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Womanist Musings- Culture Kitchen
- black girl blogging
- I’ve moved! January 27, 2012
- TransGirot
- 2012 Team USA Women's Olympic Soccer Watch- London Or Bust January 27, 2012
Jul
13
A friend just introduced me to The Ville, Chicago’s very own LGBT soap opera.
The Ville is a live LGBT soap opera that is set in Andersonville, IL – a city that’s been dubbed by locals as the lesbian version of Chicago’s Boystown. The show is presented by Bare Boned Theatre. A new episode of The Ville premieres the first Monday of every month. If you live in or near Andersonville (or you plan to visit), you can catch the show at Mary’s Attic.
The Ville, the only LGBT live soap opera in Chicago, is written by a team of comedy writers who are “dedicated to presenting work that transcends preconceived notions of type, highlighting the stories and utilizing the talents of those outside the arena of ‘typical’ society.”
Jul
10
Every now and then, I discover something that others may find useful.
Lots of BlogTalkRadio users would love to change the background on their show page. I mean, that’s what we internet geeks do, right? We change shit all the time.
Changing your show page background is easy. Here’s how:
-Login to your BlogTalkRadio account
-Choose the My Account tab
-Choose the Edit My Account link
-Choose the Options tab
-Scroll to the box that says “Add video or other HTML code” (it’s at the very bottom of the page)
-Add the following code to that box: <body background=”http://your image URL”>
-Hit Save
That’s it! You should be all set! If anyone has ideas about how to further tweak your background, add your suggestions to the comments thread.
Jul
10
Club Management Said to Black Kids, ‘Please Don’t Change the Complexion of Our Pool’
Filed Under Race, WTF? | 2 Comments
Update – July 13, 2009: Pa. swim club accused of racism to ask kids back. Umm, who would take their kids back there?
What.the.hell? This video would be hilarious if the issue wasn’t outrageously moronic.
Someone seriously believes that Black skin can change the “complexion” of a pool? Sounds like ignorance is runnin’ rampant in Northeast Philly.
Renee over at WomanistMusings has a great conversation going on about this.
h/t: tweetmeblack
Jul
9
In late 2008, members of the LGBTQ community launched a Boycott ROCKSTAR initiative. In a press release distributed this afternoon, Russel Weiner, CEO of ROCKSTAR, says the gay community may have misunderstood the company’s stance on gay rights:
ROCKSTAR Energy Drink CEO Russell Weiner announced today that the beverage company will expand its LGBT corporate policies and make $100,000 in donations, shared among several prominent LGBT organizations. The donations represent a significant contribution given ROCKSTAR’s relatively small staff of 120 employees.
The contribution will be shared among the Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Southern Nevada, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), and The Trevor Project, and ROCKSTAR Energy Drink will also financially sponsor the National LGBT Bloggers Initiative. The donations and affirmation of LGBT-friendly corporate policies mark steps by ROCKSTAR to demonstrate support for the LGBT community.
“It has recently come to ROCKSTAR’s attention that there might be a misconception about our company’s policy and my personal support for LGBT rights,” said Weiner. “We apologize for that misunderstanding, and want to make clear today that our company fully supports our LGBT employees and our LGBT customers.”
“Some have erroneously associated our company with offensive language directed at LGBT people, specifically statements coming from Michael Savage, who is not and has never been a shareholder or officer of ROCKSTAR Energy Drink. On behalf of our company and directors, including myself and CFO Janet Weiner, I would like to take this opportunity to disavow any offensive statements directed toward LGBT people, including statements from Michael Savage. ROCKSTAR assures our customers and the general public that our brand will never be associated with any language that does not affirm the essential dignity of every person in our diverse national community.”
Sounds like Weiner learned (fairly quickly) just how much money his company makes off the gay community.
Jul
8
Queer Musician Erin McKeown on SistersTalk Radio
Filed Under Lesbian Podcast, Music, Sex and Sexuality | Leave a Comment
Tonight on SistersTalk Radio, we interviewed lesbian queer musician Erin McKeown.
From elegant pop to balls-out rock, sweet electronics to witty swing, Erin McKeown has packed a ton of music into a substantial career. With 6 albums, 2 EPs, and numerous soundtracks and compilations to her credit, the 31-year-old songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer hasn’t stopped for a breather in the last 10 years. Along the way she has averaged 200 shows a year and garnered the praise of fans and critics alike.
Hear Erin discuss:
*Her musical influences
*Her career – from Junior year of high school to today
*Her creative fundraising efforts (she’s raising money to release her 7th album)
*Her song “To the Stars” (featured on 5.10 of The L Word)
*Her true sexual identity (she identifies as queer, not lesbian)
*Upcoming projects and performances
You’ll also get to hear two of Erin’s songs: You, Sailor (from the album Lafayette) and Air (from the album We Will Become Like Birds).
Visit Erin’s web site and listen to her music.
Jul
8
Like Monica over at Transgriot, I was shocked that BET publishes a Who’s Who list for the Black LGBT community. Other than one particular person – an anti-white “journalist” who says shit that will piss people off so she can raise her visitor meter on her blog – I was almost pleased by the other 32 people selected. Monica was rightfully upset to learn that the T (transgender) segment of our community was missing from the list. Here’s a sample:
Anthony Woods
The West Point graduate led two combat units in Iraq and received a Master’s degree in Public Policy from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government before being discharged for coming out as gay. He is running in a special election in California’s 10th Congressional District where he grew up. If elected, he would become the first Black openly gay representative in Congress.
Hanifah Walidah
Walidah is a hip-hop artist, playwright, actor, music video maker, and filmmaker. She is a part of the renowned Brooklyn Funk Essentials.
Sheryl Swoopes
Sheryl Denise Swoopes was the first player to be signed in the WNBA when it was created. She has won three Olympic gold medals and is a three-time WNBA most valuable player. Frequently referred to as the “female Michael Jordan,” Swoopes is famous for her offensive and defensive skills. In 2005, she averaged 18.6 points, 4.3 assists, 2.65 steals, and she shot 85 percent from the free-throw line while averaging 37.1 minutes playing time per game.
Wanda Sykes
Sykes used her anger and disappointment in California’s Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage there, as an opportunity to come out. “I am proud to be gay!” Wanda declared at a gay rally in Las Vegas last year. She also announced to the world that she’s married to a woman. This year, she became the first African American and the first “out” lesbian to get the role as featured entertainer for the 2009 White House Correspondents’ Association dinner.
Doug Spearman
Spearman’s career as an actor includes work on such TV shows as “Star Trek Voyager,” “The Drew Carey Show,” “The Hughleys,” “Charmed,”and “Girlfriends.” Spearman recently co-starred on the LOGO hit show Noah’s Arc, in which he played Chance Counter, an out black gay college professor.
Sabrina Sojourner
Sojourner is the first open lesbian to be elected to the United States Congress. Having been elected by a whopping 83 percent of the vote, Sabrina represented the District of Columbia in the U.S. House of Representatives, where in her non-voting position she lobbied not only for Statehood for the District of Columbia, but impacted other legislators on a whole spectrum of issues. She served from 1997-1999.
Denise Simmons
Denise Simmons is the first African-American open lesbian to be elected mayor of an American city. Simmons, now leading Cambridge, Mass., after serving on the City Council since 2001, follows in the footsteps of former Mayor Ken Reeves. Reeves made history on a local and national levels, becoming Cambridge’s first African-American mayor and the nation’s first openly gay, Black mayor.
Toshi Reagan
Over the course of her career, she’s released eight albums, appeared on ‘The L Word’ and shared the stage with Ani DiFranco and Elvis Costello. Reagan jumped into the spotlight when she dropped out of college after Lenny Kravitz tapped her to open for him on his first world tour.
Patrik-Ian Polk
Patrik-Ian Polk is the creator, producer and lead writer of the acclaimed Logo TV series ‘Noah’s Arc,’ which is often described as ‘Sex and the City’
with gay characters. ‘Noah’s Arc’ is about four Black gay men living in Los Angeles. He is also the director behind the groundbreaking Black gay feature film “Punks.”
Me’shell Ndegéocello
The daughter of a devotedly religious mother and a strict military father, Me’shell Ndegéocello is a singer, songwriter, rapper, bassist, and multi-instrumentalist. The music press has hailed her as a redeemer of soul music. Her music incorporates funk, soul, hip hop, reggae, R&B, rock and jazz. She has been nominated for nine Grammy Awards.
Mélange Lavonne
Lavonne, who is an outspoken lesbian hip-hop artist, uses her mic to talk about important issues, especially within the LGBT community. In the video for “Gay Bash,” the out MC calls out those who hated her friend Kevin enough to kill him, when they didn’t even know him.
Maurice Jamal
Maurice Jamal is a director-writer-producer, who is the creative mind behind the landmark Logo Network film ‘The Ski Trip’ and the award-winning family comedy drama “Dirty Laundry.” His first break was on the feature film “Spider-Man,” and in a short period he developed a lengthy and impressive list of credits, most notably the Comedy Central smash hit “Chappelle’s Show” – both in front and behind the camera.
E. Lynn Harris
Harris is an openly gay author, most known for his depictions of African-American men on the down low or in the closet. Harris was initially unable to land a book deal with a reputable publishing house for his first work, “Invisible Life,” so he self-published it through a vanity publisher and sold copies from his car trunk. Since then, five of his novels have achieved New York Times bestseller status.
Angela Davis
Angela Davis, an American socialist organizer and professor once associated with the Black Panther Party, first achieved nationwide notoriety when she was linked to the murder of Judge Harold Haley during an attempted prison break. She was a fugitive but was eventually captured, arrested, tried; she was then acquitted in one of the most famous trials in recent history. She is now a professor of history at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Miss Cleo
Youree Dell Harris, better known as Miss Cleo, is a self-proclaimed psychic and shaman who achieved fame as spokeswoman in television ads which aired during the late 1990s and early 2000s. In those ads, she hawked a psychic pay-per-call service. As of 2007, Cleo offers private psychic consultations and other services through Wahgwaan Entertainment, based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
To view the rest of the list, click here.
Jul
8
SistersTalk Radio Needs Your Help
Filed Under Lesbian Podcast | 2 Comments
In 2002, I started blogging after a then-popular gay male blogger announced that Britney Spears was the new gay icon. Whose gay icon? Not mine!
I was bitching about Britney Spears to a friend who suggested I write my own blog. I guess she was tired of listening to me and wanted to push me off on someone else. I’m ok with that. SistersTalk started out as a blog about gay and lesbian issues and politics, and has evolved into what you see here today: random posts about racism, sexism, sexuality, pop culture, gay and lesbian issues, politics, entertainment and Twitter updates (mine and everybody else’s!).
In October 2008, @GraciePassette asked me to be a guest on her BlogTalkRadio (BTR) show. The morning after I appeared on Gracie’s show, I setup my own BTR account . . . and here I am, 9 months and 50 shows later.
My first guests were prominent members of the LGBTQ community who I had already interviewed for my blog over the years. They were the first to be heard live on SistersTalk Radio. Since then, I’ve been lucky to have some great guest suggestions land in my inbox and Twitter update stream. Currently, we’re airing live on Sundays at 5pm central and Wednesdays at 7pm central. Starting August 7, 2009, we’re adding a Friday show that will highlight indie musicians in the LGBTQ community. You can catch our Friday show at 8pm central.
Why a radio show? I figured there are hundreds and hundreds of LGBTQ bloggers rantin’ and ravin’ about the same grate-your-nerves political issues. I will let them do that since they all do it so well. I want to add a little fun to my week so I’d rather be a podcaster who entertains and informs (and sometimes rants about politics) instead of spending day after day after day bangin’ my head over one more stupid anti-gay politician.
My goal for SistersTalk Radio: entertain, inform and represent. I hope our guest lineup will be a bit a lot more diverse and inclusive than what large LGBTQ magazines and web sites are passin’ off as the definitive gay and lesbian image. To do that, I need your help. Feel free to call me out if you think I’m not presenting enough of the L, G, B, T, or Q on SistersTalk Radio – but please, be prepared to suggest a few people you think I should take a look at. You can send your suggestions to either me or my partner & assistant producer, Andrea.
With any luck, we’ll get to celebrate our 500th show! Only 450 more to go.
Jul
7
Jennifer Hudson’s ‘Will You Be There’ Performance at Michael Jackson Memorial
Filed Under Music | Leave a Comment
I love, love, love Jennifer Hudson.
Rumor has it that Beyonce opted out of attending MJ’s memorial because Jennifer Hudson was asked to perform and she wasn’t. Hmm . . .
Jennifer Hudson’s performance was my favorite, but this kid, Shaheen Jafargholi, gave me chills too.
Jul
5
Latina Lesbian Comedian Sandra Valls on SistersTalk Radio
Filed Under Lesbian Podcast, Lesbians, Race | Leave a Comment
Tonight on SistersTalk Radio, we interviewed Latina lesbian comedian Sandra Valls.
Sandra Valls is a brash, high energy, Latina comic and then some. Voted one of Curve Magazine’s Top 10 funniest lesbian comics she sure packs a punch with her frank, in-your-face comedy performing all over the country as one of the world’s only out Latina comics!
Hear Sandra discuss:
* Her childhood
* Her first performance as a comedian
* Her appearance on Showtime’s ‘The Latin Divas of Comedy’
* Her coming out story
* Her favorite comedians
* Her best and worst performance
* Upcoming projects
Jul
2
New Anti-Gay Group Will Use Colored Folks and Spicks to Pick on the Gays
Filed Under Bitch Slap, LGBT, Religion, WTF? | 1 Comment
Yesterday I posted information about a new anti-gay religious group forming a new coalition designed to fight abortion, same-sex marriage and the general decline of American morality. The group is called Freedom Federation:
A new federation of two dozen conservative Christian groups announced plans today to work together to strategize around moral values they feel are under attack across the country.
“We are not wed to a particular partisan candidate or party,” said Mathew Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel and an organizer of the Freedom Federation. “We are wed to core shared values.”
Those values include opposition to abortion, same-sex marriage and pornography and support for religious freedom, limited government and the right to own firearms.
Ok, I don’t get it. The name of the organization is Freedom Federation? Whose freedom are they fighting for? White, heterosexual, Christian males?
I find it almost comical that the Freedom Federation plans to use the colored folks and the spicks – well, those who are dumb enough to help them – to force white, heterosexual, Christian male values on taxpaying American citizens who don’t agree with their platform:
Representatives from the various groups, which include ethnic, women’s and youth organizations, said the federation will represent a more inclusive approach to addressing public policy.
. . .
“The stereotypical media-exacerbated image of the angry white evangelical will be replaced by an evangelical movement that will reconcile uncompromised values of compassion, truth with mercy, and righteousness with justice,” said the Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference.
That’s not a stereotype. Evangelicals are indeed angry white men – and the angry white women who love them.
Yesterday, I called to speak with someone at the newly formed Freedom Federation. Mathew Staver, founder of the anti-gay organization Liberty Counsel, left me a message today. He asked that I speak with Tessa Sturgill when I called back. Within minutes I had Tessa on the phone. She refused to answer any questions, claiming she didn’t want to give me false information. Honestly though, she seemed really confused and completely unprepared to deal with media inquiries. If this is any indication of the organization’s power (so far), I’d say the gays can kick the Freedom Federation’s ass up and down every block in Boystown Chicago.
