There’s something about Nina Simone remixes that are as awesome as they are incomplete. Something about her voice goes just right with trip hop productions even though it feels like there’s something missing. It’s weird. Enjoy!
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Author Archives: Ann Daramola
Beautifully Human: Willow Smith
Jada Pinkett Smith tweeted this photo over the weekend, saying, “Being a fatherless daughter these are the moments I cherish.”
When Willow Smith first hit the scene, I was working in a computer lab in South Central Los Angeles. Little girls would come in with their mothers and sit at a workstation watching YouTube videos of Lady Gaga and Rihanna over and over again.
But when Whip My Hair came out, I and the probably entire computer lab knew the lyrics to that song by the time the month was out. Here we were, a community of brown people, drawn to a little peculiar brown girl worlds beyond ours. Then, 21st Century Girl was released. A little, peculiar brown girl in the lab introduced me to the video. She would sit in the lab in the afternoons while her mother attended Photoshop workshops and direct me to which YouTube videos she wanted to watch. We were mesmerized.
What was it about Willow Smith that kept the little girls at the lab watching over and over? Was it just a matter of limited options? Or is there something else about this child of stars that was drawing us in?
The lab’s been shut down and I don’t pay much attention to gossip and celebrity sites much, so Willow Smith flew below my radar until a few weeks ago when she released “I Am Me” video. If you follow me on twitter, you’d be familiar with my tweets on spirits being free, so naturally, I was drawn to this.
As an adult, I’ve got to wonder, what in the world does a 12 year old know about seeking freedom? But then I quickly remembered my twelve-year old self and her quirky ways and I nodded. Yes, Willow. “I’m me and that’s all I can be.” (Here I clear my throat of the tears threatening to takeover.)
For little brown girls, especially those sitting in similar computer labs, watching the same Lady Gaga-Rihanna-Nicki Minaj zoo over and over again, this is a remarkable video. This shows them another way to be human by someone who looks like them and is closer to them in age. How many other artists or performers are out there being honest like this, shattering stereotypes of what a little brown girl should do, look like, be? Not many.
Mdotwrites sent me the link again on twitter last week, asking “How does a human being turn herself into a brand without becoming an object?” Indeed, we can’t be blind to the fact that Willow Smith is selling a brand. It’s capitalism, after all, that allows her family to be such stars.
But this brand cries and makes me cry. In the Red Table Talks exclusive below, Willow talks about how much she loves her mother and grandmother in between big, heaving, baby-girl sobs. It’s beautifully human.
What do you think of Willow Smith’s evolution happening before our eyes? How do you relate to her, if at all? What do you think of her as an alternative for little girls to look up to?
The Beautiful World of Daniel José Older’s ‘Salsa Nocturna’
I first ‘met’ Daniel José Older through his blog, View from the Crossroads of Life and Death, where he writes about the behind the scenes work of paramedics. From the posts you get a sense of his humor and his deep understanding of the space between living and dying and the moments that lead up to them. His work as a paramedic is important as gives life and texture to his fiction.
And let me tell you about his fiction! Salsa Nocturna, his collection of short stories, was released today, but I got to read (and hear!) a few excerpts from it way before I even knew Daniel was on twitter as @djolder. One story, “The Collector,” is narrated by Daniel José Older himself on Shadowcast, and that was the one that I found first.
Daniel was generous enough to let a few good people read the book beforehand and I got the chance to devour it right this spring. Yes, devour. For a Brown girl from the future with Yoruba and Christian heritage living at the margins of a crazy, crazy world, ghost stories are right up my alley.
The best part, for me, is how Daniel allows these ghosts to tell their own stories through their various vantage points. Anchored by the story of one Carlos Delacruz, a half dead, half alive being, Daniel writes us through a world that exists just beyond our physical eyes. I get all goosebumpy just thinking about it! It’s epic.
When I got to meet Daniel in person this past May, he told me he’s never actually seen a ghost. Nevertheless! I would say he tells a really, really good ghost story or two. Or, you know, thirteen!
Celebrating Johanna Chase’s Beautiful Music
I have had the pleasure of watching Johanna Chase perform live many times now. Every time, I’m blown away by the force of music and lyrics and melody this woman is. I’ve had to serve as a judge for her a couple of those occasions and I found it difficult to NOT gush about how amazing she is.
She’s been at this musical life for a long time now and with her Kickstarter campaign she’s hoping to take it to the next level. Check out the campaign video below and listen to her music and see her perform over at JohannaChase.com.
Spectra Speaks: A Beautiful Love Warrior Empowering African Women
Spectra Speaks is a powerful woman. I’ve had the honor of being in the presence of her passion online, via skype and in person. This woman cannot not be contained!
The next phase of her life’s journey takes her to southern Africa where she will be working with several women’s LGBT organizations to leverage social media to tell their stories. This mission has Afrolicious love written all over it and we’d love to see you all support her as she does this work.
Spectra’s campaign, Africans for Africa, is on IndieGogo where she’s raised just over half of her goal of $7500. Support the love and passion Spectra will surely bring with her on this project!