Ashley has curated the perfect playlist for us. Moving from a lazy Miles Davis trumpet solo, into The Roots’ ‘Sleep’, and then to Foreign Exchange’s ‘Daykeeper’, the soundtrack to tonight’s event is subconsciously preparing us for… something.

I wasn’t ready. The music faded, there was slight dip in the murmur of multiple conversations and then Ashley took the stage. And then silence. From four corners of the room, Ashley, Damon, Najee and Jade created an experience through their words. It was intense, to say the least. It was amazing. It was heartbreaking. It was healing. It was powerful.

I want to save the experience for myself – and for those who were there – but that space was dark. The poems were dark. Very dark. For the performers, it was a space to heal and to express. But we are spirits first and when we release energy it has to go somewhere. Collectively, Ashley, Damon, Jade and Najee shared a 25+ year weight. Where does all that pain and sadness go? I wonder.

The experience closed with Ashley’s thanks. We applauded and I watched as the mood shifted and the tension left. Hugs were given and received as we pressed into and out of each other. Laughter as Ashley spun around and around in her winged dress and plenty of photographs of friends supporters.

As I said goodbye, I met the gorgeous Modupe who shared with me how her writer’s block had been lifted during the experience. Now I realized the energy didn’t go anywhere, but in the moments of release it had been transformed into whatever Modupe would go home to write tonight. Into the laughter. Into the hugs.

So thank you Ashley, Najee, Jade and Damon for sharing this. Thank you.

The homie, Ashley, put me on to this amazing new track by Full Crate & Mar. I spent a good part of the weekend listening to it, trying to crawl into the bass. Suuuuuuper sexy. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uW8gGsyFSO8

1. Miss Modular is where Jamala Johns shares pretty things. Though most of her findings are now shared via Pinterest, this tumblr is still one of my main sources of inspiration.

2. Le Coil is also a Jamala Johns production: digital archive of gorgeous, natural hair on Black people. It’s an awesome, simple yet powerful project that speaks to the heart of Afrolicious’s mission: creating positive images of Brown folx in new media.

3. A Flummoxed Bird is also another place for inspiration via the arts and images on tumblr.

4. Black Girl Problems hasn’t been updated in a while, but when I first came across it, it was a perfect testifier to the multiple, diverse and complex Black girl experience. It’s a great archive of the kind of collective niche storytelling tumblr allows us to do.

5. guerrilla mama medicine is Mai’a's tumblr. Currentl in Cairo, “she is a free lance writer, poet, journalist, zinester, photographer, multi-media performer, and outlaw midwife.” Her writing is inspiring and challenging both to the way I view the world and the way I operate within it.

6. The Smithian is Billboard magazine editor Danyel Smith’s tumblr project. “Culture is politics. Politics is culture,” the site declares. From the meaningful glance photos of celebrity and non-celebrity people, to the book covers, and everything in between, this view of politics from the cultural side is not bad at all.

7. Teaching Literacy is not your average book blog. Archived within are photos of books on shelves, in hands, on floors, on tables, in nature and quotes about reading and writing, essentially creating a culture of analog reading in a digital space.

8. Black and Killing It is a digital archive of… well Black girls killing it. Exactly what “it” is depends on which photo you happen to be viewing at the moment. Creator Neil’s dedication to this project has spun of onto Pinterest and, most recently, a BGKI shop.

9. Bald Black Beauties is another amazing archive of hair on Black women, or rather, the lack of hair on Black women. Reader beware! After spending hours going through this tumblr, I definitely cut all my hair off so I looked like Eve.

10. upfromsumdirt is a lovely art blog, archiving images of all sorts. The curator, a self-described “secretary for the spirits” has collected a sometimes unusual but always interesting set of things for your inspiration.

11. The Nigerian Cover Project is Atane’s archive of vintage and recent Nigerian album covers. Every now and then he’ll post a record cover I recognize from my Dad’s old collection and I spazz out. Yeah. It’s awesome.

“The Southern California Library is a people’s library dedicated to documenting and preserving the histories of communities in struggle for justice and using our collections to address the challenges of the present so that all people have the ability, resources, and freedom to make their own histories.”

It’s like an analog version of the Afrolicious project, and we absolutely love it!

Last week they released a pair of stamps honoring local Los Angeles Black history makers Samella Lewis, art historian, and Alprentice “Bunchy” Carter, founder and leader of the Southern California Chapter of the Black Panther Party. Los Angeles has a rich history of the arts and social justice, especially in the Brown communities Lewis and Carter came out of. This is a great way to honor local leaders, and especially great since Samella Lewis celebrated her birthday earlier this week!

Our friends at the Southern California Library ask that you “celebrate Black history by sharing these stamps with others as we honor local L.A. community leaders who made history themselves and inspired countless others along the way.”

This week’s Afrolicious Newsletter was sponsored by the Southern California Library Black History Stamps project. If you would like to sponsor an edition of Fresssssh Weekly, get in touch with us today.

1. Natural Belle is a bit of a wonderful misnomer. Although owner Belle does write about natural hair, her own style is something to be envied. It’s easily one of my goto blogs for fashion inspiration.

2. Street Etiquette is *the* most stylish urban style blog in the whole entire world. Sartorially gifted Joshua Kissi and Travis Gumbs consistently deliver great content that is beginning to redefine the young black man in America.

3. One Nigerian Boy features “the best of African craftsmanship, heritage, and style” through art, fashion and design, but mostly fashion. Editor and founder Terence Sambo is based out of Lagos, Nigeria, but he and his team manage to cover the international world of African fashion and its designers.

4. Kings Rule Together connects “men’s fashion and talented purveyors of men’s style” and these kings roll deep! Founder Curran J uses live art and design events to connect the stylish and art-focused corner of his world.

5. Knee Highs and Love is the personal style diary of one Bea Love. Based out of New York, she uses her life as fresh content for her blog, a fresh departure from the traditional outfits-of-the-day type sites.

6. Personally Styled is a rather new blog from best friends Shanda, Jackie, Leslie, and Shawn. I went to school with Jackie and I’m always excited when people from college do creative things on the internet, so I had to connect y’all to her project! They have a unique fashion blog model, giving you tips about how to style vintage pieces, another creative spin on the traditional fashion/style blog model

7. Addicted 2 Etsy is run by SimplyCyn, and lives up to its name rather well. In between posts of her current Etsy finds and faves, she has her own personal style sprinkled here and there.

8. Violette Tannenbaum‘s blog is in French, but even if you don’t have Google translate turned on, you can appreciate her lovely, detailed style. My favorite are the fashion DIY she has from time to time.

9. Adore Daily is Jessie Adore’s style diary which I absolutely love. She exudes such grace in her style, definitely something that makes good fashion great fashion. She also approaches the outfit of the day posts from a different perspective, turning each piece into a classic editorial spread.

10. Ciaafrique covers the fast-growing world of African fashion as comprehensively as possible. Creator Ciaa’s passion for style and fashion definitely shines through in the features and content on this site. Definitely another one of my daily visits.

I hope you’ve enjoyed these links as much as I have. Remember, you can find these and more at the Afrolicious Network. Don’t forget to drop your favorite writers’ links in the comments!