Nope

It's not this

Biracial blues.

I just read an interesting article over at "The Grio" from a writer named Jessy Schuster. It deals with her biracial heritage and what she perceives as the wrong way to approach the subject.

"My French accent has always been source of questions in Miami. Despite my 11 years of residency in the so called "melting pot" city, I have never spent one day in Miami without answering the "where are you from' question. It became my daily routine but as the years passed by I also realized that another question has been thrown at me even before I started talking.

'What are you?', or 'what is your ethnic background?' has become the new rite of passage for any social event I am attending. At the beginning, I was amused by the question as I felt empowered by a mission to educate people on mixed offspring, but the usual reaction I get when I explain that my father is French "from France, and not Haiti", and that "my mother is black from Guadeloupe, a French island in the Caribbean" is what started to really aggravate me.

Mixed children are born with no real same combination of genes and features. I have three sisters and we all display different skin tones, body type and facial features. United Colors of Benetton could have hired us for their international billboards ads. I would have been the light skin woman with kinky hair and a muscular body and prominent behind!

Everyone asked me the question, blacks, white, and Latinos among others, but there is a difference between white people and black people asking the question. The first group will have that surprised look as I announce the "French" part of my heritage, then a high pitch "really?" usually escapes their mouth as they start a cross examination with questions such as "not Haiti? Or a Brazilian background? Are you sure?"

The need to discern where the black features on my face or body come from is always stronger than just accepting my answer. I guess every French person should come dress with a beret and a baguette at hand while singing "La vie en rose" and having Pepé le Pew on a leash.

This is exactly what bothers me when the question comes from a white person. Most of the time, they look disappointed when I explain that I am a mixed child born from a black woman and a white man, as they were expecting a more exotic and interesting explanation.

When I usually return the favor, they often look surprised and simply answer " I'm from here" or "I'm from New York." I have yet encountered someone who would explain "My mother's family came from Poland, and my father's side fled England for a better life in the State, and that is why I am white with green eyes!" So if they don't feel obligated to give me their geological tree story when I ask them, why should I?" [Article]  

I think I see where you are coming from Jessy, but I never get questions about my Maroon and Jamaican heritage when people meet me, (except if I break out into deep patois) so I can't really relate.

Jessy's blog.

LOVE#6 - WHAT LIES BENEATH - MERT ALAS AND MARCUS PIGGOTT - KATIE GRAND - 2011

WITH
FETISH and DISCIPPLINE
UPPERMOST IN OUR MINDS.
BUT THEN, AS IS SO OFTEN
THE WAY WITH FASHION,
WE FOUD OURSELVES REACTING
AGAINST THE MORE OBVIOUS ELEMENTS,
OUR INSTINCTS DRAWING US
INSTEAD TO THE MORE
INNOCENT, ROMANTIC
PARTS OF THE COLLECTIONS
AS OUR ATTENTION TURNED TO THE QUESTION
OF WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS
FOR NEXT SEASON.



The Candle-buds opened their wide white flowers ;
their scent spilled out into the air and took
possession of the island...
Soft, romantic fashion with dangerous
undercurrents in a hard-edged realm of fantasy.
Made in Pinewood, England

A Debt Ceiling Sunrise; Vultures and Crows in the Heartland are Good

For some reason, political sausage making is on my MIND. The pets woke me early to this:  A Debt Ceiling Sunrise

Whether in the parking lot

at menards or on the roads of the flint hills,

the birds of kansas seemed to be mocking the silliness of humans. Projection? Yes.

Although i have some nice Vultures (e.g., HERE and HERE and here and HERE) today i got up close enough to grab a kiss.

 Sweetie!

Can i help you?

curious vulture CLICK TO ENLARGE

vulture face detail

--to get this close,
dangle a house or senate plan for fiscal responsibility--
the dead- on- arrival- stench will attract the bird...

kansas turkey vulture

posing for the dollar bill

got any carry-on?  bedumdum

The pics are large files although i reduced many, from a
canon sx30powershotIS.
feel free to click on pic to print or view very large.
my vulture Videos HERE:  /vultures-can-dance-in-kansa-wind.html
The CROW was alone
        and black against the hot hot parking lot.

walking on the Debt Ceiling

more debt ceiling vultures HERE
salon./how_to_make_money_

That's all for now. Might hibernate for a few...

The Right To Complain

"Im old, I'm poor, I'm out of work, and I'm in debt, and therefore I have a right to complain." William Cuffay, Chartist radical, 1788-1870.

DIARY LYLYBYE - SHE'S IN PARTIES - 2011

"What a Feeling!"

"A day after a crowd of violent youths roamed through Center City and randomly attacked two men, the city's top enforcement officials decried the assaults and business leaders called for a stepped-up police presence.

"We will not tolerate marauding, destructive youth terrorizing our city," said District Attorney Seth Williams. "We will prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law, and we are working with the police to find ways to prevent these occurrences."

Four people, including an 11-year-old boy, who took part in the attacks face charges with assault and conspiracy.

They were among a crowd of young people who swarmed the sidewalk at Juniper and Walnut streets about 9:15 p.m. Friday and pounced on a 33-year-old man, punching and kicking him. Police say the attack appeared to be random.
Moments later, at 15th and Sanson, a mob descended on a 59-year-old man and kicked, punched and beat him. This attack, too, was random, police said.
Both men were treated and released at Thomas Jefferson University Hopital.[sic]"[Source]

Flash mobs are nothing new. They have been as popular as cheese steaks here in Philly this year, but at some point we have to get on these [so called] parents a little bit.

The parent [or parents] of that eleven year old ought to have their parenting license taken away. They should also be fined and be made to pay for whatever damage their little domestic terrorist caused our fair city.

The po po has a task force; the DA's office has a task force; and merchants in our fair city are taking these incidents quite seriously. Everyone seems to be serious except the parents of these little monsters. Why? For the record, when you parents do get involved, the results are always good.

And let me get the racial angle out of the way with this issue right now, because I know that it will invariably come up: Yes, these little terrorist are usually young and black, and yes, they usually attack -mostly- white people going about their business.

But this is not because they are out looking for white people per se, this is because white people just so happen to be the ones frequenting the areas that are targeted. There is no plan for a secret racial takeover by way of out of control urban youths. Just bad parents who shouldn't be parents in the first place failing to control their damn kids. So relax my white friends, it's all good. Bad parenting is not limited to one particular race.

Finally, did the permed one sell out to Comcast?

"Al Sharpton is back under the mainstream microscope for a series of conflicting interests regarding his co-sign of the Comcast/NBC merger. The Daily Beast claims that Sharpton’s endorsement, which makes him the first “major” black leader to offer one, came with handsome payoffs both for Sharpton and his primary employer – Radio One.

“The Daily Beast has already reported that just months after Sharpton played a pivotal role in pushing the merger, he became a regular substitute host and appears now to be in line for a fulltime anchor post on Comcast’s MSNBC. As awkward as that coincidence is, how about a conflict of interest he did not disclose in his letters to the Federal Communications Commission – or his other pro-merger activities?” the Beast asks.

The site claims that Sharpton cheered on the merger when it had already paid dividends to Radio One and its affiliate TV One. After the merger, Radio One’s ownership of TV One rose to 50.8 percent, a conveniently timed stock transfer that Comcast admitted to facilitating. Radio One/TV One also became part of the basic cable package in Chicago and Miami after the deal, underlining the benefits that sprung from the companies close ties with each other.

“While Radio One is the largest single shareholder in TV One, Comcast has been its partner since TV One’s inception in 2004 and, until recently, held almost as much stock in the television network, 34 percent, as Radio One, 36.8 percent. In fact, Comcast’s role in the launch of this network, which targets a national black audience, was cited repeatedly by the company when questions were raised about its diversity track record during the yearlong debate about this merger,” the Beast reports.

So not only did Sharpton publically attach himself to a controversial cause that has already indirectly paid him for doing so, he virtually signed away the rights for the media giant to tokenize those African-American news mediums. He has been a much bigger asset politically than he has as a host for both his primary employer and his (possibly) future employer, Comcast/NBC. And this is the man who will soon become a trusted “journalist.”' [Source]

Say it ain't so, Reverend.










      





 

Ciao Venice!

This lookbook is such an inspiration to me! I love these 70's style hats, the skirts, the ponchos and generally venice!

(via fashiongonerogue)