Black Quaduplets amitted to Yale

As I complete my tenure year at what I feel like HU is the “black IV league”, Yale University recently admitted Connecticut Quadruplets Kenny, Martina, Ray, and Carol Crouch into the school this coming fall semester.  They are known to be the first set of BLACK quaduplets accepted to an IV league college.  So what is the big deal?  Of course this is a great moment for their family but it is also an achievement for the black community.  Young black men and women are getting a well deserved education and it should be praised! I commend these siblings for collectively getting into one of the top colleges in the country. It’s not everyday you find four brothers and sisters that look exactly alike getting into Yale! BLACK POWER AT ITS BEST!

Summer Vacation- Lydia Caesar


As much as I love underground music, I feel like this R&B songstress is making a staple in her career. Lydia Caesar newest single “Summer Vacation” was produced months ago but I felt that it’s melodies are perfect for this new chapter. This New York City native sings lyrics of summer love and the carefree enviornment we all long for. Who know’s what the summer is going to bring us! But it’s so reflective, take a listen!

Afro Chic’s Pic: 16 Stone Vintage

If you are a vintage lover like me, your heart will melt when you see this vintage online store.  “16 Stone Vintage” is the perfect little vintage boutique out of Brooklyn with very selective day dress, gowns, accessories, purses and more.  I love how the natural sistah are reprented so elegantly and not to mention the prices are pretty affordable to be so stylish.  I’m not sure who the owner is yet, but when i find out there will surely be an interview.  Here are a few photos from the website that I liked. make sure you visit www.16stonevintage.com

(vintage clip that you can win!!!!)
Vintage Black V Back Formal Dress with Metal Zipper
Vintage Rare Jos A. Bank Green Print Back Buttoned Dress
Vintage Beaded Fomal Black Handbag

Love the Earth.

Thursday marks national “Earth Day” and my hometown Oakland, California are making sure they have thier full participation.  I was curious as to what was going on in my own communities back home so I searched the internet and came across….”Love Yo Mama” 2nd anual Earth Day event put on by ACORN and Tassaforanga recreation center of East Oakland.  The event will take place that weekend with live entertaintment like dummers, dancers, visuals, scraper bikes, and information on enviornmental issues.

I think this is great that Oakland has been trying to clean up the streets not just physically but figuratively.  I come home each summer to find more healthier and enviornmental savvy places.  Living out in Virginia these fools don’t even recycle. I grew up on putting the plasic bottles in the grey bin and the composte in the green bin so coming out here was a drastic change for me. 

I do appreciate how the campus I live on is contributing to “Earth Day” this week with their theme “GO GREEN” as well as the many commercials on the tv about our planet. I guess all I ask is that you throw your trash and think twice about wanting to save our planet 🙂

Thoughts: Being Misunderstood.

Is it that we live in a superficial world? Is it that we have grown so accustomed to walking around like robots saying the same thing? Thinking the same thing? Speaking the same knowledge? and yet breathing the same air?

My thoughts will soon become rambles as I try to figure out my place in this world.  I have never been the girl to follow the norm.  While others were trying to fit in as a child I was busy trying to standout.  But then again, everyone is trying to stand out which makes it too much like “groupthink”.  If we all want to be different then there is no originality.  I’d rather stand alone then follow something that I don’t believe in.   That can go for relationships, friendships, and different views on life lessons.

Sometimes I think it’s a good thing to be misunderstood because no one has to understand everything thing that goes in your mind.   At times, those thoughts are just for you and God.  Learning to accept that each and every living being is different will make you a better person.  I love thinkers and artists who aren’t afraid to open their minds to the world regardless of how others will view them.  Knowing that everyone is not going to understand the essay you wrote, painting you drew, or the song your wrote; it still serves as a purpose to the outside world.

So to my sistah and brothas out there still feeling misunderstood, don’t worry you have a gift that if no one else sees it, it will be seen by your creator above 🙂

Afro Chic’s: #MusicMonday

Just a few of the videos that I liked that have recently been released. Enjoy!

Of course, Toni Braxton is doing her thing to “Hand’s Tied”  she is definitely working it being the sexy cougar that she is. Not to mention the handsome men accompanying her.

Janelle Mone is rocking her signature look, just a tad bit much in my opinion but I love her hair and her album “The ArchAndroid” is interesting, she talented so support it.

Spree Wilson with his single “How Long”…it’s something about a guitarist that I really really love. his voice sounds different which is a plus.

Mexico Art and Anya

With jazz as her inspiration, Anya Sippen, draws a picture of her life.  I met her in my creative writing class this semester and was immediately pulled into her creative talent.  Not only is she an excellent writer but her ability to put sound, rythmn, and music into a visual piece of art is what makes her stand out. 

Anya is an North Carolina native who originally became an art Major at Hampton University.  The lack of expression the curriculum limited her to enabled her to change her major to Broadcast Journalism but she still aspiring and continuing to be an artist.

“I’m not really into alot of music but I like to listen to old school Jazz,” says Anya of her passion for the art of Jazz artists like Nina Simone, her favorite.  She does her artwork on cardboard canvases using oil pastels and acrylic paints.

Anya carries her passion with jazz not only into her art but also through the school radio station 88.1 fridays from 1-2 pm  “Mary Helen’s Lunchtime Concert”.  I’ve learned from being in class with her that she is crafting her memoir from experiences in Mexico.  I knew that summer meant alot to her just by the surrounding photographs and culture that she uniquely displayed in her room as memories.

(Talking about her journal filled with a plethora of pictures, maps, and writing from her summer in Mexico)

(Nina Simone)

Anya’s freedom of expression requires no techniques (pure talent) and is an example of the many talented artists that I come across through my lifetime.  She hopes to one day get her memoir published as well as her art displayed in galleries.  Please lookout for her!

Afro Chic’s Testimony: Going Natural

It was not a choice…..at First. 

I got my first REAL relaxer when I was in the 8th grade and it was maintained pretty well until I entered my first year of high school.   I had to take a swimming class so my intentions were just to get cornrows for those few weeks than take it out and be back to my long hair don’t care! NOT!  The chlorine had eaten away my hair and soon broke it off and it never looked the same again.  I had to wear braids and twisties and natural styles just to nurse it back to some kind of health.  It became healthier and managable my senior year and this is what it looked like. . .

 (before Senior Pictures)

When I first came to Hampton University in 2006, I tried to do a press and curl/flat iron for a few weeks but that humidity was not gone fly.  I came in rockin braids but when it was time to take it out I had to make a decision that changed my whole life.  I got my first relaxer.  I soon grew accustomed to the typical HU lifestyle and got weaves and completely forgot about getting touch ups or going to the hair salon frequently.  By the end of my sophomore year I had fried and weaved up every little bit of the hair I had, so much that it became to fall out.  It wasn’t until I gotten to my hairstylist back home who told me that I should cut it off.  In order for it to be healthy again I need to cut off the remainding perm.  I didn’t have a month to think about it, it was just GONE. There was only two inches of hair on my head and I burst into tears.  I left the hair salon and made my bestfriend go with me to Eastmont mall and I bought the ghetto-ist wig in the world and put it on my head. LOL  This is what I looked like after my big chop…

That summer before Junior year 2007 was the most liberating experience I had ever had.  All those stories you hear about a woman chopping off their hair and starting over is SO TRUE.  I had learned to love myself and the skin that I was in.  I would like to thank, Karen from Class of Braids, for giving me so much advice on how to look beautiful with the hair that I was naturally born with.  It took some time to getting used to; I definitely rocked braids that summer but when I came back for my junior year I never felt happier with my life.  I had vowed to never treat my hair like that again and to also share my experiences and advice that I had learned that summer with my fellow sistas.  After two years, two inches, and no creamy crack this is what I look like now 🙂

 (May 2009)

 (March 2010)

Chrisette Michele’s Big Chop

Yes, Chrisette Michele is natural once AGAIN!…This grammy award winning diva decided to go natural for the third time in her life and she share’s her story with www.curlynikki.com .  Due to her healthy hair relationship in the past, her decision for the big chop was solely just try something new and fun, and I love it! 

 She say’s ” My natural hair is a promise to myself to be kinder to myself”

What inspired her to go natural was her mother.  She admires her mother and how she chops her hair off all the time so it was only right to finally adapt the hair that was naturally given to us a birth.  Chrisette could care less about what the “Industry” feels about her hair and knows that with creativity she will still continue to rock the charts.

If you would like to see her exclusive footage of the big chop check out her website www.thisischrisettemichele.com

#MusicMonday Macy Gray

I’ve always been a fan of the rather interesting and different vocalist Macy Gray.  She’s back with a new single from her studio album entitled “The Sellout”.  Her video “Beauty In the World” reminds me of the spring time. I think it’s funny she’s standing in front of the watts towers with this multi-cultural cheerleading team. I would say I’m confused but it’s Macy Gray and I love her so check the video out. LoL

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