The Lijadu Sisters sing and tell

I'm hella late on this but...it's never too late for cool ish.
Now, I don't know which of my emotions to express. Or which of my opinions to blab on about.
fierce. inspiring. sexy. motivating. strong. creative. talented. superfreakingawesomecoolyeah!

Check out these women that make me proud to be associated with the word Nigerian (read the interview, watch the video). Cousins of Fela Kuti, and recording artists from the 70s who made a come-back via Knitting Factory Records.

What Would the Heroine of my Summer Romance do?

I was just reading this harlequin romance novel of a woman who is as an exec of an ad/design agency that her father owns. She falls asleep on a late night at the office and dreams (time travels) herself back into the sixties to an ad agency where the women where 'horse corralled' in the typing pool; their only purpose to type and serve coffee to the men while dealing with taunts, jabs and lewd comments (being that they are subordinates) from the men. I'm not sure... because I don't watch it but I imagine it looked something like Mad Men? Anyway...the dream follows her as a love interest of the main boss of the ad agency while she 'fights' to increase the significance and relevance of the women in the ad agency.

I wonder what she would think about this ad...

Night Club Map of Harlem Renaissance

"Perhaps exemplary of that renaissance, this map was drawn by Elmer Simms Campbell (1906-1971), the first African-American cartoonist to be published nationally (in Esquire, Cosmopolitan, The New Yorker and Playboy, among others). The map faces southwest, is bounded by 110th Street (in the top left corner), which runs along Central Park’s northern edge, and concentrates on Lenox Avenue and Seventh Avenue (“or heaven”)."

 Source

I'm digging this map. It would have been cool to happen upon it, while I was planning the May Fly Ball. Lol I don't know if it would have changed anything, but then I was searching for any and everything Harlem Rennaisance.

So I just recently started to NOT be deathly incapable of reading maps. Because someone has been forcing encouraging me to learn how and to use it. I've always just been a written word/oral learning type of person. I mean I've suspected that I have somewhat of a photographic memory, because when I went to school in Nigeria...I would Ace tests by simply scanning the text/notebooks the night before or minutes before the exam. And if you know anything about Nigerian style examinations...you know they were cumulative, happened at the end of the term, had a hundred plus questions and determined your grade for the semester. So no, not your run of the mill 5 question easy A high school 'pop' quiz. Okay why did I just say all this. Back to my topic...

anyway as I was saying I've just recently started to appreciate info-graphics and I'm slowly learning not to be afraid of them, because someone keeps showing them to me and making me interpret information from them *cough*. Fast Forward....to this map. Now this is a map that I adore, I want it enlarged and framed in my future live/work space.

It would be cool to have something like this for say Oakland or any cultural/community setting. I was actually thinking of it in terms of other concepts...like I would like to see something with Non-Profit organizations in the Bay Area that serve youth, or like Mamaput Joints in Lagos (lmao)... that would be cool. Actually what am waiting for?...I know a bunch of artists, data miners and social worker types. I could commission one!

* don't rob my stolen idea yo!

-N

Araminta Ross

Bet you didn't know that Harriet Tubman changed her name from Araminta Ross, maybe I'm the only one in the world that did not know. I was googling this vintage shop - Araminta Rose and found that out. Love this dress, wish it came in my size.