Ruby, What Are You Thinking?

Little Jakyra Kearse, a 10-year-old 5th grader at D.F. Walker Elementary School in Edenton, N.C., was removed from class a few days ago for sporting this creative mohawk. School officials felt the "hairdo" was too distracting to the other students

Her mother, Ruby, a former hairdresser (I can understand why), gave her daughter the look. She adds that this isn't the first time her daughter has worn dyed hair.

I'm sorry folks. Maybe I'm from the old school but I think this is atrocious! Whether you're 5th grade or 50... this is a hot mess!

I just took care of a patient a few nights ago that had the same colors ....THE EXACT SAME COLORS.... in her hair. If you know anything about me... you know that I asked the young woman what possessed her to put red and blue hair in her head.

Her response -

Cause that's the color I wanted in there.

Yeah .... she was short and a little miffed ... and I probably should have minded my own business. But what the hell! If you choose to wear something that freaking stupid, expect me to opine!!

Thought To Ponder

[source]

What if a demon were to creep after you one night, in your loneliest loneliness, and say, 'This life which you live must be lived by you once again and innumerable times more; and every pain and joy and thought and sigh must come again to you, all in the same sequence. The eternal hourglass will again and again be turned and you with it, dust of the dust!' Would you throw yourself down and gnash your teeth and curse that demon? Or would you answer, 'Never have I heard anything more divine'? - Friedrich Nietzsche

Interesting scenario. I'll have to think on this one ...what say you?

Listen Close... Here's What You Can Do

You can either give negativity and the people who are saturated in it power over your life or you can choose happiness instead. Take control and choose to focus on what is important in your life. Those who cannot live fully often become destroyers of life.

Gotta Love Bill Maher

Just had to put that out there!!

Real Time With Bill Maher

Having Issues With Your Natural Hair? Check Out YouTube! - YouTube I Tell You...

With the urging of friends, family and a personal decision to finally stop chemically straightening my hair with relaxer I went "natural" back in 2009. Almost two years into the world of natural hair, I'm still learning, struggling, inventing, discussing and loving my hair.

A coworker and I were talking about my hair one night. She was curious as to why women of color refer to their hair as natural if it's not relaxed. Her line of thinking was that all hair is natural including her blond naturally curly tresses that she flat irons after every wash to keep the curls at bay.

For the most part, she's right. However, most people of African ancestry have the most unique hair known to man. It's not straight or wavy or loosely curly. It's tightly coiled, kinky, nappy (whatever word suits you - I'm cool with them all) and requires a bit more creativity than just washing, drying and going which I've found can also be done.

Relaxers chemically alter our hair shaft by relaxing the curl pattern and straightening the hair. A perm does the total opposite for hair. The major difference is a perm lasts about two to six months. A relaxer alters the composition of the hair forever. The only way to rid yourself of a relaxer is to cut it off. Hence, the big chop.

So enough Hair 101. This post is about YouTube and what a God send it's been for me. There are so many women sharing their knowledge, tips, and experiences regarding wearing black hair in it's natural state.

A few nights back I watched this video from CheekzBabe's videos on protective styling





Seemed simple enough so I gave it a try -

Easy, neat and durable enough to last at least 2 to 3 days... maybe more if I'm lucky. A few other great YouTubers I subscribe to are listed below.

HealthyHairJourney
LovingYourHair
MsVaughn
NikkiMae2003 AKA Natural Chica
KimmayTube - AWESOME!!
Naptural85

These women are awesome. I have several others and love them all.

If you're having doubts or don't think it's possible to achieve long, healthy hair naturally, watch some of their early videos and see their progression. It's amazing.

Dreaming is Fine - When Will It Be Realized

Last year I shared my thoughts about Dr. Martin Luther King on the day our nation has seen fit to honor him. Those thoughts haven't changed. So, I'll share that post with you today - The Promissory Note

Reset Your Life Day 9: Do One Thing

As many of you know, I'm participating in the Reset Your Life exercise over at Happy Black Woman. Don't let the name of this blog fool you. Rosetta has a message for everyone. She's all inclusive. She just happens to be a black woman... and I guess it goes without saying but I'll say it any way.... a very happy black woman.

I've managed to make it to Day 9 of my 31 day self discovery project. And today the task was to do one thing. I knew when I read the title there had to be more to it than that. I mean seriously, we do hundreds - maybe thousands of things in a 24 hour period. What one thing could I do that would be worthwhile or meaningful enough to help me change my life for the better, for good. One thing that would be personally significant to me and me achieving my ideal life.

In choosing this one thing, three criteria had to be met:

• something I've been procrastinating on for a long time
• something that terrifies me the most
• something that inspires me the most

I knew immediately what my one thing would be - ridding myself of some excess baggage I've been holding on to for way too long. The only problem with that was the action had to be tangible and measurable.

Emotionally releasing someone is difficult. But there's no way I could make something so internal tangible or measurable for anyone but me. Still, the release had to occur. And it did.

But...

In staying true and on point with the exercise, I took it a step further and did another one thing.

Back in July I compiled a life list. A bucket list. (click the sunflower in the sidebar to check it out). #14 on my list is to obtain my master's degree in nursing. Well.... today I applied for admissions at an online university in their Baccalaureate Nursing program! From there I can fast track my way to receiving my MSN/MBA.

It's been 16 years since I attended college .... and I am stoked!!!

I think ....

And there you have it ...  my ONE THING

But He Likes Long Hair - Question is ....Whose?

Esperanza Spalding - A Natural Beauty

I think the sun rises and sets on a man with a nice set of teeth, a pair of muscular, athletic legs and well manicured, soft (not too soft) hands - long slender fingers ...with veins slightly bulging. Talk about 0 to 60 in 5 seconds!

We all have those seemingly unimportant to some yet, crucial to you, things about those we're attracted to that are more appealing to us than others. It's called preference and I'm worth it! So, let me preface what I'm about to say by saying this:

It's okay to like what you like.

But seriously people .... this hair thing has me disturbed (and that's putting it mildly).

The other night at work there was a relatively young woman standing in the doorway impatiently waiting on her child to be stitched up. Every time I walked by she gave me that would-yall-please-hurry-the-hell-up look.

When the doctor finally got around to repairing her son's laceration she walked out of the room and approached me at the nurses station. She asked me if my hair was natural. As a matter of fact, there were two natural divas at work that night, myself and one of the respiratory therapists. I told her it was and marvelled about how it was the best thing I'd ever done.

She was very complimentary about my hair and shared with me that she'd been natural for the past three years.

Well there was no way I would have known this because she was rocking one of these -

Of course, it didn't look this good. She had pulled the hair back with a big beige rubber band and the pony tail was matted like a brillo pad. The woman proceeded to remove this atrocity from her head and what was underneath was a head full of the most beautiful hair I've seen in a long time.

Her texture and curl pattern were amazing. She casually fingered through her chin length hair with one hand and held that dead black cat with the beige rubber band around it's tail in the other.

I complimented her on how gorgeous her hair was and asked her why she would hide hair that beautiful under a wig. Her answer made my tightly coiled tresses tighten even more

My man loves long hair....

My response was "even if it's not yours?"

I mean .... really?

I had seen her man already and wanted to slap her just on general principle.

We walked back to her room and I questioned her man about his "thing with long hair".

Well, you know her hair is alright. I just don't like her going out in public with it cause it's not long enough.

As I stood there sizing up this man with his gold grill, dirty fingernails, and pants hanging to the ground, I realized just what a was dealing with - A FOOL!

Women wake the hell up! Know your worth and don't let anyone dictate what or who you should be.

His  thing about long hair isn't really his thing at all. It's some warped sense of what he feels society has to say about the whole thing.

The woman left the emergency room that night excited about rocking her natural mane. I had given her some of my personal tips on hair care and products, jotted down youtube natural divas that have been an inspiration to me, and showered her with words of encouragement about her decision.

Hopefully, that cat and any other abominations she had in the drawer at home have been buried!

No Title - Just Read

The ability to take a life.... just extinguish the existence of another human being for any reason other than preservation of one's own life is insanity at it's worst. I have no doubt that Christina's killer is insane.... but I will not believe for one minute that he shouldn't be held responsible [severely] for his actions. Solely responsible? No.

His warped sense of reality was nurtured and cultivated by the current and incendiary climate of hatred that has gripped our country since 2008.

"Hate begets hate; violence begets violence; toughness begets a greater toughness. We must meet the forces of hate with the power of love..." - Martin Luther King, 1958

When did the fundamentals of a strong democracy, the right to disagree without fear of condemnation, civil discourse, the belief that our government may not be perfect and yes, politicians should be held accountable to the people they serve become an issue American citizens need to reload over?

I'm not accustomed to the culture of hate that exists in this country today. I was born after the Civil Rights era was in full swing. Doors were finally opening for people of color in this country that had not only been closed but locked with the iron-clad chains of white privilege, ignorance, intolerance and venomous hatred.

But once again fear and hatred have surreptitiously taken the lives of American citizens.

Christina is the only victim I've familiarized myself with. I'm not dismissing the tragic, senseless and incomprehensible loss of the others killed that day. But Christina.....

She was a child.... a bright star.... a little girl born the same year as my son..... a child that came into this world on one of the most violent days our country has ever seen.... reminding us all that even in the midst of death and destruction... life can and will go on.

Just as Christina's birth was a reminder of the beauty of life. Perhaps her death and the deaths of the others who died in Tucson a few days ago .... can shake the social and moral conscience of a nation of people who have forgotten that we are a country of immigrants whose love of and loyalty to our country is not measured by political affiliation, color, sex, sexual orientation, or gender.... that we are a civilized nation not a third world country.... that we can no longer allow these hate and fear mongers to dictate the history our children and our children's children will read about us one day.

It is indeed time to take OUR country back

Christina Taylor Green

September 11, 2001 - January 8, 2011

Reset Your Life

A few nights ago I stumbled across a fantastic blog. The blog author, Rosetta, is nothing short of an inspirational genius. She is indeed a young, gifted woman.

All of her posts are thought provoking, inspirational, well written and overflowing with her love of life and living the best life possible. I was tickled pink when I read her 31 Days to Reset Your Life exercise.

I boast and brag quite often about being a trendsetter; a non-comformist... a force to be reckoned with. Ha! In actuality, I can be very submissive (at times), easily persuaded (on occasion) and an outright slug (when I take a notion). So, the internal battle over the thought of another New Year's resolution was slowly giving way to the instinctive need to proclaim a desire...either silently or to the masses... to do better in 2011.

Believe it or not most of us wake every morning with the idea that our today is going to be better than our yesterday. Chalk it up to good ol' fashioned optimism or perhaps you live by the creed It Can't Get Any Worse! So, it pretty much goes without saying that we all enter the new year desiring some sort of change for the better.

Spewing out without pause or introspection quick one liners is a sure fire set up for failure.

I'm gonna lose weight

I'm gonna quit smoking

I'm going to be a better person

I'm going to live each day to the fullest

All great resolutions and absolutely achievable. But if you're like me... by the 2nd or 3rd week of the year... you've pretty much settled right back into your old rut. Why?

No plan. You want to be better but you haven't bothered to figure out how or the real reason why! Have you reflected on why you want to lose weight and how you're going to do it? How will you kick the smoking habit or why do you want to in the first place? Nothing like those stress relieving smoke breaks out in the freezing cold of winter or scorching mosquito infested summer nights! And what's wrong with the type person you were last year and the year before that and the decade before that?

Rosetta's 31 day walk down introspection lane has already helped reveal quite a few things about me that I've been dealing with for many years now.

Yesterday was Day 5 and the assignment was to write a personal mission statement.

I've memorized tons of mission statements for different hospitals I've been employed at over the years. Hell, I even wrote one for a business venture that I started a few years back. BUT.... I'd never given a thought to the idea of having one for myself.

My values. My values in action!

Social Scholars or Cultural Cowards?

Wish I could take credit for that play with words. But alas, my brain cells seem to be fried beyond recognition or at least any intellectual level of cognition these days. That catchy phrase was the brain child of a guest Anderson Cooper had on his show a few nights ago.

Topic?

The removal of the n-word from Mark Twain's masterpiece Huckleberry Finn. I've never read Huck Finn. I can kind of recall seeing the movie many many moons ago as a child or young adult. I can't remember which (that damn brain thing again).

I just think it's such a mute point. Include the word, remove the word, obtain parental consent, ban the book. While I was watching the show I had to really ask myself self, is it really that serious. You want to start censoring literary classics?

A dear friend once offered a suggestion about this diabolical word. Let's stop giving it so much power and recognition. I can agree with that. But in this particular instance. Let's give it all the power and recognition it merits.

Listening to classmates and educators recite the word in an educational forum... a classroom setting.... a lecture hall..... might just make people of color and other ethnic groups more aware of how ridiculous and two sided the coin is. He can say it but she can't! We can use it but y'all can't! It means different things to different people!

Please!!!!

Mark Twain's work shouldn't be censored for it's usage of a word that we negroes use as a term of endearment on a daily basis. Oh, I feel a rant coming on and so, I will move on. There is, however, a very insightful and well written article about teaching Huck Finn written by a black educator who knows all to well the sting of the word in question, as she was the only black student in her junior class at Parma High School in southeast Missouri during the fall of 1963.

Happy New Year guys and gals! I hope 2011 is your year.

I certainly plan on it being a blast for me!!