Category Archive » My Writings
This page contains 12 entries posted under the "My Writings" category.
White mothers, Black nannies
Chances are you've seen this: black woman, young/old, pushing an expensive stroller that houses a white child, who more often than not, isn't her own. In growing numbers, the child belongs to a white upper class couple who resides in one of America's hip neighborhoods.
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Sure, you've heard of Ice Cube, whose one of the most active Black film producers in Hollywood these days, and all the other A-list actors who've naturally spawned off their own production companies, but there are other less well-known producers out there, helping to fuel the entertainment machine called Hollywood. Here are ten (individual and teams) black film producers who toil behind the scenes so that we can sit back, relax, and be entertained.
My Mic Sounds Nice
Last night was that type of time. I screened the forthcoming BET original music documentary: My Mic Sounds Nice: A Truth about Women and Hip Hop. Directed and executive produced by independent filmmaker Ava DuVernay, the documentary chronicles the history of female MCs from hip-hop's early days with the likes of Sequence to present day, when popular media suggests that the only MC left standing is Nicki Minaj.
What Might James Baldwin Say?
James Baldwin was a man beyond his time, what would he have had to say about America today? While his ideas may have evolved if he was still alive, many of his assertions and conclusions remain relevant, poignant, and easily applicable to many of our current affairs.
Earlier this month, Casey Gane-McCalla, a journalist, rapper, comedian and Facebook friend, declared on his FB status: "I am an Ivy league college educated journalist with no criminal background...still when I hear this song...I think I'm Big Meech." The song that Gane-McCalla refers to is B.M.F, a single from Rick Ross's fourth album, Teflon Don which dropped Tuesday. The song's considered a heater. The summer's hip-hop anthem.
Recently, the Los Angeles Times, published a somewhat grim article suggesting that black-oriented films without Tyler Perry attached will struggle harder these days to find a studio home. Centered on the success (or lack thereof) of Fox Searchlight, an outlet known for "urban" films like Notorious and I Think I Love My Wife, the article reasons that the weak box office performance of these movies and the recently-released Just Wright is pushing the studio (with the implication that other studios have or will follow) to abandon black-themed films.
Taking It to the Next Level
Sometimes ideas come from the least likely places. Ask Tracey Ferguson. She conceived JONES magazine, a high fashion publication aimed at affluent Houston women of color, during a book club meeting where she and girlfriends gathered to talk lifestyle.
When Bootstraps Aren't Enough
When I was in college, I put my father out. A recovering drug addict, he was living with me and my sister while he ''got back on his feet.'' My father's time there was supposed to be brief. Three months morphed into too damn many. After coming home from another day busting my butt working and attending school to see my unemployed father lying on the sofa, it was time for him to go.
Sunlight Gazing
I'm not your typical watering hole type of girl. These locales usually don't have any savory white wines and the surroundings are often, well, hole-like. What I am, on a good day, is a writer, who by default is also rather antisocial. I frequent places that act as an office during the day and moonlight as a hangout where I can still write until the place closes.
Their Eyes Were Watching...
Their Eyes Were Watching isThe Root's new culture blog written by some fabulous black women including yours truly. TEWW is a conversation among women, a black version of The View, if you will, about TV, theatre, music, art and celebrity hysteria. We'll touch on a bit of everything: from Zora to Zane, True Blood to Tiny & Toya, and Jay-Z to Jill Scott. So turn off your tube, get to know our personalities and see the world of arts and entertainment through Their Eyes...
It took me years to actually claim the title: writer. Many of us become published writers, see our names in print, start collecting actual checks. And still, we can't say it out loud: I am a writer.
The Beautiful Struggle
Ta-Nehisi Coates begins his story in fear. It's 1980s Baltimore, downtown, Charles Street, no less or more dangerous than now. He and his older brother, whom he affectionately calls Big Bill, are about to get their manhood trampled by an eager crew from Murphy Homes trying to reconfirm their own. Reputation precedes their adversaries. They "split backs and poured in salt."...
Felicia Pride on ReNEWal
BackList Shop
Resources to inspire your inner creative (that includes you too, educators!)... (read more)
Creative Entreprenuers! Spark Your Fire
THE FIRE STARTER SESSIONS is: an e-book meets video transmission of acumen and love. You: are likely sitting on an empir... (read more)
THE MESSAGE Hip-Hop & Literarcy Enrichment Program
Order Your Signed Copy of THE MESSAGE today! Educational institutions around the country--including high schools, out-of... (read more)
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