MY FRO AND I:GROW AN AFRO

Hi there for sometime i thought of growing an afro hairstyle, so many people have made inquisitions on how i have been able to grow my fro and maintain my curly hair at the same time, i must say its a lovely experience and here are some tips to get you started.
 To grow an afro, one needs to know what one is doing! Afros are hairstyles particularly suited for those men with the tighter curls in the range of III to V. This means that not every man with curly hair can grow an afro for you need to inherently have the curl type to be able to pull it. If you are one of those men with curly hair in the less tighter ranges (I & II) and still want to have a hairstyle that puffs out and just looks diesel, then I suggest you look into the Jim Morrison hairstyle which is, in plain terms, the afro hairstyle for the white guy!
To grow the perfect afro, you must pay close attention and follow these 4 tips:
Tip 1 for the Perfect Afro: Be ready to grow your curly hair
To grow an afro, you need plenty of curl length. This means that you must be willing to grow your curls to at least a medium length. Depending on your curly hair type, you will need a minimum hair length for your afro with the following extended lengths accounting for each of the curly hair types:
- Type III: 3 inches needed
- Type IV: 4 inches needed
- Type V: 5 inches needed
Your hair grows approximately 1/2 inch per month so do the calculations according to your current hair length and curl type. If you currently have 1 inch of Type IV curly hair, you will need at least 6 months to get your afro. Bear this in mind because in these extensive timeframes, many things (outside of hair) can occur.
Tip 2 for the Perfect Afro: Ditch the comb
Stop combing now! From now on, thou shalt throw away your comb and use your fingers to groom your curls and puff them out. You can also use a pick to help detangle your curls and keep the afro in good shape. Conventional combs and hairbrushes will disrupt the shape and health of your curly hair and hence your afro so it is imperative to go the wide tooth comb/finger/hair pick way (use the 3 together for best results)
Tip 3 for the Perfect Afro: Get the right trim for your afro
To grow an afro, you need to start with your hair at the same length all around. This means that you must get a haircut for your curly hair that has any disparities in hair length corrected. I recommend those curly hair men wanting to grow an afro to start from a short length (1-2 inches) and then allow their curly hair to grow without any further haircuts or trims. This way, you will get used to having an even hair length all around and will also have freshly grown healthy hair to boot once you reach your afro length!
Tip 4 for the Perfect Afro: Keep your afro moisturized
Curly hair in the range III to V (coily, kinky, nappy) is predisposed to being dry due to the nature of the curl’s shape. You must battle dryness, which causes frizzy hair, at all costs. This means keeping your hair moisturized all the time by cutting down on shampoo frequency to less than 3 times per week, avoiding hairbrushes and conventional combs, and making sure you use a conditioner while avoiding gels and hair sprays.

• Growing an afro is certainly a journey. You must be prepared and take great care in keeping your afro mane looking the part. An afro for curly hair men is a diesel hairstyle which will enhance your curly hair and your image. What is more, managing your ‘fro will not be as difficult as it seems with these 4 tips to grow the perfect afro!
  All the best.

Marouane Fellaini snaps up a luxury £2million house next to teammate Ryan Giggs

CRAZY-HAIRED footballer Marouane Fellaini was at the head of the queue when this £2million mansion came on the market.

By Brian Roberts/Published 16th February 2014

LUXURY: The £2million house was snapped up by the footballer [PH]

“When he does appear he always has his fur anorak over his head as if he doesn’t want to be spotted”

A neighbour

The Manchester United player – who signed from Everton for £27.5million – has flopped on the pitch this season but scored a winner with this seven-bedroom pad.

And the midfielder won’t have to travel far if he ever decides to get his trademark mop trimmed – there are three hairdressers just 200 yards away.

The house – on the edge of woodland in an upmarket area of Manchester – was once home to another Everton star, England World Cup winner Alan Ball.

It has a home cinema, a heated indoor swimming pool and a gym.

The Belgian ­international, 26, is thought to have a couple of pals living with him as he begins to build his United career.

SUBTLE: The footballer may struggle to fit in with the quiet village ways [GETTY]

He is living a bachelor life after splitting from his long-term girlfriend, top Belgian model Lara Binet, shortly after signing for the Premier League champions.

A neighbour said: “It’s a beautiful house but he hasn’t been seen much at all.

“When he does appear he always has his fur anorak over his head as if he doesn’t want to be spotted.

“It is a very quiet area and the village only has a few shops – three hairdressers, a butcher, a local village store and post office and a beauty salon.”

United legend Ryan Giggs, 40, who also lives in the area, has called in to see his team mate and invited him to his restaurant Georges, which opened last year in Worsley.

WRITING CONTESTS and POETRY COMPETITIONS for Creative Writers, Poets and Non-Fiction Writers and Fiction Writers

WRITING CONTESTS and POETRY COMPETITIONS for Creative Writers, Poets and Non-Fiction Writers and Fiction Writers

2014 International Letter-Writing Competition For Young People

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The Universal Postal Union (UPU) organizes the International Letter-Writing Competition for Young People annually. The competition was created by the 1969 Tokyo Congress and officially launched in 1971. Since then, millions of young people all over the world, up to age 15, have participated in the competition at national and international levels.

The competition is an excellent way of making young people aware of the important role postal services play in our societies, develops their skills in composition and the ability to express their thoughts clearly, fosters their enjoyment of letter writing, and helps strengthen the bonds of international friendship – one of the basic missions of the UPU.

Each year, the UPU International Bureau chooses a theme. Participating countries organize the competition at the national level through the post, often with the support of education authorities and the media. All entries must be submitted through the national Post. Each country chooses a national winner and submits one entry for the UPU international competition. Entries must reach the UPU International Bureau no later than 30 April each year.

2014 Topic

“Write a letter describing how music can touch lives.”

Organizer

The Universal Postal Union (UPU)

Prizes

The first three international winners will receive medals (gold for the first, silver for the second and bronze for the third) struck by the IB, as well as a certificate and other prizes offered by the UPU.
Member countries may also award additional prizes to their international prize-winners, at their discretion.
It is recommended that the prize-giving ceremonies be held on 9 October, the anniversary of the foundation of the UPU, to form part of the activities connected with World Post Day.

Deadline

30 April, 2014

Guidelines

• The best letter from each country must be submitted to the International Bureau no later than 30 April 2014.
• Young people up to the age of 15 years may take part in the competition.
• The UPU International Bureau (IB) cannot accept entries sent directly by schools or private individuals
• The organizers designated by member countries must respect the competition’s organizational principles, which specify that they are solely responsible for organizing the national stage of the competition and therefore must provide all the parties concerned with their own contact details and not those of the IB.
• The organizers should select their country’s best composition (one composition per country or territory only) and send it to the IB no later than 30 April.
• All entries must be submitted by post, by e-mail to gisele.coron@upu.int or by fax to: +41 31 350 37 11.
• All entries must include:

# the composition (typed) in either Arabic, English, French, Portuguese, Russian or Spanish. If the original is handwritten, the organizer should type up the text on a computer and submit the original with a translation into English, French or Spanish (as preferred) of the original composition if it has been written in a language other than those mentioned above.

#a cover letter from the organizing body.

#a duly completed entry form, including the contact details of the candidate and the national competition coordinator; this form is available here.

# a good quality digital photograph of the candidate, preferably in JPEG format (at least 300 dpi).

• The compositions submitted must be recent, unpublished letters.
• Compositions must be presented in the form of a letter (“Dear ……..”, include the address of both the addressee and the sender, and end with a signature).
• Entries must strictly respect the set theme.
• Entries must strictly adhere to the number of words permitted in the original language (between 500 and 800).
• Each member country organizes a letter-writing competition for young people in its territory as suits it best, but preferably with the help of the national education authorities, and selects the best entry. The best entry is chosen in accordance with the general rules of the competition.
• Participating member countries must send their best entry to the IB, together with all the required documents, to the IB by no later than 30 April.
• The IB will designate a jury responsible for assessing the letters selected. This jury will choose the best three entries, the authors of which will each receive a medal, and may also select up to five other entries, whose authors will receive a special mention.
  The IB will inform the countries concerned of the results by letter.
• The IB will communicate the names of the prize-winners by letter as soon as it receives the results from the jury, in principle no later than early September of the competition year.

Inquiries

Questions? Send the organizers an e-mail to gisele.coron@upu.int or contact them by fax to: +41 31 350 37 11.

SERIES: GREATEST POETS OF COLOR!!!

Hi there, after my first post i have been on a constant soul fighting to get back with a new post, so for that i thought of my first post series, and which other topic to write on than previewing some of the greatest poets of color. Don't get this misunderstood this blog is not 'Afro or Black' affiliated, because literature is a medium of connection for all peoples notwithstanding  skin color or race, with that stated i would like you to enjoy the series as it begins with one of my favorite poet of all time, Wanda Coleman, enjoy.

WANDA COLEMAN  

Wanda Coleman (1946 - ) is an award-winning American poet. She is known as "the L.A. Blueswoman," and "the unofficial poet laureate of Los Angeles." She grew up in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles during the 1950s and 1960s. She has received fellowships from the John P. Guggenheim Foundation, The NEA, and the California Arts Council (in fiction and in poetry), and was the first C.O.L.A. literary fellow (Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, 2003). Her many honors include an Emmy in Daytime Drama writing, The 1999 Lenore Marshall Prize (for "Bathwater Wine"), and a nomination for the 2001 National Book Awards (for "Mercurochrome").

Some of Ms. Coleman books of poetry include Native in a Strange Land: Trials & Tremors (1996); Hand Dance (1993); African Sleeping Sickness (1990); A War of Eyes & Other Stories (1988); Heavy Daughter Blues: Poems & Stories 1968-1986 (1988); Imagoes (1983); and Mercurochrome: New Poems (2001). She has also written Mambo Hips & Make Believe: A Novel, published by Black Sparrow Press.

Interviews of Ms. Coleman can be found in Quercus Review #6, 2006 www.quercusreview.com, by Priscilla Ann Brown in Callaloo Vol. 26 No. 3, and in Another Chicago Magazine #35. Critical articles in which Ms. Coleman is discussed include Laurence Goldstein's essay "City of Poems: The Lyric Voice in Los Angeles since 1990" (The Misread City: New Literary Los Angeles, edited by Scott Timberg and Dana Gioia, Red Hen Press), and "Revising Western Criticism Through Wanda Coleman," essay by Krista Comer; Western American Literature Quarterly (Journal of The Western Literature Association, Vol. XXXIII No. 4, Utah State University, Department of English).

Poems - 10 in all

Wanda Coleman

the ISM
Watching
Mastectomy
Bedtime Story
The Deuce of Cups
The California Crack
American Sonnet (35)
Nobody Wants To Know My Name
They Came Knocking On My Door At 7 A.M.
Sweet Mama Wanda Tells Fortunes For A Price