A bit of a late pass

Please forgive your humble blogger for failing to post last month. There's really no excuse.  However,  it was on my mind to celebrate (belatedly) National Lipstick Day.  Of all forms of makeup,  lip products are my fave, so here some of the faves and brands preferred by yours truly:

From left to right:

TLB-Savage

TLB-Ms. Independent 

Pat McGrath Labs-Major Red

Cover Girl- Hot (305)

Pat McGrath Labs-patmcgrath.com

TLB-thelipbar.com

Cover Girl-at your local drugstore or covergirl.com

Some Positivity in the Madness

Your humble blogger has to admit it hasn't been easy to come up with something to talk about.  In the midst of everything going on in the world, it feels like there needs to be a balm in the Gilead,  and I don't have that. What I can do, though, is share a little bit of light in the form of something that happened recently.  A friend of mine on Twitter had a mask giveaway and I decided to participate. Today,  they finally came in

We all know social media can be a bit of a cesspool sometimes,  but it's nice to be able to have an opportunity such as this.

Until next time.

Yes, it's a "Memory Librarian" Review

 

Your humble blogger's favorite artist now has the title of author (and a New York Times bestselling one at that) under her belt with the release of The Memory Librarian and other stories of Dirty Computer.  Sprouting from the world laid out in the 2018 album and "emotion picture" Dirty Computer, Janelle Monáe brings to the page more tales of those deemed "dirty" living and loving in a futuristic totalitarian society set on "cleaning" them.  In collaboration with five BIPOC female and non-binary writers, Monáe puts the lives, loves, struggles and triumphs of those considered "other" front and center in a collection of five short sci-fi/Afrofuturistic stories.

The storytelling is superb, with writing used like a painter would use a brush to paint a canvas to bring you into the lives and thoughts of the stories' characters. It's par for the course, however, for Monáe, as she has always called herself a storyteller and is never one to be put in one creative box. In fact, it can be argued that The Memory Librarian is another "emotion picture", as the stories pull out emotions (particularly empathy, hope and joy) from the reader just like her songs and videos do.  It would also be easy to see the stories set to stage as a set of one act plays given the dramatic scope of each one.

My favorite of the stories is "Save Changes", the collaboration with Yohanca Delgado.  It's a tale of two sisters, children of a resistance fighter against the tyrannical New Dawn, who come across an opportunity to change the past and face the implications of what that means.  A beautiful meditation on love, family, and time in light of oppression, it doesn't fail to tug at the heartstrings and make one think about the use of time for making a positive change.

The Memory Librarian is definitely a worthwhile read, whether you're familiar with Janelle Monáe's work or not.  It's an engaging roller coaster ride that ends with a deeper sense of the need to see those that society throws away and that in the end, hate won't win. For those considered "dirty computers", it's a celebration and beacon of hope in a world that is trying.

Who would you be if you didn't hold yourself back?

Your humble blogger just got through a journaling session and a question came to mind that just begged to be shared:

Who would you be if you didn't hold yourself back? 

I, know, I know. It sounds hokey or new age or self help guru-ish. The fact is, though, we get in our own way a lot of times. And, it doesn't hurt to be reminded of that so we can see beyond to our true potential.  

Wiper of the Blood

 

Today, your humble blogger came across this post from Utica of RuPaul's Drag Race Season 13.

 It hit me as a beautiful reflection on the Christ's agony in the garden and quite timely as we're in the season of Lent.  The last line in the post especially inspired reflection as it brought up the question: Are you there to wipe someone's tears away? Are you present to someone who's hurting, especially someone from a marginalized background? What opportunities have you missed to be present to someone in your life or who you've come across when they're having their "agony in the garden" moment? This Lent, let's reflect on where we can be a "wiper of the blood" for someone in need.

For Gamma Phi Delta Sorority, Inc. Founders' Day

 

(Courtesy of www.gpd-deltachi.com)

She wears a crown of 13 pearls 

Exuding refinement and culture in every step 

With peace and harmony to ground them

She is U.N.I.Q.U.E.

She is impactful 

She is illustrious 

She is a Gamma Phi Delta woman 

What I'm on

Your humble blogger has finally gotten around to reading the late bell hooks.  I chose All About Love- New Visions given the description indicated a view on love similar to mine, and boy was I right. Many a page was dog eared and many a line highlighted that I resonated with on a deep level. While the  term "must read" gets thrown around a lot, hooks' insightful (and incisive) work definitely merits the label.  It shakes up everything we think of connected with love. Moreover,  it challenges the reader to embark on the journey of the deep heart and soul work necessary to attain the true love that sustains  healthy individuals and society.