Black Women & Girls: More Than Gorgeous, Curly Hair ~

Posted on September 26, 2012 by admin

Positive Propaganda: Black Women & Girls Are So Much More Than Gorgeous Curly Hair ~

Hola, sistren!

I come to you now with a plea:

Can we tone down the zeal over our hair? 😉

No, really.

I mean, I get it. I soooo get #naturalhair. I’m natural…have been for the majority of my highly eventful life.

I also must show appreciation where required and add that my mother provided the positive legacy of natural-hair-living to her daughters, who, after many (count ’em, four each) bouts with chemically-induced textures, along with ever-changing lifestyles, imagination and imagery, bad decisions, master hair magicians, trickery, advice from countless, lively blogs, trial, error, and the requiste detours of big chops, fried locks, cooked, baked, crispy, and shaped, both, haggardly yet finally returned to “NO CHEMICALS ON OUR HAIR (not even color), EVER, and feel comfortable saying we both appreciate mom’s heads-up provided since birth. Thanks, Mom. 🙂

Not sure how she knew. I guess holding firm to her roots and the way she and all of her sisters grew up in the country of Lousiana, where pigtails and braids ruled the extremely warm summer days and nights, virgin hair was where it was!

So, I get it. My hair has been super long, super short, somewhere in the middle, straight, wavy, kinky, curly, balayage, blunt, razored, tinted, and rinsed. I’ve personally grown and lost (to only regrow again), THREE whole heads of hair in my short 30-something years, and am currently in a new growth cycle after surgery, so trust me when I say I’m not hating. I. know.

I could, have, and will again, write a small pamphlet on how to grow hair long and strong, for all races, but I don’t talk about it much unless asked.

You know what I DO talk about; a lot?

THE WELFARE AND HOLISTIC WELL-BEING OF BLACK WOMEN AND GIRLS.

That’s it.

Eleven words.

It’s what runs me; what gives me that “zing.” What helps me wake up in the morning.

It’s my pleahsuh!! *in my “Friday” voice* 😉

I love to talk about how great we are, and how we can be even better!

Let’s talk about heart health. Mental health. Emotional and spiritual health. Nutritional and physical health and well-being, and let’s investigate how we’re currently (and can improve) mama-cat guarding our young girls…our kittens…to ensure they have a future worth living and can pass the baton to future generations.

Speaking of generations, do you know the Native American saying that what we do today affects seven generations of our people? Sustainability. lt’s all about sustainable living – sustainable being, breathing, and thriving (thus the swell of eco-friendly products living under the banner of “Seventh Generation or “7th Generation”)!

We must, and those of us who can, HAVE TO share the knowledge of our individual capacity to shine and connect for the benefit of all. It’s our duty in this lifetime.

Did you also know, from a Black history standpoint, that we are in the fourth generation (that golden “4”…I’ll break that down in another post, just for you) of enslaved Africans evolving out of the curse of slavery, and are the first to develop new foundations for wealth, current and future economic prosperity, and can both consistently and economically nurture those that both create and record the rich oral history that unceasingly binds us together as a people, our storytellers? That’s a (responsibility-laden) gift, but as Peter Parker’s grandpa said… 😉

And as women, too…whew, I mean, say it again…as WOMEN, on top of all of that rich inheritance, we have supreme power in 360 full degrees, so why focus on only 10 percent…our hair?!

I’m perplexed. Our next meme is gonna be a pic of ‘Hope the Cat’ slightly perplexed, ’cause we need to find those answers and make it happen, but it ‘ain’t gonna happen by worrying about ONLY our beauty. We have to dig deeper.

If I hear one more skin color or hair-grade comparison for either gender, or witness any more jaw-dropping verbal or physical black-on-black crime, I’m going to lose it…and as you can so far tell, I barely have it! As my mother also said more often that not: “stop it; just stop it!” LOL!

And let’s please come together, sisters. Outside of what we do to ourselves internally as a community, we could do so much better if we stopped all hair wars (naturals v. straights, weaves v. braids, bald v. shaved, thick v. skinny…wait…I went too far… ;-)), and focused on joining forces against all enemies, we’d be in a stronger, truly impenetrable position on the planet, and as a people! It’s harder to kill in a stampeding herd. Never leave your girl to face a crowd alone. Don’t mess with her after she calls her cousins! Her family is no joke!!

‘Yall feeling me?

We need each other so much more than we can survive being torn apart.

Let’s let that pink water splash us in the face of reality, sisters, and awaken us to the need to congregate in order to get our story straight, so that we can then tell it and defend it by any peaceful means necessary!

Aren’t you ready to march for respect of black women and girls? I am.

I see us all now, a flood of pink, black, and gold in the streets of the capitol, holding each other up and demanding that our men support, our artists listen and cooperate, our lovers protect, our children respect (and are respected), and that our futures and destinies are highly guarded and regarded.

In short, we have work to do, #sisters.

And if you wanna rock your freshest two-stand twist, your flyist box braids (maybe), your pin-curls, headdress, wash ‘n go, press ‘n curl, dippity do or God-knows-who, do you, but support, love, desire, want more, demand more, love each other, love yourself, stop fighting, bickering, giving bad advice, telling lies, living in illusion, competing, and riding the train in the direction furthest AWAY from what we say we want for ourselves, including focusing and spending so much time, money, and attention on #hair!!

And put down the Moscato. It’s a dessert wine anyway, and it’s silly and highly caloric to drink it all night starting sundown. One or two glasses is ok, but after that it’s just a bad homage to a glorified song about stripping, which is neither lady-like nor pretty to glamourize. Smooches. 😉

So, a little bitter with the sweet, but real. Alll of the time. 😉

Can you tell I’m on fire for the cause? And so many others are too…so many of us who hear the clarion call for change…real, lasting, holistic, organic and timely change, that will touch lives beyond our capacity to envision.

Are you ready?

Our site and movement is reaching one full year! I admit, I must touch base more often. How often is too much, how much too little? As I recently heard, “you can’t start a revolution by meeting monthly” so I’ll post more. 😉 Today’s post was an exercise in following my weekly connection schedule, so kudos to me and high cat paws to all on that one!

I’m so in the pink flame for this, sisters! I love you, and I want better for us all, as I know you do, too (along with all of our sis-supporters…you rock like EPMD!).

First order on deck: PositiveProp Pajama Parties coming to your area. We need to converge, comfortably (maybe with woobies?) to get our feelings out and then develop and implement our ACTION STRATEGY.

We’re deciding whether to launch on the east coast or here in L.A., so stay tuned. Definitely more to say about the upcoming series next week. Meow.

And one last thing: if we’re gonna be obsessed with #hair, which we will to some degreee as humans and as women, let’s do it from the ownership standpoint, putting non-black haircare industries and vendors out of the game entirely and reinvest the loot into our own community. Done.

Until then, stay coiffed, but please do from a higher place, with a higher purpose, and with thoughts, words, and deeds of reunion, not division.

Most imporantly, allow no division inside of yourself.

Oooh…so deeepp!! 😉

Talk then,

Amie~

* Whatchu say?: @PositiveProp

Every Woman Needs a Woobie~

Posted on September 19, 2012 by admin

Woobies & the soft side~

Positive Propaganda: Black Women are Vulnerable~

OK…first of all I’m sitting here shocked and amazed that I’m writing this post, as it was not planned, but that’s how Spirit works.

MOVE!

Lol!

So a sister C.A.T. has been feeling some sort of way, lately. About life.

We’ve all been there. It’s human. It’s UNIVERSAL. Yet it feels so deeply personal when the opportunity to FEEL finds you.

And we as black women have for so long run from this feeling of, well…feeling.

The desire to let go…cry…talk…purge…giggle…laugh…and giggleandlaugh until you cry again. And then smile.

We don’t give ourselves that “luxury” enough. To receive that human need, enough.

Ish. hurts!!

Yeah, I said it!

Stuff happens in life that literally takes your breath away, and requires that you sit down and look it straight in the face. And as black women, we do…more often that not, we do.

But it’s what we don’t do enough of next that spawned this post:

We don’t STOP.

We keep moving. Trudging along, eyes straight ahead, being “the strong black woman” instead of doing what all of the softness of who we are REQUIRES of us – that we FEEL IT completely – walk to and through it, and heal it.

By being soft and vulnerable, and quiet, so that afterward (and only afterward) we can smile and we can enjoy ourselves being professionally, personally or sexually with toys as bullet for women as well. And it’s over. And we move forward to live another great experience on this spiral of life. all the sweet and the sour; sugar and mess.

We need this sisters.

We need to let ourselves see ourselves…see REALITY…and act accordingly. And I’ve found the best way to assist in this effort is

*drum roll*

The Woobie.

🙂

You can see one of my current woobies peeking out in the pic above (and “Hi”, C.A.T. sisters! *waving* ) 😉

My woobie has been through it: good times, bad times, stains, rips, triumphs, failures, extasy and agony. You betcha.

Every. woman. needs. a woobie.

What’s your favorite woobie? Are they friendships? Girlfriends? (they make the BEST woobies), your grandmother, or your mom? Is it your puppy or your *le gasp* cat or kitten?

Is it texting that ladyfriend whom you know will say just. the right. thing. at just. the right. time. to make it all better, and who you know knows you down to your socks and a peek of your soul?

Tell them. Let it out!

Is it your journal? I also write when I’m walking through a challenge, and recently forgot about that as a passion and a release.

And then I picked up my journal (I have all of my journals…I love journaling), grabbed my favorite pen, and let it all out. And cried. And laughed. Then I danced. A lot! And I moved on.

Onward, with a smile.

And then you can walk the land knowing and inhabitating that, as my friend Dominique strikingly said to me one day: “wearing your heart on your sleeve doesn’t make you weak, it makes you stronger.”

Dope, and so true. Our strength is in our sensitivity, and the ability (and the responsibility)for feeling and then fully and completely acknolwledging our feelings.

But back to woobies. So soft. Let’s not be afraid to be soft. We’re WOMEN…we were created to be soft. As I said before, ish hurts, and we feel it, but it’s the feeling part that can be the challenge, sisters (or am I out here alone “on the skinny branches” by saying that?).

I love soft things, sisters…I’m very tactile (like a cat…ha!). I’ve recently learned to honor how much I love soft fabrics and soothing colors…blues, and soft greens and pale yellows…and cotton! Heck, if my ancestors tended it, I’m gonna celebrate it, goshdarnit! LOL!

Seriously, though, I love soft fabrics such as cotton and other natural textiles, and will cozy-up when need be to let the other stuff out. And I try to make my everyday surroundings cushion me in softness and gentle luxury, ’cause I’m sensitive, darn it!

And I’m also learning to honor my sensitivity in all of my choices as well, such as who to hang around, who to let in (and stay in) my space, who to keep walking away from and for whom to give the swift & dusty boot.

And I’m finding that the more I pay attention to the things, especially the small things, that I love, deserve, want, and need, it makes all the difference in the world.

And, a wonderful dish of whipped cream on the side, my world responds as if it’s so.

So, just from writing this, I’ve discovered that my woobies are actually, in this particular order: my God, my angels and guides, my God voice, my blanket/cotton, my joys and wants, my family of friends and lovers, and my fur-children (past, present, and future). Then the world, then the Universe, and back to God.

Works for me.

So, let yourselves be comforted, and live sensitively and strongly. Sisters, we aren’t just one “strong” thing…we’re a cornucopia of ingredients that make a the pies of our lives. Strong, sweet, soft, pink, brown, tan, cocoa, gentile, warm, delightful, black women, sisters of Eve, Cleo’s daughters…onward and onward, and onward and upward.

Enjoy all of it, and embrace it. Feel the other stuff, then it go. And this includes how others think of you, speak of you, and perceive you, unless you’re hurting others and/or not being yourself, but that’s another post. 😉

So, this is me. Raw. I’m Amie, and I’m sensitively strong. And I need a woobie every now and then. 😉

Know that when we talk again, I either will have just completed a kit-katting session with my girls (and/or certain homies), cried, laughed, cat-napped, become incensed, or rallied for a cause in my glasses, on my couch, with my cotton blanket woobie, and that’s OK.

We’re ok being vulnerable. You don’t have to cover up truth, or stuff it down, or hide it, or drown it, or cloud it out, or disconnect from it, or lie about it, or stay in denial over it, or in the end have to memorize it to get your story straight…it just IS the truth. You are. We are. This is how we were created, and we’re tapping into our biological inheritance to stay soft and gentle.

Get in there and break down, sisters. And come out refreshed. Call in the help of your personal woobie, and step back into the spiral anew and ready for next, whatever it may be. And we all win: you feel better and wiser, those around you are spared your bottled-up, stopped-up wrath, and you get to remain, among many other wonderful things, soft and cuddly to all outside others, including your man. ‘Cause you know our men who love us adore our soft sides! *Shout out to our sis-supporters!*

So, I hope you found this helpful. You’re not alone. I truly do have your back, and I feel and know that you’re starting to have mine.

We’re coming quite the way. And with our cat “Hope” (her name is Hope, like, for real) steady mascotting her way into the Community Mascot Hall of Fame, we’re ready.

I SO look forward to getting to know all of you, and you getting to know me more and better (as I continue to get to know myself…and ride the wave), and stay tuned for more sensitively strong posts and products down the line for our growing community.

I love my sisters!

A soft meow,

Amie~

*and whenever I post as “We” I mean me and Hope; ’cause we ride hard. 🙂

Listening To Our “God Voice”

Posted on May 29, 2012 by admin

Positive Propaganda: Black Women Are Intuitive

Good morning, sisters!

And it is. 🙂

A lot’s been going on in black America lately with the rise of negative media images such as those seen on VH1’s “Basketball Wives” (I’ll post on that soon…need to spin someting positive out of that atrocity. Pray for us, ya’ll. Pray), but as is the mission of this site, we’re choosing to continue focusing on the light, bright, and right.

Which brings us to today’s timely post: listening to, and using, our intuition.

Do you recognize the sistah at the top of this page? She’s an American hero in my book, and I’m sure in the books of many. Her name is Lisa Campbell, the woman whose faithful use of her intuition led to the arrest of kidnapper and convicted rapist Phillip Garrido in 2009.

Phillip and his wife heinously kidnapped young Jaycee Dugard in 1991 and held her prisoner in the backyard of their Antioch, California home for 18 years. Jaycee was impregnated with two girls during this traumatic time. One can only imagine the horrors Jaycee and her children had to endure while being held captive for nearly two decades.

Lisa was working as a special events coordinator with the University of California, Berkeley police department on the fateful day that Garrido walked in with two young girls in tow. While neither Garrido nor the two girls displayed behavior in Lisa’s office that was out of the norm, it was, acorrding to Lisa, the girls’ “nonverbal communication” that triggered a cause for alarm.

The next day Garrido returned with the two girls and Campbell sprung into action. She quickly alerted office-mate and police officer, Ally Jacobs: “This guy in my office…he’s got these two young girls…something’s not right.”

And the rest is American history.

A feeling; a whisper. It’s routinely called intuition. I call it our God Voice.

It’s my belief that this voice resides within the souls of black women to a great degree. We KNOW things. We sense them. It’s our God Voice that allowed us to stay alive during times of slavery and entrapment; that sustained us during some of the worst atrocities known to man.

Harriett Tubman’s God Voice led her to strike out against captivity, and risk her life seeking freedom for both herself and hundreds of other slaves. One white abolitonist once said of Tubman: “She spoke of “consulting with God”, and trusted that He would keep her safe. I never met with any person of any color who had more confidence in the voice of God, as spoken direct to her soul.”

What if Lisa Campbell hadn’t listened to her intuition that fateful day in 2009? What if Harriett Tubman had been too afraid to trust her God Voice, and decided to stay “safe” on the plantation instead? Sisters, our intuition is both our spiritual guide and our gift, and deserves to be routinely and strictly followed.

My intuition is amazingly strong – some might say I’m downright psychic – but I’ve many times more than I’d like to count not followed it out of habit, fear, laziness, or human willfulness. And in every instance, unfortunate events occurred.

I’ve since learned to trust my God Voice. I trust it now in the simplest of times: like when a song comes on the radio denegrating women (you know the type), and my God Voice politely asks me to change the station or turn it off. “You don’t need that in your spirit” it will whisper, and where I would once continue to bob my head and cry “Look Ma, no hands!”, I now take heed. And you know what? I feel lighter. Lovelier. Better about myself and my sisters. Our God Voice loves us and wants the best for us.

In other times, my God Voice is louder; more insistent: “Leave that man alone!” it will scream. “Don’t go there with those people!”, it will say. “Don’t take that trip!” it warns me. And I listen. Who knows if my life has been spared, or if I’ve avoided something as simple as an unpleasant experience…I’ve learned to listen, regardless of the predicted outcome.

God knows best.

Lately I’ve noticed my God Voice speaking to me in another way. It’s saying: “You’re so much greater than you know” and “You can be, do, and have ANYTHING you want!” (“Ask and ye shall receive”). So many times we denigrate ourselves as black women. We listen to popular culture that says we’re “lesser than” and “unattractive.” That we’ll never find a mate, or that our black men have abandoned us for good. That our role in society is to neither be seen nor heard in postive ways.

I’ve since decided to no longer listen that THOSE voices. I don’t know, nor do I trust, THEM. But who I DO trust is God, and God – my creator, and to whom we will all return as the source of our lives – knows that I am beautiful and loved, wanted and appreciated, desired and deserving. My gentle yet firm God Voice says that I AM that I AM and what I AM is a spark of genius..a piece of God itself in human form.

THAT’S who we are, sisters, and it’s high time we tune out the voices of others and seek the only one that matters as we enter the next evolution of our journey.

We have a legacy to uphold. Let us not squander the powerful gift provided to Lisa Campbell that helped save three lives and bring evil-doers to justice on that random day in 2009. Let us not ignore the same voice that urged our sister Harriet Tubman to reach for a reality of freedom far beyond her imagination and circumstances. I truly believe that none of us would be here today if our courageous ancestors had not followed their God Voices to safety, in one way or another.

How are you using your God Voice today, and every day? Are you using it to catch your man in a lie (we’re good at that!)? How about taking that same energy and power, and asking your God Voice to lead you to a healthy realtionship with someone trustworthy and emotionally safe? Or are you not using it at all? Are you at a place in your life where you’ve been so beaten down and discouraged by others and difficult circumstances that you’ve completely shut down and turned off your God Voice? If so, know that it will never leave you and is simply waiting for your attention and obedience. God is faithful, and will never leave you in life’s wilderness. Ask God to reveal your next steps through your own personal intuition…your individual, unique God Voice…and then take action on the guidance you receive.

Who knows…the life you save, emotionally, physically, spiritually, or mentally, could be your own.

Or heck, mine, ’cause as sisters you’ve got my back, right? 😉

With love,

PositiveProp

meow~