Awkward Black Girl

Spent a cold Sunday in January driving up to Madison, Wisconsin to see the talented Miss Issa Rae. Its the weekend before Black History Month (aka February aka my birthday month) and I wouldn't want to spend it any other way. Cliche, I know, but it is true. Seeing and listening to Issa Rae was truly great. Someone I knew in high school showed me her web-series The Misadventures of an Awkward Black Girl. She said, "thats you." They weren't wrong. There were a lot of things Issa's character and I had in common. I'll state the most uncertain similarities - we were both black and awkward. I know, who would have guessed. 

Issa Rae is an author, actor, screenwriter etc. She went to an Ivy League school and majored in African studies (don't quote me on that). She comes from an African family and has four other siblings. If I remember correctly she said she got her start by making videos for her brother's band. One thing lead to another and she evenly started The Misadventures of an Awkward Black Girl on Youtube. This is the first project she actually spent money on. After a few years and projects Insecure was born. The HBO series takes some things from The Misadventures of an Awkward Black Girl but still remains distinctively different. 

Why I love Issa Rae's work so much is because she really showcases the different types of black people. Many minority groups are looked at with certain stereotypes over their heads. Some of those stereotypes can be really harmful or just straight up annoying. As a self proclaimed weirdo, I get a lot of questions about why the way I am or why do I like the things I do. Usually people are just curious but occasionally people think because I'm of a certain race it doesn't make sense to be doing what I am doing. The mentality of the latter is why Issa's work important. It educates people, whether or not they know they are learning something.

Check out my friend's vlog of our trip!

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