Category Archives: Culture

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The Top 10 Blog Posts and or Magazine Articles for Black Christian Women in July 2021…

Hello World,

I’m back with my monthly roundup of blog posts and or magazine articles for black Christian women! Below is my Top 10 monthly roundup of blog posts and or magazine/newspaper articles for black Christian women for July, but you don’t have be a black Christian woman to to check them out. As usual, let me know if you like my list! Enjoy and share!

1. “Retiring Bishop Vashti McKenzie, first AME Church woman prelate, reflects on a groundbreaking career” by Adelle M. Banks

Excerpt: Just-retired Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie is an apologist for an adaptive style of leadership. It’s what has helped her succeed as the first woman to hold many roles in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. And it’s a style of leadership she said was needed during the pandemic “Adaptive leadership means that you are faced with situations but do not have a solution or answer that comes from past experiences, so you have to adapt,” she said in an interview on Thursday (July 15), a week after her retirement began at the close of her denomination’s General Conference in Orlando, Florida. See more at: religionnews.com

Sadly, just weeks later, Bishop  Murphy McKenzie’s husband Stan McKenzie passed away…

“Former NBA player Stan McKenzie, husband of first woman AME Church bishop, dead at 76” by Adelle M. Banks

Excerpt: Stan McKenzie, the first male episcopal supervisor of missionary work in the African Methodist Episcopal Church and the husband of Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie, has died. The Christian Recorder, the official publication of the denomination, announced his death, which occurred on Wednesday (July 21). Stan McKenzie, 76, died in Dallas after a brief illness, John Thomas III, the publication’s editor, told Religion News Service.  See more at: religionnews.com

2. “Marla Gibbs to receive star on Hollywood Walk of Fame” by Jared Alexander

Excerpt: Congratulations are in order for Hollywood icon Marla Gibbs. The actress is set to receive a star on The Hollywood Walk of Fame this July. Whether you know her for her iconic turn as Florence Jefferson on the CBS sitcom, The Jeffersons, or as Mary Jenkins on the hit series 227, Gibbs, 90, is a national treasure, and she is about to get the flowers she so richly deserves. Gibbs will receive the honor on July 20 at 11:30 a.m. The living legend took to her official Instagram account to celebrate the honor with her many fans and followers. She shared a meme that reads, “why don’t we celebrate Marla Gibbs the way we do Betty White?” with pics of Gibbs at various stages of her accomplished career. See more at: thegrio.com

3. “The first African American contestant to win National Spelling Bee is now aiming for Harvard, the NBA and NASA” by David Williams and Kevin Dotson

Excerpt: Zaila Avant-garde wasn’t focused on her place in history on Thursday when she became the first African American to win the Scripps National Spelling Bee in 93 editions of the competition. Instead, she was thinking about Bill Murray. The 14-year-old from New Orleans, Louisiana, won the 2021 crown after correctly spelling murraya — a type of tree — that she associated with the famous comedian. When she realized she won, Zaila gave a little spin and jumped in the air as confetti rained from the sky. See more at: cnn.com

4. “Nearly 70 years after she was married, Birmingham woman wears a wedding dress: ‘It was too special’” by Carol Robinson

Excerpt: Martha Mae Ophelia Moon Tucker was watching her favorite movie – ‘Coming to America’ – with one of her granddaughters last week when she whispered a life-long dream of hers that she had never before said aloud. “I’ve always wanted to try on a wedding dress,’’ the 94-year-old Tucker said under her breath, which was heard by granddaughter Angela Strozier. Strozier asked her grandmother to repeat what she had just said, and Tucker said it again. See more at: al.com

5. “‘I’ve Got 10,000 Books in My House’: Dallas Woman Shares the Joy of Reading” by Laura Harris

Excerpt: Many people would call Emma Rodgers a living legend in and around the Dallas community. She was the co-owner of Dallas’ Black Images Book Bazaar for 29 years. It was a place where the community could go to learn about Black literature and hear authors speak. The store opened in 1977 and closed in 2007, but Rodgers’ love of books and childhood literacy has not stopped. “Let me tell you how I got into books,” Rodgers said. “I had an aunt who would buy me books for Christmas every year, and it was a sniff and lift the page activities. It was just so cool. I have just always loved books.” Her love of books carried into the rest of her life. She estimates she has about 10,000 books in her Dallas home right now. See more at:  nbcdfw.com

6. “Ban on ‘Soul Cap’ Spotlights Lack of Diversity in Swimming” by Jenna Fryer

Excerpt: Alice Dearing has an afro, a voluminous puff nearly impossible to protect in most swimming caps. Her hair shrinks if it gets wet. And the chlorine? The chemicals in a pool can cause severe damage that requires substantial time and money to treat. The first Black female swimmer on Britain’s Olympic team uses the the Soul Cap, an extra-large silicone covering designed specifically to protect dreadlocks, weaves, hair extensions, braids, and thick and curly hair. But Dearing has been forbidden from using the cap in her Olympic debut next week in the women’s 10k marathon swim . See more at: time.com

7. “Simone Biles pulls out of individual floor exercise at Olympics, still to decide on balance beam” by D’Arcy MaineExcerpt: She later told the media she had experienced “a little bit of the twisties” and no longer trusted her ability to compete. In a series of posts to her Instagram account on Friday, Biles explained she was still experiencing the phenomenon, in which gymnasts feel like they get lost in the air, and said her “mind and body are simply not in sync.” See more at: espn.com 

8. “Naomi Osaka: ‘It’s O.K. Not to Be O.K.'” by Naomi Osaka 

Excerpt: Believe it or not, I am naturally introverted and do not court the spotlight. I always try to push myself to speak up for what I believe to be right, but that often comes at a cost of great anxiety. I feel uncomfortable being the spokesperson or face of athlete mental health as it’s still so new to me and I don’t have all the answers. I do hope that people can relate and understand it’s O.K. to not be O.K., and it’s O.K. to talk about it. There are people who can help, and there is usually light at the end of any tunnel. See more at: time.com

9. “Meet the sole Black female owner of the Milwaukee Bucks” by Rebecca Klopf

Excerpt: MILWAUKEE — The Bucks have made the playoff seven of the last 10 seasons. A majority of those appearances have come under new ownership that took over in 2014. You may know the names Wes Edens, Marc Lasry, Jamie Dinan, and Michael Fascitelli, the majority owners of the Bucks. But you should also know this woman: Valerie Daniels-Carter, one of the team’s minority owners. “There are couples that own the Bucks. I’m the only African American female that’s single that I know of that owns the Bucks,” said Daniels-Carter. See more at: tmj4.com

10. “Angela Bassett Dishes On The Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Script ‘I Don’t Know What It’s Going To Look Like At All’” by Shannon Dawson

Excerpt: “I don’t know what it’s going to look like at all,” Bassett explained of the film’s new script. “There have been about five incarnations of the script and I hear another one’s coming.”  Bassett continued; “Of course, with our dear king [Chadwick Boseman] going on to glory, a lot of things had to be shifted and changed. So thankfully, [director] Ryan [Coogler] and [writer] Joe Robert Cole, they’re just such masterful storytellers that they’ve found a way into this world, and hopefully it will be satisfying, I think, for the fans and it will be honorable of our Chad. We love our king,” she added.  See more at: madamenoire.com

If you know of any black Christian women bloggers and or writers, please e-mail me at jacqueline@afterthealtarcall.com as I’m always interested in expanding my community of black Christian women blog, magazines and websites. As I noted before, while this is a roundup of interesting blog posts and or magazine and newspaper articles for black Christian women, you don’t have to be one to appreciate these pieces  🙂.

Any thoughts?

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Why I’m Looking Forward to the ‘Sex and the City’ Reboot ‘And Just Like That…’ Despite Samantha’s Disappearance, Carrie’s ‘Big’ Divorce and Diverse Characters Sprinkled In…

Me and Candace Bushnell with the print edition of my book, the first look photo for ‘And Just Like That’ & the Recorded Books audiobook version of “Destination Wedding”

Hello World,

I cannot claim to be unequivocally “Sex and the City’s” biggest fan, but I have to be in at least in the top five of “Sex and the City’s” biggest black fans. I mean I don’t know of any other black woman or person who wrote a whole novel because he or she was inspired by the show and tracked down Candace Bushnell, whose life was the inspiration for the hit HBO show, for an endorsement of said novel. (Other reasons I have to be in the Top 5: 1. I’ve watched every episode of all six seasons at least three times and seen and own both movies. 2. I have the “Sex and the City” trivia game. 3. I went on the “Sex and the City” tour in NYC  in 2006 and gleefully took a picture on Carrie’s stoop.

Me on Carrie’s stoop (I know I’m such a tourist…)

 

4. I own several books about “Sex and the City” including “Sex and the City,” “Sex and the City and Us” and “Is There Still Sex in the City?” (All signed by Candace Bushnell!) And I would like to think that my humble novel adds to the “Sex and the City” canon 5. I took part in “Sex and the City”-inspired events such as the “Sex and the City”-themed pop-up event at TapaTapa in Midtown Atlanta in 2019.)

All of that to say, I have an informed opinion about Why I’m Looking Forward to the ‘Sex and the City’ Reboot ‘And Just Like That…’ Despite Samantha’s Disappearance, Carrie’s ‘Big’ Divorce and Diverse Characters Sprinkled In…Although I was shocked when I saw Sarah Jessica Parker’s January Instagram post which featured the trademark NYC bustle, a cacophony of blinking lights, car horns and bodies in motion, underneath Carrie’s familiar narration accompanied by her computer keyboard clicking, I literally tingled at the news that the next chapter of SATC would be told.

 

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But I wondered what else could be told since the last time we saw Carrie, Charlotte, Miranda and Samantha, they were satisfied with who they ended up with (in Samantha’s case no one…which may have been a forecast of what was to come looking back…) and what they had achieved. I won’t go into all of the details here, but you can certainly look them up. But as we have learned since then, as Sarah Jessica Parker and Kim Cattrall are not really friends in real life to say the absolute least, their less-than-friendly relationship has led to Kim Cattrall taking Samantha with her. Samantha’s chapter as far as the show is concerned is complete. And just like that, SATC the next chapter became unwatchable for some people without Samantha. And I must admit that without Samantha adding her bawdy commentary to the girls’ banter, I wonder if the girls will be too tame. But there are three other lives that I’ve wondered about since Abu Dhabi so I will have to wait and see what’s up although I’m preparing myself to be let down at least somewhat…just in case…

Here is the official logline: This new chapter of the groundbreaking HBO series “Sex and the City” follows “Carrie” (Sarah Jessica Parker), “Miranda” (Cynthia Nixon) and “Charlotte” (Kristin Davis) as they navigate the journey from the complicated reality of life and friendship in their 30s to the even more complicated reality of life and friendship in their 50s.

At one point, I had read rumors that Mr. Big was not included either, and I was really taken aback by that. No Samantha? And then no Carrie and Mr. Big on top of that? What’s left? I love Miranda and Steve and Charlotte and Harry, but we all know that the Carrie and Big saga was the main thrust of the show season after season. Apparently, a leaked script reported by Page Six revealed that Carrie and Mr. Big are going through a divorce in “And Just Like That.” I’m sad to learn this news, but I’m not surprised by it. In Candace Bushnell’s “Sex and the City,” Mr. Big wanted a girl who was “someone normal.” Carrie was a lot of things, but “someone normal,” she was not. And although I appreciated the mystique of Big, if Carrie and Big had been real people, she would have married Aidan who didn’t mind that she couldn’t be tamed if she married at all. Because the fact is that both Carrie and Big are commitment-phobes which is why just the thought of marrying Aidan made Carrie break out in hives (Remember when she tried on that wedding dress?). And speaking of Aidan, he will be in the reboot in addition to Steve and Harry! So I’m at least looking forward to that…

And then there’s the chatter about the four diverse characters that have been added:

Sarita Choudhury, Sara Ramírez , Nicole Ari Parker and Karen Pittman have joined the cast of the Max Original series “And Just Like That”…Choudhury plays “Seema Patel,” a single, self-made powerhouse Manhattan real estate broker. Ramírez stars as “Che Diaz” (they / them), a non-binary, queer, stand-up comedian that hosts a podcast on which Carrie Bradshaw is regularly featured. Parker plays “Lisa Todd Wexley,” a Park Avenue mother of three and documentarian. Pittman plays “Dr. Nya Wallace,” a brilliant, challenging Columbia Law professor, according to HBO Max, where the 10-episode (half-hour shows) reboot will be streamed.

 

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As a super fan who happens to be black, I certainly appreciate the added diversity, but it has to make sense in the story. Diversity just for diversity’s sake in a story is just dumb. I remember after watching the first 2008 “Sex and the City” movie, which included “Louise” portrayed by Jennifer Hudson, with my girls, we were not just happy to see a black woman included in our beloved show. This was my final assessment that I wrote in 2009:  I watched the movie in its entirety again on Saturday. And as I watched the movie again (I’ve probably seen it 3 or 4 times now), I was reminded of the one criticism of the movie that all of my girls agreed on – Jennifer Hudson’s character “Louise.” I heard that in an effort to appeal to the black fan base of the show, the movie writers decided to inject a black character. But my friends thought that with her use of Ebonics and her penchant for renting not buying designer purses, Louise was more of an insult instead of a compliment to black fans. As I watched the movie again, I didn’t necessarily think her character was offensive, but her character did seem to bit contrived.

I don’t want to see stereotypical characterizations of women of color. Just as there are many ways to be white women in this world, there are equally as many ways to be women of color. Based on the description of these diverse characters in the reboot, these women seem highly accomplished, but hopefully they will have flaws (necessary for real characters) which is what we love about Carrie, Charlotte and Miranda (and Samantha too 🙁 .) Their professional lives were admirable, but their personal lives are what kept us watching…And I look forward to watching SATC the next chapter although we will have to wait until the release date is announced…

And just like that, I’ve come to the end of what I have to say…What say you?

Any thoughts?

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Winners of 36th Annual Stellar Gospel Music Awards Announced, Premieres Sunday, Aug. 1 at 8/7c on BET (PHOTOS)!

Hello World,

The Stellar Gospel Music Awards celebrated its 36th year honoring excellence in gospel music, featuring soul-stirring performances that will awe audiences who love sounds of inspiration. Hosted by gospel chart-toppers Jekalyn Carr and Tye Tribbett, this year’s ceremony showcased an eclectic mix of gospel legends and industry standard-bearers along with the unstoppable force of young, contemporary artists who are spreading the good news in new ways. The annual celebration, set to premiere Sunday, August 1st at 8PM ET/PT on BET,  underscored the power of artists who boldly proclaim a Christ-centered identity, represent the unique sounds of their region, and display the rich diversity filling gospel music with a healing and uplifting energy that reaches the masses. 

A new generation of gospel artists showed up and showed out during the celebration as a testament to the genre’s staying power. Among them, Pastor Mike Jr., nominated for multiple Stellar Awards this year, performed “Big,” and host Jekalyn Carr belted her songs, “Change Your Story” and “Jehovah Jireh.” Maverick City Music treated audiences to the harmonious sound of “Jireh,” and various emerging artists such as Jokia, Terrian, and Nia Allen were spotlighted as up-and-coming gospel talent. 

Big winners at the 36th Stellar Gospel Music Awards include Pastor Mike Jr., who was named Artist of the Year and won Rap/Hip Hop Gospel Album of the Year and Urban/Inspirational Single or Performance of the Year. Kierra Sheard was feted during the ceremony with Song of the Year and Contemporary Album of the Year, and Maverick City Music won both New Artist of the Year and Album of the Year. Other multiple Stellar Awards winners include Jonathan McReynolds, who was named Male Vocalist of the Year, Contemporary Male Vocalist of the Year, and as part of a group that won Producer of the Year; and Tasha Cobbs Leonard, whose wins included Albertina Walker Female Vocalist of the Year, Praise and Worship Album of the Year, and Contemporary Female Vocalist of the Year.  

Select categories and winners are featured on Instagram @TheStellars. Social media lit up during the event, generating more than two million impressions with posts featuring performances, winners, and other notable moments. The audience and performers were pleased to return to an in-person ceremony after the Stellar Awards went virtual last year due to pandemic lockdowns. COVID-19 safety protocols were enacted as part of the in-person event.   

Among many highlights from “The Greatest Night in Gospel Music,” Yolanda Adams, Tamela Mann, and Avery*Sunshine joined together to deliver a powerful tribute to Lady Tramaine Hawkins, who was honored with the Aretha Franklin Icon Award presented by Toyota. The trio performed a medley including widely-known Hawkins’ songs such as “Holy One,” “Changed,” and “Going Up Yonder.” The Clark Sisters, who received the James Cleveland Lifetime Achievement Award presented by AT&T, also performed rousing renditions of “Is My Living In Vain,” “Blessed & Highly Favored,” “You Brought The Sunshine,” and “His Love.” The legendary group received three nominations for this year’s Stellar Awards. 

Kierra Sheard gave a spirited offering of “Something Has To Break,” and Sheléa and Christina Bell sang The Clark Sisters’ classic hit “You Brought The Sunshine.” Leading nominee Jonathan McReynolds lifted his voice to the sounds of “Grace” and “Movin’ On,” joined by Mali Music, and CeCe Winans burst into song with “Never Lost” and “Believe For It.”  

Viewers worldwide can expect to witness these dynamic performances and find out who won across all categories when the Stellar Awards airs Sunday, August 1, on BET, BET Her, and BET Gospel at 8 p.m. ET / PT. The show will also air August 2 on BET International. The ceremony, held at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center in Nashville, TN, on Saturday, July 10, will also be carried in various markets for national broadcast syndication from August 7 through September 5.  

The Stellar Awards not only recognizes the year’s best performances in the genre, but also honors gospel music icons and those who have been instrumental in advocating for the gospel industry. Top nominees for this year’s ceremony include former Stellar Awards host Jonathan McReynolds, who received eight nominations this year. Anthony Brown & group therAPy, Kierra Sheard, Maverick City Music, and Pastor Mike, Jr. each received seven nominations, including a nod each for Artist of the Year. Other celebrated artists receiving multiple Stellar nominations include Tasha Cobbs Leonard, The Clark Sisters, Rev. Luther Barnes and the Restoration Worship Center Choir, the Chicago Mass Choir, and host Jekalyn Carr. 

See photos, taken Photography By Gip III for Central City Productions, from the Stellar Awards below:

Maverick City with Award…

Shirley Caesar…

LaTocha Scott…

Jonathan McReynolds on stage with award…

Lady Tramaine Hawkins…

Master P and son…

Jekalyn Carr and Jawaan Taylor…

Yolanda Adams and daughter Taylor…

The Clark Sisters on carpet…

 

Jordan Kelly and Kierra Sheard Kelly…

Lecrae…

AT&T is proud to be this year’s presenting sponsor. With support from additional sponsors, including State Farm (Song of the Year presenter), Toyota, P&G (Traditional Female Vocalist presenter), and McDonald’s Inspiration Celebration Gospel Tour, the 2021 Stellar Gospel Music Awards is set to be the gospel event of 2021.For additional updates, follow The Stellar Awards on social media and check our website.  

FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT:  WWW.STELLARAWARDS.COM  AND BET.COM 

Any thoughts?