30 September 2009

wednesday Crush of the Week: Jennifer Hudson

So I decided to start a blog once every hump day for a little boost to get you through the rest of the week. Hopefully it strikes conversation, blogging, gets you out of writers block, or maybe just as simple as a little eye candy... Enjoy!










23 September 2009

Wednesday Crush of the Week: Da Brat

So I decided to start a blog once every hump day for a little boost to get you through the rest of the week. Hopefully it strikes conversation, blogging, gets you out of writers block, or maybe just as simple as a little eye candy... Enjoy!










16 September 2009

Wednesday Crush of the Week: Staceyann Chin

So I decided to start a blog once every hump day for a little boost to get you through the rest of the week. Hopefully it strikes conversation, blogging, gets you out of writers block, or maybe just as simple as a little eye candy... Enjoy!










13 September 2009

Counting Down Friday 246days/35weeks

Hello beautiful people I know I am kind of late with this but it is better late than never. This week ended well I had my first day at my internship and I was pleasantly surprised. The place did not make a good impression on me so I prepared myself for a rocky internship. But when I got there they threw me a welcome breakfast and had welcome banners all over. The whole department came to welcome me and wish me luck. My supervisor was not as horrible as I thought she was going to be which is a plus!

On Tuesday I took my sister to school and realized that Fall is truely here in full force with morning mist, cold temps, and TRAFFIC. Traffic is not my favorite thing but over here there is NO escaping it... its pretty impossible unless your day starts a midnight. One of my classes are overwhelming me with information so I am trying to review throughout the week so when midterms roll around I am not as stressed to study for it.

I applied for a research job and I got it! I am pretty excited about the job I just have to make sure I find time to complete the work required. It is pretty flexible which is beneficial for me and it will look great on the resume.

Other than that things are well... Classes seem to be falling in to place and the work is piling up. I cannot wait until winter rolls around because Winter is my favorite season and right now Fall is not cutting it.

09 September 2009

Wednesday Crush of the Week: Penelope Cruz

So I decided to start a blog once every hump day for a little boost to get you through the rest of the week. Hopefully it strikes conversation, blogging, gets you out of writers block, or maybe just as simple as a little eye candy... Enjoy!










04 September 2009

Counting Down Friday 253

253 days!
I am excited to say that I am done the second week of classes. Although I am already stressed out I am happy to be back in the swing of things. I have been bombarded with papers, tests, and presentation which is alot to worry about. I was also offered a research job that I am excited about because that is exactly what I want to do I am just hoping I can manage to joggle everything. Next Friday will be my first day at my internship I am anxious about starting because I will be interning at a super busy hospital but I am up for the challenge. Wish me luck!

Any ideas for stress relieving activities? I might need a few this semester...

02 September 2009

Baby Makes me

PLEASE POST ON YOUR BLOGS, SITES, LISTS etc. Help us reach the folks we need.

Many of you have already heard about our film, Baby Makes me. For you, this is an update. But for the folks who have not heard Tiona and I are making a documentary together.

For years, I have wanted to become a mother. But the timing has never been quite right. Either my partners weren’t ready, or I was scared, or I couldn’t find a donor or something. There was always something. By the time I rolled into 35, I was tired of being afraid, tired of waiting for the right woman with whom it would be the right time, tired of watching every Christmas roll over another Birthday, tired of watching my peers get knocked up and months later appear with the most amazing little bundle of potential—I was tired of waiting and ready to make the leap, and I was ready to make it alone.

I began the research with great heart—only to discover that there were little no resources for women who either wanted to, or had to embark on the journey of motherhood in the solo. There were one or two essays and a few books on artificial insemination, and some were even directed at lesbians—but most, if not all assumed that the mother would be operating from inside of a partnership, be that partnership heterosexual or homosexual.

The idea for the film came out of a conversation with Tiona to film the pregnancy/labor, assuming that there would be one—because no one, least of all me, knows if my body will cooperate in doing such a thing as conceiving. I envisioned Tiona asking a couple of heartfelt questions and spinning the light to create a high-end home-movie I could show my child at eighteen. She agreed and we began to flesh out some ideas. That conversation, coupled with the lack of resource material out there spurred the project now known as Baby Makes Me.

Baby Makes Me, a feature-length documentary, will explore the challenges and triumphs of Single Motherhood, particularly in the lives of women of color, lesbians and women who make a conscious choice to be mothers in the absence of intimate/romantic partnerships with men.

The film will use as its narrative skeleton, the journey of activist/writer/performer, Staceyann Chin, as she navigates her personal choices with reference to motherhood. Author of the memoir, The Other Side of Paradise, Chin now brings her talents to the medium of film as writer and Executive Producer.

The Director, Tiona McClodden, is a champion of promoting positive images of women in media. Her last film, “Black./womyn.:conversations…”, garnered much respect in both accolades and awards. She now brings her attention to the issue of women and motherhood.

It is our intent to interview a series of women from all the demographic cross-sections. Issues of financial, ethical, medical, cultural, and political relevance will be fore-grounded. We hope that clinics, hospitals, families, children of Black lesbians, straight Black women who want children, mothers of gay women who lament the loss of grandchildren when they discover their daughters are gay, and anybody who seeks to have a clearer picture of the family that includes gay women will see that our lives go on, that women who are single, be they lesbian, or Black or poor, can and do have babies, and that we are simply another group of people who live and laugh and grow. We hope to paint the subjects in the film as human and likable characters who, though they are dealing with slightly different challenges than the women we traditionally see as mothers, are not very different from any other group of people considering parenthood.

We are going to need all the help we can get. We need help in reaching out to folks who would like to be interviewed; other single mothers, women who have been inseminated, women who are thinking about it, women who work in the medical field, women who work in the administrative world of policy etc. We are on the hunt for the all the voices that could represent our story in the film.

We have recently been awarded a grant from ASTREA Lesbian Foundation for Justice and are set to move forward. We write to you now, in the hope that you will want to be involved in this groundbreaking project in whatever capacity you choose: we need space to host fundraisers and screening and other events connected to the film. We need people to fundraise, to promote the film, to host community talks, to suggest topics for discussion in the film—we need to secure additional investors, we need the help of people who are experts in the business of making films, and we need the counter-perspective of people who have never made a film. We are hoping to make this a community effort; from start to finish we want the ideas to be representative of the various factions in our diverse village of the women who mother our children. If you are sure you are unable to do any of the above, we only ask that you make room for our fliers, questionnaires, invitations, and other promotional materials for the film.

We would be honored if you would join us as we attempt to break more ceilings, level more walls to make room those of us who are too frequently left out of the history and imagination of the world we live in. We look forward to a spirited journey with you, from the opening shot to the ending credits—complete with your name listed among the most stalwart of our supporters.

Thanks again to the women who have already offered assistance. We look forward to your being a part of our process.

Staceyann Chin
Executive Producer/Writer, “Baby Makes Me”
Tiona McClodden
Director/Producer, “Baby Makes Me”

Please send all inquiries and requests to: babymakesme@gmail.com

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Wednesday Crush of the Week: Queen Latifah

So I decided to start a blog once every hump day for a little boost to get you through the rest of the week. Hopefully it strikes conversation, blogging, gets you out of writers block, or maybe just as simple as a little eye candy... Enjoy!