I Love My Hair Part II —
The Story Behind the Story
I'm a journalist at heart and behind every story, is another story. So, of course as soon as I saw the wonderful Sesame Street, "I love my hair" video, I wanted to know who had created it. I imagined a crusading Black woman trying to convince her well-meaning, but perhaps unaware colleagues just how intrinsic hair acceptance is for the self-esteem of little Black girls growing up in America. But boy was I wrong.The hair hero in this story is actually the head writer at Sesame Street, who happens to be a White man with an adopted Ethiopian daughter. I don't need to tell the story, because he tells it so much better. You can read/watch the story here.
And while we're on the subject of videos featuring little Black girls who love their hair, what do you guys think of Willow Smith's (yes, the daughter of Will and Jada) new video/song, "Whip My Hair?" Haven't seen it yet, take a look below. The song is kind of annoying, but completely catchy, but I have to say I dig the energy of the video and I love all of the very cool, avant garde hairstyles. Obviously not the same audience as the Sesame Street Video, but I'd love my tween to see all the cool things Black hair can do, besides, of course, be whipped back and forth. Thoughts?
I'm going to be whipping my hair back and forth for the rest of the day.Peace!
Watch The Sesame Street/ Willow Smith Mashup
This was inevitable! The two hottest clips right now are "I Love My Hair" from Sesame Street and Willow Smith's "Whip My Hair." Put them together and you get the coolest little Muppet in the world. (Earlier)
Send an email to Dodai, the author of this post, at dodai@jezebel.com.
Willow Smith vs. Sesame Street - Whip My Hair (Fraggle Roc Nation Remix)
'I Love My Hair' Video Inspired By Father's Love of Daughter
'Sesame Street' Writer Pens Song To Help Black Girls Love Their Hair
The viral video of a brown Muppet, meant to represent an African-American girl, singing, "I really, really, really love my hair" has been visited by a quarter of a million people on YouTube. The video, which has made many people smile, was inspired by one father's love for his daughter.
Joey Mazzarino, the head writer at"Sesame Street," who is also a puppeteer, adopted a little girl from Ethiopia named Segi.
Sesame Street Writer Inspired By Daughter
"She's like my little muse," Mazzarino said.
As Mazzarino and his wife watched their daughter grow, he noticed a change when she started playing with Barbies. Segi started saying negative things about herself and her own hair.
"She was going through this phase where she really wanted like the long, blonde hair. ... She would look at Barbies and really want the hair."
Segi is not alone. ABC news talked to several young, African American girls, who told us their feelings about their hair. Eleven-year-old Monique told ABC News, "I think I want to straighten my hair because it's curly and it's puffy."
The feelings held by Monique and Mazzarino's daughter are nothing new in the black community.
Comedian Chris Rock said he was prompted to make his documentary about the $9 billion black hair business "Good Hair" when his five-year-old daughter asked him, "'Daddy, how come I don't have good hair?"
African-American Women and Beauty
The idea of "good hair" and the feeling that one must have straight hair can be seen in vintage ads for black beauty products. The products tell young black women to straighten their hair. One product, Hair Strate perm, tells black women that the product will keep their hair so straight, they can "swim, shower, shampoo ... hair can't revert!"
The 1960s "Black is beautiful" movement brought the Afro into fashion, but it was never able to completely drown out the historical and perhaps subliminal message for young black girls that their hairdo was a don't.
Take Whoopi Goldberg for instance. Her early days of standup included her portrayal of a little black girl who wore a towel on her head.
"This is my long, luxurious blonde hair," Goldberg said.
Mazzarino: 'I Just Want Kids To Know Their Hair Is Beautiful'
Mazzarino decided to help his daughter and other young girls appreciate their beauty.
"I just want kids to know their hair is beautiful," Mazzarino said. "I just hope little kids, little girls see this and really feel positive and great about themselves."
Mazzarino wrote the song and with the help of the "Sesame Street" designed the little girl Muppet dancing around, wearing different hairstyles like braids and cornrows, singing, "Don't need a trip to the beauty shop because I love what I've got on top. ... I want to make the world aware I love my hair.
Viral Sesame Street Video Resonates With African American Women
The video hasn't struck a chord only with little girls, but grown African-American women as well.
ABC News found hundreds of responses on the Internet like this: "I wish 'Sesame Street' would've had this segment about 18-19 years ago because my mother and I surely needed to see this message."
Another woman wrote online, "My daughter loves this video. ... I could see her eyes light up as she began to sing along with a little girl with hair like hers.
"I was reading some [responses] the other day and I just started to well up," he said. "I am just amazed at how far the reach is."For Mazzarino, the response has been overwhelming.
The reaction of Mazzarino's daughter might have been the most important reaction of all.
"She was jumping up and down, dancing and she really loved it," Mazzarino said.
As for her relationship with her hair, Mazzarino said she loves her hair now.
"She's really come into her own. ... Hopefully that stays that way," he said.
>via: http://abcnews.go.com/WN/sesame-street-writer-inspired-daughter-creates-love-...
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'I Love My Hair': A Father's Tribute To His Daughter
A little Muppet girl has started a sensation. The unnamed puppet with an afro sings a love song to her hair.
"I Love My Hair" debuted on the Oct. 4 episode of Sesame Street. It was posted on the show's YouTube page — and then women began posting the video on their Facebook pages.
African-American bloggers wrote that it brought them to tears because of the message it sends to young black girls.
Joey Mazzarino, the head writer of Sesame Street, is also a Muppeteer who wrote the song for his daughter. Mazzarino is Italian. He and his wife adopted their 5-year-old daughter, Segi, from Ethiopia when she was a year old.
Mazzarino says he wrote the song after noticing his daughter playing with dolls.
"She wanted to have long blond hair and straight hair, and she wanted to be able to bounce it around," he tells NPR's Melissa Block.
Mazzarino says he began to get worried, but he thought it was only a problem that white parents of African-American children have. Then he realized the problem was much larger.
In writing the song, he wanted to say in song what he says to his daughter: "Your hair is great. You can put it in ponytails. You can put it in cornrows. I wish I had hair like you."
That simple message has caused an outpouring of responses from women. Mazzarino got a call from an African woman who told him the song brought her to tears. "I was amazed, 'cause I sort of wrote this little thing for my daughter, and here this adult woman, it touched her," he says.
Mazzarino says he's happy to report that Segi loves the song — and her hair.
>via: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130653300&ft=1&f...
1 comments:
So have you seen the mash-up of the two? Here's a link:
http://jezebel.com/5667752/watch-the-sesame-street-willow-smith-mashup