black girl blogging.

I finally made the big step and moved the blog to it’s own server. You can now find me at http://www.lorynwilson.com!

See you there!

-elledub

Sunday nights episode found Don Draper with Anna again in California. I love seeing Don with Anna because we see another side of him that we usually don’t see. Never during the series do we see Don care about anybody or anything else the way we see him care about Anna, and that perhaps it is because it is Don Draper channeling his “real” self and identity as Dick Whitman.

That said, I was so angry when he didn’t tell Anna that she had cancer. If you care so much about her, why wouldn’t you share that news with her? Why not be there for her during that time? It baffled me. I worry about what will happen to Don if and/or when Anna dies. Dick Whitman will be gone forever, as she is the one person in his life that reminds him of who he really is. If Anna dies, so does Dick Whitman.

And perhaps that’s why Don didn’t tell her; because it meant acknowledging that his connection to his true self will be gone forever if Anna passes away. Perhaps sitting with that reality is too much for Don, which meant performing the selfish act of keeping the news of the cancer away from Anna.

Don is slowly unraveling this season between losing Betty and havin’ relations with his secretary. It’s going to be interesting seeing him further evolve this episode.

Did anyone else watch last night’s episode? What did you think? Who else is relieved that he didn’t do the thang-thang with the college chick at Anna’s house?

From Afro Ink:

For anyone, white, black or otherwise, to walk into a business and murder the occupants, for any reason, is horrifying. No one goes to work expecting to be slaughtered, and my heart goes out to all the families touched by this tragedy.

…

But we don’t live on the “Little House on the Prairie“. Gone are the days of old fashioned wisdom and the prevailing of cooler heads. Today, we live in a volatile society. People murder each other over nothing, everyday. And it doesn’t take much to push people’s buttons. And if you add a sociopathic personality to that mix, you get a walking time-bomb.

Before the DC sniper shootings, the face of mass shooting culprit was often a white one, but when the shooter is black we rarely stop to think about how racism or discrimination played a role. I think it’s very possible that in the case of Omar Thornton it did–and recent stories have pointed to this fact. We should really have more conversations about Black people, racism, pathology, and sociopathic behavior. The connections could amaze you.

One could say “What does it matter? Innocent people were killed.” But without understanding the link between a violent act and outside factors that lead up to someone to go on a killing spree. That said, it wouldn’t surprise me if instead of asking these type of questions, the media is still focused on the “black man goes and kills people” angle. Sigh.

For today’s blogging challenge, I’m doing a list post. If you’ve seen my previous posts, you know that I recently returned to my hometown of Los Angeles after living in DC for 8 years. I am happy to be home and it was a much-needed return, but I can’t even tell you how much I miss DC and I can’t wait to go back.

With that said, I’m letting my nostalgia lead me and am doing a list of 5 places to go in DC. This list could be much longer, but I didn’t want to get carried away and I wanted to focus on my faves.

1. Cafe Asia -sushi is my favorite food, and this was my favorite place in DC to get it. Also, I enjoy the 2 dollar sake during happy hour. I’ve been to the Rosslyn location too, but I really love the atmosphere in the DC location.

2. Marvin – There’s so much to say about Marvin. I can’t tell what I like best–brunch on Sundays or DJ Stylus on Mondays! Shrimp and Grits is my favorite thing on the menu, but my standout memory of Marvin was going there on a random Thursday for a J-Dilla tribute/DJ Set. One of my most fun times in DC.

3. Perry’s – I added this partly because I just love it and partly because I once went there with Rosetta, my homegirl and the one who originated the 31 Days to a Brand New Blog challenge. It’s another place where you can get sushi, but it’s really a Latin-Japanese fusion kind of place….and they have a fabulous rooftop.

4. Lounge of III – So many great memories were spent at this little bar on 10th and U Streets, NW. Great hip hop music, cheap drinks, what more could a girl ask for?

5.Eatonville - Zora Neale Hurston is my favorite author, and I’ve had some great times at this restaurant on the 14th Street Corridor. Great soul food, decent drinks, and amazing artwork on every wall. And it’s another place Rosetta and I used to hang out

If you live in DC (or you have visited), what are your favorite places in the city? If you live outside of DC, where are your favorite places to go in your city?

I wasn’t going to post today, but then I saw this great collection of New Yorker cartoons with Kanye tweets as captions. If you’ve seen Kanye’s Twitter page these are rendered more hilarious, but many of them are so well executed that they almost stand alone.

Enjoy. And, you’re welcome.

I’m going to try something different for this season of Mad Men and do a post about the most recent episode on the following Monday. I’ll try to do as few spoilers as possibe, but I can’t promise you that my posts will be completely spoiler free.

I’m hoping the rest of the Mad Men heads who read my blog will chime in on the comment section! Don’t be shy.

From  Basket of Kisses:

Mark called Peggy old-fashioned. He thinks she’s a virgin. She’s not. Peggy hasn’t just had one bad affair gone very, very wrong, but she’s had dirty sex with an older man in broad daylight. It stung her to be called old-fashioned. The lie she’s telling him stung her, maybe some sadness for the old-fashioned girl she used to be, and maybe anger at Mark for needing her to be something she just ain’t.

I know many people will be talking about the return of Glenn or about Don sleeping with his secretary, but I want to focus on Peggy for a minute. We see her lie to Mark and tell him that she’s a virgin, which if you’ve been watching since season 1 we know couldn’t be farther from the truth. By now, we’ve seen Peggy have an affair with a married coworker (Pete), have raunchy sex with Duck, and have what could only be described as a booty call with one other guy. So why would she lie about being a virgin to Mark, and why would Mark so willingly believe it?

I think it comes down to the sexual double standard that many women faced back then, and still do today. I think Peggy told Mark that she was a virgin not only to further hide the fact that she had another man’s baby, but also to perpetuate the virgin/whore expectations that were thrown at women in the 1960s. In some ways, I suspect Mark expected Peggy to be a virgin, even though it isn’t expected that Mark himself is a virgin.

Furthermore, I too was thrown when Mark called Peggy old-fashioned–it just let us know that he doesn’t have a clue about who he’s dating. It seems to me that he should have known just by her occupation alone that Peggy was more than just another girl next door, but somehow he seems to want to fit her into a mold that she simply isn’t willing or able to fit at this point.

And Betty.

It’s so interesting to see how far we’ve come in terms of our attitudes toward Betty. I went from sympathizing with and cheering for her in Season 1 to hating her in Season 2. Now that she’s with Harry she seems to resent Sally even more, which makes me in turn dislike her even more–and I’m pretty sure that’s what Matt Weiner was hoping would happen. I’m not convinced that Henry and Betty will last, and I’m not sure I want to be convinced that Betty and Don are really over as we see Don further unravel without her.

And to think this is only Episode 2.

Dear Kanye,

Hey bro. How’s it goin?

It was very cool to see this story about your performance at the Facebook offices. I have to say I’ve been a fan of yours for a while, so it’s very cool to see social media music colliding in such a great way. Even after the emo madness that you unleashed on 808s and Heartbreak, I’m proud to say that I can’t wait to see what you do on Good Ass Job.

But that’s not why I’m writing you this letter. I’m writing you this letter because of you recent shenanigans on Twitter.

and my personal favorite because it’s only stating the obvious:

Taken by themselves these tweets aren’t so bad. But I’ve taken a look at your timeline, Yeezy, and I can’t say that I like what I saw. A whole stream of tweets and nary a retweet or @ reply to be seen. Shame on you, Kanye.

Twitter is about influence, it’s about connection, it’s about sharing information. One could argue that there’s some narcissism wrapped up in why people tweet, and I get that. But you take it to another level. Not only do you randomly follow just one person, but you don’t even interact with that one person you so haphazardly decided to follow!

Kanye, the problem is simple. You have an opportunity to really show us how influential both your image and your music can be, but unfortunately that opportunity is slipping away. Instead of interacting with your fans and giving us a glimpse into your world the way Big Boi or Chrisette Michele does, you give us tweets filled with verbal vomit about jogging in Lanvin or a new Rolex you just bought.

With all that said, I can’t say I’m necessarily surprised that you’re cuttin’ up the way you are on Twitter. I mean you are the guy who interrupted Taylor Swift at the VMA’s last year. But what do I know? I’m just a social media geek in California with high hopes for Twitter’s potential–potential that you’re currently sh*tting on.

Kanye, my request is simple….just let Twitter be great.

…and you can go run tell that, homeboy.

I am currently taking part in Rosetta Thurman’s 31 Days to a Brand New Blog Challenge! I’m really excited about it because I have been wanting to take my blog to another level, especially with my new life here in Los Angeles and beyond as I start my grad school applications. I wanted to do more with the blog, and I though the Challenge was a good place to start.

For the Day 1 challenge, we were asked to take a look at our blog stats and analyze the stats. There were a few things in my stats that were surprising–for instance, it’s interesting that my “meet elledub” page is still very popular. Didn’t know that many people wanted to know more about the girl behind the blog!

But what was more intriguing to me were the keyword terms that were most used to find my blog. There were a few repetitive ones with obvious explanations (“black girl” “black girl blog” “essence fashion and beauty editor” “for colored girls”); some terms came up because of things I’ve written about on my blog. “Are there any Black People on Mad Men” wasn’t surprising since I’ve spent a few posts pondering that very question.

Then there were some off-the-wall terms; “topless black girls” come to mind. While I’m sure this had to do with this little post I wrote about a topless bust of Michelle Obama, it’s such an interesting insight into what people look for when they look for info about black women online. In fact, one google search on “black women” gives you a strange mix of the mundane and the obscene. It’s very possible that the keyword terms that people use to find my blog is just a microcosm of what’s already out there when it comes to finding images of black women on the internets, which is exactly what I’m hoping to achieve with this blog.

For those of you who do blog, what are some of the craziest keyword terms that people use to find your blog? If you’re participating in the challenge, I’d love to hear from you too.

Yes, you read that right.

From Fishbowl NY:

The door continues revolving atEssence: now, the magazine has named Ellianna Placas as its new fashion director and Tasha Turner as its new senior beauty editor.

Placas will make her debut with the magazine’s 40th anniversary September issue and will oversee the conception and packaging of Essence‘s fashion coverage, feature stories and multi-platform packages. She began her career in publishing styling cover shoots for 0: The Oprah Magazine. Placas has also worked forUs Weekly, Real Simple, New York,More and Life & Style.

Former Fashion Editor Michaela Angela Davis had some choice words to say about Essence’s recent decision on her Facebook Wall:

“It’s with a heavy heart I’ve learned Essence Magazine has engaged a white Fashion Director. I love Essence and I love fashion. I hate this news and this feeling. It hurts, literally. The fashion industry has historically been so hostile to black people–especially women. The 1 seat reserved for black women once held by Susan Taylor, Ionia Dunn-Lee, Harriette Cole(+ me) is now-I can’t. It’s a dark day for me. How do you feel?”

….

There is one precious seat at the fashion shows that says Essence the magazine for black women. When asked, “What is your unique perspective for black women?” How is that answered? Even if they got Anna Wintour herself (which editors inside Essence assure me she is NOT) it still would hurt. From a brand perspective there should be a unique lens through which information is filtered…at Essence it is believed that filter is black, female..connected through shared history and soul…I believe we’ve not come far enough for this move.

There’s already been a lot said about this story, so I’ll try to make my comments on this brief. Aside from the most obvious argument–that having a white fashion director at a black women’s magazine raises a few eyebrows–I have to make the point that not hiring Ms. Placas based solely on her race would have been discrimination. But furthermore, Essence has been white-owned for quite some time now, so how surprised can we really be?

I do worry about how having a white fashion editor at a magazine that is supposed to be devoted to the life and style of Black women will effect the magazine’s brand, as Clutch brings up in their write-up on the news.  What does it mean when a magazine for Black women sees fit to have a white fashion editor when there were so many other (black) candidates to choose from? What about her experiences positioned her to become the editor at a Black women’s magazine? And what will she do differently that a black editor wouldn’t have done?

On the other hand, maybe we can’t judge too harshly until we see what Placas does. I’ve heard this argument several times this week, but it’s hard when as a girl I looked to Essence to see images of black beauty and style and I remember wanting to be as regal and as beautiful as the women in the magazine. Essence fashion spreads made me embrace everything that black beauty was and could be.

What does it mean when a new fashion editor of the most popular black women’s magazine didn’t grow up with that experience?

I know, I know. It’s been a while.

In between my last post and now, I’ve moved back home to Los Angeles, changed time zones, changed jobs….and yes, changed my hair.

Before leaving DC, I made the decision to cut off all  my locks. I had locks for ten years and I decided that with me moving back to LA for a little while, it was time to switch it up. It was an adjustment at first but I have to say that I’m loving my new tiny afro more and more every day. I got a great text message from a soror of mine after I sent her a picture of my new haircut. She has had locks before and at one put did the big chop too. She said that every time she cut her locks, she felt like she was reinventing herself. I gotta say that that’s exactly how I feel right now.

So what’s in store for me in LA? Well, I thought that now was a better time than ever go to back to grad school, so I’m applying for a few MPA programs in LA and in DC (with a small selection of MBA programs). Also, I just started working as a part-time new media specialist for Voices Inc., a Black woman-owned communications and marketing firm here in LA. It’s a great place and I’m learning a lot, which is really all that matters.

I had to take a break from blogging to get settled at home and all that jazz, but I’m back. I am planning on moving the blog to its own server and maybe tweaking the design a little bit. And yes, I’m still available for consulting and speaking engagements.

I miss DC terribly but I know I did the right thing by coming back home and hitting the reset button on my life. And DC will always be there, I can always go back. At first, I was frustrated for having to move back home instead of toughing it out in DC. But now I realize I did the brave thing—left it all behind and took a leap of faith. I’ve never felt more at peace and more free than I do right now. I’m starting a new chapter in my life and I’m learning to enjoy every minute.