Okay, the Republicans generally sound batshit crazy when they’re screaming about liberal media bias, but damned if they don’t have a point on this one. Who’s the escapee from the mental health facility pictured above?
Well, that’s none other than the beautiful (cough, cough) Cindy McCain, wife of the Republican nominee from a photo essay in the latest edition of GQ magazine.
In fairness to whoever shot the photo, you can’t really claim that she’s not made up or that it’s an accidental photo. Clearly it is posed. You can’t even really claim she’s not lit sufficiently. But the hair, the skin, the close-up, the harshness. It’s one thing taking a photo like this, but it’s another choosing one like this in the editing process.
For good measure, her husband’s picture isn’t much better, showing him in a too tight shirt that extends his neck muffin top-like over the collar. Obama, on the other hand, is shown from the Democratic Convention in halo-like beauty. Someone at GQ obviously wants you to vote for Obama.
Hey Kids: I’m back on Big Ideas after a crazy week in Denver. If you haven’t already, check out my Inside/Outside the DNCblog.
Now, back to the future. A woman called me a few minutes ago and asked a question that would have never occurred to me - the kind only another Mom would ask of Gov. Sarah Palin. It’s a simple question, really, but the implications is damaging.
Her question: “If you knew your 17-year old unmarried daughter was pregnant and the world would expose it if you decided to take the Republican VP nomination, why would you say yes?
While the Republicans have thrown the fact that Palin’s daughter, Bristol, is keeping the baby as a sign of moral turpitude, the question remains. From a mother’s point of view, is ambition and serving the party worth the kind of scrutiny that the National Enquirer will put on your precious child? And if ambition does trump family, is that reflective of conservative Christian values?
A real, longer article and review to come, but I checked Les Nubians at the House of Blues in Chicago last Friday and got to hang out with them a bit during and after sound check (shout to AngelaBailey).
As usual they were in great voice and put on an incredible and energetic show, though the venue was just on this side of too big. Last year they were in Chicago at Hot House, a now defunct joint that was by contrast way too small, but the intimacy provided an energy that may have been missing this time around. They hit a good mix of tunes from the first and second albums as well as one or two small teases from a planned third LP that drops in February 2009, including an innovative version of U2’s With or Without You. The highlight was their cover of Fela signature tune “Upside Down”, already one of my favorites with his version. Their relatively stripped down instrumentation actually gives it a lot more power.
One of the interesting things we talked a lot about was the candidacy of Barack Obama and what it meant to people who consider themselves citizens of the world. Their feelings about Obama as the symbol of a new post-racial day mirrors that of today’s New York Times story on Afro-Parisians and the hope they see in a possible Obama presidency. That became the theme of many of the between song riffs once the show started.
Anyhow, check your local venues for the tour. This one just popped up on the HOB schedule unexpectedly. Right now there doesn’t seem to be any bookings on the tour in the US until Chicago again in August at the African Arts Festival. If you’re in France, you’re in luck, however.
Sure, it’s a gratuitous use of a beautiful woman for the sake of web traffic. And the problem would be what, exactly? Just wanted to prove to the guy in the previous post (and any other brother that thinks he has to escape to Brazil to find beautiful Black women) that he’s an idiot.
From the “Dude, what are you thinking?” file, more displays of genius from my InBox. This time from a brother who signed his name and address (but I’ll spare him his own mistake) and had a real problem with a recent article in our sister publication, Ebony, about finding love and sex in Brazil.
Said brother will also never have sex with a woman in America again- ever
: To Whom It May Concern:I am upset and concerned about an article in your recent magazine about
“What Happens in Brazil Stays in Brazil.” The title should be “Why
Black American Men choose to go to Brazil for their sexual appetites.” I
can not believe the anger presented by Black American Females over a trend
that they more than helped to create. If they, as a group, were satisfying
their men then this trend would not exist.
The plight of Black American men, when it comes to sexual satisfaction or
adventure, is just as blighted as many of the neighborhoods they are forced
to live in, in large American cities. There are several advantages that
most cities in Brazil present to Black American men that do not exist here
in America.
1. The male to female population distribution in a country like Brazil far
exceeds the population distribution that exists here in America. In large
American cities that have a reasonable Black population, I believe, the
ratio of Black females to Black males, to be almost 50 – 50. That is about
1 to 1 or at best 1 to 1.5 males to females. In Rio de Janeiro, Brazil the
ratio is around 25 to 1 females to males. This is the case because not only
Black Brazilian women but several other racial groups of Brazilian women are
available to Black American men. There are no taboos to race mixing in
Brazil as there exists here in America.
2. Unfortunate[ly] for Black American women, about 85 % of the available
Brazilian women are naturally beautiful in face and figure to about 10 %
here in the States.
3. Brazilian women are extremely passionate, willing and able to make love
almost on the spot. This is due to their different culture where as our
Black American women seem to be prudish which is a direct result of American
culture. And worse, Black American women who give it up to easy are labeled
as sluts and whores while Black American men do not bother to label foreign
women the same way. This is more of the impact on these men by our culture.
4. In Brazil, race does not matter and neither does age. I have had lovers
from 19 to 40 that never even asked how old I was. In American culture in
general and in the minds of Black American women in particular, I am robbing
the cradle if I want to be with a woman more than ten years younger than I
am. Young Brazilian women are much more mature than a Black American woman
twice their age.
At 59 years of age, as a Black American male, I have had tremendous
experience in dating and marriage to Black American women in my lifetime.
Before I got married I dated Black American women exclusively, so I know the
deal. When I found one that was interested in settling down and starting a
family, we did just that. After 25 years however, she decided to move on
after announcing that I was “Oversexed.” Now I more than realize that each
woman is different but my experience was repeated over and over in my circle
of friends.
This performance of the Morehouse cheerleading squad is causing a ruckus on the campuses of Spelman and Morehouse right now. Apparently some people don’t think all that tuition should be paid to teach their daughters how to get a job at Magic City.
Now, aside from that fact that Magic City probably pays better than most jobs in this economy, I guess they might have a point. Does seem a bit hypocritical that the men’s college so directly related in spirit and history to its female counterpart, which famously rejected several rap acts for their objectification of women, would see fit to continue the cheerleading booty shake tradition. Then again, show me a college where cheerleaders aren’t objectified, burlesque-style performance or otherwise.
This past Saturday marked the end of the 1st Annual Black European Women’s Congress, this time held in Vienna, Austria. The event received significant coverage in the International Herald Tribune. Some of the topics covered included: Identity and (Self) empowerment, challenges faced by the young generation of black children and youths,
social conflicts affecting European black communities and access to the labor market.
The Black Women in Europe blog has the most comprehensive daily look at the proceedings.
Her name is Measha Brueggergosman and aside from being incredibly beautiful, she’s a classical soprano and the talk of the classical music world in Canada. In the last few years she’s performed for the Queen of England, Nelson Mandela and just debuted with the New York Philharmonic this past July.
Reading her press clippings makes you realize how much information seems to get checked at the border along with passports. Americans in general know very little about Canada, and Black folk know even less about Black Canada. But that’s what we’re here for, right?
Neverthessless, Measha’s been getting rave reviews in Amsterdam, Brussels, Vancouver, Halifax, San Francisco and Miami. She comes back down to the US in October for a three day session with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center in DC, and then Carnie Hall in November.
She’s not limited to opera, either (not that opera’s limiting exactly). Check her on her MySpace page , see videos and listen her gospel/classical version of Going Up Yonder.
For the record, here’s how you pronounce her name. Kinds sounds like it looks.
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