Grannies for Gays

So on the last Feminine Friday post, Chatty Kathy included the video of Zack Walls speaking (eloquently and bravely and oh-my-God-date-me-ly) about preserving our new marriage equality laws here in Iowa. He speaks about his mothers and their ability to parent, and judging from the way he speaks and carries himself and the obvious respect he has for them, I'd say (and he says) they did a pretty damn good job. It's been just about everywhere on the internet - good job Zack! (date me date me) - and it's been inspiring people to respond.

One such responder is this lovely lady, Jean Argus. Jean is also an Iowa native, and she was so moved by Zack's speech that she shared her own story about her gay son and his family. She acknowledges that it was a struggle to accept him, but in the end, he's still her son, and the fact that he's gay doesn't make him a bad person or her a bad mother. If I were gay, this is what I would want my mother to say on my behalf.

Feminine Friday: Black Ladies

Hey you gays. Yes, it's been a while. We all know this. I have zero good excuses. Just like there are ZERO degrees to be found anywhere in Iowa City. They weren't lying about that monster blizzard. I'm just thrilled I got my first experience with snowblowing.

Today, boys and girls and everything in between, we are going to discuss a very important group of people. Black Ladies. I've been discovering them via Def Jam poetry YouTube Videos. Let's meet some of them.

1. Floetry- Fantasize.



Floetry is a duo who got their start on the spoken word circuit. I discovered them one late night avoiding my homework and watching said Def Jam videos. Marsha Ambrosius is the Songstress and Natalie Stewart is the Floacist. They released 3 studio albums (Floetic, Floacism, Flo'Ology) before breaking up tragically in 2007. Ambrosius is releasing a solo album this March. In conclusion, Marsha Ambrosius's voice kills me every time Katie Dee and I watch this. Which has been a lot recently since we've gotten rid of cable.

2. Michelle Obama. No explanation needed. I just like to objectify The First Lady.On a sidenote, we recently had a discussion about what the husband of our first female president will be called. The First Gentleman? The First Sir? We couldn't decide, then hoped it wouldn't stay Mr. President because that's just like the 80cents to the dollar plight women suffer from now. But instead of coinage as currency, it's titles. What would the husband of the first lady president be called? Assuming she's married, which she doesn't have to be. Also assuming she's straight, which she doesn't have to be. Can of worms...

3. Queen Latifah.
Cover Girl, just come out already. You and your live-in personal trainer aren't fooling anyone. Neither are your board shorts. I wish I could come up with some new material for Queen Latifah, but Perez took all the good shit. She's beginning to be the Ricky Martin of Lesbians. It'd be more effective for everyone if you came out sooner rather than later. Oh, and please don't write a memoir post-coming out that's some tired publicity, grrrl.

4. Nikki Giovanni



This is a poem called "Ego Tripping." I'm going to let it speak for itself. Black ladies, ya'll. Black Ladies.

5. Jennifer Holiday


Holy Crap. Unbelievable. Townie Bear has a thing for black ladies who belt (something we have in common) and he showed us this during a marathon YouTube sesh. Look past the over-exaggerated theater face she's got going on. It's the Tony's televised. Stage face is not going to translate into TV face just like that.

6. Jill Scott

Ok, so as you can see I may or may not be on a spokenwordlovepoem binge. J-Bear showed us this upon her return from India. ( To check out her time there, hit up her blog Curry Me Away). My favorite part of this is Jill's bit where it becomes staccato around 2:45. I just can't resist a piece where th wrods imitate the very sounds that they are trying to express. This is the remix with Mos Def from Jill's "Collaborations" Album. I also really love Family Reunion from her Beautifully Human: Words & Sounds Volume 2.

Boom. Black Ladies.

On a completely unrelated SIDE NOTE: Zach Wahls is a fellow student at the University of Iowa who gave a great speech about family. Marriage Equality is, of course, under fire here in Iowa but I'm not really worried about it because Country Homo has made the point that the only way the Iowa constitution is amended is if the vote goes through two consecutive senate sessions via a super majority-- not just the regular kind of majority-- and this session is almost over, then elections will happen, then it starts all over again. So we're safe for at least 2 more years. This is the reason Iowa is the shit and is the reason Iowa has the least amended constitution in the nation. This video was circulating around facebook and the Iowa City community, making it's way on to salon.com. Pretty cool shit, Zach. Thanks.