Style Inspo

Angel Clouthier Closet Interview With StyleLikeU from StyleLikeU on Vimeo.

Natural Inspiration Gallery

I am always impressed and and motivated by the ingenuity of women. the versatility and possibilities of hair are rousing.

Stumbled upon a new blog that I adore:
Urban Bush Babes

Lately

i have to say i've been too busy for my own britches. it's a fine balance between purposeful churning of the wheels, propelling toward goals and such, and mindless, senseless churning of wheels, hamstering to nowhere.

some of the moments we have in life take a bit of time to process. it is once we come up for air that we realize how far we've come. we look back at the shore and say, damn, I didn't realize my strokes were amounting to anything, let alone heaving me forward. grading my students' work and watching them improve give me these momentary breaths of air.

a recent encounter with mr. dais, a substitute teacher who fills my shoes entirely when i have to miss a day, not only gave me a breath of air, but a moment to realize i am present. in my absence, he noted a few books i keep on my desk. one of which that is my lifeline: writing down the bones by natalie goldberg. i've read it several times, and each time glean new insight. she is my inspiration and makes me realize this writing thing is not a black hole. she allows me to settle deep inside and outside of myself. her words invigorate and remind me that this writing thing is okay to do, even on days when i hate myself for doing it. excited at the prospect of encountering someone who loves this thing just as i do, i gave him the book. shit, i've read it at least three times. needless to say, i immediately went to the internet to order another. a fresh new hardcover now sits on my desk.

i am grateful for people like natalie and mr. dais for keeping me honest.

   

scattered notes on tattered pages

I've decided to steal *camille*yanair's* thiry days of gratitude.

Yesterday, at the top of the page in my wrinkled marble notebook, I wrote: "I have to remember to be thankful. I have to remember to be present."

it's just so fundamentally crucial

I am a few days behind, so bare with me s'il vous plait.

grateful for:
1. friends that put up with my nonsense
2. autumn leaves and breezes
3. my very own classroom
4. forgiveness
5. family - in any shape
6. a clean bill o health
7. the prospect of a long gratitude list


...

Fly Bedtime Do for Easy, Tousled Daytime Hair

 Just washed and re-twisted. I can't wait to show the pictures of my journey- so far it's been a year and some change. No, I don't count down to the day like some of my fellow dread heads, but a year and some change is good enough.

I've stumbled upon a quick and easy way to get a nice, tousled daytime look. If I can do it- you can do it! Low maintenance is the reason I started locs.

3 Easy Steps + A Few Simple Ingredients:
You will need:

3 strong hair ties, a spray bottle with water and olive oil (mix in about a tablespoon of olive oil  and fill the bottle about halfway with warm h2o), and Carol's Daughter Tui Hair oil (optional)

Step 1:
Spritz hair lightly with olive oil water mixture
*i like to rub some Carol's Daughter Tui into my locs for a fresh smell and for a little extra conditioning


Step 2:
Section hair into 3s


Step 3:
Coil hair in a tiny bun or knot, then place hair tie over it, and...


Voila!


i throw a scarf around this bad boy and call it a night. 
p.s. i would def rock this as a daytime style too!

in the morning, I take them down, and I have an easy, tousled look:

Visit Black Girl with Long Hair

Chescaloc's Loc Knots

I love love love this style. It's a similar outcome as the pipe cleaner curls, but Chesca rocked the loc knots for a few days as a style. 

Def check out her webpage: http://www.youtube.com/user/chescalocs ! full of inspiration and tips.

Blackness Undefined: Toure talks his New Book on Post-Blackness and What It Means to Be Black Now

I have always been a VH1, MTV, BET, junkie. I used to get my fix from programs like MTV Diary, VH1 storytellers, and Rap City, whose basement freestyles with Big Tigger always gave my inspiration fodder. I craved anything that could give more insight into the process behind the product. I imagined myself backstage with the artists, holding my tape recorder to their stories, dreaming of myself on Oprah. She'd ask me to recount my rendezvous with Mariah at the Ritz, and marvel at our chummy connection marked by our laughs and lip-stick covered glasses of Moet. Then, she'd introduce me as the writer who's able  to capture the artists' energy and emotion unlike any other writer. So when, Toure, a music journalist, novelist, tv personality, and essayist,  someone who I've admired since my high school days for his similar background and upbringing, came out with his new book, I indulged, and was rejuvenated in new ways.


The book, Who's Afraid of Post-Blackness: What it Means to Be Black Now is a necessary and relevant addition to the conversation on identity formation for Black Americans. Just as Toni Morrison notes the complexity of race as it pertains the Black writer in her essay "Home", Toure notes the complexity of race as it pertains to Blacks in this post-civil rights, Obama era. While Morrison pushes to create a space where we can articulate race free from "deceit, blindness, ignorance, paralysis, and sheer malevolence," so that "different types of perception [are] not only available but [...] inevitable," Toure offers the notion that Blacks must exist beyond previous boxed definitions. So long to the idea that Blacks can't speak articulately and  grow up in the hood. Goodbye to the idea that authentic Black means loud, violent,  and drug dealer. I'm happy for this book because it screams out: Blacks are a heterogeneous, diverse group.  As Henry Gates Jr. insists, if there are 40 million Blacks, then there are 40 million ways to be Black. Similarly, the artist William Pope adds,"'Blackness is limited only by the courage to imagine it differently.'" In the book's dedication, Toure pulls at my most sensitive and internalized experiences by dedicating "it to everyone who was ever made to feel 'not Black enough.' Whatever that means."

Thanks Toure; I enjoyed every bit of it.


Here, he reads excerpts and chats it up on Media Beat: