My afternoon in detox

5.24.10 - And by detox, I mean foot detox. This adventure began when Mary saw a local news anchor's comedic experimentation with foot detoxification. Mary told me about it, I saw the news spot and we both decided to check it out - especially after we learned that if we mentioned that we heard about the ionCleanse foot treatment on TV, we would get a 50% discount.

Mom, Mary and I went to the Aurora Spa in St. Louis Park and let's just say, the spa was not at all what we thought it was going to be. I thought it was going to be a "I'm at the spa, darling," but it was more of a mini-spa-in-the-wall.

Above and below: The ionCleanse machine. Our setting: Volts = 19.60, Amps = 2.23...whatever that means.

I bet you can't wait to discover what my color was.

My mom's color was orange (purifying the joints).

Part of the abstract I read while waiting out my 45 minute foot detox.

I forgot to meditate! Maybe that's why I didn't feel differently after?



Sexy! My color was yellow-green/brown/orange with black flecks which is just a hot mess. Apparently the ionCleanse purified my kidney, bladder, liver, joints and extracted some heavy metals out of my system. Ugh. It looks bad, but it didn't smell like anything.

Probably totally unrelated, but my feet got really itchy and irritated during this process. I also think that they should rinse the client's feet off before starting the foot detox, especially considering that I had lotion on my feet that had little flecks of gold in it.

Notice all the particles in the water? All of ours looked like that too, but the camera picked it up better against her skin tone. I think Mary had some foamy white and some other colors that I don't remember.

"Color is produced even if there are no feet in the water." Hmm hmmm.

We washed everything down the drain, rinsed our feet and hit the street. Contrary to the brochure (you may feel tired, lighter or energetic), I didn't feel differently at all, but for $15 it was an interesting one-time experience. I was not impressed, mostly because there was only one ionCleanse machine and so it took nearly three hours for us to all cycle through, but it was an semi-enlightening experiment. I got to read some abstracts and research papers about the entire process and found a lot of weird holes or other facts that made me cynical of the foot detox process and all it's "benefits."

Check it out if you are so inclined, but don't expect a lot, also I recommend that you go during the weekday when it is less busy or maybe get a colonCleanse if there is a wait...oh, yeah...they have one of those.

Clouds and silhouettes

5.30.10 - One evening I was outside my house and I looked up and saw this. I really like silhouettes, but I never play with them enough in my photography. I should really work on that.

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Updates:
After dealing with a damaged BlackBerry since Thanksgiving, my cell phone finally stopped working for me and I had to get a new one. I got a BB Bold yesterday and I love it. T-Mobile's 3G is cool. I know there is a 4G, but I went from no G to 3G so it's quite an improvement for me.

My high school reunion is coming up. I know it's only been five years, but I guess everyone wants to trade stories on how we all have four-year degrees, are living back home and are working meh jobs. Fun! Hopefully a lot of my friends will show up and that will be cool.

I've got a new freelance gig and I just spent a half-week "vacationing" with my nephew at my sister-in-laws. P.S. My nephew is SO CUTE.

Oh, and after a few weeks of thinking about this, I've decided to make it official. The new and improved me no longer participates in the MN nice nonsense that I keep getting dragged into. I will say what I think and confront people who need it. This is my effort to be less passive aggressive, although I usually am not, but it's just better to be honest - AND it totally helps with communication and the sustaining of relationships. What do you think?

Rainy morning at the farmers' market

Winter hours: Saturday from 9 to 12AM?!

5.21.10 - Bright and early Saturday morning Mary, Mumsy, Jonny, Danielle and I went to the St. Paul Farmers' Market. It was raining and everything was wet, so I hurriedly snapped pictures trying to keep warm and stay dry,

Next time I'll take my time and get more angles, but being cold and wet is not a state I feel comfortable photographing in at all.

Scariest thing I saw at the market. What kid wants a clown at a birthday party? They are slightly terrifying.

Look at this adorable flower! Looks like a Red Hat society kind of plant, doesn't it?

Hmmm. So good. I've had some of this maple syrup before and it is really yummy. A gallon looks huge though, that must last a year!

A really awesome gourmet muffin. I usually only like eating the tops, but I had to eat more than just the frosting this time because it was so rich and let's be real, I love rich desserts.

We don't need a plastic bag, we brought our cool reusable bag. I'm all about the cloth bags. They fit so much more items in, are greener and the handles don't break.

I've heard good things about Simply Gelato, but when we got there selection was lacking. It was too cold for me to have any, but next time I shall get some.

Organic soap that smelled nice. Mumsy bought some cool scented ones and they were so cute.

Bleach my skin?

Self-portrait: A lighter and darker photo manipulation.

5.16.10 - The largest producer of movies per year in the world is Bollywood. The Indian equivalent to Hollywood features actors and actresses who are very light in complexion compared to the average citizen of India or its surrounding countries. I have noticed a trend of casting very "fair" (read: lighter) actors and actresses, and for the few darker-skinned ones that make it through, there is extensive face/body makeup and intense lighting that is used to make them look lighter. 


I remember my mother and aunts telling me to stay out of the sun or else I would be dark for the rest of my life, or being offered bleaching creams so that I could have a "fairer" complexion. I never understood why my darker skin tone was so wrong, but now I understand that the media the people in my life were exposed to, was showing that to be beautiful was to be lighter skinned – my loved ones just wanted what was best for me – they wanted me to be accepted and to be…White(er).

The unethical depictions of women of color in mainstream advertising is most troubling because I believe that advertising, in many ways, has directly enabled the perpetuation of racism. Not all advertising is bad, but those unethical ads that are prevalent in the mainstream environment have had some negative effects on the world. Western advertising, colonization and globalization has heavily influenced media-making in other countries. Looking at movies made in India or Africa, it is interesting to note that the biggest stars also “happen” to be the lighter than a majority of the population of their country. The most famous foreign actors and actresses have blue or green eyes (contacts), blond hair (dyed), and noses and lips (cosmetically changed) to look like Caucasian American and European stars. Thanks to intense production lighting, heavy post-production editing and lots of face/body makeup, darker-skinned stars can achieve the ultimate goal – be several shades lighter.

 I remember getting made fun of in high school because the back of my hand was a different color from my palm.

The internalized oppression of Western beauty ideals is perhaps one of the most poignant and cyclical consequences of White privilege. Advertisements that encourage skin bleaching affects men and women of all colors. It affects a young multi-racial girl who risks serious medical consequences by using skin-bleaching cream to look like her favorite Bollywood or MTV Arabia actress. It has influenced the girl’s mother who pressures her to stay out of the sun so that she doesn't “get dark," and it limits the ability of the woman's White friends to have an authentic relationship with her due to all of the walls and defensive mechanisms this woman has built up for her protection. The idea that "the lighter you are, the prettier you are," has definitely affected me; now I'm confident of my skin color and shade, but I still see little things or hear big things once-in-a-while that trigger my internalized insecurities.

*This text was adapted from a short essay on unethical advertising and skin bleaching that I wrote while an undergrad.

View from SEVEN

5.13.10 - MJ, Mary and I went to SEVEN for pre-show drinks. It was crowded, so we ended up on the rooftop patio facing the shell of where Gameworks used to be - and that's where these pictures were taken. Not a spectacular view, I know, but next time I'll try and fight my way over to the patio facing Hennepin Avenue.

On a lake

8.28.09 - Here is proof that I do go outside in the summer! These pictures were taken last year when Mary and I went canoeing. Since then, we have gone out on Fish Lake a few times already this year. We kayak, canoe, paddle boat, and soon...sunbathing. I thought that we'd go out on the official first day of Summer, but it looked like it was going to rain and it was really cloudy most of the day, so we went shopping instead.

Caramel candy

250 degrees? That is hot! Stirring this for an hour was quite a task.

5.15.10 - Jonny, Mary and I decided to make caramel candy one evening. We began our four-hour evening by gathering supplies but after we realized the candy thermometer we had just bought wasn't working, Jonny and Mary returned to Cub Foods to exchange it while I parked myself in front of the hot stove constantly stirring bubbling caramel with one hand and sipping some vino with the other.

Pre-oven shot of caramel goodness.

Yummy. We got two Ziplock bags of caramel out of that pan. We wrapped the caramel in wax paper and it took a few tries to perfect the technique, but by the end my fingers and hands were really greasy because we made that caramel really buttery; I can't really complain though - I ate about a dozen pieces of candy that night because it was so good. It was my first time making caramel and I thought was a cool process, but it most definitely a lot of work. After hours of stirring and wrapping, I was exhausted and needed a shower. I asked my little brother, Jonny, what he thought of the whole thing and he said, "it was alright." I brought one bag of caramels home and over the course of a half-a-day, the entire batch disappeared. Apparently, my family must have thought the candy was alright too.

Summer lights

5.15.10 - Happy first day of summer! To celebrate I am going to go sunbathing, break out the SPF 85 and hit the beach - how else do you think I keep up this nice brown tan I've got going on? Oh, today's post is of Mary's decorative lights. I was going to get the same kind a year ago but never got around to getting them, so when I was on Mary's deck a month ago I saw these and remembered how much I liked them. Cute right?

Mo'Nique: Spread the Love Tour

Academy Award winning actress and...comediAnne?! Not comedienne or comedian?

5.13.10 - MJ, Mary and I went to see Mo'Nique at the State Theatre in Mini-an-apolis (M'N said Minneapolis like that all night long and it was really funny). I was excited to go and I had a good time, it was an memorable experience, and by that I mean, it was the first time I've seen people full-out patted down at at the State Theatre; I've been to tons of shows there ranging from the Nutcracker to David Copperfield and I've never seen such security. I thought it was very typical of unfortunate (MN) racial politics interesting that most of the Black guys got frisked while pretty much everyone else just walked on in - including my friends and I.

Before the show, the last time I saw Mo'Nique was when she won an Oscar for best-supporting actress in Precious (a must see!) so I was glad when I got the opportunity to go see her and take some good friends along. I guess I don't really think of M'N as a comedian, but this tour was definitely showcasing her style. She had two male warm-up acts which basically  made jokes about the same thing - women. I was kind of surprised because I thought it would be a more balanced in terms of making fun of men and women, but the night proved me wrong.

The accommodating and nice ushers I know from previous events, were that night, strict security guards who gruffly greeted and demanded that no photography of any kind was allowed - there was a sign stating thus that I really wanted to take a picture of, but alas, I never got around to it. Anyway, NO ONE all night long listened to the security guard ushers and took all of the videos, flash/non-flash photography (like me!) they wanted. It hilarious. As soon as she walked on stage, all kinds of flash started going off and after a few minutes I realized that I could take pictures and probably get away with it because I wasn't using flash, and therefore wasn't standing out every time a guard scanned the crowd.

She was funny, but I kind of wish she was there to do more of a motivational or inspirational talk rather than joke about weight loss or the differences between White and Black women and the men that they date. I appreciated the humor, but I guess I would have liked to hear her speak on some more serious topics. I will say that it was a good crowd and people really seemed like they enjoyed themselves; it was nice to see so many different people having a good time together, laughing in agreement and slapping their knees without inhibition.

After the show, we went to...where else? Palomino for drinks and apps. I ordered a white peach sangria (I think) and it was very refreshing. 

I'm glad I went, it was fun and I did laugh a lot. I don't think I'd go to see her in a comedy tour like this one again, but if she decided to tour with an all-female comedian troupe next year, maybe I'd actually go see that because I think the topics would be different and a little bit more balanced. If Mo'Nique were on a bill to speak at a conference about pretty much anything else I'd definitely go because I really like some of things she's said about more serious topics in the past, and I really respect her as an actress...and I get that you can't always be serious, so I guess in the end, I'll respect her as a comedian too.