Thursday, February 28, 2013
Poetreez A Show by Imani Klassic Davis ... Featuring Yours Truly
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Celebrate Black Love
So it's black history month and its valentine's day; one thing come to mind.... "Celebrate Black Love"! Now I'm not just talking romantic love (while that's always nice), we need to celebrate and continue the love for our black sisters and black community.
So during this black history month, this valentines day, this year, show appreciation for your community. Pay homage to those who have come before us and fought the sometimes fatal fights for the rights we enjoy today. Show appreciation for those older ones around us that continue to support and encourage us. Lets support each other as we work hard to make our dreams come true, doing what makes us happy!!!
Always show love and appreciation for that special person that's in your life all year long... Not just on valentines day!! And create a love that is even better than in the movies!!
Celebrate Black Love!!
So during this black history month, this valentines day, this year, show appreciation for your community. Pay homage to those who have come before us and fought the sometimes fatal fights for the rights we enjoy today. Show appreciation for those older ones around us that continue to support and encourage us. Lets support each other as we work hard to make our dreams come true, doing what makes us happy!!!
Always show love and appreciation for that special person that's in your life all year long... Not just on valentines day!! And create a love that is even better than in the movies!!
Celebrate Black Love!!
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Black History Beyond February
Black History Month has arrived; let’s see your black pride. As we enter another February, we will witness an onslaught of black pride. While I am never against black pride in Anyway shape or form, there is a need for black pride all year long. Recently Rosa Parks received the honor of being the first black woman to have a full body statue on Capitol Hill and will also be the face on the next series of forever stamps. With President Obama's second term many black Americans have concluded that all the issues with race have been solved. I however find this to be quite the contrary. The former overt attacks against African Americans have taken a more inside approach.
While there will be an influx of black media during the month of February, one wonders, where are all the black faces are during the rest of the year.
There has been a serious decline of quality black television, movies and print advertising since the 1990's. During the early 90’s there was at least 10 all black casted shows on major networks. “An examination of the networks’ current primetime lineups produces similar results concerning the quality and quantity of African American oriented programs. None of the three major networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC) have a show involving predominantly African American characters.” (Woodard) There has been an even more decline of black actors in movies television programs and advertisements in print and through visual means. In the music industry many black artists are developing a trend of crossing over into the pop department. “In early 2000, states A Piece in the Hollywood Reporter blacks played 15% of roles in film and TV. Today it has fallen to 13%.” (Thompson) My issue however is not with the pop genre but with musicians and producers not finding traditionally, black music “sound and soul”, marketable. What was once a treasured sound has now become a rarity among popular black artists.
During the summer of 2012, a campaign began to prove to advertisers that black media is a worthwhile investment. The campaign came to be known as "in the black", its target goal was to prove to investors that black America was a worthwhile target of consumers. One ideal way to track black consumers was to create, advertisements, in print and online that featured and catered to the African American community. The campaign would also promote more black businesses and television programs that centered on the African American community. There has been no report of the results yielded by the campaign since July 2012.
What will be left of our history and culture if we continue in the habit of selling our soul so to speak for bigger bucks, and both lighter sounds and faces. In reality, the black faces we do tend to see throughout the year in the media are rarely readily identifiably African American. We as consumers need to demand more of quality black entertainment. In a popular USA Network television series, Suits paralegal, Rachel Zane played by Meghan Markle is one of the few black characters on the show. Since the shows airing in June 2011, it was hard to identify her ethnicity. It isn't until the January 31, 2013 episode where we meet her clearly black father played by Wendell Pierce. Those of us who are or plan to be in the media industry should work to create mores spaces for African American faces, history, culture and entertainment.
While there will be an influx of black media during the month of February, one wonders, where are all the black faces are during the rest of the year.
There has been a serious decline of quality black television, movies and print advertising since the 1990's. During the early 90’s there was at least 10 all black casted shows on major networks. “An examination of the networks’ current primetime lineups produces similar results concerning the quality and quantity of African American oriented programs. None of the three major networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC) have a show involving predominantly African American characters.” (Woodard) There has been an even more decline of black actors in movies television programs and advertisements in print and through visual means. In the music industry many black artists are developing a trend of crossing over into the pop department. “In early 2000, states A Piece in the Hollywood Reporter blacks played 15% of roles in film and TV. Today it has fallen to 13%.” (Thompson) My issue however is not with the pop genre but with musicians and producers not finding traditionally, black music “sound and soul”, marketable. What was once a treasured sound has now become a rarity among popular black artists.
During the summer of 2012, a campaign began to prove to advertisers that black media is a worthwhile investment. The campaign came to be known as "in the black", its target goal was to prove to investors that black America was a worthwhile target of consumers. One ideal way to track black consumers was to create, advertisements, in print and online that featured and catered to the African American community. The campaign would also promote more black businesses and television programs that centered on the African American community. There has been no report of the results yielded by the campaign since July 2012.
What will be left of our history and culture if we continue in the habit of selling our soul so to speak for bigger bucks, and both lighter sounds and faces. In reality, the black faces we do tend to see throughout the year in the media are rarely readily identifiably African American. We as consumers need to demand more of quality black entertainment. In a popular USA Network television series, Suits paralegal, Rachel Zane played by Meghan Markle is one of the few black characters on the show. Since the shows airing in June 2011, it was hard to identify her ethnicity. It isn't until the January 31, 2013 episode where we meet her clearly black father played by Wendell Pierce. Those of us who are or plan to be in the media industry should work to create mores spaces for African American faces, history, culture and entertainment.
Sunday, February 3, 2013
Creative inspiration
Alrite fashionistas and style stars and big dreamers! This year is all about being you and feeling comfortable in your skin but working hard to reach your dreams. As I was reading my latest copy of "seventeen" magazine I realized that reaching your dreams is not as far away as one thinks. It simply takes effort, practice and hard work. So If you want to be a writer, start now, starting somewhere right now on a regular basis. If you want to be a stylist, start recording your own fashion through photos. In this the age of social media there so many chances for your life to take off and be where you want it to be, but without some sort of work effort no one would know. So stop falling into the slump of self doubt and get out there and make your dreams come true!
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