A Celebration of kinks, curls and coils
Nyasia Milan Williams
September 20, 2017
Spice Rack, a Richmond-based community organization, celebrated the first World Afro Day program on Sept. 15 to address all the burning questions of men and women rocking fro’s everywhere. From product talk, to curl management advice to the social struggles of rocking a ‘fro.
The creation of World Afro Day is the brainchild of Michelle De Leon in Westminster, England. De Leon was inspired to create the event following the a 2016 decision made by the United States 11th Circuit Court of Appeals which dismissed a case brought by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against a company who refused to hire a woman unless she cut her dreadlocks.
Taquara Rashid Felix, a friend of De Leon and President of Spice Rack, alongside Brittany Ross and C.C. “YourCURLfriend” Bailey, decided to bring this interactive roundtable stateside. World Afro Day is focused on how to confidently address issues of not just hair, but of navigating an extremely eurocentric culture. Bailey, Felix and Ross all were panelists for the event.
Ross acknowledged that natural hair can be trying on self-esteem if, of course, you let it. She suggested that people should just “talk to your hair.” She decided to relax her hair after a childhood of keeping her natural hair braided. Once Ross became fed up with her breakage from relaxers however, she began her natural journey. With an inspirational shaved head, Ross approached her natural transition as a lifestyle change.
“I did more living when I went natural,” Ross said. “I’m on my journey, too, with y’all!”
As opposed to the common phrase of “going natural”, Bailey described the natural journey as “going back natural” because everyone is born with their hair in its natural state.
Although “duby’s used to be life,” Bailey fell into her natural journey as she fell out of a stage of hair maintenance neglect as a reaction to deep depression. Now with a full fro resting on her shoulders, Bailey shared with the audience her experience with the levels of discomfort which comes with having natural hair while working in the corporate world.
Felix’s participation in national pageants like Miss US Virgin Islands United States left her with the troubling dilemma of competing with her natural hair or conforming to the comfort of society with Eurocentric hair weaves.
“I have no problem wearing weaves, I love wearing weaves,” Felix said. “ But, I wanted to win with my own hair.”
Felix and the panelists encouraged audience members to invite their friends of other ethnicities and hair types to be a part of informative events like the Spice Rack Series on World Afro Day to facilitate conversations around uncomfortable topics.
Felix said she’s already ready to start working on the second annual World Afro Day celebration and imparted a closing piece of advice to the crowd.
“Stay true to yourself. Your hair is your hair,” Felix said.
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Making Sexpectaions Great
Nyasia Milan Williams
October 18, 2017
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The VCU Wellness Center and the Center for Cultural Experiences and Prevention hosted part two of the Great Sexpectations series in the University Student Common Salon last Tuesday, October 10, 2017.
The event was held to help students take more of healthy approach to sex and minimize the focus on what they call the tube sock mandingo porn “sexpectation” emphasized by popular culture, according to its organizers.
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As the clock approached 4:30 p.m. and the Wellness Center employees and volunteers set up matching condom games, students filled the seats and waited for the fun.
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The icebreaker activity called “condom sense” involved listing the steps to take when initiating sexual relations in chronological order. The steps started from describing how to establish consent, which organizers said can be revoked at anytime, and ended with the final step of tying the condom into a knot and properly disposing of it.
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In an effort to build the comfort zones for students, the hosts divided the audience into five groups to put a competitive twist on the remaining activities. The second activity required the students to make a list of as many nicknames as possible for body parts and sexual acts.
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As the team discussions began, the room filled with more laughs than the expected nervous looks. Each team came up with an assorted list for each category in one minute and each team’s spokesperson shared their list with the audience.
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Body part names ranged from the classic household references to original expressions of teams’ creativity. The employees for the CCEP and The Well, facilitated this activity in order to break the barriers of sexual taboos that deter students from participating in informative sexual discussions, said Mona Quarless, senior prevention specialist at the CCEP.
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They also brought attention to the synonymy of sex with violent acts like “banging” and “smashing.” The patterns in sexual ideology of female body parts as food and male body parts as aggressive introduce the issue of reality versus “expectations,” said Fatima Smith, assistant director of The Well.
Smith, Quarless and their colleagues redirected the discussion to tackle “sexpectation” issues and other questions which are not often asked, that have been recognized through their experiences with students in their professions.
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“It takes more than a position to have healthy sex. Be prepared with the proper tools like body consciousness through acts of masturbation to develop a healthy psychological sexual environment.” Smith said.
Quarless and Smith gave detailed explanations of the functions of reproductive organs and their varying functions. For example, the shape and direction of female’s sexual organs react dependending on their partner, the timing of the month, their state of mind, explained Quarless and Smith.
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They encouraged students to pay attention to body reactions to varying sexual positions and experiences. “Notice changes in breathing… [and] just because you do one sexual act with one person doesn’t mean you should [or have to] do it with [all your partners],” said Smith.
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The program with ended with a brief educational condom game and condom distribution. They also encouraged students to reach out and share their experiences with their friends as they look forward to part three of the Great Sexpectaions series on November 7 at 7 p.m.
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A Twisted American Dream Come True
Nyasia Milan Williams
November 14, 2017
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Bert Ashe, author of “Twisted: My Dreadlock Chronicles” and University of Richmond professor, revealed the presence of hairstyle-based identification to VCU honors students Wednesday November 8th, 2017. Ashe discussed segments of his book and his personal dreadlock journey in relation to the Americanization of African American hair culture.
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Ashe described African American hair as a virtue and influencer on personality and identity perception. Without a single African American in the audience, Ashe delivered his story of growth and empowerment throughout his hair transformation. “I’m so not bohemian,” said Bert as he observed his Bohemian cultured college classmates in his book. He described himself more like, the “sheltered… brown suburban robot,… universal negro, good guy Bert,” said Ashe. His manifestation into the “me I saw myself to be,” or his “matching [self],” did not come until he decided to grow dreadlocks.
“Identity is not substitutive. Identity is additive,” said Ashe.
Ashe recalled a conversation in his book where he questioned the sexuality of black women in association with their hair. “I couldn’t help but wondering if the black women who were wearing the closely cropped hairstyle were…queer. Is it a hairstyle for black lesbians?” read Ashe. “Even if it is, should it be recognized as such?” he continued. The book expanded on the idea with a comparison of gang banging apparel and sports team paraphernalia. “Groups wear what they wear so they’ll recognize each other and so the rest of the world will know who they are,” said Ashe.
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Like Ashe’s “dreadfully conventional haircut,” neat dreadlocks were considered preferred in American culture, differentiated from the Rasta or Jamaica style dreadlocks, said Ashe. The provocative days of dreadlocks have passed and the hairstyle has grown into more of a conversational sign, said Ashe. When VCU honors student Brian Jones asked about Ashe’s “moment of realization,” delay in dreadlock decision until age 33, Ashe blamed the influence of his family’s middle-class “Huxtable Hex.”
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“Do you wish you would have locked your hair sooner or was the time that you [chose to do] it right?” asked Sierra Longnecker, a junior VCU honors student. “I appreciate the fact that I waited to grow dreadlocks to be able to hold them up to the kind of estic and intellectual contemplation that I ended up doing. Add if i would have grown them earlier that would not have happened,” said Ashe.
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“Do you think working in higher [education] made it easier or more difficult as opposed to if you were still out working in corporate marketing?”asked Maggi Tinsley, VCU Honors College Communications Specialist. “Waaay easier! Nobody’s ever given me any push back… at least not to my face,” said Ashe.
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