Sonya McCoy Wilson

For the Love of Students

2012-05-30T19:27:00.000-04:00

I had a wonderful opportunity to present at the NISOD International Conference on Teaching and Leadership. In short, the focus of our research is to contextualize Arts and Sciences courses at technical colleges, so that students will value those courses and see them as a crucial component of their technical programs. Of course, we have devised, and continue to devise, strategies and methods to foster that contextualization, so that students will ultimately achieve success, and quite frankly, so that instructors can teach along the path of least resistance.

The focus of this four-day conference was the role of community colleges in higher education. There were some wonderful gems throughout the four days. There was Eduardo Padrón, President of Miami Dade College, who has received countless national and international awards for his institution's results in the areas of student success, retention, and graduation. Dr. Padrón's open and inclusive approach has helped to fulfill the dreams of hundreds of thousands of students in an urban and immigrant community that would otherwise have no access to higher education.

There was also the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching represented by Susan Fong, Karon Klipple, and Jan Muhich. Their research focused on non-cognitive paths to student success. They found that, often times, barriers to student success in English and Math are rooted in faulty mindset. It's an old concept with a new approach. "If we believe it, we can achieve it." Change the mindset – change the behavior.

The most memorable keynote speaker was Dr. John Roueche of the University of Texas at Austin and the Sid W. Richardson Regents Chair in Community College Leadership. His talk was titled, "Student Success is Everyone's Job." From the moment a student steps onto a college campus, moves through the admissions and registration process until the student enters our classrooms, that student's success is based upon each of those experiences. Ultimately, he said, "You have to love your students more than you love your discipline." This is what it boils down to. This resonated particularly, because "loving" students is at the core of any good research on humanistic approaches or non-cognitive research or paths to student success. Many of us teach because we want our students to feel that same sense of pride, accomplishment, and empowerment that education (no matter the discipline) has offered to us. And we keep coming back, semester after semester, for more punishment because we live for that spark, that hunger, that drive we see in our students when they finally "get it." Those of us who teach at community colleges and technical colleges eventually become entangled in the web of our students' lives. We become invested in their success. We become a part of their support systems. And if we're lucky, we become a part of their story. And, yes, I guess that's love.

Open Letter To My Mom

2012-05-13T09:55:00.000-04:00

Dear Mom,

When I was growing up, I thought you were the most beautiful woman in the world. With your beautiful figure and big bouncy hair, I really thought you looked like a movie star. You out shined all of the other mommies, hands down.

Then I started to grow up, and a funny thing happened. I did not hang on your every word any longer. You said, "No." I said, "Yes." You said, "Stop." I said, "Go." Those years between training bras and pantyhose were a bit rocky for you and me.

Then one day, many years after training bras and pantyhose, I became a Mom. And your "No's" and "Stops" all started to make sense. More than just understanding your perspective, I knew who you were for the first time. I began to admire your grace under pressure. All of those years with your flawless make-up and hair, you made motherhood look so easy. But motherhood is not easy. In fact, it's the hardest job I've ever done.

And now, that I feel like the little old woman who lived in a shoe and had so many children she didn't know what to do -- now, Mom, you are my friend. You have been an incredibly hard act to follow. I have attempted to be the kind of mom to my children that you were to me. And I am certain that I have missed the mark. But that's ok. Where I falter, you come right in and save the day, because you're also the "best grammy ever."

I am so proud of you as a mother, as a professional, as a woman, and as a friend.

I love you

Happy Mother's Day

Why Ann Romney Hasn't Worked a Day in her Life

2012-04-17T13:05:00.000-04:00

This week, democratic pundit and strategist, Hilary Rosen, accused Ann Romney, the wife of the Republican nominee-apparent, of "having never worked a day in her life." Rosen's comments sparked quite a bit of debate and controversy from Mrs. Romney, and both women on the right and left. Ann Romney responded predictably. She perceived Rosen's comments as an attack on motherhood itself and an implication that mothers who remain in the home to raise children are not doing "real," credible work.

Rosen eventually backed out of her original claim and apologized for her remarks. I suppose Rosen was instructed to do this by the Obama camp. If she had been left to respond without apprehension, I believe she would have gotten to the core of her argument.

Wealthy women of means who choose to stay at home and raise their children, never do so alone. Women of average means who make the decision to remain at home and raise their children, usually do so with great logistical and financial difficulty. As a mother who has both remained at home and returned to the workforce while raising children, I am very well acquainted with the extreme difficulty of both decisions. At-home mothers of average means single-handedly become maid, cook, nanny, chaffeur, lover, and confidante. The at-home mom must manage several feeding schedules, multiple homework assignments from varying grade levels, several sports agendas, different meal plans for all of the allergies in the house, a cleaning and laundry schedule, all while remaining positive, slender, and sexually available for her well-meaning yet clueless husband.

Does anyone honestly believe that a-day-in-the-life of Ann Romney ever resembled any of the chaos above. Ann Romney is a privileged mother, and privileged mothers are privileged because they don't have to bother with the drudge and nastiness of every day life. Women like Ann Romney may have one set of domestic workers to clean their huge estates and another set to manage and plan the meals for their families. Often times, wealthy mothers employ nannies to do most of the work that we call motherhood.

So to assert that Ann Romney never worked a day in her life should be always already understood.

Justice for All

2012-04-16T19:17:00.001-04:00

Last week, after 45 days of public and private outrage, protest marches, and over a million signatures in online petitions calling for the arrest of George Zimmerman, Zimmerman was finally arrested and charged with the second degree murder of Trayvon Martin. Zimmmerman will appear for his formal arraignment on May 29, 2012.

Hours after hearing that his son's murderer had finally been arrested, Tracy Martin announced

"We got a long way to go, and we have faith," he said. "From the first time we marched, I looked to the sky and I told myself, 'When I walk, I will walk by faith.' We will continue to hold hands on this journey -- white, black, Hispanic -- and continue to march and march until the right thing is done."

In my previous post, I implored Americans not to allow this to happen, not to allow Zimmerman to murder someone's child with impunity. I am relieved and pleasantly surprised that Americans all over the country - black, white, Hispanic, Asian, old, and young - stood up and let their voices be heard. 45 days after Trayvon Martin was murdered because he "looked suspicious," we are watching the American justice system finally begin to work.

And once Zimmerman is sentenced for the murder of Trayvon Martin, we can begin to chip away at the infamous and insidious "Stand-Your-Ground" Law that empowered Zimmerman to become judge and jury in the first place.

We are ALL Trayvon Martin

2012-03-22T12:01:00.000-04:00

Over the past week, the Trayvon Martin murder has mined the depths of black fear and unearthed an age-old human rights issue. I would argue, though, that this tragedy strikes at the core of America's most polarizing and most urgent issue. As the phrase has been coined this week, "We are all Trayvon Martin."

We are all Trayvon Martin because those of us who are parents of black male children have often receded into those dark thoughts of what could happen to our precious children when they are out in the world without our protection. Every black parent in America has had "the Talk" with their sons. For those of you who don't know, "the talk" goes like this:

"The world" does not love you, my son. In fact, the world perceives you, your black body, your corporeal self as just that - a body - a body without a soul, without history, without beauty, talent, personality, integrity, intelligence, family, love, and a bright future. The world perceives you as a menace, a monster, a "blind accident of evolution," a criminal, a fiend, and a terroristic threat that must be exterminated on sight. Your body, my son, is a representation of white fear and rage.

And as we have "the Talk" with our beautiful boys, they go through the stages of grief: anger, denial, bargaining, and acceptance. When we see the shock on our son's faces and the blissful innocence of childhood fade from their eyes, we fight back the tears - tears that are born from the realization that we must release our children into a world of rage that we did not create and we have not been able to change. Unlike other parents, we are forced to train our children to be aware that they are perceived as dangerous threats and to act accordingly. This is the coming-of-age moment for our black sons.

So when I heard about Trayvon Martin, a beautiful boy, who reminds me of my own sons, nephews, and cousins, I instantly and uncontrollably shed tears. He could have been my son, I thought. He is my son. He is all of our sons. We are all Trayvon Martin.

When George Zimmerman went hunting that night like a predator in search of black male prey, he found someone's beautiful son, someone's hopes, someone's dreams, and someone's joy. And, with one brutal, fell swoop, George Zimmerman snuffed out a mother's child, a father's legacy, and a family's hope. Zimmerman (even if he isn't white) was motivated by the persistent white rage and white racism that has scarred and plagued America since its inception.

And if that wasn't tragic and heart-wrenching enough, Zimmerman has been allowed, by a racist local judicial system, to act with impunity, to act with permission and local sanction.

This cannot happen. This is not a black problem. This is an American problem. This is a human problem. So, if you are not a racist, and you do not believe that all black men are simply criminals and monsters waiting to attack the "good white people" of America, you should be just as outraged, just as heart-broken, just as sad, just as afraid to live in a country that would not only allow this to happen, but encourages it to happen daily in its vitriolic, xenophobic, racist rhetoric.

"Get up!" "Stand up!"

Heed the Call

2012-03-11T17:31:00.000-04:00

If you bring forth what is inside you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is inside you, what is inside you will destroy you.

I have often times quoted Julia Alvarez's "Ten of My Writing Commandments" from her collections of essays, Something to Declare. I find myself in this place more often than not.

I manage to do everything except bring forth what is inside me. I have all of the usual distractions: kids, husband, family, work, miscellaneous responsibilities, etc. etc. "It" keeps returning, though. "It" is a force well beyond rational understanding. "It" is incomprehensible, inexplicable, yet persistent. "It" is the call to write, to testify, to tell "it." The stories will not be stifled or silenced for very long. The voices rise up inside of the writer like the voices of so many small children demanding attention, demanding nurturing, demanding to be heard.

All of you who hear the voices, heed the call...

I Am Because They Were

2012-02-25T19:47:00.000-05:00

Toni Morrison

bell hooks

Audre Lorde

Beverly Guy Sheftall

Maya Angelou

Nikki Giovanni

Octavia Butler

Sonia Sanchez

Alice Walker

Rebecca Walker

Nella Larsen

Zora Neale Hurston

Anna J. Cooper

Francis Ellen Watkins Harper

Pauline Hopkins

Sojourner Truth

Are You Making Natural Hair Look Bad?

2012-02-16T14:40:00.000-05:00

The natural hair revolution has unearthed a few zealots who may be sending some offensive messages to the non-natural hair population.

I was talking to one of my non-natural friends recently. We've been friends for years, and the fact that I have natural hair is not at the center of our conversations nor is it an integral part of our relationship. She has a cadre of natural friends, however, who are really making her loathe the phrase "natural hair." She told me that these particular women feel that they must represent natural hair in its raw, unadulterated state. In other words, they wake up and however their hair looks, that's their look for the day.

Not only does their hair look reminiscent of poor little "Buckwheat," the very racist representation of blackness from 1930s American media, but these women are elitist about their unkempt "naturalness." They often subjugate and ridicule other black women with chemically straightened or heat straightened hair. Apparently, these types of "Natural Nazis" are growing in numbers.

The point of any revolution should be to voice the frustrations of the people and bring about a change that the people welcome. If we are in the midst of a natural hair revolution, these natural Nazis are not likely to recruit new naturals. The "Buckwheat" fro is just not a good look. The character of Buckwheat was not constructed to represent a cute lovable ideal. He was constructed by the white mainstream media of the 1930s for the amusement of white audiences. Buckwheat's wild, electrified hair, large white eyes, and stylized dark skin was a common racist trope of the early 20th century. The "jigaboo," "spook", "porch monkey," "sambo" character represented the racist stereotypes that defined black folks as aesthetically ugly if not comical and feeble.

Natural hair can be, like any other hair type, beautiful. But purposely refusing to manipulate natural hair, like any other hair type, leaves it matted, unkempt, and unappealing. Wearing a "Buckwheat" look would not and should not encourage any non-natural to toss the chemicals. New naturals need not wear their naturalness like armor, beating everyone else over the head with it. Looking beautiful in their natural skin is what encourages other women to "go natural." And if we are waging a natural hair revolution, ultimately, we need new recruits.

Too Black Too Strong

2012-02-04T09:49:00.000-05:00

Kathleen Cleaver and Black Panther co-founder Bobby Seale
Oakland, CA 1968

This is the first in a series of posts that I plan to showcase this Black History Month. This post will not contain a long exegesis of the plight of the African. I will not examine the African diaspora. Instead, I just want to display an African aesthetic that moves me deep down in my core. I hope you are moved too...

James Baldwin, Odetta Holmes, Ralph Ellison,
Ossie Davis, and Ruby Dee

Malcolm X, Barack Obama, Martin Luther King, Jr.

Angela Davis

Bob Marley

Pam Greer

Bill Cosby

Booker T. Washington

Cast of the Cosby Show 2011

Until next time...

Curls, Color, and Race

2012-01-22T13:36:00.001-05:00

Since my locs' big chop a year ago, I have learned a few things about black folks and natural hair. Until my "big chop anniversary," I wore a wash 'n' go variation every day (pictured below):

To my surprise, I received daily inquiries about my hair. The first question was always, "How do you get your hair like that?" And my response was a long run down of my co-wash conditioner and regimen, followed by my leave-in moisturizer, castor oil, and the best darn gel in the world - Eco Styler. Much to my chagrin, instead of nods and note-taking, what ensued was almost always an "ugly" twisted face followed by, "Oh, so you just have curly hair?" Reluctant to respond, I would eventually acquiesce and say, "Yes." To this, I would receive a spectrum of responses - anywhere from shoulder shrugs and ambivalence to downright hostile eye-rolling.

Mom

My mother, who is natural too and big-chopped when I did, explained similar experiences. However, some of my natural friends explained very different experiences. The key variance was that no one ever asked my friends, "How do you get your hair like that?" When I discovered this, I started to think more critically about the discrepancy. What was the difference between my mother, my friends, and I? Sadly enough, the only difference was skin color. My mother and I are dark-skinned black women, and all the natural friends in question are light-skinned black women.

The interrogation that my mother and I experienced repeatedly was the result of the two of us curly heads betraying an unspoken stereotype, a paradigm. Apparently, black folks have constructed certain images for blacks. Until I contradicted this socially constructed image, I never knew it existed. It is very simple: light-skinned people have curly hair, and dark-skinned people have kinky hair. And, as many hair blogs attest, in the politics of black hair, curls have become the holy grail.

Danielle

So when black women would stop me in the grocery store, at work, or on the street and ask, "How do you get your hair like that," they were assuming that I had "manufactured" the curls they were seeing. I, however, assumed they wanted to know how I achieved shine and staying power. So, when my lengthy response betrayed their assumptions, they would become incensed. My light-skinned counterparts are never questioned about "how" their curls occur, because the expectation is that the curls "naturally" occur. After all, light-skinned people are "supposed" to have curly hair? Right?

My experiences over the last decade and half with natural hair are reaffirming rather than contradicting my theories about race and identity. As much as India Arie and others proclaim proudly that "they are not their hair," there is so much evidence to the contrary. Women's hair (regardless of race) has been a symbol of beauty, femininity, piety, reverence, patriarchy, sexuality, and the list goes on. In our contemporary world, we cannot trivialize black women's hair and what it symbolizes.

End Piracy, Not Liberty - Google

2012-01-18T20:45:00.000-05:00

TAKE A STAND! LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD!

Sign the Petition

I Still Have a Dream

2012-01-16T17:28:00.000-05:00

"That one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood...When we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:

Free at last! Free at last!

Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

-Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Sometimes all we have is our dreams, and sometimes dreams come true. Thank God I can still dream...

What it Means to be Them

2012-01-10T11:46:00.000-05:00

photo courtesy of blackstarproject.org

After all of the chaotic, sweaty, frenzied energy that goes into making it all happen - registration, keeping enrollment numbers up, student retention, increased graduation rates, and the adjunct-instructor- recruitment-hell, the smoke clears, and I remember why I do this.

After the first day's proselytizing, introductions, and syllabi, I remember what it means to be them - a young, vibrant, raging combination of angst, fear, hope, and possibility. Sometimes I forget, even while I am harping on about accountability and the "Attendance Policy" on page 3, what it means to be them.

I forget what it means to have your whole life ahead of you and not know it, what it means to look forward to working an unpaid internship, what it means to be poor but not impoverished, what it means when homework is your biggest responsibility, what it means to have college loan debt in the single digits or not to have any college loan debt at all.

It's a strangely symbiotic relationship - the one between teacher and student. They promise to read and write and think and discuss. And I promise to give them my all each term and to do it all over again the next. And in the end, this relationship changes us all (irrevocably) for the better. Because, ultimately, I am them and they are me.

On Hair: Curl Enhancing Smoothie

2012-01-07T14:41:00.000-05:00

Since I have transcended my TWA (teeny weeny afro) phase, the sky has opened, the divine light has come down, and the Hallelujah Chorus is playing.

For the past year since my BC (big chop), I had been wearing my hair in a shrunken WNG (wash 'n' go). This was a very orchestrated choice on my part. I do not have the kind of lifestyle which affords me the time to spend hours during the week styling my hair. Any other style on less than 6 inches of hair requires lots of "attention." Therefore, the WNG style below freed me up to work the 12 hour days I normally put in every week and be a mother and wife.

Wash n Go 12/2011

I am no longer a slave to the WNG! I have graduated to the Twist-Out. So, I had to do a complete overhaul of my weekly (if not daily) regimen.

I achieved my WNG with my former holy grail product, Eco Styler Olive Oil Gel. However, I knew that gel was not the product I wanted to use to twist my hair. I did not want crunchy, tacky, sticky curls.

Shea Moisture's Curl Enhancing Smoothie is my new holy grail product. Not that I am tossing my Eco Styler Gel. I will definitely keep it for my WNG and summer wet styles.

I achieved my Twist-Out below using the Shea Moisture Curl Enhancing Smoothie.

This twist-out was done with larger twists than I describe below

How I achieve my Twist-Out:

1. Co-wash as usual.
2. Braid in six big braids to keep my hair stretched while styling.
3. Apply leave-in conditioner. I still love Carefree Curl Gold.
4. Apply dime size amounts of castor oil.
5. Apply Shea Moisture Curl Enhancing Smoothie (a nickel to quarter size). This size is based on a
huge section of hair. Remember, I had already sectioned my hair in six big braids. So a little of this
product goes a very long way.
6. Finger-part off a very small (1/2 inch) section of hair and twist tightly to the ends. Because of my
coily curl pattern, my hair responds best to small twists. Yes, this takes an hour. But I do this early
Saturday morning, and I'm done well before noon. (Note: my hair is still damp while twisting)
7. I let my twists stay in for at least 24 hours (to "set" them). Then I untwist them.
8. At night, I re-twist in very large twists. I realized very quickly that my hair cannot remain loose at
night. The re-twisting only takes me 30 minutes. This is a reasonable amount of time for my
lifestyle. The untwisting in the morning takes about 15 minutes (also reasonable). If I'm really
pushed in the morning, I untwist in the car on my way to work (I have a 45-minute drive and I use
one hand).

Why I love Curl Enhancing Smoothie:

1. It keeps my hair moisturized for at least 5 days without reapplying during the 5 days.
2. It keeps my hair baby soft for at least 5 days
3. It's not sticky or tacky
4. It's not greasy
5. It's 99% natural
6. It smells good
7. It's cost effective: $9.99 for the 12 oz. jar above at Target

Tribute to the Black Hair Revolution

2012-01-02T21:08:00.000-05:00

Vlogger kinkypeaches1 illustrates the ideas I blogged about in my Kinky Curly Paradigm post. Enjoy!

Cheers for the New Year!

2011-12-31T21:57:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year!

I think I am not alone in welcoming a new year, as 2011 was often turbulent and filled with many global highs and lows. 2011 was, as People Magazine proclaimed, the year of "The Protestor." The Arab Spring was the watershed event that gave way to the Occupy Movement. The global community rejoiced when the Egyptian people's voices were finally heard. However, we learned that the price of freedom is high.

The new year, however, brings with it possibility, hope, and maybe the change we've all been waiting for. I am hopeful and vigilant.

May you all find peace and happiness in 2012.

Cheers!

Kinky Curly Paradigm

2011-12-30T23:23:00.000-05:00

A year ago, I decided to cut off my locked hair of 8 years. I blogged about my "Big Chop", it's significance, and the politics of black women's hair. While I was reflecting on the past year, I stumbled upon Larry D. Rosalez-Lewis, a freelance photographer. He was recently featured on BGLH (a natural hair blog), and he had something very profound to say about hair:

Wearing my hair natural was never an epic decision or affirmation of my blackness, but the way people respond has caused me to really examine my thoughts about natural hair, blackness and race relations, and the spiritual aspects of hair.

This is exactly what I have been pondering for the last year. Both men and women of African descent have the same curly/kinky, Afro-textured strands growing from their heads. Yet, until now, black women have been held to a separate set of standards for hair and beauty - a white paradigm instead of a black one. I discussed the white paradigm of beauty at length in my blog post a year ago. So I won't rehash it here. I will say, however, that Black women who "go natural" are met with the most resistance from other black people. There are still too many black people who believe that natural hair is "unprofessional," "unkempt," "unclean" and just plain "ugly." However, naturals all over the country attest to the acceptance and even intrigue their hair receives from whites.

Things are changing, though. The new generation of natural haired black women are trailblazers in the quest for affirmative black female identity. Bloggers like Curly Nikki, Afrobella, Kurly Bella, Natural Chica, and Vloggers like Kimmaytube, BeautifulBrwnBabyDol, and KinkyKurlyQueen have reconstructed black female identity (literally) from the hair follicles down. I don't know which came first - the blogs or the changing attitudes about black women and natural hair. Whatever the case may be, everyone is fascinated with kinky, curly Afro-textured hair. I no longer get aggravated when people "just want to touch it." I understand. Hair that grows out and not down is like nothing else. There is a spirit about it that is difficult to articulate.

Although, there are some unenlightened black folks still lurking behind weaves, wigs, pieces, and lye, naturals represent a significant percentage of the black female population. According to a recent USA Today article, "The number of black women who say they do not use products to chemically relax or straighten their hair jumped to 36% in 2011, up from 26% in 2010, according to a report by Mintel, a consumer spending and market research firm. Sales of relaxer kits dropped by 17% between 2006 and 2011, according to Mintel." Maybe one day we can put the "relaxer" folks out of business.

I feel a kinky, curly paradigm shift in the air.

Drama in the Fitting Room

2011-12-05T21:06:00.000-05:00

I think it's safe to say that every woman would like nothing better than to sachet into the fitting room with several, single-digit-sized skinny jeans and slip effortlessly into them without needing a crane, a vat of grease, or a few Hail Mary's.

We've all experienced stressful visits to the fitting room, when nothing that supposed to fit actually fits, and the mirror seems like a magnifying glass illuminating every lump, bump, and imperfection under the cruel and unforgiving florescent lights.

I was talking about this to a colleague of mine who recently lost a significant amount of weight. She was recounting to me how refreshing it is to go shopping for clothes now, and how she is no longer subjected to the "Women's World" suits. She wondered why so many plus-sized women's suits came in obnoxious colors like purple, pink, and electric blue. Having no other alternative, she would grab an arm full of these pink and purple nightmares and head to the fitting room hoping for a miracle. There she stood looking like she was on her way to a Deaconess meeting. For years, she said, the thought of professional attire was frightening.

But now, after shedding so many pounds, she feels as though she is a part of entirely new world. She had traded pink and purple for navy and black and elastic waists for buttons, belts, and "hooks and eyes."

Thankful

2011-11-21T11:13:00.001-05:00

So many of us Writing professors care so deeply about our students, the academy, teaching. That, I think, is the message that gets lost among all of the state and federal battles.

Ultimately, teaching Writing is a labor of love. The act of writing is so very personal, even for students who they think they are terrible writers, and especially when they think they are terrible writers (and most of them believe this at first). The relationship between the Writing instructor and the Writing student is an intimate one. Beyond the intimacies of the narrative mode of discourse, there is a sort of testimony that comes with all the other modes as well. To be a witness to all of this spilling of human frailty is a special thing. Most days, I feel proud to be a part of it all – to shape the imaginations, ideologies, and experiences of humanity is rare. And I get to do it every day. And somebody pays me (albeit meager) to do it. For this, I am priveleged and thankful.

The First 'Black' Lady: Re-Constructing Black Womanhood

2011-10-29T19:53:00.000-04:00

Michelle Obama
Vogue 2009
Photo by Annie Leibovitz

I often update my Facebook status with whatever random theoretical thoughts happen to come up. Today I posted the following:

Ok, so this just occurred to me (I know. I'm late). For those of us who've been immersed in Gender and Race Studies in America, how deliciously ironic is it that the first lady is an unambiguous black woman?

Several posts later, one of the commenters asked:

What do you mean by unambiguous?

To which I responded:

Unambiguous-as-in-she-could-not-be mistaken-for-anyone-except-a-black-woman. She couldn't be biracial or Hispanic or Asian or Indian or anything else but African/Black/Negro/Colored.

Although he understood my meaning of the term "unambiguous," I had the feeling that the full meaning and implications of the post were lost on him. And if the irony was lost on him (a pretty astute, well-educated, progressive-minded guy), then quite possibly the full significance of the post had been lost on many others. The remainder of this blog post is my attempt to find what has been lost.

In 2008, the entire world paused for a moment of deep reverence when America elected its first Black president. The historical, cultural, and socio-political significance of that moment was apparent to the entire global world, even though many white Americans attempted to disavow the watershed event of America electing its first African American president - America - the same country who just 145 years ago defined Africans as subhuman accidents of evolution bound to the yoke of chattel slavery irrevocably. No, this moment was not lost on anyone.

However, another watershed event simultaneously occurred when Barack Obama took the oath of the highest office in the land. Michelle Obama became the "First Lady" of the United States of America.

So, here is where I return to my Facebook post. I said that it was "deliciously ironic that the first lady is an unambiguous black woman." Here's the irony. The office of the "First Lady" (and it is an office) was, of course, constructed and shaped over the years by powerful first ladies like Dolly Madison, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Jackie Kennedy. If the President (the first man) epitomizes the power, masculinity, and patriarchy of an entire nation, then the first lady epitomizes the purity, femininity, and domesticity of that same nation. We could debate some of the latter descriptors; however, the point is that the first lady is the paradigm of Western womanhood. Historically (in spite of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd wave feminism), Western womanhood equals "white womanhood," and in 1966, Barbara Welter defined this "cult of true womanhood" as piety, purity, submissiveness, and domesticity. Although Welter was defining white womanhood in the nineteenth century, her definition lingered well into the twentieth, and I would venture to say, the twenty first century.

Historically, black womanhood was the antithesis of white womanhood. During and well after slavery, black women were defined as the binary opposites of white women. Of course these definitions were not their own. If white women were viewed as "naturally" pious, then black women were deemed "naturally" evil. If white women were pure, black women were "jezebels." If white women were submissive, black women were unpleasantly aggressive. And if white women were "naturally" domestic, black women were "naturally" cut out for hard labor and toil. Granted, there are contemporary progressives who will debunk all of this theorizing. However, these racist stereotypes, although historical relics, have found their way into contemporary American society. Just scratch the surface of any pop culture icon.

Michelle Obama
Vogue 2009
Photo by Annie Leibovitz

Enter Michelle Obama - a black woman - and now the paradigm of American womanhood. And she has charmed the hearts and minds of Americans (white, black, and other). She has turned the "cult of true womanhood" on its head. More importantly, however, she has deconstructed pejorative images of black womanhood and re-constructed a new black woman for all the world to see and emulate.

Unlike her husband, her poise, grace, intellect, and beauty cannot be accredited to any other race except African American. Not that it isn't wonderful that President Obama is biracial. In fact, I think it's absolutely fitting that the first African American president is half white and half African. And I think it doubly fitting that the first African American First Lady is unambiguously black. She has no café au lait skin or European facial or body structure. Mrs. Obama, for all intents and purposes, is a black woman - a little sugar - but no cream. Indeed, this is deliciously ironic.

If...

2011-10-15T09:42:00.000-04:00

As an individual, Rudyard Kipling was probably a real SOB. He was an imperialist, a racist I'm sure, and author of the infamous, "White Man's Burden." However, there is one poem, to which I will pay tribute here, that I think he got right. It's beauty can not only be found in it's content, but it's form which represents the perseverance and tenacity about which it speaks. Embarrassingly enough, I get choked up and verklempt each time I hear it read or read it myself. I have lived my life by it for years and will continue to do so. If you have never read it, enjoy. If you have read it yet never liked it, read it with new eyes today.

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream---and not make dreams your master;
If you can think---and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same:.
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build'em up with worn-out tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings,
And never breathe a word about your loss:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings---nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And---which is more---you'll be a Man, my son!

Rudyard Kipling

My Plant Based Diet Cured My Hypertension

2011-09-27T10:49:00.005-04:00

I'm writing this post as follow-up to a post I wrote earlier this year singing praises to plant based diets. And now, I decided that I would "testify" (keeping with the tradition of the Black Church). As a result of my change in lifestyle, from a Western, meat based diet to an Eastern plant based diet, I am completely bp medicine free!

This is not a gimmick. I am not advertising for any group, doctor, or pharmaceutical company (LOL!). I am hoping to change a few lives - lives of people who, like me, want to take their health in their own hands and free themselves from the escalating bondage of prescription drugs. Let the church say, "Amen!"

While taking blood pressure meds (for the past 10 years), my sistolic ranged anywhere from 125 to 130. My diastolic lingered around 80 to 90. All of you who are hypertensive or pre-hypertensive know that these numbers are considered borderline. No matter how much I exercised, even when I was running 6 miles/day, I still "needed" the meds to maintain a 120/80 reading (and 120/80 is no longer considered normal). For someone who was at the pinnacle of fitness and already taking blood pressure medicine, these were scary numbers. These are numbers that make physicians grab the prescription pad. And of course, one new medicine necessitates another new medicine to manage the side-effects of the first medicine and so on and so on. Then, pretty soon, you wake up in the morning to a cocktail of medicines to "manage" your "condition." I decided that I was too young and too smart to let this thing beat me. As I explained in the previous post, my doctor not only supported this effort, it was her idea.

Now, my sistolic ranges anywhere from 105 to 117, and diastolic from 56 to 64. I know what you are thinking. No, I really don't exercise much. Yes, I should. And, yes, I need to. But, between work and family, I (like you) have little time to be a slave to the gym or a weekend warrior. I run about 2 miles every other week. This miraculous cure that I have experienced lies solely in what I eat, or what I don't eat (depends on how you choose to perceive it). Most days, I am a vegan. This means, I eat no dairy products (and of course no meat). Dairy consists of eggs, butter, dairy cheese, and dairy milk. No, I don't deprive myself of these things. I simply eat plant-based versions of them. I drink coconut milk (yum!), and I eat vegan butter and soy or rice cheese. Other days (when I am eating at restaurants without a vegan menu), I am a vegetarian. This means, I am eating food cooked with eggs and garnished with dairy cheese. However, I never consume animal flesh (yes, that means fish too). I stay away from junk food. I do eat too many potato chips even though they are usually organic and vegan.

I never feel deprived or hungry. Quite the contrary, I feel satisfied and happy. I changed my thinking and my grocery list, and I learned how to cook all over again. And, no, I do not miss steak, hamburgers, chicken, pork chops, or fish. For me, eating meat would be nothing short of suicidal. Some may consider this dramatic (in true "tree hugger" form). But what I have experienced is dramatic.

Ultimately, my doctor did not do this for me. I did this for myself. And so can you.

The Taming of the Shrew: The Struggles of the Alpha Female

2011-09-04T12:46:00.001-04:00

The dialectic of how women would function in positions of power began, of course, during second wave feminism when women broke through the professional glass ceilings that had heretofore prevented them from competing with their male counterparts.

As Rebecca Walker so famously stated, "I am not a post-feminism feminist. I am the Third Wave." Although I am among the generation of women who have enjoyed the fruits of their mother's labors, I have come to realize that there is still a deep abiding sense that women don't belong in power, or at the very least, they are ill suited for positions of power and therefore must be "tolerated" and placated. Since the second wave, women have held some of the highest positions in government, education, and the private sector. But so many still believe that their presence in these high ranking offices has been a big social experiment gone wrong.

For the past few years, I have occasionally been faced with subtle male resistance/combativeness in the classroom. And now, as the head of an academic department, the resistance has taken on a more insidious form. In the classroom, I have always handled these situations like Hemingway would have said, with "grace under pressure." And by the end of the semester, said male combative student would be eating out of my hand, drinking whatever Kool-Aid and blue pills I offered. Later, I would dismiss these incidents because some part of me empathized with students like this. After all, it must be difficult to have one's Alphaness challenged by an Alpha female who is the ultimate authority figure in the room.

Or is that just it? Do Alpha females face more resistance when they are in positions of power than Beta females? Are both men and women uncomfortable with assertive, strong-willed women?

As we know, gender (like many other aspects of the human condition), is socially constructed. Therefore, we expect men and women to remain in their respective corners with regard to "performing" gender. When a woman steps outside these social mandates of gender, she has transgressed a boundary, she is "trying to act like a man," she is (when all other adjectives fail) a "bitch."

The situation becomes more complex (of course) when we consider race and gender. Not to diminish any other women's struggles, but it seems that those of us who are female academics experience this kind of gender resistance in a very immediate and confrontational way. The front of a classroom is a very visible and constructed place of power. Those of us who are black, female academics experience both gender and racial resistance.

For example, black male students perceive black females as either potential love interests or mother figures. When black male students find that their professor is neither mother or lover, and that she is the authority in the room despite her genitalia, they experience a loss of context (to say the least). On the other hand, black female students perceive their black female professor as sexual competition until they discover that neither is competing for quite the same resources. It is my experience that white students, both male and female, initially perceive a black female instructor as somehow substandard and undeserving of the position of power in which she has been placed. This set of assumptions, while racially motivated, creates a dynamic that most black women are more equipped to handle. After all, we have always been forced to prove our intellectual merit, and we find ourselves quite comfortable doing so.

Of course, as with anything, there are exceptions to the absolutes that I have posited above. I am still left with more questions than answers. Does everyone feel as if they need to "tame the shrew?" Are women in power a threat or an asset? Are black women in power a double threat?

What do you think?

Bad Apples

2011-08-15T14:44:00.002-04:00

If you've worked in any professional setting in America (corporate, education, government, non-profit), you've seen and taken a personality test. There are the Jung and Briggs Meyers tests that attempt to tap into the consciousness. There's the A B C personality typing, and the colors personality typing. I have always been intrigued by this type of occupational psychology. The deep flaw in all of the tests; however, is the margin of error imbedded in the tests based on the "performativity" of the test-taker. To what degree does the test-taker simply give answers based on his or her knowledge of the desired outcome? In other words, people say what they believe the tester wants to hear. People become who they know they are supposed to be.

At one time or another, we have all had the misfortune of watching employees behave very badly. Most data attributes employee bad behavior to the stressors of the weak economy: generally employees who are overworked and underpaid. What about employees who are paid well? What causes privileged workers to act out?

I think I have a few answers.

Incorporating some of the personality traits we already know from Briggs Meyers, Jung, and the like, I have created some additional more reductive types.

Enter The Producer. The producer is, as the name implies, the task master. She gets the job done or better yet gets many jobs done at once. This employee is any employer's dream. She is highly productive, deadline oriented, and self-motivated.

Enter The Slacker. The slacker is a true sloth. He wants to get paid for nothing. This is the employee who is content to play on the internet all day or catch a nap when no one is watching. He is exactly the opposite of the Producer. The Slacker waits until the very last possible minute to complete any deadline. In fact, he often misses deadlines.

Enter The Brown Noser. The Brown Noser may double as a slacker, but most of all, the Brown Noser finds out whose ass to kiss and does so ad nauseam.

Enter The Havoc Wreaker. The Havoc Wreaker is bad news. He finds a weak spot in any team of workers and monopolizes on that weakness. This employee is dangerous to the employer and the other employees. The Havoc Wreaker deplores rules simply because they exist. He is a rebel without a cause. He undermines and sabotages all authority figures a soon as they ask him to do something he doesn't like or want to do. He is argumentative and never wrong. The Havoc Wreaker is a master manipulator and will easily win over Slackers and Brown Nosers. Slackers like the Havoc Wreaker because he likes to break rules - hence avoid work he deems pointless. And we know slackers hate work. Brown Nosers like the Havoc Wreaker because they see him as the next potential ass to kiss.

Inevitably Producers bump heads with Havoc Wreakers and Slackers. This conflict could end in confrontation, workplace violence, termination, and even jail time. And, indeed, it already has.

I am quite sure that no employer thinks they have hired the Slacker, the Brown Noser, or worst yet, the Havoc Wreaker. I am learning, however, that these employees seem to be in great supply.

Do interview performances hide these serious flaws, or are there early indicators of bad behavior? And better yet, why do well-educated adults act out in such egregious ways?

Teachers Have Sick Patients Too

2011-07-20T20:41:00.002-04:00

As the American system of education continues to decline, the grumblings of college professors all over the country rise to a rallying cry. At every level of higher education (the community college, the technical college, and the university), instructors complain that their students are more unprepared, irresponsible, and insipid than ever before. Those same instructors have developed an entire line of rhetoric surrounding this issue. Ultimately, they throw up their hands in defeat, hold shorter office hours, and retreat into the safe haven of cynicism and apathy.

Imagine for a moment that you have been suffering for several days with a fever of 105°, coughing, and complaining of chest pains. You finally muster up the strength to make an appointment to see a doctor and drive yourself to his office. Once the doctor walks into the examining room to consult with you, he immediately begins to berate you. "Where are all of these sick people coming from!" he yells, slamming his clipboard onto the counter. "I didn't go to Medical school and spend all of those years in residency only to be inundated by all of these sick people. They can't pay me enough to keep doing this!" And with that, he walks out, storms into his office, and slams the door behind him, leaving you and the nurses silent and bewildered.

Of course, this scenario is absurd. Doctors don't get angry with their sick patients for being sick, because it's their job to make them well. Indeed, they went to medical school to find cures for diseases and to improve their patients' quality of life. In fact, sick patients keep them in business. There's capital in disease (but that's another discussion).

So if we (teachers) know this to be a kind of a priori truth about doctors, why then do we consider it an affront to our profession when those blasted high schools keep sending us unprepared, underprepared, and miseducated students? If the job of the doctor is to heal his patients, then the job of the teacher is to teach her students. Yes, the raw material sucks sometimes. But it's easy to teach bright, insightful, intellectually fit students. However, it is phenomenal to create bright, insightful, intellectually fit students.