my best friend, tiffany, introduced me to the webseries, the misadventures of awkward black girl. whenever i stayed at her apt, there was always a mini marathon until we finished this season. since there was never a follow up to the second season, awkward black girl
feel off my radar until i saw that issa rae came out with a book. and of course, i had to check it out from the library!!! (i am hoping to purchase a copy to get signed at the festival of books.)
about 8 pages in, i texted tiffany to tell her that if issa rae went to school with us, we would totally have been BFFs with her. the first chapter, "a/s/l", took me back to our aol days. tiffany was the first of our friends to have a computer and internet and so she introduced christy may and i to instant messenger. i remember going over to her house after school and chatting with random people. there was one program that allowed you to use avatar and i remember we spent one afternoon trying to convince people we were trapped in a penguin's body (we had chosen the penguin avatar.) and like issa rae, i would go out trolling for guys to talk to. of course, i knew the dangers of online predators and when older guys would ask about my age, i would be honest and then tell them how inappropriate it was for them to talk to
me like how when i was born there in the 5th grade or that when they graduated from high school, i was still in elementary school. but like rae, i also did my fair share of sexting though it was online and i never masturbated while i did it, just typed back inappropriate. though i did never catfish (or as rae explained back then we just called it lying) but did fall in love with boy once only to discover that his photo was really damon albarn from blur! i was too young to notice how professional the photos were. but yeah, i am sure most people our age have similar stories but totally bonded with rae over this chapter.
in "fat", i totally identified with rae's body issues. i have the same problem with food though i was never vegetarian. i am also tempted to do that beyoncé cleanse though i know it's not healthy!
in "leading lady", i realized just how much better we had it i. the 90s. rae explained how television was so much more diverse with shows like the fresh prince of bel-air, living single, all-american girl, moesha, and family matters (to name a few that she listed, also i wish that netflix will bring back all-american girl.) and how reality tv ruined it all. and how it's important for everyone to have an authentic reflection of themselves in media. she also shared this great junot diaz quote to demonstrate her points:
seriously, the realest shit ever.
another chapter i enjoyed was "when you can't dance", in which rae had bragged about how she could dance but actually couldn't. she studied videos (sean paul was big at the time) and then got crazy freaky at the party which covered the fact that she couldn't dance! lol. i have good rhythm but would crazy on the dance floor for a good laugh!
race is the focus of a handful of chapters. the topics include: how to identify different types of blacks, how to connect with blacks, and one on how to deal with hair. i also loved reading about her decision to go bad.
rae also discussed her family. her dad not being open and forthcoming as she would like. she also shared about her parents divorce, how initially she blamed her mother only to discover that her father had cheated. this caused a rife between her and her father which she and he worked through. she also discussed family trips back to senegal, which sounded like a blast!
there was also an interesting chapter on black women and asian men dating!! which totally reminded me of my friend tiffy.
but what makes this book great are all the little funny side comments she adds as she writes. the same said to self comments that made awkward black girl so funny to watch.
this book was a hilarious read and i look forward to reading and watching more from issa rae. she has an HBO show in the works!!
No comments:
Post a Comment