I’ve started writing articles for Brooklyn Bodega, a website devoted to exploring Hiphop, art, culture, politics, as well as curating the annual Brooklyn Hiphop Festival. There’s so many forces in the conversation.  I’d like to bring to the table the  influences different genres of indie music have on Hiphop, interviews with artists and thinkers and creators who can incite dialog and shifts in the status quo.

Whew. For now, here’s a start. Little Dragon performed at The Music Hall of Williamsburg and Mercury Lounge last week, and I wrote a performance review for Brooklyn Bodega:

http://www.brooklynbodega.com/2010/03/29/little-dragon-nyc/

And check out Little Dragon’s video for “Swimming” off their new album Machine Dreams. Yukimi Nagano’s father, Yusuke Nagano created the vid!

photo courtesy of Matthew Drazin, www.shotsofrock.com

Check fashion photographer Valerio Mezzanotti’s work in his new magazine: http://www.nowfashion.com/

Christian Dior, Image courtesy of Valerio Mezzanotti for NY Times

Jean Paul Gaultier, image courtesy of Valerio Mezzanotti for NY Times

via Haiti, the earthquake, and my family: newyorker.com.

“Revolutionary change does not come as one cataclysmic moment (beware of such moments!) but as an endless succession of surprises, moving zigzag toward a more decent society. We don’t have to engage in grand, heroic actions to participate in the process of change. Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can transform the world. Even when we don’t “win,” there is fun and fulfillment in the fact that we have been involved, with other good people, in something worthwhile. We need hope.

An optimist isn’t necessarily a blithe, slightly sappy whistler in the dark of our time. To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places–and there are so many–where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction. And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.”

This product, introduced to me by my dear, clear-skinned and organically beautiful friend, Ngozi–

This stuff is a mineral powder (that smells slightly of cinnamon and clay). The brush ‘n powder power duo is amazing for travelling to hot, sunny places

Eminence's Sun Defense Powder, in Calendula Spice. For dark tan to caramel tones.

Eminence is European y’all! And uses natural fruits, vegetables, and minerals! This mineral power is comprised of Zinc Oxide and Titanium Dioxide, which gives you that even coverage and sun protection. Vitamins A and E are sweet healers too! And to add a bit of dewy luster, use a tonique, named straight outta Eden–Sweet Red Rose or Wild Plum–

You can buy it here.

J’adore!

Now, Miss Bruno and I are kindred spirits connected, cyber-spirituelle and whatnot. For serious–creativity, spark, story, color, lineage & design–I’m taken by this collection.

The Sia Sia dress, v. 1–I love this sexy off-the-shoulder sheath dress. Made from hand-spun, handwoven cotton from Burkina Faso.

Beautifully spun words, by Ms. Toni Morrison. In honor of the struggle that’s going on in Haiti now. Remembering that we all connect to primordial memories of being uprooted, the landscape we breathe in & witness, the homes and ports in which we welcome strangers, and the eternal rebuilding.

http://twitter.com/nytimes/haiti-earthquake

Below, more from troylivesay, a missionary based in Port-au-Prince. If you want to follow his tweets, as I’m doing, click here.