What We Can Do Can Be Done.

Balloon Ark created by my cousin, Marcia Liggett at First Church of God, for Amber's Amazing Balloons. Sept. 9, 2018, which is her daughter's business. Amber, a new college graduate in grad. school right now, has been in business since elementary school. It is a successful business. 

Parenting is an art. In today's climate it isn't acted out this way. With so much of American thought and practice as parents under duress one would logically believe it not possible given the wealth and advantages of this culture. For people whose ancestors are indigenous to this land, and from the Land of the Blacks there are ancient ways of being a parent, and a part of community that is foreign to European thought, belief and practice. This is important to fathom because the fact is white Americans have created chaos where they know order belongs. Why they do this instinctually requires deep study.

I mention this in the context of acknowledging my cousin Maria Liggett, and her husband, Lamont, who have retained and mastered an ancient way of raising and developing their children that outsizes the puny thought process common in American life that develops the lowest impulses within children from suicide to gang warfare and truancy. How a nation underserves its children is based on the belief systems held during the long periods of European life in their Dark Ages.

They raised their children in a white community on purpose in Western Pennsylvania, which is significant because the climate there is seeped in the self-destructive dynamics of racism, as a social construct. The two of them set their standards of expectation high, and humbly influenced a white town towards a higher awareness outside of, and away from the primitive outlines they feel special within as 'superiors'. Their two children had struggles within what is typical of white American resistance to the challenges to their assertions of superiority in terms of intelligence, capacity to learn and exceed. The two children started and developed business in elementary school that have grown. The boy, Rob, has a successful photography business. He is in high school. His sister, Amber's balloon business afforded her opportunities too numerous to mention in the small space of an article.

The point is one of excellence. It is not a target point of the majority. For those on this trajectory there is a special consideration: they will find a way to learn the secrets and the techniques of the best from the best of the best. The rest?

Well. . .


- Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories
 [September 8, 2018]

birth to Life.

"The soft elegance within youth has to be understood in the context of stages. What occurs when an elegant woman begins to mature, matures, and becomes an elegant old woman with substance, and depths?..." - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 3/08/19 

Black American family by Roland Dawson. 2019.

The one on the left. That is the powerful one. Nothing as deep the feeling, as a husband, seeing and knowing the birth process your wife went through to birth the child! Those marks evoke something beyond words holding a husband's purpose to his soul inexplicably!... - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 3/09/19

/

Royalty by Roland Dawson. 2019.

Royalty, in the context of motherhood, evolves in the context of what values new life! The mother, who carries life in her womb births children, and can hold the essence of her man's dream of Life, at the same time. There is no power without birth, death, and resurrection! - Dawn Wolf, Keeper of Stories 3/09/19 /

FULL of LIFE!

Pregnant woman by Roland Dawson. 

February 2019.

One cannot suspend time, but it feels like it is occurring in the presence of the woman holding the child she will birth into her family! Its mystery isn't expressed as holy in today's vernacular. I am blessed seeing this tribute, Roland. It stands out against the crudeness found more common in the current vernacular. Your work draws on so much that is not called upon to be a part of becoming better a man!

Keep telling these profound stories, challenging structures and beliefs, and praising the depths of the Black woman's essence. 

Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 2/21/19 

pregnant Angelie Rodriguez by Roland Dawson 

in the summer of 2017!

EYE on the Dark Hue.

Roland Dawson took this picture of Ilahaya Brianna Archangel 

in the spirit of the "Queen of the Damned" movie. Body paint by Black Night Nero. (2018).

Jonica Steward by Roland Dawson. The theme is #denimanddiamonds. (2018).

Model, Nadia by Roland Dawson 

taken at Thomas Imagery studio in August 2018.

Unbelief in the strength of women is founded on a concept of an overextended version of male superiority that suffers under the glare of our women, who know better. In the context of Black American history the strength of concepts from matrilineal societies hold Black families intact. Today, all the factors that debilitated the new Africans in the Americas were challenged by the old, strong traditions from the Land of the Blacks!...

I make this point because the power of this image brings this to the forefront. The strength Black American women have needs to be respected, understood, deciphered and held against the wisdom depths of our Ancestors, who understood in depths we, as a People, have long forgotten! This photograph, Roland, has those powers. So much of your work toys with the loins, but on a deeper level the high intelligence of your work is invigorating because it has a basis in a connection with who you are, and where you come from in the Ancestral Realms. I know this is a lot to discern and discuss about photography, but Black Americans cannot help but evoke thoughts and reactions this profound. It is part of the genius we come from, and revisit!... - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 8/28/18 

Gorgeously Nelly in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania taken 

by Roland Dawson. [Feb. 2018]

Roland Dawson, you have done quite the impressive introspective photo sessions centered around, and about Gorgeously Nelly. Quite the thoughtful and fun approaches you use.

Again, I love what you do and enjoy the stimulation of thoughts, and emotions in your views...

It is intriguing the trend, this century, of women hiding their eyes with color. Perhaps, it is a reaction to predatory ways of young cats not listening, but acting as if they listen. Eyes do not need to hide, if prospective boyfriends, or husbands know how to read and see. That is quite the combination: thinking and observation. The better part of fatherhood teaches what is understood as responsibility. "It is all in the eyes." - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 10/03/18

WHEN WE AWAKEN

"Some things are just average, other things are spellbinding!" 

Dark beauty of this white woman circa. 2005 for Steed Muscle Bike Motorcycle Co.

Definition of a strong Black woman!...

Some things you don't question, you ponder. Some elements are held in awe and still others bring into focus the sense of being. . . ~ Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 12/22/18 

Dark woman's body art. The two are simple together, as light meets dark to made shadows. - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 12/22/18

"Modesty in American terms is a definition rebellious by nature. In terms of agreement the bend in the road of modern thought is to upset the balance of normalcy with prejudices towards high standards requiring work to obtain. It is an interesting social experiment American culture..." - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 12/23/18 

2 Different Times.

Krystle Lov'e.and Roland Dawson, the model and the photographer. January 2019.

"There is devotion to light by spiritually attuned people, and there is devotion to one's craft, and the attention one gives the details of being creative is the return to the origins of why creative people teach the crude to see better!" It amazes me how you consistently make this point in your work, Mr. Dawson!! - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories January 11, 2019 

Tintype photograph of two men. 

TWO INDIAN MEN

It was late in the 1890's. Not to long in the country above our little town my brother and I sat for this tintype. We'd been cattle rustlers with four gringos, who took off after the roundup and caught. We escaped. 



We thought we could be better men, so we took our money to buy new clothes and shave. We didn't look like this after hiding from the authorities. A few weeks had passed by, and we got to a town without the lawmen figuring where we hid. This looks not like us then. A few years later Juan, on the left found his wife in the town near the town we left her in, and she had had two children, who weren't his. . . - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 1/16/19 

IN Celebration

Sofine Williams by Chamille Cash, who works out of Capital Heights, MD.  

CashCaptures.com is how to reach out, and hire the photographer. 

LOOK IN THE EYES!

Tamara Fleming, photographer. (2017] daughter of Eddrenia Pridgen

The book: http://mfonfoto.org/

Business Owner at Tamara Fleming Photography

To Know this Stage...

Bliss is a whisper upon the soul, a feeling in that region of the heart one sings from, into and because songs cannot begin to end here. - Dawn Wolf, Keeper of Stories 4/11/18

Stories Oft' not Heard.

Finally, an African woman, the darker hue captured by a photographer with a deep understanding of why this is important. I cannot tell you how much I appreciate this. It is hard to find... - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 10/10/18

Black woman captured by Thänx Chikusě‎ somewhere atop the world! 2018. 

African woman's pride captured by Thänx Chikusě's camera. [August 2018]

An African woman's pride is different from mere pride other women carry within. African woman's pride is an ideal situated and centered with vast sweeping tales grounded in old truths... - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 10/10/18 

African woman shot by Thänx Chikusě. 2018.

RIDDLE: challenge to Manhood

Dark fine and wild!

Gentle touch carefully placed.

This Black woman defies something you may need, and defines something intelligent outside the elements of lust. What evolves from lust, as natural as can be, is a want to know more about what was entered in relationship to who a man is unto himself...

There is more to this, of course, but punany has laws... - Dawn Wolf, Keeper of Stories 8/18/18

Thick and seemingly inaccessible, Yves Nunez creates that vibe without effort. It is what she exudes that leans one toward understanding why her essence is intimidating to the weaker components of some men's esteem. There is a lot of power in that weakness. Women can use it to their advantage and awaken men into themselves with a suggestion, a hint, a nudge or a look in the eye. Men's disadvantage is ignorance of their weakness and the lack of strength to release the substance of who they are meant to be into the swirling powers of Creation. This awakening is a trick women learn from the Mothers to weave into men through direct penetration, and the nuance within sexual intercourse!  - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories [8/18/18]

the Complexity of Stories

the innocence of Miler Miya by Pierre Granger.

The model is Ukrainian and the photographer's page is Kapturphoto.

This image of Miler Miya is a sensitive portrayal of a wondrous thing: the embryonic stage of womanhood! The question to follow is found in how this stage is seen, appreciated, understood, probed, and valued. How it is devalued begins with projection into beliefs one carries from the fundamental contempt for the female principle embedded in Western ideology! Freedom begins acknowledging the origin of the lie, and in this case; this evil's indwelling presence within the falsehood of unbalanced humanity, a disrespected essence, and a disembodied integrity..." - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 4/9/18

The Desire of Want is a thought. The thought of a developed Black American woman is a genesis, an awakening. A wise woman's thoughts are above the expectations of adolescence. Listen. - Gregory E. Woods, (Dawn Wolf), Keeper of Stories 4/9/18

Music of a woman's soul is gently heard.

"Bathing in a river. It is the most natural cleansing from birth throughout one's life. White men's non-belief in the sanctity of the Female, and her essence spoiled water. Water became commodity, and the focus of wars to come..." -  Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 

Ifa in Black Americans

[The] Hip Black woman on a city street attired for the fall in the hippest of ways in the early 21st century will be remembered for something else inaccessible to white women and what they bring to the times. Africanism develops the spirit of the intellect. This is the furthest construct from the consciousness of white Americans. This expansive way of seeing, of looking within one's self is at the core of the spiritual traditions of West Africa, where the majority of slaves were stolen from to work for lazy whites. This way of being is systematically being driven out of Black American children in the schools by Black American's thirst to be accepted by white people.


 ~ Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories [August 6, 2018]

a study of tones.

profile of a Black Woman by SCJ Photography

plain woman by Chantal Michel

John Nasser Photography.

Powerful presence of Shana DeFilippis, who is 41, 

captured by John Nasser's camera, a Cannon 6d mark2 85mm lens.

the Mystery within Mystique.

VicMarie Jessie

Vic Marie Jessie dynamically portrayed by Roland Dawson. (2017).

photographer Rick Crank took this photo of Jeanene Ruffin in the shadows.

photographer Roland Dawson took this photo of Yaniksa Lee Robles. 2017.

Orange Black

"Black women in most settings redefine place."
- Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories

Black woman in orange is carefully modest and bold!

"[A] Black woman in orange is modest and bold! Colors lay boldly, or gently on dark skin. It is how gently they gauge their impact upon their public or how little they care about opinions about them that makes what they chose to wear so indescribably appealing!

Of course, I grew up with this. I can always find ways of enjoying the range. . ." - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 3/9/18 

Orange hair, blue jeans, black heels on a sepia woman is something strong other women cannot pull off with aplomb, excellence or assurance. It is a gift the powers of Black American women. - Dawn Wolf, Keeper of Stories (12.21.16)