Legendary Actress and Singer Lena Horne has passed on to a better place.

From the New York Times.

Lena Horne, who broke new ground for black performers when she signed a long-term contract with a major Hollywood studio and who went on to achieve international fame as a singer, died on Sunday night in Manhattan. She was 92.

http://wholesomeambitions.com/

A site about health By a wonderful African American Woman Brie Foote, Health Enthusiast

Chances are you’ve never heard of “Be Good to Women Day.” It’s not one of those days that is pre-printed on calendars. On the popularity scale the day ranks even lower than “Secretary’s Day” or “Grandparents Day.” But if Brad Sanders and a growing number of “Be Good to Women Day” participants have their way that will change.

Brad Sanders is a syndicated radio personality, actor and comedian who lives in Los Angeles. He’s the voice behind “On the Phone with Tirone” and he’s spent years listening and talking to women who call in with problems. Six years ago when Brad Sanders created “Be Good to Women Day” he was thinking of his mother, his wife, his daughter, his sister and his close women friends, all those who helped him become the man that he is. And he was hearing the voices of all those women he’s counseled and advised over the years. “Be Good to Women Day” is best understood juxtaposed against the disrespect women suffer in the lyrics of music and videos, the physical and emotional violence inflicted against them by husbands and boyfriends, the white collar crimes of unequal pay for equal work, the messages young girls receive about their worth. Why not set aside a day to begin to change that thinking?

But there is a danger in such propositions—even one with good intentions. Consider Valentine’s Day, with its cloying sentimentality and scripted giving. Buy your loved one things—chocolate, diamonds, lingerie—because you’re supposed to show your love this way (and spend a lot of money doing it). I approached “Be Good to Women Day” with a healthy dose of curiosity and caution.

That was last year. This year I knew what to expect when I attended the “Be Good to Women Day” prayer vigil. Inside Bryant Temple AME on a Tuesday evening in March, the pews are packed with men and women from all over the city. Some are church members. Some are not. Some are recovering addicts. Some are professionals. They are young and old and in between. Brad Sanders is standing in front of the alter explaining the purpose of the day:

“In our society and in societies all over this world women are subjected to a certain level of inferiority. Women are mistreated and used. I have pages of statistics…but what we must understand is these statistics are not the problem; they are the symptoms of the problem. That problem is in how we think of women. See, you don’t believe what you see, you see what you believe. So if you see somebody as being inferior that’s the way you think of them and that’s the way you behave toward them. And nobody knows that better than black men…and yet we turn around sometimes and perpetrate that same lack of understanding on our women. The purpose of this event is to influence a change of heart and a change of mind.”

Applause and affirmations—amen! preach it! say that!—rise from the gathering. But as it turns out the whole evening is one hearty amen to women, to healthy relationships, to realizing the way men and women can bring out the best in each other. The Rev. Cassandra Thomas-Wright took listeners back to the beginning and into the heart of God.

“God when he created humankind he had equality on his mind…It’s an interesting thing in this creation narrative, if you go back and read one through three in Genesis you’ll see God kept saying he created this and it was good. He created this and it was good. The only time when he said it was not good was when man was alone. He knew man couldn’t do what he needed to do without the help of a woman!”

The Rev. Kamal Hassan reminded the gathering that things don’t have to be the way they are, change is possible when the community takes action: “There are some things God expects us to do in helping men come out of the places where they have been buried! Some things we need to do! Some stones we need to roll away, so when Jesus calls he can get up and come out!

What are the stones that need to be rolled away? The stones of physical absence, emotional absence, domination, violence, control. The community, Hassan said, must roll away the stones.

The evening ends the way it begins: in prayer. The men form a huge circle around the perimeter of the sanctuary; the women are seated inside the circle. And then prayer rises from the men. They begin to pray: for forgiveness, for understanding, for healing for those who never knew their fathers, for peace, for deliverance, for redemption for men who have been the abuser, for hope. The men are praying for the women and children, for themselves, for right relationships. It’s simple, yet powerful, authentic and real—real enough to melt all caution and doubt. One can’t help but emerge from the center of the circle, feeling a part of something important and necessary, feeling valued.

Chances are you’ve never heard of “Be Good to Women Day.” It’s not marked pre-printed on your calendar. But it should be.

Jocelyn Stewart

“This needs to go from a day to being a movement. We need to have a Be Good to Women Movement.”

—Rev. Kamal Hassan

“See, it’s not about what you wear or how you wear your hair, or how much money you’ve got or what kind of man you’re rolling with. Your intrinsic worth is that you are created in the image and likeness of almighty God.”

—Rev. Cassandra Thomas-Wright

“In my church most of the men have been really messed up by John Wayne and the Marlboro Man…the strong silent type. If you can’t claim your tender self, if you can’t claim your vulnerable self, you can’t claim your real self, you can’t claim your whole self….to be a whole human being you have to claim all of your emotions.”

—Rev. Kamal Hassan

“In your own mind know that you’re a queen. In your own mind know that you have intrinsic worth and value.”

—Rev. Cassandra Thomas-Wright

In celebration of Be Good to Women Day I celebrate you, the readers of this blog, the founders and contributors. Thank you for honoring yourselves, the women in your lives and women all over.

I will say that as a daughter, sister, aunt, mother, woman and human being I am grateful for a day such as this, however the celebration is bittersweet. Do your own research on the statistics of abuse against women. Research the internet, look into the faces of women in your churches (yes, your church too), schools, neighborhoods and even more sadly, your homes. Be Good to Women Day, Mother’s Day and Valentine’s Day should sound as weird as National Blood Flowing through Veins Day and Blinking Day. But I won’t preach. No, I am a poet, an artist, a mother who has seen too many sad, broken, abused, lonely women and has been every one. But I am one of the special ones because I know that abuse does not define me. I am not first name Victim last name Zainabu. In fact, my name doesn’t matter at all. All you need to know about me is that I am God’s daughter. This…knowing was the key to my healing. Because of whose I am I am whole. I am complete.

So how should you celebrate Be Good to Women Day? Well, you create that. I will suggest this, be the change you want to see in your mother’s life for all women, all of the time. And when you forget, remember. And be that again.

God holds the hearts of women
In a special place I feel
The benevolent eye that watches the sparrow
Watches us
I know

Still the conversations of victim, defeat and not enough show up
Harmoniously, in whispers, often, today
We understand, as if understanding were cure
Through long work shifts, sore feet and bills due
We are hopeful inside closets where we cry
On the lawn chairs where we laugh about the nothing
About everything

We know we are enough
Still we are big girls longing jump rope and tetherball at recess

We are strong
We are our mothers our grandmothers
We are words and rainbows
Rivers and results

I stand in front of my mirror
Full breasts
Hips that carried my son
A belly that rested his head

Still the not enough shows up

And sometimes I listen
But then sometimes
I don’t

Be Good to Women Day. Be good to all women. I am every woman and so are you. If I am not well then neither are you. If I have eaten and you are hungry then none of us are well. Be Good to Women every Day.

Jaha Zainabu

Why You Should Be Kind to Women

Have you ever stopped to truly think about the enormous impact women have on their surroundings? In most societies women are typically the nurturers, the caregivers, the housekeepers, the cooks and in single-parent female-headed households they are also the sole breadwinners. Which means this amazing individual is responsible for directly influencing our emotional well-being, the quality of our home environment, our nutritional and physical health and our financial stability.

A major factor in determining the strength of a society is the well-being of its women. So employers, please be good to your women and make sure she receives the same pay and opportunity as her male colleagues because her emotional, mental and financial stability directly affects that of her family. Husbands, be kind to your wives because it’s her loving kindness and feminine touches that makes your house feel like a home. Children, be kind to your mothers because from the day you were conceived she has protected, guided and encouraged your growth and success. Make sure she knows she is loved and appreciated. Make sure she takes time for herself. Assist her in making sure her dreams and aspirations are attained while she is helping family members with theirs. I implore you to be good to your women. No one can argue that women are exceptional in so many ways and have had a great influence on each of our lives. With so many examples of this, why does one even need to ask why we should be good to women? The question should be what kind of world would this be if we’re not?

Jae Henderson is a writer and founder of www.imagoodwoman.com

Ego Tripping (there may be a reason why)

By Nikki Giovanni

I was born in the congo

I walked to the fertile crescent and built

the sphinx

I designed a pyramid so tough that a star

that only glows every one hundred years falls

into the center giving divine perfect light

I am bad

I sat on the throne

drinking nectar with allah

I got hot and sent an ice age to europe

to cool my thirst

My oldest daughter is nefertiti

the tears from my birth pains

created the nile

I am a beautiful woman

I gazed on the forest and burned

out the sahara desert

with a packet of goat’s meat

and a change of clothes

I crossed it in two hours

I am a gazelle so swift

so swift you can’t catch me

For a birthday present when he was three

I gave my son hannibal an elephant

He gave me rome for mother’s day

My strength flows ever on

My son noah built new/ark and

I stood proudly at the helm

as we sailed on a soft summer day

I turned myself into myself and was

jesus

men intone my loving name

All praises All praises

I am the one who would save

I sowed diamonds in my back yard

My bowels deliver uranium

the filings from my fingernails are

semi-precious jewels

On a trip north

I caught a cold and blew

My nose giving oil to the arab world

I am so hip even my errors are correct

I sailed west to reach east and had to round off

the earth as I went

The hair from my head thinned and gold was laid

across three continents

I am so perfect so divine so ethereal so surreal

I cannot be comprehended except by my permission

I mean…I…can fly

like a bird in the sky…

I WANT AN EVERYDAY MAN

Written by Joan Taylor Sanders

March 14, 2010. at a Vesper Service of
Bryant Temple A.M.E. Church
Inspired by the Holy Spirit & A
Roberto Miranda Concert)

I want an everyday man.
Not a holiday, can’t stay man.
Not a vampire like man
Appearing only when his needs bring him to my bed
Leaving before the light of day
Leaving me just a remembrance of his physicality
And words that don’t keep me safe or sheltered from day to day.

I want an everyday man.
Dedicated, committed, staying,
Embracing joyfully a life with me and mine
Through every season a can do everyday man
Clear in mind, sweet in spirit,
Determined to keep love between us and ours flowing

I want an everyday man,
A hard times can’t drive away man,
A truth telling without yelling obscenities man
Strong in faith, solid in resolve to live a life
Pleasing to God.

Do you… have you an everyday man in your life.
Blessed and highly favored are you.
Lift him prayerfully… carefully be
An everyday good woman, daughter, son
For this jewel given you.