Today What About Our Daughters is participating in HAPPY BLACK GIRL DAY! Happy Black Girl Day is the brainchild of Sister Toldja. You can read the official rules of HAPPY BLACK GIRL DAY at her blog, The Beautiful Struggler. I can't wait for the Happy Black Girl Day greeting cards, floral arrangements, fire works display. Here is my first entry. This week I am one HAPPY BLACK GIRL!
I received a picture mail Monday that merely said "She's there." The accompanying photo was of a white house. No, not "A" White House, but THE WHITE HOUSE.
She's there? Yes, She's there. Yes, after months of starts and stops and setbacks and detours she was there. SQUEEE! YAY! uh uhhhh! Shut UP! She's there? Yes, she's there! No way! WAAAY!
On Monday Michelle Obama Watch dispatched our Washington Correspondent, Nisa, to the White House to report on the International Women's Day celebration hosted by our First Lady and the President of the United States. On Tuesday she reported from the Smithsonian Museum of American Historywhere the First Lady was handing over her inaugural gown. And none of it would have been possible if I hadn't been willing to let go of the steering wheel. I now have EVIDENCE that I can build something, release it, and it will grow without me micromanaging. Which is a good thing because I'm building a lot of stuff these days.
Last year, after my doctor gave me the side eye regarding my blood pressure, I was forced to give some things up, including control by trying to do too much. So I handed over the management of Michelle Obama Watch, the blog, to someone else.
This Black girl is happy that she found the fabulousness that is the Managing Editor of Michelle Obama Watch, Aminah Hanan. You should be happy that since Aminah has had things well under control since she took over, I have been freed to focus on developing television and movie projects. The first is a spin off of Michelle Obama Watch, the blog called Our East Wing, the television show.
For the past four months I've been taking courses in video and television production. I know how to white balance an HD camera. I know what an ND filter is. I don't quite know what aperture is, but I know how to adjust it to get the look I want. I've learned about audio and mixers and The Grand Master. I've been certified to produce in a 2 camera studio and next month I'll train to get certified in the three camera studio. Dolly shots, and panning, medium and long, warm vs. cool, keying, character generation are now part of the ever evolving vocabulary and skill set.
Four months ago, I looked in on the studio control room and it looked like they were flying the space shuttle. Well now, I know how to fly too. I was the star pupil in my class! Okay, well there were only two people in the class, but I was still the star :) I reserved a studio at the end of the month to hold auditions to select the hosts of the show. I have to know how everything works before I can direct other people, but as soon has I get the hang of everything, I'm handing it off and moving on to the next project. And that's just the beginning.
So I'm happy that we are amassing a growing body of evidence that one day we will live in a world where millions of Black women will be defining their images for themselves by producing their own content. One blog post at a time, one correspondent at a time, one television show at a time. You now have the evidence. Why not step out on faith?
Happy Black Girl Day!
PS. Sign up for Script Frenzy today. Its the competition to write a 90-page screen or stage play in 30 days. I'm already outlining :) It starts April 1st. I hope to have at least 6 readers participating with me.PPS. If you want to get me a Happy Black Girl Day Present, you can get me a Panasonic GH1 :)... for the aspiring filmmaker :)
Yes, that was me this morning on the Tom Joyner Morning Show being interviewed by Jacque Reid. No, I didn't tell anyone I was going to be on, not even my Mama. Not even Attorneymom, who THINKS she is my Mama.
I've developed a policy of never mentioning radio interviews beforehand in the event they end up being an unmitigated disaster. Early reviews are that the interview was not a disaster. Mama, you can go over to Michelle Obama Watch to hear the interview.
Twitter Update
FYI, my new Twitter ID is GEM2001. If you had been following me, you would have known about the interview last night. The BWBConference ID is going for conference related updates only.
So I thought we would take things easy chill out for the rest of the week. Let everybody decompress before we defund DL Hughley's show and send him packing ( give it time), so I saw an article titled "Michelle Obama: America's Next First Lady." Great! Nope. It started out promising, informing the reader that Michelle Obama is going to be the youngest First Lady since Jackie O, but then the meme begins with the regurgitated stereotype of the Black woman who emasculates her man.
Others may gush over her husband but Michelle Obama, not only the first black First Lady but one of the youngest presidential wives since Jackie Kennedy, likes to be brutally honest about him....Critics have labelled her arrogant, haughty, cold and an "angry black woman". Supporters portray her instead as independent-minded, unafraid to speak out and a devoted mother who puts family firmly before career...
Thanks to her, we now know that the president elect never puts the butter away, cannot make beds and tends to be a bit smelly in the mornings. Such tidbits might have helped humanise the Obama image but critics claimed she emasculated him...Although she often wins plaudits for her personal style, her tastes are hardly cutting edge. There have been controversies. Eyebrows were raised when her salary in her current - part-time - job as a vice president at the University of Chicago Hospitals soared as soon as her husband became a senator. And she attracted criticism in February after she made a speech in which she said she was now proud of her country "for the first time in my adult life". The Telegraph
Well luckily most of the other "Meet Your New First Lady" are the standard fare.
Reuters: MIchelle Obama: new style of first lady
USA TOday: Michelle Obama Keeps Focus on Her Family
CBN News: America's First Mom
This serves as our announcement that we are accepting applications for new contributors over at Michelle Obama Watch to cover the transition and the inauguration. IF this article is any indication, there will be plenty to post about. Hit us up at Michelle Obama Watch at gmail.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010 at 7:50AM 
