I haven’t had time to really dig my heels into the controversy over Elle magazine’s alleged lightning of Gabby Sidibe’s skin for the October cover, given the potential coup d’état in Delaware and Plenary’s mad dash efforts to get LaTonya Jones’s Southern Discomfort to print, but the following headline for Allison Samuels’s article in Newsweek caught my attention:

Gabby Sidibe: Cover Girl?

A wonderful actress—sure. But putting her on the cover of Elle magazine sends a different, and disturbing, message.

 Samuels gives Sidibe credit for her “pitch-perfect” Oscar-nominated role in Precious, before explaining her reasons why she “hates times three her cover and asking:

It’s really hard to take Elle seriously on this. In an industry that rarely celebrates the more conventional beauty of black actresses such as Gabrielle Union, Sanaa Lathan, or Kerry Washington on magazine covers, are we really supposed to believe that it’s somehow seen the light with Sidibe? Or is it really the fact that Sidibe‘s plus-size beauty is a nonthreatening beauty? It’s a beauty so completely opposite from the white world’s ideal of attractive that it feels safe to give her all the kudos in the world. Somehow, after one film, Sidibe has so beguiled the fashion and beauty industry that reportedly even mega-makeup artist Bobbi Brown is in discussions with the actress to develop her own makeup line. It’s difficult not to be cynical. Regina King (another wonderful actress who gets little press or fanfare) wrote an article about being mistaken for actress Rutina Wesley from the HBO show True Blood on the Emmys’ red carpet. Not exactly progress for women of color.

Chile…

Samuels take on this issue is provocative, and one that’s worthy of discussion. Maybe if I blogged more, we could have an interesting discussion on this, but I’d love to explore how to keep this dialogue going about the ongoing problem of how black women are covered and portrayed in the media, how we can change the perceptions and whether we, as a community, are our own worst enemies.

For the record, I agree with Samuels, and can’t help but question Elle’s selection, as well as Sidibe’s less-than-flattering styling (Clutch nailed it dead-0n). And before we pull out the hater card, the issue is not about Sidibe being on the cover. I welcome any sister who gets some well-deserved shine for her accomplishments, talents and contributions–even if if I’m not stanning for Precious (and take issue with her ‘tude and comments like ”stop googling me”). But you have to wonder, as Samuels raises, about the other actresses who’ve been grinding for a minute and have yet to move beyond the cover of Essence and Ebony. Maybe if they did, Regina and Rutina wouldn’t have been disrepected at the Emmys.

Music and literature go hand in hand in my mind. After all, we’re all artists expressing ourselves in different ways. But I rely on certain musicians to provide the soundtrack to whatever I’m working on at the moment, whether it’s my way overdue book, a legal argument or theory, Plenary Publishing business or whatever personal thing life’s throwing my way at the moment.   

I was super geeked to find out that three artists on my all-star musician list–The Roots, Common and Erykah Badu–will be performing at the Summer Spirit Festival in Maryland on August 7th. And just to show that this really is about the music and inspiration for me, I didn’t put up an eye candy photo of Common (his fine self is permanently ingrained in my mind anyway).   

So while this is a Plenary Publishing endorsed event (get thee to the ticket website), I encourage all writers to tap into the things that inspire them. Use the dog days of summer to find your source of inspiration, and get started on that story you’ve been putting off. Impromptu road trips, long drives and various CDs have gotten me through severe bouts of writer’s block and unlocked new elements of my storytelling that just don’t come when you’re thinking too hard about where you want your story to go.   

And if you need a little more musical inspiration, check out this fiyah coming to New York and Maryland on August 28 and 29th!  Tribe! Lauryn (fingers crossed)! Slick and Premo! Wu-Tang! Rakim and KRS-One! 9th Wonder!    

Editors Note: I felt the still from Lost (which I copped from the ABC website) was perfectly appropriate for this post given the confusion and wide disappointment over the series finale. See aspiring writers: NBC ABC needs you!

Here’s an update to my earlier post about writing fellowships. ABC/Disney announced the submission deadline for their writing fellowship program, which is, in their words, one of the most “coveted writing programs” in the industry. From their website:

Fellows become employees of Disney | ABC Television Group and will be paid a weekly salary of $961.54 ($50,000.00 annualized) plus any applicable benefits for which they are eligible in accordance with the then-current Company benefits plans. The program is designed to expose aspiring writers to key executives, producers and literary representatives – all essential in the pursuit of a writing career. Additionally, while in the program, fellows have the opportunity to work one-on-one with a current programming or development executive to create spec scripts of series from the current broadcast season.  The ultimate goal is to prepare and nurture the fellows for a writing career.

Once upon a time, I dreamed of becoming a screenwriter and having a fabulous bicoastal life in New York and Los Angeles. I haven’t abandoned that dream completely, but the ultimate hustler, Tyler Perry, is making me rethink my strategy–though I really need him to consider mining for writing talent too. Nonetheless, the Disney/ABC fellowship is a great opportunity from what I understand.

The submission window is June 1-July 1, 2010. The application is not up yet, but since you only have a month to get things in order, I wanted to post an update about the deadlines. Keep your eyes glued to that website and perfect that spec script during the wait time!

Today’s videos come from a live concert featuring some of Teddy P’s numerous hits as a solo artist and as lead singer for Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes. RIP to another music legend that certainly made up part of the soundtrack to our lives, before and after. I know some of us 70′s babies are probably here because of Teddy P., the Blue Notes and other music legends from that era.

I decided to post some of the amazing concert videos that I came across on Youtube when searching for my fave hits. Thanks to “bertmarx” for putting this up.   

The Twitterati/Internet/blogsphere’s been buzzing for the past few weeks over the news that Tavis Smiley’s SmileyBooks is set to publish R. Kelly’s memoirs next year. By my estimation, the reaction is on point. So much so, that I scrapped plans to blog in-depth about it because others have made my points, like:

What About Our Daughters

Womanist Musings 

Bol over at XXLmag.com (Piss On You: A Memoir = classic hilarity)

Dr. Boyce Watkins

Danielle Belton over at The Black Snob (nice commentary on Smiley’s decision in light of his criticism of POTUS)

I used to get down on “12Play” like everyone else (mind out of the gutter, please) and played the hell out of 1995′s “R.Kelly,” but the exposure of the Pied Piper’s perverted preference for underage girls is well-documented through his marriages and relationships, the child porn trial and the thrown-out-on-a-tech Florida arrest for possession of child porn (which revealed pictures of underage girls and another video).  

I remember the day I heard the verdict in Kelly’s trial. I’ve seen several surprising verdicts, but this was two steps under the Simpson trial in my book. My lawyer friends called for my reaction, and, amazingly, we all shared the sentiment that R. Kelly had not only dodged one hell of a bullet (14 times), but the jury hearing the evidence pushed him out of the way.

When I hear or see R. Kelly, I now have a Pavlovian response. I automatically change the station and simply don’t entertain his b.s., or any other artist that still sees the need to record with him – yes, I’m talking about you Keri Hilson (and you too, Raheem. “Customer” was fine without R. Kelly).

I was pretty pissed as I read through the reaction to SmileyBooks’ decision to publish Kelley’s memoirs, especially because the publisher comes from the mold of pundits and scholars who can write or talk all day about the ills of the black community and what the President (the current target) isn’t doing about it. Sure, Smiley and others have done some good things for the black community, but it shocks the system to see such a blatant example of hypocrisy. For example, it seems that it’s ok to talk in circles about the number of young black mothers and the fall of the black family, but none of these men are discussing or publishing about the abuse facing our women – you know, the ones who make up part of the black family. Those “precious” girls and women that it’s apparently ok to pee on and profit from.

I have no idea how far Kelly’s going to delve into his life and trials in his memoir. It could be one big mea culpa, which I doubt, but I simply don’t care about what he has to say. And I damn sure won’t add one more dollar to his bottom line. But as I prepared to wax about Smiley and Kelley, I had an epiphany that played itself out over Twitter.

I realized that I, too, own a publishing company. Yes, we’re new, but like Tavis, I can publish whatever the heck I want. So I am. And we’re going to publish an anthology of works canvassing the lives of black women, for release in 2011.

No, this isn’t some Kanye/50 type beef that I have with Smiley Books, but a wakeup call to me, and hopefully other women, that we need to take back our voices. This won’t be a man-bashing collection of works by bitter writers. I don’t get down like that and I’m not a love hater. Instead, I’m using my company to feature stories and provoke thought about the lives of modern black women. 

Thanks to all of you that helped me work this out in my head. Details are here.

 TNH

Babs just announced First Lady Michelle Obama as the most fascinating person of 2009. Of course, the list includes Glenn Beck and Kate Gosselin, but I agree 100%. Some folks say the First Lady’s gone from an Ivy-League educated lawyer to the First Lady of Fashion - arm candy that should take on more issues - but I wholeheartedly disagree. Rome wasn’t built in a day people.

It excites me that we’re being barraged with positive images of African-American men and women – images that run counter to what the world is used to seeing. Side note: can someone make Nikki Minaj go away? And will Tyler, Eddie and Martin stop dressing up in fat suits? Can BET cancel Tiny and Toya?

I love entertainment as much as the next person, but one of my ongoing gripes is that there’s no balance in how we’re portrayed and in how we portray ourselves. Having been in the corporate world for almost eight years, I, like many others, have experienced the stereotypes. It excites me that people are seeing another side of the black experience that many think don’t exist (including ourselves).

I’m veering away from the entertainment angle of this post, but this is definitely a conversation worth having. Only, it seems that we keep having it and nothing ever changes.     

But back to Babs. Do you agree with this list? Who else should be on it?

First Lady Michelle Obama

Lady Gaga (I like her music but she scares me)

Glenn Beck (I don’t have the energy)

Tyler Perry (can’t knock the hustle)

Kate Gosselin

Liza Minelli Adam Lambert (sorry, but his voice reminds me of her)

Sarah Palin (some things are better left unsaid)

Brett Favre

 Jenny Sanford (Yes!)

MJ’s kids

I should be writing and editing at the moment, but I distract myself very, very easily. I can be knee deep in something, grinding away, and random things will just pop into my head and cause me to go on a wild Google search.

Like this Geico commercial. You’ve probably seen it a  million times, but I can’t get enough of it! I sent the video to everyone I know – especially my fellow Southern belles – and we can identify someone we know with an accent even thicker than this pothole. And, if you come to Charleston, South Carolina, my neck of the woods, you’ll get a nice introduction to the ”Geech.” It’s like a Southern Caribbean accent mashup. And very funny to hear.   

The Salahis. Can they just go away? First, if you’re going to party crash – at the White House of all places – to get in your 15 minutes, please have your affairs in order. Clock, please tick down on these people.

 The Woods. While I think the Mrs. busted out Tiger’s windows over all the side joints coming out of the woodwork, shouldn’t they be entitled to handle this in private (or court – call me Elin).