Is She Back?

I almost shed a tear when I saw this the other day; reminiscent of my childhood...hope she's here to stay!

Natasha Jane Richardson, R.I.P.

I only know her from The Parent Trap (1998) with the then sweet Lindsay Lohan. She was an English actress, daughter of Vanessa Redgrave and Tony Richardson. Sister to Joely Richardson. She came from a long line of famous English actors and actresses, and held her own on various stages.

At the time of her death, she was married to Liam Neeson, with whom she had two young boys. She has been a longtime support of AIDS causes, as her father died from AIDS-related causes in 1991.

Her death highlights the seriousness of closed head injury and traumatic brain injuries (TBI) in general, and how followup medical is ALWAYS necessary after and head collision. However minor it seems, even if there is no blood and no immediate sign of distress, PLEASE do not overlook how deadly this is. Brain injury is very high on the list of the cause of death of very young children (if not on the top of the list, actually) and if death is not the result, serious neurological damage can result days, weeks, months, and years later.

Caution first--->CNN expert report on traumatic brain injuries

Oh, and In Case You DIDN'T Know...

I

BLEED

SYRACUSE ORANGE.

Sweet 16 game tonight against Oklahoma, 7:27pm Eastern Standard Time. CBS.
Be there.

Orthorexia Nervosa...Whuuuuuuuut?

Now, we've all heard of Anorexia Nervosa, characterized as a psychiatric illness; an eating disorder that typically manifests in extreme low body weight and body image distortion with a fear of gaining weight. Individuals with AN usually starve, purge, exercise excessively or use diet pills or diuretics.

And we've all heard of Bulimia Nervosa, too. This is also an eating disorder, however it's characterized mainly binge eating and purging, fasting, using laxatives, enemas and diuretics. However, with BN, there is not typically a low body weight (because of the binge eating). There is a purgingin type and a non purging type of BN.

These two most common eating disorders are typically found in White middle to upper class America, but watch out folks. Eating disorders are DEFINITELY on the rise in minority populations, mainly Black women, as well as in straight and gay men and athletes(thought about these populations for a dissertation on this topic). Eating disorders are absolutely no joke, and are on the top of my list of scariest mental illnesses. Forget a schizophrenic or psychotic client, I'm terrified of working with this population clinically.

Binge Eating is another eating disorder, characterized by recurrent patterns of intense and uncontrollable binge eating, without the purging afterwards. This is very easy to hide, and most individuals do not even realize that they are suffering from the disorder. Overeating is also thrown into the mix with Binge Eating.

Now, there is another eating disorder that many do not know about, but that has impacted Western culture most recently and is steadily and freakishly on the rise out here.

ORTHOREXIA NERVOSA. This eating disorder, (not yet in the Psychological Bible / Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV-TR) is characterized by excessive focus on eating healthy foods, to the point where the individual restricts their diet so much that they can eventually die from malnutrition. There has only been one known case of death from Orthorexia Nervosa, but I'm sure there shall be more as we take on this health food kick. People suffering from this disorder try to avoid various types of "bad" things in many foods like fat, carbs, starches, protein, preservatives, etc. it very much resembles Obsessive Compulsive Disorder in its strict adherence to rules and discipline and the overconcern with eating healthy foods.

First Black Disney Princess!

Anika Noni Rose. Hailing from CT, is a Tony award winning singer and actress. She attended FAMU, earning a BA in theatre, then studied Drama at the American Conservatory Theatre in San Fran. She performed on stage most notably in Footloose and Caroline, or Change.

In 2006, she starred in Dreamgirls as Lorrell Robinson and is scheduled to appear in the upcoming films Just Add Water, Razor, and....in Disney's upcoming animated feature THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG, in which she will be the FIRST BLACK DISNEY PRINCESS EVER (Tiana)!! This is huge y'all. HUGE! She also starred alongside Jills Scott in The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency...


Keep an eye on her...


courtesy of Wikipedia and IMDB

Get It Together Ladies.

I haven't decided whether this will make my "next buy" list...Mr. Harvey tends to rub me the wrong way sometimes in the morning...but I WILL admit that sometimes he's right on the money!!

If you've read it, or know more about it, do tell.....

Us vs. Them

On the topic of race and ethnicity, [Aaron] McGruder said that to him, Obama is not black because he is not a descendant of a slave. “The person who is one of us in the White House is Michelle Obama and her momma,” [Aaron] McGruder said.


(Aaron McGruder is the creator of the popular political extremist satire, "The Boondocks")




What do you think?? Are we really still in the place of the "us, them" mentality? With the OBAMAS, of all people?

Stolen Women: Reclaiming Our Sexuality

(pic courtesy of Amazon)

"Gail Elizabeth Wyatt's Stolen Women explores how body identities are often shaped by deeply rooted myths and cultural stereotypes. Tracing black women's body images and sexuality from childhood to adolescence to adulthood, Wyatt powerfully explains in her introduction that "to the degree that we allow our sexual self-image to be defined by others, we will remain, as our ancestors were, stolen women, captives not of strangers but of the past, and of our own unexamined experiences. The challenge we face is to see ourselves not as others see us or want us to be seen, but as we are, as we were, and as we want to be."

Wyatt, a Ph.D. and professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral science at UCLA, explores the origins and hazards of these images through a psychiatric lens. Her use of case studies and behavioral research puts a human face on how these myths affect the development of young black women, and her careful analysis breaks down behavioral trends clearly and concisely. Black women are often seen in opposing sexual terms, either as completely nonsexual or perpetually sexually available. Wyatt fills in the gap between these two dangerous stereotypes, unpacking childhood messages about sex and exploring issues like how girls learn to be "ladies." She encourages all "stolen women" to regain control over their bodies from these external forces, allowing women to apply her work to their own lives and giving them the tools to break free, refusing to believe these painful myths are unchangeable." -- Amy Wan


So, I haven't finished this piece yet, but close to it. Dr. Wyatt looks at Black female sexuality from a historical, cultural and contemporary perspective. And...she does it RIGHT! Not only was I doing a lot of head nodding--I was writing in the margins, taking notes, talking about it with colleagues, friends, etc. This book has touched me. Similarly to Shifting (which I reviewed in an earlier post, Stolen Women looks at the lives of Black women today and how we have been affected by our past. how we have been raped, brutalized, exploited and stereotyped; and how we are still fighting this today.

As you may know, I'm real big on sex. But more importantly, I believe in having a healthy sexuality that you are able to express with whomever, whether this be through words, art, music, swag, or the act itself. Your sexuality is your own, and while people in your life do sometimes discourage it, and it may feel like it's been taken away from you due to low self esteem or trauma, but you own it! Big or small, short or tall, you are a sexual being, and whether you are sexually active or not, your sexuality is always a force to wreckon with, once you learn how to affirm it properly.

People will always try to label you, and as black women, we tend to be labeled as either promiscuous or asexual, never an in between combo of confident in ourselves and mature with our sexuality. So it IS our job to use it, and use it well!

Oh, and how awesome is it that Dr. Gail Wyatt a sex therapist?!?! Ahh, my idol. (for real though, I definitely plan on having a specialty along the lines)

Check this great read out ladies (black or white); I guarantee you'll learn about yourself, your peers, and your sexual power!

Shifting

"Based on the African American Women's Voices Project, Shifting reveals that a large number of African American women feel pressure to compromise their true selves as they navigate America's racial and gender bigotry. Black women "shift." They change the expectations they have for themselves. Or they alter their outer appearance. They modify their speech. They shift 'white' as they head to work in the morning and 'black' as they come back home each night. They shift inward, internalizing the searing pain of the negative stereotypes that they encounter daily. And sometimes they shift by fighting back."

"With deeply moving interviews, poignantly revealed on each page, Shifting is a much-needed, clear, and comprehensive portrait of the reality of African American women's lives today."

I began reading this book last week for my dissertation, and not only is it informative, it is revealing, applicable, and one of the most powerful pieces on Black Women that I have yet to come across. From the "lily complex" to the "sisterella complex," from black sex to black relationships, from interracial dating to divorce to sex, to single motherhood and the church, to balancing a career, Black men, and Black children, this book just TAKES YOU THERE. I loved it! And plan on using this as a resource not only for my book, but for how I love my life.

(click the pic)

A Special Thanks...

"When Ursa Corregidora is five years old and questions the truth of her great-grandmother's stories, her great-grandmother tells her, "I'm leaving evidence. And you got to leave evidence too. And your children got to leave evidence. And when it come time to hold up the evidence, we got to have evidence to hold up. That's why they burned all the papers, so there wouldn't be no evidence to hold up against them." Ursa's great-grandmother was raped and then used as a whore by her white slave owner, Corregidora, as was her daughter after her. Ursa had a black father, but her skin more closely resembles the color of Corregidora, the man who is both her grandfather and great-grandfather. Ostracized by darker-skinned women who resent the added value her light skin gives her among black men, and unable to trust any man, black or white, because of the stories she was raised on, Ursa Corregidora sings the blues and fights both the past and the present to maintain mental and physical autonomy. Internal monologues, dreams and remembered stories intermingle with present-day reality until it becomes difficult for the reader or Ursa to draw the lines between them, a task made doubly difficult when black men echo the proprietary attitudes (and sometimes words) of dead slave owners. Gritty and full of pain, a combination of snarl and moan, Corregidora presents a searing denunciation of racism and sexism in both white and black communities." - Erica Bauermeister

"Corregidora is the most brutally honest and painful revelation of what has occurred, and is occurring, in the souls of Black men and women."— James Baldwin

Now this book, which I read my senior year of college in my Black Women Writers course, touched me in so many ways, in so many places I never knew I could be moved...to tears, to joy, to anger, to happiness, to ACTION ~ a call for change for the Black woman, wherever she is.

a SPECIAL THANK YOU to Ms. Janis A. Mayes! You made it tough, but you DEFINITELY made it worth it!