Making a Change: The Year of the Rabbit

The locs

Well folks tomorrow we say farewell to the mighty Tiger and usher in the hopeful Rabbit. Yes tomorrow is the Chinese New Year and according to the Chinese tradition the Year of the Rabbit brings a time in which "you can catch your breath and calm your nerves." I know we could all use some of that. (Click Here for More on The Year of the Rabbit). In the spirit of the New Year, I want to tell you a story.

In 1993 I arrived in New York City. When I think of my journey working at Tower Records in Boston (R.I.P.), being transferred to the New York Tower in Lincoln Center (R.I.P.), so I could work as an unpaid intern at VIBE it all seems like a dream. I won't recap my whole crazy New York story, but I will say this.

When I arrived here in the Apple I was not rockin' locs. I had actually just cut off my first set that I started in college. I was one of 3 or 4 people on my campus with locs.  Let me accent this point by telling you that  I went to The Ohio State University which boasts a population of about 60,000 students and at that time only about 2,500 of those students were Black. With that in mind the 3 or 4 of us with locs were the minority within the minority. You dig? Loc'ing was not popular and often times people thought I had lost my mind. This is the midwest after all. The land of the relaxer.

When school ended and I landed in New York, well Parlin, NJ to be exact, I had a fresh fade. Daily I would commute into the City for work and that is when saw all these loc'd folks going to work too. Nobody was looking at them crazy and they had a job (something my family was concerned I wouldn't have if I loc'd my hair).  It was then that  I knew I had found my people and it was time to try again.

One of the first people I met in New York was Greg Tate.  I interviewed him for an article I was writing about the Black Rock Coalition. At that time he was one of my loc'd bredren. I remember telling him that I was ready to loc again and he kind of gave me a speech about commitment. LOL!  About how much it would really take to maintain them and once it was locked that was it, and so on.  Then he pretty much told me, in so many words, that he didn't think I would make it down the loc'd road. That I would fall off around the time I started seeing too many naps. LOL!  I can laugh now, but then I sort of took it as a challenge.  Thanks Greg.

Before

So with the gauntlet thrown I began to loc, and boy did I loc. I loc'd through moving from Jersey (out of my aunts house) to Queens (in and out of my girls basement) to Brooklyn (into an apt with my girl Heather), through finding my tribe (The Tea Party, 452, Brooklyn Moon), through working on Long Island (CMP), through working in radio (MJI), a myriad of magazines (VIBE [2x], Martha Stewart, O, George, Harper's Bazaar, et. al), though starting a band (Shelley Nicole's blaKbüshe), making two albums, being homeless, and friends taking me in,  through love and heartbreak, loss and gain, cars [2] and no car, yoga, surgery, meditation, much partying, getting out of corporate America and several volumes of books filled with my personal New York adventures (literally I have journals for days). Seventeen years of locs and now I'm back to the beginning.  It's a fresh start and it feels amazing!

After!!!

Profile

The Back Jack!

I cut my locs with my friend Nye at her spot in NJ. As I held my locs in my hand, I couldn't believe they had been on my head. It was so time for them to go. They had served me well. They had rocked hard with me all over the globe. 

Nye and I had a great time on Wednesday.  She washed, cut and twisted the top, but we had to go see her barber Rossi for the final touches. So we drove from Newark to East Orange and stepped into the Lincoln barber shop. I hadn't been to the shop in 17 years so I had forgotten about the energy in there. I have to admit I love it.  Of course all of the fellas are on guard when you walk in, but then they are trying to get your number as things loosen up, but it was a great vibe.  Shout out to Rossi who lined me up,  made me feel like a queen and cut Nye some slack for being all up in his chair space. LOL! She was my hair producer after all.  I showed the barbers the locs I had just cut off and they were in awe.

Nye & Rossi

Me & Rossi

Side note: Fellas please chime in on your feelings about women and hair.  I need to know why some of you scoff at the idea of a short haired women.  

So now it's ceremony time. You know I have to do some sort of offering, which will happen when I get back from Europe.  In the mean time, now I'm in the market for hats, big earrings and a barber in Brooklyn. If you can supply any of these items for a women send them my way and I'll have a big hug for you.

Welcome the Year of the Rabbit. I'm ready to make my wishes and watch my dreams come true. How about you?

Me & Nye