I’ve known for some time that I wanted to act but for an equally long time I’ve suppressed that desire. The first reason was because it’s too competitive. I don’t do well with rejection and acting comes with a TON of NOs. Secondly, I’m a business woman. I have always wanted to be a boss and convinced myself the route to that was behind the scenes so that’s what I’ve pursued. Finally, I put that aside because of the not-enoughs and too much’s (not enough background/training; not enough money; not enough looks; not enough range; too old; too country; too black; too fat etc etc etc).
After not being able to repress the desire any longer, I decided in 2011 I should really try and see what happens. 
Things started happening-I took more classes, got cast in a play, did things with friends, got an agent. I was happy but really seeking something more…the opportunity to be a part of something great that I can really sink my teeth into a role/character or piece. That opportunity came when I heard about an audition for “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow is Enuf.” I’ve always loved this piece. The book/choreopoem is so crafty and timely and even though it was written in 1975, it is sooo relevant today! Furthermore, it is an all female cast. I auditioned and the talent at the audition was so great I didn’t know if I would get in but I did. And the experience has been amazing.
The female director is amazing-her vision is clear and because the play is being performed at her alma matter I can feel the pride she feels as she’s putting it altogether. The facility is amazing-I had no idea Dillard University had such a stellar theater! And finally the cast-this group of ladies is phenomenal. I have learned so much about the craft just by rehearsing with them weekly. The mostly theatre majors are SERIOUS actors and I’m grateful to be included.
If you are in/around New Orleans, come check out the show. Opening night is this Friday at Dillard and the show runs for two weekends: Friday shows start at 8pm and Sunday matinees are at 3pm. Tickets are available at the Dillard box office-hours vary daly. Tickets can be purchased day of show (please arrive 30 minutes early) for $15-there are discounts for students and seniors.
I’ve been called extreme and sensitive. For a week I was sad about that. Why do I have to be so much? Why can’t I be less of this and that? Well the fact of the matter is that It’s true-my extremeness/sensitivity is different than most. But so what?
That extreme-ness causes me to be able to go for extreme shit in life. It’s extreme for a girl from where I’m from to have attempted (and succeeded I might add) the things I have tried. It was extreme to go to Purdue to work as a sports information director in charge of volleyball who had NEVER attended a college volleyball game. It was extreme for me to go to law school JUST so I could craft a unique career in the entertainment industry. It was extreme to move to L.A. with just my law school graduation money, no place to live and no job. It was extreme to leave the comfort of VCA to try to work for Brillstein and it was for damn sure extreme to leave BEP to work for Benny Medina. It was extreme to move from Hollywood to New Orleans to continue a career in film and television production. But guess what? It all worked!
And yes I’m EXTREMELY sensitive! Shit that bothers me does not phase other folk. I love when I tell one of my besties Brit my concerns and I see her reaction-she’ll look shocked and amazed that my mind conceived the things it does. That sensitivity makes me an artist. That sensitivity makes me a friend folk call when shit gets real and they need an empathic voice on the other end of the phone. That sensitivity allows me to place myself in others shoes and act from that place, making things comfortable for others in most situations. And that sensitivity has allowed me to feel more emotions than others know exist.
So I say all that to say, yes DaVida Chanel is extreme and sensitive and so the fuck what! Those two elements combine with every other piece of me to become one amazing mofo! I do realize that everyone can’t deal with that-oh well c’est la vie! I could care less because it has taken a long time and serious work for me to be ok with EVERY piece of me. Ledisi’s song PIECES OF ME is a great song to address how I’m feeling today. I hope that this song makes every reader OK with some portion of yourself that you may have not always accepted 
HAPPY MONDAY!
I was having a conversation with one of my guy friends and he said that folk think he has it easy because he’s a guy. I couldn’t hear anything else he said because I’m one of those people. Since I’ve been little being a boy has been super attractive. WAIT-no I don’t want to BE a man, no I’m not saying I want to sleep with women, sweat profusely, drink beer and belch or do those type of “boy” things but I’ve always felt like if I were a guy I might have an easier time. Let me expound…
Growing up I spent A LOT of time with my great uncle and older male family members. They got to do WHATEVER they wanted and we, as females, catered to them. I was taught VERY early on to offer the man food and drinks first. I was taught to protect the men, look out for them and make sure they were good. When the men did something wrong, it was overlooked or rather it was not that big of a deal as when the women did. I swear the phrase “he’s just being a man” was spoken so much in my home! AND the men always had the money. They made the decisions and we rolled with the agenda they set.
Some part of me got conflicted. I wanted to BE like the men in my family. I wanted to be all those characteristics they taught me. I wanted to be strong, assertive, the leader, independent. The biggest thing I wanted to be was free-the men in my world made decisions based on how they felt in the moment. They acted with confidence during times of pressure and that’s what I wanted to be. As I got older, I started to have more and more friendships with guys and that same “thing” remained. Men have this certain way of rolling with the punches and not being overly affected and I wanted want to be that for as long as I can remember.
The thing is and I think it’s pretty clear, I’m not a man. I’m a woman and as women we’ve got different gifts. I’ve just been so busy wanting to be like a man that I sometimes don’t embrace or appreciate the female stuff-probably why I don’t have a man but I digress. I believe life is so much easier when we accept and work with what is instead of fighting what isn’t. While I still admire so many aspects of being a man, being a woman is quite a ride-the emotional process alone is so amazingly complex it becomes an adventure. It’s taken quite a bit of time but I’m FINALLY ok with playing my “role” as a woman. And I’m learning if we all lead with our best gifts this life thing becomes less of a battle of the sexes and more of a harmonious relationship for us all!
Do you know what the most offered commandment in the Bible is? You’d think it was love one another or something like that…it’s not. It’s FEAR NOT! “Fear not,” or some variation of the term appears around 365 times in the most commonly read book in the world. There’s something there…
How many times do we stop short of what we really want because we have some fear. Fear comes at us in different ways. Its not like when we were little and were fearful of some monster in a corner. Now we’ve got “real” fears like how we gonna eat if we leave this job or if I walk away from this relationship will I ever have true love oh and my favorite how can I provide for my family and my future with the amount of money I make. However you dice them up, fear can be a powerful motivator in our lives-unfortunately for many it’s a negative motivator.
The good news is fear is not real-False Evidence Appearing as Real. So often we get caught up in the illusion of fear. This week I’m challenging myself to go beyond fear. For inspiration, I enlisted the help of friends to also face their fear and go after those things they truly desire. And for musical inspiration I was reminded of the words of the prolific street poet, T.I., who said one of my favorite quotes, “Fear ain’t in the heart of me I learned just do it. You get courage in your fears right after you go through it.”
So this week’s Motivational Music Monday is T.I. featuring Pharell “Goodlife”…let go of that fear and let’s live the good life!
I feel like something is happening with me…in fact its more than a feeling. In general, I’m a sweet, nice person. And while I’m generally nice to the core, there’s a fire in my belly that makes me super ambitious, enterprising and creative. In the past I’ve chosen to put a wet blanket over that fire, hiding my natural instinct to attack and go after those things I want with laser like focus. Sound dramatic? That was intended since this is the drama that has been around most of my life. That natural desire to be exactly who you are facing that seeming pressure to hide it because of how it may be perceived. Inside this nice girl lies a dog…a beast in waiting ready to attack. Today, this moment, right now, I chose to allow that dog to come out. There’s work to be done that requires a bit more bite than I’ve ever had to show before. But I know it’s there. It’s ready to come out. And what better motivation music for allowing the dog out than from DMX.
On Saturday night the moon was the closest it has been to Earth in over 18 years. 
It was gorgeous but Sunday was the highlight of my weekend.
- My friend Naomi hit me up that she was going to a friend’s house to hang out by the pool. I never miss a chance to hang out by some water so I was game. It was a gorgeous day!!! So so happy I went.
- I was starving after and was kinda feening for sushi. For a while now I’ve been wanting fried rice from Katana but since I’m not in L.A., that’s not so easy of a request. I’ve searched every menu but never do I see the crispy rice. On the way home I randomly tried this place called Little Tokyo. I was expecting the best and I was not disappointed! And they had their verson of crispy rice! HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY!
- Next up I had an appointment for a healing massage at The Healing Place on Canal Street in my new ‘hood Mid City. When I walked in my friend Tori had just finished her appointment. She seemed so at peace and had this glow so I was pretty excited for my turn on the table. It was AMAZING! I’m still floating so to describe it now would do it no justice (I’ll elaborate later).
- I decided to go to Whole Foods to see what they had for dinner and I opted for some soup. It was great and I got a sweet bite treat too!
- Came home and finally got to watch WHIP IT!
What an AMAZING Sunday Funday!!! How’d you spend your day?!?
“As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.”
I had several exchanges with a friend on Twitter last month. She takes amazing photos and I write and even though we’ve both been paid to perform those services, we both had reluctance around calling ourselves photographer or writer. I had to really review why I was being so hesitant to give myself this particular title. I was waiting for someone else to call me what I was. That made no sense. To start the New Year, I decided to embrace the fact that I am (and can become) what I say I am. My biggest resolution was to change my mind about my capabilities and achievements which I think will make a big chance in my life. That change of thought is one Because I’m so grateful that you all have been reading along with my journey, I want to give I came up with a GIVEAWAY!!! To help you start the year of right, I’m giving away a $50 gift card to Amazon.com to one lucky follower! No matter what you are doing to start 2011 off right, there’s something on Amazon that can help with your goal!!! 
Here’s how it works:
- Follow my blog! Everyone who follows my blog is entered to win (on the right side where it says join this blog-click it).
- Mention my giveaway on Twitter and Facebook for another chance to win.
- Make a comment on this post for yet another chance to win!
- The contest will end one week from today and the randomly selected winner will be announced on Tuesday, Jan. 11. (1.11.11).
It’s that simple! Thanks so much for reading and following.
Good luck
I decided I wanted to see this movie when I saw his David Letterman interview months ago. The interview was bizarre to say the least. He did nothing to promote his new movie in fact, he made me not want to see it, but I wanted to know more about this rap career of his. I had hoped he’d be good. I’m a fan of people who are talented in a multitude of ways that share their talent. This was not the case. He sucked as a rapper. Like REALLY sucked. His decision to leave acting seemed not well thought either-it seemed like he was pretty jealous of Leonardo and Tobey Maguire and how they got roles that alluded him. He and his brother in law Casey Affleck (who directed the film and did quite a good job) were in a charity play and he was jealous over the amount of lines he had in comparison to Casey. I honestly feel he came up with the plot to make that play his last acting role to upstage Casey.It took a while for me to process what I thought of the movie. On one hand it’s easy to dismiss as a publicity hoax or a fraud documentary. On the other hand, it is by far Phoenix’s best performance EVER! He was so dedicated to the role it was amazing. He was the ultimate asshole/insecure actor ever played on film. He was so utterly Hollywood that I think it would be hard for folk in the industry to see it because at some point he was doing some dumb thing that they do all the time. I also find it interesting that so few people were interested in seeing this movie when we watch that type of stuff on reality tv all the time.
The most compelling part of the movie was when he left The David Letterman Show. On stage with Dave he maintained the act the entire time but after you got to see some real and raw emotion. Regardless to if the film was a hoax or not, he realized that he had taken a gamble that would likely not pay off. He felt his decision to do this film and pursue JP had been a terrible terrible mistake that may cost him his career and he was afraid. That fear was so real that I was no longer concerned with the validity of the film. I had thoroughly enjoyed my experience. And I think if he follows this up with a great “regular” movie role and does everything Hollywood asks (the publicity tours, lose weight, clean up his look), his career will be just fine.
ICON ED LIMATO
July 10, 1936-July 3, 2010
