I think this .gif accurately displays how I feel right now.  The burning building represents this week, I am Pee-Wee, and the snakes are the fragile bits of sanity, awareness and control of my future that I am both struggling to hold onto and deathly afraid of. 

I’m all about symbolism.  Now run and tell that.  Homeboy. 

It’s FRIDAY!!!!

Slate decided to post an article about “How Black People Use Twitter” (shouts out to @ManAboutIt for providing the link).

Umm…yeah.

I’m sure this was all based on actual research (because we need to fund worthy research projects in this economy), and that the title of the article itself was meant to generate “discussion,” but damn.  I’ve said it once and I will say it again:

BLACK PEOPLE ARE NOT A MONOLITH.

I managed to make it to the end of the article where a bail-out attempt is made in the “of course this isn’t all black people” vein.

Ahh, redemption…

I’m still not sure whether this is a surreptitious attempt to talk about class differences in America or if the writer really, REALLY thinks that what *some* black folks have to say on Twitter is THAT interesting…then again, I don’t usually participate in trending topics or do “the Twitter” into the wee hours of the morning, so what do I know?

Either way, I’ve taken the graphic used for the article, a brown bird holding a blackberry and wearing a fitted baseball cap, and altered it a few times over.  I figure that if Slate and the world are really that intrigued (and because Twitter can’t provide empirical data on who is who), those individuals who want to be identified as a black person using Twitter should be able to do so with a brown bird wearing a fitted cap in a color that best represents them.

UPDATE: I seem to have gotten a bit carried away…birds now available in more than fitted caps!  ON SPINNING RIMS EVEN!!

Feel free to use these at will.  Need a larger file?  Email me.

And since I got chewed out by night’s end, here is one for my lighter skinned peeps:

Annnnnnnnnnnnnd more from today…I’m stopping after this, I promise.  These are the special requests that I pledged to fulfill.  If I didn’t get to yours, I am sorry…

UPDATE 8/12: I can’t believe I’m still making these…

——–

I’m laughing with a supreme side-eye on my face (a la Latifah):

Just to be clear, I’m not crying racism…I just think this piece could have been thought through a bit more…or written in a style that wasn’t trying to provoke a response…like this one…

Awwwwwwwwww shit.

Well played, Slate.  Well played.

Thoughts?

UPDATE:  Since this article was based largely on what I believe to be “some BOOLSHYT,” feel free to take a brown bird even if you aren’t…brown.  LOL.  They are cute.

ANOTHER UPDATE: A post on this…article…that I really enjoyed is over at Black Snob.  It’s basically everything I wanted to say, but was too busy to say because I was having way too much fun with Photoshop.

AND ANOTHER UPDATE: my good friend over at Stop It Right Now has contributed a bird.  Anyone else who wants to make one, do it and I’ll post it here.   =)

From  @karsh:

From @CorporateBarbie (yes, it’s Aretha’s Inauguration hat):

More Aretha hat action from Tiffany:

From @revizion:

 

MICHAEL JACKSON via @Jewelz1132:

 

Via Ahnubis:

ANTOINE DODSON via @Illumistrations:

Via @bfnh:

Via @LidiaAnain (heaven, I need a hug):

Via @ashlucio:

Via @seanpadilla by @thatladyj:

via @Ravan_A (for the highly underrepresented black goth community):

Via @BabylonSista by @thatladyj:

GRACE JONES via @iamthenublack:

Via @huny:

Don King via Gwen:

Via @JayStayPlayed:

Via @blacktating:

Via @VanitySnob (who stole my soul and sent it up yonder…Montana Fishburne/ChippyD):

“Cold War” by Janelle Monae.  Seen over at Style Porn

Janelle Monae is a pro at “reading my mail.”  Right now, this song is speaking to my very core. 

I think I welled up a little…not much…just a little.

UPDATE:  Chomy of The Culture Cynic is a sage.  If you missed her comment below, here is an excerpt:

i like the bit she sings, ‘i was made to believe something was wrong with me’. that line is my LIFE..and i keep going back to it. she expresses everything i feel about rebellion…don’t just rebel cuz it is cool, you had better know exactly what you are fighting for or else someone will make up a cause and convince you that it is yours. A lot of people are rebels without reason, and i personally think it is pointless to push back if you don’t even know what you are against. A lot of people are fighting for shit they don’t even believe in. Anti without a cause. A lot of people are outward rebels but try having a conversation with them about their life principles and you realize they have no bloody idea what they believe.

WORD.

In case you missed my not so major announcements on the twitter, there’s new stuff in the Instant Vintage etsy store.

It looks like I ended my shameless self promotion in posts prior a little too early…

My bad.

This post is from Sui’s blog Cynosure – a place where good words aren’t in short supply.  Her book of poetry and prose, Pleiades will be available to order on August 15.  She’s also a freakin’ sweet photographer and I love and admire her dearly.

Sui.  RSS.  Bloglovin’. Twitter.

——–

Photo hijacked from Sui’s blog.  I didn’t ask first.  I probably should have.  Sorry Sui!!

We don’t have to follow in our mother and father’s footsteps.
We don’t have to treat our children the same way we were raised.
We don’t have to teach them how to fear, how to worry, how to dislike themselves, how to forget how to dream and play and imagine and live in the moment.

We don’t have to abuse ourselves, everyone we encounter, or the planet that provides us with a home.

We don’t have to believe that talent or skills or fulfillment or contentment lie outside of us in fancy equipment or expensive gadgets.
We don’t have to believe that happiness lies within the accumulation of material stuff. Or anything external at all.

We don’t have to follow the rules that someone else wrote out years ago, expecting us to obey without question.
We don’t have to listen to the shoulds or should nots.
We don’t have to live up to anyone else’s standards.

We don’t have to mistreat the earth, pollute the sea with plastic, waste water, or waste our money.

We don’t have to hate ourselves, feel depressed or guilty, not take care of ourselves, feel terrible when things don’t go our way, punish ourselves, let the external dictate our emotions, think negative thoughts.
We don’t have to believe we’re weak, give up when things get tough, lose hope in life when it’s just trying to teach us something.
We don’t have to believe we can’t be happy just loving and being ourselves.

We don’t have to judge others before we even get to know them, hate others because they’re not like us, hold grudges, blame others for our circumstances.
We don’t have to believe that people are either “good” or “bad”, or that “evil people” exist at all.
We don’t have to put ourselves in neat little boxes, give ourselves labels of what we are and what we aren’t, pigeonhole everyone else who we think is “different”, and distance “us” from “them”.
We don’t have to believe that there even is a “them” separate from “us” to begin with.

We don’t have to believe we’re not beautiful just because we have short legs, long legs, no butt, big butt, flabby arms, strong arms, short fingers, long necks, big ears, bushy eyebrows, no eyebrows, big feet, thick feet, wide feet, small hands, short hair, long hair, frizzy hair, straight hair, nappy hair, little hair, no hair, stretchmarks and cellulite.
We don’t have to believe we’re not beautiful because the movies and the magazines and the media tell us a terrible untruth.

We don’t have to believe we’re just a number on a scale, a shirt, or a driver’s license. We don’t have to define ourselves by the brands we wear, the color of our hair, or anything outside of our souls.

We don’t have to believe we’re not smart just because they told us we weren’t, because we don’t speak ten languages, didn’t do well on the SAT, don’t get straight As, never went to college, didn’t make the honor roll, completely tanked a class or test or two or three, refused to accept that a dogmatic professor was absolutely right, didn’t graduate middle school, would rather chase our dreams than sit at a desk.

We don’t have to deny our natural selves.
We don’t have to hold back our hunger, our laughter, our flatulence. Our sweat, our scent, our scars. Our sexiness, our sexuality, our sex drive. Our menstruation, our erections, our wet dreams, our fun dreams, our tears.

We don’t have to eat mindlessly just because advertisements and marketing aimed to make us unhealthy say so.
We don’t have to use self-harming addictions to numb ourselves or escape from our lives.

We don’t have to be ashamed of our unshaved legs, unperfumed armpits, unpainted fingernails, untrimmed toenails, unstyled hair, unpainted faces.

We don’t have to hide our true beauty.
We don’t have to hide who we are.
We don’t have to wear the clothes, have the body, fit the size, look like the actor or the model.

We don’t have to be scared anymore. Of flying, of being wonderful, of being ourselves, of talking to new and exciting people, of going for what you thought impossible, of asking that cute sweetie out, of rejection, of acceptance, of trusting ourselves and others, of letting go, of healing, of moving on, of loving and living limitlessly.

We don’t have to listen to our brother, sister, mother, father, best friend, stranger, lover, spouse, girlfriend, boyfriend, teacher, mentor, therapist, cousin, who tells us we’re not good enough– no matter how much we love them.
We don’t have to believe a bar of “good enough” even exists.

We don’t have to suppress, deny, or otherwise squelch our awesomeness.

We don’t have to pretend anymore. Not for a single second longer.

Enjoy Yo’self…

…and try not to get lost in all this funk…

And of course, because the bassline is one of the greatest of ALL TIME and I don’t care that I’ve posted this video about three times before:

=D

Photo by Robin Callender / Ice Photography
Styled by Estasha Goodwin

Those chain dangly earring joints?  Yeah, I DID that (word to Eli Porter).

Get them here.  And yes, I do customs.  =D

</shameless self promotion>

If you need a refresher on who these folks are, click HERE.  And yes, Jennifer Hudson married that dude with the curl on the far left in a row that isn’t really a row.

This morning, my much beloved Duckey forwarded me an email that I sent her and a few of our friends back in 2007.  This email was a quote by quote synopsis of the first episode of the second season of I Love New York 2…back when “hot mess” reality shows only existed on VH1.

As I recall, I was sitting at my computer typing this all out as it happened…because I do stuff like that.    #multitaskingmaster

If you have some time to kill and/or watched the show (don’t be ’shamed), feel free to take a trip down memory lane:

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Alicia
Date: Mon, Oct 8, 2007 at 10:00 PM
Subject: My Favorite quotes and commentary on Episode 1: ILNY2
To: a whole bunch of people

And yes…I was bored as hell…ENJOY!

—

“She had the ORdacity…” (New York on Sis. Patterson)

“He messed up when he showed up” (Sis. Patterson on Midget Mac)

“If she does [fall in love with M.Mac], I’ll give her a lobotomy.” (Sis. P)

“‘Man-Man’ – cause I’m twice the man of any of these dudes here” (Midget Mac)

“You have my respect, I’m calling you ‘Cheesy’.”  (Sis. P)

“‘Knockout’?  I’ll call him Magilla Gorilla.” (Sis. P)

“Who is this barefoot freak coming into the house with no shoes?” (Sis. P)

<— MAD at how Sis. P came in her draw’s at the sight of the ex-Pro Footballer “Champion.”

“Are you a crossdresser?  Have you ever worn makeup?  Are you sure?”  (Sis. P to Unsure)

“…lookin’ like a crooked bookie.” (NY on Tailor Made)

“I know his d*** is big.  I know it, I KNOW it’s big!”  (NY on Wolf)

Found the video for that last one…

“He’s definitely like a little leprechaun…I don’t know if he has magical powers…he could shrink me down.” (NY on M. Mac)

<—why do they only show the top of this fool’s head when they cut to the single man w/ camera shot

“I’mma swoop in like a midget locksmith.”  (Midg. Mac)

“You’re a freak.  That’s what you are.  You’re a freak.. You get dirty; you get DOWN.”  (Sis. P…DAMN she’s funny in these streets)

“I wanna have sex with New York because I’m f***in handsome.” (It)

<— Did that fool “It” just lick her shoulder???  And did she just call it “cute?”

<— That dude’s name is Man-Man…*dead*

<— Why is Milliown the reincarnation of Chance?

“This mixer is way hotter than the first one I ever had”  (NY)  (say it to yourself a few times…)

“She was repulsed by my ostentatious display of wealth” (Tailor Made)

“You don’t talk to Mac like that.  I don’t give a f*** who you is…[2 minutes later] B****” (M. Mac on Sis. P)

“‘It?’ ‘It?’  I think It’s supposed to be ‘S**t’.  That’s what I think.”  (Milliown)

<— Budda has on that yag-azz G Unit tank top…Boooooooooooooooooooooo

“You got a big d—?  I wanna see your d—.  You come up in here saying you got a big this and a big that, put your money where your d— is and show it” (Sis. P on Wolf)

<— Unsure got MOOOOOOOOOOOOO’DED!!!  But he got a chain, so it’s all good.

<— “It” should be called Mush Mouf

That is all.  I’m slayed.  Especially after Sis. P went home with Champion…I don’t think I can take this season…I feel dumber already.

——–

If you have even more time to waste on this show, there are a ton of videos here.  I apologize in advance.

Any questions?

After an obsessive hunt, I’ve finally found something from Forever 21 that I can get jiggy with.  And I don’t use the term obsessive euphemistically - after I saw The Glamourai’s photos from her F21 collabo, I was logging on to the website twice a day to see whether or not the shirt had been added.

Damn shame.

Actually, given the two-week turnaround time for a lot of their clothing, it wasn’t too much of a shame…ok, it was a shame…but it’s fine now because I got the shirt.  SUCCESS!!

Twelve by Twelve/F21 shirt
Rossmore necklace & ring
more paperbagginess via H&M shorts
Bruno Valenti shoes

I think I want to get a second one, but that’s probably because magazines have told me that when you really like something, it’s good to buy it in multiples.

Now that I just typed that, I don’t think I need more than one shirt covered in printed safety pins…yeah, probably don’t need more than one shirt covered in printed safety pins…