Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!
Is it the end of one week or the beginning of another?
Is Sunday the end of one week, or is it the beginning of another?
I don’t think I’ve ever been able to reconcile that in my head.
I’m off two 10 mg edibles (a total of 20 mg of that good sativa), so pardon me while I get as deep as a puddle.
Sunday is the day I set aside to get prepared for the coming week. Is that a week-ending activity, or am I getting a head start on the new week?
Sunday is the day I think about what I am going to write about in the coming week. Is that a week-ending activity, or am I getting a head start on the coming week.
I’m not really looking for you to solve this riddle for me because the way my spicy ass brain works, I’ll be riddling this for myself forever. It may mean one thing one week and the opposite (or the other?) the next week.
Feel free to share how you classify for yourself, however.
“New Blue Sun”
I have been listening to that André 3000 album daily since it dropped a few weeks ago, most especially when it’s time to go to sleep, and I want to report that not only does it help keep me focused while I’m writing (I cannot listen to music with words while I’m writing), but it has greatly enhanced and assisted my lucid dreaming, which has been happening more frequently since I’ve been listening to the album. My dreams are also a lot more vivid.
Anyway, for theGrio, I wrote about how although André 3000 may not have given the people the album they wanted, he gave us the album we needed.
Hair story
The braids in my hair are well past their expiration date, and I don’t have another 12+ hours of sitting for braids in me again.
Not only do I have to take the braids down, but I have to figure out what to do with my hair next.
I got my hair cut into a mohawk before I got the braids so I wouldn’t have to subject my fragile ass sides and edges to the perils of traction alopecia. Regular alopecia is already doing its thing on one side of my head, and I don’t need to provide the assist.
That said, taking the braids down means having to make a choice, and I’m thinking about going back to a pixie cut, minus the straightener or texture alteration.
I’ve done my research on Pinterest and found some inspirational styles, and I even found a Black-owned salon in West L.A.; they use Aveda products and work with a lot of textured hair.
So I’m thinking platinum blonde pixie because I’ve done it before, and it looks cute on me, and I am ready for get-up-and-go-hair, not fix the wig or otherwise have to fuss with it hair.
This also got me thinking about how bougie I have gotten with my experience when it comes to personal care.
I’ve gone the “IG” stylist route, and I’m over it. Some of these young ladies have too many rules with too little real work ethic, and the math ain’t mathing.
My current braider and I go back many years, and I realize that’s why our relationship and my experience is different, but still.
I’ve tried others, and like I said, the math ain’t mathing.
I want to be relaxed during my service, not on edge. I want to feel like you value my time as much as you want me to value yours. I want to get what I pay for.
Where do Black women in L.A. go for that?
I’ll let y’all know how my next experience is.
When we were young and in college, we were lovers and friends.
Lovers is a very polite way to put it because we were actually fucking each other’s brains out on a regular basis.
We were at the age where both of us had other people we were into, but the immediate attraction and proximity led to us beginning something that grew into one of the longest and most important adult friendships I have ever had in my life.
I have a nickname for him, but I don’t say it in public because it’s something that started way back then, and it’s so peraonal and so intimate that I keep it between us.
The only other person who knows that nickname is my mom, and that’s because she remembers him, and she loves him, and he loves her, and she has always known about the close friendship we still share to this day.
Anyway, he reached out to me the other day. He was responding to the piece I wrote about why women may not immediately report when they have been sexually assaulted. In that piece, I shared my personal experience, so if topics related to sexual assault upset you or otherwise make you uncomfortable, I recommend you do not click that link.
We started talking about power, and the role that plays in situations such as these, and how that power takes on different forms.
I give thanks to the men who get it.
We then had a very candid conversation about our college “situationship.” I told him how much of an assholel he used to be back then. He had a big dick, and he knew it, and all the bitches knew it, and it was just a mess waiting to happen.
But the other side of the game is we got each other on a level that was unlike any other relationship I had at the tine. We were both word nerds; we liked the same geeky shit; we could talk about anything and everything with each other (and still do); and when he needed a place to stay for a short time, he stayed at my place.
LMAO. I just thought about something. Remind me to tell that nigga he was a whole hobosexual during that two-month period.
😂😂😂
He shocked the shit out of me by describing exactly what I had on the night we met at the bowling alley (we were going to school in North Carolina; what do you expect?).
He described my outfit in detail, and I was like, “Holy shit, how do you remember that?”
We remember a lot.
That was like a lifetime ago, and now he’s married with a wife and kids (I’ve met them and the love is real!!! ❤️❤️❤️), and he has the kind of self-awareness that comes along with growth, healing, and evolution.
He and my other guy friend C. were both really kind and gentle with me about that piece and me sharing my story, and I was so appreciative of that.
I love Michael Harriot
When Michael Harriot talks, people listen. In case you missed it, Lenny Kravitz did an interview with Esquire magazine in which he spoke about, among other things, his perceived mistreatment by Black media outlets and Black awards shows such as those by BET and The Source.
Kravitz is more mystified, though, by how he’s been treated by Black entertainment and culture outlets. Take Vibe magazine, which featured a who’s who of Black artists in its pages when it began publishing in 1993 but waited almost a decade to put Kravitz on the cover. And it wasn’t just Vibe. “To this day, I have not been invited to a BET thing or a Source Awards thing,” he says. “And it’s like, here is a Black artist who has reintroduced many Black art forms, who has broken down barriers—just like those that came before me broke down. That is positive. And they don’t have anything to say about it?”
Many Black journalists called Kravitz out for his comments, and rightfully so. As I said on Twitter, I am a Black journalist who has worked red carpets, and I know for a fact that the people representing a lot of these Black artists and celebrities will walk their clients right past Black media in an effort to get more coverage from white media.
Michael Harriot said just that in his column “Why did Black media cancel Lenny Kravitz? An investigation.”
Doing what he does best, Michael showed the flaws in what Lenny said. My favorite quote is probably the lede.
I just assumed that everyone loved Kravitz. His catalog spans a quarter of a century and multiple genres, including classic rock, pop, hard rock, ballads and collabs with hip-hop GOATs. Women think he’s fine. Men admire him for winning four Grammys and a Huxtable. I imagine that he is beloved by scarf manufacturers for singlehandedly propping up the boa industry. Because of the song “Cause I Love You,” I’m sure Kravitz understands why Mr. Williams remains atop the “Lenny” rankings.
Like I said, when Michael Harriot talks, people listen, and Lenny Kravitz listened; then he moonwalked back his statements, saying he was speaking specifically about Black award shows and not Black media even though he specifically mentioned Vibe magazine. OK, Lenny.
“It is important to me to set the record straight on recent media reports based on an interview I did.
My black musical heritage means a lot to me, and I owe my success to my supporters who have taken this journey with me over the span of my career.
The comment I made was not about ‘black media’ or the ‘black community.’ I was specifically referring to black award shows in particular.
My comment was meant to express a concern about ensuring that black artists are being recognized for their work in what is now being called “non-traditional” black music, which it is not.
Rock and roll is the music we were instrumental in creating and is a part of our history. We must retain our heritage and celebrate that together.
BET and countless others have paved the way for this type of recognition. I hope that by sharing my concern a spotlight will be shone on this issue.
Love and peace.“
I make no secret of the fact Michael and I are friends, and I think he is one of the most brilliant storytellers I have ever known.
I’m currently reading his NYT and Amazon bestselling book, Black AF History, and if you haven’t already, I suggest you cop it.
As someone who used to edit his work daily, one of the biggest things I love about Michael’s writing is the way he uses personal anecdotes to weave storytelling into lesson teaching. You get so caught up in the way he tells his stories, you don’t realize you are learning something until well after you’ve learned it.
That is the power of storytelling, and as y’all know, I firmly believe that storytelling is a revolutionary act. This book is part of that revolution.
Miscellaneous
I’ve read every single book by elle kayson except one in the last two weeks; I’m saving the last one because I want to know when she will have something new coming out.
I will probably find out the answer to that question soon because she is a part of something (not “apart” but a part since she’s A PART of the whole thing) I’m working on. More details on that later.
Are y’all watching Power Book III: Raising Kanan? I know Panama is. He thinks it’s the best show in the Power universe. Ehhh. I’m torn between this and Power Book II: Ghost to be honest. And the writing on this show this season seems to be a little off?
I still need to get caught up on The Gilded Age, especially since I am working on a piece about that too.
This Los Angeles weather has been wild. One day it’s late fall/early winter, and then BOOM! It’s summer for a few days straight.
That is not a complaint about the weather. It is simply an observation.
How about them Lakers?!?
I have an event tomorrow.
The Roots are coming to town at the end of the month, and I am in there.
I have the same thoughts about Sundays, tbh 💁🏾♀️