Goodbye MCA + KISS...by pemora

For personal + professional reasons, I have been thinking a lot about challenges + loss. Mostly I wonder about my own reserve of strength, flexibility + patience, traits that seem to belong to a greater person than me. Because I like to keep UR a bit more superficial than this, I wanted to write about the recent departure of 2 icons in my life -- MCA and 98.7 KISS FM.

Why would I even compare a person to a radio station?

MCA's life cannot be reduced to the span of a station. But the void left in the music world really must be acknowledged.

It hit me, this morning, that we will never ever again see the Beastie Boys perform. Remember how every couple of years, very randomly, they would show up to the MTV Awards? And regardless of what they performed or how they did, I would always step back and say, "damn, they rocked." I had this long-standing dream to convince 2 other girlfriends to do Intergalatic with me at Hip-Hop Karaoke. During college, whenever I felt particularly homesick, I often found myself reaching for a Beastie cd. They're sound, they're lyrics, they're antics, felt so much like NYC to me. Hello Nasty and The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill were the soundtracks to my junior year.

I am still confused about the disappearance of 98.7 KISS FM. I can clearly remember getting dressed for middle school, attempting to create the perfect side ponytail, listening to freestyle music on KISS. At the time, my cousin was a back-up dancer for Cynthia and a number of the artists had made their way to my childhood home. It was exciting to hear their songs on the radio and I loved the sounds that these Latinos were creating. Later, I listened to the 'friend in my head' Wendy Williams. When I returned to NYC from college, I often tuned in to KISS for some good ol' R&B.



These losses are pretty darn sad to me. I am not even sure that we (or maybe just me) have fully realized how big a loss we are experiencing.

Nike Dunk x Liberty....by pemora

Both Mother's Day + my birthday are coming up in a couple of weeks. I have been feeling blah about the whole thing because of 2 reasons:

1. I am turning a boring age. After 21, birthdays should only be celebrated like college reunions -- at the 5 year mark. I am a year before a 5 year mark, so it is just boring and whack.

2. The one item that I wanted as a gift from someone (ahem, paj1, ahem) is now completely sold out. Sing it, Justin Timerblake, gone.

But now THESE Nike Dunk x Liberty lovelies came across my internets today and I am suddenly excited again. I want need these in my life. Happy mommyhood/birthday to me?

Heavy Rotation [videos]...by pemora

Before you watch these videos, you must understand -- brown people love Hall + Oates. Love. I think we like to claim the dude with the mustache as being Latino. Anyway, the only group we love more than Hall + Oates is Tony, Toni, Tone, hence our obsession with Raphael Saadiq. So, enjoy. I have been enjoying these two videos a lot this week!

Injustice Sheriff....by missDTM

It's been a long time, we shouldn't left you...blah blah blah. We know, we know, the 3 of you who read us -- we haven't posted in a hot minute. Well, we are introducing what we hope will be a weekly installment by missDTM. She is going to be our resident Injustice Sheriff (or, other insert-cool-name-here)...she will search the internets for the really jacked up ish and post it here. Because, haters need more fuel for hate. If you see something, say something, so drop a line to missDTM or our facebook page if you spot some really foul nonsense out there in the world.

Please tell me i'm living in the twilight zone

it's been a while since i've blogged and i have to admit it's because my heart is heavy. i just cannot get 2 things out of my mind:

1. trayvon martin

2. amandla stenberg and the hunger games

the injustice and racism of it all makes me sad and angry. it bothers me. i want to scream at the top of my lungs about how fucked up our society truly is and how disturbed i feel about the whole thing. it makes me sick. and it should make you feel sick as well.

a young black teenager is shot and no one is held responsible or charged.

a movie (based on a book) is released and people are "surprised/angry/upset" that a character is not white, even though the book clearly states that she has dark brown skin.

seriously?

i wish someone would tell me that i am living in the twilight zone right now because i'm not understanding how it is 2012 and this is really our reality. what bothers me more is the fact that these are both young people we are talking about. young people. what kind of damage is this doing to other young people in this country? what are the messages that are being spread? how is any of this acceptable?!

i fear for the children of my friends, plus all of our future children (if/when we all have children). will we ever live in a time where the color of our skin does not impact the generalizations people make about us? will non-white characters be valued as much as their white counterparts? will we ever be equal?

i worry that the answers to all of these questions, thoughts and ideas in my head will forever be "no." but i am (and will always need to be) optimistic - otherwise i will make myself crazy or never have children of my own. i know that i tend to think "kumbaya - we're all equal - let's celebrate our differences and accept each other as humans" but i have to believe that this is possible. i still hope that one day i will not cry over another young person senselessly shot or feel upset about the nasty and negative things people say about a character in a book because of the color of her skin (btw - if you really thought that about rue, then your reading comprehension is off). 

i still hope to one day not worry about racial injustice and its repercussions.

i don't even care how idealistic that sounds. 

some articles/blogs you should read (because i'm not all that articulate when i'm upset and think there are a lot of other people who are):

racist hunger games fans are very disappointed

i see white people: hunger games and a brief history of cultural whitewashing

racist tweets from "fans" of the hunger games...

walking while black: the killing of trayvon martin

the value of a black male life in america

what happens after the hoodies?

gonslaves: what do i tell my son?

What My Sis Wears...by pemora

Recently, I have decided to give away a large portion of my closet. I'm not sure why or when or to who, but I just need to do it. Luckily, I have a very stylish sister (who was recently accepted at a certain grad school that rhymes with Garvard. Shhh...it is a secret) who is willing to be a foster parent to some of my favorite items. Even if this means I will never see said items again. As in, these kick-a$$ shoes.

Tupac...the musical? by pemora

I have not fully wrapped my brain around a musical about Tupac. But, alas, it is happening. Therefore, all of you MUST audition.