VIOLET SUMMER ZINE ISS. 4
© 2018 Violet Summer Zine, All Rights Reserved. Published by: Mel Writes, LLC
EGO
&
truth
89
&wet “birth”
Mother She gave birth and felt the love of her life. She gave birth and started another generation. And that generation started a generation. She saved her family’s history in her bible by birthdate. She kept remembering her momma’s birthdate. And her momma remembered her momma’ s birthdate. Until they couldn’t forget each other’s birthdate. Beauty Momma was a beauty, so she birthed another beauty, and that beauty birthed a beauty. Beauty was so strong, beauty lived through the dark ages. Beauty was like a vessel to blood, a worm to warm soil, a ray of light to clouds. 10
11
65
&humid “birth”
Birthday Over the years, we couldn’t celebrate birthdays. Birthdays went by without celebration, and like a candle still burning after a full night’s sleep, they were present, until it burnt out. Then, one birthday lit an entire row of birthdays, until the light of birthdays gained back it’s flame of birth. Love She gave her first love a birthdate their marriage was birthed, jumping over a broom at sunset. Remember She forgot her own birthdate until it was nothing of her left. She told her children to say her name to remember. 10
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egotrip Be great in 2018. That’s what people declared as their New Year’s resolutions before the year had even turned one month. Perhaps it was led by Trump who leads the majority of cocky, egomaniac Americans. Or maybe it was Anna Delvey ( aka Anna Sorokin) the “Russian Heiress” who managed to skip out on $100,000+ of hotel fees and free dinners while giving out countless of $100 bills to basically anyone around her, seriously who tips their package delivery guy and Uber driver? She made headlines in The New York Post and Vanity Fair, each had their own “exclusive” story about her. I also shrieked when one story I read suggested all of it was sponsored content because that’s how much influence she seemed to have. Perhaps that’s why she’s currently chilling in Riker’s Island with no bail. The sad thing is that people will do anything to be cool, just put on a Céline bag and pair of Yeezys. In Anna Delvy’s case, she’s allowed white privilege to go to her head. People will do anything to get ahead. One evening after work, two upcoming designers told me that their former publicist was selling their (as well as others) merchandise to Beacon’s Closet. These designers had proof that their one-of-a-kind furs and silver jewels were sold on the second-hand market for a third of their value. They were in the process of taking this publicist to court, but it seemed helpless. It 14
was their Egos that pressed me to write about their brands even if they were non-existent in the long-run! Everyone wants their 15 minutes of fame. EGO is a hell of a drug, which is why my astrology reading for Spring called for an ego cleanse. According to the Quietest Revolution astrologist Amber Khan, “Leos (that’s me) are on a Ego cleanse”. It calls for “unlearning things you thought you knew a lot about,” but in reality you had no fucking clue what you were talking about, it just sounded good coming out. Amber says the Ego has been bruised because, it has feelings. It’s like getting into an accident and swearing it wasn’t your fault until the street cameras say otherwise --Or not listening to your gut instinct. That little voice on the inside will say., “Told you so!” That gnawing feeling in my gut started this very zine. I was sure my rejected pieces were better than whatever dot com was trending in 2015 (and they were) so I decided to start my own magazine. I was bored and needed a challenge. The work I was doing was totally below me. The millennial in me screamed, I’m better than this! But at some point, our ego gets us in trouble. Maybe you went to jail, or got fired, or smacked in the face because you had your nose in the wrong person’s business. Yea, it’s about that time to self examine with the truth.
HRH The Dutchess of Sussex She’s Got A Big Ego: The Audacity of Meghan Markle By: Aramide Tinubu
On a blistering hot day in the summer of 1996, 15-year-old Meghan Markle sat on the stiff black railings outside of Buckingham Palace with her good friend, Ninaki Priddy. Wearing an all black baby doll dress and sandals with her mane of curls pulled back into a ponytail, the teen smiled bashfully into the camera. Twenty years later, the Los Angeles native would become Her Royal Highness, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex. Meghan’s journey to secure the castle was hundreds of years in the making. It was unlikely enough that a biracial woman raised by a single Black mother in LA would make it to the halls of Northwestern University. It was even more improbable that Meghan would rise to fame as a fan favorite on the beloved USA drama series, Suits. However, if you take a closer look at the Duchess’ lineage, it’s obvious that this was the one role she was born to play. A legacy of powerful Black women is just one half of Meghan’s story. She also has roots in England -- her new place of residence. The former actress’ 3x paternal great-grandparents, Thomas and Mary Ann Sykes, left Europe for the States in 1867. Once the Sykes landed on U.S. soil, Thomas began working as a coal miner. Many moons later, the Bowers and the Skyes would merge when Ragland met and married, Markle’s father, Thomas Markle, a television director of photography. It was on the set of General Hospital at her father’s side that first invigorated Meghan’s love of acting. This isn’t to say that Meghan’s journey to Queen Mary’s diamond bandeau tiara hasn’t been fraught with conflict. By the time she decided she wanted to try her hand in Hollywood, her dad was long gone -- an expat in Mexico avoiding various IRS tax liens. 15