Join Dr. Carla on a Free Webinar/Q&A Call: “5 Tips to Help Your Daughter Build Healthy Self-Esteem & Self-Worth”

Dear Parent/Guardian,

You are invited to participate in a complimentary webinar and Q&A call with Carla Stokes, Ph.D., M.P.H.

Wednesday, March 31, 2010
8:00 pm Eastern Time

Join Dr. Carla as she shares 5 Tips to Help Your Daughter Build Healthy Self-Esteem and Self-Worth. Sign up to get information and resources for concerned parents and more details about Dr. Carla’s life-changing new Girls Destined for Greatness™ coaching group for teen and tween girls in Atlanta.

Don’t miss out on these valuable tips!

Register for the Webinar/Q&A Call

The Hip Hop Wars: What We Talk About When We Talk About Hip Hop–and Why It Matters by Tricia Rose

Tricia Rose is at the top of my list of favorite hip hop scholars. In her latest book, The Hip Hop Wars: What We Talk About When We Talk About Hip Hop–and Why It Matters, Professor Rose drops knowledge about the current state of the conversation about hip hop and gender politics. I have not finished reading the book, however, in my humble opinion, one of the best reasons for buying this book is to read the much-appreciated props given to my girls’ empowerment and media education work with HOTGIRLS on page 254! On a more serious note, Tricia Rose is a brilliant cultural critic and “Hip Hop Wars” further illustrates the continued importance of her work within the public and academic discourse regarding representations of black women in hip hop. This book contains useful insight and resources for educators and girl advocates — especially those who integrate media literacy into their work.

Product Description (from Amazon)

Hip-hop is in crisis. For the past dozen years, the most commercially successful hip-hop has become increasingly saturated with caricatures of black gangstas, thugs, pimps, and ’hos. The controversy surrounding hip-hop is worth attending to and examining with a critical eye because, as scholar and cultural critic Tricia Rose argues, hip-hop has become a primary means by which we talk about race in the United States.

In The Hip-Hop Wars, Rose explores the most crucial issues underlying the polarized claims on each side of the debate: Does hip-hop cause violence, or merely reflect a violent ghetto culture? Is hip-hop sexist, or are its detractors simply anti-sex? Does the portrayal of black culture in hip-hop undermine black advancement?

A potent exploration of a divisive and important subject, The Hip-Hop Wars concludes with a call for the regalvanization of the progressive and creative heart of hip-hop. What Rose calls for is not a sanitized vision of the form, but one that more accurately reflects a much richer space of culture, politics, anger, and yes, sex, than the current ubiquitous images in sound and video currently provide.

About the Author
Tricia Rose is a professor of Africana Studies at Brown University. She specializes in twentieth- and twenty-first-century African-American culture and politics, social thought, popular culture, and gender issues. The author of the seminal Black Noise, she lives in Providence, Rhode Island.

It’s Okay to Take Time for Yourself: In Fact, It’s Very Necessary!

Me at the stained glass painting workshop

Do you take time for yourself on a regular basis? I’m not talking about taking time to shower, eat, or do the stuff that your parents and teachers expect you to do. I’m talking about spending quality time nurturing yourself and honoring your spirit by making your hobbies, dreams, and passions a priority in your life.

It’s really important to take time on a regular basis to spend quiet time connecting with what really excites you deep down inside — even if you only have 5-10 minutes to daydream, write in a journal, or send a text to a friend about your plans for self-care.  So find the time and tune out anyone (including yourself) who attempts to make you feel guilty about making time for your personal growth and happiness.

I found a notebook recently that contained some sketches from my elementary and high school years (mostly fashion illustrations and sketches of my high school boyfriend).  I felt a sense of loss because I haven’t really taken the time over the years to cultivate my artistic abilities even though I have loved to draw and paint ever since I was a little girl. As I grew older, I became fascinated with airbrushing and stained glass and learned how to do both, but I really wanted to take advanced classes in the ancient art of glass painting.

I recently signed up for a stained glass painting and airbrush workshop as a special gift and reward to myself for almost completing my new web site. I did so even though my “inner hater” warned me that I couldn’t afford to learn this complicated art form at this time in my life.  As a recovering perfectionist, I am really proud of myself for allowing myself to celebrate my progress even though I had not yet launched the web site.  I just returned from the workshop, and  feel renewed and more balanced and creative.  Even though it took a few days away from my plans to launch my web site, I had an amazing time and it was definitely worth the sacrifice.  I am excited about getting started on a special art project I have been planning for more than 13 years. All I have to do is get serious about making time in my busy schedule to work on it and let go of my desire for it to be perfect!

This Week’s Challenge:

I encourage you to write down at least five things that you LOVE to do and schedule time to spend at least 10 minutes this week doing at least one of the things on your list. If you don’t have hobbies, use the time to identify some things that might interest you. If you are really motivated, I challenge you to spend the next week doing at least one thing every day that makes you happy and rewards your soul. After you take some time to enjoy your hobbies, take a moment to stop and become aware of how good it makes you feel. And if you find yourself feeling guilty about taking time away from your daily grind, take a deep breath and repeat after me, “It’s okay to take time for myself.”

To your greatness,

PS: I would love to hear about what’s on your list and how you are making time for yourself…