Facebook/Myspace

So I took a second (OK, an hour) to browse around face book like I used to in college( OK I still do it) and I just had to laugh at some of the stuff I saw. The groups, the applications, the pictures, this Internet thing is getting outta hand a little. I decided to browse through some of the groups I'm in, just to see what they are really about. I do that about every couple of months or so because I know how much people(including myself) use these mechanisms to represent themselves. So I'm at the "Dark skin Girls are Gorgeous" group that I am defiantly a member of and I notice that there are a couple hundred pictures for this group. Now if you know me at all you know that being a dark skinned girl wont no crystal stair for me, and that it took me a long time, really long time, before I could really be happy with my complexion. I was told all sorts of things when I was little. One girl told me that if I drank white milk instead of chocolate milk I would get lighter, and that was why I was so dark, because I drank chocolate milk. The sadder part about that misinformation is that I actually started drinking white milk in hopes that it would make a difference, not even realizing that hey, I hate milk all together and you would never find a carton(you remember those little ones) on my tray because I hate milk. ( I don't eat cereal and if I do the excess milk goes down the sink....it makes me gag ) Anyway, I love to see a dark skinned girl anywhere, and if shes on point ( it is what it ) then that's all the more reason to lift my shoulders ( in that very Rho Mu way) and give her a compliment even if her life as a dark skinned girl was nothing like mine. I remember crying allllll the time to my sisters who have a little more cream in their complexion about it. My sister Sandy would break out the Essence and do her best to show me that I was beautiful, and that my complexion had everything and nothing to do with my beauty..... I didn't get it though. Definitely one of those lessons best taught by self.

Any way so, I'm looking at these self proclaimed dark skin girls and picture after picture came up brown. These girls were a far cry from dark skin. Some real honey, caramel, just down right brown skinned girls reppin this skin that just a few years ago they would have laughed at and theirs I would have longed for. I realized it was relative, complexions that is. Relative to your family, your friends, same with weight, class, financial status. I kinda cooled out.


My other interest became observing what some people chose to put on the Internet as their best shot. I know nowadays, there's more fun and folly in putting pictures on the Internet and the whole dynamic has totally changed, but some of the things that people where clearly trying to pull off as on the more so than not side of the attractive (meaning eye pleasing as opposed to pretty or cute) scale became far more interesting on both sides of the spectrum. I mean edges that had not recently been permed much less pressed( especially if the ends are trying to tell that story), sweat pouring down your face, outfits with the belt, earrings, shoes, bracelet, and beaded necklace in the contrasting color. I mused. We cant pretend it doesn't happen or that we are picture perfect everyday but the I didn't make up the term "picture perfect". It does mean something doesn't it? Beyond camera readiness, the most comical part was the persona that some gave off in their pictures. People want to display a side of themselves that they value the most. They want to express something about themselves that they may feel is understated. I get it.



And while I may not have pictures of my self in the club with my hair (mid its return to its natural state) sweeping across my face as I don my hottest, newest latest, or pictures of my latest adventure, I do write these post, so I guess I can call it even and turn in for the night.