Oh, How far have we have come...

This video continues to run through my mind as I consider the current "trend" for African-American/Women of Colour toward NATURAL Hair.

Let it Flow

As I have just punctuated my time at that bastion of all things Female, Lifestyle, & African-American ...where I watched my friend's face cinch, twitch, and twist every time I pointed out that the females in the office out-swag the pages of the publication...in every way, not just style...I am forced to reflect on just how they were...or not addressing that NATURAL Hair issue.

[I am thinking of one young lady in particular...a homegirl, in fact...from East Orange.  Every time she steps up in there...she lets folks know...she was happy to be there and WATCH OUT!  STYLED out...Hair Laid...Eye's Green and WICKED...a pop of red at The Lip...and always a LADY!  She is just one!!!]

So, as I observed my brilliant, regally crowned Sister-Friend negotiate the deadly waters ESSENCE Communications would ultimately be for her...I would tactfully, stress the importance of looking no further than the office for inspiration for the pages of the magazine.  The conversations among co-workers about all things arts, politics, health, children, style, makeup, travel, money, fashion, decorating...and HAIR could fill a year's worth of the book...BOOM!  Constance was there as a living example of DOIN' IT...the Natural Way.
What she hadn't counted on...I suspect...is just how she would have to craft this conversation.  The exasperating search for finesse...began to dull the smart smirk I was accustomed to seeing her wear.  Instead, in moments when no one is supposed to be looking...but I always was, I would see the trouble, angst, and annoyance all of this was causing.

Oh...and then there is this.  

BLACK WOMEN's HAIR is and shall forever be [as long as THEY...WE pay attention to it the way we do] a SOCIAL, POLITICAL, PASSIONate and most certainly an ECONOMIC tool...chip... bargaining pawn and puppet in the Media Game.  If WE don't address THAT first and FOREMOST...we are doing SISTERs a SERIOUS disservice.

In the short time I was freelancing there recently, I heard complaint after complaint regarding ESSENCE addressing that NATURAL issue...this, from my friends who read the publication.  Despite every effort on the part of ESSENCE.com...the printed page still has some resonance in OUR COMMUNITY.  [While, currently ESSENCE seems unable to embrace anything beyond the surface on-set of what it is like now that Michelle Obama is First Lady.  The Voice of all things African American and FEMALE had been marginalized to simply reporting [as every other tabloid of the day] our take on the goings-on of Michelle and family.  Ahhh...a sign of the TIMEs, no doubt.

And here-in lies the problem TIME had with attempting to shape the voice of AFRICAN-AMERICAN WOMEN...
YOU CAN'T!  

THEY HAVE TO!  

LoL  

Black MEN...and OTHERSn...know this. 

Why a WHITE, LIBERAL, LESBIAN would be so bold as to believe any differently...escapes me. Hmmm... ;-))

Mr. Lewis...I applaud your creation and appreciate every bit of contribution you have made to the medium and culture, but saving face by saying that you would still support the sale of the publication to TIME...in light of what future it now faces is...troubling, to say the least.  Resources aside, Mr. Lewis...ESSENCE is about PASSION.  The same PASSION that marked the pages first carrying the storied-fashion photographs of early contributor and investor Gordon Parks.  The same PASSION that, in these days, allows for ESSENCE to STILL be one of the LONE publications falling monthly into the homes of Black Families/women [along with EBONY and JET, as well as Black Enterprise]...the world over.  The hope, direction...connection that women of color found in ESSENCE is being lost...like with everything else...for the sake of the DOLLAR - as that is what THE RESOURCES TIME possessed amounts to for you.  Sure the digital age is fast encroaching on all things print media, but it would seem to me that insuring the legacy of the ship you so aptly-crafted would out-weigh the need to jump into such a cowardly, lifeboat, lest you are left with little to stay afloat...but a memory for sure.  

[http://www.whataboutourdaughters.com/waod/2013/3/13/edward-lewis-is-not-here-for-your-essence-magazine-bellyachi.html]

[I tell you this, MIKKI TAYLOR...knew just what to do.  My last days there, I delighted at seeing her coming through - intent on insuring that HER GIRLS ..the department SHE BUILT...the theoretical wind-beneath-her-wings...was still in some kind of good standing.  She is a force and inspiration...taking it all in...playing, but serious.  
I don't find that...now.  The careers too transient...the connections fleeting and the product viral..ergo dispensable.  The connection I felt, seeing her there was to a time gone by.  We both there to witness this once beautiful ARK,now worn and ragged from one-too many turns at sea...and no direction...now, here STRUGGLING to stay afloat from within! Hmmm] 

TRUST...ESSENCE was that SAFE space mothers, sisters, aunts, friends, grandmothers, co-workers and others used to be discussing...referencing...invoking...quoting...planning to...retreating to...finding solace and support from/in.  A tool for a tabloid/reality-tv driven media...not so much?!?

Perhaps it truly is time to re-dress the scope of the magazine...as the conversation concerning the readership has evolved beyond simply bangs, bags, and Black men woes!!!  Africa and the Middle East have forced a socio-political hand that cannot be ignored.  China has always had a hand in the stew as well...as is evidence by both the Caribbean and Africa.  The ESSENCE of African-American women has become about THAT MIX - those MULTI-CULTURAL concerns and the connection borne out of their inescapable history.  BLACK IS, as AMERICA is quick to ASSERT, ONE DROP.  Should ESSENCE ever choose to ADDRESS ALL of those women possessing simply 1 drop who have a concern with lifestyle, economics, fashion, love, family from a perspective familiar to them; and who possess the income to respond in kind...they'd be on the mark.  Thereby, once again forcing the "hand of the oppressor" to open up to the reality.  If you want to make money off of my conversation/culture/dance/shimy/shake/sautee/and stitch...FALL BACK and let me DO what I DO...that 1st ATTRACTED YOU!

Where it stands, I see sistahs stomping into the salons, mad...once more forced to ferret-out some sense from Over-sized Hair book; blog/app pages; or a bevy copy-cat hair 'zines...MAD, they can no longer just take a tear from say...Tasha Turner or a note my girl Jackie [http://www.2snapsandatwist.com/].

Perhaps they should look to Jodie Patterson's web-series GIRL CRUSH [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUbQQezrqu4] for timely direction and inspiration for what the modern woman of color needs. 

 [She was with me in the AUC [Spelman] while SKOOLDAZE was still FRESH.  That said, she has worked, watched, and evolved her career in media 

to the point of businesswoman, mother, and beauty business owner...all the while staying true to this urban landscape...and true to her ESSENCE.]

ARISE, REBELLE, all of the various VOGUES; as well as many on-line sights, are trying desperately to stomp on the hallowed ground ESSENCE has so lovingly sewn!

Pas d'Possible...I say.  

For the time being...it is wait and see.  For me and Constance ESSENCE is now BLACK HISTORY.  My fear that it may soon be the same for the rest of the general population.

What are we without our ESSENCE?  

Do you really want to find out?  

Re-RE OPEN UP!!!