My Blackgrrl Spring Bucket List - 2015!

Now that the winter chill is no longer in the air, it's time to get moving all over again, wake all the way up and get the lead out.  This is my personal top ten (in no particular order): stuff that will make my spring time swing into high gear, no matter how everything else is falling together.

New York City has over 100 museums, with many seasonal exhibits that will only happen here.  Sure, most museums are filled with dusty, Eurocentric masterpieces. And I know plenty of people of color who don't go to museums because they're convinced that there's nothing there for them.  But that's changing.  More curators are realizing that if they want a younger, more diverse audience for their art, they have to be more inclusive.  All it takes is a great, grand idea  - and it's a refreshing surprise that this season offers several options. There is something for absolutely everyone this spring.

My brother Emmett who's married with two kids and lives in the ATL, has fallen into the habit of humoring me by going to museums with me when he visits the city.  Strangely, he always enjoys it -- much to his genuine surprise.

This gigantic Jeff Wall photo After "Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison, the Prologue totally blew him away.  I can remember standing in front of it with him, listening to him find the words to explain why he liked it. Then I read from the passage of the book that this photo illustrates.

If Kehinde Wiley doesn't blow him away, I'll eat my favorite pumps.  And that goes double for the Jacob Lawrence exhibit at MoMA.

Here's my list. Enjoy!

1. Get my 15 speed bike tuned up -- and yes, get a helmet.  Once the weather is good, I'm going to toss my Metrocard for a month or two.  If that doesn't wake up my thighs and my butt, I don't know what will.
2. An entire afternoon of relatively cheap insider beauty treats in K-Town, followed by Mongolian BBQ -- preferrably with my friend Jane, who lives to eat and shop. No one can appreciate a hardcore, no-frills, three hour scrub down more than her.  Except me, of course.
3. A Ladies Tea Social is in order, where me and a few of Those Who Know dress up in our vintage finery and nosh -- preferrably at The Pembroke. Or The Pierre. Or The Mandarin Oriental.
4. That Kehinde Wiley exhibit at The Brooklyn Museum. I'm not a fan but still, I can't miss it.
5. Curlbox BODY -- from Myliek Teele, the founder of Curlbox, comes a monthly non-subscription skincare package that should make anyone's skin glow.
6. Harlem Jazz Shrines -- don't miss it!
7. ...that Jacob Lawrence exhibit at MoMA, tho...
8.  The Black Girl Swap -- wherein a bunch of us blacktresses convene over dinner and wine at our fearless leader's apartment with our beautiful elegant slightly used clothing, mix it up and donate whatever is left over to a great cause.
9. The Frieda Kahlo exhibit at the New York Botanical Gardens must be seen to be believed -- preferrably when the all-female mariachi band La Flor de Toloache is performing...! (I love them!)
   ...and last but certainly not least...
10. Pool my savings and purchase what guitarist Kelvyn Bell considers to be a real guitar. (I'd like a Fender Strat.)

NaBloPoMo for May: PHOTO!

This should be fun: post photos -- or write about them -- all month. 

MPB says that I have an eye and that's good to know. Taking snapshots on the fly has become another kind of journal.  Just about every smart device I've got in my purse has a great camera on it so it's hard not to take a picture or squeeze off a video when something interesting pops up. 

The thing is, I'm in the midst of giving myself a pretty severe makeover -- dental work, weight loss, hair ideas, and much more -- and all of it is forcing me to look at my physical self in a way that I find difficult. Or at least disconcerting. I was always too focused on technique as an actor and a vocalist to fret over something as seemingly frivolous as my image.  I mean, sure. I'm obsessive about how I look in performance, I push for a healthy lean strong body but what it takes to do what I do on the stage is light years away from what I need to do to come off well on camera.  

The thing is, I don't want to believe that talent doesn't matter -- even when casting agents say talent is only 7% of what they consider when auditioning actors.  (WTF?)

I get it, I get it -- film/TV is a visual medium.  My body was the first thing that came together.  It was, and continues to be, hard work.  Every morning, I start all over again, like Sysyphus -- beating my body into submission.  No one can say that I'm not taking my visuals seriously. I have an eyebrowist, for crying out loud. Because it takes time for bones to heal, my dental work will be the last thing and it will take the longest, and it will cost me plenty.  (What am I saying? It already has.) 

Once I'm done, I'll never stop smiling. Never.

I have to take new headshots, I have to make an actor's reel, I have to make a 2 minute EPK/video and I have to take promo shots for my upcoming European tour.  I need all of that as of yesterday. Yeesh. That's a lot of eye candy.   Very necessary, though.

Here's the blogpost epiphany from 2009 that triggered it all -- Your Inner Svengali.  And if you're curious about the snapshots I take or the images I like, you can find me on Instagram and that minimalist wonder,  ello.

In the meantime, here I am goofing off with my girl Chicava Honeychild of Brown Girls Burlesque.  I don't think we're capable of not having fun together.

Spring Cleaning, Part One: Swaps!

Time to watch an episode or two of Hoarders for motivation, roll up my sleeves and clean house.



This month, I'm starting with my closets. I'd like to refresh my wardrobe but I don't have the money to fling at every cute outfit I see when I window shop -- and frankly, I've got way too many items that I never wear.

My solution? Swaps! Who knew that you could swap your clean, gently used/not broken stuff -- including housewares and whatnot -- all over Gotham for free? (I didn't!) 

Here's a short list to get you started.

• Stop 'N Swap! Sponsored by grownyc.com, you can show up with that blender you never use -- or come empty-handed and take whatever you need.  (Sounds like hippies to me...!)
• Fashion Swap and Meet is wunderbar -- their last swap featured fashion bloggers.
• Although meetup.com features over a dozen swaps in the New York area (including one for single parents with small kids), Five Boroughs Clothing Swap looks promising. It's members only -- hopefully with others who are as thrifty and fashion-conscious as you are -- it happens six times a year and it's free.
• There's lots of shops that swap, like Thrift Disco and The Frock Shop...
• ...and yep, you can do this online via Swapdom, Swap! and Thread Up.

My solution? A few times a year, there's an extremely private swap amongst maybe a dozen friends that involves a lavish meal, lots of wine and clothes galore.  Whatever gets picked over is donated to a great cause, like a women's shelter.  (My favorite donation spot: The Bottomless Closet.)  And because I know which girlfriend has that pencil skirt I used to love, I can always get it back if I miss it too much.  That's the beauty of swapping with a closed circle of friends: we're all up in some small part of each other's closets.

There's also another seasonal swap amongst friends -- a tea party! with cocktails! and delicious tea cakes and whatnot! wheeeee! -- that's strictly vintage.  All this with regular donations to the Salvation Army means that my closets are actually in pretty good shape these days. And here's a happy bonus: losing this pesky winter weight means that I get to wear all the clothes in my closet, not just the stuff that fits me this week. 

Next month: Zen and The Art of Clearing My Junk Room...!