To Kansas and Back

A Good Time: The Soul Train Awards

2009-11-29T20:12:00.000-08:00

The younger generation might not know about the Soul Train(S.T.) show. Soul Train was the show to watch on Saturday mornings and the platform that launched careers of R&B and Soul stars, like Chaka, Jackson 5, The Gap Band..just to name a few. The host of S.T. was the dynamic and smooth Don Cornelius, he was the voice that everyone imitated and knew by soul.

But in the past years, Soul Train has taken a break and so did the Soul Train Awards. But it was BET that reawaken the black soul with The Soul Train Awards. My dear reader, BET's has a track record of having award shows and making it the laughing-stock of all awards shows and basically making it a really bad sideshow! So you know that I was hoping that BET would not screw this up. Someone heard that prayer.

The Soul Train Award pre-show was wonderful, Mr.Bentley and Claudie looked beautiful! Claudie's dress was a beautiful powder pink vision and Mr.Bentley was his dapper self.The interviews did give insight into the love of Soul Train and their favorite S.T. moments.

Then the show began!

My favorite moments:

1. The second half of Chaka tribute--Fantasie and Angie Stone tore it down. I felt like I was at the best concert/party ever.

2.Tariji and Terrance, they are so cute together and act like long time friends.

3. Most of the Charlie Wilson tribute

4. Boyz II Mens tribute to Motown--Did anybody else notice that some people were missing from the group?

5.Chrisette, loved the song and her top.

6. Johnny Gill, I don't even need to expand

7. Luda and Raheem's performance

My "Maybe should have rethought that" list:

1.Genuwine, dancing/moving and singing was the downfall of your vocals

2. The duet of "I heard it through the grapevine", who came up with that configuration? Fire them!!
3.The meshing of the voices of Kc&Jojo and Charlie Wilson, they should have practiced that more

People I am glad they did not have a set on the Award Show:
1.RIHANNA!!!
2.JAY-Z, i like him but its time to have a break from him
3.Alicia Keys, again like her but I am tired of seeing her face
4.Beyonce, Yes she sent an acceptance speech--but if i see another leotard and crotch view I will go mad

Love it or Leave It,

Carmen

Wanted: Positive Black Role Models

2009-11-16T13:54:00.000-08:00

Role Models, by definition, are people that are examples of an "ideal" end result a person wants to reach. For example: a child might aspire to be a police officer, so they look up to their local police. However, in this century there are few children that want to be everyday heroes--but want to be rappers, singers, vixens, drug dealers, players and models.

The idea of children and teens wanting to be these new "occupations" are scary!!! The idea of a young girls wanting to be a "vixen" dancers or video "models" and mimicking the dancer's movements leads me to believe there is no hope for our future black citizens.

Many of you may balk at the above statement saying that these kids will grow out of these aspirations or someone will tell them not to be like those girls. But do you really believe that?

It has been proven that children mimic what they see parents and adults do. Young, Black parents are known for sitting their children in front of the T.V. and letting the child digest harmful and negative images, so the parent can have peace. The channel may be stuck on BET or MTV, where there is a video with semi-naked women shacking and jiggling everything in the camera, crawling around on the floor or sprawled over the body of a rapper. That one video can plant an idea or set a role for both genders.

To the Female/girl watching the video it shows that to get attention you must dress in as little as possible and shake and jiggle your booty. Which can turn into the occupation of being a Stripper- don't even dress it up with the "Exotic Dancer" title, just call it what it is!

To Male/boys watching the same video it shows that to be "the man", you must have semi-naked women dancing around or on you. It can also give the impression that all women are sexual objects and not an actual person, that ideology then manifest itself into boys wanting to "pimp" girls or to become players.

The ideas of what a women or a man is, is construed through music videos and songs. The more children and teens are exposed to these images/videos and people--the more they look up to them.

For this purpose we are going to use Beyonce Knowles and 50 Cent to prove a point.

Beyonce Knowles is an international superstar and has millions of fans. She has become a "role model" for young girls everywhere, but what exactly are the young girls aspiring to be?

The image of Beyonce has been sexed up over her decade long career. In the beginning it was all about being glamorous so they can stand out from the sea of other girl groups. But as soon as Destiny's Child became a household name the hemlines began to rise, breast became more exposed and midriffs showing. When Beyonce struck out on her own--her first video showed her in a short pink sparkly dress with garter hooks and hosiery showing with flowing blonde hair. I am going to stop there and point out what is wrong with that picture:
1. There are few black people that have flowing, straight BLONDE hair! We do not have that in our genetic make up, unless you are mixed and even then you will not get STRAIGHT BLONDE HAIR.
2. Beyonce Knowles uses sex to sell her image and music. Her popularity is based off of her looks and her party music
3. Destiny's Child and Beyonce Knowles only used sexy image after they became popular.

Lastly, when Beyonce became more popular--she became more naked and her dances became more sexual. Does anybody else see a stereotype going on?

So is this model lady/women behavior? Is being semi-naked and crawling on the floor with BLONDE HAIR a positive message for our young ladies? I don't think so--but some want to aspire to be that image.

50 cent in his prime was what every black male wanted to be. He was the dude that had beautiful naked women winding and grinding around him and on him, while tossing up money making it "rain". The image of a strong, muscle heavy black man having all these women around him and tossing money up like used paper, makes him appear to be "the man". So to young men, to be the man you must have lots of disposable income and beautiful, half dressed women. The idea of lots of women, extinguishes the actions of having a meaningful relationship. Sidenote: In most rap videos, the rapper usually is wearing an urban label--if not their own label-- that is suppose to express the "vibe" of Hip Hop or it's swagger. In turn, young boys want to look fly and have "the man" swagger. They may turn to "get-rich-quick" occupations, i.e. Drug Dealers and Pimps.

Based off the 50 cents images alone--looking thuggish is cool. We send this message to our young men that wearing "thuggish" clothes is ok and will make him more desirable to young women. Do we really need our young, black men to be thugs? Do we want them to resort to violent behavior and being brutes? Is being educated and a business savvy man not cool ? But this is the type of role models we have for our young men of color. Does anybody see a set stereotypes in this image?
Artist never want to be labeled as "Role Models". They don't want the responsibility of being held to a high standard and keeping positivity in all of their ventures; it is easier to know that they can create sexual images of themselves for money and not deal with the backlash of having put out negative messages. To me they are accepting the role of being well paid whores, than being a positive force. But they do feel flattered when you tell them that people look up to them.

I know there are positive black role models out in the world, but why are they not given the limelight like black celebrities?

Many may point out that we have the highest black role model, i.e. President Obama. But he is but one positive black role model among the thousands of damaging role models. Is it a planned scheme to shut out positive black people/ images and pump in negative ones? I know many of you are saying the media is racist and love seeing black people being stereotypical. But they are not the only ones to blame-- searching and publishing positive role models is also the job of the black community. Essence and Ebony magazine can not do it alone, we must demand positivity for our future seeds, so they will stop being targets.

We must go out and research positive role models for our children, BET will not show all positive images of black people-- they are owned by Viacom, the same company that owns MTV and VH1. Viacom is ran by a group of old white men, they don't understand the impact of positive images on black children/teens or maybe they do!

Young Black people we must search out positive role model and mentors for both our children and for us. We must learn about our past and so we can become a better future. Black women we must understand the images of half-naked women and celebrities only sets us back as a group. We must teach the younger girls that having 2 or 3 kids or baby daddies is not acceptable anymore.
We must help our immediate future and self before we rise and become positive black role models. We can not depend on media or music to do it for us--positivity does not move units in music, sex and degradation for self and women do.

Love it or Leave It

Death-The constant

2009-11-13T13:03:00.000-08:00

In the movie, Ever After, Angelica Houston states a truth that will ring true forever; "The two things that are for certain is death and taxes."

Death is a very scary thought, people don't want to think about dying or how they will die. The idea of planning for your demise strikes other people as morbid and un-normal. But i guess they fail to realize that death is a very normal thing, it is the ultimate balance of the universe.

Death, unlike taxes, can not be negotiated or have a payment plan. Death is always paid in full and is always the winner. The media loves to use the phrase: " Jane Doe escapes Death", but no one really escapes death; they have just postponed it until a later date or it was meant to be a life changing event. If you have seen the Final Destination movies, you know that death never loses--but moves to the next victim,until its your turn again.

If we are all are afraid of the thought of death, then us being completely enthralled with Vampires and Immortals speaks to our hope of never dying. In America, we have this love for all things that are Immortal with a touch of danger. The love of immortality can be seen in the new "it" movies like Twilight and Newmoon. These new "it" movie embodies how we see or feel about immortal and who they are or are not.

I admit I love a good vampire movie, my top favorite is and always will be Interview with the Vampire. The plot of the story is one draw, but it was really the characters and actors that brought the story home. Sidenote: Anne Rice is the best vamp. author,period!

Everytime Vampires and Immortal come into vogue they began to look more human. The first introduction of vampires was Bram Stoker's Dracula. Stoker was the first to give the masses the physical attribute of vampires and how they behaved. The white-faced, zombie, bloodsuckers was the first images shown to the masses, when Dracula was turned into a movie. Fast Forwarding to the 1990s the image of the vampire changes to regal, other otherworldly beings that walk our earth--seducing their prey. The 90's vampires also loses the stark white of the skin and changed it to a pale white with smaller fangs. The 90s vampires also introduce the idea of "teen" vampires and children vamps. a la Claudie.

It is now 2009 and the look of vampires are still pale but more fleshy and no longer seduce people as prey, but have befriended them and made them consorts/lovers or bestfriends. The idea of vampires being otherworldly and regal have now morphed into everyday teens that hangout at locker, that just happen to be "special".

2009's immortals are more normal than they have been in past years. The luster of immortality is not as shiny, there are no longer talks of wanting to be a vampire, but just wanting to have a vampire lover.

This change of look and ideals of vampires and immortals may signal that maybe we are coming to grips with death.

The Hair has it

2009-11-10T16:24:00.000-08:00

Hair is a big part of everybody's life, especially women. Women spend major money on looking beautiful, whether she snips her hair to a pixie style or colors it red-women want to look beautiful an express themselves.

Beauty, as some people say, are in the eye of the beholder. I love the idea of changing hairstyle based on feeling, but I must say that some women do take it to the extreme--like the very large hairstyle. I use to label those larger, tacky hair sculptures as ghetto creations from someones nightmare! You can usually find ghetto creations in the deep south at most black hair salons or at hair shows in predominantly black areas. But don't assume that all black salons create ghetto creations or that all black women want these creations.

But who thought these styles were "cool" and made popular?

You might find it surprising that the start of these hair creation date back to the 1700s in France! The ghetto hair creations we know now were known as the pouf. The pouf was made out of wire, cloth, gauze, horsehair, fake hair and the lady's hair constructed on a scaffold. These poufs went from three-foot high creations to skimming the top of door frame. The poufs became so big that ladies could not get into their carriages and even their own bedchambers.

The pouf came in two varieties- Pouf au sentiment and Pouf a la circonstance.

The pout au sentiment was a hair design to celebrate a feeling the women had like if she felt like a star, the hair would depict the a shooting star in the "night" sky. However the Pouf a la Circonstance depicts an event--so if a lady was going to a boat show, she would fashion her hair as an actual boat,like a clipper ship. It makes that helicopter style seem insignificant.

But who brought the pouf to be a popular hair style? Who else but the most loved and hated Queen of all France-Maria Antoinette!!

So these tacky, hair sculptures were not just thought up by a black stylist-but by a rich,French women with time and lots of money!

So blame her for the ghetto creations that are sculptedto the heads of some of these black women.

Love it or Leave It

The Social Evolution of Halloween

2009-11-01T12:31:00.000-08:00

Halloween for many people mean they can pretend to be a different person/thing. The housewife can turn into the French maid, juvenile girls turn into their favorite Disney princesses and teens & college kids dress-up as their sexiest fantasy character.

Is it a normal progression for Halloween to go from innocent fun to sexy/skanky party time?

People may say that the fun factor of receiving candy is lost or that they are too old to go trick or treating. So naturally, going to a party is more appropriate and more "fun". I am all for fun, but I still like to chomp on a Snickers bar; but when did the lack of clothing become appropriate for a party?

I admit I went to a Halloween party last night and was dressed in very little-but when did that become ok? [Yes, I had fun and was not fondled-double points]

Is it that the older you become, being a full gowned princess is not cool or acceptable? Does that same costume make us seem too tame or a prude?

These questions are never answered, but the retail giants know that we no longer want to look like princesses or cute milk maids-but sexy nurses or lady vampires. It is at this point sexy translates to small costumes? But it seem that men still stay covered up and continue playing the fireman or Hugh Hefner.

I believe that these clothing options are given to women and men based off of societies "norms" and ideals. When females go through their fantasy years into adult life, they may realizes that the idea of magic and princes don't really exist-but sexy hunky men are real.

So in the end, its normal for adults to stray from the fantasies of fairy godmothers and salvation kisses. They then replace them with sexy fantasies of Go Go girls, flappers and sexy angels-because being innocent is no longer fun and being bad is more realistic.

It a celebration of real life's illusions, so we must party and drink the reality's truth away for one night. For one night, you no longer feel the pain of your current situation-but become someone/thing you never can be in life.

Psychology of a "day"

2009-10-29T22:29:00.000-07:00

"Have a great day" is a phrase you hear once a day, almost everyday. But was does it really mean? What is a "great day" ?

I was driving in my car and thought about the last question and many answers popped into my mind. But with those answers came questions like, " If a person has a 'great day', then what do you call a not so 'great day'? Would that be considered a 'good day'? I set out to breakdown what a "day" could be and the degrees of a "day":

1. Great Day= Three or more good things happen within 24hrs
2. Good Day= One to two good things happen within 24hrs
3. Normal Day= Nothing out of the ordinary happens
4.Bad Day= One to two bad things happen within 24hrs
5. Crappy Day= Three to five bad things happen within 24hrs
6. "Don't Ask" Day= Five or more bad things happen within 24hrs

So having this new ruler-stick-for-days, I then thought 'Do these great events just happen out of the blue or do we "make" them happen?

Some people might say that the good event we make happen by our choices, others may think its just plain luck. But I kinda think is more Karma. I know people are looking at me like, 'What you talking about Carmen?' But it just may be true-just hear me out:

Scenario: You lost $20 a week ago downtown, when you were paying the phone bill. You were really bummed because that $20 was suppose to pay for next weeks lunch. So you would say you had a 'bad day'. So fast forward two weeks- You are at the grocery store and you picked up a shopping basket. You see that the previous owner left the sales paper in the basket, you unfold it and a $50 bill floats out.

My first reaction would be to look around and slide that $50 in my pocket and keep it movin'. But there may be some who will turn the $50 in and feel like a good person. But would you say you got that $50 because of something you did? I don't think so-would you say it was luck? maybe. But given the previous week's 'bad day', you would think "Well I lost $20, but gained $50". So in the end Karma gotcha back.

So if karma can makes your days 'good' or 'bad', then how do you make sure everyday is a possible 'good' or 'great' day? Is it something we believe in our minds or a feeling? This question has many answers and may cause heated discussions and possible drink throwing. You could have a crappy day, when you just rolled out of bed. So if you have a funky attitude first thing in the morning, then you already believe you are going to have a 'bad' or 'crappy' day.

Just something to think about....

Love it Or Leave it,
Carmen