Cincy Soul Weekend

It has been an action packed weekend for both me and Cincinnati. I gave two tours at Findlay Market and volunteered at the local information table for the American Queen Steamboat Convention at the Hilton Cincinnati Netherland Plaza at Carew Tower. In between, I managed to squeeze in some time to enjoy what is now Cincy Soul Weekend. Cincinnati has been hosting the Cincinnati Music Festival for over 50 years and for the first time, added the Cincy Soul celebrations in and around Fountain Square. Strange enough, about 99% of those attending were out of towners. For the weekend, it was foodie paradise, concerts, and fashion show all rolled into one big party.

P.S. and BTW, there is very robust black history about Fountain Square that I posted in an earlier post.

To put some hype in our Monday, check out the scenes, sounds, and tastes from this past weekend.  New love, new mercies to a new week!

The two Rev Lynches

Grippo wings, jalapeno coleslaw, and sweet potato pie, Southern Grace

Cincinnati's Favorite Aunt

On and off, I have been hearing good buzz about this pillar of the community named Aunt Flora's. She has been around for exactly 20 years this year, but I haven't had an opportunity to taste and see what she is all about, so I squeezed in some time to attend her grand reopening at Findlay Market Friday morning. Born Katrina Mincey, she started at a Findlay Market stall back in the early 2000s and has been known nationally for her unique touch on Southern comfort food, particularly her fruit cobblers. When I tasted both her berry and peach cobblers, I can tell that this is nothing but Cincinnati and her love for this crown jewel.

Ceremonial cutting of the cobbler

Aunt Flora and Martha Stewart

Aunt Flora and Oprah Winfrey-apologies for the glare!

Though her cobblers are her signature, Aunt Flora also does casseroles, cakes, BBQ sauce, and coffee. It was the latter that inspired me to create a DIY coffee body scrub.

Coffee body scrub

Most of America needs that quintessential jolt in the AM, but what very few people know is that coffee treatments are a beauty trend that is hot and happening right now. If you want a bit more boost in your morning, take a gander at the skin benefits coffee has to offer. Hemp oil is slowly becoming the one and done go to for organic health and beauty. And now, for the scrub.

3 tbsp Aunt Flora's Gourmet Coffee

3 tbsp organic hemp oil-Manitoba Harvest is a good one to use

Mix both ingredients until the mixture has a near paste consistency. That's it!

This is a great exfoliate for face, body, and lips and can be applied in the shower!

For a more affordable substitute for hemp oil, olive oil and coconut oil are also good ones to use.

Every skin type is different, so essential oils are an awesome way to enhance your scrub according to your skin care needs. For me, I have added lavender and tea tree oil as I have oily and acne prone skin.

Cincinnati's favorite aunt-and now, My favorite aunt-is back, and she is here to stay!

Local Beauty in a Nutshell

From left to right: Ultimate Detox activated charcoal and clay facial mask, Queen City Alchemy; rose water, Bee Haven Blueberry Blossom honey, Findlay Market; Dee Dee's Rise and Grind body scrub*, Thayer's Witch Hazel, Lemon and rose water toner, night cream and Environmental Defense Day cream, Onederings Lavender Farm, and lavender lip balm, Onederings Lavender Farm, Findlay Market. Not shown: Lavender Vitamin C Hydrating serum, Onederings Lavender Farm, Findlay Market.

Since I launched this blog, I have been giving my take on Cincinnati's black history and culture, linking some of our iconic landmarks to our black history. Today, I wanted to be lighthearted and share something a little personal.

Summer is upon us, and I have been scaling back on my makeup routine and focused more on skincare. As with oily and acne prone skin like mine and at my age, skincare becomes more important than ever. That being said, I am going to show you my keys to great year round skin.

Ingredients:

Facial Mask

Ultimate Detox facial mask, Queen City Alchemy, 1 tsp
rose water, 1 tsp
honey, 2-3 drops
squeeze of lemon juice from fresh lemons


Directions

1. Wash and exfoliate face with the coffee scrub, using gentle circular motions.

1. Combine all ingredients until the mixture forms paste like consistency.

2. Spread mixture onto clean face and allow to dry for 15-20 mins.

3. Remove mask with facial cloth or rinse with cool water as cool water tightens pores.

Toner

4. Mix equal parts rose water,witch hazel, and filtered water in travel size spray bottle.

5. Apply to clean face to remove any traces of the mask remaining.



6. Apply vitamin C hydrating serum to wherever you feel you need the most. I apply this on my t-       zone, under eyes, and dark spots. Leave on for about 30 mins. and apply either day or night cream to skin. You can also leave the serum on overnight for best results.

 7. For nourished lips, I once again applied coffee scrub to my lips, rinsed and applied lavender lip   balm.

Final thoughts:

I have included lavender in my regular beauty care as lavender has antibacterial and antimicrobial properties. It is very calming, and people use lavender in forms such as room deodorizer and as linen spray.

Honey also has antibacterial and antimicrobial properties and is sweeter that refined sugar.

Best of all, many of these products were produced locally!!!

 *-African American owned business

Everyday Crones

As I reflect on the halfway mark of 2019, I have been blessed with the accomplishments as well as the challenges I have faced up to this point, including a minor health concern.

Friday I had no reason to complain as it was awesome sunny weather, so I decided to check out the opening of very intriguing and inspiring art exhibit "What Is and What Can Be: Women of Color and the Struggle for Justice in Cincinnati at the YWCA of Greater Cincinnati.

Just hours before the opening, I had the pleasure of meeting the curator of the exhibit, president of the local YWCA Ena Nearon Menefield. The moment we met, I sensed a strong but humble spirit about her. She is considered to be a modern day "crone", but in a beautiful way. In folklore and fairy tales, a crone is typically described as a sinister woman, often with supernatural associations that would maker her helpful or distracting. In modern times, crones are defined as seasoned women who exhibit wisdom, freedom, and personal strength.

This exhibit featured some work of our modern day crones. As I looked at these masterpieces, I see myself in them. I see the struggles that I have had growing up. I also see the successes I have achieved.

Now that I think about it, we have crones all around us. From the little girl who strives to do well in school despite her circumstances to the young mother who raises her children the best she knows how with limited resources and to the seasoned matron who has seen it and done it all, each and everyone of us has something to offer and something to learn.

Wild Women Never Get The Blues, Ricci Michaels

Black Woman, Ricci Michaels

Untitled, Grace Haggard

Poetry Reading

Poetry Reading

Ena Nearon Menefield, curator

Heeere's Jennie!

Hays-Porter High Tech (former site of the Jennie D. Porter Middle School)

Jennie D Porter Park

Yesterday was my last day at my temporary assignment at an insurance broker, so today, I decided to walk around the West End some more and stumbled upon yet some more pieces of black history.

Jennie Davis Porter was the first African-American woman to earn a doctorate from the University of Cincinnati and one of the first African American female school principals in Cincinnati.

Porter was born to freed Tennessee slave William A. Porter and Edlinda Davis Porter. Her father was Cincinnati's first African American morticians.

Porter operated the Harriet Beecher Stowe Elementary School during the day and attended University of Cincinnati at night, ultimately earning her bachelor's master's, and doctorate degrees. Porter ran the school until illness forced her to take a leave of absence one year before her death in 1936. In addition, she published articles on African American education and social issues in national publications.

Among her students were DeHart Hubbard, the first African American to win an individual gold medal in the long jump at the Paris Olympics in 1924, and Theodore Berry, Cincinnati's first African American mayor (1972-1976).

The school itself closed in 1962, and the property of 1030 Cutter Street has gone through many incarnations before the school merged with the former Hays School in the early 2000s to become what is now Hayes-Porter High Tech.

A few blocks east of the school stands the Jennie D Porter Park, which was built by students of the former Jennie D Porter Middle School in the early 1990s.

Happy Friday Eve!

Fountain Square

This is one of my happy places here in the "Nati". This is a place where the OGs (old gangsters in real talk) gather to reminisce about their way back in the day, where youngsters make memories with their selfie worthy fashions, and where families gather to enjoy some iconic favorites such as Graeter's ice cream. This is the mecca of memories.

Many of us know the general history of this iconic spot. The Tyler Davidson Fountain was a gift from
Henry Probasco to the people in Cincinnati in honor of his brother-in-law and business partner Tyler Davidson and was designed by the von Miller family of Munich, Germany (P.S. and BTW, it is one of Cincinnati's nine sister cities). The fountain was dedicated to the people in 1871 and renovated in 1971 for its centennial.

Flashback to the 1840s. Fountain Square was also the site of the former Fifth Street Market, one of nine public markets that operated in the city at that time. African Americans found this place an oasis of tranquility, and they had hopes of finding employment and prosperity in this new area.

However, their peace did not last very long. September 1841 brought about one of the earliest race riots, all due to a long drought filled with unemployment. A mob of unemployed white Cincinnatians attacked blacks. According to local authorities at the time about 300 black men, some who escaped slavery weeks and even months before, were rounded up, arrested and put in jail "for their own protection", and there would be a series of these race riots before the start of the World War I.

Well, that's today's history lesson. Happy Saturday!

A Rage in Harlem

Last night, I watched an oldie but goodie "A Rage in Harlem" Starring Forrest Whitaker, Gregory Hines, and Robin Givens. Set in 1950s Harlem, this follows a gangster's moll who was on the run from Mississippi with a stash of gold, and hoodlums ultimately follow her to Harlem to retrieve it.

Though this movie was set in Harlem, very few people know that the film itself was filmed in Cincinnati in the early 1990s as filmmakers were looking for cost effective ways to make it. The top place to make this movie was in Over-the Rhine because the Italianate architecture was the perfect stand in for New York, and Main Street was the perfect street as it was a hot and happening hipster location.

The building at 1202 Main Street, once also known as Local 1207 and 1207 bar, was renamed "Braddock's Bar" for the movie.

Urban Eden, a home goods shop on 1313 Main Street, was used as "The Royale" nightclub.