Besides reading and listening to music....I really love to travel and am always looking for a reason and the time to get up and go. Just got back from San Miguel de Allende in Mexico, earlier this year I was in the Long Island in the Bahamas and did a weekend in Toronto. So far in addition to Mexico my passport has stamps from the Netherlands (2 trips), The UK, South Africa, Belize, Jamaica, Trinidad, Barbados (home of my paternal grandparents), Cayman Islands and Aruba. I don't count out the US. I love the Bay area as well as SOBE in Miami and of course my home town, The Big Apple. I also finally enrolled in a yoga class after several years of a "on and off" home practice.
Music
My first love is rap music. I don't personally distinguish between conscious and commercial...my yardstick is whether or not the artist is saying something that resonates with me. Beyond Hip Hop, my soundtrack of life includes, neo-soul, R&B and rock n Roll.
Here is a very, very short list of musical influences: RUN DMC, ERIC B & RAKIM; KRS-ONE; MARY J. BLIGE, SAUL WILLIAMS, MYSTIC, MC LYTE, BAHAMADIA, NAS, JAY-Z; COMMON, THE POLICE, STING, PAT BENATAR, MADONNA, BLONDIE, PRINCE, ANTHONY HAMILTON, THE JACKSON FIVE, ARETHA FRANKLIN, DONNY HATHAWAY, BOB MARLEY. LENNY KRAVITZ.
Movies
A few of my favorites....The Godfather, The Usual Suspects, The Untouchables, Casablanca, Little Miss Sunshine, Deep Cover, Ronin, Julius Caesar (Marlon Brando version), On The Waterfront, Mystic River, Dave Chappelle's Block Party, Love Jones, Lost In Translation, The Matrix, Purple Rain (yeh I know), Ghost Dog, Shaft, Two Weddings and a Funeral, The Thin Man, Bamboozled, Do the Right Thing, almost any Woody Allen film (I know--the stepdaughter/wife thing), Babel, Syriana, Shrek, Scarface.
Television
I am a sucker for CSI-NY and CSI-Miami as well as Law and Order. I rarely miss Charlie Rose, stay tuned to CNN and as quiet as it's kept, I watch the soaps REGULARLY....a guilty pleasure.
Books
Sister Outsider-Audre Lorde
White Teeth-Zadie Smith,
Bling- Erica Kennedy,
Baby Love: Choosing Motherhood After a Lifetime of Ambivalence-Rebecca Walker,
The Queen of Harlem-Brian Keith Jackson,
Black Power-Kwame Ture,
Malcolm X Speaks (speeches),
Vernon Can Read-Vernon Jordon
Scars of The Soul- Miles Marshall Lewis
Morning by Morning: How We Homeschooled our African-American Sons to the Ivy League, By Paula Penn-Nabrit
The Warrior Method: A Parent's Guide to Rearing Healthy Black Boys by Raymond A. Winbush, Ph.D
Heroes
Nikki Giovanni--Ego Trippin' remains on my wall today.
W.E.B. Dubois, Oprah Winfrey, Langston Hughes, August Wilson,Ella Baker, Lisa Y.Sullivan, Rep. Shirley Chisholm, Harold Cruse, Anna Pauli Murray
About me: I am the editor of the forthcoming anthology,Who's Your Mama: The Unsung Voices of Women and Mothers. (Soft Skull Press,2009)
The intention of this anthology is to broaden our notions about women and motherhood by exploring the perspectives and experiences of a racially and economically diverse group of Hip Hop generation/Generation X women.
Unfortunately the acceptable public face of motherhood excludes more women than it represents. The anthology also includes the views of women who are not mothers--by choice or by circumstance.
This project reflects my own life journey which includes becoming a working mother. I have a gorgeous 3-3/4 year old son and I am a wife...yes I embrace the word...to a supportive and caring man whom I gladly call husband. I am a passionate native New Yorker who has been dispatched to the suburbs of Washington, DC.
I am also writing the book, B-Girls, DJs and MCs: A History of Women in Rap and Hip Hop (Greenwood Press,2009). My current projects focus on the empowerment of women, particularly working mothers. This work includes speaking to organizations, and coaching.
I've done a few other things:
Written two books-Stand & Deliver: The Political Activism and Hip Hop Culture and the Encyclopedia of Rap and Hip Hop Culture.
Run a nationally recognized "think tank" and provided political and cultural commentary for National Public Radio's (NPR) News & Notes.
Visit my website for more information
The bottomline is, my mission is to provide information that people can use to make live better lives.
Who I'd like to meet: I'd love to meet artists, writers, activists, people who are interested in the world around them---who are comfortable with new ideas and new experiences. People are constantly evolving, particularly as we expose ourselves to new concepts, new people and adventures. I am about abundance, believing that each person creates his or her destiny by the choices that he or she makes or fails to make. I am looking for folks who are not singing victim songs, but instead are doing their thing to live their greatest lives and in the process are passing on some love, hope, knowledge and happiness to other folks. History should teach us how to move forward, not stand still in pain.
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Been a while since we spoke via myspace. Hope all is well with you and your fam. One of these days I will get to meet you and all of your impressiveness... Alison
it has been a while indeed. good to locate you via myspace. i heard you through my speakers a while back breaking it down. keep rockin' and rollin' -joc
thanks for the kind words love having some activist energy in the R&J camp we are working on a revolution of the heart but man we need every change we can get !!!
Thanks for thinking about me. I have been under the weather for a minute. Today I am finally feeling better! Thank God. It looks like I am going to stay in DC for another minute ( six months seems eternal ;o) If you get a chance I would love to meet up. Your anthology seems very intriguing. I wish that I was a few years older and could contribute. I have many ideas and thoughts but I am not secure in where I stand. I think that is a contributing variable of the liminal stage this generation lives in. This comment is turning into an email.. so I will stop here ;o) Hope all is well.
I will write soon... Please catch me up on all your happenings!
You're welcome about the posting. I received an email from my mentor (she thought I might want to submit a piece for your collection) and I felt that this is a positive work and a needed one so I did my part to pass the message along to others via email & online communities. Peace.
Thanks for the request. Ironically I have come across citations of your work several times today in my research. Thanks for the brave, bold, and clearly articulated challenge that you have issued to Black women in Hip-Hop. I am going to strive to work with my sisters to meet your challenge. I believe that you are the "Oracle" for the culture. Peace and solidarity, Val
YES!!!!! It found it's home. I was stressen for a min. I was getting kinda flustered because I could not find the little insurence slip that I got at the post office..... Well I am so Glad that it is there and u are happy! Thanks very much and stay intouch! ~peace
I Am Dedicated 2 Our Culture, History, Present and 2 the development of our future...Thanxs 4 tha support. I refuse 2 let my people down!!!Halla Black, Sista SOL 720
Hi, Yvonne, You know I love the page. Keep doing the good work.
To answer your blog question about blackness ... my short answer is "I do." (for me) but so do all the other people who identify as "black" in their day-to-day lives.
Hey, Yvonne. Just dropping by to say hi, and to give you a heads up on my blog. I use it for the sole purpose of posting my short stories. Perhaps there’s one you’ll enjoy.
Anyway, have a better one than yesterday, but not as good as tomorrow.
Peace Yvonne! If you are in the neighborhood, please stop by our park jams in the Bronx and Harlem. The full line-up is on our front page for July & August. Please help spread the word that Tools of War is restoring true Hip Hop culture back into it's natural habitat - the NYC Parks! Peace & blessings! Christie Z
You and I must meet or talk. We have so much in common and are out to perhaps cause similar outcomes.
Also check out my site for my debut CD BE THE TRUE REVOLUTION and listen to my tracks on myspace. OUt to bring daddies and daughters together with my song Black Can Be Me!
I could have sworn we met before but your face wasn't familiar when I visited your site. I remember your name vividly from an interaction I had a few years ago in Harlem but not sure if we actually met or someone impressed upon me that we should. Thanks for requesting the add and check out my book THE GAMES BLACK GIRLS PLAY: LEARNING THE ROPES from DOUBLE-DUTCH TO HIP-HOP (NYU Press, 2006). Kyra
