The Funemployed

picture via asicophoto/Joy Asico

Last week on the day after Single Awareness Day AKA Valentine’s Day, I went to the Sylene Blogger Contest Lingerie Happy Hour & Celebration at Sylene of DC.   One of the things that I love about being a CapFabb member is that places really roll out the red carpet when they have events for us.  There was a lovely spread of cupcakes, champagne, cheese crackers and some veggies.  They had me at champagne and cupcakes but that was only the beginning.  After getting a glass I got to mingle with the lovely ladies there and chat about our blogs and the lovely undergarments all around.  I wish that more ladies had come out to take advantage of Sylene’s generous invitation but I understand that weeknight events can be hard make, I almost didn’t go myself.

The event was short and sweet (pun intended) with a few wonderful highlights.  I initially planned to enter the competition but being a new blogger, I did not think that I had the following to really have a chance but as I mingled and talked with everyone I realized that you never know until you try and I’ll never grow until I try.  I may not have the following today but that doesn’t mean I won’t get there but I digress a little. 

Sylene is a wonderful DC gem that does not, in my humble opinion, get the recognition that it deserves.  One of the things that I really enjoyed about the event was hearing the Herstory of Sylene.  It is a woman-owned lingerie store in the Washington, DC area with over thirty years experience.  The name Sylene stands for Cyla and Helen, sisters who grew up spending Saturdays and summer vacations working in their parent’s lingerie shop.   In 1975, Cyla opened Sylene.  The store came to be because why Cyla got married, her job would not give her the time off as a buyer to go on I believe her honeymoon!!  Her husband told her to quit and not work but she quickly tired of not working and decided to do what she knew best, sell beautiful lingerie.  Since that time, Sylene has specialized in serving their customers with the finest lingerie, swimwear, sleepwear, post-surgical items, accessories, and gifts handpicked from the best domestic and international designers.  One of the major initial draws of the store was the fact that Cyla was trained to do post mastectomy fittings which took her all the way to the White house to fit Ms. Nancy Reagan!!!   I’m sure that I’ve left out some details, can’t quite tell it with the way that these lovely sisters did but I think this give a little peek at the gem!

The final highlight was the bras!!  I was recently informed by my little sister that my gap bras were not cutting it and that I needed an upgrade.  While I agreed with her, I did not realize how badly that upgrade was needed.   The owners reminded up that anything you build needs a solid foundation and that includes a good outfit.  Sylene’s “S” Factor is comprised of the 6 bras that they believe that every woman should own Seamless, Sexy, Specialty, Spa, Sport, and Strapless.  With these 6 bras, you are ready for any outfit!  Overall it was a great (and informative) night and I’m really glad I went).  Congrats to the lovely ladies who did win the grand prize!! Fellow @CapFabb members @HealthyGlowBlog of (http://healthyglows.tumblr.com/) & @ejfass (http://somuchtosmileabout.com/)

picture via asicophoto/Joy Asico

In honor of this years theme, “Black Women in American Culture and History”, I am going to share and embrace something that I should have a LONG time ago… my middle name – Charlotta.  It is the name of my grandmother who is an amazing woman in her own right but it was passed to her from another phenomenal woman in our family, Ms. Charlotta Amanda Spears Bass.  As a people, it is important for us to know where we come from and that is greatness.  Charlotta was an amazing woman who believe WE deserved more and fought for it.  She accepted the Progressive Party’s 1952 nomination to run for Vice President of the United States. (See her acceptance speech).  She was the first black woman to run for this office and she did it in her seventies!!!  Since they knew it was a long shot, they ran with the slogan, “Win or Lose, We Win by Raising the Issues.”  I wish a few more politians today ran with that thought in mind!!

From the Southern California Library: Charlotta A. Bass stands among the most influential African Americans of the twentieth century. A crusading journalist and extraordinary political activist, she was at the forefront of the civil rights struggles of her time, especially in Los Angeles, but also in California and the nation.

Bass was managing editor and publisher of the California Eagle, from 1912 to 1951. The Eagle, founded in 1879, was one of the longest running African American newspapers in the West. Bass was also a political candidate at the local, state, and national level, including running for vice president of the United States on the Progressive Party ticket in 1952. She used the newspaper, along with direct-action campaigns and the political process, to challenge inequality for Blacks, workers, women, and other minorities in Los Angeles. Her mission was nothing short of achieving the equality and justice promised by the United States Constitution. She believed her own role in society, and the role of the Black community, was defined by Americanism, democracy, and citizenship.

Acting on this belief, Bass was one of the pioneers who helped to lay the groundwork for the later Civil Rights Movement and the women’s liberation movement. She fought important battles against job and housing discrimination, police brutality, and media stereotyping, and for immigrant and women’s rights and civil liberties.

Over time, her role as an activist evolved from championing local business concerns, to strengthening the labor movement, fighting fascism at home and abroad during World War II, and showing a global concern for world peace. Her leadership, courage, truth-telling, and tenacity were an effective force in Los Angeles, and the world, that yielded greater equality for Blacks, workers, and other people facing oppression.

Bass paid a price for her outspokenness. Her life was threatened on numerous occasions. The FBI placed her under surveillance on the charge that her newspaper was seditious and continued to monitor her until her death. Accused of being a Communist, in 1950, she was called before the California Legislature’s Joint Fact-Finding Committee on un-American Activities. The accusations began to take a toll on her effectiveness in the community and her ability to sell her newspaper. In 1951, she sold the paper and continued her work in the political realm.

Whatever the consequences, Bass didn’t waver in her pursuit of justice. Both Bass and her newspaper served the people—fighting for them, speaking for them, and leading them in battles against inequality and injustice.

Learn more about Bass as an:

activist
journalist
candidate
womanist
business person

Biography

Born Charlotta Amanda Spears in Sumter, South Carolina, in 1879 or 1880, Bass was the sixth of eleven children. At the turn of the century, Bass moved to Rhode Island. In 1910, she migrated to Los Angeles to improve her health.

Soon after arriving, Bass sold subscriptions for the Eagle, a black newspaper founded by John Neimore in 1879. Fulfilling the deathbed request of Neimore, Bass became the Eagle’s editor and publisher in March 1912, a career lasting over forty years until she sold the newspaper in 1951. In 1914, Bass hired and subsequently married Joseph Blackburn Bass, a Kansas newspaperman, who edited the paper until his death in 1934. They eventually changed the name of the paper to the California Eagle. The couple had no children, but Charlotta Bass was very close to her nephew John Kinloch, who worked at the California Eagle.

Bass ran for several elected offices, including the Los Angeles City Council, Congress, and the U.S. Vice Presidency. She was also a founding member of California’s Independent Progressive Party, part of the national Progressive Party, a third party movement. Moreover, she founded, led, and participated in numerous civil rights organizations, where she met and befriended prominent activists such as Paul Robeson and W.E.B. DuBois. While she was always active at the national level, Bass devoted her greatest energy and activism to the pursuit of civil rights in Los Angeles. Though many viewed Los Angeles as a racially harmonious paradise, Bass used her positions as journalist, candidate, and activist to expose and eliminate racism and injustice in the city.

Likely around 1960, Bass retired and moved to Lake Elsinore, California, where she continued her civil rights activism. She turned her garage into a community reading room and a voter registration site for African Americans, and joined protests against South African apartheid and on behalf of prisoners’ rights. In 1966, Bass suffered a stroke and died three years later from complications brought on by the stroke.

Charlotta Bass’s steadfast fifty-plus year commitment to social justice distinguishes her as a pioneering civil rights leader.

Any inadvertent fact discrepancies are the sole responsibility of the Southern California Library and do not reflect on the expertise of these contributors.

NATIONAL AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY MONTH, 2012

– – – – – – –

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

A PROCLAMATION

The story of African Americans is a story of resilience and perseverance.  It traces a people who refused to accept the circumstances under which they arrived on these shores, and it chronicles the generations who fought for an America that truly reflects the ideals enshrined in our founding documents.  It is the narrative of slaves who shepherded others along the path to freedom and preachers who organized against the rules of Jim Crow, of young people who sat-in at lunch counters and ordinary men and women who took extraordinary risks to change our Nation for the better.  During National African American History Month, we celebrate the rich legacy of African Americans and honor the remarkable contributions they have made to perfecting our Union.

This year’s theme, “Black Women in American Culture and History,” invites us to pay special tribute to the role African American women have played in shaping the character of our Nation — often in the face of both racial and gender discrimination.  As courageous visionaries who led the fight to end slavery and tenacious activists who fought to expand basic civil rights to all Americans, African American women have long served as champions of social and political change.  And from the literary giants who gave voice to their communities to the artists whose harmonies and brush strokes captured hardships and aspirations, African American women have forever enriched our cultural heritage.  Today, we stand on the shoulders of countless African American women who shattered glass ceilings and advanced our common goals.  In recognition of their legacy, let us honor their heroic and historic acts for years to come. 

The achievements of African American women are not limited to those recorded and retold in our history books.  Their impact is felt in communities where they are quiet heroes who care for their families, in boardrooms where they are leaders of industry, in laboratories where they are discovering new technologies, and in classrooms where they are preparing the next generation for the world they will inherit.  As we celebrate the successes of African American women, we recall that progress did not come easily, and that our work to widen the circle of opportunity for all Americans is not complete.  With eyes cast toward new horizons, we must press on in pursuit of a high-quality education for every child, a job for every American who wants one, and a fair chance at prosperity for every individual and family across our Nation.

During National African American History Month, we pay tribute to the contributions of past generations and reaffirm our commitment to keeping the American dream alive for the next generation.  In honor of those women and men who paved the way for us, and with great expectations for those to follow, let us continue the righteous cause of making America what it should be — a Nation that is more just and more equal for all its people.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim February 2012 as National African American History Month.  I call upon public officials, educators, librarians, and all the people of the United States to observe this month with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this thirty-first day of January, in the year of our Lord two thousand twelve, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-sixth.

BARACK OBAMA

I didn’t even recognize Paula Patton in there… they bust out the light foundation for this cover, or should I say fold…

whitneywears:

…This time, it’s less obvious to some. FYI: placing the black actresses beyond the fold sends the exact same message as not acknowledging them altogether.

View the cover here: http://i368.photobucket.com/albums/oo126/theybf/January%202012/787888c6.jpg

So I was having a conversation with some coworkers about ghetto names and I just had to share some of these… Why would you do this to a child?!? You are setting them up to go through life with a chip on their shoulder!!

In no particular order:

La-a – Ladasha

Shithead – Pronouced Shi-Theed but we all know what it really says…

Alec Boody – Sounds like I lick booty

Alexis De Carr – Need I say more?

ABCDE – Pronounced like Obesity

Orangejello – Blend it together like Orangello

Karema Wheat

Deny – this one is just sad, an old coworker of my mother’s back in the day declared that her daughter was gonna name her unborn child Deny because the father said it wasn’t his baby…

That’s what I have so far but please feel free to submit some more for the list!!

Shortly after I copied the first one, this one came through!! LLS

From MSU Police <msupolice@morgan.edu>

Thu, Jan 26, 2012 at 2:55 PM