Lifestyle Archives - Page 11 of 22

January 23, 2015January 26, 2015

Nerd — The Other ‘N’ Word That Has Scarred Too Many Young Black Kids

I don’t utilize Facebook too often. Between the cumbersome privacy settings, multiple birth and/or divorce announcements and interrogations from family and everyone else I fit into either of those categories, I choose to avoid rather than engage. However, on one of my rare visits during the holidays, there was a post recently that caught my eye – a cousin recounting her 16-year-old son’s reaction to being on the receiving end of that n-word – Nerd.

According to her, the label comes not from his close friends, but rather a large group of acquaintances who made the assessment based on the following:

He follows the rules.
He enjoys and is very successful in school.
He never talks back to adults.
He never uses profanity.
His use of proper English.
His musical preferences compared to those of his peers.

Sigh. This sounds all too familiar. High school, how I don’t miss it so.

I’ve always observed the wonderful job she did at raising this well-rounded young man. He’s an attractive kid, excels academically, plays sports and has his own finely crafted sartorial sense. She says she’s “teaching him that all the degrees and education in the world don’t equal intelligence, and intelligence doesn’t equal wisdom.” Given her career as a mental health professional, she notes that she doesn’t “think he internalizes any of it because of how he’s been raised and his closest friends have his back. He’s more insulated from serious teasing.”

When her observations take on more of a Mom tone, she says, “At times, I can see some of the comments getting to him.”

She got words of wisdom and support from friends and other family to pass down to him, and, ultimately, the discussion ended with the following question: Surely, that labeling and teasing stops – or at least tapers off – after high school, right?

Answer: Hold that thought.

Same holiday break, I posted a photo of the Christmas gifts my husband and I exchanged on Twitter and Facebook. For him: T-shirts from the video games Skyrim and Red Dead Redemption. For me: a Doctor Who calendar, a Grand Theft Auto V-themed T-shirt. For us: an Xbox One and a few games. Great haul, no? We surely thought so.

Minutes later on the non-Twitter site, there was one lone comment under the photo – Nerds.

Lack of Black Representation in the Green Community

A wise frog once said, “It’s not easy being green.” That rings true for a lot of us. Especially for the Black community. My counter to that has always been “Why?”

Over the last few years, to no surprise of my mother (she’s always thought I was a little different), I decided to start implementing green changes in my life to be more eco-friendly. At first it was simple things like recycling more, being mindful of my water waste and volunteering with environmental projects. Then it escalated to calculating my carbon footprint, shopping at farmers markets, repurposing discarded items I found and then eventually reaching a level where I was using reusable feminine hygiene products, sewing my own curtains and dumpster diving.

During this green journey, some people in the Black community have side-eyed and even poked fun at me for one reason or another. While non-POC (People of Color) seem to take it more in stride. I carefully thought back to all the times I was at Whole Foods or doing a downward dog in my yoga class or just reading a magazine on green living. There was little to no representation of Black people let alone Black girls.

Had they been living under a rock during our natural hair movement? Didn’t they realize that snake-oiling us with toxic chemicals for our hair wasn’t going to work anymore? Were they expecting us to stop there— to give our hair the naturally needed attention it deserved but let our bodies and inner well- being hang by the hydrogenated trans fat wayside? I know there are other Black girls out there trying to live more green, but they feel isolated in their attempt to do so for one reason or another.

There are some who will read this and say, “Who cares what the media thinks! I’m doing my own thing,” and while that’s great, there are others who rely heavily on the media to tell them what’s “in” or those who are at an age where it is an extension of how they are learning about the world and the people in it. Going green is an act some might not be aware is an option.

For a Cool $1 Million, This Company Can Turn You Into a Real-Life Iron Man

Suidobashi heavy industry

Source: Engadget

January 21, 2015January 21, 2015

Combating Racism With Coding: Van Jones Discusses Teaching 100,000 Low-Income Kids How to Code

All across the nation, the Black community has marched and rallied, chanted and sung, pushed and fought for justice after the slayings of unarmed Black men by white authorities.

As the community continues discussing solutions to ending the types of racial profiling that too often steals the lives of innocent young Black men, civil rights activist Van Jones hopes to unlock coding as the secret weapon in the war against racism.

The inspiration came shortly after the 2012 death of Trayvon Martin, the Florida teen who was gunned down by volunteer neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman.

Zimmerman was acquitted of murder.

Jones was discussing race in America with a music icon and his close friend, Prince.

“Every time you see a Black kid wearing a hoodie, you say: there’s a thug,” Jones recalled telling Prince during an interview with USA Today. “If you see a white kid wearing a hoodie, you say: there’s Mark Zuckerberg. I said, ‘That’s because of racism.’ ”

That’s when Prince delivered an answer that would light a fire under Jones.

“Maybe so,” Jones said Prince replied. “Or maybe you civil rights guys haven’t created enough Mark Zuckerbergs.”

From that moment forward, the challenge was on.

Jones launched Yes We Code as a new initiative under his Rebuild the Dream organization.

The initiative hopes to teach 100,000 low-income youths how to write code.

Prince was so excited about the initiative that he promoted it himself back in July as he headlined the Essence Festival in New Orleans.

Yes We Code also held its first hackathon in the city.

Prince’s rebuttal to Jones’ question made the civil rights leader realize that giving Black kids the tools they need to thrive in today’s economy is key to helping them overcome prejudice and change the way they are perceived by the population at large.

The Black community did, indeed, need more Mark Zuckerbergs.

“How do we create a situation that when you see a young Black kid in a hoodie, you think, maybe I should go up and ask the kid for a loan or a job as opposed to assuming the kid’s a threat,” Jones continued. “… Yes We Code aspires to become the United Negro College Fund equivalent for coding education. Yes We Code exists to find and fund the next Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg in communities you would never expect to find them.”

The initiative comes at a perfect time.

The tech industry is desperately seeking young, Black talent.

Some of today’s biggest tech giants were met with backlash when diversity reports revealed that companies like Google and Facebook had very few Black employees.

In addition to being met with backlash by the public, it also served as a reminder for the companies that there was an entire market of ideas they hadn’t fully tapped into because they were missing key voices from communities of color.

Black consumers are some of the heaviest technology users and yet they were hardly present in that industry.

Sadly, many children of color have no idea that they would be able to flourish in the tech space.

“Aptitude tests show one out of five kids of any color have an inherent aptitude for the kind of problem-solving that is required to be a computer programmer,” Jones said. “So that means one out of five kids out here in low-income communities, Native American reservations, Appalachia, housing projects, barrios, ghettos could be on the Mark Zuckerberg track. The problem is their mother doesn’t know, their father doesn’t know, the coach doesn’t know, the teacher doesn’t know, the preacher doesn’t know. So they all want to be LeBron James.”

The NBA welcomes a very small number of new players every year, which means many of these young kids with NBA dreams will be met with disappointment.

In the tech field, however, opportunities are vast.

“Meanwhile, the technology sector says they are going to be a million workers short in eight years,” Jones said. “And if we are not careful, we will have 15 Black Urkels trying out for a million jobs.”

For that reason, Jones believes the Black community has to focus on guiding the youths and helping them reach such opportunities.

That is the real forefront of the battle against racism — putting Black people, especially youths, in a position to succeed and flourish.

“The forward march of technology is unstoppable,” he said. “The forward march of communities wanting to be a part of the process of writing the future is unstoppable. The miracle that’s happening is that these two inevitable forces are coming together constructively. In the last century, this would have been protests, lawsuits and a lot of vitriol.”

In the midst of racial tensions across America, the war against racism has to be just as prevalent in the offices of Silicon Valley as it is in the streets of Ferguson, Missouri.

January 20, 2015January 20, 2015

7 Hip-Hop Lyrics That Could Actually Teach You A Lot About Entrepreneurship

“Turn that 62 to 125, 125 to 250, 250 to half a million; ain’t nothing nobody can do with me.” — “Clique,” Kanye West featuring Big Sean and Jay Z

If operating internationally is a goal, always look at your competitor. Expanding a brand should always be the primary objective of any businessperson. West is a perfect example of this.

“I can’t let life get the best of me; I gotta take, take control of my own destiny / Control what I hold and of course be the boss of myself / No one else will bring my wealth.” — “A Job Ain’t Nuthin’ But Work,” Big Daddy Kane

Personal investment is key. All businesspeople had to overcome obstacles and personal hardships to achieve their goals and dreams. If an idea is powerful enough, you will do anything to make that idea a reality. At the same time, invest in building your own confidence and skills so that others will be confident in you.

Pages: 1 2 3

January 16, 2015January 16, 2015

Blerds’ Big Holiday Weekend: Black Comic Book Festivals – on Both Coasts – to Bring Creators and Fans Together

Comic book festivals and conventions are where faithful fans, creators, artists and writers meet. They are also a place where people can discover something new. Black comic book festivals carry an additional purpose — to focus on an underserved market. This Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. weekend, Blerds on both coasts will have an opportunity to geek out over the latest in offerings from creators, artists and writers of color.

In Harlem on Saturday, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture hosts the third annual Black Comic Book Festival from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. In San Francisco, the historic NorCal Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Foundation Celebration added the Black Comix Arts Festival [BCAF] to its list of activities, with events kicking off Sunday and continuing through Monday. Both festivals are free to the public.

John Jennings, co-founder of both events, will spend much of his weekend in an airplane — a sacrifice he’s happy to make to support Black comics creators and fans.

“Images are extremely important and so are the lack of them,” Jennings said. “It is very empowering to see ourselves reflected in the culture and society in which we participate. On the other hand, it is just as debilitating to not see ourselves. Our invisibility is sometimes deafening. It is vital for Black creators to have a voice and a space or resistance to this erasure. There’s a small contingent of Black creators in
the mainstream, but never as many as there should be. However, there’s an alternative, and now
with the access to various modes of publishing, there’s a movement happening.”

Jennings, an associate professor of art and visual studies at the University at Buffalo, has made comics his lifelong study, both as an academic and as a creator and artist and is quick to point out that the involvement of creators of color in comics is nothing new.

“For the last 20 years or so, there has been an independent Black comics culture brewing just beneath the surface. There’s now a loosely connected network of Afrocentric, alternative, diverse cons that are mostly situated on the East Coast, the Midwest and Southeast.” The network includes Yumy Odom (ECBACC), Joseph Wheeler III (OnyxCon), Alexander Simmons (Kids ComicCon), Andre Batts (Black Age Motor City), Maia Crown Williams (MECCA), and Preach Jacobs (ColaCon).

Jennings and colleagues Dr. Jonathan Gayles, Jerry Craft and Deirdre Hollman of the Schomburg Center pooled their resources together and created the Black Comic Book Festival at the Schomburg Center in Harlem. The festival has been very successful in bringing thousands of people from around the city to Harlem to see the work of a variety of comics creators and illustrators of color, including Mshindo Kuumba, Jennifer Crute’, Chuck Collins, N Steven Harris, Tim Fielder, Micheline Hess, Nigel Carrington, Shawn Alleyne, Stacey Robinson and Alitha Martinez.

“It’s a joyous event, however, there’s a lack of true connection with Black creators on the West Coast,” Jennings said. “That’s why we wanted to make a ‘sister’ event. We wanted to make MLK weekend a Black Comix weekend and have a bicoastal connection centered around comics and Black subjectivity. What better time to celebrate the power of dreams?”

Jennings cited San Francisco’s long history with comics, especially underground and independent comics and its longtime commitment to celebrating the legacy of King through the MLK NorCal Foundation, as important reasons why the city was perfect for the inaugural event.

“[San Francisco is] home to one of the best comics stores in the country — Isotope: The Comics Lounge, and Aaron Grizzell, director of the MLK NorCal, puts on one of the largest MLK Day celebrations in the country and brings in around 30,000 people a year to celebrate the legacy of King and the Civil Rights Movement. [The event] has a bevy of inspiring and entertaining festivals that all happen after a large commemorative march during the day.”

Jennings, Grizzell and additional co-founders Colette Rodgers, Ayize Jama-Everett, David Walker and Shawn Taylor put their heads together and came up with BCAF. Even though this is the festival’s first year, the stars and the comic book industry have already taken notice.

“I am so excited to see the creators of “Concrete Park” — Tony Puryear and Erika Alexander,” Jennings said. “They are just marvelous and generous artists. The amazing Kevin Grevioux, writer, producer and actor. He is the co-creator of the “Underworld” franchise and also the creator of “The Blue Marvel.” I am super excited to meet Eric Dean Seaton, the writer/creator of the high-flying adventure book “Legend of Mantamaji.” In addition to that I am stoked to meet the publisher and writer, Sebastian Jones, who is doing a new book with Amandla Stenberg, the young actor best-known as the character Rue from the Hunger Games film. I’ve never met Fred Noland. He’s a Bay Area indie artist and he’s on my panel! So, I am looking very forward to getting to know about him and his work. Nancy Cato. I’ve never met Nancy face-to-face and I can’t wait to do so. Also, the Love Brothers, Jeremy and Robert from Gettosake Entertainment. It’s always a pleasure to hang with them. Honestly, I am super excited to see everyone!”

Eric Dean Seaton, longtime television director, chose the BCAF to launch the 2015 leg of his book tour for his new graphic novel series, “Legend of the Mantamaji,” with an author conversation and book signing event at 4 p.m. Sunday at the Creativity Theater.

“The addition of the Black Comix Arts Festival to the selection of NorCal MLK events is an important one,” Seaton said. “Comics and graphic novels are touching every corner of pop culture, and while African-Americans are large consumers of the media, too often they are marginalized or left out of the story altogether. This event highlights the significant contributions creators, artists and writers are making, bringing true diversity in the medium. I’m very excited and proud to be a part of the inaugural event.”

Jennings sees the events as simply evidence of longstanding Black tradition.

“Alternative Black Speculative spaces like Afrofuturism, AfroSurrealism, EthnoSurrealism and others have been on the rise worldwide. We don’t have to beg the mainstream to represent us. We can do it ourselves and put it out there. We exist and we dream. The Black imagination is what helped our ancestors survive. What was Dr. King if not a Black Speculative creator? That mountaintop he spoke of wasn’t in this dimension, or time, or space. It was somewhere else waiting for us to find it.”

Source: Terreece M. Clarke at LifeSlice Media

January 15, 2015January 15, 2015

New Study Finds That Computers May Know Us Better Than Our Friends and Family

A new study published earlier this month revealed that even a person’s closest friends and family didn’t know their personality as well as computers did.

A team of researchers from both Stanford and the University of Cambridge discovered that a computer with access to a person’s Facebook “likes” actually knew more about that individual’s personality than that person’s own friends and family.

The study focused on five key areas of a personality that are also known as the “Big Five,” the Stanford Daily reports.

Those areas are “openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism.”

It wasn’t long ago that consumers were shocked to find out that algorithms online were doing more than keeping track of their favorite shopping sites or other daily activities. Today’s algorithms are also judging consumers in a sense and using assumptions made about their personalities to not only control advertisements but to completely rearrange their search engine results.

Now that computers are also proving to be accurate judges of personality, it seems like our technological companions are getting to know us all too well.

During the study, the researchers collected self-assessments from the participants about their own personalities.

Each of the 82,220 volunteers had to answer 100 key questions about their personalities before their friends, family and spouses were then given a 10-item questionnaire about their loved one’s personality.

Meanwhile, the computer used nothing more than the participants’ Facebook “likes.”

On average, the computer only had to sift through 10 likes before it could guess the person’s personality more accurately than a friend or roommate.

After about 70 likes the computer was able to guess the person’s personality better than their close friends.

It took roughly 150 likes for the computer to perform better than family members.

It took much more research for the computers to perform as well as the research participants’ spouses, however.

On average, the computer had to analyze about 300 likes before it could judge the participants’ personality as well as their spouse did with the 10-item questionnaire.

Since most people only had about 277 likes on Facebook, the computer often failed to judge the participants’ personality as well as their spouse.

While spouses still seem to understand their loved ones’ personality better than the Facebook like-reading computers, the researchers said there were still some key implications to take away from the study.

In the study’s abstract, the team of researchers wrote that “computers outpacing humans in personality judgment present significant opportunities and challenges in the areas of psychological assessment, marketing and privacy.”

Only time will tell how much privacy consumers are willing to sacrifice in exchange for advancements in psychology and marketing.

January 15, 2015January 15, 2015

Starting With the Youth: iUrban Teen Tackles Tech’s Diversity Problem at Its Core

As the tech industry continues to battle a serious diversity problem, one program has emerged as a leader in getting Black youths interested in, exposed to and engaged in STEM careers.

iUrban Teen has garnered attention on a national scale and has been a front-runner when it comes to not only exposing young people of color to STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) careers, but also getting them actively engaged in the field at a young age.

“What truly motivated me to create iUrban Teen was the fact that a lot of folks in diverse communities don’t know about the opportunities that are available in STEM careers,” said Deena Pierott, iUrban Teen founder and chief innovator. “This is powerful information to share and I wanted to create a vehicle where we not only told them, we also showed them.”

Many of today’s tech giants are dishing out millions of dollars to create diversity boards, hire new advisers and find other ways to boost diversity within their company walls, but iUrban Teen is attacking Silicon Valley’s diversity issue at its very core.

While unusually high barriers to entry have been plaguing Black people who are interested in STEM careers, there are also far fewer applicants interested in breaking through those walls.

Several studies and successful tech entrepreneurs have pointed to the fact that many Black children are not exposed to the wonders of technology due to insufficient funding in school or a lack of access to mentors.

Thanks to iUrban Teen, that problem may not persist much longer.

“We’re solving the digital divide,” Pierott, who is also the CEO of Mosaic Blueprint, continued. “We’re solving the problem of exclusion by sharing information with parents and teens about avenues of opportunities and how to get there.”

The program focuses on educating young Black males between the ages of 13 and 18 about STEM careers and giving them the skills they need to have a solid foundation to build on if they want to pursue such a career path.

The program is also unique for its integration of the arts with STEM, proving to the Black youth that the opportunities in the STEM field are far more diverse than just coding and number crunching.

It also equips the teens with “new perspectives” of the STEM field that could make them truly valuable to the biggest tech giants of the future.

From Teen Tech Summits to STEM+Art Tours, the program hosts a variety of ways to get students of color to dive head first into the tech space and take the first step toward creating a successful future.

That, Pierott says, is more rewarding than any of the major coveted awards that iUrban Teen has earned in the past.

“I could say [my greatest achievement] was the White House honor or the Rockefeller Foundation nomination, or any of the other honors,” she said, but instead there were simpler moments that truly meant the world to Pierott. “My greatest achievement was to receive an email from a mother who said, ‘Thank you for what you do, it was always so difficult trying to get my sons to talk about school, careers, etc., however, every time we attend an iUrban Teen event we talk for hours about the possibilities.’ That’s my greatest achievement — that we make a difference.”

While many Black youth can learn a lot from the programs, there is also a lot they can learn from Pierott herself.

In today’s job market and economy, only the daring, the bold and the strong have the ability to take a leap of faith to become the head of their own companies.

It’s an accomplishment that not many get to boast, but Pierott certainly has more than enough bragging rights.

Even as she stands as a successful businesswoman today, however, she reminds people that the road there wasn’t free of obstacles.

The key was to embrace those obstacles and “fail forward.”

“I’m pretty flexible and I know how to fail forward,” she said. “Meaning, I’m not afraid of failing on a project. I just try a different approach.”

The hard work paid off and Pierott achieved great things while her mother was still alive to witness it.

Pierott’s mother died just one day after she received her first major award in October of 2010.

“I was extremely close to my mother and was also her caregiver,” she said. “She was diagnosed with dementia in 2007 and that’s when I decided to leave my job and start my own business at home so that I could take care of her. It was important for me to allow her to see me be successful with my business while she still knew who I was. So I worked and worked and worked on my business model. Receiving the MED Week Minority Business of the Year for Mosaic Blueprint was a highpoint for me and for my mother who was there to see it.”

January 14, 2015January 14, 2015

How Hardcore Gamers Can Maneuver Between Real World and Gaming Gun Violence

Here is a simple truth when it comes to me: I think guns are cool. I think guns are cool in the way that I think an electric toothbrush is cool. Or a V8 engine is cool. I think guns are cool in the way I think it’s cool that my daughter looks both like my wife and I or the way that aloe seems to heal everything. To paraphrase Walter White, sometimes it really is about the science, and there is no denying the technological marvel that is the firearm for what it is capable of, regardless of intent or result. That’s a huge, unfair “regardless” there, but we’ll circle back to that. And as cool as guns are in that modern invention kind of way, it’s only half the story.

The more nefarious side is that I enjoy what guns can do in the fictional abstract. It isn’t really honest to say that I think an AK-47 with a ridiculous high rate of fire is cool and not group that the sheer violence of its bullets ripping through something with furious tenacity. So yes, that means that it isn’t honest for me say that I enjoy Rick Grimes spraying automatic vengeance without the people of Terminus being the bullet sponges. Admitting you enjoy watching violent ballistic death on TV doesn’t make me a sociopath (I don’t think) because it is so wildly enjoyed by others, but it is a bit alarming to say it out loud like that. Even then, that’s watching gun violence, that’s not the act of doing it, so that adds another level between what we would start to consider problematic, right?

Well, what about video games? I game. Hard. I’ve logged well over 100 hours of “Destiny,” a first-person shooter from developer Bungie, famous for the “Halo” franchise (yes, the game just came out in September and no, I don’t feel the least bit bad about that number). As most FPS games, you play 85 percent of your time in the game aiming down the sights, killing everything unlucky enough to be in your path and have hit points for health. Like most shooters, “Destiny” rewards you for being precise. They’re called precision shots here in lieu of “headshots” mostly because there is an enemy variant where their most vulnerable spot is in their abdomen. Still, hitting these spots rewards you with extra damage and a bit of visual flare. Shoot a Cabal enemy in the head and watch it explode into gas and toxins as its body hits the ground limply, possibly rewarding you with another weapon or more ammo for your current one. It is satisfying and only feeds your hunger to keep doing it. But to be fair, these are aliens you’re shooting, a fictional genocide to take part in. It’s not like they are human or anything. Not like you can do that …

The first time I saw a real gun was probably when I was about 12 or 13. The first person I remember knowing who lost their life to a bullet was the summer before my 14th birthday, though I expect it may have happened before that, but I just didn’t know any better and nobody bothered to sully me with the truth. I’d love to say that was the last time I lost a friend to the barrel, but it wasn’t and it didn’t necessarily slow down as I grew up either, except the number of “eligible” friends for such violence began to narrow itself.

Read more from Will Evans at Black Nerd Problems

January 14, 2015January 14, 2015

3 Comics with Black Female Protagonists Who Deal with Real-Life Issues

There are a lot of comic book genres, and getting away from the commercial success of the super-hero titles can be a risk. The appeal of the super-hero comics for girls can be attributed to the story that a regular guy or gal experiences some life-altering occurrence and has to find the balance between these newfound responsibilities while just getting by. The Spider-Man comics are one of my favorites. After all the spectacular powers and beautiful women, he struggles to finish college, hold a job and hold his relationship together. You know, life stuff. But Peter Parker learns the hard way after the death of his uncle that with great power comes great responsibility. The idea of a greater responsibility to others is the universal truth that transcends.

This list is presented by a guest blogger from Black Girl Nerds

‘Concrete Park’

Among my various issues of spider-somebody and x-folks, I try to support efforts in representing life from other than the majority community’s perspective. In Tony Puryear and Erika Alexander’s “Concrete Park R-E-S-P-E-C-T” (Dark Horse Originals), you are presented with the idea of survival. Crashed on a distant world, Isaac Clay finds himself in the middle of a gang war. Luca, one of the gang leaders, finds him and introduces him to the dynamics of Scare City. There is a sweetness to Luca’s efforts to protect her people. I wish that there was something also redeeming or uplifting with her or Isaac’s struggles in Scare City. The cover of the first issue appears to include a group of folks with an intense Latina, covered in splotches of blood, flashing a gang sign. The comic is boldly drawn and inked with authentic-looking men and women of color — including a green guy. The story presents a glimpse into the dynamics of urban gang life: Someone kills someone else. They vow revenge. Then another person tries to kill someone else. You know the story. Unfortunately, too many of us live this story.

As a black woman, I hope that eventually our lives will remove the shackles of merely surviving and return to the potential of old, where we were the builders of some of the greatest and most majestic civilizations on Earth. Our artistry and intelligence built pyramids that have endured for thousands of years across the continent of Africa. This title, thus far, has an engaging story, but the idea that in our future (or a version of the future), minorities are still fighting gang wars on a distant planet, really doesn’t give me much hope … and still I rise.

Pages: 1 2 3