She Reminded Me Why I Do This...

Hello Everyone(s)!

Let me get into a little personal story. Gather 'round...

A couple days ago I was texting back and forth with one of my friends while on Twitter. My friend, (we'll call her K) was telling me that she was waiting for her ex to come over so that she could take a pregnancy test. Before I go any further, let me tell you a lil bit about K.

I met K about...five years ago when we were both still flipping burgers at McDonalds. We were kind of a close knit crew at the job so it took a minute for us to let her in, but once we realized how crazy and fun she was, we became friends.

On top of being crazy, fun, and sweet (I wouldn't say that to her face though lol), K is SO boy crazy, and has an almost “male” outlook on sex and dating most of the time. The stories she tells me sometimes has me clutching my pearls and my bible. I’m always telling her that she has a 20 year old guy trapped inside of her. Anyways, five years later we’re still cool and I consider her to be one of my best friends. However, along with me telling her that she has a man trapped inside of her, I’m also always telling her to BE CAREFUL.

K loves guys/sex so much that her view on safe sex is pretty much “if there’s a condom there I’ll use it, if not, I’mma get it in anyways.” Now, if you’re sure your partner is safe, has been tested and is negative, or if you don’t mind having a little one running around by ALL means do you boo boo {No Katt Williams}. HOWEVER, K’s ex-boyfriend is 1) A jailbird, 2) already has kids he can’t take care of 3) doesn’t have a job and usually has to scrape together bus fare to come see her, 4) K doesn’t want any kids. Oh yeah, and he has to “come see her” because they were living together, but he’d always come up short on rent leaving her with all the responsibility. She hasn't been tested and I HIGHLY doubt he has.

The question I feel like screaming at her is WHY (!!!) is THIS the man you get pregnant by and have to have an abortion (twice!!). What is so hard about using a condom y’all? I mean, like, is it hard to put on? I know they’re expensive, but can you not get like…a whole bag FREE at any health clinic? I have a handful at the house expiring because I don’t have a boo right now! She isn’t a dumb person…but her decision making skills are definitely in question o_O.

This weekend K definitely reminded me why I joined the Red Pump Project and why I started this blog. As I sent the last text telling her to be careful and to let me know how things turned out, I felt a little helpless, but I hope that my work will eventually inspire her to be safer and to care for herself a little more. It may have even inspired me to work a little harder.

500 in 50 & NWGHAAD!

Hello everyone! *beauty queen wave*

I've missed you. I'm currently battling the second cold in as many weeks (*throws tantrum, knocks over vitamin c*) so I haven't been online. However, today is National Women & Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day AND The Red Pump Projects' 1st birthday, so I had to make an appearance!

I've shared with you all why I rock the red pump (haven't seen it? First o_O. Second, go read it now). And I will continue to do so because I hope that I can help save someone else from the heart ache of knowing they have it, or someone they know has it. I continue to pray for a cure, as well as awareness. My hope is that I can make a difference in my community, and that The Red Pump Project changes lives around the world.

Every 9 1/2 minutes someone is diagnosed with HIV. HIV/AIDS is the leading cause of death for african-american women aged 25-34. I've said this before. We are better than this. Get tested and be safe. I love you all.




Check out these sites to enjoy posts from other Red Pump rockers!:

http://www.theredpumpproject.com/
http://blackisbreezie.blogspot.com/
http://www.awesomelyluvvie.com/
http://www.thefabulousgiver.com/
http://www.afrobella.com/
http://www.raelewisthornton.com/


I'll be updating as the days goes on... and stayed tuned for events in Jacksonville. As soon as I'm germ free.

Compliments of the Serpent--Exploring the Epidemic with @KCAFilms

Hello Beauties!

Let me start off by saying Twitter, though sometimes a place where all the crazies seem to join together and spew foolishness, is a wonderful tool. Through our Twitter page (click the link on the side bar), I learned about KCA Films and their project Compliments of the Serpent.

We communicated a bit. I was nosy (lol) so I went to their site and was greeted with a trailer for the film. I was intrigued. So, here's some information on straight from the source: Elsie Nwankwo, Executive Producer, and Novella Nelson, lead actress.

What is Compliments of the Serpent about?

   Elsie Nwankwo: I think our synopsis says it perfectly: Barbara and Mike Stanton, a middle-aged, African- American couple, endure the stresses of a strained marriage. When one of them visits the doctor for a routine examination, the couple receives news that alters their relationship forever.

Why was this film made and why is it important?

   Elsie Nwankwo: Compliments of the Serpent aims to increase HIV and AIDS awareness while provoking discussions about the disease's effect on the black community. According to CDC data, while African-Americans are only 13 percent of the U.S. population, they account for over 50 percent of the estimated 40,000 new HIV infections each year. In addition, black senior citizens represent more than 50 percent of HIV cases amongst persons older than 55.

                              

Mike (Roscoe Orman) and Barbara Stanton (Novella Nelson)

What do you hope people will take from this film?

   Novella Nelson: Well, hopefully it is to educate people of the importance of checking your health and knowing your HIV status. When you are in a relationship, you really need to communicate and not keep secrets, especially when it deals with your health.

   Elsie Nwankwo: Absolutely! If we can get people to be open about their ignorance regarding HIV and face their fears then I think we've made a difference with our film.

 

Barbara Stanton (Novella Nelson)

What was your favorite part about making this film??

   Novella Nelson: (laughs) I liked the concept of the script which is what brought me into it intially. I think my favorite part was in the beginning, the potental for communication about HIV. I also enjoyed wearing a mink coat and working with Roscoe Orman, of course.

   Elsie Nwankwo: The whole process was an eye-opening experience for me. This was my first project and I'm so grateful to have worked with such a professional cast and crew.

What are your plans for after the film?

   Elsie Nwankwo: We're working on getting Compliments of the Serpent into film festivals. We're also trying to organize community screenings of the film nationwide. I'm also doing some research for my next project, a documentary that will be filmed in Africa.

   Novella Nelson: I just finished shooting a film called It's Kind of A Funny Story with the directors of Half Nelson and Sugar. I'm doing another episode of Glenn Close's TV show, "Damages." I have roles in Did You Hear About the Morgans? and The Last Airbender. I am also developing some projects that don't necessarily have me acting.

Images courtesy of KCA Films. To view a trailer, or find out more about the film, please visit http://www.kcafilms.com and check them out on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/kcafilms

Disproportionate.

Disproportionate: Out of proportion, as in size or number.

Synonyms: Unreasonable, too much, unequal, excessive.

I research articles and such for this blog pretty frequently, and though I know the statistics, it never hit me until a few days ago how often the word disproportionate is used in reference to African-Americans and HIV. It also hit me how often I read or hear that word. Which, is like....never. Pretty much the only time I hear that word is in reference to African-Americans and HIV.

So, if you haven't done your homework (*side eye*) or if this is your first time here at Project Nefertiti (Hey BOO!) or even if you've been here before (you still have to read this *side eye again*) let me give you some stats: according to the CDC (Center for Disease Control) African-Americans make up for about 13% of the US population; however, they make up for 49% of new HIV/AIDS infections. To break that down even further, HIV/AIDS is the leading cause of death for African-Americans, and of all women who have HIV, black women make up about 67% of them. O_O.

So the word disproportionate works perfectly here doesn't it? But who wants to be a statistic? Not me. Instead of setting records for the population group with the most HIV infections, why can't we be the group with a disproportionate amount of college grads? Or the group that made the most advances in technology, or healthcare research or ANYTHING ELSE?

There are many reasons why African-Americans are greatly affected by HIV/AIDS. And even with the information available to us, I know for a fact a lot of black people don't really believe they can get HIV and do next to nothing to protect themselves. We've got to come together as a race and educate ourselves, protect ourselves, and educate others. With stats like these, an impact in our community is an impact on EVERY community.

Today is National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. So black men and women (and everyone ones, everyones) when you have the opportunity, maybe instead of talking about that new outfit you bought last weekend or what club you went to, talk about getting tested. (Women....come on. I know we talk about WAAAY worse stuff when we get together O_o). As always: educate yourself, get tested, and be safe.

For information about National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, or to find a testing site, check out these sites:

http://www.hivtest.org/

http://www.hhs.gov/aidsawarenessdays/days/black/index.html

http://www.blackaids.org/

http://www.blackaidsday.org/

Project Nefertiti's First "Pamper Me" Tip of 2010!

Hello Beauties!

So. It's the end of January. You've already messed up most, if not all of your new years resolutions (Mmmhmm. I see you). And people are getting on your nerves trying to finish up 2009 stuff knowing good and well they had ALL YEAR to do it. I feel you girls (and guys). So let me tell you a little story and we'll get into a "pamper me" tip.

A few months ago, money was REALLY REALLY tight around these here parts. I was looking for ways to budget and decided that some of my personal wants (i.e smell good soaps and things of that nature) had to go. However, I didn't want to buy something that was low quality, because walking around ashy/rashy is not what's hot in these Jacksonville pothole filled dirtroads #shade streets. I had this tub of unrefined african shea butter sitting in my room that I'd originally bought to put in my hair, but I had other products to use up first and I didn't realize when I bought it unrefined=like, nothing but shea butter. (I don't know...look don't judge me ok??) So, I thought--why not try making my own body butter?

Making your own body butter is awesome because you can put whatever you want in it, the scent can be whatever you want, and it lasts longer because a little bit goes a long way! Now, there are a bunch of different recipes out there, but here's my own personal one that I use even now that I can afford the smell good stuff:

Tangerine Body Butter:

Ingredients:

Approx 5 ounces unrefined shea butter (it has to be the pure african shea butter)

1 teaspoon olive oil

1/2 teaspoon jojoba oil

Tangerine oil (you can pick any scent you like. I picked this one originally because it's light, so it won't clash with perfume, and it was the cheapest one when I went to the store. LOL)

Melt the shea butter down into a warm oil (you can do this one of two ways. Use a double boiler, or you can be ghetto like me: fill a pot half way with water, put it on low; put the shea butter in a glass jar and put it in the pot of water until it melts. Yesss! #genius).

After shea butter is melted, pour into container with lid. Add olive oil and jojoba oil. Whisk (wire or electric. If you whisk manually, make sure you whisk it as briskly (ha!) as you can without splattering the mixture every which way) for about 3 minutes. Then put the container in the freezer for 1 minute. Repeat until the mixture is creamy. Then add your tangerine oil (about 4 to 5 drops, depending on how strong you want the scent to be). Place a lid on the container and put it back in the freezer for 5 more minutes. Take it out (it won't be completely solid yet but that's ok) and it's done!

A little goes a long way with this body butter so be careful lol. Now for the shea butter, I went to a hair care store and it was about $5. The rest of the ingredients I went to Native Sun, a natural food store here in town, and that came up to about $20. That was about 6 months ago, and I only have to replace the shea butter once every 2 months. The rest of the ingredients, I haven't had to replace yet. So that's an average of around $5-$7 a month for something that's great for my skin, lasts longer than regular lotion, smells good, AND won't have me dry and ashy an hour later?

And here are some links for different recipes and such. Use mine, there's or make up your own...enjoy yourself!

http://www.skincarenaturals.com/recipes/body-butter-recipes.shtml

http://www.life123.com/hobbies/candles-soap/soap-making/make-your-own-body-butter.shtml

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRS71Ds4KBs

Florida AIDS Walk!

*cue 10 o'clock news music* This is Project Nefertiti reporting live from Jacksonville, FL. *Intense newscaster stare*

Hello Beauties! Just wanted to drop in and give you a quick bit of news from my side of the panhandle! The Florida AIDS Walk (not to be confused with the First Coast AIDS walk held here in Jacksonville), will be held Sunday, March 28th in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. This is a 10K walk to benefit the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, Broward House, and many more HIV/AIDS and equality programs. What's great about this walk is that 100% of the proceeds stay in Florida to help raise awareness, and the company that is making the race t-shirts is donating 50% of their proceeds to the walk!

I reallllly want to go, but I am poor so it is going to be a long shot *insert sad, pitiful face here*. However, I encourage any and all of you to go out and support the walk and help make a difference! For more information, check out their website: http://www.floridaaidswalk.org/ and become a fan of their Facebook page: www.facebook.com/FloridaAIDSwalk?m2w

National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day Event!

Hello Beauties!

National Black HIV/AIDS awareness day is February 7th, 2010 and I, as a part of my duties with The Red Pump Project, will be holding an event here in Jacksonville, FL tentaively scheduled for February 18th, 2010. This event will a laid back night of spoken word, education, and love. More details on the event as we get closer to the date. However, if you are in the Jacksonville area and are interested in performing, PUH-LEEZE email me at projectnefertiti@gmail.com or redpumpjville@theredpumpproject.com. Thanks!

Thank You!

As we get into the new year, I just want to take time out to thank everyone who has visited, commented, or retweeted blog links on Twitter. We are truly going to make a change this year, and it's because of you! Thank you and love to you all!

Follow us on Twitter: @projnefertiti

Spotlight: We Make the Change

Hello Beauties!

We Make the Change is an campaign here in Florida that is working, like Project Nefertiti and countless other organizations, to educate on the effects of HIV/AIDS. I wanted to tell you all a little about it, and encourage you to check out their site and perhaps, lend your support.

Now, as I already stated We Make the Change is an campaign working to educate us. The Florida Department of Health launched this statewide campaign in 1999 with the hope that would increase awareness to all, but especially to Florida's minority communities.

In addition to this campaign, there is a seperate group called Sisters Organizing to Survive, which is a movement started almost two years ago out of Orlando, FL. They encourage others to get tested, and hold conferences encouraging other minority women to take a pledge to get tested, and educate other sistas in their lives. Their goal is to test 100,000 women by the end of 2010. I'm certainly rooting for them. :)

For more information on We Make the Change, please visit http://www.wemakethechange.com/ or if you are in Florida, call 1-800-FLA-AIDS.

29 Years Later....

Hello Beauties, and happy new year to you all!

The year 2010 marks 29 years since the first recognized HIV diagnosis in the US. And, while there is no cure, there has still been an amazing amount of progress. Did you know that when AIDS was first discovered, a persons life expectancy was about 10 years? Now, a person living with the disease can live just as long as a person living without the disease. Let's look at some of the history of AIDS from the beginning:

1981-Young gay men in New York began developing a rare form of aggressive cancer that doctors at first believed to be Kaposi's Sarcoma (a type of tumor). At the same time, in New York and California, the number of cases of lung infections were increasing. The CDC formed a task force to battle these outbreaks. Although a number of theories were thrown around, doctors still weren't sure exactly what they were facing and why these diseases were so resistent to medication. They were also worried about possible transmission of the disease, but because these ailements were limted to gay males at the time, a statement was made from the CDC that there was no apparent danger to non homesexuals from contagion. Five months later, that statement was proven wrong when cases of the same diseases affecting gay males were found amongst intraveinous drug users.

1982-By the beginning of July 1982, a total of 452 AIDS cases had been reported to the CDC worldwide, 23 of them from the United States. Later that month, the first cases of the disease were reported in hemophilliacs. With this discovery, the anagram AIDS was created, as the number of cases outside of the gay community began to grow. (Before this, not so plesant names such as "gay cancer" were used). Public anxiety began to grow as news began to spread about the deadly disease.

1983-Amongst the public, the AIDS disease was thought to be suffered by Hatians, homosexuals, hemophilliacs, and addicts. However, cases amongst women with no other risk factors began popping up in doctors offices, as well as children. This promted a panic, as the public began worrying that AIDS was a bug that one could pass to another like the common cold. By October of this year, 2,803 AIDS cases had been reported in the US. By the end of the year, that number had increased to 3,064 and of those, 1,292 had died.

1985-In the US, parents began to keep their kids out of school from fear that they would be infected by a classmate. 13 year old Ryan White, a hemophilliac infected with AIDS through a blood transfusion, was banned from school. Actor Rock Hundson died from AIDS on October 3rd of that year. He was the first major public figure known to have died from the disease. By the end of this year, 15,948 AIDS cases had been reported.

1986-By the end of the year, 85 countries had a reported 38,401 cases of AIDS. 31,741 of them were in the Americas.

1987- In San Fransico, the first panel of the AIDS memorial quilt was made by gay rights activist Cleve Jones. In March of this year, AZT became the first approved drug to be used as treatment for AIDS. In England, Princess Diana opened the first AIDS hospital ward. By December, an estimated 5 to 10 million people were infected with HIV worldwide, and 71,751 were infected with AIDS worldwide.

1988-The first World AIDS day was celebrated on December 1st, 1988. The first HIV/AIDS education campaign was launched in the US.

1991-Magic Johnson announced that he had tested positive for HIV. In the UK, Freddie Mercury, lead singer of Queen announced that he had AIDS. One day later, it was annnounced that he had died. The red ribbon became an international symbol of AIDS awareness.

1993-Philadelphia, a movie portraying a young gay man with AIDS debuted. Tom Hanks, the leading character, later won an Oscar for his role.

1997-For the first time since the AIDS epidemic began, there was a drop in AIDS deaths in the US.

1998-5,000 volunteers participated in the first AIDS vaccine trial.

2000-The CDC reported that for the first time, latino and black men with HIV were at numbers above white gay males. Studies showed that African-Americans comprised of 57% of new infections.

2001-According to a CDC study of six large U.S. cities, 30% of young gay black men were infected with HIV.

2002-The FDA approved the first rapid-HIV test.

2004-President Bush's $15 billion initiative to combat the global AIDS pandemic, now known as PEPFAR (President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief), began full implementation in June. Women, Girls, HIV and AIDS was chosen as the theme of World AIDS Day 2004.

2006-Bono, a member of the rock band Sting, announced the creation of Product RED. The first one-a-day pill for effectively treating HIV infection was approved for sale in the USA.

Recent advances include the lift of the ban on HIV positive persons living in the US and the renewal of the Ryan White care act. With so much that has changed over the years, it's exciting to imagine what will happen next!