The power of Ms. Bassman’s photographs is the power of a woman who is never moved to make a call. – New York Times
In a time when women unabashedly reveled in having the advantage of being the fairer sex, legendary fashion photographer Lillian Bassman captured in striking black and whites the essence of a Woman. Feminine. Elegant. Seductive. Mysterious.
Before voluntarily withdrawing from the world of high fashion photography over 50 years ago, Ms. Bassman gave Harper’s Bazaar and the fashion world some of the most stunning work from the late ’40s to the early ’60s. Decades before digital photography took over, Ms. Bassman used her darkroom to bring creative drama and illusion to already brilliant photographs. While her body of work is not as expansive as some of the other well known photographers in her class, the quality and richness of Ms. Bassman’s shots that juxtapose high fashion with the subtle power of feminine guile cannot be denied.
Courtesy of Bassman Studio
A faithful lover of vintage fashion myself, I’m finding it difficult to find the words to justly speak to what I see through her lens, so I will let her pictures speak for themselves. I will say this: if photography is your passion, Ms. Bassman’s work is fire and life balanced with mystery and light. See more of Ms. Bassman’s work here via this link.
Earlier today, I read an email from Salary.com entitled, “10 Things to Never Put on Your Resume,” and it got me thinking about our other online resumes – the ones on professional networking sites like LinkedIn. There are a number of very clear advantages to being on LinkedIn, not the least of which is that it is the main site on which everybody wants to see and be seen, and keep up with everyone else professionally to remain viable in the job market. The benefits of being on LinkedIn far outweigh the downsides, whether you’re actively job-hunting or you just want to remain connected. But remember that your LinkedIn profile makes it very easy for potential employers to ‘profile’ you and preliminarily screen you in or out for a job.
I’ve jotted down 7 common pitfalls that I see people sometimes falling into on LinkedIn. While I’m mainly focusing on LinkedIn for this note, these points are applicable to other professional networking sites like Plaxo as well as business networking sites such as the ones found in this excellent list, “20 Social Networking Sites for Business Professionals”.
1. Sharing too much personal information can be hazardous to your career. LinkedIn has added some curious features lately to make it more social network-y. Some of these things include options for users to add their marital status and their birthdate. Unless your main purpose for being on LinkedIn is to find a mate, I’d advise against adding this information. If you are using the site for professional networking purposes, you are begging for biases or screen outs before anyone even says ‘hello’ to you by telling them your DOB (age) and marital status. Quite a bit can be gleaned from this information. For example, adding your birth date immediately alerts everyone to your age, and your marital status can imply travel flexibility, the likelihood that you’ll be willing and/or able to work extended hours, etc. While age discrimination is illegal, it still happens. No need to open your career to unnecessary pitfalls.
2. Make sure that the Twitter Account you add to LinkedIn is professional.
Many people have more than one Twitter or Facebook account, one that’s open and one that’s more private. You can now connect your Twitter account to LinkedIn so consider the types of Tweets you and your friends post before adding this feature to your LinkedIn profile. Again, it only takes a minute for a potential employer to click over to your Twitter account to see what types of things you rattle on about (not to mention how much of your day you spend doing it). Liberal companies may not have a problem with this activity but if you’re in a more conservative field, it may not go over well.
3. Consider what you enter in your LinkedIn Status Updates.
Another recent feature LinkedIn has added is a Twitter or Facebook-like space for you to share a few words about whatever you’d like. Some people enter information about things they are working on while others enter more casual content. Whatever you post, just keep in mind that everyone in your network – not just your personal buddies — will see it.
4. Think about what your LinkedIn Profile Picture says about you professionally.
This is an area that requires balance and consideration for your career field as well as your level. I strongly recommend against that cropped, bangin’ nightclub shot of you unless you work in the entertainment industry and plan to stay there. Think about your first impressions: what are you trying to convey with your LinkedIn picture? I’m personable, I’m professional, I’m pleasant to be around… Or are you going for the “Hey Y’all!!!” effect. For example, I’m in a career field, and at a level where I want my picture to convey approachable professionalism: not too buttoned up but not to casual either. Think about what you want your picture to say.
5. Consider the Pro’s and Con’s of Open Networking vs Strategic Networking
How, and with whom you choose to network is up to you. There are pluses and minuses to open networking with everyone who sends you a request vs strategic networking in your career area. Either way, consider that unless you turn off the ‘Connections Browse’ feature, anyone in your network can see everyone else. While some people want to be in your network to grow their contacts in a particular field, others are interested in mining your Connections. Consider your comfort level with the latter activity before blindly accepting all Invitations.
6. Professional courtesy and respectful conduct extends to all communications
Although I run two professional groups on LinkedIn, I’m judicious about comments and content I post within my or other groups. When I decide to add content, it’s deliberate and well thought out. I’ve seen postings in groups on LinkedIn range from thoughtful to snarky to downright attacking. Most if not all of us have been misinterpreted before in written communication, which is why it is so important to carefully review your comments and consider the tone before initiating a discussion or responding to others. Along the same lines, it’s not a good idea to use LinkedIn as a forum to gripe and vent about your job or your employer. Not a good idea at all.
7. Do not feel compelled to embellish on LinkedIn.
Like an emailed resume, the information you put in your LinkedIn profile is open game for a potential employer. So, if you’re a cashier on your resume and a cash management analyst on LinkedIn, you may want to think about how you will reconcile the differences if you’re ever called on the mat. People boast naturally but it sometimes gets out of control on sites like LinkedIn. Don’t fall into this trap.
Bonus pointer: be sure to claim, and ensure the accuracy of your professional information on mining sites like Xing.
These tips aren’t meant to stifle anyone’s individuality or personality on LinkedIn. Most companies do want to get an idea of who you are as a person and a potential employee, not a drone. But always consider: if the HR Director at the company you work for, or would like to work for, checks out your LinkedIn profile, are you projecting the professional image you intend to convey?
“Harlem” (more commonly known as “A Dream Deferred”)
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
Like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore–
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over–
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
– Langston Hughes (1951)
“With their very bodies, the Greensboro Four obstructed the Wheels of Injustice” at a Woolworth’s Lunch Counter in Greensboro, North Carolina. The Los Angeles Times has written an excellent article today in recognition of the “Greensboro Four” Black college students who on February 1, 1960, decided to take a dramatic though non-violent stand against bigotry and in doing so, changed the course of American Civil Rights history. Their names are:
As noted in the Los Angeles Times, the sit-in led to the formation in Raleigh of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, which became the cutting edge of the student direct-action civil rights movement. The demonstrations between 1960 and 1965 helped pass the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act. I was pleased to see that the Los Angeles Times had not forgotten the fight and struggle of a people – my people – to gain equal status in the country we helped to build and prosper. I’ve liberally excerpted a few passages from the LA Times (below) but I hope you will read their article in its entirety via this link and also visit the Greensboro Sit Ins website via this link to fully understand and appreciate what occurred during this critical segment of the Civil Rights movement.
The “sixties” were born on Feb. 1, 1960, 50 years ago this week, when four African American college students staged the first sit-in at a segregated lunch counter in Greensboro, N.C. Since then, the mythology of the ’60s has dominated the idea of youthful activism.
Of the three big events of the early civil rights movement — the 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education decision, the 1955-56 Montgomery bus boycott and the sit-ins — the sit-ins have always been the least understood and, yet, the most important for today’s young activists.
…In the time before Twitter, the rapid spread of the sit-ins was shocking. The first sit-in was an impulsive act, led by college students. They spread to Nashville, Atlanta, Miami, Durham, N.C., and Little Rock, Ark. — more than 70 cities and towns in eight weeks. By summer, more than 50,000 people had taken part in one.
At the time, this was not just the largest black protest against segregation ever; it was the largest outburst of civil disobedience in American history. The sit-ins rewrote the rules of protest. They were remarkably egalitarian: Everyone participated; everyone was in equal danger. And they went viral because they were easy to copy. All one needed for a sit-in was some friends and a commitment to a few simple principles of nonviolent protest.
Most important, the sit-ins were designed to highlight the immorality of segregation by forcing Southern policemen to arrest polite, well-dressed college students sitting quietly just trying to order a shake or a burger. The students believed deeply in Thoreau’s idea that the only place for a just person in an unjust society is jail.
Contrary to what many think because of the historic 2009 Presidential election, the US, like most of the world, is still a work in progress when it comes to race relations, civil rights and equality, but at least we’re now trying to bring about and sustain necessary changes through peaceful actions supported by clear determination.
I was speaking with a friend last week about Civil Rights, and the lack of smart, dedicated and diplomatic leadership for the current generation of minorities in America. Sure, there are certainly promising points of light like Corey Booker, the current Mayer of Newark, New Jersey, and Adrian Fenty, Mayor of Washington, DC, the nation’s capital, but youths need leadership, full of ethical, knowledgeable and courageous advocates who will work diligently to address the significant challenges minorities face disproportionately virtually across the board, especially in terms of employment, housing, etc. A few weeks ago, I wrote a blog note entitled, “What does unemployment look like for you (via this link),” which highlights deep concerns about the underlying reasons for the troubling disparity in employment numbers especially for Black menwith college educations. With gaps this large, it’s not just ‘the poor economy.’
As I close this note, I find myself re-reading Langston Hughes’ “Harlem” (more commonly known as “A Dream Deferred”) and thinking about the generation of youths and young adults we’re losing today through lack of education and lack of opportunities. I may be in my senior years when another, major Civil Rights movement comes along, but I hope that it will occur, once again through peaceful means with dogged determination to help guide future generations of multi-racial Americans into peaceful and productive co-existence and true, lasting integration.
From the files of “ok, guess I missed the humor in THAT joke”: I was reading my February 1, 2010 home edition of New York Magazine (NYM) and saw a curious note in the Highbrow/Brilliant quadrant of the Magazine’s Approval Matrix . The entry was about Google’s auto-fill in ‘assistance’ when you prepare for a search using the words “why can’t“. Just as FYI…self-described by NYM as “our deliberately oversimplified guide to who falls where on our taste hierarchies,” the Approval Matrix is one of those sections that we subscribers love to chew on because it’s usually hilarious and spot-on with it’s ‘rankings’. If you haven’t seen it before, here’s an example of an older Approval Matrix (don’t think it’s updated online anymore).
Anyway, looks like Google’s may have some explaining to do to our friends up North:
When you type in “why can’t” into Google, one of the auto fill-in options it gives you is “why can’t I own a Canadian.”
- February 1, 2010 home edition of New York Magazine
When I typed in the words “why can’t” and searched Google today, sure enough, “why can’t I own a Canadian” was the very first auto-fill option Google presented to me.
It could have been worse I guess, but not if you’re Canadian.
In the same issue, we Americans didn’t fare much better as NYM pointed out in the “Highbrow/Despicable” quadrant:
The Supreme Court rules against campaign-finance laws because they ‘censor’ the rights of corporations.
It’s been a busy month for John Edwards’ Baby Mama Rielle Hunter . She’s finally gotten long overdue legal and public recognition of her and Edward’s love child; Edwards and his wife have split; and now comes word that Hunter’s attempting to block a personal video tape made during her and Edwards’ affair. Hunter doesn’t leave much to the imagination in the affidavit for a restraining order her attorneys filed in North Carolina on January 28, 2010. According to news reports, she’s attempting to block publication of an apparently very interesting ‘flick’ she made in 2006 while she and then US Presidential Candidate John Edwards were lovers:
“…In or about September 2006, using my video camera, I authored a personal video recording that depicted matters of a very private and personal nature,” Hunter wrote in an affidavit filed Thursday. “In 2006, I was also having an intimate relationship with Edwards.”
- Washington Post
There’s no mystery to what she wants to keep under covers, but I’ll say this for Ms. Hunter: she sure knows how to tantalize.
NOT that it matters but I’m a straight woman whose favorite television shows over the past few years have revolved around gays in Los Angeles: Showtime’s the L Word about CrazySexyCool women who happen to be lesbians and the Logo Channel’s Noah’s Arc about a close knit group of Hunkilicious Black gay men. Both shows are now canceled but you can catch reruns on Logo. The rebroadcasts are great because they are starting from Season 1 with each show. If you’re like me and came in late, you can catch up on all the back-stories (I know… no pun intended).
I only mention my own sexuality as a testament to the relevance of each of these shows to all of our lives regardless of orientation. Noah’s Arc was the only serial show on television dedicated to the lives of black gays. The surprise hit followed “four black gay men in Los Angeles – Noah, Alex, Ricky and Chance – as they navigate complex romantic and professional relationships.” I stumbled on Noah’s Arc a few years back when I was flipping channels and heard the theme song, Adriana Evans’ “Remember Love.” The song and its lyrics hooked me so I decided to check out the show; my straight-girl crush on ‘Noah,’ actor/model Darryl Stephens, kept me around. That said, I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t enjoy the show because of the entire ensemble – each of the characters are unique and enjoyable to watch. The final chapter of Noah’s Arc wrapped with a motion picture entitled, “Noah’s Arc: Jumping the Broom.” Noah’s Arc is very campy but it’s also a lot of fun!
The L Word
I’m still in denial about the end of the L Word. Bette, Tina, Shane, Helena, Alice, Dana, Tasha, Moira, Kit and you too Jenny and the rest of the crew, we miss you! Bette’s (Jennifer Beals) wardrobe alone was enough to merit a loyal following by true fashionistas. Bette was smokin’ in every scene on every episode.The L Word originated on Showtime but it too can be seen in reruns on the Logo Channel. Note: the Logo Channel’s version of the show is G-rated so I highly recommend getting all seasons of the L Word DVD set – ditto Noah’s Arc DVD’s. The uncut L Word series on Showtime was off the chain! I ended up getting quite a few of my girlfriends hooked on the show because it was GREAT. While I hadn’t heard of most of the cast before I began tuning in – other than Jennifer Beals and Pam Grier – it really didn’t matter because the storylines particularly of the early seasons were so well-written. The cast of regulars grew over the years and what started as the tale of a small group of trendy, well-heeled L.A. friends and lovers evolved into a complex web of relationships between women from virtually all walks of life. While the show revolves around lesbian relationships, any woman who watches will quickly realize that the storylines and themes are applicable to most relationships regardless of the gender of their partner. In real life, some of the actresses on the L Word are gay, some are not… but who cares – these ladies give GOOD drama! Inevitable comparisons to Sex and The City (SATC) were made, and there were similarities. But speaking as someone who watched SATC from the beginning, the L Word picked up on the pulse of real women where SATC failed to mature and mostly missed out – definitely in SATC’s lame-duck, last two seasons. Because it was not a comedy, the L Word covered many serious issues such as transgender identity, childhood abuse and eating disorders to name a few. On the lighter side, I definitely learned a thing or two on being GIB! By the end of its run in 2009, the L Word was wildly popular and its guest stars included a who’s who of A-list actors and actresses of all orientations.
Check your local listings for the Logo Channel (hopefully the channel is available through your cable carrier) and both these shows. Be sure to check out each show’s seasonal Soundtracks on iTunes or CD’s as well – the music’s fantastic!
On a sad note, I just found out today that Ugly Betty has been canceled. I simply can’t blog about that right now!
Earlier today, I read an email from 
From the files of “ok, guess I missed the humor in THAT joke”: I was reading my February 1, 2010 home edition of New York Magazine (NYM) and saw a curious note in the 
