clarama's blog

Essence Magazine has an article on its website entitled, “How Much Black is Too Black”. In the photo it depicts two ethnic women dressed professionally. One woman has her back toward the camera and she has her hair back in a bun and looks like a lighter complexion, perhaps she is the interviewer. The woman sitting across from her is a young African American woman who seems to be exhibiting confidence, assertiveness and her hair is natural. This magazine I believe is targeting young ethnic women and encouraging them to be bold and reach for higher goals. That ethnic women can be smart, beautiful and successful. In this article it mentions the woman finding that she reserved her culture/ethnicity in order to advance in the corporate realm. However, she decides that she should not have to try to disguise who she is as a woman, the culture that she brings as well as her knowledge and experience. She believed in honesty and that the people should know exactly what they are getting. I think this is a good president in that you want the viewer/reader/audience to be able to trust you and to know that you have credibility. We can never have enough diversity and creativity in this world and I think we should appreciate our differences more than our similarities. Or else how will we learn?

http://www.essence.com/lifestyle/hot_topics_3/sound_off_how_much_black_is_too_much_demetria_l_lucas.php

Earlier this week I happen to be watching Comedy Central on cable TV during the day and I usually don’t watch this channel much at all or even a lot of television for that matter. Anyhow, there was a tall male caucasion comedian for an hour long special. I had never seen nor heard of him before, but he was pretty funny. I didn’t crack up and laugh hysterically, but I caught the humor in some of the situations he was explaining about relationships. For instance, he formed a scenario of him staying over a girls house that he went on several dates with, he pointed out the fact that they were not physically intimate at that point. Well, he needed to take a shower and he was letting the audience know that there is a distinct difference between a man’s shower and a woman’s shower, if you will. He said, “In a guy’s shower there are only three things: a bar of soap, shampoo and a bottle of conditioner.” In fact, he said, “There might not always be all three in the shower at the same time.” He warned ladies, “Do not be surprised if you spend the night over your boyfriend’s house and you end up taking a shampoo shower (washing only with shampoo).” The difference was apparent when he showered in his girlfriend’s shower as he noted, “There were three racks of products in the shower and he could not decide what to choose. It was also the first time he was introduced to exfoliating beads, which he found to “rip his skin off”. He then alluded this to being the reason that his girlfriend was never in the mood.” I thought this was a pretty funny story because I personally have probably about eight bottles of different soaps, shampoos and conditioners in my shower. I think he was just pointing out a difference in how concerned the different genders are with how they adorn themselves.

The Prince of Persia is a movie about an orphan boy who the king adopted as a son. A boy who in an instance went from rags to riches because of his courage and character that left a huge impression upon the King of Persia, King Sharaman, who stumbled upon him in the marketplace. Dasdan was his name and he gained two royal older brothers who treated him no differently than blood relation.

Fifteen years had passed and Persia was still strong. “King Sharaman of Persia ruled with loyalty and brotherhood,” remarked the narrirator. There had been rumor that the city of Alabut was investing and selling weapons to enemies of Persia. The oldest son of the king commented,”Since my father isn’t here the decision is up to me. I’ll have one last council with my noble uncle (Nizam) and my trusted brothers.” So, they had a war council meeting in the night. According to the movie the uncle claimed “they found a caravan leaving Alabut with many swords and best crafted arrows/weapons and a written promise of payment from the war lord Kashkan.” Dashdan suggested, “Our orders are to deal with Kashkan, not to attack Alabut.” The uncle further instigated a war betwen Alabut, which was known as being a holy city. The oldest son then proclaims they will go to war at dawn. He then says, “They say the princess of Alabut is a beauty without equal. We’ll march into her palace and see for ourselves.” I however, do not wish to focus so much attention on that of the Prince of Persia, but rather focus on the Princess of Alabut.

Her name was Princess Tamina. She was dressed in the finest linnens and adorned with body art hand painted designs in gold. She was a woman of power, confidence and wisdom. “Whatever their faith their bows aren’t that strong, nor is their aim. Gather the council, tell them I sit in the high temple, I must pray.” An elder asks, “High temple? Alabut hasn’t been breeched in 1,000 years.” The Princess replies, “Everything changes with time. We should know this best of all.”

I think Princess Tamina represented a woman of great will not only was she absolutly beautiful in her appearance, but she was a woman of strength, power and intelligence. I don’t think the Prince of Persia had any idea of the determination the Princess had. Not only was she vulnerable in some aspects as a woman, but she won her respect because of her own self motivation. Ultimately, I believe Prince Dasdan fell in love with her because she was astonishingly beautiful to behold, but because he loved her resolve. There was so much more to the Princess besides her physical beauty and I like that this movie embraces the beauty of being a woman, but it also depicts some of the other dimensions to women unlike many stereotypes many women have had to face.

This blog I will be discussing another song entitles Woman by Raheem DeVaughn who is another R&B artist. This song can be appreciated by all women really, but its audience is probably more ethnic women. In the beginning of the song he says, “This is dedicated to you. We’re going to crown all of them right now. In fact, if you are near a woman right now just tell them “you are appreciated”.” He goes on to say all that he appreciates about a woman: her smile, birthing a child, being a single mother and making the ends meet somehow, he appreciates a confident woman who’s not afraid to speak her mind, the way in which she plays different roles in society vs. an intimate relationship.

In the hook he says, “Look fellas, if you ain’t got one, then you better search the world to find a woman. A strong woman, beautiful woman, a special woman, a grown woman cus there ain’t nothing better than a woman.” He says when he gets weak he needs a strong woman and if ever there’s an emergency she’ll come in a rush. Implying that women are dependable nurturing people and not only that, but you can always find strength in them.

He talks about the fact that, “A grown woman is street smart and educated with a good head on her shoulders. A grown woman has sex appeal, she exudes confidence, she knows when to say know and she even knows when to let you go. Next to God nothing else amounts to a woman.”

I don’t know what woman would not want to be appreciated and recognized for all that she does and for her mind, beauty, confidence and assertion. I love this song because he doesn’t leave any woman out, he even included “baby’s mommas”.  For him to reverence women in such high esteem as the next best thing to God, well that speaks for itself.

For my second blog I will be discussing a popular song in the R&B world and the video to the song. The artist’s name is Lyfe Jennings and the song title is Statistics. Although I am a fan of Lyfe’s work and I had the fortune of knowing him when I was a youngster, I had no idea that he would go on to write songs like this. I, as a songwriter, greatly appreciate and admire his lyrics and his ability to send a very realistic message to his audiences in such a way that it is arranged so addictively beautiful and yet thought provoking. In fact, in his song he says, “ Something to think about when you’re taking a shower. Something to swallow when you’re drinking bottled water.” We all know that there are many a song sung in the shower whether you’re a professional or not and it’s a place where a lot of time is spent. We also know that water represents life and sometimes issues can be hard to face/swallow. Basically, the song is entitled Statistics because Lyfe the artist is teaching his audience of women how to decipher relationships, how to realistically look at the odds of finding the ideal man who loves and respects her and the importance for a woman to keep high esteem and confidence in herself.

At the beginning of the video there are a number of ethnic women who offer their own personal testimonies of the bad relationships they have been in and what type/form of abuse they endured or the obstacles they had to face as a result of those relationships. They shared how they found out the guy was cheating, being verbally abusive, mentally abusive, emotionally abusive, they gave up their virginity, being hospitalized, heartbroken and the last woman said, “You should forgive, but not forget.” What is compelling about the women is that they look like people you see every day and you know that these things do happen everyday to women.

In the song, Lyfe breaks down the statistics of the types of men or what their issues are such as:

“25% of all men are unstable
25% of all men can’t be faithful
30% of them don’t mean what they say
and 10% of the remaining 20 is gay

That leaves you a 10% chance of ever finding your mate
That means you better pay attention to these words that I say
I’m gonna teach you how expose the 90%
and show you what to do to keep the other 10.”

So, basically there is only a 10% percent chance of finding the ideal man according to Lyfe. He then in the chorus line gives women a set of rules to live by in order to “keep the other 10%.” In essence he says, “Don’t be loose, if he doesn’t respect you, then he will forget you. If you met him and he was in a relationship with another girl, then if he cheats on her, he will in turn cheat on you. Tell him you’re celibate and he is going to have to earn your respect and your body, uphold your worth. Lastly, be the person you want to find…if you want someone with good morals, then have them yourself.”

In the second verse he talks about what percentage of men have complexes, men who don’t practice safe sex and issues of not having a positive father figure, therefore, you have a highly probable chance of marrying a coward. What this means to women is the pressure they may have to deal with because men have these issues. Women want someone they can feel secure with, they don’t want someone who acts out because he’s insecure with himself. Many women are forced to have to deal with risking getting pregnant or an STD because he doesn’t want to wear a condom.

So, how Lyfe sums it all up is in his bridge where he tells the woman, “Be patient, don’t settle for less, what’s in the past is in the past, get a backbone (be strong/firm), stop feeling sorry for yourself and keep a checklist.” Eventually, you will find the right one and you will go about it the right way.

I think this song is encouraging to all women and particularly to ethnic women because often times we are challenged with these issues. We know that in studying Feminism and Suffrage and women’s rights in general that ethnic women were not as respected, not that they weren’t respectable, but because of society’s views of what is the ideal woman, ethnic women were disrespected. I like that he gives the message of a harsh reality, but he offers positive reinforcement in that we should maintain our integrity and standards because we are worth it.

I recently watched a movie directed by Tyler Perry and entitled “For Colored Girls”. This was a movie about the lives of different black women within a relative community who individually endured their own sufferings form personal relationships and one tragic event brings them all together. Inthe movie it was said that “bing sorry and being a colored woman is redundant.” These women were of all different ages and economic status, however, what they shared is that they were all of color and they each endured some form of abuse or neglect. This movie really showed their vulnerability, sensitivities, weaknesses, strengths, successes as well as disappointments. These women had issues that every woman could relate to in some way. Such issues were rape, infertility, STDs, teen pregnancy, infedility, poverty, adultry, physical abuse, emotional abuse, mental abuse, death and abortion. In the movie the character played by Loretta Devine, repeatedly stated how women ought to be careful not to let a man run off with all her “stuff”. This “stuff” she was referring to was not just that of materalistic or monetary value, but of pride; integrity; love; joy; strength/power; health and in one woman’s case her children. These women had many challenges to face and yet in the misdt of their hardships they learned to overcome some of those obsticles by taking some responsibility in the matter and sharing their testimonies with eachother. This was a great film that not only exposed the obsticles that many women face, especially colored women, but it emphasized how women can sort of almost “lose themselves” and still regain all their “stuff”/power through such adversity.

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