World AIDS Day 1988-2010…have you seen progression?
Today marks the 22nd anniversary of World AIDS Day. First established in 1988 by the World Health Organization to increase awareness, this day has become a stagnant effort to few, one day of charity recognition for some, and an ever-changing effort to cure the world for others. Where do you fall?
13th Annual AAWIC FILM FESTIVAL: Promised Land documentary
This past weekend, I attended the 13th Annual African American Women in Cinema Film Festival in New York, a festival that honors women of African, Latin, and Asian descent throughout the Diaspora. Honorees for the weekend included Lisa Cortes (executive producer of Precious), Grace Blake (Silence of the Lambs), and Ntozake Shange (poet, filmwright, and writer of For Colored Girls Who Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf). The first night kicked off with an awards presentation for Blake and Cortes as well as the viewing of a new documentary called Promised Land, directed by Yoruba Richen.
FREE THEM ALL: Political prisoners
Outside of the sensationalism that we call entertainment including The Real Housewives of “insert city here” to washed up celebrities having a reality TV show, there are political prisoners fighting for equality of their people and fighting for us. How much do we hear about their efforts? How much do we care? Something’s wrong with this picture.
A review of “For Colored Girls” by a WOMAN of color…
I saw For Colored Girls this past weekend and left with mixed emotions. Mixed emotions because of the black woman plight stereotypes that always seem to be prevalent in his films.
Ntozake Shange’s choreopoem is one of race and feminism, spoken through each woman [indicative of her color], a story of pain, anger, courage, self-love, and more. If solely looking at the interpretation of her work to the big screen, he did a good job of keeping her language in there. He picked some notable actresses such as Whoopi Goldberg, Phylicia Rashad, and Loretta Devine to hold these characters down (which they did) but it would’ve been nice to see some fresh faces.
Tenderroni Love…
I shield…I block…I fight…fight to protect my emotional vulnerability and insecurity. The truth is I fall easily but my actions would never show it. This has become the story of my life, in my relationships and romantic interests. On top of my emotional immaturity, I had my checklist. Yes that woman’s infamous “what she wants in a man” checklist but it wasn’t too demanding at leat I didn’t think so. Being the woman that I AM, I knew what I wanted and didn’t want, one of them NOT being a younger man. Keeping an open mind, I made an exception to my mental checklist…a check I wasn’t prepared to cash later. He was three years younger than me and I almost didn’t give him a chance. Why? Well in my eyes, I had two degrees, was getting ready to move to pursue my career goals full time, and didn’t want to commit to anyone. Those weren’t legitimate reasons NOT to give him a chance but I did a great job of convincing myself otherwise. I gave “tenderroni” the benefit of the doubt by seeing where his mind was.
 |
| R'ebel Favorites |
