Things that I think.

I've been taking a bit of time to consider what kind of woman I want to be. You see, it's more serious that you would initially believe it to be. The answer lies in every decision I make, what I choose to wear, the words in my lexicon, etc. etc.

I believe, very deeply, in semiotics. This is the [neurotic] study of symbols in communications studies. Mostly, I [neurotically] analyze these things in media. This makes my [boring] friends angry. I love them, but they're boring. They never want to stop and ask why, when, or how will.

For starters, there's a recent series of music that has really started to get under my skin. This kid, "Soulja Boy" has come up with a template for a popular dance song with chorus lyrics that contain the phrase "dat ho".

Soulja Boy Off In This Hoe

Watch Me Crank It

Watch Me Roll

Watch Me Crank Dat Soulja Boy

den Super Man Dat Hoe

What are all the things we can do to dat ho? Well, superman dat hoe, spiderman dat hoe, and some kids from some God forsaken southern town have decided we could do the hesiman on dat hoe.

My 12-year-old niece sings this song. I'm sure a lot of other girls in her peer group do too.

You should see them, flocking to youtube, as my niece dragged me to do to show off a new variation of the dance. We watch video after video, and each time I cringe at the sound of the phrase.

Back to semiotics and semantics, I listen for what is being said that will be done to "dat hoe". It becomes apparent to me that these are songs written by a male who carelessly resorts to the term "ho" To myself I wonder if he even associates it with gender. To myself I also know he knows better. To myself I think that the same parents who yelled about Imus are now singing along and snapping to these lyrics with their kids, grins a-plenty.

Looking deeper, I know that "ho" is just a replacement for "bitch". A term co-opted into popular language, especially rap, to express disrespect and dominance. It has since evolved into a dummy pronoun of sorts, usually substituting some ambiguous form of "it".

In Soulja Boy's song, the first "dat hoe" expresses that his precense is to be acknowledged. The second use of the term refers to a move in the dance.

Watch Me Crank Dat Soulja Boy

den Super Man Dat Hoe

Watch him do his version of some wack dance he made up, then watch him add a move that mimics Superman flying in the air.
Superman, Spiderman, Heisman, The Lion King- what do these all have in common?

1. They all have male heroes


Conceptually, in terms of gender [and physical sex], to "superman dat doe" can indeed serve as a double meaning to express how a dude can physically overcome/possess/challenge a woman, just like his favorite superheroes and characters do.

But if we speak on terms of gender, at the surface level, it needs to bother people that the term "dat hoe" is being used so loosely. An ugly, useless, and destructive word just running out of children's [YOUNG GIRLS] lips like water all in the name of a dance that will faze out in a matter of months. I think we need to pay more attention to that. Every single brick plays it part into making a home. The more accepting we become of the small things, they'll just build up until we live in a big house that no one [woman] really likes, she just stays there.

I think we should make better choices. I think we should start listening more.

Wednesday, July 04, 2007

4th.

It's the Fourth of July. In this modern world, the holiday simply commemorates hots dogs, grills, fireworks, and colors, and a reason for people to get together and do this things, like drink.

To me, it's always been a paradox of a holiday. To be a Black American in this country, there seems to be a tacit understanding that you must lie to yourself about yourself. Technically, on this day, in 1776 the free world as we know it came into existance. Yet the reality of the situation lies in the fact that slavey continued to exist, my people were not free, and my history shares no part of that 'independence'.

Maybe it is my responsibility to acknowledge my heritage as that of an American. Detest it as I may, I'm an American girl. I have a wordly nature and interests but grew up as American. Barney, Sesame Street, Disney, FUBU, Spike Lee flicks, Word Up Mag, Hip-Hop as a whole, all things I've ever loved, all things that were birthed out of this culture.

At the same time I look and see a country that has never loved me, that has never really wanted me here. A country with systems and tests in place that do not work to my benefit. A country that as a woman has abhorred my existance.

I'm not mad. It is too late to be mad. I'm not complacent. It's too early to be complacent. But after 20 of these things, I feel the same way: out of place in my own home.

Maybe a few fireworks can brighten my perspective.

-M.

Labels: Fourth Of July

Monday, February 05, 2007

Big Ideas

Me, along with everyone else in the universe are really going to have to get over this.
That term "I'm my own worst enemy" [ ala Pink]...well, I wouldn't take it so far. But what is the one thing that can make a person avoid thinking? Knowing that you have big ideas. Great big ones, that are generally more complex that others, that can give you headaches, that people can disagree with, that can label you, that can change the world...

I read blogs all the time that say "I really need to blog more, I really don't feel like writing".
Look B, that's just not true, you just suffer from a case of the Big Ideas.
When you have Big Ideas, not only do you have Big Plans for them, but you have to try and decide how they balance with say- doing laundry, buying groceries, going on dates if you're that lucky.
To the person that suffers from Big Ideas, all of these things only help to garner more ideas, that will either complicate your original idea, or add to it.....this...complicating your original idea.

By this point, I'm bothered by how many times I've used the word "idea".

It's not so much the idea as the expectation that comes associated with it. You start with what I'd like to describe as idea paranoia. You wonder if people are wondering what you're going to wonder next. You try to top your last idea with the "next" idea. You get scared that the next idea will be your last good idea.
Your brain dies.

So, for the betterment of a more perfect society, and the posterity of my brain, I am going to try to consistently bombard this blog with as many small ideas as I can. I need to get them out, I need to learn to think smaller, I need to get through the line in whole foods without thinking of some random social reform. And if I don't [learn how to do that] I'm going to have problems with myself later that will impede my world-changing qualities.

Therefore I bring you: "rat eating a white girl" [ with a pee pee if you look close enough].


More to come.
-Ms. $@

Monday, October 23, 2006

i'm mad, and here's why.

1. I go to college. The other day in my African Americans & Mass Media Class, I was talking to this chick behind me. We've been havng random on-going conversation for some weeks now about various things. She's a brown girl herself. Senior. English major. Always complains about the lack of intelligent discourse in our class. I say "yeah Sonia Sanchez used to teach such and such class here."
her: "blink blink...who?"
me: *mad*

Can we win at a surface level? Can we win with all they teach us. Do we need more?
All the wrong things.

2. Sony, please stop. When Apple came out with black ipods, no one said anything. Hell, they have black MacBooks now, so you're late. But this is how we're playing now?

Verdict: *mad*

-Transition-
This week's inspiration in Patrice Rushen. Prelusion is some of the prettiest piano-ing i've ever heard. Of course most people only know her for singing..."you reminnnnnnnd meee yeah yeahhh". Little did I know she was a musical genius.

Yes, brown girl secret powers.

October 2006

February 2007

July 2007

August 2007