"You can check the throwback pics; I been that bitch"

A Throwback Thursday production

Oct 25, 2024

Maybe I should be calling myself a documentarian.

For as long as I can remember, I have been obsessed with documenting things — either in my personal journal or through pictures.

I got my first diary when I was six years old. I got my first camera when I was 10.

I love going back through my old journals to see what I was talking about at any point in time.

I’m obsessed with having a record of things.

I’m that family member or friend who is always asking everyone to let me take pictures of them.

I blame my granny for my addiction to photographs. She had photo albums going back years in her home, and she always had cameras full of film to take more pictures. There are some treasures hidden in the house she left behind, and I would love the opportunity to create a family photo archive from them because they are amazing.

I credit my Uncle King with instilling in me the habit of writing things down. He kept one of those yellow legal pads at all times, and I watched him scribble down notes about everything from what song was just played on the radio to the details of one of my childish jokes I had just told him.

He took notes while we were watching television, and wrote notes down after he got off the phone with someone.

To my young mind, taking pictures and writing things down was a way of making sure those memories never went away. As I grew older, it became a way of holding on to the small details so I could tell the story with details so vivid, people would feel like they were there.

Documenting is why I write and blog.

selfies

I have been taking selfies ever since I had my first camera.

Of course, we didn’t have that trendy name for them back then, but I was as obsessed with taking pictures of myself as I was with taking pictures of other people.

I either turned the camera around to capture myself, or I turned the flash off and took pictures in mirrors.

These pictures are from late 2022. I was going pretty hard with eating healthy, drinking lemon water, and having a regular exercise regimen, and the results were really starting to show.

I was feeling myself this day. I was feeling myself real bad.

I usually am feeling myself, and that’s not me being cocky.

At this time, though, I was looking at myself every day like, “Damn, bitch. You fine.”

I was also growing out a short haircut — similar to the one I’m rocking now, so I was wearing a lot of wigs during that time period.

There was also a nigga actively playing in my face and on my phone on a daily basis at that time, and these pictures remind me of that.

There’s always stories behind pictures.

high school truancy

There’s a reason I have to approve it first every time someone tags me in a picture or a post on Facebook.

One time someone tagged me in a picture where I was standing in an alley with a bunch of other teenagers. I had a Bartles & Jaymes wine cooler in one hand and the other hand was holding a joint to my mouth. I was actively pulling on it.

It was clearly a school day because I had my backpack on, and so did several other people in the photo, in addition to others holding their books.

My mother casually mentioned the picture during one of our phone conversations.

She asked, “Where is that picture of you from that has Lisa (high school friend who stayed with us for a while) and all those boys in it?”

“I don’t remember,” I lied.

“Well,” she said. “I can tell you were in high school by your hairstyle.”

Yeah.

This picture was another one of those moments.

My friend Crystal posted it on Facebook and tagged me. I can tell this was in 10th grade because I got that pink (!) sweater I’m wearing for Christmas that year along with some sweater pants to go with it.

(Remember sweater pants?!)

I know for sure some level of truancy is going on because we are in Westwood Village, and the girl in the picture with me, Kim, was one of my ditching partners.

I also know we were ditching because when Crystal posted this, Bobi commented and said, “We were probably ditching.”

Hilarious.

Anyway, the sweater pants are pictured below in a different photo on a different day because you couldn’t tell me shit with this combo. I’m wearing my shiny patent leather creepers with them in this picture, but I also had a pair of leather knee-high boots from Berti that I used to wear with this ensemble as well.

Roca Wear, 2008

I’m only showing this picture because I want y’all to notice the pink Roca Wear bag in the background. What was wrong with me?

I took this picture immediately after this girl finished braiding my hair.

This is 2008. I loved these braids. Marquis has some magic hands. If she were still in L.A., she would still be braiding my hair. She was super careful with my edges, which is so important when you wear braids.

I could pull those braids up and wear them in a bun like this, and there would be no tension on my hair. I loved it.

graphic t-shirts

If you know anything about me or have bothered to read my bio on any website you encounter me on, you know that I am a fan of the graphic t-shirt.

My graphic t-shirt collection is huge; I’ve owned some of them forever.

I dedicate this section of my Throwback Thursday post to two of my favorite shirts that are no longer in my possession.

The first is above. It’s a quote from Seinfeld, but I don’t care about that because I never watched Seinfeld. In my opinion, that was some white people shit, and I was never interested.

Anyway, this shirt was a fave because I have huge boobs, and they are real, and they are SPECTACULAR.

This Hello Kitty with an afro shirt was a strong favorite for a long time. I was walking around with my afro at the time, and I always got a lot of compliments and cute comments when I wore it.

It came up missing in 2015, and I think about it often and feel sad all over again. You can’t even get this shirt anywhere anymore. I bought it at Torrid.

pretty brown eyes

I love my eyes.

I believe their color is called “whiskey brown.” My brother has the same eyes.

My eyes are expressive. I can have an entire conversation with you without even opening my mouth.

When I took this picture, I had just moved back to L.A. from Vegas. I was wearing this golden brown hair color with golden blonde highlights, and you couldn’t tell me shit.

You still can’t, but the mood in that moment was, “Be quiet. Don’t you see my beautiful hair color talking?”

MAC “Oh Baby” Lipglass with the chestnut liner. The Ferragamo frames. The big earrings.

I’m sitting in my ex’s car in this picture. He was my ex back then too. We hadn’t seen each other in a long while, so he picked me up, and we hung out in Redondo Beach.

He kissed me. I kissed him. We didn’t get back together, and we went a few years before we hung out again after that.

It was complicated then. It’s not so complicated now.

Now, it’s matured and healed and mutually respectful with a lot of fond memories and a lot of love for each other tucked away in there.

Kiss-n-Grind

I obviously didn’t take this picture.

This was Kiss-n-Grind in February 2012. Questlove was the DJ.

My friend, who is standing just behind me (in the braids), and I were standing directly in front of the stage.

There was a big group of us hanging out together there that night. My cousin and his ex are in this picture, as well as the homegirl from Orange County.

We had a fucking ball that night. I danced until I sweat, and then I danced some more.

At the time this picture was taking, Questlove had the whole party dancing to television show theme songs, and I was making a note of that.

I told you I document everything.

This is the first and only time I wore dressy shoes to Kiss-n-Grind.

I learned my lesson that night. Thankfully, I had the sense to bring and leave a pair of flip flops in my girl’s car that night, so when we came out of the function, I put those on and felt a lot better.

I have had some memorable times at Kiss-n-Grind.

I hope you enjoyed these throwbacks.

random bits

I’m glad the conversation about the pale homogeneity of the creators Substack chooses to promote on their platform is ongoing.
chandra
of The Lost Arts had a Note yesterday with a screenshot that showed how all the “Top” recommended Substack publications in the Fashion & Beauty category yesterday were written by white creators. She followed up with an excellent piece, “Top of Substack so white” that I want everyone to read.
Klay Thompson played his first regular season game with his new team tonight, and they beat San Antonio 120-109.
- Klay actually looked good out there. Maybe he needed this change.
What the fuck is going on with TNT? Did they just stop giving a fuck when the NBA said they didn’t want their money? This is the second night in a row I’ve been trying to watch basketball and the video keeps messing up.
By the time this goes live, it will be almost midnight on the east coast, but it’s still Thursday night here in Los Angeles, so it’s still Throwback Thursday.
Bye!

#throwbackpost

Today’s Throwback Post (click the image to read)

off the record

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