Washington DC

Super late post! Despite being in an a cappella group on Penn’s campus for three years, two weeks ago was the first time I was able to see some groups from a different school perform at the “Cherry Tree Massacre” hosted by the Georgetown Chimes.

I wasn’t able to get any video (I was dying to pull out my phone, but for once there wasn’t a phone in sight), so I’ll skip my analysis/comparisons (for now), and focus on my stand out performance for the night by the Georgetown Phantoms!

I was blown away by their “Chain of Fools” soloist, Enushé Khan (she killed it!), and the arrangement was great as well.

In looking for some video to share from the event, I came across audition footage of Enushé (below) for a talent competition presented by the Georgetown University’s Black Student Alliance. “Battle of the Voices” will be the first Washington metropolitan collegiate singing competition!

Check out their site to see additional audition footage for all the competitors — I wish they had something like this at Penn when I was an undegrad! If you’re in the DC area, Battle of the Voices will be held on Feb. 28th at Georgetown University.

A lot of black women put up an exterior that says: “Everything is together. ‘I’m fine. Perfect. Don’t worry about me. Keep it moving.’ That is the trend,” Andrews says. “Put on new stilettos. Put on a mask of bitchiness.” But that image — prevalent in both the media and the workplace, Andrews believes — is one-dimensional.

“When people think about black women, they have only one adjective for us, which is ‘strong,’ ” Andrews says. “The girl you see walking down the street looks like she has it all together,” but she may not.

Helena Andrews is the author of the unreleased book and soon to be movie Bitch is the New Black. She writes about women in the Washington, D.C. area “who appear to have everything: looks, charm, Ivy League degrees, great jobs. Closets packed full of fabulous clothes; fabulous condos in fabulous gentrified neighborhoods; fabulous vacations, fabulous friends. And yet they are lonely: Their lives are repetitive, desperate and empty.”

Honestly I seems like my worst nightmare is being put into book form.

I’m still in college working toward this lifestyle and I already feel the weight of many of her words and sentiments. The disappointment she describes in the article is something my best friends and I talk about all the time. So what is the solution? That is the question that will probably never be answered. At the end of the day it will probably just be written off as another bitter black woman writing about other bitter black woman looking for sympathy. I look forward to the books release in 2010 along with the response it receives.

The Washington Post | Profile of Helena Andrews, author of a book about successful but lonely young black women

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J Events: Cherry Tree Massacre and Battle of the Voices

J Reads: Bitch is the New Black