Adventures in Style 4

eyes of a beautiful woman of color 

Ideal Black woman composed & seated

Whisky-LaRue Pin-Up.

Ideal Woman - Marilyn Monroe !!!! 

introspective look at S.W. Monroe, a model !!!!

OUR WIVES

African mother's breasts are sacred. . .

"When a man comes home he needs, and expects peace to fill his soul, and calm his nerves, if frayed. Engulfed, or embraced by his spiritual covering a man's wife can create endlessly. Freed to express herself in the home she creates for them is a spiritual gift recognized in myth, lore, legends, and dreams. We cannot grow peaceful in our homes without this combination. 

The pride needs the Lion to protect the Lioness when she hunts to feed the pride. It is a necessary relationship." - Gregory E. Woods 6.4.13

lovers embrace in the morning

Bianca Jurca
May 31, 2013

La invit la niste fructe!

Pioneer is an energy of

pin up girl by Rob Kaher, a classic 

Bunny Yeager and camera  

Tribute to Bunny Yeager-Pioneer Pin Up Photographer 

By Theresa.

Anyone who is into the vintage pinup lifestyle or at least appreciates the art has probably heard of Bunny Yeager, the 1950s  pinup photographer who helped make Bettie Page famous.  Born Linnea Eleanor Yeager on March 13, 1929, she passed away last Sunday, May 25th, but was still shooting photos in her Miami studio and gallery right up to the end! This talented lady was and still remains an inspiration for all women who wish to enter a male dominated profession.  Before Ms. Yeager turned from model to photographer, the only people shooting pin up photos were men! But Bunny changed all that, and here’s how~

An article from the Miami Herald,  states that Bunny originally started out as a model herself, but always yearned to be behind the camera.  So she began classes at a vocational school in 1953.  The first class assignment was to go out and shoot anything they wanted and come back for a critique.  So Ms Yeager  picked Africa, USA , a cageless zoo in Boca Raton in which she shot her leopard bikini wearing pinup model friends amongst the wild cheetahs. Needless to say her assignment caused quite a stir and her instructor insisted she send the pictures off to magazines,  tout sweet! And that marked the beginning of her illustrious career as one of America’s most famous pinup photographers.  And the iconic photos of Bettie Page in the leopard print bikini that Bunny designed are some of the most famous pinup photos of all time!

Betty Page muere a los 85 anos

More on Bunny’s Background~

•  Yeager grew up a very shy girl in Braddock, Pennsylvania, but when her family moved to Miami, (at the age of 17) she jumped at the chance to re-invent herself.
• She re-named herself Bunny (from Lana Turner’s character in the 1945 film “Weekend at the Waldorf”) and enrolled herself in modeling school.
• In the 1940’s, she took to modeling with an eye to fame, doing both runway and photo shoots. Because she was very photogenic, beautiful, tall, and slender, Ms. Yeager was very sought after. Yeager would soon become one of the most photographed models in Miami.
• In her 20s, Ms Yeager wanted to add to her portfolio and stopped modeling and enrolled in photography classes at a Miami trade school and began her career behind the camera. She practiced a lot by taking self-portraits.
• As a woman photographer taking photos of other woman, mostly nudes and near-nudes, Yeager was able to bring a level of comfort and ease that male photographers could not achieve from their subjects. She gave women the confidence and encouragement to be natural and look beautiful without the goggling eyes of the male gaze.
• Bunny met the raven-haired Bettie Page in 1954 and formed a friendship. Bunny took most of the photographs of her that year. Along with photographer Irving Klaw, Yeager played a role in helping to make Page famous, particularly with her photos in Playboy magazine.
• Yeager remained a very celebrated photographer through the 50s and 60s.  Her photographs were frequently taken at exotic locales and done with creative compositions. Many times, Bunny would make her own swimsuits for the models to wear and create her own props as well.
• She took the well-known still images of Ursula Andress on the beach in the 1962 James Bond film Dr. No, and discovered many other notable models.
• In early 2010, the Warhol Museum held the first exhibition of Yeager’s work. Most of the photographs in the exhibit came from Bunny’s book “How I Photograph Myself” published by A.S. Barnes & Co. in 1964. She would go on to write over 30 books .
• In November 2011, the Dezer Schauhalle[ in Miami, Florida hosted a retrospective exhibition of Yeager’s work. Included were some never before seen photos of various models including Bettie Page.

Betty Page tantalizing 

Powerful stance of an elegant Black woman 

MY POWER IS IN MY PEN

Phemy Williams in Nigeria November 2014 

Phemy Williams' campaign for racial justice! 



In my experience Black Motherhood is intimately linked to social activism. I have no idea, or capacity to separate the two. They are as inseparable as the Creatress within Zero is inseparable from the Creator whose copulation produced One. This the sacred dividing of the Zero that birthed the numbers and granted authorship into the roles numbers play within Creation, and how powers, and attributes are dispensed throughout all of Creation.  

These are mysterious things, and invisible things attached to the holy places men need to learn to trust as much as the Creation Stories they come from and cling to. The Her of Existence is important to the continuation of Life, and the maintenance of souls, of generations, and is directly responsible for clarity within her creations she calls her children, and the numbers she birthed that hold thoughts, agreements, and the world together. - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 6.4.13

Rosemary Sadlier with her son Feb. 3, 2011 

Rosemary Sadlier, president Ontario Black History Society (l.)
with Donna Holgate in 2014 

To us: Ghosts

albino woman, Thando Hopa by Justin Dingwall, photographer

 "I now realize that I have a platform to inspire young girls, and as someone who never had a role model who looked like me when I was growing up, I now hope to be able to show that albinism can be beautiful and is just another kind of normal." Thando Hopa

 

WHY of LIFE?

Morgan Le Fay by Ravenclaw 

"One can dispel the stereotypes, create them, or enforce them by action. Or one can create a mystique, dispel it, or deepen it as their life moves on by the force of why existence put their spirit into flesh and motion. 

It is a great power the power to create life. How we use that power makes for greatness or despair. What makes a life great or sad? Choices." - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 1.14.15

Know the Way!



black athlete Leslie Ward working out !

"The Road to success is not straight. There is a curve called failure, a loop called confusion, speed bumps called friends, red lights called enemies, caution lights called family. You will have flats called Jobs.....BUT if you have a spare called determination, an engine called perseverance, insurance called faith, a driver called Jesus, you will most certainly make it to a place called SUCCESS! "~ Leslie Ward

Fit Chics Rock!!





champion athlete Everist Lindsey Ware in 2014

"I always tell women ... Weights won't make you bulky, it will actually make you sexy! Hit it up ladies!!!!"

Look like a woman. Train like a man!!  ~Everist Lindsey Ware 

 

God Bless American Hair Stories

Playboy
Talia Mazzetti


Victorian Lady Lisa

Hair was said to be a woman's crowning glory, The Victorians certainly knew that as these photos will convey. A Victorian girl until the age of 16 wore her hair in braids, once she became a young lady at age 16 her hair went up (while her hem length went down to the ankle.)

Victorian hair was so precious that it was often saved after the loved one passed away and woven into beautiful intricate jewelry, wall hangings & sculptures such as this Victorian hair tree.

 

 

 

Hanka Kelter, a Polish born model with very long hair.

 

 

Hanka Kelter, a Polish pianist had floor length hair

 

 

 

Pianist Lets Her Hair Down - 6 Feet .9 Inches of It—Supports Her Concert > Ambitions by Work in Side Show.

She wants to be a concert pianist, but while she's waiting for opportunity to come calling  Henrietta - Hanka Kelter is letting her hair down to support herself and her old father in Warsaw.
"Step right up and see her, folks, the little lady with the longest, the thickest and the loveliest hair in the world. . . . !"
Thus Hanka (Hair) Kelter bides her time as a side show attraction for the circus crowds in Madison Square Garden and then gathers her long tresses about her and goes home to practice on her piano.
"Sure, I have plenty of offers for Lady Godiva," said Miss Kelter '"-with" a flicker of her. big dark eyes. "But, no. I like to work in a nicer way. In Europe I am a pianist and" I study the drama." Two years ago I come from Paris to America. I feel that I am rich because I am in this country, and I can travel with the circus and learn geography. If her crowning glory (five Bounds of it, topping, off the 105 pounds of the rest of her) rests heavy on her head,. Miss Kelter isn't admitting it.

She's Rather Crazy About It.

She wants to be a concert pianist, but while she's waiting for opportunity to come calling  Henrietta - Hanka Kelter is letting her hair down to support herself and her old father in Warsaw.
"Step right up and see her, folks, the little lady with the longest, the thickest and the loveliest hair in the world. . . . !"
Thus Hanka (Hair) Kelter bides her time as a side show attraction for the circus crowds in Madison Square Garden and then gathers her long tresses about her and goes home to practice on her piano.
"Sure, I have plenty of offers for Lady Godiva," said Miss Kelter '"-with" a flicker of her. big dark eyes. "But, no. I like to work in a nicer way. In Europe I am a pianist and" I study the drama." Two years ago I come from Paris to America. I feel that I am rich because I am in this country, and I can travel with the circus and learn geography. If her crowning glory (five Bounds of it, topping, off the 105 pounds of the rest of her) rests heavy on her head,. Miss Kelter isn't admitting it.

She's Rather Crazy About It.

I love them," she crooned in deep Polish tones. "I have never been sick since I have them. I am strong and healthy, like Samson. Maybe I am from the same family and if I cut them off I will lose my strength like him."
This somewhat alarming hair producing quality is not a characteristic of the Kelter family, it seems. Papa has a beard, yes, but just so-so, and the rest of the brothers and sisters have hair, just hair.
"It's a secret how I make them grow," announced Miss Kelter. "AH my life. I love and admire long hair, but I don't have them. Ten years ago I start to let them grow and look — they are so silky and so warm and so wavy. They give what you call the feminine touch. I feel like I am a real woman."
One thing In favor of her coiffure, even though it might cause her to list a little and give her nightmares full of little demons armed with scissors, is that her ' budget doesn't have to bear with hairdressing bills. With the aid of her sister she shampoos it about four times a year—her scalp is so healthy that she finds that often enough.

The rest of the time she combs and recombs it, and keeps out of the way of fans, both electric ones and the kind who would snip off a souvenir-lock.

They are my ornament," she said. "Men say they give me personality and that they would not like me if I should have them cut off."

As a variation, she plaits her hair Into double braids I worn in front .so that some scissors expert can't sneak up' on her or into triple ones, looping them about her neck like necklace. She braids them before going to bed, and sleeps with them out side of the covers.

Any day now she Is going to begin studying Oriental dancing, using her hair to express some of the movements, and she doesn't expect to get tangled up in it any more than when she plays the piano.

Hobbies? You know, collecting things and stuff like that?

"Sure," said Miss Kelter. "I collect defense stamps."

THE NEW YORK /SON,- MONDAY, APRIL 20, 1942




red haired woman in pink corset !!!!

 

the ROCK !

The Rock says...
Photo by: Jasin Boland www.jasinboland.com

IN THE EYES

Vivica A. Fox's beauty is astounding



Tuareg woman

 

A scripture, a text, a saying, a word...

Whiskey & Rye Photography

Miss Gail Force action from the trenches by

Whiskey & Rye Photography

April 12, 2013 ·

 

"Three things are sacred; yea four, if you count the warmth of sunlight merging with the arbor of desire: the form of a woman, thoughts of the Goddess stirring her creative fluids, and the promise men bring to the women they love!" ~ Gregory E. Woods, 2011

deep beauty of Kamama Usti, fb

Seeds of Confidence

Maat Petrova stated, 'I'm not beautiful like them, I'm beautiful like me.'

"I'm not beautiful like them, I'm beautiful like me."

What a profound thing to first realize and to later say once it has settled into your spirit and became a thought projected into the image of other Black women needing affirmations. Your words remind me of the profundity of the spoken word. They create life when so directed by a selfless design! 
- Gregory E. Woods, 

1.23.15

Maat Petrova's success 

Across the Line



Love & fuck you !

It is a symbol of deconstruction, but it attests to the conflicting definitions of love expressed by hopeless people caught between the meanings of fairy tales and the spiritual laws often denied credibility by modern people who claim to be liberal and free thinking. - Gregory E. Woods, 2.23.15


 

Healing AFRICA Healing SELF

"Africa is the birth place of our connections to other worlds, the entrance to the deep mysteries as yet unfathomable by wrong thinking, and the birth place of the major religions that have shaped the world. Here in this land lie the resources that have killed the soul of millions from the weight of murder, greed and industry. The redemption of the world's spirit lies underneath the pounding of machines, bloodied bodies splayed out in tortured designs upon the very Earth Mother capable of being nurtured by the laws of regeneration prophets listen to and speak of to the masses unable to see the soul of the Land of the Blacks.

Africa is a light in a darkness cast by many beings that vacillate between understanding her, using her, worshiping her, and embracing her!" - Gregory E. Woods, 2011

African art by Okpara Nosakhere

"In the Dagara tradition, Spirit brings the lessons of Life through falls from grace. Crisis comes as the instigator of change; it takes you to somewhere new, where you find a higher meaning and purpose. If you are going to learn and grow, you can't just be stuck in a particular place. Crisis breaks you out and creates the space for Creation to teach you." - Sofonfu E. Somé, healer 

Pregnant with LIFE

poster = Value of Self 

poster to man's truth to existence & challenge to do 

Cynthia Lewis writes, "You don't have to be nude to be beautiful."

That is a perspective to consider from a woman, a Christian woman looking at the lives of women. It is obviously directed at men, or am I self-absorbed in my vision of things, and she is only affirming women as only a woman can affirm her sisters?

In the self-analysis of values and action the question of nudity has always been a subject of Western civilization. I believe it is so because of the many cultures in Europe that vacillated between truth, vile characterizations of humanity, filth of living space, and obsessions with things other peoples did not wrestle with that produced an environment that reproduced itself into what ails the world today. These perceptions altered the balance of the planet. The words spoken and believed that brought us here need to be re-positioned into right relationships first from within and later that undertaking will manifest into the outer worlds, and right action.

In 2011, Grandmother Dawn Sky Weaver, said, "Water is better to look into. It is flexible, it flows, it gives a better view of us as human beings. We are not a hard, cold, fixed image in the mirror. We are a part of the Source with all our hues of Being."

We can change. It is what we were made to do, and how we learn, and how progress and evolution occur with such potency. - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 6.1.13

Revolutionary African Women

poster = Stop Violence Against Women in Iran

camera aimed by Cheyenne Ellis wearing Nightcap crochet fringe shorts !!!!

Adventures in Style 3

elegant & mysterious African woman 

mystery of Whisky LaRue by Nightlight Digital
Whisky-LaRue Pin-Up.

Nadia Kazakova against the sunset 

WHAT Cynthia says...

Cynthia Lewis Sisterncharge
January 8, 2013

Hey it's me, I love this T-Shirt I made it and I sold a lot, then this one was left, and I kept it. It has so much meaning. I'M LISTENING! - Cynthia Lewis  

WHAT WE SAY


This morning, I stopped my wall for prayer. I felt the sincere need to. I feel like this, if the Holy Spirit leads you to say anything else right now, do so until you feel you have said all of what God is wanting you to announce or proclaim. You don't have to do it here, put it out there on your walls so that others hear you from your side of town too. And you have nothing to fear. Be bold in the Lord, like we are bold in everything else we do and say. 

Don't be hostile, there is no reason. Nothing can be solve, except to take it to prayer. You know how many strangers I have on my wall, who I have never ever exchange a word with I have tried, I use to send out a welcome to my page.... Nothing, well I am sure that they got something today!!!! 

Because I tagged everyone that I could today, to get the word out there. HELP, help one another with prayer, not praise. Let us accept one another in the way that we accepted friendships here. Let's try friendships, real ones, not what Facebook calls a friend, what we as a people learned in our households, churches, workplaces, homes. 

Think about it.... When we open our walls to one another, we open the front door to our life. So be careful who you let in when they request you, and if we are letting people in, lets show one another some love. Life is short, and we have more contacts here than even possible in the real world. I have never said God Bless you so much in my life. But Guess What, every time I say it.... I FEEL IT And every time I say that I love somebody here, I love so much more from inside about myself, my home and my family. That's DEEP yall. 

So I hope that I helped somebody today. You don't have to know me personally to feel me. You don't have to know me for me to share a word with you. We are passing through and that's more than a blessing, I hope that you can agree. ♥ Cynthia Lewis

Jesus,

I know You hear my prayers in my heart and putting this out for others to see is confirmation. Help us find the Love we need and desire again. Put friendship in our relationships with a whole lotta soul! We want humor again, we want to smile through the whole day again, we want to come home to happiness in every fiber of my being. We want healing, and weight loss, and healthy bodies and minds, and good family bonding with our kids again. We need Love Lord again, we enjoy your Love very much God in the sweetness of the unity. Compatibility is what we need now.

We thank you father. Amen 

photo art by Lennea Lincus
May 30, 2013

I AM A WOMAN WHO HAS TO START MY DAY WITH THE RIGHT PAIR OF SHOES.
I START IN MY BARE FEET WALKING TO MY SPECIAL PLACE IN MY HOME TO PRAY.
AFTER I HAVE HAD MY TALK WITH GOD I AM ABLE TO FIT MY SHOES AND GO!!!!!!!

You see how you walk determines how long you will be able to stand the day, it don't matter if your heels are flat or spiked. If you have no direction, if you don't feed your spirit right, your body swells and the first thing that hurts is your feet, it's not the shoes that hurt, it is the flesh! 

- Cynthialewis Living God's-Way 

Open Wide Your Soul



open sky wide ocean waters

"A cloud does not know why it moves in just such a direction and at such a speed... It feels an impulsion... this is the place to go now. But the sky knows the reasons and the patterns behind all clouds, and you will know, too, when you lift yourself high enough to see beyond horizons." ~Richard Bach  



body of a brown woman dancer

 

Clear See

exquisite beauty of an African mother



delicate beauty of Sweet Cola LaLa

"For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you're never alone." ~ Audrey Hepburn, actress 

 

Nature of CHANGE

Jessica Alicia Bertrand

March 22, 2013
near Shafter, California

Photographer- Curtis Noble
MUA- Ande Castaneda
Tattoo artist- Jesse Meza 


"If you want to awaken all of humanity then awaken all of yourself. If you want to eliminate the suffering in the world then eliminate all that is dark and negative in yourself  Truly, the greatest gift you have to give is that of  your own self-transformation." ~ Lao-Tzu


"Be patterns, be examples in all countries, places, islands, nations, wherever you come; that your carriage and life may preach among all sorts of people, and to them. Then you will come to walk cheerfully over the world, answering that God in everyone." ~ George Fox, Quaker 1624-1691

African Woman giant by Shadders

BLACK MAN WHITE PHOTOGRAPHER

It is not common for photographers to capture the images of Black Women skillfully for print media, or the fashion industry to respect the deep beauty of Black women who are studied, and imitated. Rare is the portrayal of Black masculinity in a pure form not surrounded by pretense, or the repulsive tendency to feminize men for public consumption, or the nasty impulse to denigrate the spiritual powers of the African soul of Manhood. 

This study of a man, a Black man in a pure form of intensity as a beautiful form who is strong within himself is an honoring of a heritage, a legacy of strength that pulled the best out of a people besieged by a society that feared, and distressed him historically, socially, and in his face over time. An intelligent face allows me to look and see a mother's touch, and a father's introspective insight into his son. A face shows the story of a people, and you respect that in this capture of a soul, a man's soul.

All sons are sent into the world as gifts or parasites. But every son sent into the world knows a period of time of being cherished, and here in this portrait of a Man is the reflection of not only a pensive beauty within, and of a man, but the reflection of being cared for into his adulthood as a gift you, the photographer captured thoughtfully, Peter Salama. For that I honor you, and your respect for the subject: the dignity of a Black Man.

~ Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 5.31.13

FOR Discussion

Dr William H. Turner: A Tale of Two Cynics: Obama and Harvey on Slavery

by Dr. William H. Turner President Obama and popular game show host Steve Harvey both spoke briefly, but profoundly, last week, about the subject of slavery in America. The difference between their views was Dickensian: the best of times/the worst of times, wisdom/foolishness, belief/incredulity, light/darkness, hope/despair. President Obama’s point was a no-brainer, Harvey’s was brainless, at best, and perverse, at ...Read More »

Melody Jiles, Michelle Hutton, Papa Aziz and Abdou Muhammad 

Eyes on the Prize: a 1980s Civil Rights Documentary is Extremely Relevant Now

February 13, 2015

 By Dr. Samori Swygert The month of February is used to commemorate Black History Month. During this time, we give honors and pay tribute to many of our “sheroes” and “heroes” within our African ancestry. We also reserve this time to excavate real-life stories of multifaceted greatness. The achievements of men and women of African ancestry are recognized in many ... Read More »