I know this post is so late. But I just wanted to tell you the African American literature I plan on reading this month. I went to the library, trying to figure out what books I should read.I  searched on the library’s search engine for books about African American women but that came to no avail. I ended up stumbling across a Black lit display the library had put out for black history month. I choose four books:

1. “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow is Enuf” by Ntozake Shange

2. “Beloved” by Toni Morrison

3. “The Women Of Brewster Place” by Gloria Naylor

4. “The Souls Of Black Folks” by W.E.B Du Bois

I just started reading For Colored Girls… and I must say it is an interesting piece of work. I am not that good at reading poetry but this book is a joy to read. The librarian who checked out my books said she had read it and believed the poems came to life when you read them out loud. So that’s what I’ve been doing and I must say I think the librarian was right.

I really wanted to get books that focused on black women so that’s why the books I got are about and black women, with the exception of ” The Souls Of Black Folks”. I wanted to get the Frederick Douglass Narrative but I decided to get that the next time I go to the library.

I intend on writing a review of the books, so keep an eye out for that.

Well write to ya later.

Peace, Wiggy Wack ♥

For Precious Girls Everywhere

Before I give my review for the movie Precious. I just want to say I am so over these films (Precious included) that only focus on sad stories of African Americans. But that topic is for another post.

Warning This Post Contains Spoilers!

The movie is about a young girl named Claireece Precious Jones, who is sixteen and still in junior high. At the beginning of the movie we find out that Precious is pregnant with her second child by her father. Her mother is an abusive, sexually frustrated woman who hates her daughter because she is jealous that Precious’ father is having sex with Precious instead of having sex with her. The mother also sexually abuses Precious. Precious’ first child- who lives with Precious’ grandmother- has Down- syndrome, something that her mother likes to scold her about.

Precious begins attending an alternative school. And despite her mother’s insistence that she is dumb and should only be on welfare, Precious does well at her new school due to her teacher Ms. Bain’s help. Ms. Bain looks out for Precious and encourages her to push herself to learn. She stresses the importance of an education to Precious more than anyone else has done.

The movie follows Precious to where she gives birth to her second child and subsequently begins to raise the child in a halfway house (her mother attacked her and her baby, so Precious left home). Precious continues school and raises her child with the love and attention she herself never received.

After months of not hearing from her mother, Precious’ mother comes to visit her in the halfway house to tell Precious her father has died of HIV. Precious has herself tested for the virus, and thus learns she is HIV positive. Precious now mentally stronger does not look at it as a death sentence but concerns herself with her children and her goal to get her first child with her. The movie ends with accomplishing this goal, walking down the street with both children with her.

On a scale of 1 to 5, I will give this movie a 3.75. It chronicles Precious’ life very well, even though sometimes it is hard to watch. Precious is the product of a broken home and suffers from retarded reading and writing abilities, self hatred (in her desire to be light skinned and thin), and low self esteem. She has experienced the dreadful act of incest with both her parents thus destroying her sexual health. Her story is tragic and is an eye-opener to what some of our youth in the ghetto often face. Even in her pathetic state she finds some triumph, but her future is still uncertain.

The movie is somewhat stereotypical and I fear people of other races will see this movie and view it with condescension. “Precious” reminded me of “The Color Purple” in that they share similar stories and topics, such as, incest, abuse, lesbianism, color consciousness, and strong females. All in all the movie was well put together and entertaining. Gabourey Sidibe, Paula Patton, and Monique made this film work. They each gave a great performance and did justice to their characters. Mariah Carey and Lenny Kravitz surprised me with their acting abilities and I applaud them. The rest of the cast also did well. There was no bad acting in this movie. I have to say Monique’s performance grabbed me and made me hate her character. She portrayed Precious’ complex mother exceptionally well and was well deserving of her Golden Globe award.

Well that’s enough for my review. If you haven’t seen “Precious” go see it. I must warn you that this movie is graphic and should only be viewed by those sound in mind and 18 and over.

Peace, Wiggy Wack  ♥ (Yellow was Precious’ favorite color.)

Now if you read my blog you know that I am a Muslim, African American woman who wears hijab. But I know much about the hair issue among my people. I can talk black hair with anyone. My own Afro-textured hair is a very important part of my life, something I have struggled with and eventually learned to embrace. Underneath my hijab I experiment with various natural hairstyles. And even if only family members can see my hair, I am still happy to be natural.

I finally watched Chris Rock’s Documentary “Good Hair”. On a scale of 1 to 5, I will give the movie a 3. I learned things about weaves, I had not none before. But it also made me cringe at other things. So I will give the pro’s and con’s of this movie and you can decide if you want to see this movie.

Pro’s:

1. It exposes the dangers of relaxers also known as sodium hydroxide.

2. Shows that Asians and Caucasians profit the most from the black hair industry.

3. Shows the ridiculous measures black women go through to keep their hair done.

4. Subtlety shows the deep rooted self hatred some black people have of their hair, to the point they would put poison on their hair to attain a beauty standard not their own.

5. Advocates black owned businesses

Cons:

1. Doesn’t sufficiently explore the rising number of black women wearing their hair natural.

2. Very subtlety makes Afro-textured hair seem inferior to straight hair.

3. Doesn’t get to the deep rooted reason why black women and men straighten their hair and prefer straight hair.

4. Doesn’t condemn the use of relaxers.

5. Too complacent.

6. Taking such a serious issue and trivializing it, esp. by making it a comedy.

7. Talks about silly things like “weave sex”.

I don’t want to give away any spoilers but I just wanted to mention a few things:

1. The coverage of the hair show in Atlanta was good but I think it took up too much time in the movie. More important topics could have been covered.

2. At the end of the movie Chris Rock states that he’ll tell his daughter, what she puts in her head is more important than whats on her hair. I have to disagree with this, because it seems he is letting the cycle of black self hatred continue on to the next generation.

3. Al Sharpton states that his relaxer is just as black as natural hair because it came from black culture. But what he is missing is that it came from a part of black culture that taught us to hate something that is natural to us and that Euro centric looks are more beautiful.

4. Raven Symone said that we (black people) want to fit in, as if being natural is too different. Well being different is what makes diversity beautiful. We shouldn’t  strive to look like everyone else.

I will conclude here, I don’t want to get too deep because then this post will end up a page long. So overall “Good Hair” was interesting and entertaining at best, but not much of the learning experience I had expected it to be.

Peace, Wiggy Wack ♥

A while back I wrote a post that touched on the topic of black self-hatred of nappy hair. I don’t know how popular the post is, but I suggest you read it.

Now, I am sure you have heard about the documentary “Good Hair” by Chris Rock. If you google it, there will be plenty of people who have written their two cents about the film. Some liked it, others didn’t. I have been wanting to see it since earlier this year, but when it finally came out I didn’t jump to go see it. Well, I am about to watch it now and when I finish I will write my own review on it.

Peace everyone. I just wanted to inform you all that in the coming months I will start posting vlogs on Youtube. It has been something that I have been thinking of for a while now.

I already have a Youtube account, but I only have one video on it. I really have become inspired to try out vlogging on Youtube and I think it will be fun! And who knows how far I will go.

I will make posts on a variety of topics. It will just be like this blog only in video. So, Insha ALLAH, next year around February I will debut Wiggy Wack TV. So stay tuned, I will alert you when I debut.

Note: I have put a link to my Youtube channel in the sidebar under the heading “Find Me On”.

Peace, Wiggy Wack ♥

Well actually my hair has been natural for almost all my life. I’ve have only gotten four relaxers in my entire life. I got my first relaxer when I was 11 and I got 3 more until I was about 16. It took a year for me to transition back to my natural hair. So basically I have been wearing my hair in it’s natural state since I was 17.

It was only just recently that I decided to stay natural. My decision came from watching so many natural, black women on YouTube. I was inspired by their reasons for going natural and after learning of all the harmful effects of relaxers, I decided going natural was the right way to go. I am also trying to grow my hair very, very long. And I believe that hair grows best in it’s natural state.

I am going to post more entries on my “hair journey” to keep you up to date.

I love to see black models. You don’t really see many gracing the cover of magazines. But I found two magazines that had black models on the cover. Both featured Chanel Iman and Jordan Dunn.

I wish more magazines would showcase black beauty. So black girls can have someone they can identify with.

Black beauty is diverse! We don’t all look like the more euro centric Beyonce and Halle Berry.

http://phillystreettalk.com/wiggy/wp-content/plugins/mj.flvI am a huge fan of the King of Pop! I love all his music and love watching him perform. My favorite song by him was “Billie Jean” and my favorite music video by him is a toss up between “Beat It” and “Thriller”. When I heard the news that Michael had died my soul felt so wounded and hurt. It was like I had lost a close friend. I have listened to Michael Jackson since I was three years old. One of my very first memories is watching his terrifying “Thriller” video on MTV. I was always a fan of his. I consider him to be the greatest entertainer of our time.

There were some who tried to demonize and vilify him (the media, mostly). But I never believed that that man harmed anyone, especially not a child. He loved children greatly, much in part to his own feelings of never having had a childhood. I will never believe that those child abuse allegations were in any way true. I believe Michael was a good man with a loving and compassionate heart. There was not an arrogant bone in his body. His humbleness proves that.

Now I know he was a disturbed man who struggled with who and what he was. The nose jobs were extreme. But I don’t believe he bleached his skin, as some say. I do think that his change in complexion was due to the disease, vitiligo. I know that he had an addiction to painkillers which may have caused his death. But we do not know what Michael went through to have caused him so much trouble. I do believe the vicious media tried to tear him down as much as they could. The pains that he suffered from these heartless lechers may have caused irreparable damage to his psyche.

It is not for us to judge Michael Jackson, that is ALLAH’S job. And ALLAH knows best! I will always remember Michael Jackson as the man who inspired millions of people aroud the globe. I will forever be a fan of his music and legacy. I love watching him perform “Billie Jean”! Michael will forever be in my heart!

I pray his family can find peace at this hard time. As Salaam Alaykum, Jermaine.

<3 <3 <3 King of Pop <3 <3 <3

FROM ALLAH WE COME AND TO ALLAH IS OUR RETURN

Wiggy Wack ♥

This is the first airing of my show “Wiggy Wack Radio” on the website Blog Talk Radio. I just gave a brief introduction about myself, my show, and this blog. Please listen and enjoy.

Peace, Wiggy Wack ♥

Harriet Ann Jacobs

There was a woman who lived many years ago with the most incredible story. Her name was Harriet Ann Jacobs (1813- March, 7, 1897). Harriet Jacobs was a slave in North Carolina who escaped to freedom in 1842 after living under the most unbearable of circumstances. After escaping from slavery she wrote an autobiography of her life called Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl under the pen name Linda Brent. Her story is one of sadness, sexual harassment, and triumph.

Harriet had to endure years of sexual advancements from her master. She refused him and instead took a young, well-off, white man as her lover. She had two children with this man. This vexed her master greatly. Eventually in order to escape her masters’ tyranny she ran away and hid in her grandmother’s attic for seven years before escaping by boat to Philadelphia.

I first read about her in a book on African American woman a couple of years ago and I found her story very intriguing. Recently I came across a website with her whole book published on it. To get to the website just click on this link: Harriet Jacobs. When you get to the site, scroll down to the bottom and click on “Site Index” and this will take you to her book.

I believe Ms. Jacobs’ story should be more widely known. She was and is a role model to African Americans and woman everywhere. Strength like hers was rare in slaves.

To listen to the NPR interview with Professor Jean Fagan Yellin of Pace University, the woman who confirmed the authenticity of Harriet’s story, click on the link below:

Professor Sheds Light on Harriet Jacobs\’ Path to Freedom

♥ Wiggy Wack