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If anyone can teach you how to utilize your home during a pandemic, the rising sister duo Chloe x Halle are the perfect professors.

Though the last few months for entertainers have been a challenge due to most relying on appearances for exposure, Chloe x Halle have utilized their tennis court to curate a number of digital experiences. From award show performances to magazine covers, the sisters have become experts in creating content in the midst of a pandemic and stay-at-home orders. So, it wasn’t a surprise when FENDI announced the brand’s latest collaborators were none other than Chloe x Halle. “Since we can remember, we have always been huge fans of the FENDI brand,” exclaimed the sisters. “FENDI is the perfect mixture of classy and sexy, and we were more than happy to be a part of this project.”

For the first time ever, the luxury fashion house has given complete creative control to the sisters with the creative team of their choice.  Shot on their infamous tennis court, the video and campaign images embodies the creativity and modern elegance of Chole X Halle.

“This video was inspired by a song off of our new album called “Busy Boy.” With the playful lyrics, we wanted to mix dreamy scenery to compliment the song and the playfulness of the peekaboo bag,” said the sisters. Known collaborator and Art Director Andrew Makadsi’s ideas met the vision of videographer Derek Milton. Together they teamed up with photographer Julian Dakdouk and stylist Zerina Akers to complete the project. The duo exclaimed, “filming content during quarantine is so much fun because it allows you to be extra creative, and in this case we got to shoot every scene from home in our backyard.”

Presented during the FENDI Fall/Winter 2020-21 Collection in February, the new Peekaboo bag features n accordion-frame shape, to open in to what is described as a“deep smile” featuring inside interchangeable pockets which can be personalized with one’s initials. “What we love about the Peekaboo is how universal it is, we can literally wear it with anything,” said the sisters. As Chole x Halle have reveled in their success, they both are equally conscious about the difficult time we’re in. “Definitely try to remain hopeful and positive during these times. With everything going on in the world, it’s so easy to get down and give in to the uncertainty of the future. But this year 2020 is not over yet, and through the darkest times, come the most beautiful sunrises,” they concluded.

home drenched in @Fendi with nowhere to go : @_derekmilton#fisforfendi #MeAndMyPeekaboo @fisforfendi #sponsored

A post shared by chloe x halle (@chloexhalle) on Jul 29, 2020 at 10:27am PDT

The #MeAndMyPeekaboo campaign is set to launch globally at the end of July, while the new Peekaboo bag will hit stores this August. For more information visit www.fendi.com.

The post Chloe X Halle Star In #MeAndMyPeekaboo FENDI Campaign appeared first on Essence.

With Kanye West’s most recent bipolar episode still dominating the news, many of you may be asking yourself, what are the signs that someone is suffering from bipolar disorder? What should I look out for? Especially if I believe they may be undiagnosed.

As part of ESSENCE’s new weekly Facebook liver series Wellness Check, we asked Los Angeles-based psychiatrist and TV personality Dr. Imani Walker for a deep dive on what to know and understand about those who are suffering from bipolar disorder. Watch the full interview above, where Walker and ESSENCE Relationships and Wellness Director Charli Penn discuss symptoms, treatment and management of bipolar disorder. Below, we break list the most obvious signs that someone you know or love may be suffering from a manic state of bipolar disorder.

Signs That Someone May Be Suffering From Bipolar Disorder

Euphoria

“Within a manic state, a person can experience euphoria, which is like, ‘Oh my God, everything is so awesome! I feel amazing. One of my former patients told me that it’s kind of like taking a stimulant and you don’t want the high to go away. So you’re high on a stimulant without even having taken anything.”

Lack Of Sleep

“Lack of need to sleep. They can have mood swings,” says Walker. “Sometimes bipolar disorder can get so bad that somebody is laughing and crying at the same time, and that’s called Rapid Cycling Bipolar Disorder Type 1.”

Impulsive Behavior and Spending

“Impulsivity—huge symptom,” says Walker. “I had a patient once, this person went and bought a car that they couldn’t afford. Sometimes I ask my patients, ‘Have you ever spent a lot of money on stuff and then had to take it back?’ I had a patient back in the day who spent a thousand dollars on socks and someone else who actually spent $750 on, and this was a long time ago, those CDC, like the. blank CDs from back in the day.”

“So, all kinds of compulsive behaviors and what we saw on Sunday with Kanye, whether it was at the rally or when he started tweeting later on the next day, it’s like when you’re impulsive, it’s like, you’ve gotta get everything out, you’ve gotta get everything out, right? And, when most of us speak, or when we write things or text, we think about, okay, let me get my thoughts in order. So that I can figure out how I want to express myself. When people are afflicted with bipolar disorder, that doesn’t always happen. They’re like, I’ve just gotta get this out, get this out.”

Depression

“So the opposite pole of bipolar disorder is depression,” says Walker. “Depression is sometimes easier to spot than other times, but obviously the person is experiencing dysthymia, or what we know as depressed mood. The person may have issues with shame and guilt. The person may have issues with insomnia or hypersomnia. The person may also complain of a lack of energy, decreased concentration and decreased motivation. And also, any thoughts of suicidality or coming up with a plan to commit suicide. And when it gets to that point, that’s when you really need to call emergency services and have that person evaluated. Or you can always take that person to an emergency room and they can be evaluated by the doctors there.”

The post Think Someone You Love May Be Bipolar? Here’s A Breakdown of the Common Signs appeared first on Essence.

An amuse-bouche of a novella, Eboni Dunbar’s Stone & Steel follows the path of General Aaliyah as she comes to grips with the fact that her queen may not be up to the task of ruling. The general finds that Queen Odessa, who is both lover and friend may have betrayed her ideals & the trust of the city. What follows is a quick tale of revenge and redemption that quickly grows on you as it rolls along.

To be honest, it took me a second to get into this novella. The first thirty pages or so were a bit rough. The names felt plucked from a random R&B name generator. There were obvious allusions to Avatar (Last Airbender not blue people) and the speech patterns threw me off. There were common cultural idioms mixed in which made it difficult to tell if they were intentional or an oversight. But as General Aaliyah left the border and enters Titus, the story and the writing both pick up considerably. It almost made me question whether the choppy writing toward the beginning was a conscious, intentional, rhetorical move to mirror Aaliyah’s own insecurities and issues with coming home.

This was a quick tale, and there were points where it came together too smoothly for my tastes, but to be fair I’ve been reading grimdarks lately so it could be that I’ve become a bit jaded when puzzle pieces fit together too seamlessly. If you’ve been drinking black Kenyan coffee, hot chocolate is going to taste shockingly sweet.

Once you get into page forty or so, you can see the author hit their stride and push some really good imagery and angst into the pages. I thought Stone & Steel did a good job at grabbing an interesting theme while simultaneously pushing and pairing it down to under a hundred pages. The McGuffin count was negligible and the deus ex machinas were minimal. Some of the plot points merged at the end in a way that seemed very convenient, but by the end of the book, I was on a fun ride that allowed me to immerse myself into the narrative without being jarred loose by any expedient plot points.  

I can’t help but wonder if some of the more raw parts were because of the straitjacket-level restrictions crafting a novella puts on writers. I wonder what would have happened if the author had another two-hundred pages to play with and how that could have bent or possibly broken the story. I will say this: at the end of the day I was curious as to what would happen next – and isn’t it the job of a writer? To keep a reader wanting more?

RATING 3/5

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The post Stone and Steel: Review appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.

Source: Kevin Winter / Getty

Meek Mill and the mother of his newborn son Milan Harris, founder of clothing line Milan Di Rouge, have officially broken up. The “Going Bad” rapper announced on social media that he and Harris have decided to part ways just two months after she gave birth to their son.

“We me and Milano decided to remain friends and build our child as separate parents … we still have mad love for each other but we both came to a understanding! -meek-,” he wrote on Twitter.

He added on Instagram that there are no hard feelings between him and Harris, they just decided to call it quits and co-parent harmoniously.

“[Milan Harris] no fall out either just moving forward! Still love! This for protection so social media work think we moving wrong.”

He also tweeted that in the last year many of his relationships changed but didn’t go into details.

“I made a lot of paper last year everything got different with a lot people I helped so I gotta revaluate myself! It will happen to anybody with success & power grow, stay strong and move forward!

Harris and the Philly native didn’t speak to much publicly on their relationship. It wasn’t confirmed that they were an actual item until Harris was pregnant. She unveiled a baby bump at her fashion show in December 2019 but it was unknown if the father was Meek Mill and if they were truly an item. After getting into a heated back-and-forth with his ex-girlfriend Nicki Minaj on social media, he confirmed that he was expecting a child in a now deleted tweet.

“My girl is with me pregnant watching me tweet about my ex is very clownish … Ima exit,” he wrote.

Harris gave birth to Meek’s third son on his birthday, May 6.

“Milano dropped me off a king on my birthday! #thebestgift,” he wrote on Twitter.