From Bored Panda -
https://www.boredpanda.com/funny-restaurant-signs-texas-el-arroyo/
Saturday, September 18, 2021
Tuesday, September 14, 2021
Your Precious Love
An excerpt from UDiscoverMusic -
It Takes Two: The Greatest Duets In Motown History
Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell’s hit inspires our Motown duets playlist.
By Paul Sexton
On the Billboard Hot 100 for September 9 1967, Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell had the highest new entry of the week, at No.73, with “Your Precious Love,” which went on to reach No.5. Their hit-making duet inspires our playlist of Motown’s greatest (and, in at least one case, weirdest) duets.
“Your Precious Love,” written by regular Tamla hitmakers Ashford & Simpson and produced by Harvey Fuqua and Johnny Bristol, was one of many great examples of the vocal chemistry between Marvin and Tammi before her life was so cruelly cut short. “What we accomplished was to create two characters and let them sing to each other,” Gaye later told writer David Ritz. “That’s how the Marvin and Tammi characters were born. While we were singing, we were in love…but when the music ended, we kissed each other on the cheek and said goodbye.”
https://youtu.be/4Z3btjnwscU
Oscar Robertson: Standing Up For Them All
An excerpt from the Daily Beast -
The Basketball Great Who Stood Up to the NBA to Protect His Fellow Players
Oscar Robertson paved the way for athletes to protest and demand the right to choose their employers, at a time when standing up to the league could get a player barred for life.
By Robert Silverman
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| Bettmann / Getty |
Oscar Robertson, one of the greatest players in NBA history and a visionary labor rights leader, is riding out the current stretch of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic down in Florida. It’s not his permanent residence, but like many in the Sunshine State and across the globe, the 82-year-old is worried, Robertson told me in an August phone conversation. He’s been vaccinated, and is taking every precaution, including wearing a mask outdoors, until conditions improve. “Goodness, gracious,” he said. “It’s unbelievable, unbelievable.”
He was baffled to read that a number of pro football players were making a public show of refusing to get the jab. Beyond the spread of the new variant, the risks posed to children and family members, Robertson couldn’t comprehend why an athlete wouldn’t at a bare minimum be looking out for their teammates, regardless of what misinformation they’d been fed. “Why would a player say ‘I don’t want to get the shot’ if he's going to be around other players?” he plaintively asked. “Why would he do that?"
That Robertson would view the ongoing health crisis as requiring greater labor solidarity shouldn’t come as much of a surprise.
For all the Big O’s successes on court—the awards and accolades, the titles and medals won, his name scrawled at the top of the NBA’s record books, and the effusive praise from his contemporaries—Robertson’s legacy is also built on the decades spent fighting for justice and equity. He’s stood up to groaning bigots that treated him as less-than-human and threatened his life; he locked arms in solidarity in order to bring an All-Star game to a halt; and he dragged the NBA court and then testified before Congress, demanding that he and his in-demand, talented colleagues should (at a minimum) be able to choose their place of employment. All this was accomplished at a time when an outspoken athlete could easily find themselves on the unemployment line.
“There is a long tradition in our league going back to Oscar and others, including Bill Russell, who spoke out about civil rights issues,” Commissioner Adam Silver told Sports Illustrated’s Jack McCallum in 2020. “It’s a culture that’s been passed down from generation to generation, and Oscar led the fight.”
Over the summer, Robertson watched the Milwaukee Bucks win their first NBA title in 50 years, since he and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar last led the team to glory. It delighted him to no end. He marveled not just at the tens of thousands who had crammed into what the team dubbed “the Deer District” outside the stadium, but franchises now worth billions, and contracts for the biggest stars topping $200 million. As much as any NBA player, Robertson fought to ensure at least a somewhat more equitable distribution of wealth, though this stretch of NBA and labor history may have faded over time for fans and players alike.
“Some don’t know what the Oscar Robertson Rule is all about,” he said of the 1976 settlement agreement granting NBA players the right to free agency before any of the other major pro sports leagues. According to Robertson, those unaware of his battles should probably ask themselves, “How did it get this way?”
Looking for College Gear? Check Here First.
An excerpt from Spy -
The Best Places to Buy College Apparel Make Showing College Pride Too Easy
By Jake Cappuccino
1. Fanatics
 |
| Courtesy of Fanatics |
BEST OVERALL
Of all the best places to buy college apparel, Fanatics has to be the single best overall for most people. It has an enormous selection of official apparel and merchandise for hundreds upon hundreds of college teams.
In fact, multiple other big retailers of college apparel just use Fanatics to sell their college apparel, including NCAA Sports, FansEdge and Lids. So when you shop from those retailers, you’re getting the same experience you’d get on Fanatics.com. And there’s good reason for that. Not only does Fanatics have great coverage of schools — seriously, we’ve never even heard of the Gardner-Webb Bulldogs or the Hampton Pirates, but they’re covered — it sells a branded version of pretty much anything you could ever want. If you’d rather show support for a conference, Fanatics even has you covered there with Pac-12, ACC, Big Ten gear and more.
We could show any one of a million different examples, but we’ll just leave these awesome USC Trojans Nike Zoom Pegasus 38 Running Shoes to get your mind running.
https://spy.com/articles/gear/style/best-places-to-buy-college-apparel-1202788151/
FAMU Business Students Are Collaborators With Hair Care Line
An excerpt from the Tallahassee Democrat -
Wakati Black hair product line gives nod to FAMU students for their collaboration
By Byron Dobson
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| Florida A & M University business students helped design the marketing and business concept for Wakati Hair Products which are sold at Target, Walgreens, and Walmart.com Tori Schneider Tallahassee Democrat |
Felyicia Jerald often shops at Target for its assortment of hard-to-find hair products for African American consumers. But on a recent visit, she noticed a new product line — Wakati.
"I looked to the right and saw the purple bottle on the shelf, and it seems as if it had orange and green tones to it a well. I said, ‘I want to check it out really quick,' " said Jerald, a 1988 journalism graduate of Florida A&M University, whose school colors are orange and green.
“I started reading the ingredients, the benefits of the product and it wasn’t until I flipped it over did I see the FAMU logo on it. That got my interest.”
Jerald ended up purchasing a moisturizer, a moisturizing spray and shampoo.
“I’m impressed with the look of the product and when I saw FAMU on the back that was another draw to help me to decide to buy it and try it out,” said Jerald, manager of communications for Mercedes-Benz U.S. International.
She posted the find on Facebook, where she discovered “quite a few” family members and FAMU friends were aware of the product and the school shout-out on the packaging.
Her post reads: “Was so excited to see this product on the shelves at Target! I think the orange and green and cute packaging drew me in, then when I flipped it over and saw that #FAMU business students helped design the marketing and biz concept, that sold me. Great job students!”
Cedric The Entertainer on Phone Call from Michael Jackson and Flirting w...
https://youtu.be/NWySL9sKuR0
Saturday, September 11, 2021
Deion Calls Out ESPN
https://www.si.com/college/hbcu/football/deion-sanders-blasts-espn-getty-imagn-no-photos-of-hbcu
Monday, September 6, 2021
Being the Only One
An excerpt from INC -
She Was the Only Black Woman in the Room. So She Decided to Become the Best in the Business. They say it's lonely at the top. But here's what they don't say: Knowing how to go it alone is the secret to getting you there.
BY PHYLLIS NEWHOUSE, FOUNDER AND CEO, XTREME SOLUTIONS, INC
When Athena Technology Acquisition Corp. listed on the New York Stock Exchange earlier this year, I became the only Black female CEO of an NYSE-listed SPAC. When I launched Xtreme Solutions in 2002, I became the only Black woman CEO of a cybersecurity company.
Before that, I spent 22 years in the Army, including three stints at the Pentagon, where I was often the only Black woman in the room when crucial decisions were being made.
Being "the only" in any situation can be lonely for some, but it doesn't bother me. Some of this year's Inc. 5000 honorees are "the only" in their fields, and, as they likely know, it's a unique position with distinct advantages. There have been more than 820 SPAC IPOs since 2009, but Athena is the only one with a Black woman as CEO--so everybody knows who I am. I embrace the opportunity to share a perspective others don't have.
Beautiful Braided Creations
An excerpt from the Cut -
The Beautiful Language of Braids Black hairstylists and creative muses open up about their love for the iconic style.
By Faith Cummings
The Black hair salon is a sanctified space, with each chair getting its believer closer to goddess-level status, from the wash bowl to the hair dryer to the styling chair. These shops are portals to transformation — equal parts magic and the sweat and toil of the artisans who lather, roll, bump, press, and braid day in, day out, with unparalleled results.
These parlors of beauty and style are also spaces of choice, converting even the most ambivalent and unsure into full-blown sirens simply with a decision pulled from the salon walls. There’s no shortage of potential styles to select from blown-up poster collages in full color, fashioned on models who look like you, your mother, and your friends, with a few sightings of our patron saints Beyoncé and Rihanna in all their coiffed Black-girl glory for good measure.
I’ve reveled in these spaces all my life, from pictures that remind me of the braids I had done right before a childhood graduation to earlier this summer when friends’ weddings called for hairstyles that could emanate elegance in the face of New York’s subtropical heat and humidity. Over the past year and a half, these salons have been a lifeline when I sought to protect my hair and make it ready for anything, shifting the energy from styling it to carrying on despite a devastating virus and its resulting chaos. I bonded with braiders who were strangers mere hours before about the state of our world and politics, when we all started getting waist-long braids and all the tricks we have for not letting them fall into unsavory places, and relationships, as I definitely hopped out of the chair and headed straight to a marathon date just months ago.
https://www.thecut.com/2021/09/the-beautiful-language-of-braids.html
Lessons in Living Abroad
An excerpt from Buzzfeed -
Two Years Ago, I Moved From The US To Europe — Here's How I Did It & My Advice For Those Wanting A Similar Change
Plus, my advice for anyone considering a similar life change.
by Michelle No
 | |
| Michelle No / BuzzFeed |
Hey all! I'm Michelle and I'm an American currently living in Berlin, Germany. Ever since I moved here two years ago (and wrote all about it), a lot of BuzzFeed readers have reached out to me directly. They've been curious about what inspired such a big move, or how, logistically, I even did it. To help anyone considering a similar change, I wanted to outline exactly how it all went down.
https://www.buzzfeed.com/michelleno/moving-to-berlin-germany
Simply Stunning!
An excerpt from My Modern Met -
Street Artist Uses Flowering Trees as “Natural Hair” To Complete Portraits of Women and Girls
By Sara Barnes
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| Portrait inspired by Egypt Sarai |
Brazilian street artist Fábio Gomes Trindade combines painting and nature to create singular works that are only complete when viewed together. With the help of tree branches that sit above his vibrant murals, he produces portraits where only part of the head is present—such as the face and a portion of the hair. But when paired with colorful flowering trees and green leaves, the portrait has a full, beautiful coif. It's a clever and charming way to combine elements of the urban environment with the natural one.
Two of Trindade’s latest pieces are inspired by a child model named Egypt Sarai. The young girl is depicted in two ways by the artist; one with an afro comprising pink flowers and the other with her hair separated into two poofs atop her head. In each painting, Trindade captures the sweet, soft features of Sarai through spray paint and enhances her beauty with the trees.
Kingsley Ben Adir on transforming into Malcolm X and Barack Obama | Brit...
https://youtu.be/N8_oda286ys
Sunday, September 5, 2021
All-Black Lineup in Baseball - 50 YEARS AGO!
An excerpt from the Undefeated -
On this day in 1971, the Pittsburgh Pirates fielded the first all-black and Latino lineup
By Bryan Cortes
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| Pittsburgh Pirates Al Oliver (center) is grabbed by teammates Willie Stargell (left) and Roberto Clemente (right) after his three-run-homer which gave the Pirates a 9-5 victory over the San Francisco Giants and the National League Pennant. Getty Images |
The Pirates made history with a lineup only put together due to injuries
There were only 11,278 fans at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh on Sept. 1, 1971, but history was made anyway. The date marked 24 years after Jackie Robinson officially broke baseball’s color barrier and the Pirates became the first Major League franchise to field an all-black and Latino starting nine.
Although the normal Pittsburgh Pirates starting lineup that year was usually filled with players of color, it had never been entirely made up of men of color until Sept. 1. Normal starters Richie Hebner (third base) and Gene Alley (shortstop) were both nursing injuries, which allowed Dave Cash and Jackie Hernandez to fill in.
“The Pirates were known for their black and Latin players, and of course on that particular team, we were loaded,” former Pirate Al Oliver told MLB.com. “I don’t know how many we had on the 1971 team, but if I had to guess, maybe 11 or 12 black and Latin players. As a rule, we would start five – if Dock pitched, then it would be six.”
Foo Fighters "Everlong" w/ 11-Year-Old Nandi Bushell, The Forum, Los An...
https://youtu.be/jsDgrKdczAE
A Refuge From Racism
An excerpt from Vice News -
Where Black Americans Seek Refuge from Racism
Scores of Black Americans have flocked to Tulum to take a mental break after a year of so much grief.
By Adizah Eagan
All the posts about Tulum on social media this past year really got our attention: Everyone seemed to be living it up in the small Mexican fishing town south of Cancun. Some were flocking there to have a good time, but others were seeking something much deeper: They wanted to escape racism, find like-minded people, take a mental respite after a year of so much grief.
“Tulum popped up on Airbnb. [I’d] never heard of Tulum, didn't know Tulum existed,” said Kendrick Little, a photographer. “So I booked a stay here for a whole month. Then the George Floyd thing happened in the States. I had no desire to leave this tranquility of Mexico to go back voluntarily to madness.”
Another traveler, Faris Gebril, had a similar feeling. “I'm coming to Tulum because America is a cult, and I want to be anywhere else,” he said.
VICE producer Adizah Eagan went to Mexico to experience the vibes of Tulum for herself—and dig into why Black people have been seeking refuge in this beachy bohemian getaway.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/epn95a/where-black-americans-seek-refuge-from-racism
Black Bodies Redefined
An excerpt from the Guardian -
The big picture: the black body redefined
Pioneering young black photographer Dana Scruggs’s celebration of movement and form
By Tim Adams
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| Dana Scrugg |
The headline act at this summer’s photography festival in Arles is an exhibition devoted to the young black photographers who are – literally – changing the face (and bodies) of fashion photography. The New Black Vanguard features the work of Tyler Mitchell, the first black photographer to shoot a Vogue cover, and Dana Scruggs, who achieved the same extraordinarily overdue milestone at Rolling Stone, when she photographed the rapper Travis Scott in 2019.
Scruggs, born in Chicago and based in New York, started out photographing vintage clothes and furniture for her own Etsy store a decade ago. In 2016, frustrated by the continuing lack of diversity in advertising and fashion, she crowdfunded the launch of her own magazine, SCRUGGS, to showcase her distinctive ways of expressing light and movement, focusing on the black male body. “There’s a fearfulness of black men in American society and globally,” Scruggs said. “I wanted to change the narrative.”
This picture, shot in Death Valley in 2018 for a swimwear campaign, is characteristic of Scruggs’s work. “I focus on shapes and bodies and skin,” she suggests. “I don’t view the model as a [clothes] hanger.” She invites her subjects – the model here is LA-based Nyadhuor Deng – to loosely improvise and take control of their presentation. “I want people to understand that black people are powerful and have autonomy over our bodies,” Scruggs has said.
https://amp.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2021/aug/29/the-big-picture-the-black-body-redefined
Hot Sauce Heaven
An excerpt from Black Enterprise -
Twin Lawyers, Howard U Grads Team Up to Revive Grandmother’s Hot Sauce Business
A family-owned hot sauce business is now back up and running after twin sisters worked to revive it.
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| (Photo: Alice Crowe-Bell and Alicia Crowe) |
Identical twin sisters, Alice Crowe-Bell and Alicia Crowe, are Howard University School of Law graduates who have practiced as attorneys for more than 20 years but decided to use their business acumen to help get a family business off the ground.
Emmaline’s All-Natural Hot Sauce is their grandmother’s recipe. They’ve teamed up to keep their family legacy alive. They have relaunched their family business in honor of their late grandmother, Emmaline Humphries Stinson.
The twins’ mother dreamed of selling the hot sauce, so they helped their mother sell it at various farmer markets and food tastings throughout the tri-state area. It did not take long for the sauce to develop a loyal following and by 2007 Emmaline’s Hot Sauce won the Whole Foods Local Hero Award.
Emmaline passed away last year, and the twins decided to honor their mother’s dream and continue their grandmother’s legacy by relaunching the hot sauce.
Now, the hot sauce has Emmaline’s 1910 wedding photo featured on the front of the bottle.
“The minute we reached out to her customers, within minutes, they were ordering the sauce, some by the case. They were so happy to know that we were moving forward with the sauce. That kind of response, it wasn’t because of me or my sister, it was because of my mother. She was so passionate and made her food with love,” Crowe said.
The sisters said they relaunched Emmaline’s Hot Sauce on Juneteenth and have received praise from customers for doing so.
HBCU's in Florida
An excerpt from the Miami Herald -
How many HBCUs are in Florida? Here’s where they are and some of their famous alumni
BY JASON DILL
 | |
| Florida Memorial University President Jaffus Hardrick speaks during a joint commencement ceremony for students graduating in the class of 2020 and 2021 at the FMU campus in Miami Gardens, Florida, on Saturday, May 8, 2021. SAM NAVARRO SPECIAL FOR THE MIAMI HERALD |
The Orange Blossom Classic highlights two Historically Black Colleges and Universities with a football game and an event schedule away from the gridiron highlighted by the Battle of the Bands and a concert.
Florida A&M is one of the participants in the game, having to face Jackson State, which is coached by Pro Football Hall of Famer and Florida State alumnus Deion Sanders.
How many HBCU schools are in Florida? Where are they located? What are they known for?
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