Category Archives: Media

The Truth about Truth — Article Review

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People don’t want to hear the truth.

Garrett Griffin

A Critique of “People Don’t Want To Hear the Truth, Particularly When It Comes To Dating” (2014) by Cody Hightower.

People don’t want to hear the truth, only what they want to hear to conform to society’s standards. Such issues in relationships can result in something, years in the making, falling apart when the truth comes out about one of the partners and their skeletons they have in the closet. This issue is easily transferable to other situations where, although the truth will result in less pain in the end, people will commonly take immediate pleasure over long-term reward to fill society’s demands.

The large effect of society in filtering what we hear is nothing more than a restriction on advancement. In many cases, it forces us to make uninformed decisions and uselessly spends valuable sections of the human existence. Despite Hightower’s article being a pithy editorialized piece it does bring up good, valid arguments against current normative expectations shaped by society’s prejudices against logic. They deserve to be questioned, contemplated and adjusted.

Examples abound where the truth is a lie and lies are the truth. Hightower gives multiple examples of why we should work towards truth, but three were the most salient: relationships, God and the afterlife, and society’s unrealistic expectations for persons. They seem true, but are they lies?

Hightower expresses his own experience in working towards near absolute honesty in almost all situations. One particular area of interest to him is in the realm of relationships. Hightower drew an analogy between the experience of buying a car or a home, a long-term investment, and the process of finding a partner. All three, according to Hightower, are big life decisions.

When you buy a car or a house you tend to inspect every aspect of it to learn all the “truths” about what you plan on investing your time, energy, and money into. In the case of relationships, according to Hightower, we dance around the truths and commonly invoke lies and deceptions because we do not want to hear the truths. People have a tendency to want to stay blissfully ignorant.

Hightower believes our want for half-truths and lies are a construct, or better yet, an effect of society and its structure. In a sort of self-perpetuating cyclic of lies and deception, the foundation for society, says Hightower, are lies. Because of this, society encourages its participants to do the same. By completing this society-prescribed task, the basis for our society is reinforced and supported. This pleasurable un-awareness, while working to support itself, also does inherent damage to the structure it inhabits.

Society has not yet gotten to a point where it has been failed by its own issues, but such processes retard society’s evolution. When a lie results in a conflict, the events built off of a lie fall with its uncovering. This puts the participants back at “square one” and they must begin again; having wasted valuable time. A counterargument to Hightower’s belief in people’s dislike of truth is that perhaps there is no truth.

For some people truth gets them nowhere and they see no reason to care about how it affects society. For many people, their entire existence is built on falsity. It is hard to argue against the validity of truth as a stronger basis to build upon, but not everyone is an advocate for truth. These aspects of the argument are more drawn from Hightower’s discussion rather than included as a part of his.

Hightower does not present a deep, philosophical analysis of the issue, rather a more pithy description of why he thinks people lie to one another. If Hightower were to provide more material to back his claims he would have likely a strong argument, but as it stands it is not entirely convincing, an issue more present in the next topic he discusses.

The second argument Hightower brings up involves religion or more specifically spirituality and questions about the afterlife. He says, despite his advocacy for the honest truth at all times, some instances call for lies. The example given is when a child asks a question like “Where do we go when we die?” a person has multiple answers they can choose from, but for simplicity and to avoid damaging the child psychologically, parents will avoid stating the obvious truth about where the body goes and what it becomes: worm-food.

Hightower fails to make a strong argument when he says a person who answers such a question with something about God or anything about a higher level of existence the parent is lying because, “No one knows if there is a God, no one KNOWS those things, and if they claim to, THEY ARE LYING.”

The reason Hightower likely believes this is the unfalsifiability of an existence of God. Since physical proof of his existence cannot be shown, he cannot exist. Hightower is flawed in his logic in his assumption parents or persons who answer the child with a reference about God do so with the intent of lying. If a person fully believes in an afterlife along with God and tells the child about it, the parent is not trying to hide any real truths.

This argument can be countered by stating the obvious omission of the worm-food explanation, but such supplementary answers can be added later when the child is old enough to comprehend the complexities of life. The parent did not lie, he/she only did not tell the whole truth. Hightower does not condone this as a form of lying, but his assumption that when one speaks of God they are lying is an unsupported claim.

The third issue Hightower’s brings up is the unrealistic expectations society expects us to conform too. These expectations lead us to lie to others and ourselves to our own eventual self-inflicted damage. Some of the examples he gives are logical. Hightower believes that when society tells you to buy a certain product or tells you to do something it is acting unnatural. It forces humans against all things human. This humanistic perspective is flawed though, because it does not assert the notion that not all things naturally human are good.

Some of the primitive instincts of humans are not desirable if the human race expects to make evolutionary progress. Hightower asks the question “We are supposed to fight and go against every instinctual thing about ourselves, for what? To alleviate suffering?” An answer to this structured question requires either a yes or no. The answer is not this simple. He goes on to give his assertion, “False beliefs are the very thing that CREATES suffering.” He is right in many ways. Some of the molds society creates for certain people require great pain and sacrifice to fit into.

The belief that all constructs built artificially by men are bad is simply not supported in Hightower’s argument. Some aspects of humanity are better-situated in society when they are restricted and the energy for those characteristics is channeled into other, less destructive actions.

One of these aspects is discussed by Hightower: the “false” monogamy of humans. He poses the question, “Humans are not monogamous, yet, we are supposed to strive for monogamy?” This claims that humans have the same tendencies of animals and instinctively strive for non-discretionary, non-exclusive sexual relations with other humans. Assuming this is true of the human species, can it really be a good thing? The issues that accompany multiple-partner relationships can generate substantial suffering to any or all of the involved participant. Not saying that suffering is alleviated by a monogamous relationship but, the repercussions of such versus the alternative surely swings in favor of the single-partner example.

With the pervasiveness of lying and deception in multiple facets of society it is no surprise people, once desensitized to falsity, are more receptive to it despite its eventual hampering of evolutionary progress. Hightower does brings the issue of truth not wanting to be heard by people to the table to be discussed, but the argument itself needs more support to explain why lying can be considered a bad practice almost universally.

24 Hours…A Look Back

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Anthony Hamilton

The fun is over, and it was a really big night for those of us who participated in A&M’s Got Talent. The show was well thought out, and it was a first-class production all the way around. This story is about my 24 hours leading up to and performing in the talent show.
I must make light of the fact that being chosen 1 of the 10 was a very big deal for me. I’ve been involved with music for decades, singing, rapping, playing instruments, and writing songs. The opportunity to perform for an audience is a joy to me, and something that I’ve always been very serious about, and our talent show was no different.

My 24 hours obviously started with rehearsal the night before the talent show. I enjoyed the opportunity to meet some students that I didn’t know, and hang out and have fun with them. The rehearsal was the opportunity to do our sound checks, and “tweak” our performances so that on Friday we would be as professional as possible.

During the course of rehearsal everyone got a bird’s eye view of their competition. I (personally) ran into trouble as a result of my work-ethic, as I worked a tad bit too hard in rehearsal, and ultimately I would pay for it during the show. I became hoarse right after rehearsal, and the big thing after rehearsal was getting home, and getting a steady diet of hot tea, honey and lemon, in an attempt to clear my voice up.

After a good night of sleep, the next morning, it was more hot tea and lemon, the a couple of light rehearsals to ensure I remembered the lyrics to my song, before stepping out to take care of errands that I’ve heard many professional singers speak of on the day of their big shows. I know from experience that a major part of any performance is appearance. Many artists don’t get the full support of record labels because their appearance is not deemed profitable. My first stop was the barber shop, followed by a pre-show meal at KFC and a trip to the cleaners to pick up my outfit.

Upon returning home, another light rehearsal before heading to school, and going to the fourth floor to unwind a bit and reflect. Now I would be lying if I said I didn’t hope to win, but anytime I participate in a show, my first order of business is giving my best. Since I was closing the show, I had a lot of time to think about my performance. The audience was lively, and our Masters of Ceremonies were very entertaining. I enjoyed every minute of the show up to my time to go on stage.

When I began my performance, I ran into the trouble I spoke of earlier. I went hoarse upon singing my first line. I tried to be a trooper about it, but I was so disappointed because of all the hard work preparing, but in reflection, it was still a lot of fun.

In closing, I want to congratulate 3rd place winner Alana Briley, 2nd place winner Shalese Mitchell, both very talented singers, and 1st place winner Malik Tucker with his dance tribute to Michael Jackson. They brought the house down! I personally am proud of all our contestants. It takes a lot of courage to stand on that stage and perform in front of a large audience. I am hoping next year will be just as much fun.

Politicians and Musicians Do Not Harmonize

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Stephen Jones

On September 9th, Donald Trump drew a livid reaction from R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe, when the presidential hopeful used the band’s song “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” at a Tea Party rally protesting President Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran. In an email to the Daily Beast, Stipe, clearly upset with Trump, stating “Go f— yourselves, you sad, attention-grabbing, power-hungry, little men. Do not use our music or my voice for your moronic charade of a campaign.” Trump’s clash with R.E.M. is just the most recent incident in a long and troubled history between politicians (mostly Republicans) and musicians.

During the 2008 presidential season, Sen. John McCain received disapproval from three seperate artists, including: the Foo Fighters, John Mellencamp, and Jackson Browne. McCain continued this losing streak with musicians when his running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin, was sent a cease-and-desist letter from Heart guitarist Nancy Wilson, after using their famous song, “Barracuda,” at the Republican National Convention. Wilson’s letter fiercely, “I think it’s completely unfair to be so misrepresented. I feel completely f***ed over.”

Most of these altercations between politicians and musicians mostly occur due to the stark contrasts in personal beliefs. Many of the jilted Republican politicians have strongly conservative values, while the objecting musicians have usually been associated with the rock genre, a genre known for its progressive past, e.g., Woodstock and Vietnam War protests. This history can be seen as far back as Ronald Reagan’s 1984 presidential campaign, where he wanted to use Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.” Reagan did not understand the lyrics where about a man struggling in the aftermath of the Vietnam War, a war Reagan was known to support. However, in the rare case of a musician denying a Democratic politician song rights, the letters have had a more cordial tone. For instance, Barack Obama was asked to stop using songs during both of his presidential campaigns; however, these rejections were not due to political beliefs, but rather the fact his campaign did not ask for permission. Perhaps if politicians asked the artists for song usage in advance, they might be spared the embarrassment of being publicy rejected.

Sources:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/01/27/1360245/-When-politicians-use-music-without-asking-permission#

http://www.buzzfeed.com/perpetua/12-songs-republicans-used-without-permission#.ffgVjEryVD

Nightmare Trip to American Dream

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Andy Verke and Leslie Arietta

Have you ever wondered about the hardships people endure trying to sneak into America? Thursday night, October 22nd Texas A&M University-Texarkana held a film event in the Eagle Hall in honor of Hispanic Heritage week. Special guest director, Ramon Hamilton, presented his award-winning film SMUGGLED.

As the event began Dr. Rincon welcomed everyone and gave a brief introduction about Ramon Hamilton. Hamilton took over and gave the audience his perspective of his film and a brief bio on himself before the film began. He was inspired to create this film because of the smuggling experiences his mother and friends endured.

10-year-old Miguel and his mother attempt to sneak into America by way of a compartment under a tour bus. With nothing but little water, food, medicine, and a Gameboy to keep them occupied, Miguel and his mother remain hopeful they will be reunited with their husband/father. Their trip gets even more difficult within the last few hours of their bus ride.

Miguel is abruptly awoken by a nightmare and accidentally breaks his mother’s last bottle of insulin. Without her insulin, she will not be able to live much longer. A couple of hours later she gives Miguel a piece of paper with the address to his father’s house and decides to get some rest. When Miguel wakes up from his sleep, he tries to wake his mother and finds that she has passed away. 

To make matters worse, the tour bus breaks down on the highway, forcing the passengers to switch buses. When help arrives, Miguel uses what little English he knows to yell for help. As the guy opens the compartment, he makes a run for it and gets away. Eventually he ends up being caught and interrogated by the cops for shoplifting at a grocery store. After being interrogated and barely speaking a word, Officer Salmon takes Miguel in his car and drops him off in the middle of nowhere forcing Miguel to find his father’s house on his own.

Throughout the struggles Miguel faced on his journey, he finds his father’s house and is reunited with him.

SMUGGLED won 5 awards and was selected for 10 more awards.

The Clique Invades Dallas

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Stephen Jones

The entire length of the South Side Ballroom was lined with fans decked out in face paint, their favorite pair of Vans, and drawn-on tattoos. When walking past the front of the line, you would find people sitting in lawn-chairs with evidence of that day’s breakfast and lunch just below their feet, with the hope of getting the best spot in the house. The Texas Clique turned out in droves October 1st, as twenty one pilots (the band always prints its name in lowercase) made a stop in Dallas as a part of their 2015 Blurryface Tour. As a result of this very dedicated fan base, known as “the Clique”, the band achieved an important milestone when their newest album was #1 on Billboard‘s charts, upon its release, so a sold out venue was not unexpected.

Once inside, people flocked towards the stage, stationed just a couple feet above the standing-room-only crowd. The stage was set for the opening act, Finish Ticket, a Californian indie-rock band with traces of other indie groups, like Walk the Moon and Young the Giant, except with a little more edge. Finish Ticket was followed by indie band, Echosmith, who reached mainstream success with their single Cool Kids. As mentioned before, this was a sold out, standing-room-only venue, and the crowd was squeezing closer together until the lead singer, Sydney Sierota, paused their closing song to make sure everybody was okay, but they continued after she had the crowd take a couple steps back.

Now, it was twenty one pilots’ turn to perform for their fans, and they did not disappoint. The crowd followed every word, sang at the top of their lungs, jumped right on beat, and rapped every verse. The duo brought all the things their fans came to see: backflipping off a piano, crowd-surfing drum sets, climbing very tall objects, and countless acts of crowd participation. Finally, twenty one pilots closed the night with an empassioned speech, followed by a crowd-surfing dual drum-off (they really like crowd surfing), as powerful synths and confetti cannons blasted.When the performance was over, the duo stood together, and the crowd gave the band one final round of applause. As the applause died down, the two parted with the message, “We are twenty one pilots and so are you.”

Take a Trip to another Planet This Week – A Review of “The Martian”

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Garrett Griffin

U.S. Astronaut Mark Wartney stares at the vast openess of the Martian planet working on a plan for survival and eventual rescue. Image Courtesy of Screenrant.com.

U.S. Astronaut Mark Wartney (played by Matt Damon) stares at the vast openness of the Martian planet while working on a plan for survival and eventual rescue.
Image Courtesy of Screenrant.com.

You can travel to Mars for the price of a single movie ticket and see an action movie on the side. It seems like someone would realize that maybe Matt Damon is not the best person to send on an important mission since he always needs to be rescued. This week, though, you can go and see the United States spend millions of dollars saving an American hero: astronaut Mark Watney. Not to diminish the film, the movie The Martian is a great action movie with some of the best, if not the very best, computer-generated-graphics currently available. It has been well received by many critics.

I attended the first 3D viewing of the film on October 10th at Texarkana Cinemark Theater. I don’t know that the 3-D adds too much to the film, so if you are used to seeing the standard 2D presentation of the film, you will still have a great time. I will first say there are a few curse-words both uttered, as silent-lip-readings, and as abbreviated visuals. Because of this the movie was assigned the rating of PG-13.

The biggest thing that struck me was the realistic representation of Mars’ surface. Even without IMAX the film envelopes and places you on the planet. The time period during which this is supposed to occur is not stated but it appears to be the present. This makes the film much more relatable to the point where you would think you could turn on the television or computer and see the status of the rescue mission.

The movie does tend to use more scientific dialogue, which is understandable for a team of NASA astronauts. For the science-minded person this film will be well-received and thoroughly enjoyed. For those who are not, the film has enough action and a nominal amount of emotion to keep the viewer entertained.

The current ratings and reviews of the top three movie critiquing organizations have been rather positive. The movie currently has a score of 8.4 from the IMDB (Internet Movie Database). Rotten Tomatoes gives it a score of 93% and lastly, Metacritic gives it a score of 81%.

If you are looking for something to do, I would definitely suggest seeing this movie. It is nothing short of a great science-action film. See it before its gone.

Don Henley Returns Home

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Stephen Jones

After 15 years since his last new album, Don Henley reflects on his small-town roots in his latest release, Cass County. Henley ditches the classic rock sound, mostly attributed towards his time in the Eagles, and brings us an acoustic-driven country album.

Even though he found much of his success in California, Henley has always called Cass County, more particularly Linden, home. This look back at his life in a small southern town might be behind his return to the country genre. If you were to ask anyone from Cass County to describe what life is like in small-town Texas, they would tell you how time moves slowly and the day is simple: an attitude country music matches almost perfectly. With collaborations from Miranda Lambert, Martina McBride, and Dolly Parton, Don Henley’s new album looks to represent life in Cass County with great faithfulness.

On October 15, Henley comes back to his home state of Texas, when he stops by Grand Prairie’s Verizon Theatre, on his upcoming tour.

 

FEATURE: The Woman Behind the Music

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Alyssa Bertrand

Beautiful music is what I hear. The sounds of flutes playing to a bird’s voice, the trumpets forming the sounds of a royal guard entering a room, and the percussion playing as if something was about to happen. The sounds of every instrument in the band makes the most beautiful sound one may ever hear. The director moves her hands so smoothly with a slight bounce as if moving with the music, her students all paying close attention to every movement and every word coming out of the director’s mouth. “Thud thud thud,” the sound your shoe makes when it falls to the ground in order to keep the beat. When the song is over, you may hear a clash of the symbols falling to the ground when the student holding them is not paying attention. Nevertheless, the music coming from Stephanie Blackwell-Nelson’s Liberty-Eylau High School band hall is always wonderful.

Stephanie Blackwell-Nelson is the band director of the high school band at Liberty-Eylau. She has been the high school director for ten years. Before working at the high school, she worked at the middle school as the band director. She has alway had a love for music and even as a little girl she wanted to be a band director, accomplish great things with every band she taught, and guide each student with her help. She believes that every school should have a band or at least some form of musical program in order to keep the arts alive. The fine arts departments are normally the first to be cancelled when the budget shrinks but Nelson shows that band programs and music itself can have a positive effect on every student.

She attended and graduated from Texas A&M University-Texarkana with a Bachelor of Applied Arts and Sciences (BAAS) with a major in business. Even though TAMU-T did not offer a music degree, she still had a few options that gave her the degree she always wanted. Nelson is someone who will find an opportunity in any situation no matter how hard and difficult it may be. TAMU-T helped her reach her dream.

“Texas A&M University- Texarkana is one of the best places to go in my opinion. It is close to the community. The professor will help as much as they can and they don’t just teach they make sure you actually learn the material. There are other colleges out there that are bigger but to me TAMU-T was the best of me. Everyone has ‘their college’ and this was mine,” Nelson said.

She smiled and continued, “When I was little, of course I wanted to go off far away from my family and wanted to experience the ‘college life.’ When someone thinks, about how much one truly spends of that great college life everyone talks about then they will see the huge difference in staying at home and going to a local university, then to go off and having to stay in a dorm.”

She added that TAMU-T is not just a university, is it a family. “It may be a huge family, but everyone helps each other. People are friendly even if they do not know you. People hold doors open, and wave and say things like “Hey, how are you?” and “Have a good day” when you happen to be in the elevators with someone. No, they do not know you, but the atmosphere of the campus is joyous.”

Nelson said multiple times that TAMU-T is the reason she is where she is today. They allowed her to continue with her dream and never stop. She tells her students that this university is a great place to go and she would recommend her students to attend TAMUT.

“They don’t let you give up. They don’t let life struggles tear you down. The professor will works with you and will do everything in their power and under school policies they can in order to get you to pass and never stop believing,” she said. Nelson promotes the university everywhere she goes. She even tells people from other schools about her experience at TAMU-T.

Nelson has been the director of many award-winning bands. Her current band earned a sweepstakes two years in a row just recently and is working towards another one this year. In a matter of three years, she helped over 100 students advance to State in solo and ensemble, never leaving the competition with less than 30 medals each year at the state level. These accomplishments are just a few of her many goals that she has achieved. She plans on continuing to excel in her teaching and helping the students improved as much as possible.

She pushes her students to achieve their goals like TAMUT did for her. Nelson is excited to see what TAMUT has in store for the future. Nelson is overjoyed to hear that the university is starting a marching band.  Nelson said joyfully, “There is not a better staff anywhere I have attended or visited than Texas A&M University-Texarkana!”

The Year of the Dragon

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Garrett Griffin

The muggy air was somewhat suffocating as bugs flew aimlessly around the towering stadium lights, falling to their demise into a tray of cold nachos. The Linden-Kildare band had just completed their performance, and the Redwater Dragon band was making its way onto the field. They proceeded to play music for the Redwater Dazzler drill team to perform their choreographed dance. The award-winning Redwater band was ready to usher in a new year of musical enjoyment.

A Redwater color guard member smiles while she performs during the Redwater High School Homecoming Game on September 18th, 2015.

A Redwater color guard member smiles while she performs during the Redwater High School Homecoming Game on September 18th, 2015.

The band moved to their first position of the show by way of a theatrical act in reference to the subject of their show: The Rise and Fall of Rome. The Friday night lights glistened off the scintillating bells of the sousaphones. The press box announcer asked the drum major, “Is your band ready?” She responded with a salute and the band awaits her signal of initiation. The half-time show at Redwater High School homecoming football game was about to begin its second section.

The band stepped off at the count into a movement across the field while playing an energetic introduction to the first of three movements. Tonight they were showcasing the new uniforms, a combination of modern styling and traditional marching attire.

A saxophonist plays her solo during the Redwater High School Homecoming Game on September 18th, 2015.

A saxophonist plays her solo during the Redwater High School Homecoming Game on September 18th, 2015.

This year’s show is in many ways similar to the show the band played in 2011, the year during which the students’ determination allowed them to advance all the way to state to claim the 2nd place prize for best marching band in the 2A category. I was part of that team and can say that it was a life-changing event for me.

During the second movement, a slower, softer chorale, a saxophonist played a solo. A solo is a great way to impress the judges at any competition because a single player has no way to cover up mistakes; they are vulnerable, prepared for sacrifice.

The Redwater Drumlines performs during the Redwater High School Homecoming Game on September 18th, 2015.

The Redwater Drumlines performs during the Redwater High School Homecoming Game on September 18th, 2015.

The show continued on, but the third movement was not played, because the band was still learning their movements. It will have to be as flawless as possible for the first contest that the band traditionally attends: The Four States Marching Competition at Grim Stadium in Texarkana.

This experience from the first event will help students prepare for the subsequent contests leading up to their ultimate goal of playing at the State Finals Competition at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. This year will likely be a year of the dragon for Redwater High School’s Marching Band.

Outside Colored Lines

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Ti’Ana Marshall

“The only thing that separates women of color from anyone else is opportunity”-Viola Davis.

Originally, this article was going to be about my feel good weekend. I planned on relating my travels to anyone else who had ever done the same thing. Blasting music as loud as it will go, looking over at my love like those romance movies, while we toured the open highway—then something else happened.

I am overwhelmed with emotion and the tug of responsibility is yanking at my heart. History was made last night and it would not be right to talk about travel, and not the Nubian Queens who finally made it outside of the colored lines.

September is the month of (insert hash tag here) black girl magic. For the first time last night, a black woman won an Emmy for best lead actress in a drama series. The incredible Viola Davis was crowned supreme for her role in the hit television show “How to Get Away With Murder”.

Before accepting the award, Davis alongside four other actresses, was plastered across the screen in four windows. Each individual window full of their faces as they waited to hear who would take home the prize. Viola Davis sat alongside her husband, eyes shut, head down, with her hands tight against the chair. Then they said her name, “Viola Davis”. A stunned actress literally shook in her seat and her husband seemed to pull at her arm as if to remind her that this was real life.

With the grace of a thousand goddesses, Viola Davis strolled upon stage, clearly overwhelmed with a mixture of emotions. The lights twinkled against her ebony skin as she began to give a speech full of truth, beginning with a quote from abolitionist Harriet Tubman:

“In my mind, I see a line. And over that line, I see green fields and lovely flowers and beautiful white women with their arms stretched out to me, over that line. But I can’t seem to get there no how. I can’t seem to get over that line.” “Here’s to all the writers, the awesome people that are Ben Sherwood, Paul Lee, Peter Nowalk, Shonda Rhimes, people who have redefined what it means to be beautiful, to be sexy, to be a leading woman, to be black.” Before taking her seat, Viola Davis thanked other trailblazing actresses of color for “taking us over that line”.

The image of the black woman is changing not only on the big screen, but on the newsstands as well. For the first time, not one, not two, but seven major fashion magazines all   feature black women on the cover. Misty Copeland, another history making woman of color, graces the cover of Essence, while Beyonce slays the September cover of Vogue—the most prestigious and sought after cover.

All of that leads me to this. My open letter to all the future Viola Davises, the Gabrielle Unions, Vivica Foxes, Meagan Goods, Misty Copelands and more. To all my beautiful black baby girls who like me had longed to see myself on the big screen without being praised for my physical attributes—the time is now.

Realize you are beautiful, you are worthy of making history. Whether you are the lightest shade of tan, to the deepest of ebony, hear me—you are special! There is elegance in the sway of your hips, beauty in the thickness of your lips, intelligence underneath your kinky-curly hair. Use it to the best of your ability.

Continue to shine and break the mold. Let us continue to redefine what the world thinks of us as we reshape ourselves into the queens we are descendants of. This is black girl magic. This is only the beginning.