Miriam Makeba

Miriam Makeba was a South African singer and civil rights activist. One of the greatest female vocalists ever, Miriam won a Grammy in 1966. Over the course of her career she spoke and sang against the South African apartheid, eventually loosing her citizenship and her right to return home in 1963. However, over the course of her life Miriam had honorary citizenship in 10 different countries, was married to Black Panther Stokely Carmichael and later South African musician Hugh Masekala, sang for JFK, served as Guinea's official delegate to the United Nations, introduced African music and style to the world, and won numorous awards for her work against apartheid. In 1990 she returned home to South Africa to celebrate the release of Nelson Mandela and the end of apartheid.

Marlo and Pals

I was just checking out Marlo Thomas's website and having some pretty good laughs over her comedy section. Since Marlo Thomas was probably one of my first introductions to comedy when I was a wee one obsessed with Free To Be You And Me, I figured I'd do a post of some of my favorite funny bits I found on her site. Also if you don't know about Marlo Thomas you should look her up. As well as being one of the founding mothers of modern comedy and a well known actress (That Girl), Marlo has been a feminist since way back. She's been vocally pro-choice and supportive of liberal political candidates as well as being a founder of the Ms. Foundation For Women. Back in her That Girl days she was not only the lead actress but an executive producer of the show and despite tremendous pressure refused to let the final episode feature her character's wedding- since she didn't want young girls to think that marriage was the end goal. Her role in the production and hosting of Free To Be You and Me helped girls and boys of my generation to question gender roles from the time we were toddlers.

Ok, first this wasn't from her website but this is classic old Free To Be You and Me. Marlo Thomas and Mel Brooks in Boy Meets Girl.



The longest laugh in sitcom history. Lucy has eggs hidden in her front and Ethel has them hidden in her pants.


Albert Brooks and Debbie Reynolds in Mother. I'm pretty sure everyone can find something to identify with in this one.

Well, I wish I'd never identified with this one but you know, it comes with the territory at times.

So what, I've got a lot on my mind! So what !



Just a funny clip!



Oh moms, sigh. Actually my mom totally doesn't care about celebrities.



Ok, this little girl is awesome. She knows how to run shit.


Seinfeld really does "do great of those". I feel you girl.

A New Way To Think About Creativity

Elizabeth Gilbert : A New Way To Think About Creativity

On Domination

All of the following quotes are by bell hooks. I highly suggest picking up one or more of her books.



"Dominator culture teaches all of us that the core of our identity is defined by the will to dominate and control others. We are taught that this will to dominate is more biologically hardwired in males than in females. In actuality, dominator culture teaches us that we are all natural-born killers but that males are more able to realize the predator role. In the dominator model the pursuit of external power, the ability to manipulate and control others, is what matters most. When culture is based on a dominator model, not only will it be violent but it will frame all relationships as power struggles."



"Dominator culture has tried to keep us all afraid, to make us choose safety instead of risk, sameness instead of diversity. Moving through that fear, finding out what connects us, revelling in our differences; this is the process that brings us closer, that gives us a world of shared values, of meaningful community."



"It is necessary to remember, as we think critically about domination, that we all have the capacity to act in ways that oppress, dominate, wound (whether or not that power is institutionalized). It is necessary to remember that it is first the potential oppressor within that we must resist – the potential victim within that we must rescue – otherwise we cannot hope for an end to domination, for liberation."
-from Talking Back: Thinking Feminist, Thinking Black



"..the struggle to end sexist oppression that focuses on destroying the cultural basis for such domination strengthens other liberation struggles. Individuals who fight for the eradication of sexism without struggles to end racism or classism undermine their own efforts. Individuals who fight for the eradication of racism or classism while supporting sexist oppression are helping to maintain the cultural basis of all forms of group oppression."
-from Feminist Theory From Margin to Center

Touch and Go

Touch and Go - Would You by Schutzengerl1205

Material Girl For Real

This old video of Madonna performing Everybody is pretty mesmerizing. She's on stage at Haoui Montaug's No Entiendes at Danceteria. Its 1982, which is five years after she moved to New York and one year before her debut album was released. At this point she's fairly genuine in her "down town-ness" and watching the video feels like those few and far between times when you see a performer who you know is going to go far.


This video below is possibly the best analysis of Madonna I've ever heard. bell hooks lays out Madonna's rise to fame and the celebrity trap of needing to stay relevant and make money that inevitably led The Material Girl to turn her back on not just her values but the truth of her own identity as a powerful woman.

Wild Weekend

Ladies Night -Lil Kim, Angie Martinez, Left Eye, Da Brat, Missy Elliot


Thats Right - Ciara ft Lil Jon


Self Control - Laura Branigan



Lonnie Gordon - Happening All Over Again


Porceilan Black - This Is What Rock N' Roll Looks Like