the word

bell hooks' sisters of the yam should be part of our personal scriptures. today's word is among the reasons why:

clearly, if black women want to be about the business of collective self-healing, we have to be about the business of inventing all manner of images and representations that show us the way we want to be and are. within white-supremacist patriarchal society, it is very difficult to find life affirming images of black femaleness.

...i was shocked by how difficult it is to find representations of us where our features were not crudely distorted or exaggerated. i was dismayed by how many paintings showed us without eyes, or noses, or mouths. and i began to wonder if these body parts are "forgotten" because they takes [sic] us into the realm of the senses. the problem that i encountered was not a dearth of imagery, but a lack of appealing imagery. [emphasis added]

in the waiting room...

"dealing"
eric roberson feat. lalah hathaway

Where do we go from here
What do I do with these feelings
Longing to have you near
Knowing...we shouldn't be dealing

Verse:
Why must the bad thing always feel so good
Why cant I just stay away
Though are situation was understood
Still does not mean its ok

{Chorus}
Where do we go from here
What do I do with these feelings
Longing to have you near
Knowing...we shouldn't be dealing

Verse:
Why cant these memories just be erased
Why must I yearn for your kiss
The first moment we're not face to face
Reminds me how much your missed

{Chrous}
(where do we go) Where do we go from here
What do I do with these feelings
Longing to have you near
Knowing...we shouldn't be dealing

{Bridge}
When the morning comes
(When its time for us to go our separate ways )
When this night is done
(I'll be wanting to hold on to u)
Though the sun
wish we could push it all away
cause then will know
that we can show
what we have from the day

{Chorus}
Where do we go from here
What do I do with these feelings
Longing to have you near
Knowing...we shouldn't be dealing

love for haiti / amor pour ayiti

yanvalou dance from haiti...celebrating the rada nation



to learn more about how you can help haiti, see the help haiti/aidez ayiti section that's been added to the sidebar at the top left of the screen.  

vive l'ayiti! l'union fait la force!

the word

today's word comes from poetess extraordinaire, nikki giovanni:

the butterfly

those things
which you so laughingly call 
hands are in fact two 
brown butterflies fluttering 
across the pleasure 
they give 
my body 

[21 feb 71]