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. 🙂

Freeing the Scapegoat~

Posted on June 27, 2012 by admin

Positive Propaganda: Black Women & Girls Self-Define

Hello Sisters,

This post is near and dear to my heart, as the subject matter is personal on several levels.

Have you heard of the term “scapegoat”? Please allow me to provide a brief overview:

Classically defined, a scapegoat is “a person or group made to bear the blame for others or to suffer in their place”; and “one that bears the blame for others; one that is the object of irrational hostility.” (Merriam-Webster).

In short-story form, in the days of old, villagers would take an innocent goat, parade it through the town, and project all of their sins, mis-deeds, lies, and tawdry secrets upon it. Afterward, they would ceremoniously lead the little goat into the wilderness and kill it, thereby absolving themselves of all things unclean and unlike God; the things they did not want to face about themselves.

This noun becomes a verb in the form of what’s termed “scapegoating”; the act of an individual or group performing the same activities described above to another individual or group, in an effort to absolve themselves of guilt, crime, sin, or wrong-doing; forcing the blame on the innocent.

Scapegoating in society was best summed up by Martiniquan psychiatrist, philosopher, and political activist, Frantz Fanon (1925–1961). In his 1952 book titled “Black Skins, White Masks” Fanon wrote:

“Collective guilt is borne by what is conventionally called the scapegoat. Now the scapegoat for white society–which is based on myths of progress, civilization, liberalism, education, enlightenment, refinement–will be precisely the force that opposes the expansion and the triumph of these myths. This brutal opposing force is supplied by the Negro.”

Fanon hit the proverbial nail on the head when he pointed out that black people in America bore the label of scapegoat, and still do to this day. And as someone near and dear to me pointed out, what does a scapegoat do when mistreated and unfairly labeled? They fight! They rebel. They become angry, and disgruntled…rambunctious and willful, in the attempt to shake off a label they never earned and that fits as comfortably as an itchy wool sweater in the heat of summer.

Does any of this sound familiar, dear sisters?

It’s my hypothesis that in this day and age of supreme American narcissism, racism, classicism, and sexism, the newest scapegoat is not just black people, but black WOMEN.

Why? Because of our perceived vulnerability. On the outside looking in, we’ve no one to protect us. Our community appears irreparably divided (like no one “has our back”). Our men appear to have abandoned us. We’re an easy target.

It just makes sense…the myriad articles recently penned by so-called professionals and specialists describing our perceived inferiority, our unattractiveness, castigating us as the “least desirable” of society. What’s that about?! And lately, the scapegoating tactics have become more subversive in the attempt to point a judgmental finger at black women, by presenting us in myriad forms of media as materialistic, uneducated, gold-digging, promiscuous savages, too wild and inappropriate to behave, function in, and contribute to society. It’s not just entertainment, folks – it’s a full blown negative propaganda campaign.

I hear the protests now: “but, we’re signing up for these shows/music videos/rap songs” you say, and “we do it to ourselves” you cry, and last but not least “but, there ARE some mad, ratchet, crazy, angry black women out there…lots of them!” you concede, and to that, I gently advise you to refer to the story of the scapegoat. Again, if you’re constantly being told who you are not, what you cannot be, do and have, how you’re the least of a group, and the most unwanted, while knowing in stark contrast that you were born of God just as anyone else, and the only thing that makes you different is the color of your skin and the texture of your hair, WOULDN’T YOU FIGHT BACK TOO?

They’re LIES! Wouldn’t you be angry if you were constantly lied to since birth? Wouldn’t you be loud when out and about in a vain attempt to prove that you EXIST? Wouldn’t you make every attempt known to man to make beautiful what you’re told is ugly by adorning yourself in the brightest, flashiest, most visible garb and jewelry available? If you’re told your hair is the worst ever created, wouldn’t you buy it, trade it, sew it in, glue it down, fry it up, and slick it back, in an effort to fit in and be loved? And lastly, if always on the bottom ledge of society, a few thousand dollars to episodically show off and show-out would be welcomed payment for both your pockets and your self esteem.

Yep, scapegoating, indeed (with a splash of exploitation).

Now, since, per usual, we here at the site do not dwell on problems, but reveal them only to locate and provide solutions, we believe we’ve identified the way to stop this madness and redefine our roles in society, and in our own communities.

It’s time to free the scapegoat!

And how, you ask?

We free the scapegoat by defining who we are, and placing value, emphasis, and worth on all of the beautiful, amazing, attributes we’ve been blessed to embody. And we don’t just think it…we KNOW it, live it, walk it, talk it, and thrive as a result of our new perception of self. We gently hammer it into our souls so deeply that nothing said or done by “them” can shake it. We free the scapegoat.

Sisters, we have to define and re-define ourselves, for ourselves. We cannot listen to the voices and projections of others to create our identity. We cannot own what we’ve been told about ourselves if it’s anything less then positive and affirming, and we cannot live our lives reacting against lies. Living in that fashion keeps us both trapped and enslaved by the thoughts and projections of others, and that is NOT the destiny prescribed by us by our creator.

We could fill this page and a thousand others with all of the amazing attributes that black women and girls possess (and we almost did, in the previous post titled “Who We Are” – check it out!), but the whole truth is that you, as an individual, must define yourself, for yourself. YOU must take a powerful, silent inventory of all of the great things that make you, you, and firmly own all of the glorious attributes that you know, deep in your soul, God blessed you to be, do, and have.

And then you have to LIVE them, whether in cooperation with, or in contrast to, what and who surrounds you on a daily basis. Let this quote guide you on your new journey of freedom and self-definition:

“Be committed to creating a soul-connected reality, building a new sense of self, connected to your inner core.”

Simply BE who you SAY you are! Be tenacious. Be unshakable. Be demure, and graceful. Be purposeful and loving, graceful and glamorous. Be bold and self-assured. Be confident and vocal. If you’re a star, BE a star! If you’re fabulous, there’s no need to shout it to the rooftops and hammer it into the heads of others…”they” don’t matter. Simply BE it. You are all that you want to be, and all that God placed you here to be; you just have to reveal it to yourself and own it. And if it helps to jump-start your self-identification process, start with knowing that in the eyes of your creator, you are simply PERFECT. 🙂

Free the scapegoat today, then after you become free, reach back and help free the minds of our other “trapped” sisters. It’s our duty.

I’ll see you in the pasture of self-identification and self-actualization, where the grass is indeed greener. 🙂

Love always,

PositiveProp~

Who We Are.

Posted on January 16, 2012 by admin

Positive Propaganda: Black Women Are Divine

“I realized that they had already taken everything from me except my mind and my heart. Those they could not take without my permission. I decided not to give then away. And neither should you.” –Nelson Mandela

Well hello! SO glad to be here.

As Dr. King said, “I have a dream!” And you are all included. WE are in the dream together.

In the dream we are not just black women; not simply “strong black women” (am I the only one tired of that one-size-fits-all, slightly masculine descriptor?). We are not simply the topic of vulgar, misogynistic rap songs sadly spewed from the mouths of some of our male counterparts – the black men whom God put on earth as our protectors, friends, confidants and help-mates, who, somewhere along the way, became our biggest enemy. We are not the scapegoat and laughing stock of society; the unwed, un-datable, street-fighting, eye rolling and neck popping, “nappy-headed ho” baby mamas of the earth, neither deserving nor commanding reverence, respect, admiration, or equal treatment.

We are not women whose bodies have no boundaries and can be mocked, ogled, touched, titillated over, and violated without recourse. We are not caricatures only good for a pop of color, comic relief, a needed maid, mammy, best friend, or “magical negro” for others in need, as portrayed in most movies and television programs.

We’re capable of being more and doing more in society than breeding children, collecting welfare, living in homeless shelters, yelling on the corner, popping gum as a career, being victims of domestic violence, riding a pole, dancing for dollars, working in the kitchen, marrying a baller (shot caller, brawler, rollin’ in the Benz with a spoiler) or happily ‘helping’ others rise to prominence, success, and fame.

And we are NOT invisible.

How did it get this way, you wonder? How did we allow the essence and reality of WHO WE REALLY ARE as black women to be so disgustingly and savagely mutilated, disguised, ignored, and maligned, and how did we allow the lies of others to become our truth (if we let “them” tell it)?

I’ll tell you how.

Because we allowed it.

And in my dream, we rise up and stop it. We stop it now. And not through violence, screaming, yelling, or other less *ahem* composed ways of fighting injustice and evil. We simply tell the truth – our truth. And we no longer allow others…mainstream America…to tell our stories and own our image, projecting their distortions across the world and through the ether’s any way they darn well please. We reclaim our image; our reputations – the essence of who we are and who we were created to be.

We know who we are.

We’re educated, and if not educated, intuitive, and if not intuitive, survivors. We’re resilient. We’re beautiful; the first women of earth, from which all life grew. We’ll no longer believe lies that suggest our features disgust, yet sit back and watch while others emulate the same features they vilify through dark tans, lip injections, curly perms (kinda 80s, I know), heiny pads, cheek implants, and every type of plastic surgery known to man to replicate the shape that only the great architect could compose. Everyone wants to be a black woman, but no one wants to be a black woman?! Insanity!

We are brilliant and soothing, peaceful and spiritual. Warriors, leaders, and both mothers and, sadly, fathers of households. We run companies, marathons, nonprofit organizations, homes, and, *gasp* countries (head bowed to Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and second in Command to the POTUS, Michelle Obama). 🙂

We’re more than what we’ve allowed ourselves to be portayed as, and since perception is reality, it’s high time that the perceptions of the past were changed to reflect the reality of today.

So, in my dream, we come together as SISTERS to commune, congregate, put our brilliant minds together, and conjure up both the method and means to own and repair our image. We tell our truth, loudly. And we bite the hands of those who dare continue to tell lies to our detriment.

And if we don’t, what’s at stake? Only the mind of every young black girl on the planet, growing up in a hostile world that devalues her at every flip of the radio dial or television remote control. To have her travel to other countries and be mocked, scorned, or looked upon as a strange, unfamiliar, slightly scary creature, with otherworldly, sideshow-like curiousity. To be hired as the servant but never the master, and to never, ever, in this physical incarnation, be taken seriously, respected, and nor, God-forbid, revered.

I don’t want that for my future daughters. I don’t want that for anyone’s daughter(s). And I do not want what I see before me as the madness of today for me nor my sisters in Christ.

Because I know better. And so do you. And it’s time they knew, too.

It starts today. Please join me. We have a long, hard fight ahead of us, but our ancestors fought bigger fights, and some lost their lives in pursuit of victory. We’re made of courageous material. Tough stuff. We have what it takes…we simply need fight back.

In my dream…in the not-so-far-away reality for which we only need to firmly grasp in our minds in order to manifest on earth, we are divine! We are the chosen; the seat of femininity. That reality has been stolen from us, but we’re here to reclaim it.

Time to re-program our minds and change the perception of ourselves as individuals, sisters, lovers, mothers, children, and a species.

We are black women: Resilient. Divine. Intuitive. Stunning. Captivating. Curious. Brilliant. Striking. Awe-Inspiring. Leaders. Mothers of Humanity.

And we demand to be seen and heard for who we really are.