Eiayay On The Reel

                                     "Foolish Child" Art by DICKENS                                                                  https://www.autostraddle.com/tag/foolish-child/ I remember my very first experience with racism at the hands of my 5th grade teacher,Ruth Hawes (I debated using her name, but I'm done holding it back, also...she dead). I knew racism existed, but it was abstract. The stories my older siblings told of being teased or followed home. Listening to my father's stories from his years in the military, how his fellow soldiers would tell the French that Black People had tails, or his belt buckles or shoes would go missing .  My mother's stories about living in Georgia in the Jim Crow era. Her fear o...

My first post of the new year was supposed to be a Reel of the week. But I find myself once again giving voice to these EXTRA trying times for Black & NBPOC. My next post will be a movie review...I hope... I try my hardest to attend and support events featuring Black People & NBPOC, including, Concerts, lectures, Art exhibits, book discussions , movies etc. When these events take place in white spaces, they take on the burden of trying to navigate these spaces with a minimum of stress and code-switching. Inevitably white people who attend these events consider themselves to be allies, "woke" and liberal in their feelings for POC. So, they spend a lot of time burdening POC with "proof" of their tolerance. Leaving POC feeling stressed, uncomfortable and unable to fully be themselves and enjoy the feeling of seeing ourselves in Art & Culture. By white spaces, I mean places that are predominantly run by white people or spaces that are for everyone,...

When dealing with the almost daily effects of white supremacy and cultural appropriation, you eventually reach a saturation point. That point is usually what drives my writing. Saturation point was met on a Sunday morning while I was watching CBS Sunday Morning. There was a story about self-taught African American Folk artist, Bill Traylor. He'd been born a slave and lived through the Civil War, Jim Crow segregation and the great migration. The Smithsonian was featuring his art. The morning show interviewed Leslie Umberger, curator and self-taught Folk art expert.She proceeded to interpret what certain images Bill had used in his drawings, symbolized.  I remember thinking: Everything she is saying, is filtered through the white gaze. She was interpreting the meaning behind the images with no frame of reference, no history or intergenerational legacy to draw from. I guess what I really wanted to see, was a Black expert on African American Folk art.  An effort could hav...

It's definitely been a minute. I've been re-accessing & reevaluating goals and changing course, okay, I have been doing that, but I've also been having down time & being lazy. Come on, I'm only human.  I can't be a superstar 24/7 it's tiring  & doesn't leave enough time for binge watching "Smallville".   If you've noticed, this is a new blogspot. That falls under the category of Woes. The email associated with "Eiayay In Reel Life", was deleted, so I have lost access to my blog. Blogspot & Google have been less than helpful. I have tried 932,438 gazillion machinations to regain control. So ifyou would like to read earlier posts you can go here: http://eiayaysreellife.blogspot.com/  As before all photos on this blog and the linked blog are not to be used without permission.  Amidst all the turmoil & upheaval perpetrated by the current administration, social activism has taken a front seat in my life. But...