Tuesday, June 30, 2009

It Ain't Easy Bein' [you fill in the blank]. (Rosé)

Sittin’ on the deck, lookin’ at the beach, waitin’ for sunset, and keepin’ life light and rosy with a glass of Paradisos del Sol Winery’s 2004 Rosé Paradiso.


It’s deeply colored Rosé that’s more refreshing than sweet. Yummy sipped alone or drank paired with lighter warm-weather fare. No oak, just light and fruity. Friends Barbara and Paul own this Eastern Washington winery where they create some seriously delicious wines, grow some produce, and give home to a variety of animals. Thinkin’ about the day and lookin’ at my green tomato plants probably reminded me of Kermit The Frog’s precious little song It’s Not Easy Being Green:

It's not that easy bein' green;
Having to spend each day the color of the leaves.
When I think it could be nicer being red, or yellow or gold-
or something much more colorful like that.

It's not easy bein' green.
It seems you blend in with so many other ordinary things.
And people tend to pass you over 'cause you're not standing out like flashy sparkles in the water- or stars in the sky.

But green's the color of Spring.
And green can be cool and friendly-like.
And green can be big like an ocean, or important like a mountain, or tall like a tree.

When green is all there is to be
It could make you wonder why, but why wonder why? Wonder,
I am green and it'll do fine, it's beautiful!
And I think it's what I want to be.

When I was a teenager I did a little bit of modeling. Part of that experience included an agency called Kathleen Peck Modeling School. Not many women of color in that industry back then and my ethnic “look” wasn’t vogue. They measured me and said my calves and thighs were too big, my skin was too dark (so they lightened it with cosmetics), my lips were too full (so they thinned them with cosmetics), my hair wasn’t bone straight, and at 5’7 I was too short. I wasn’t super skinny or white and I always felt un-pretty every time the make-up artist would make my lips smaller and lighten my skin. Some years later ethnicity was more celebrated in the industry and I had a better experience at a different agency until I got nixed from a Brittania runway gig because my legs didn’t look long and thin enough in their jeans. Brittania was the shit back in the day.

Spending most of my youth in a mostly white suburb also fomented a silo of peer pressure, self-dissatisfaction, and deep feelings of un-pretty as I tried to fit in to keep my ass from getting beat up in those abusive and hostile surroundings.

But as the Fates would have it, I was reminded again today (as I often am in my adult days) about how fuckng cool it is to be ME. I love my brown skin and how it becomes even more caramel-ly in the summer. I love my lips. My legs are pretty dang strong and athletic, I love that. And even though humidity is serious kryptonite to my hair, I can wear it straight or curly and pretty much every way in between.

That frog and I, we were tight, and …

When green and Me is all there is to be
It could make you wonder why, but why wonder why? Wonder,
Kermit’s green and I’m Me and we’ll do fine, we’re beautiful!
And I think we’re what we want to be.

Thanks Kermie ♥ I LOVE YOU.
Hmm ... I wonder if frogs like Rosé.

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