway Love- Ludacris featuring Mary J. Blige

I heard this song in Walmart two nights ago and thought to myself, "interesting lyrics". My aunt mentioned it to me tonight and we pulled it up on youtube to check out the video. Many blessings to Ludacris and Mary J. Blige for putting this anthem project out. Here's an outlet for young girls to now speak out and speak up. Permission to tell the truth. Let the cleansing begin.

DFW Gathering is Next Sunday- RSVP Please!!

I wanted to send a reminder about the DFW Gathering that will be in Waco, Tx next Sunday, February 18th from 2-5pm. Here's the Google Map of Beatnix Coffeehouse.

The Sisterlock Gatherings actually have more than Sisterlocked women who attend. It's all about embracing that natural beauty, baby! We encourage anyone to come and fellowship, be you SL'd locked, nappy, pressed, twa, it doesn't matter. We will have a great time next Sunday and those of you who are regulars, get ready to meet some new faces coming from Austin, Waco and the DFW area!!!

With that being said, I had the pleasure of meeting two new women at our last gathering who've been locked for a while and I accidently left them off the list for the video testimony debut. I must have gone video crazy that day!!!

The first is Sue, who has traditional locs. Here's Sue's Testimony here.

The next lady whom I wanted to share her testimony is Pat. She's been locked for a good minute (over six years!) and she started by way of palm rolling. Here's Pat's Testimony.

Enjoy their testimonies!!

Maryee's Shadow, Miss Tiana

I guess it may be because I don't have children that I love them so much. I'd just met Tiana Christmas day and after she had a long nap, she was spry and ready to hang out. Somehow she took to me and I found out she was mimicking everything I was doing. This two year old is quick, smart and witty! I was having so much fun with her, we had to get it captured on tape. Isn't she the cutest? Thanks Sheryl for sharing your sweet baby with me!

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.

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

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.****

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

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!

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!!!

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.

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.