Get Resume Ready!

>> Sunday

I have been researching lately on how to update my resume and make it pop! It's the 21st century and with how the economy has been it's extremely hard to get a job. However, with the right tools and resume this "recession" may not affect you. Problem #1: Should your entire job history be on a resume? This is the biggest issue people have with their resumes. On mine, I was applying for writing and editing jobs but when you looked at my resume it said Bath and Body Works or any other retail stores I worked at. I don't think that someone hiring me to write cares that I know every flavor and scent of a Wallflower plug-in. Then again, you never know. ;-) Solution #1: Leave your job history to a minimum. I decided that any job you apply for, the person hiring you may want to know that you are....well....hirable. So I decided to list on my resume my last three recent jobs. Especially the one that I worked a long time at because this shows loyalty and consistency. Problem#2: Do people still list their interests? When I first did my resume back in 2000 it was imperative to list your interests. This shows employers that you have extracurricular activities. But is it really that important that they know you enjoy kayacking or singing in your church's choir? Solution #2: Only list your interests pertaining to the position. I went ahead and took my interests off and replaced it with a skills section. However, those that want to leave an interest section make sure it pertains to the job. For instance, if you're applying to be a graphic designer then one of your interests should include managing your website or designing flyers. This way the employer will understand that you truly have a passion and since you already love that type of work, then you'll be the best kind of employee! Problem #3: Should my resume include a cover letter? This is easy. Yes. Solution #3: Always have a cover letter saved and ready to go. Not all jobs require you send a cover letter with your resume, but some do and we don't want to be caught off guard. My cover letter describes my college experience, my work experience, and well my writing experience. The best advice I can give for a cover letter is just have a main one that can be used for the majority of the jobs you apply to. I don't have a cover letter for any receptionist job I may apply for, but if a newspaper asks for one I'll be prepared. Problem #4: If I use color or interesting font, my resume may seem unprofessional? We are taught to use black and white on our resume and simple fonts. To me, this seems so boring, original, and I am afraid that my resume will be overlooked or tossed to the side. On the flip side, you do have to be careful because you do not know who will look at your resume. Someone that has a hard time reading crazy fonts may not like your fancy lettering. Solution #4: Keep it simple, but make it your own. I decided to keep my resume black and white but I made my heading stand out. I picked out ONE font for my title that portrayed me. The rest of the resume, I tried to make headings bold and separate sections for easy reading. However, as I researched on the internet photographers, web designers, grapic designers, artists, and musicians get a little more creative. It is acceptable for these types of resumes to have color, crazy lettering, or not even be on a page at all. Most of their resumes are on a cd or site. So it is very important that you follow guidelines and remember to be yourself!

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Fun Things to be this Halloween

>> Friday

Trick or Treat anyone?? Who says that all the Halloween candy and scary costumes are only for the little ones? There's many fun parties on Halloween for adults that you can attend this season. I know in my local area we actually have the annual "Halloween Ball" downtown. What are some super scary costumes this year, or maybe you want to be something cute? Well, me and my friends scoured the internet to find some hilarious yet frightening Halloween gear for this year!

Punk Rock Zombie Skateboarder
With all the Zombie movies out, this one had us laughing so hard because it is so random! A zombie skateboarder?? But you have to admit the costume is pretty cool.

Police Woman and Inmate
This is the idea that me and my friends were going to do. One of us was going to be a cop, while the others were escaped convicts. These are neat costumes if you have a group of friends! But all the policewoman costumes we found were extremely sexy...typical, oh well.




Hip Vampire


Monopoly Game


Lost Puppy
This one is hilarious!

There is alot more costumes out there that are funny, creative, sexy, and scary to choose from. Have fun with it this Halloween!

all costumes found at http://www.partycity.com

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WORK IT!

>> Wednesday

The end of the summer season is drawing near and I have yet started to workout like I promised myself. There has to be a reason for this sudden "laziness". Am I tired from work? Scared that I will not receive the right results? Or maybe I just don't know what workout to do!? I researched fun workouts that we can do that might make us get off the couch this fall and winter so we can be ready for spring!!



1. ZUMBA

This workout has taken the world by storm. It has been featured on every news channel and I am pretty sure there is a class near you. It combines latin/international/hip hop music and dancing with aerobics. As a matter of fact, Zumba participants find it so fun that they don't even consider it a workout hence their logo "Ditch the workout, Join the Party!" Visit http://www.zumba.com/ for more information.


2. Jackie Warner DVD

If any of you have the Bravo channel than you're no stranger to Jackie Warner. She owns a renowned gym in LA called SKYSPORT AND SPA. She has a team of amazing trainers and many celebrities go to her to get in shape. She has dvds that you can buy and bring that type of crucial training right to your home! I have bought the dvd and will start it this week, wish me luck;-) Visit her website http://www.jackiewarner.com/












3. Pole Fitness


This is not what you think.....okay okay maybe it is. However, it doesn't mean you gotta quit your day job! Alot of gyms are offering pole fitness which is different from pole dancing. Pole fitness classes are administrated by professional trainers. The class focuses on toning your arms, legs, and abs while having fun and letting loose! It has become extremely popular the last few years so grab your girlfriends and go!! Try finding a pole fitness center in your local area like http://www.frommindtobody.com/


4. Tai Chi
I took this relaxed form of Martial Arts in college. Tai Chi is great for the entire family and focuses on discipline and control. It was originated in China and uses slow moving force to connect the mind with the body. Visit http://www.scottcole.com/ he is a Tai Chi expert and fitness guru.

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2010 FALL FASHION TRENDS

Even though many of us don't want to admit it, summer is almost over. It's nearly August now and even then it'll go by in a blink of an eye and soon it's going to be FALL. The leaves on the trees will turn red, orange, and yellow. They will fall to the ground which will then need to be raked. The weather will change and be cooler which means that your attire will have to change. Wondering what will be the hot new looks for FALL? Well, you've come to the right place!

Velvet, Ponchos, & Raincoats
These items are neat because they're versatile. You don't have to go to a nice dinner or holiday party to wear velvet. Instead, wear a velvet headband to accent an outfit or a velvet scarf to dress an outfit up! With ponchos and raincoats, it does not have to be raining to wear these! Just layer your outfit and put these on with it; you'll look sophisticated while staying warm!




Smokey Eyes, Shimmer Eyeshadow, Faux Lashes, & Nude or Red Lips

Have you ever heard eyes are the window to someone's soul? Well this FALL that statement will be true. Your eyes will have everyone's attention no matter where you are with these trendy looks. Smokey eyes are neat because you can do it with any color and you can do it either heavy or light depending on your mood! With faux lashes you can go to your local beauty supply store to get them or your salon and they can apply them for you.


Bangs and Shaggy Hair- Short, Medium, & Long
This trend is neat because most of you will not have to change your look at all. The hairstyles this year have been so trendy that they will pretty much stay the same throughout the fall and winter. But we can review them anyway! Everyone went back to the shaggy, slightly messy, flowy layered cuts and bobs. Which is great because bangs work well with this style and bangs are HOTT this fall.

HOTT Fall haircolor: Dark Chocolate, yes it's true alot of ladies will be coloring their hair dark this Autumn.

These seem to be the looks trending this FALL, but everyone is unique and can rock anything that YOU like and makes YOU feel fabulous! Have fun and be creative with it!

all pictures by google images


























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5 Things to do on your day off

>> Friday

I don't know about anyone else, but it's the weekend and once again I'm bored out of my mind. One of my peeves is that I hate walking into my job Monday morning tired and depressed and feeling unaccomplished. When I say unaccomplished I'm not referring to your job, but instead I mean the time you spent not at work. I hate feeling like I wasted the entire weekend by not doing anything fun or productive. I hate having to work day to day waiting for my day off so I can get everything done. So, what can you do on your days off from work that can make you feel refreshed and ready to take on another hard week at your 9-5? This short but sweet list gives you some pointers.



5. Clean! Clean! Clean!

I know. I know. I said fun in the above paragraph, but this could be fun if you make it. I know everybody has clutter and clothes that they do not wear. Grab your boyfriend, roommate, or wife and go through all the junk and give it to goodwill or have a yard sale! When your done, rearrange the furniture in the house. It will make you feel good and your house will feel brandnew. Put fresh flowers in a vase on a table for a finishing touch!




4. Meet up for lunch with a friend or loved one

If your day off is on a day when a friend or loved one is working, then plan to have lunch! Make a lunch or just bring them lunch to their job. It will be a nice break from work for them and it will make you feel good, but it is courtesy to let them know you are coming.

3. Be a photographer for a day!

Grab your camera and just go downtown or to a park and take random photos of scenery, people, animals, objects, buildings, or whatever. When you get back home take a look at them or share them with a loved one. Some of the photos will make you laugh and others will make you appreciate the world around you.
2. Google your city's events

There is more going on in your city then you know. Just go to your city's websites and look at upcoming events. There is probably day concerts, festivals, or other events that fall on your day off. Take a friend or just explore by yourself!


1. Go get a makeover
Now this one you may have to come out the pocket a little, but it will still give you something fun to do! Go to a makeup counter and ask for a makeup demonstration. M.A.C., Clinique, or Estee Lauder makeup artists would be happy to assist you! Afterwards, go do something different to your hair and then take your picture!




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The Art of Slam Poetry

>> Sunday

Spoken poetry is a unique way in which speakers express themselves on societal issues by performing in front of an audience on stage. The poems convey issues on social justice, love, anger, and especially pain. Marc Smith, a renowned lyricist, created this genre of poetry in the late 1980s. Since then it has spread nationally and internationally to places like England and parts of Sweden. Spoken poetry is performed in bookstores, universities, on stage, or in cafes like the infamous Nuyorican Poetry Café in New York City.


Even the media has portrayed this phenomenon of urban blackness in different aspects for people that have never witness it (Somers-Willet “Authenticating” 14). Two movies called Slam and Love Jones both displayed spoken poetry, as well as HBO’s television series Def Poetry Jam created by hip hop mogul Russel Simmons (Somers-Willet). However, there are two forms of spoken poetry; which are spoken word and slam poetry. Spoken word is when the poet performs their words aloud for pleasure or entertainment. Slam poetry is when the artist performs their poetry in the form of spoken word for competition. During slam poetry, the poets’ main goal is to make their language translate into sound (Feher). The poem needs to be expressed in a way where the listener is able to understand the meaning of the text (Feher). If the poem was on a page, the reader will be able to observe the line breaks, end rhyme, internal rhyme, punctuation, and capitalization choices of the poet. This would indeed help the reader understand the poem better. In slam poetry, there is no page for the listener to read, so the poet must use elaborate techniques to convey certain technical elements.

Poets must use bodily gestures, vocal variety, and participation from their audience to get them involved and hopefully to better understand the message of the poem. This is why the rhetoric of slam poetry and the rhetoric of page poetry has been a huge controversy. Many critics feel that slam poetry is a disgrace to the art culture and poetic discourse of our society. They feel that it does not qualify to be in the same category as the poetry students read in scholarly situations. Some have even claimed that slam poetry is art’s downfall! (Somers-Willet 10). I, however, think it’s beautiful. According to Felice Belle’s article, “The Poem Performed,” she feels that it is unique to combine art and engaging performance. Art, protest, speech, and literature are all rhetoric of self-proclamation, so why is slam poetry not being accepted when it combines all these things?

Slam poetry is open to all people and all types of poetry (Somers-Willet 11). Academic poetry tends to lack this trait, because it lacks racial, class, gender, and sexual diversity (Somers-Willet 11). Bill Moyers states, “Democracy needs her poets in all their diversity precisely because our hope for survival is in recognizing the reality of one another’s lives.” The art of slam poetry is actually unique because artists “craft their work down to the word,” using allusions and pop culture.

My favorite spoken word poet is Lenelle Moise. She is Haitian-American and uses her struggles, triumphs, and experiences as a black woman in her work. She expresses herself through racism, classicism, and sexism. She uses a smooth jazzy flow of words to show awareness about many issues in society. Moise makes sure she keeps her audiences attention and her work is phenomenal. You can check her out at http://www.lenellemoise.com/ and her writings at www.lenellemoise.blogspot.com!

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Disney Princesses and the Modern Black Woman

>> Friday



Every girl dreams of being a princess but perhaps we are more of a princess than we think....take a look at the similarities and differences.




Disney Princess vs. Modern Black Woman

Poor or extremely rich
(maid, middle class worker, or princess already) (working class or owns business/entrepreneur)

Overcoming some obstacle
(fighting with evil witch or monsters) (deals with racism, sexism, job, finances, children, home)

Trying to find love
(goes through alot just to be with Prince Charming) (Pressured to be with a "good black man")

An Outcast
(forced to live in the forest or bound and confined to a place) ( Objectified by society and media constantly)
Form of Beauty
(always shown as flawless and thin) (the MBW comes in all sorts of shapes/sizes/races/ethnicity)




Aside from that the whole princess thing starts pretty young. Girls want to have princess birthday parties or be a princess for Halloween. Can our young girls identify with these princesses? At first I thought they could not I mean really who gets to meet Prince Charming and live in a big house. And honestly, me being a feminist I'm not too big on it. But does this mean that we need to take these tiaras off our young girls and not ever let them watch a Disney movie again. NO! I grew up on Disney princesses and think that young girls can learn alot from the movies. However, when I was young I couldn't identify with Snow White or Sleeping Beauty or even Belle. I mean take a look at their names snow and white means pure and all things good. People always see white as meaning "good" and black meaning "bad/evil." What does this teach our young black daughters? They begin to feel like being black is wrong or not right or unbeautiful. (Belle is the French word for beautiful)



Since I am a black female I could never relate to these characters in some sense but then they had Pocahontas, Mulan, and Jasmine. Ummm...still nothing for our little black girls. Then FINALLY in 2010, they made the movie "The Princess and the Frog" which shows a Cajun/Creole black girl in search of being an entrepreneur and opening her own restaurant WHILE meeting her prince. Now that I can relate to! A strong woman trying to be successful while getting a man, any woman should feel empowered by that plot! I have to admit it took Disney entirely too long to get a black Disney Princess but hey at least they did. Now I am waiting for a Latino/Hispanic Disney Princess or even a mixed race princess.

Positive images in the media about black women are important because there are so many negative images. Just look at one hip hop music video or a magazine. As black women we feel like outcasts in our own society. Ariel was confined to the sea and wanted to walk on land. Snow white was in a cabin in the forest. Sleeping Beauty was bound by well...sleep. The MBW is confined to her triple identity and has to continue playing this role in order to be accepted by society. The MBW in our society is American, Black, and Female. We are subconciously forced to let go of our ancestry, yet we are never "white American" enough! On top of that we are women making us the exact opposite of the most powerful being on the planet....the White Male.


As young girls we dream up this fairy tale life and only keep it as a fairy tale. We don't think that we deserve more than that. We limit ourselves to men that don't treat us right and we try to fix everything ourselves without having any help from our fairy godmothers! The reason why is because we limit ourselves to the men that we can date. Ariel's situation reminds me of the MBW's situation. Ariel was a mermaid but the love of her life was human. Was it wrong for Ariel to love someone of a different species/race? I think not but at the same time as MBW we feel ashamed to look else where and pressured to find that "good black man" so we pass up opportunities with other good men. We love our black men and are taught that they are our soulmates but should we stay with someone when they are bad to us just because of their race? Don't get me wrong there are alot of "good black men" out there but at the same time I feel that black women are close minded. Black men are reaching out to other beautiful races dating and trying new things, why do black women feel like we can't do the same. Do we feel guilty or feel like we are betrayers?
Anyway, my main point is do not settle yourself short because we all have a princess deep down inside of us. Disney has even started their own Disney Princess wedding gown line. This is where women can pick out the perfect gown for their fairy tale weddings. It may sound a bit silly, but women really do take it seriously. I don't think I need a big puffy, fancy gown to feel like a princess. I can overcome any obstacle in my life as long as I have the ones I love supporting me. And as a Modern Black Woman, I don't feel the need to be a princess because at the end of the day....we are all Queens.;-)

Disney Princess Wedding Gown

both pictures are copyrighted by Disney

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Let's Remember Our Men: Rise in Male Eating Disorders


As I was watching tv this week, I noticed several commercials that have men with no shirts on (like above picture). Maybe since it is almost summer....I don't know? In school, I had to analyze movie after movie, commercial after commercial of how women are objectified and feel less beautiful because of the images we see everyday. What about men? Do they feel insecure about the images they see everyday in the media? I decided to research....


Eating disorders have been extremely prevalent in women over the last few decades. However, what is often overlooked by media, doctors, partners, and families is the growth in male eating disorders. More and more today we are seeing unrealistic images of the male body on tv that rev up male insecurities. Movies such as "300" or several commercials show men with not six packs but ten packs!? Unfortunately, something you may not know is that male insecurities start at a young age and continue on to adulthood. Different organizations and programs weigh and monitor young men for football and basketball teams. When I say young men, I'm talking about 6-10yrs old! Little boys can be mean and call their friends fat or chubby. As men get older they are called "big guy" or "big boy" and this is accepted and cool. Deep down inside these men do NOT think it is cool that their friends are calling them this. Don't get me wrong we know that us ladies are called many rude terms that have to do with our appearance, but this article is not about us.


It is also hard to spot eating disorders in men because it is visually difficult to see a change unlike in women. Men can be harming themselves by undereating or overeating to gain more muscle, weight, body mass, and then using steroids to alter these things. The reason why there needs to be more awareness on male eating disorders is because men are not going to reach out for help like some women do. They tend to stay away from "emotional" conversations. Not only are they ashamed of the way they look, but they feel like their issue is "feminine" and are too embarrassed to seek help.
I think that everyone is beautiful no matter what weight they are and we all should just accept eachother. And the biggest part is that maybe only you have a problem with the way someone looks, maybe that person is fully confident in themselves and loves their body. I think the majority of the time these types of people that hurt others are insecure in themselves. This unfortunately leads to their targets becoming eating disorder victims or other types of bodily harm. We need to stop this because it's a dominoe effect, a chain, and a never-ending cycle.


Male eating disorders are rising everyday so it is best to become familiar with different signs. The type of careers we see this in is sports, modeling, running, dancing, etc. If you do notice anything please find a way you can help a friend or loved one.

image courtesy of google images

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