#you think that octavia actually is like THERES MORE REASONS WHY I HATE THIS PLACE LET ME GO HOME FOR HTE LOVE OF GOD | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

elegyofthemoon · 5 months

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What does your soul look like?

Tagged by @cove-holdens thank you ; v ; I did it for Octavia again LMAO

The results: "Blood in a lamb's wool: You're the victim, right? It hurts, everyday it hurts. It's obvious you're tainted, pulled into hell as soon as you stepped upon earth. You'll never know peace, you'll never know a life without violence. Im sorry. Wash your face and your hands, don't let your wounds carve deeper."

o u o ;;; ah. hah. yeah okay lmao

I won't say that they're a victim. They've had like One Bad Thing Happen To Them. The guy's completely lost where they are and they're stuck within themself and what to do and how to go back home. Things hurt but things get better. It's just how the cycle of life goes on, right?

But that doesn't mean that life for them continues without violence. It keeps happening. It keeps going and it gets worse, but somehow they'll make it out of here. It gives them a reason to leave this place, right? Right.

I'm not gonna tag anyone for this one (i feel bad doing twice in a row orz sowwy) but if you want feel free to say I tagged you in it!!

#im sleep deprived im using it to lose my filter on main idc hi #you think that octavia actually is like THERES MORE REASONS WHY I HATE THIS PLACE LET ME GO HOME FOR HTE LOVE OF GOD #but no with each suffering they grow roots in the place they stay #the point is that if they botherd to go back home theres nothing there #this new world would be the only place theyd call home now #to leave this place would mean to abandon the thing theyve poured a lot in now #you cant live a life without interacting with your world #and octavia forgets their own curiosity fails this principle on first step #but anyways #for octavia #my ocs #quizzes #to tag later

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frankincenseisnotamonster · 5 years

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The Festival

Expect it

DEETS:

Today is the day we reconnect to the truth.

Last month I said I was ready for change and you know the universe is over here DELIVERING! I was just thinking so much has changed since I started this blog, since I started practicing guitar and have been trying to divorce the patriarchy from my life (praise) ! In this past month I was really feeling the Saturn retrograde, it seems there was an endless string of changes, moves, car questions, living situation questions, drama at work and just a big helping of “get your shit together” Saturn energy lol. And you know I don’t hate it, now I wouldn’t say I like it either, but... I think its helping me grow.

One thing that has been arising for me in my own reflections and especially at work and in the world is bullshit. There is so much bullshit every where you look, climate change denying, fake people flying, telling yourself lies and crying, clever and unclever bullshit.

To deal with some of the bullshit I find myself doubling down on the types of things that bring me back to the ground, and to the truth like guitar playing and music making! To ground I have also appreciated the role of being in nature, moving my body, and spending time with loved ones. Grounding activities I feel are important because they act as not only joyful resistance in many ways to colonialism and capitalism but also act as a barrier to bullshit. Its pretty easy, especially when its all around lol, to get caught up in bullshit and that is why I am so goddamn thankful for art-making, for friendships, and for access to movement.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I love Salt bae. I had to share this because it came back into my consciousness after moving through a meme evolution. In my imagination lately I just envision all this acid truth being sprinkled like salt on and totally evaporating, disintegrating all these revolving lies out there about the climate, peoples bodies, personal lies about ourselves, lies that never served us. I also imagine the bread crumbs analogy as well, like all these great femme artists are just sprinkling them around and sometimes I find them and my life changes in a such a positive beautiful way, because my spirit finally got something it has been seeking for a long time.

I had a really great experience recently that I want to commemorate.

At friends graduation in San Diego ( Shout out to you, you go girl!!!)

While out at a bar on the eve of the Game of Thrones finale I stumbled upon a distraught person, saying fairly loudly, “they were have a mental health crisis”. Now y’all know with my school counseling background, performance art and empathy loving self I had to check out this situation, and lets just also be real, I been over here being nosey lol. So I go up to, who now know as Erica and proceed to go on a join rant about how GoT has always wronged us colored folk and the ladies. We talked about afrofuturism and the stories that we long for, fantasy stories and media with queer womxn of color protagonists! And after discussing for a good 15 minutes, Erica exclaimed, “Where did you come from!”. We obviously had a lot in common and little did she know I have actually been spending the last 3 years and (potentially longer) preparing for these VERY conversations and here I was giddy at the chance to finally put it to good use!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Now I am not a preacher, however if I could preach about ANYTHING it would definitely be about how I have not a shred of doubt in my mind that the stories and art and music were longing for are not only on the way, they already here. We got Lizzo, we got Octavia Brown, we got Monstress,Us ,Insecure,Moonlight, Black Panther, Adrienne Marie Brown, Steven Universe, Hot Brown Honey, Brittany Howard, like they out there, and many more not listed. When I think about this I realize I’m seeing things I always wanted to see, but there’s also more on the way. I am sure of this. Afrofuturist speculative fiction is out there, femme artists are out there, female artists are out there, artists of color are out there, the TRUTH IS OUT THERE.

So this conversation was obviously very exciting for me and made me realize theres a lot of us out here waiting for it, and also creating it. Thats one of the main reasons I want to learn more about making music and do these guitar battles. It is also part of a journey to throw out bread crumbs as I learn and grow. I figure if I want to find more of something, I also want to be part of it! If I make art, hopefully I’ll find more artists to collaborate with. Sending up the signal flare, and dropping the bread crumbs is the joy and find more believers is the pleasures. When I’m focused on this, I feel connected to the truth, my truth.

Praise let them remake the world Sprinkle it on me, Speak my dream into reality

There are now 20 days and counting until summer solstice. I am ready for sun and lots of guitar practice which I have been putting off to focus on “life events”, but I’m ready to recommit to the truth, reconnect to my muses, the ladies, the femmes, the womxn, and get ready for this crazy crazy guitar battle coming with rival #2! O.o

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

UPDATES :

Pleasure!!! The pleasure of the creating music organically in a car when you drive out at night to look at grass fields and feel the juices flow. Taking pleasure in things can be really healing and an act of resistance against the barrage of late capitalism. I’ve been practicing in places I don’t normally practice such as in cars, with students during the after-school program and its brought a lot of joy to my life even when its just for 15 mins! #artmakingkeepsmesane

Fighting the power never tasted so sweet.

#thegoldenwaveiscoming thegoldenwaveishere #fightingthepowernevertastedsosweet

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viralhottopics · 7 years

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Janelle Mone: I am the whole package

Shes a musician whose work has brought her massive acclaim. Shes also an outspoken activist in the Black Lives Matter movement, and now Janelle Mone is in Moonlight, one of the most talked about films of the year

One of Janelle Mones earliest childhood memories is of being hugged by her grandmother, a former sharecropper from Mississippi, and listening to her stories from the past: her years as a cotton picker; how their family came to be in Kansas City; the importance of connection to others. It was there, in her grandmas arms, that a slip of a six-year-old girl decided that one day she would become a storyteller, too. She wrote precocious plays and poems, sang and entered talent competitions that she often won, and gave her mother the winnings to help towards the electricity bill.

Twenty five years later, and Mones an acclaimed musician, record label boss and activist who is about to make her acting debut. Ive never viewed myself as just a musician or singer, she says. Im a storyteller who wants to tell untold, meaningful, universal stories in unforgettable ways. I want to do it all, study it all and find my place in it.

Her first role provides a great opportunity for telling an unforgettable story. Barry Jenkinss Moonlight is the coming-of-age tale of Chiron, an African American boy dealing with his sexuality. Its based on the play In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue by award-winning writer Tarell Alvin McCraney and is all but certain of Oscar nominations when theyre announced on Tuesday. Mone plays Teresa and she and her drug dealer boyfriend Juan become surrogate parents to little Chiron. Mone calls it her Neo from The Matrix moment, explaining that this film, and her recent move into acting, has always been her destiny, that she doesnt believe in coincidence: Things dont just happen, she says. Its all connected.

Its odd to hear her say this, as in person Mone doesnt feel very connected. When we meet she wears huge, round mirrored shades which obscure her face and stay firmly on throughout our interview, reflecting my own face back at me twice over. She sits neatly at the table, her legs curled beneath her. Shes courteous and friendly and businesslike. She chooses her words carefully.

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I had a strong visceral reaction to the Moonlight script, partly because I felt I knew all of these characters, she says. I grew up with a drug dealer like Juan in my neighbourhood who was a mentor to local young people. I had a family member who was addicted to crack, like Paula [Chirons biological mother, played by Naomie Harris]. Chiron himself reminded me of my little cousin they were all characters I could relate to from my upbringing. And Ive played the role of Teresa in real life: my family and friends always have a shoulder to lean on with me, she says.

About 40 minutes into Moonlight, Chiron, sitting at Teresa and Juans table, asks what a faggot is and whether he is one. Theres no music in this scene; Juan doesnt grab a gun and try to blow anyone away. Instead, he gracefully picks the word apart. Its an unexpected reaction.

The misconception is that drug dealers are all monolithic, says Mone, that what you see on TV is how they are in real life. The dealers I knew growing up were hustling and making choices they may not be proud of, but they were also giving back to the community, mentoring young boys and girls, helping people to pay their bills. They can be surrogate mothers and fathers to people in their communities, just like in Moonlight.

Mone grew up in Kansas City with her mother, a janitor, her truck driver stepfather and a sister. Money was tight but her large, devoutly Christian family she has more than 50 first cousins were close. My grandmother had 11 children and although we didnt have a whole lot of money, what we did have was a lot of love, she says. My grandmother was the matriarch. If you didnt have a place to stay, if you needed food, if you were just coming out of jail or rehab, you went to her. Watching her in our family and our wider community was what inspired me and still does.

Doing her sums: in Hidden Figures with Taraji P Henson and Octavia Spencer. Photograph: Allstar/20th Century Fox

Life was tough. There was a lot of nonsense growing up so I reacted by creating my own world, she says. The arts local theatre groups, singing and drama classes gave Mone the drive and focus to finish high school and temporarily work alongside her mother as a maid to save enough money to study at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York.

She then moved to Atlanta, Georgia, after she finished her studies. Shed update her MySpace profile while working at Office Depot to make ends meet, and came to the attention of fellow Atlantan Big Boi of Outkast. They became collaborators and, in 2006, he introduced her to Sean Diddy Combs, who offered her a recording contract. Mone was initially wary of signing her creative control away, but took the chance and it paid off. Diddy was hands off and wanted me to do my thing. Thats why hed offered to sign me in the first place, because I was different and I was the whole package.

For Mone, at 31, with three albums and six Grammy award nominations under her belt, her own record label up and running and two film roles in the pipeline (she also co-stars in the film Hidden Figures, the true story of the African American female mathematicians who helped catapult US astronaut John Glenn into space in the 1960s), 2016 was a year of professional triumphs but personal heartache. She had spent the early part of the year working on new music with her close friend and collaborator, Prince. He was actually helping me with my new music during the time before he transitioned. I was lucky enough to see his last show and tell him how much I loved him. He was a giver people dont know that. He gave so much: advice, very quiet donations to charities. He was a truly incredible soul.

Making her point: on a Black Lives Matter march in San Francisco. Photograph: Breningstall/REX Shutterstock

Still mourning for Prince, Mone was grief-struck a second time last year when, in August, her cousin was killed in a drive-by shooting. The 37-year-old was shot several times when the gunman sprayed bullets into the Kansas City home where she and her three children were sleeping. The gunman remains free. Mone, a long-time advocate of tighter gun control and an active voice in the Black Lives Matter movement pauses, and says quietly: My family is heartbroken and Im still devastated. My cousin was an innocent mother of three children. How? How can this be real life? She continues: We have to do something about gun laws. And we also have to do something about police brutality towards African American people. She points out that they are two different issues, but that we need more allies. People need to continue to speak out about the way African American people are being treated. An injustice to one black man or woman is an injustice to everybody.

Mone has led marches for Black Lives Matter, performed at a concert in aid of the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, alongside Stevie Wonder last year, and released a protest song, Hell You Talmbout, in October in response to the police brutality. Unsurprisingly, she is no fan of Donald Trump. Millennials will not be silenced were the powerhouse now. Were not going to let those who want to make America great again truly take over. Because what Trump means by making America great again is oppressing women, oppressing minorities, creating hate. Were not allowing him to run the world, even though he thinks he is.

I ask her how she feels she can make a difference personally. Mone takes a deep, considered breath and says calmly: Music is my weapon. I wont remain silent. Michelle Obama having been our First Lady for eight years set an example of how we need to be. We need to be visible and we need to be loud. Were not objects. For the first time during the interview, Mone shows more than a crack of emotion not much but enough to know that the sunglasses stay on for a reason.

Moonlight opens in the UK on 17 February