Michelle Obama You Rock!

Welcome to my 2010 "All Women Rock" series.

It's a series which focuses on Women who have contributed to society in such an awesome way, they've caused all other Human Beings re-evaluate their purpose for being on this planet.

Women.

We're not a second class or left over species.

We not just here for Sex or Pro-creation, although without us no one or nothing would exist.

We embrace Wisdom.

We encourage. We educate. We think. We nurture. We love. We play. We cry. We wipe away tears. We are uniquely beautiful in our way. We plan. We invent. We build.
We invoke CHANGE.

We are Kindred Sisters who rule the World! (Well...at least I'm pretty darn sure we could do a much better job as it relates to Global Leadership.)

We are Amazing!

So the next time you catch your: BFF, Mother, grandmother, aunt, niece, granddaughter, female neighbor, female doctor, female boss, female co-worker, daughter, yourself or any female member of the Human race doing something extraordinary or brave, give honor to them with this statement: "Your a Woman Who Rocks"!

First Lady Michelle Obama will be highlighted in Phase I of this series.

The little girl from Chicago's South side has proven to all Women regardless of your ethnicity, background or age, that with a good Education, healthy self-esteem and hard work any woman with a dream can become Cinderella.

Its obvious she was God's divine choice of a wife for a young man who would become leader of the free world one day, President Barack Obama.

As Fantasia sang to us on "American Idol" several years ago, "if you believe anything is possible".

Words alone will not allow me to pay homage to her so I've included a video biography below of Michelle's rewarding life, narrated by the first lady's mother Marian Robinson.

All hail to the queen!

Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama "your every woman" and you rock!





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Sources: Whitehouse.gov, ABC News, Fox, Youtube, Google Maps

All Women Rock....A Series On Unique Women...Part III....Chaka Khan

Songbird Yvette Marie Stevens aka Chaka Khan, is the third unique woman highlighted in our "All Women Rock" series.

With her funky style, roof bustin' pipes, wild hair, ruby painted lips, hit after hit record....she is undeniably, the one and only Chaka Khan!!

Like Michelle Obama, Chaka also hails from Chicago's South side.

Unlike Michelle who paved her way to success with Education, Chaka took a different path to fame and fortune via the world of Fine Arts.

Proving herself to be a musical prodigy while still a young girl, by the age of 11 little Yvette had formed her first group called "The Crystalettes".

During her high school years, she toured with Motown's Mary Well after joining the Afro-Arts Theater.

Later she decided to change her name to Chaka while working as a volunteer for the Black Panthers Free Children's Breakfast program in Chicago.

Chaka performed with two additional music groups before joining up with Kevin Murphy and Andre Fischer to form the band Rufus. Her last name changed to Khan after she married guitarist Hassan Khan.

1973 was an amazing year for Chaka in that she gave birth to her first child, daughter Milini and debuted her first album with Rufus.

The rest as they say "is history".

As a lead singer for Rufus, Chaka performed showcased her jazzy style of singing with such hits "Sweet Thing", "Tell Me Something Good", "Better Days", "Do You Love What You Feel?", "Hollywood", "Once You Get Started", "Everlasting Love", etc., and helped the band to earn Eight Platinum albums.

She gave birth to her second child, a son named Damien in 1976.

In 1978, she briefly broke away from the Rufus signature sound, by recording her own solo album Chaka, and releasing the hit "I'm Every Woman".

Chaka's next album produced another hit "What Cha' Gonna Do For Me", which went Gold.

A string of additional hits followed: a rendition of Michael Jackson's "Got To Be There", "Ain't Nobody", "I Feel For You", "I'll Be Good To You" a duet with the late, great Ray Charles, etc.,

In 1999 also recorded the theme song for the Children's program "Reading Rainbow".

Chaka who has previously been invited to perform at both Democrat and Republican national conventions, expressed her political affiliation as being more "Democratic-minded".

On December 3, 2004, she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate degree from the Berklee College of Music.

In 2006 through prayer and a Mother's Love, Chaka helped her son Damien win an acquittal by a Los Angeles jury for the accidental shooting death of 17-year-old Chris Bailey.

Chaka active in the Autism community due to several family members affected by the disease, now resides in London, England.

She of course also remains active and forever popular in the Entertainment Industry.

To Chaka a 35-year Singing Sensation, who's won eight Grammy awards and has touched so many lives with her presence, You Rock!!

Chaka performing "I'm Every Woman" with the band Rufus. circa 1982



Chaka performing her hit "What Cha' Gonna Do For Me" with the band Rufus. circa 1982



Chaka performing "Ain't Nobody". circa 1980's




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Sources: Wikipedia, MSNBC, ABC News, ChakaKhan.com, Berklee College of Music, Flickr, Dwight McCann, Youtube, Google Maps

All Women Rock! - A Series on Unique Women...Part II....Bea Arthur R.I.P.

Who can forget Bea Arthur's unique, sarcastic, gravely sounding voice? Somehow we all just knew that when she opened her mouth, we had a tongue lashing coming to us.

The voice of logic that was obviously her trademark. The voice suddenly silenced last Saturday due to Cancer.

In the 70's my mother looked forward to watching "Maude" (her favorite TV show during that time) each week.

Maude represented a strong woman who stood up without fear of repercussion for whatever issue she believed in. Better yet Bea was Maude!

Due to the era in which she grew up and by not wanting to appear confrontational, my mother was often either afraid or too self-conscious about speaking up. Thus Maude became her female hero.

In "Golden Girls" Bea played the role of sensible, serious "Dorothy". Dorothy who was her mother's semi-caretaker.

Again my mother identified with Bea (somewhat), in that she too was my grandmother's caretaker.

Bea Arthur (real name Bernice Frankel) from NYC, a Champion for Women's Rights, dead at 86. Gone but never, ever to be forgotten.

Even though I was a child when Maude was a hit sitcom, that voice will resonate in my memory through out eternity.

Perhaps one day I'll finally get to meet Bea just to say thanks for helping my mother become a stronger woman, even if only in her mind.

Bea Arthur, R.I.P. my sister.

In the episode of "Maude" below, Bea discusses the issue of choosing to have an Abortion with her sitcom husband, Walter and daughter, Carol. Including such a topic in the show's script was a real milestone for television in the 1970's.



Sources: MSNBC, LA Times, Museum of Broadcast Communications, Wikipedia, Flickr, Youtube

All Women Rock! - A Series on Unique Women... Part I...First Lady Michelle Obama

Welcome to my "All Women Rock!" series.

It's a five part series which focuses on several well-known Women, who contributed to society in such an amazing way, they made all other Human Beings re-evaluate their purpose for remaining on this planet.

Women. We're not a second class or left over species.

We not just here for Sex or Pro-creation, although without us no one or nothing would exist.

We embrace Wisdom.

We encourage. We educate. We think. We nurture. We love. We play. We cry. We wipe away tears. We are uniquely beautiful in our way. We plan. We invent. We build.
We invoke CHANGE.

We are Awesome and don't you forget it!

We are Kindred Sisters who rule the World! (Well...at least I'm pretty darn sure we could do a much better job as it relates to Global Leadership.)

So the next time you catch your: BFF, Mother, grandmother, aunt, niece, granddaughter, female neighbor, female doctor, female boss, female co-worker, daughter, yourself or any female member of the Human race doing something extraordinary or brave, give honor to them with this statement: "Your a Woman Who Rocks"!

Our new First Lady Michelle Obama will be highlighted in part I.

Words alone will not allow me to pay homage to this wonderful person.

Thus I've embedded a video biography below of Michelle's rewarding life, narrated by her mother Marian Robinson.

Its obvious she was God's divine choice of a wife for a young man who would become leader of the free world one day. President Barack Obama.

All hail to the queen.

The little girl from Chicago's South side has proven to all Women regardless of your ethnicity, background or age, that with a good Education, healthy self-esteem and hard work any woman with a dream can become Cinderella.

As Fantasia sang to us on "American Idol" several years ago, "if you believe anything is possible".

Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama "your every woman" and you rock!




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Sources: Whitehouse.gov, ABC News, Ladies Clothing08, Weblogs.cltv, Weblogs.amny, American Idol, Youtube, Google Maps