Reflection of an Artist: The Definition of Love...

I was at work the other day sitting at my desk when I heard one of the youth from the organization ask a question, "What is the definition of love?" It was weird because for some reason or another I was so moved by that question, and I started to ponder, what is the definition of love?

I believe that love has an infinite number of definitions and everyone I'm sure has their own ideas about it, but here's the dictionaries definitions of Love:

LOVE:–noun
1.a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person.
2.a feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection, as for a parent, child, or friend.

I believe that love is so very powerful and it's something you feel deep down inside of you. You feel like your on this high and it's hard for you to swallow because you know that love has hit you hard and it's a responsibility that your not ready to take on. It's almost like a child in a sense. You have to nurture it and be very carefull with it. It's something that matures as it grows, you won't always agree with it but it's something you kind of deal with. Love is a very difficult thing, so difficult that it's hard to truly define it. What's your definition of love?

Mood: Romantic

Eutopia Moments:Do You!

Although there are some people who are absolutely content with the lives they live their are others who would perfer to live it another way. But let's face it, we all have the desire to find true love and settle down with that special person and "live happily ever after". For some of us this desire can be very strong and can become even stronger as we find ourselves at certain points and circumstances in our lives. Maybe it's at a wedding when you find yourself wishing it were you walking down the isle or at a baby shower as the happy mother to be opens up all of her little presents fit for a little baby. You begin to comtemplate how your life would be if you could too share in this joy of becoming a wife or a mother, or a husband and a father or what ever it is that you desire to be.

Some people become so driven by this desire that they rush into certain "situations" to fill this void, which wounds up becoming "more than they've bargined for" if you will. We settle for whatever saying things like "it's better than nothing" or "im getting older not younger" and we rush our lives away because we feel we have something to prove thinking things will get better with time. This ultimately set us up for failure and before we know it we're digging a bigger and bigger hole for oursleves because we thought that these were the things that would make us happy.

I'm here to say as a young women dealing with some of the same "issues" forget about all that whopla and DO YOU. Think about all the time you have for "you" that you wouldn't otherwise get having to deal with kids or a spouse. Think about this moment in which you find yourself right now putting aside all the "what ifs" and live in the now. Treat yourself to an invigorating spa treatment, plan a vacation, do all the things you couldn't possibly have done had you not been young, sexy and single no matter what age you are. Don't dwell on the things you don't have and make sure to put you as your top piority. Take the time out for you and all of your hearts desires will fall into place. It's only natural for one to feel this way. That's what make us decendents of Adam who too longed for the companionship of another being. All that's fine and dandy but for now just DO YOU!

Mood: Euphoric

"We tend to forget that happiness doesn't come as a result of getting something we don't have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have.”

~Frederick Keonig

Reflections of an Artist:Text Messaging (Sigh)

Is anyone else annoyed with text messaging? Maybe it's just me but this texting thing can become way too stressful at times. Don't get me wrong I love to text (sometimes), especially when its your only means of escape from work or a boring staff meeting, or maybe you don't care to talk, yet you crave the social interaction of a friend or loved one. And I'm sure we can all agree that texting has gotten us through some crazy situations LOL, (ladies yall know what I talking about). But when did texting replace a good old fashion phone conversation. Everything seems like it's done via text and I mean everything including "text sex" yes people "text sex". I mean there's nothing wrong with that, I may or may not have partaken in a little text sex myself here and there but the problem I'm having with texting is how it can be so misconstrued.

Have you ever gotten a text from someone perhaps a potential mate/crush or someone you haven't spoken to in a while and really could not decipher or decode what the mood or tone was behind the text. You really want to call the person but your not sure if you should for fear that maybe mistaking for a nuisance. So you text back and forth making sure to keep sweet and simple and the whole time your have no idea what his or she is really thinking. Here's an example:

Step:1 Read the following text in a friendly manner from both parties.

You: Hey wassup?

Them: Hey!

You: haven't spoken to u in a while:)

Them: yeah!

You: what r u doin?

Them: Chillen, u?

You: nothin much, chillen!

5 minute pause

You: whats nu?

Them:Nothing much...whats nu wit u?

You: Nothing much...we should hang out sometime!

Them: yeah.

Step 2: Now read the same text only this time read "Thems" part in a not so friendly manner!

See what I mean? Maybe people should incorporate a mood section at the end of their text like I do my blog entries. Just kidding but thats not a bad idea now is it?

I've come to the realization that people who only use texting as a means for fraternizing are completely lame and uncomfortable with themselves. I had this guy tell me "I just prefer to text it's much easier, instead of calling and saying what's up you can text it". I spoke to him a total of ONE time, ever other technological interaction was via text message. I guess you can kind of figure out what happened with him. Fellas... from a woman to a man, here's a bit of advise, if you genuinely like a girl and want to get to know her better, pick up the phone and call her. There's no reason why after 9 o' clock when your no longer using your day time minutes and you now have free night minutes that you should be texting instead of talking, that's just wack. And another thing if you are going to text please let a sista know what's up. how your feeling; Am I bothering you? Are you busy? Adding a little (LOL) laugh out loud or smiley face (you know the colon symbol followed by the right parenthesis) at the end of your statement would suffice :). That just lets us know that you are happy to "hear" for us. I'm not saying I'm perfect or anything, lord know I can be a crude texter without the person even noticing. The whole time I'm responding I'm rolling my eyes as if to say " If this dude don't stop texting me" and sometime my (LOL) laugh out loud's weren't meant as a flirtatious giggle but meant rather in a LOL "this loser" type of way. Anyway these are just some of the thoughts that go through my mind...the mind of an artist.

Mood:Abstracted

Reflections of an Artist: Round like a C

As you can probably tell from my photo I happen to be a voluptuous black women with a little extra baggage in the back, okay maybe more like a lot of luggage in the back. I love my body and the way that I am. Don't get me wrong I'm not perfect and there are several things I would love to change about myself physically and mentally, but all in all I'm happy with the skin I'm in. It wasn't always this way. As a child I got a lot of rap about my butt from my siblings and also my classmates. My sisters would call it a shelf because of how far it stuck out from the rest of my body and taunt me by saying " Can I sit this on your shelf?" and other smart remarks about my backside. As a child I went to predominately white school and all I heard day in and day out was "Your butt is so big" or "Why is your butt so big?" of course being an African-American my retort was "Cause I'm black". I remember being some what proud of my curves even then. I felt like my butt was a symbolization or representation of my blackness (because back then whites and everyone else didn't have butts).

As I grew older puberty set in along with all of the hormonal changes females go through and I got sick of being referred to as "the girl with the big butt" in High School. No one knew me by my name. I was aways referred to either as twin and when someone said which twin they replied "The one with the big butt". My name is Charece I wanted to scream. I have a name. I felt like no one took me seriously. I even went out with a guy who seemed to only like me for my butt. I vowed that when I got older I would get a but reduction to put an end to the ridicule and negative attention. I was sick of being the girl with the big butt. I was sick of being groped and grind on in the lunch lines. I dreaded walking pass a group of guys because I could feel them looking at my behind followed by remarks like "Sheesh" or" Damn". I was gonna put an end to this thing once and for all.

Later on in college I subscribed to this magazine since I love clothing and wonderful photography. One day while reading the magazine I came across a Nike ad with a poem called "My Butt" . This poem made me feel so powerful. It reminded me of the times when I was a kids and I'd lash back at my classmates and others who dare to say anything about my "hump". It made me feel proud to be a black women with curves. Proud to have all this booty, junk in the trunk, donkey, cake, whatever you wanna call it. I love my Big Ole Butt :)~

Mood: Pulchritudinous

To read this poem click on image to make larger.

"My Butt is big and thats just fine and those who might scorn it are invited to kiss it"~ Nike

Reflections of an Artist: I'm Back!

Wooow I haven't done this in almost a year. But as you can probably imagine I've been very busy and yes, still going through it. Where do I began??? I "draw" a blank...It is what it is guess! So many thoughts are racing through my head right now I can't even decided what to talk about first. Not that much has changed for me other than the fact that I've gotten a new job. I'm still single and not that thrilled with that(more stories to come about that in later post)but what can I say? Wow and I had so much to tell you guys too. Sorry I'll be sure to have something for you guys Monday. I'm just glad I finally got the chance to write something on here after all this time.Stay tuned!

Mood:Perplexed

Watch Out for the Big Girls!

I've been meaning to blog about this phenomenal woman Kendra C. Johnson for weeks now after noticing her for the first time on the season premiere of "The Game" starring Tia Mowry and Pooch Hall. For those of you who haven't seen the last episode of the season here's a recap.

Malik played by Hosesa Chanchez runs into Renee who is the character played by Kendra, an old flame who wants to show the world that their a couple. Behind closed doors he's loving ever inch of her body from her head to her toes and can't get enough. But Malik gets cold feet and is not sure if he can be seen in public with an "overweight"(yeah right) female. In the end Malik realizes that he's ready and willing to let the whole world know that he loves him some voluptuous Renee. Kendra C. Johnson performance on "The Game" has given the show an amazing twist on what is to come in the following seasons. Some of you may have already seen it but if you haven't you can see Kendra amazing performance again and again here.

As a size 14, which is the average women's size, Kendra is representing for all the real women out there like myself who have been waiting to see a real women on the screen doing her thing. Kendra has been in the industry for a while now working as a stand in for Queen Latifah in “Last Holiday,” “Taxi,” “Beauty Shop” and even Cover Girl commercials. She has also co-starred on shows like“Bones,” “The Shield,” and Strong Medicine. Many of you probably recognize Kendra from the movie "Phat Girlz" where she played the role of a mousy, plus size department store manager who learns to appreciate her assets after meeting a Nigerian doctor. Kendra C. Johnson is an amazing performer who is taking the world by storm and representing for the Big Girls!

Mood:Anticipation!

Kendra C. Johns with Hosea Chanchez and Mara Brock Akil, creator of "Girl Friends"and "The Game"

“The most important thing in life is to persist in your passion”~Kendra C. Johnson

Get Em' Jazz!

Yeaaa! Jaslene has proven herself worthy of the title Americas Next Top Model. A girl who didn't give up and tried out for ANTM not once but twice and because she didn't give up she has become America's Next Top Model. Go head girl!

Mood: Satisfied

Here are some of my favorite photos of Jaslene from Cycle 8.

Who Will Be America's Next Top Model!

Renee

Natasha
Jaslene

Who will be America's Next Top Model. Three beautiful girls remain to finish the competition. It's gonna be a tough choice we have Renee who take great pictures, but does she have what it take to the next Top Model, then we have Natasha who no one understands and who just so happens to get a great shot week after week, but is her mind really in it? To me she seem lost, and then there's my girl Jaslene aka Jazz who screams ANTM all over. She's the jack of all trades when it comes to this competition, the girls got major skills. Great shots week after week, never a dull shot. So who will it be Renee, Natasha, or Jaslene. I guess we just have to wait for tonight's show but, you all know who I routing for Jaslene all the way.

Get 'em JAZZ!

Mood: Anxious

Niggers, Niggas, Niggaz by Julian Curry

Check out this clip from Def Jam that my sister introduced to me! Thanx Netta! We need more men like Curry that will stand up and speak the truth.You'll think twice before you ever use the N word again!

Reflections of an Artist: Nappy is Not a Negative Word!

The other day at work, one of my high school students, a black girl that I teach brought up a question, "Why is black people's hair so short and nappy? Why doesn't our hair grow long and white people and everyone else's hair is automatically longer and more "manageable" than ours"? I tried to answer her question to the best of my ability, telling her what I had learned in college as a psych major! I begin to tell her how as decedents from Africa which is very hot we didn't "evolve" with longer hair because the climate in Africa was much hotter than the climates from which other races evolved and then I went on to tell her that Europeans who lived in colder climates "evolved" with extra hair to keep warm which is why they are hairier than others. Can you imagine how hot we would have been with longer hair on our heads and bodies I asked, She stopped to think about it, and then she went on to say how she hates black hair and how's it's short, kinky and nappy as if it where something to despise! I was stuck on stupid for a while, I didn't really know what to say to her. As the conversation got heavier it was time to go, so I ended the discussion by saying "there's no such thing as good or bad hair, hair comes in all different textures and lengths who's to say which is better than the other. Hair is hair and that's just the way it is".

On the ride home from work I couldn't stop thinking about some of the statements made in class and I how much I wanted to say more, and I begin to ask myself why does she feel that way about herself and and other black people. Then it hit me that everyone you see in the media who's viewed as gorgeous or beautiful has long flowing hair. So people who don't know any better can't help but to think that the person on the magazine or in the videos or movies hair is what is perceived as "good" hair or the hair to be desire. Then I asked myself, what if where the other way around and natural hair or kinky, and nappy hair was the hair that everyone who was viewed as gorgeous or beautiful on T.V., on the cover of magazines, or in the movies had, would her and others attitude change about what is quote on quote "good" hair or "bad" hair? and would she still hate black peoples hair?