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When Bullying Unravels A Loophole
Growing up as a dark-skinned, black nerd honestly had plenty of difficulties. Outside of the racism from faculty and hearing how “white” I spoke; I often felt isolated from my peers when it came to fashion, core values and entertainment. With Christian, West-Indian American parents who often sheltered you from content that was perceived to be “ungodly,” you didn’t have a huge catalog to choose from. I can say that I have never seen one episode of Degrassi. The most scandalous show I’ve seen on MTV was Silent Library and my range in music was show tunes and Beyonce. So when it came to anything relating to pop culture that was not Pokemon, YugiOh! or the like, I honestly could not tell you.
But, the interesting loop hole in all of this is: I was always in the mood to watch whatever my dad was watching. And as an expert daddy’s girl I can tell you about the wondrous world of adult sitcoms. My father loves his comedy and up to this day you can hear him playing repeats of older comedies like All in The Family, Seinfeld (cringe) and of course a personal favorite In Living Color. Listen, I learned about so many things so from In Living Color. I felt sorry for anyone who tried to cut my ass, because chances are they didn’t survive.
I felt empowered because I felt like I learned a few secrets that kids my age would not have known. I was a miss know-it-all honors student so anything that my father laughed at that I didn’t understand pushed me to research. By the age of 12, I understood why people made fun of hoteps. My curiosity opened a catalog of interesting rebuttals, waiting for the moment someone caught me on the wrong day.
The Wayans family made clap-backs smarter.
I started practicing in the shower. There I felt the freedom of David Alan Grier in sketches like Cephus and Reesie running through my bones. In Living Color brought the representation a black girl needed when the school system kept disenfranchising her blackness. After school, I ran home to laugh at classics like “My Songs are Mindless” and everyone’s favorite scammer Loomis Simmons. I found myself leaning towards sketches that broke down realism.
There was an uncomfortable edge the cast brought to screen where their content felt far enough from reality to feel fake, but close enough to seem possible. My favorite example is in “My Songs are Mindless” where Kim Wayans played upon the ideology of musical incompetence by using Crystal Water’s song as the foundation, in what is arguably one of their greatest musical parodies. She basically released a diss track using Crystal Water’s beat, background dancers, and modified lyrics.
I remember the first time I heard this song. I was about nine and I just finished my homework, so I went to the bedroom where my dad was watching television, to try and finesse the remote from his fingers and turn it to some cartoons. I quickly became distracted when I saw a black woman decked in a black pantsuit. Honestly, the moment I heard “Flintstones” my ears perked up, and a smile spread across my face. When you put a disrespectful lyric on a hot beat do you really need anything else? Back then, I don’t think I understood how seeing a dark skin woman being funny would affect me in the future.
I just saw it as fact. Black women are funny. It wouldn’t register until years down the line that were would be issues with black people, especially black women being included in writers room for comedy.
Watching In Living Color was proof to me that black people invented comedy. There’s this freedom in black bodies that creates a shock value to non-black folk so much that it becomes a culture. In Living Color became part of that legacy that inspired generations of comedians. Watching folks like David Alan Grier helped me feel confident in my awkward. I always knew he was in a sketch by the way I heard my father cackle from down the hall. Time after time I came running wondering what silly thing he did next.
It felt liberating watching black folks be free while I was experiencing bullying at school. Seeing them in sketches that gives humor to suffering in Mr Squeegee made me feel like I had a joy to look forward to. When I think about how black comedians approach the stereotypes that reflect on our own oppression i.e: Mr Squeegee jumping on top of a car for some coins and a sandwich; there is always a lingering metaphor about black survival. There is culture within our suffering which makes our content uncomfortably realistic.
Folks can look at In Living Color and be able to attach some of the characters to a friend or an uncle down the block.
One of my father’s personal favorites, Cephus and Reesie, was a sketch series about a musical duo that often did too much at the wrong time. Seeing their sketches made me think about the musicality that naturally exists in black bodies. It’s beyond the “always on beat” stereotype. Though I’m sure the sketch series was inspired by R&B groups, the sketches reminded me of everyone’s favorite church aunties. They always had an ad lib for the pastors and an extra riff for the organist. The culture behind the black church movements are depicted in different ways; but it always comes down to two consistent things: flashy outfits and quippy ad libs, much like many R&B groups in the 80s and 90s.
Blackness has always proved itself to be extravagant and presents itself in the forefront of pop culture. I’m glad that I came across In Living Color before Saturday Night Live. Proud that I was able to resonate with black comedians before their white counterparts.
My father didn’t know it then, but he was about to raise a performer who would never feel intimidated in front of a white audience. And it all started with seeing a black woman cutting someone’s ass in a pantsuit.
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The post Don’t Try To Cut My Ass, I’ve Watched ‘In Living Color’ appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.
When Bullying Unravels A Loophole
Growing up as a dark-skinned, black nerd honestly had plenty of difficulties. Outside of the racism from faculty and hearing how “white” I spoke; I often felt isolated from my peers when it came to fashion, core values and entertainment. With Christian, West-Indian American parents who often sheltered you from content that was perceived to be “ungodly,” you didn’t have a huge catalog to choose from. I can say that I have never seen one episode of Degrassi. The most scandalous show I’ve seen on MTV was Silent Library and my range in music was show tunes and Beyonce. So when it came to anything relating to pop culture that was not Pokemon, YugiOh! or the like, I honestly could not tell you.
But, the interesting loop hole in all of this is: I was always in the mood to watch whatever my dad was watching. And as an expert daddy’s girl I can tell you about the wondrous world of adult sitcoms. My father loves his comedy and up to this day you can hear him playing repeats of older comedies like All in The Family, Seinfeld (cringe) and of course a personal favorite In Living Color. Listen, I learned about so many things so from In Living Color. I felt sorry for anyone who tried to cut my ass, because chances are they didn’t survive.
I felt empowered because I felt like I learned a few secrets that kids my age would not have known. I was a miss know-it-all honors student so anything that my father laughed at that I didn’t understand pushed me to research. By the age of 12, I understood why people made fun of hoteps. My curiosity opened a catalog of interesting rebuttals, waiting for the moment someone caught me on the wrong day.
The Wayans family made clap-backs smarter.
I started practicing in the shower. There I felt the freedom of David Alan Grier in sketches like Cephus and Reesie running through my bones. In Living Color brought the representation a black girl needed when the school system kept disenfranchising her blackness. After school, I ran home to laugh at classics like “My Songs are Mindless” and everyone’s favorite scammer Loomis Simmons. I found myself leaning towards sketches that broke down realism.
There was an uncomfortable edge the cast brought to screen where their content felt far enough from reality to feel fake, but close enough to seem possible. My favorite example is in “My Songs are Mindless” where Kim Wayans played upon the ideology of musical incompetence by using Crystal Water’s song as the foundation, in what is arguably one of their greatest musical parodies. She basically released a diss track using Crystal Water’s beat, background dancers, and modified lyrics.
I remember the first time I heard this song. I was about nine and I just finished my homework, so I went to the bedroom where my dad was watching television, to try and finesse the remote from his fingers and turn it to some cartoons. I quickly became distracted when I saw a black woman decked in a black pantsuit. Honestly, the moment I heard “Flintstones” my ears perked up, and a smile spread across my face. When you put a disrespectful lyric on a hot beat do you really need anything else? Back then, I don’t think I understood how seeing a dark skin woman being funny would affect me in the future.
I just saw it as fact. Black women are funny. It wouldn’t register until years down the line that were would be issues with black people, especially black women being included in writers room for comedy.
Watching In Living Color was proof to me that black people invented comedy. There’s this freedom in black bodies that creates a shock value to non-black folk so much that it becomes a culture. In Living Color became part of that legacy that inspired generations of comedians. Watching folks like David Alan Grier helped me feel confident in my awkward. I always knew he was in a sketch by the way I heard my father cackle from down the hall. Time after time I came running wondering what silly thing he did next.
It felt liberating watching black folks be free while I was experiencing bullying at school. Seeing them in sketches that gives humor to suffering in Mr Squeegee made me feel like I had a joy to look forward to. When I think about how black comedians approach the stereotypes that reflect on our own oppression i.e: Mr Squeegee jumping on top of a car for some coins and a sandwich; there is always a lingering metaphor about black survival. There is culture within our suffering which makes our content uncomfortably realistic.
Folks can look at In Living Color and be able to attach some of the characters to a friend or an uncle down the block.
One of my father’s personal favorites, Cephus and Reesie, was a sketch series about a musical duo that often did too much at the wrong time. Seeing their sketches made me think about the musicality that naturally exists in black bodies. It’s beyond the “always on beat” stereotype. Though I’m sure the sketch series was inspired by R&B groups, the sketches reminded me of everyone’s favorite church aunties. They always had an ad lib for the pastors and an extra riff for the organist. The culture behind the black church movements are depicted in different ways; but it always comes down to two consistent things: flashy outfits and quippy ad libs, much like many R&B groups in the 80s and 90s.
Blackness has always proved itself to be extravagant and presents itself in the forefront of pop culture. I’m glad that I came across In Living Color before Saturday Night Live. Proud that I was able to resonate with black comedians before their white counterparts.
My father didn’t know it then, but he was about to raise a performer who would never feel intimidated in front of a white audience. And it all started with seeing a black woman cutting someone’s ass in a pantsuit.
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The post Don’t Try To Cut My Ass, I’ve Watched ‘In Living Color’ appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.
China-owned TikTok has taken the world by storm, but not everyone admires the app.
U.S. Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Rick Scott (R-Fla.) this week introduced legislation banning all federal employees from using TikTok on government devices.
Due, they said, to cybersecurity concerns and possible spying by the Chinese government.
“TikTok is owned by a Chinese company that includes Chinese Community Party members on its board, and it is required by law to share user data with Beijing,” according to Hawley.
“The company even admitted it collects user data while their app is running in the background,” including shared messages and pictures, keystrokes, and location data, he said in a statement.
If passed, the bill would prohibit certain individuals from downloading or using TikTok on any device issued by the United States or a government corporation.
(Investigations, cybersecurity research activities, enforcement and disciplinary actions, or intelligence activities are exempt.)
“The use of apps like TikTok by federal employees on government devices is a risk to our networks and a threat to our national security,” Scott said.
“We should all be very concerned about the threat of Communist China,” he continued, “and I hope my colleagues will join me to implement this ban immediately and protect our national security.”
The Transportation Security Administration reportedly forbid employees from using TikTok to create social media posts.
Citing “concerns for the security of a federal agency” and “potentially the flying public,” Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) last month called out the TSA for still operating the social network.
Schumer previously flagged TikTok’s security risks—namely its collection and handling of user data—in an October letter to the intelligence community. The Department of Defence, State Department, and Department of Homeland Security responded by barring the app from government devices.
“As many of our federal agencies have already recognized,” Hawley pointed out, “TikTok is a major security risk to the United States, and it has no place on government devices.”
TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
More on Geek.com:
- WHO Joins TikTok to Curb Coronavirus Misinformation
- TikTok Introduces Parental Controls That Kids Will Hate
- 11-Year-Old Gets ‘Scammed’ Into Paying $4K for TikTok Influencer
Here’s something cool: beloved childrens book author Beverly Cleary turns 104 today. The iconic author has written dozens of books and sold over 90 million copies worldwide, beginning with her first novel, Henry Huggins, in 1950. It was in that novel that Cleary created the indomitable Ramona Quimby, patron saint of scrappy little girls and children everywhere.
Ramona is one of those indelible literary characters that feels like she was written just for us. For every awkward, goofy, overly energetic kid, Ramona was a touchstone. Cleary’s writing impacted generations of kids, who learned that it was okay to be scared or sad, and that feeling things deeply was a part of life.
Many took to Twitter to celebrate Cleary’s life and career:
Beverly Cleary was in her 30's & working in a book store when she wondered if SHE could write. Turns out she could! She wrote over 40 books, selling 85 million copies. Authors live as long as their books are read. Cleary is still alive & still read at 104. Today is her birthday! pic.twitter.com/EG6a2xlIfu
— Peter MacNicol (@PeterMacNicol1) April 12, 2020
Happy birthday to the great Beverly Cleary who was 2 years old when the Spanish Flu came through and she’s still here.
— Jason Isbell (@JasonIsbell) April 12, 2020
Happy 103rd birthday to Beverly Cleary, a woman whose writing I loved so much as a kid I still haven’t been able to part with these raggedy old things 😍 pic.twitter.com/9rv7NRc3yz
— Ari Scott (@ariscott) April 12, 2019
A very happy 104th birthday to national treasure Beverly Cleary.
I think I'll reread Ramona the Pest today. Here's one of my favorite lines: “She was not a slowpoke grownup. She was a girl who could not wait. Life was so interesting she had to find out what happened next.” pic.twitter.com/oVvWU9KY3J
— Amanda MacGregor (@CiteSomething) April 12, 2020
Happy birthday Beverly Cleary! In honor of her 104th birthday, we're sharing some of our favorite books she has written. https://t.co/4hv8t9l0cK
— NY Public Library (@nypl) April 12, 2020
Beverly Cleary, who has helped instill a love of reading in children for decades, was born 104 years ago today. Like many of us, she worked under the editorial supervision of a cat. pic.twitter.com/SZdbuQABFY
— David C. Tucker (@DavCTucker) April 12, 2020
Happy 104th birthday to the great Beverly Cleary! pic.twitter.com/Uiid5tyEkr
— Karen Kilgariff (@KarenKilgariff) April 12, 2020
Beverly Cleary, 100, wrote a personal response to my 7 yo daughter's fan mail 👧📬📙💖 pic.twitter.com/GxPgss45yE
— Daniel Radosh (@danielradosh) September 29, 2016
What are your favorite Beverly Cleary books? I’m partial to Dear Mr. Henshaw, myself.
(image: By Unknown – Cleary Family archive/OPB, Public Domain)
- Check out this video on costumes and fashion in the science fiction genre. (via io9)
- Tara and Spike are here for a new Buffy the Vampire Slayer. (via Syfy Wire)
- because of COVID-19 delays, there won’t be any new emojis next year. *angry face*. (via Vulture)
- The First Cat of Kansas is in NO MOOD for your festivities:
- Here’s a review of Killing Eve season 3, which premieres tonight! (via Rolling Stone)
- RIP to British horror actor and producer Hilary Heath. (via AVClub)
- Happy Easter everyone, but mostly Danny Trejo!
Wishing a #HappyEaster to all my furry friends in Kansas! Except bunnies… they’re not my favorite. pic.twitter.com/m70dALzIiD
— Frances, First Cat of Kansas (@FirstCatofKS) April 12, 2020
Happy Easter, may your Friends and Family have a blessed day! pic.twitter.com/0wc6GT3o3z
— Danny Trejo (@officialDannyT) April 12, 2020
Hope you’re having a safe and candy-filled Easter, everyone!
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