Something to Ponder: I’m Not Like Other Girls

My big sis sent this to me the other day and it got me thinking. ha like i need ANYTHING to make me think

Take a gander.

I have to say in my opinion I’m not at all like most girls.

Cliché or not, I pride myself on being different. On not conforming to what religious conservatives deem how my race and gender should behave and look like. For not focusing my life on the media’s portrayal of what a black woman should be.

I’m very much a tomboy who thoroughly enjoys cursing and swearing, watching AND playing sports as well as throwing back a cold brew or a stiff put hair on your chest drank. I talk mad shit wit the boys and make lewd and inappropriate jokes. I’m a car enthusiast and aspiring mechanic. Did I mentioned I fucking HATE dressing like a damn girl? absolutely loathe that shit! You have NO idea!

I have wildly crazy natural hair that seems to have a mind of her own but I don’t nor will I straighten it because someone else tells me to or because society says I’m not pretty. Luquisha is hur to stay bitches!

I have a big ass but I don’t really try to accentuate it to make it seem like my milkshake brings all the boys (or girls) to the yard or even come swarming towards me.

My attitude at times is not because I’m uneducated or don’t got common fucking sense cuz I got a fucking degree from a top notch school mayne but because I like to be funny and adapt to my surroundings and people around me.

Lately, there seems to be a great amount of talk about women and how we should behave, think, feel and exist.

Women are expected dress a certain way otherwise we must be a two dollar hoe just cuz we show some damn skin or boobs or leg.

Women are expected to be more inclined to stay at home, clean house, take care of the churrin stupid grown ass child included, have a hot meal on the table at least twice a day and put out whenever and however the husband pleases.

We can’t be independent and do for ourselves because we’re the weaker sex. We can be sexualized against our will but not sexual on our own accord.

We can’t be President or a coach in the pros.

We cannot possibly be capable of running a successful revenue generating company.

Nope women can’t possibly ever be as omnipresent, professional, deserving of the good life or intelligent as the men who are consistently trying to gain the upper hand by backhandeding their peers. Don’t get it twisted women are just as conniving and ruthless. But unfortunately, women, especially women of color, are under paid significantly compared to a male counterpart in the same position, skill sets and tenure.

Soooooo whachu gettin at Southern Yankee?

This: Women deserve to be treated better. Women deserve to be revered as worthy of anything we put our damn minds too. Young girls like my daughter and nieces should be able to name more than a handful of women who have done something significant in the world’s history.

Women should be afforded the same opportunities as men in everything. Not because we can do everything better because we absolutely can but because the next generation needs to see that. How are we to tell our daughters, nieces, sisters, granddaughters and cousins you can be anything your heart desires if we, the current adults, don’t first set the example? No I’m not saying our sons, brothers, grandsons, etc can’t be whatever they want but in all honesty, boys obviously have it easier unless they’re gay; which then it’s a whole other ball game and certainly a whole other blog post.

Why is it women are good enough to be wives and mothers but not everything else under the sun?

Why are we selfish for wanting a career over family?

Why must we be belittled for having an opinion or fuck even an idea?

Why can’t we be equal citizens under the law instead of being subject to a religiously conservative white male’s opinion of who we are and should be?

Why?

Thanks for reading…
the southern yankee 

Writer-vation Toofer

I’m nostalgic person.

I keep knick knacks for no reason other than each item has some sort of sentimental value to me or reminds me of something and/or someone. More often than not, the items I keep fuel some part of my writing or creative mind set. They partially and sometimes temporarily become my muses for a blog post or poem.

Every now and then though a person I’ve never met inspires me to be more than what I currently am. Have you ever been a fan of someone’s work for the shear fact that the person is awesome beyond his or her talent? I’m not talking about being a fan girl or guy but someone who appreciates the time, effort and energy that it takes to be larger than life both on and off camera.

Earlier in the week, we lost one of the most talented, funniest, giant kid actor/comedian. I never really realized how incredibly gigantic of an impact Robin Williams had on my life until my little sister told me he passed away Monday. My heart sank farther than it has in a very long while. I just couldn’t believe that someone who’s literally made me laugh since I started walking, talking and reading took his own life. Someone who’s made such a long lasting career of being who he was on a regular basis. And no I didn’t personally know Robin Williams but even I could see that he was a different type of actor and person.

Who is effortlessly funny on a dime? I mean seriously I’d watch him on late night shows and the man would turn it on like it was a dern light switch. How did he do that so seamlessly? How did he bring his plethora of characters out of his imaginary magician hat or bag and unleash them one after the other like a machine gun? You don’t get it either!?!??! Good, I’m glad I’m not the only one.

I suppose my motivation for making this a toofer is this… I think as creative minds we can draw inspiration from Robin Williams because like him we shouldn’t be afraid to be a little “out of our damn mind” about our creative works. The insanity that leads a person to create is what will ultimately be his or her saving grace.

It breaks my heart to think that he battled depression for so long and felt like the only way to end his suffering was to commit suicide. It scares me shitless because I’ve been depressed beyond considerable reasoning. I’ve questioned on multiple occasions why I should even be in existence. There was a period in my life that nothing absolutely nothing made me happy. I would cry and cry and cry like the world was crushing me like a trash compactor.

But even when I felt at my absolute lowest rock bottom state my one comfort was writing. Writing, my first love, allowed me to release my pain and to start the healing process even if I had absolutely no desire to do so. And I’m not saying Robin Williams probably didn’t attempt to find ways to make himself feel whole. Or that his pain wasn’t significant. We on the outside can’t even begin to speculate what he was going through in the last days of his life. What we do know is that at some point in each of our lives this wonderful and funny man made us laugh so hard we cried and double over in pain because we were laughing so hard.

We also know that we cannot be afraid to confront the pain we feel in our hearts. We cannot allow that pain to set us back so far that we don’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. We also can’t be afraid to think outside the box when it comes to our talents. We should aspire to be different. Be innovative not for everyone else in the world but for ourselves. We should want to share out talents and our struggles with the world because honestly I felt that if every person can help another person in some shape, form or fashion this world would be a mildly better place to exist.

Today I’m remembering Robin Williams and the joy he shared with the world even if it was only for a relatively short period of time.

Thanks for reading and nanu nanu…

The Southern Yankee

disclaimer: images are not my own. taken from http://www.robinwilliams.com and imgur.com

Fit, Fabulous & Fahn Fridays

So I was recently inspired by one of my favorite YouTubers, David So of DavidSoComedy and DavidSoMusic. He has a weekly Wednesday vlog series called Funny Fat Fit. In this series, he talks about his weight loss progress, offers some fitness/exercise advice and well makes you laugh with his ever so crazy rants about the process of losing weight. And in the middle of all the craziness that is David So, yo this fool is cray cray fo realz he offers some really encouraging words to help motivate his viewers to continue pushing through the agonizingly painful roller coaster of losing weight. my words not his lol

So with that said, lemme present to you wonderful people Fit, Fabulous & Fahn Fridays or 4F. I’ve been trying to lose weight off and on for several years now. I don’t like weighing more than 200 lbs and feeling as if my body is 90 years old when I’m only 35 years old. I want my body to feel as young as my face looks and mind works and thinks! which is obvious because I refuse to grow the fuck up

And what better time to start than today. Every Friday or every other Friday, I’m going to not only going to post my weight loss progress but I will also post recipes, exercise info graphics from Pinterest, inspirational quotes, get-ya-body-movin music and dance videos and perhaps some of you will feel inspired to want to guest blog. form to come shortly

I am by no means a fitness expert or enthusiast. In fact, I’m prolly the laziest person E V E R which is why I’m starting this little project. I need the extra boost of encouragement and I’m sure many of you do as well. So what do you say? Will you join me in this what seems like a never ending quest to become fit and curvy? For the guys that follow this blog, I’m not going to leave you out. I’ll try to make the non-Southern Yankee related posts generic enough that they will be beneficial for e’rybody.

I really hope you guys will join me.

Thanks for reading…

The Southern Yankee