Welcome
Hi there!
Great! You found me! Grab a cup of tea, pull up a chair and get comfortable.
I’ve got a story to tell.
It was 28 January 2006, the day of my father’s burial. The house was packed with friends, relatives, neighbors, my father’s co-workers and everyone in between. Also in attendance were two young women around 15 and 16 years of age. They were sisters (meaning they were siblings) and sistahs (meaning they were black).
They had made a big entrance, literally. They entered our home, walked up the stairs past the grieving family without saying “Hi” or “Hello”, headed straight for the table loaded with food and proceeded to dig in. Yeah, I noticed what they were doing, but at the time I didn’t really care. The two young women loaded up their plates with green beans, chicken, ham, corn, yams and every other type of food normally found on a black Southern table of grieving.
The pair sauntered over to the living room sofa, plopped down and started eating…
…with their hands.
I thought they were just too shy to ask for utensils, so I said, “Hold on, I’ll get you all some knives and forks.”
“Oh, we don’t need those,” one of them said. “We can eat with our hands. We’re black.”
My mouth dropped open as the two ladies started picking up various pieces of food with their digits. Yes, I understand using your hands for chicken…but green beans?
Understandably, I wasn’t in my right mind that day. If I had been, I would have said:
“Yes, you are black, therefore you will use a knife and fork.”
Or…
“Yes, you are black, therefore you will learn how to properly enter a home after a funeral.”
Or even…
“Get out.”
I didn’t say any of those things, and I guess that’s fine. But, what had just happened confirmed my suspicions about our young people: somewhere along the way home training got cut from their life curriculum.
So, what does this story, which is the first real post, have to do with Rashonista.com? I guess you could say that this site represents my quest for style, for elegance, for class. I want to bring home training, meaning knowing how to dress and act in public, back from the dead.
Not only will I feature fashion and styling tips on Rashonista.com, I’ll also post a couple of etiquette rules along the way. Granted, I’m not exactly “Miss Manners” (as quite a few of my friends and co-workers will attest to), but at least I give it the ol’ college try.
I’ll also have interviews, book reviews and, cross your fingers, streaming video.
To find out more on the reasons behind Rashonista.com, go to my motivation page. To find out more about me, check out my bio page. And don’t forget to sign up for The Rashonista Update, my newsletter that will give you the latest about what’s going on with the site.
So, take care and thanks for stopping by.
PS: The mother of the two young women sat right in her chair and didn’t say a word.
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2 Responses to “Welcome”
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Beautiful…just beautiful…
I’ve been waiting with bated breathe for your ’surprise’ !
I am delighted as I am also an expatriate revisting my eclectic style of years gone by. I moved to the US in 2000, and quickly succumbed to hiding, shunning my european garb for sweats and Pumas. With each passing year, I yearn for the simple elegance I learned while in Europe. So, this year, I have thrown out all the old and am starting anew. I guess, I am also motivated by a fast approaching birthday. One of the big ones. Calling for me to step back into my inner fashionista…
Congrats on the new digs… I’ll stay tuned !
Jackie
Rashunda, great opening. I see great things to come from this website. I was flabbergasted at the story, but it definitely sets the tone and the point that we need to revisit elegance in society. There needs to be order through the discipline of properly presenting - one’s own self image.