Boxed out!

The last time I got braid extensions, I cried!

I was 18, about to go to Uni, and I wanted a hairstyle I could manage without the help of my Gran. So why the tears? Well, (and I still feel pathetic admitting it, but) it was because my Mum and Granma decided to go Bad Cop/Bad Cop on me and ridicule my choice of hairstyle!

They made it very clear that no self-respecting, style-conscious young woman would be seen dead in the outdated, childish style of braids I wanted.  You see I wanted single, not too thick, box braids à la Brandy back in day. Unfortunately my mum and gran insisted on canerow braids à la Alicia Keys. Nothing wrong with that style but NOT want I wanted.  According to them my hair was way too thick for box braids, I have to add too much synthetic hair to my own and I'd end up looking stupid. Just the kinda encouragement you need for when you're about to move away from home!  The humiliation and frustration of supposedly being an adult and not being allowed a say on how I looked broke me that day, hence the waterworks.

                    

                        Brandy circa sometime in the 1990's -
                        What I wanted, minus the burnt ends   

 The style I was strong armed into getting -
Alicia Keys.

 

I hated the braids. They were thick, heavy and I couldn't style them the way I wanted to.  Not surprisingly they only lasted 2 weeks before I took them out and swore never to go there again!


Fast forward 11 years and....I finally went back there, a month ago. As the Queen of my Samba School (EXCITING HUH!! But more about that in a later post) I was having the most amazingly, beautiful costume made for me for Notting Hill Carnival.  The designer wanted big, long hair to go with his eye popping creation!  Hmmmm, up cropped dilemma one. If you've read my Phony or not to phony post, you'll know I prefer not wear hair pieces when I dance, and as you're now fully aware, the last time I had any hair like appendages attached to my own, the experience is not littered with fond memories.  What, to, do?

Do as you're told and OBEY, that's what!

You only get to be the Queen of my Samba school once and Notting Hill is our biggest event, so you goes hard, or you damn well goes home! Besides, I fancied a change, and bum length box braids were one hell of a change!

When You Gonna Get Yourself a Job?

While I'm in the UK, planning my next leg of world domination, I'm looking for regular work. A way to work smart, not hard. A way to pay the bills without breaking my back as I usually do.

My boyfriend, who is American, obviously recommends me to look at Craigslist. "There are a number of unusual creative jobs on there! I'm sure you'd find something interesting" he says.

So on I go...and this is what I find:

Well. This one was...interesting, just as I was expecting. I'm not entirely sure what constitutes a "crafty female" but I'm assuming that it's just your run of the mill lady person who doesn't mind making some light basic labour tasks. Naturally. Although I couldn't help but wonder whether one might have to undergo specific tests to monitor improvement before aforementioned "more complicated tasks" would be handed on. So many questions but defo something to follow up on.



Occasionally, on laundry day, I have been known to rebel against propriety and go commando. Never have I ever considered turning it into cash. Until now. However, in this time of iPhones and Skype, I'm not entirely sure why I would need to go out on laundry day, in public, in my old work team building T shirt and slippers to prove to a stranger that yes, all my pants are in the wash. But on closer inspection, I realised that although I am woman, I am also over 25 so don't have to worry about this mess anyway.

Hang on. One minute I'm not meant to be wearing knickers and the next I've not only got to wear them, but I've got to go and spend tens of pounds on brand names, just so this chancer can buy them off me? No thanks mate. I wonder if these two know each other though and have a kind of tag-team situation going on? Ahhh the questions...

 

I would like to meet the author of this post, just to find out for myself what his issues with his father were. Also, as this was categorised under "non-profit organisation", I love to discover exactly which NGO to google to get the link to the video because it sounds fantastical.


Having looked at these and really, really having a think about them, I asked my friends if they knew of any jobs going and found a receptionist placement through my friend's dad.  Thank you internet, but I think I'll stick to more old fashioned job acquiring techniques for the moment.






Karla
x

Black Girls Rock!

My name is Karla, and I am a Black Girl who Rocks.

This is how all of the honourees at BET's annual Black Girls Rock awards ceremony end their acceptance speeches. I know this because on a muggy Sunday September afternoon, I turned the channel over to Sky's BET during the ad break from a Friends episode, to watch a re-run from last year's awards show and an hour later I'm still watching, completely in love and inspired by all of these women.
From the recipients of the M.A.D Girls awards (Making A Difference) - motivated young women who take action to inspire their communities by doing things like creating Green superheroes and touring schools and leading workshops promoting the ethical agenda from age 7 (Brooklyn Wright), to Mary Pat Hector the 17 year old calling for teen activism to see that black youth in her community don't slip through the net - to Activism awards for Chicago based "Interrupter" Ameena Matthews, as well as living legends Queen Latifah and Patti Labelle.

The winner who inspired me to write this post, was the recipient of the Shot-Caller Award, Mara Brock-Akil, the producer and writer of Black led shows Girlfriends aka the "black Sex And The City" and new TV show Being Mary Jane starring Gabrielle Union from Bring It On fame and the first Black romantic interest in Friends). I don't know how many of you know this, but it is a dream to write a TV comedy series. I spent this last summer in the US where I am in the process of moving to researching and nest searching so I can chase this writing dream, starting with a course at the UCB in New York. I usually cite my inspirations as Tina Fey and Amy Poehler - incredible comedic writing talents who started out in improv like me, but that is because I feel a glaring absence of Black women to look up to, women who might be able to fulfill a similar role. Mara Brock-Akil's acceptance speech echoed my sentiments.

"Everywhere we turn, we see our beauty reflected. Unless you're Black. And a girl...And when there is an image that resembles us, oftentimes on closer inspection, it's not us..."

For as long as I can remember, I have been on a search for Black female comedians who speak the same language as me. A writer and comedian who from London, from a Jamaican family, who went to a private school (thank you John Whitgift Foundation and your bursars for funding my brain) and so doesn't subscribe to many of the stereotypes that mainstream media likes to perpetuate.

As I mentioned in this post, Youtube has been a great source of alternative voices, but I think there needs to be MOAR!!

And that, my friends, is my lifetime's mission. To be the Black Tina Fey. To be a new Hannah Pool aka the only English winner of a Black Girls Rock Award. To be the person I want to see in the world.

Wish me luck!

Lots of love,
Karla x