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Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Was the Jonesboro High dance routine too sexy?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Jonesboro High School dance team has been suspended for the year after performing a routine that officials deemed too provocative.
You can watch the routine at this site: http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=50347364&searchid=818ac44d-f3c0-41bd-bc42-107d79f29be9
But a warning: Comments on the site contain racial slurs and profanity.
Did you attend the game or are you parent with a student on the dance team? Did county school officials act appropriately or was the suspension too harsh? What did you think of the routine. Was it too sexy for a high school halftime performance?
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What is “good hair”?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“Daddy, why don’t I have good hair?”
That’s the question the actor-comedian Chris Rock says he once got from his daughter Lola. Now the age-old subject of “good hair” is generating a lot of buzz for Rock.
This year’s Sundance Film Festival featured a new documentary Rock produced for HBO Films titled “Good Hair.” Turns out Rock spent some time in Atlanta working on the piece, with the Bonner Bros. hair competition being featured prominently.
Rocks says he actually came up with the idea to do the film more than 10 years ago when the hair show coincided with a stand-up tour stop in Atlanta. (The next Bonner Bros. show actually runs next month Feb. 21-24)
In the documentary, Rock explores culturally what “good hair” is and the lengths that black women will go to have it. From weaves to permanent relaxers, black hair products are a multi-billion dollar industry that reaches as far as India, another place Rock visited for the film.
Several celebrities are featured in the piece as well, including activist Al Sharpton, actors Raven-Symone and Nia Long, poet Maya Angelou and rapper Ice T. Rock also spent time visiting hair salons and high schools talking to women about their hair issues.
It’s a conversation that black women have been having amongst themselves for years. The impact that hair has on their lives is enormous. In addition to simply managing it, there are issues of self-esteem (remember India Aire’s song “I am not my Hair”), health (an exercise workout can kill a black woman’s hairdo….) and societal approval (a struggle that Rock says his two young daughters also deal with).
What do you think of the comedian’s decision to a documentary on black hair? Will the film resonate with a broad audience? Also, have you had to have the “what is good hair” conversation with your daughters, friends or co-workers?
