April's Happy Black Girl Day!

Happy Black Girl Day!!!! I normally look forward to this every month because it is a chance to be absolutely positive about being a black woman. However, today is not quite a positive day for me. It's been hit or miss for two weeks, lol. That's why I have been absent. (Still working on this. Finding the balance has been hard.) I read Sister Toldja's HBGD post and realized that she was going through the EXACT same thing. Hooray for sisters in the struggle! Her post talks about the 5 things that she is most grateful for. I am going to follow her lead and do the same because I need to cheer myself up.

1. The boo thing: He is my rock in this time of trial and tribulation. If he wasn't here every step of the way with me, I wouldn't be this calm (....if calm was even a word that could describe me right now). He is the only person that really and truly understands me and I am grateful for that.

2. Life: This sounds like a PC answer, but I am really grateful for my life right now. I have done a NUMBER on my body the last 10 months or so. Pre-hypertensive, hypoglycemic, iron deficiency.....a 30 pound weight gain. Yet, I am still here trying to get this under control.

3. Friends: Real and digital. These people keep me from going insane on a daily basis. I am glad that I always have someone to talk to and to bounce my many ideas on.

4. The Internet: Job hunting and entertainment would be much more different without it. My cable and internet went out for 16 hours a couple weeks ago and I damn near went insane. Amazing how much I need the internet to live.

5. My Apartment: As much as I complain about my neighbors, the neighborhood and the management, I am really glad that I have a roof over my head that is paid for until I get my life together. I will be tons more grateful in July when I move.

So this is my Happy Black Girl grateful train. What are you grateful for?

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Happy Black Girl Day: March Celebration!

(For more information about this celebration, check it out here!)

Happy Black Girl Day!!! Today's HBGD is special to me because it comes the day after International Women's Day. How could I not pass up a chance to celebrate womanhood one day and then celebrate the specialness that comes with being a BLACK woman the very next day. Can't beat it with a baseball bat!

My tribute today goes to the creativeness of the black woman. For as long as I can remember, I have always loved to read. From the age of 3, I was never separated from books for long periods of time. The library in my hometown didn't really carry books by black authors and the library inside my high school wasn't short stopping.....until my senior year in high school. I wrote an AP English paper about The Third Life of Grange Copeland by Alice Walker. To this day, it remains my favorite book of all time. This was the first time in life that I read a book for pleasure and was able to connect with the characters on a level that I never had before. Today I throw myself into Alice Walker, Toni Morrison, BeBe Moore Campbell and Terry McMillian to name a few. I love the intricacies of their writing. It makes me feel like a little piece of me is between the pages.

Today I started reading The Black Woman: An Anthology, edited by Toni Cade Bambara. It features poetry and essays written by black women on various topics. I think that everyone should pick it up. This poem stuck out to me within the first 15 pages.

Naturally - Audre Lord

Since Naturally Black is Naturally Beautiful
I must be proud
And, naturally,
Black and
Beautiful
Who always was a trifle
Yellow
And plain though proud
Before.

I've given up pomades
Having spent the summer sunning
And feeling naturally free (If I die of skin cancer, oh well -- one less black and beautiful me)
Yet no Agency spends millions
To prevent my summer tanning
And who trembles nightly
With the fear of their lily cities being swallowed
By a summer ocean of naturally woolly hair?

But I've bough my can of
Natural Hair Spray
Made and marketed in Watts
Still thinking more
Proud beautiful black women
Could better make and use
Black bread. 

Happy Black Girl Day!!!

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Happy February Black Girl Day from Southern Legal Diva

Happy Black Girl Day, readers!! It's that time of the month that I celebrate being....well a happy black girl. Just in case you have missed some of my earlier celebrations, get caught up on the meaning here. I will continue to do this until Sister Toldja's holiday catches on.

Today I am a happy black girl because......[drum roll please] TODAY IS MY ANNIVERSARY!!!! The boyfriend and I have been together 4 years today. It was on this day that we stopped 6 months of pretending that we had no emotional attachment and sexual attraction to other because we were both holding on to bad relationships. Call it cheesy, but he is my best friend, my lover, my road dog, my confidante.....just a whole lot wrapped into to one guy. It scares me sometimes how much we are like two brains in one body. Love has me happy today! We had anniversary plans tonight. Then 6 inches of snow and COUNTING has fallen out of the sky since noon today.....needless to say we are snowed in (It's Mississippi....yes we are snowed in). And I'm sick, lol. So we will have a makeup celebration on Valentine's Day since it's fast approaching! I love love!

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