100 Acre Wood

Now We Are Six

When I was one I had just begun
When I was two I was nearly new

When I was three I was hardly me

When I was four I was not much more

When I was five I was just alive

But now I am six, I'm as clever as clever;

So I think I'll be six now for ever and ever.

A. A Milne

This was my favourite poem growing up. Reading it now, I feel like a six year old again! Wasn't life great when you thought you knew it all, but you really knew nothing?!

Nostalgia

So We've Established Your Skin tone....

I'm writing this post after watching an old channel 4 documentary called Bleach, Nip, Tuck: The White Beauty Myth. The show followed three black and Asian people in their quest to look more Westernised. There was a black glamour model waiting for a nose job to get rid of her "typically black" nose, and Asian woman obsessed with skin bleaching creams, and an Asian male model who had surgery to give him a more mainstream (AKA white) face.
Maybe its because I'm black myself that the glamour model, Jett's story stuck with me the most. She was living in a gated, predominantly white community in Essex, her pinnacle of beauty was Barbie, and she associated her broad nose with her blackness, as if getting rid of her nose would rid her of her blackness.
I watched this documentary, and my blood was warming up. You know when you can't sit still because the irritation is building up? I could not understand for the life of me how anyone could hate the colour of their skin so much. The individual is partly to blame, but the West is guilty of perpetuating this White Beauty Myth. The media bombards us with white faces, and tells us 'This is what beauty is'.
Within the black community, I feel that a lot of people almost subscribe to this warped hierarchy too. The amount of times I've logged onto twitter and seen the phrase "piff lightie"... its not even funny anymore. As if, the lighter your skin tone, the more beautiful you are. This is such a colonial way of thinking about skin tone - the whiter you are, the more attractive you are.
I guess the point I'm really trying to make is: Do you think anyone cares how dark or light you are? You're still BLACK!

So you wanna call yourself a lightie? Or a brownin? Or are you blick? Ok, so we've established your skin tone..... now what? And who the fuck really cares?

First Post of 2012!

I always promise to stop being such an unreliable blogger, and then I go ahead and be unreliable anyway. *sigh*.
Anyway, its a snowy cold day, my internet is FINALLY working, and I have copious amounts of uni work to do, which makes this the opportune moment to write a blog.

Time is moving scary fast again! I don't even know when 2012 showed up, let alone February of 2012!

One thing I've realised about myself is that I love to write. Not because I'm particularly good at writing; more because, for me, writing is a bit like therapy. Be it a blog post, a tweet, a BBM status, a review (notice how essays don't make the list), there is something very therapeutic about writing it down. Most of the time I don't care who is or isn't reading, but the ability to freely express myself is very calming. Playing the piano has a similar effect on me. Once again, I'm not a brilliant pianist, and my repertoire is in desperate need of expansion, but I can't describe the feeling that comes with closing your eyes and listening to the sound your own hands are making.

Because I'm constantly stressing out, it makes sense that I should write (blog) more often and play more piano. But I'm not even gonna sit here and promise that I'll write more often, because I break that promise consistently.

Love, Peace & Afro Grease x