Book Review: Bossypants

This book, written by my fellow hilarious Wahoo Tina Fey, is about her childhood, middle/awkward years, mommyhood, and rise to fame.  Tina is one of a few woman in a mostly male-dominated world and in Bossypants, she hilariously shares her life lessons and essentially, how to be a boss.  The best thing about Tina is she is a great story teller and can laugh at herself.

While I wasn't laughing out loud like I did at Chelsea Handler's sometimes crude humor, Tina definitely keeps you entertained.  Her humor is more elevated ... I mean, she IS a comedy writer and I guess that's a bi-product of her being from UVA.  (If you couldn't tell by now, I also went to UVA.)  If you love her Liz Lemon character on 30 Rock, you'll definitely love this book.

Next up: Assata, an Autobiography by Assata Shakur

Stop MOTHERing Black Men

Before we get started here, this is not an "Angry Black Woman/Mad at the World/Set his clothes on Fire/Waiting to Exhale" post.  As a sociologist (yeah, I do that too) and educator, this is something that I've noticed we do in our community.  From the time our Black men are boys, we mother the hell out of them.  Nothing wrong with mothering a young child, but when that young child grows up to be a man, it's time to stop.

As Black women, we grow up and are taught to be strong, independent, hard-working and hold down our families.  Black women exemplify these attributes, while we've allowed Black men to disembody them to the point where they don't have to grow up.  We allow them to run the streets while we hold down the household.  We let them carry on with any female they want while we turn a blind eye.  We do their dirty work for them when we should be demanding that they 'man' up.

This topic of mothering first came up as a friend and I discussed Emily B. from Love & Hip Hop.  Her story is pretty tragic: she's had a child & been in a relationship for years with a man who has cheated on her behind & in front of her back and now she spends her days on television crying about said man.  Now obviously, I don't know the ins & outs of Emily's relationship, but I do know that she is seemingly patiently waiting for her man to finish running the streets and decide he wants to be with her.  Just as a mother would wait out a petulant child who is having a tantrum.  Y'all see the connection here?

Another example: women having to hold down the household AND work while their man runs the streets.  Maybe he's not out cheating, but if he's not financially, emotionally & spiritually taking care of his family, he's not doing his job.  When you put that ring on her finger & a bun in her oven, your days of being a "boy" are over.  There's nothing wrong with hanging out with friends & playing video games, but when that supersedes your family, it's got ta go.

As Black women, we should support our Black men.  We should uplift them and build them up.  We want them to be successful and realize all of their goals and dreams.  Can't we do all of these things while demanding that they, in turn, be men?

Get yo weave!

As a card carrying member of the Weavy Wonder club, I think I'm in a position to have an honest conversation with you ladies.  Some of yalls weaves are un-ac-ceptable.  I've already shared my disdain for lacefronts so I won't harp on that again.  But, just because you're not wearing a lacefront, doesn't mean your hair is on point.  Lemme give you a few examples:

The Exposed Track:

Classic (and rookie) weave fail.  There should always be enough hair to cover your tracks...just like in life.

Unkempt Weave: 

If you gotta unkempt weave, I am only to assume you have an unkempt life. Just ask my friend Nay about her roomie Lil. The first time I met Lil, her hair was lookin crazy and she, in turn, ended up being crazy.

The Ridiculous Color:

No one, in the history of the world, was born with blue & purple hair.  Now, as a Blonde Bombshell, I think a lil color is fine.  I've done a red streak or 2 in my day.  But your WHOLE HEAD in purple?? Ummm, nooooo.

Smelly Weave: 

Just because you have a weave does not mean you shouldn't wash your hair. Your weave will trap all kinds of smells (sweat, cigarettes, desperation) so make sure you stick to a regular hair care schedule.

The Braxtons:

Disclaimer: I do love the Braxtons, I don't always love their hair.  The evolution of the Braxtons weave has been impressive...

...but they ain't there yet.

To all my Sewn-in Sisters, I fully support your choice for enhancement...just make sure you look good doin it!

Top of the Summitt

We're huge basketball fans in my family.  One team we always root for is the University of Tennessee Women's Basketball Team.  Until about a week ago, the team was led by legendary Coach Pat Summitt.  She recently stepped down because of her battle with early-onset dementia.  Pat is a legend in our family not just because she is an amazing coach, but because she is an extraordinary woman.

Most people know Pat's coaching stats:

1,908 wins
8 NCAA championships
14 Olympians
1st women's basketball coach to be on the cover of Sports Illustrated
Made an appearance in the NCAA tournament every single year she's coached.
More Tennessee players have been drafted into the WNBA than from any other school.

Her players have a 100% graduation rate, which in the college sports world is unheard of.  (Take that Coach K.)  She's run a clean program with no major coaching violations.  She didn't buy any players a house to get them to come play for her, *cough* Pete Carroll.  She was intense on the court, but kept it classy and never threw a chair.  

Pat was not just a coach to her players, she was a surrogate mother.  When players came to Tennessee, they didn't just go to college, they joined a family.  She's single-handedly put women's basketball on the map so it's hard to describe in a few sentences what Pat Summitt has meant to her players and to college sports.  In this day and age, when coaches are in the news for fiscal impropriety, adultery, and cheating, it's refreshing to know that there are still people like Pat out there.  To Pat, I wish you a long, healthy, prosperous life.  Thank you for the impact you made on basketball and on young women everywhere.

Bacon, Egg, & Cheese Cups

I saw this recipe during my daily perusing of recipe blogs.  Couple things I love about this recipe: 

• It's mini (I'm obsessed with muffin cups.  From now on, all my food will be muffin-sized.)
• It's breakfast
• There's bacon
• Only 5 ingredients!

I used challah bread since I had some laying around but I'm sure this would work with french bread or any of them other fancy breads.

Ingredients:

Challah Bread

3 eggs

1 c. milk

Cheddar Cheese

3 slices of bacon cooked

Dash of Black Pepper  

1. Dice your bread into 1-inch cubes

2. Cook your bacon

3. Grease your muffin cups

4. Separate bread cubes into your muffin cups

5. Top your bread cubes with shredded cheddar cheese and bacon crumbles

6. Mix your eggs and milk in a separate bowl and season with pepper (I think next time I'll add Lawry's ... everything's better with Lawry's)

7. Pour egg mixture over each muffin cup

8. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until your knife comes out clean

Yeah I ate one before I took the last picture ... so sue me

The original recipe calls for this to soak overnight.  If you were using a crusty bread or day old bread, that's probably your best bet.  Challah sucks up everything, so this didn't need to soak overnight.  And I wanted to eat it immediately...

Big Girls Need Love Too

Recently the plus-size blogosphere was abuzz over H&M launching their plus line.  Finally, another trendy, moderately priced retailer was doing something for the big girls.  This past weekend, I had friends visiting NYC so we decided to check out H&M+ ... well that was a huge fail.

• They gave us big girls a whole wall.  A wall yall.  Not a floor, not a section, but a wall.
• Even though the trends this season are colored pants, floral prints, neons, etc., the plus-size section was gray, navy, and black.  Now, all of these are nice colors for a gloomy winter day, but not Spring!
• All the clothes were shaped like a long flowy moo moo or beautiful cardboard box.  Well, my body is shaped like a coke bottle, I'd like my clothes to reflect that. 

Oh H&M, nice try.  But try again.

Ladies, what are some of your favorite plus-size retailers?

Book Review: Perfect Peace

The description of this book is listed as follows:

Perfect Peace explores the fateful decision of Emma Jean Peace to raise her seventh son, Perfect, as the daughter she has always wanted.  Her plan, nutty as it is, works out until Perfect is 8 years old.

Now, doesn't that sound interesting??  This book dives into gender roles, sexuality, colorism, abuse, all mixed in with being Black & poor in the 1940s. The novel was very well written and the author does a great job of presenting the background information and complexities of the main characters.  Even the mother, who you want to hate for most of the book, becomes a sympathetic antagonist.

Next up: Tina Fey (waHOOwa) ~ Bossy Pants