Kimolisa Was Here

About The Blogger

Black Zulu for the most part is a natural hair blog with a hint of lifestyle. Not only do we learn about maintaining natural hair, we go along a journey with Niki as she learns to love herself. This is something that a few of us can come to terms with as we had to face a society who is fascinated with the fairer skin. Just listen to the music or look at the amount of beauty stores that sell skin lightening cream.


This blog is great for those thinking about embarking on the natural hair journey as you learn the dos and don'ts, you can see the transition and in the mix you have some thought provoking posts on being dark skin. Check out the blog, and this is what she had to say about herself:

About The Blogger

I am the third of five children and the darkest of all four girls. Growing up, my Grandmother referred to me as “Black Zulu”. I can almost still hear the disdain in her voice as she called me that. My oldest sister loves animals and when her dog dropped a litter of puppies, the blackest of the black dogs was called ‘Niki’.

As a child, I never felt anything other than inferior because of my color.

As  a young adult, I remember when one of my cousins had her first child and I visited her in the hospital. Her mom, my Godmother, held her grandchild, who was fair skinned, and looked at me and said, “Nikki, when you have a child you better have it was someone light because when you were born you were a very black baby. Black, black, black, black.” I smiled.

I’ve also listened to too many men speak about their love for ‘browning’ [fair skinned women] and their disdain for extensions, weaves, braids or ‘nappy head’.

Now couple that with what we refer to in the Caribbean as “sal’ head” (the correct term would be hair that literally refuses to grow or ‘picky head’). I distinctly remember as a teen  having the notion that because I was the darkest among my closest friends I had to ensure that I was always dressed properly – I changed outfits (home clothes) more often than I dare to mention each day – and that my relaxed hair was always properly combed. I would relax my hair every opportunity I got. I could have just had a relaxer 2-3 weeks ago and my Godmother came to get her hair relaxed…I would use the left over relaxer in my hair right after her’s was done.

I was doomed from the get go.

Now, I am by no means saying that I had it ‘hard’ and back then I probably would have said that none of it bothered me….and I truly believed that it didn’t. But today, I am 27 and I refuse to date anyone whose complexion matches mine or is darker than mine. I have a horrible tendency to declare that I will not have a child with anyone who does not have or comes from a line of ‘good hair’.

Bottom line, I was affected.

It took a long time for me to look past my face and see myself as beautiful on a whole. I have a beautiful face, and I have always known that, but I never quite felt beautiful clothed in this dark chocolate complexion and crowned with a mass of ill-faithed hair.

Today, I am much more confident in who I am as a person. I am a delicate dark chocolate sista and my skin tone and length or texture of hair does not determine my aptitude or who I am as a person. I have embraced Nekisha and even tho I am still learning to accept every little thing that makes me ME, I am happy in the skin God has blessed me with! I am created in God’s likeness. When he made me, he looked at me and said “you are fearfully and wonderfully made!”

Black Zulu? From today, I wear that title proudly! It reminds me of where I’ve been but it also reminds me that it certainly does not determine where I’m going! Black Zulu is about taking something that negatively impacted you in the past and making it stand for something positive going into your future.

Today, I breathe life into Black Zulu with a fresh big chop (BC) and plans to embrace more of my natural side. This blog is my journey to loving me – utterly and completely – from my roots up!

This week's Caribbean blog is Half -Broken Things. This blog showcases the words and images of Poet and Artist, Danielle Boodoo-Fortune. Basically, she lives the life I would love to live where she lives an artist's life and is recognized for her work. As you can see from the pic above, her work is amazing.

About The Blogger

Danielle Boodoo-Fortuné is a poet and artist from Trinidad & Tobago.

Her writing and art have appeared in several local and international journals such as Bim: Arts for the 21st Century, the Caribbean Writer, Small Axe Literary Salon, Poui: Cave Hill Journal of Creative Writing, Anthurium: A Caribbean Studies Journal, Dirtcakes Journal, Blackberry: A Magazine, Room Magazine and others.

Danielle was awarded The Charlotte and Isidor Paeiwonsky Prize by The Caribbean Writer‘s editorial board in 2009, nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2010, and awarded the Small Axe Poetry Prize in 2012. In 2013 she was nominated for Best New Poets, and shortlisted for the Wasafiri New Writing Prize as well as the Montreal Poetry Prize.

Danielle’s first solo art exhibition, Criatura, was held at the Art Society of Trinidad and Tobago in June 2013. In 2013 her art was also featured at the exhibition Music is the Soul in Toronto, as well as The Femail Project in Birmingham, UK.

She is also the Creative Director of Wildflower Studio, a brand of handmade art inspired gift items.

Danielle lives next to a mango tree with her husband and her animals. She is currently editing her first collection of poetry for publication.

To learn more about this talented Caribbean blogger, artist and poet, visit her blog, Half-Broken Things, her website, and check out her etsy shop.

I didn't plan to start off with bloggers I knew, but this is the beginning and there really aren't any rules. I met the blogger/poet behind Passion's Pleasure, Robert Gibson, through the FaceBook group, Writers & Artistes about two or three years ago. We've supported each others' poetry over the years by leaving comments. He introduced me to websites like dVersepoets where I have met other interesting poets.

His blog is mostly, if not entirely poems that are deep, as well as erotic. I believe it is through communities formed through the internet that poets have the opportunity to transcend the waters that divide. It is through the support that a poet like Robert can share his work and take the next step and publish his work. This brings us to the pic above which is the cover of his upcoming book of poems. Definitely check out his blog for more info, check out the FaceBook page for more info.

A little about the blogger, in his own words,

I have been writing from the time I could string sentences together and started writing poetry at about 14 or so, while at secondary school.  I was introduced to it during my English Literature class and fell in love with it. My first poem was called The Students’ Lament and it poked fun at the entire school – from my classmates all the way up to the principal.  I read it out to the class and had them gasping for air from laughter.

I thought to myself, “I might have something here.”

I have written for love, written in pain, written for worship, and written just for the heck of it all.  I love writing:  I used to say that if I never got married I’d marry a semi colon; it’s so curvaceous … yeah, I’m a nut like that.

Before the wonder of the Internet, I had my collection of poems typed out in a Word document – but then came the fateful day when cruel fate snatched my muse and stabbed her in the heart with a power spike – in one second, I lost all my documents on that hard drive – including over a hundred and ten poems.

Since this blog’s creation, I have transformed from a shy guy who expressed himself only through his poetry into a confident spoken word artiste, boldly seducing audiences through sensual poetry….

I was just Bajanpoet here …  but I have become The PassionPoet … or Passion, for short.

The first of this new series is Deep Fried Stilettos. A lifestyle blog focused a fashion and photography. I first became aware of Charity when she began to follow this blog and after seeing her blog, I began to follow it. What do I like about this blog? It's honesty, the fact that the photos are beautifully styled and of course she is a Caribbean blogger, not just Caribbean but Antiguan. Plus she has another element that differentiates her from fashion bloggers I've come across.

I guess it could be the unpolished yet professional feel. A lot of fashion bloggers have this uber perfect blog that seems to give lip service to brands. Deep Fried Stilettos has more of a vibe of getting the emotion across rather than trying to hard to appear fashion-y. That's just my take on it, check out her blog and form your own opinion.

Well, I'm Charity and I am 4 feet 11 inches of absolute crazy, breathless, utter joy, laughter and undiluted happiness.

I'm an island girl born and raised on tiny Antigua and Deep Fried Stilettos is my lifestyle blog. Most of my year is spent in Trinidad, working on finishing a Bachelors of Science Degree in Nutrition and Dietetics, but I don't always practice what's taught (Hello there Mr. Burger King!). 

Papa's a mellow, laid back Rastafarian and mum's an on-again, off-again vegan who's a huge believer in holistic living and tends to a wild forest rather than a garden. I was born a free spirit!

This space is stuffed with photos, adventures, style, lyrics, quotes, food and other lovely stuff.

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