UPSB v3

Serious Discussion / "Slip of the Tongue" Ethnic Makeup

Adriel Luis

  1. Webo Splash
    Date: Wed, Jul 9 2008 18:39:17

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    Spoiler:
    My glares burn through her.
    And I’m sure that such actions aren’t foreign to her
    because the essence of her beauty is, well, the essence of beauty.

    And in the presence of this higher being,
    the weakness of my masculinity kicks in,
    causing me to personify my wannabe big-baller, shot-caller,
    God’s gift to the female species with shiny suit wrapping rapping like,
    “Yo, what’s crackin shorty how you livin’ what’s your sign what’s your size I dig your style, yo.”

    Now, this girl was no fool.
    She gives me a dirty look with the quickness like,
    “Boy, you must be stupid.”
    so I’m looking at myself,
    “Boy, you must be stupid.”
    But looking upon her I am kinda feelin’ her style.

    So I try again.
    But, instead of addressing her properly,
    I blurt out one of my fake-ass playalistic lines like,
    “Gurl, you must be a traffic ticket cuz you got fine written all over you.”
    Now, she’s trying to leave and I’m trying to keep her here.
    So at a final attempt, I utter,
    “Gurl, what is your ethnic makeup?”

    At this point, her glare was scorching through me,
    and somehow she manages to make her brown eyes
    resemble some kinda brown fire or something,
    but there’s no snap or head moement,
    no palm to face, click of tongue, middle finger,
    roll of eyes, twist of lips, or girl power chant.
    She just glares through me with these burning eyes
    and her gaze grabs you by the throat.

    She says, “Ethnic makeup?”
    She says, “First of all, makeup’s just an anglicized, colonized, commodified utility
    that my sisters have been programmed to consume,
    forcing them to cover up their natural state
    in order to imitate what another sister looks like in her natural state
    because people keep telling her
    that the other sister’s natural state is more beautiful
    than the first sister’s natural state.
    At the same time,
    the other sister isn’t even in her natural state,
    because she’s trying to imitate yet another sister,
    so in actuality, the natural state that the first sister’s trying to imitate
    wasn’t even natural in the first place.”

    Now I’m thinking, “Damn, this girl’s kicking knowledge!”
    But, meanwhile, she keeps spitting on it like
    “Fine. I’ll tell you bout my ‘ethnic makeup.’
    I wear foundation,
    not that powdery shit,
    I wear the foundation laid by my indigenous people.
    It’s that foundation that makes it so that past being globalized,
    I can still vocalize with confidence that i know where my roots are.
    I wear this foundation not upon my face, but within my soul,
    and I take this from my ancestors
    because I’ll be damned if I’d ever let an American or European corporation
    tell me what my foundation
    should look like.”

    I wear lipstick,
    for my lips stick to the ears of men,
    so they can experience in surround sound my screams of agony
    with each lash of rulers, measuring tape, and scales,
    as if my waistline and weight are inversely propotional to my value as a human being.
    See my lips, they stick, but not together.
    Rather, they flail open with flames to burn down this culture that once kept them shut.
    Now, I mess with eye shadow,
    but my eyes shadow over this time where you’ve gone at ends to keep me blind.
    But you can’t cover my eyes, look into them.
    My eyes foreshadow change.
    My eyes foreshadow light.
    and I’m not into hair dyeing.
    but I’m here, dying, because this oppression won’t get out of my hair.
    I have these highlights.
    They are highlights of my past atrocities,
    they form this oppression I can’t wash off.
    It tangles around my mind and twists and braids me in layers,
    this oppression manifests,
    it’s stressing me so that even though I don’t color my hair,
    in a couple of years it’ll look like I dyed it gray.
    So what’s my ethnic makeup ?
    I don’t have any.
    Because your ethnicity isn’t something you can just make up.
    And as for that crap my sisters paint on their faces, that’s not makeup, it’s make-believe.”

    I can’t seem to look up at her.
    and I’m sure that such actions aren’t foreign to her
    because the exp​ression on her face
    shows that she knows that my mind is in a trance.

    As her footsteps fade, my ego is left in crutches.
    And rejection never sounded so sweet.


    Im sure you all heard of this poem, Slip of the Tongue by Adriel Luis. I want to know your opinions about the message he brings. Why don't majority of men dont give the respect women deserve?

    Back to this poem, in my opinion, Adriel speaks about ethnic makeup and the pressure to look like what the corporations and society portray. And the ending was the KO for me. "That's not makeup, that's make believe " ,"And rejection never sounded so sweet". That ending they pointed out can actually change a man's views, and that's what we need in this society.

    idk if this is an appropriate section of the forums to post, buhht I felt as if this poem is serious and can bring out serious discussion.

    Added lyrics (thanks to minche).
    ~ Tialys

  2. Mats
    Date: Wed, Jul 9 2008 18:46:25

    Never heard of it but just read it.

    Men are stronger and more dominant and therefore give less respect. Much like in the world of pen spinning, Erirornal recieves more respect than he gives, because he is stronger and more dominant. It's natural for men to give women less respect.

    However, in today's modern society, more of an effort should be made by men to treat women as equals. thumb.gif

  3. Zombo
    Date: Wed, Jul 9 2008 18:49:31

    no offense, but he has a really annoying voice, I couldn't last through the first 30 seconds...

    anyway why is this thread called ethnic makeup when it talks about gender discrimination? do not confuse racism with sexism, please.

  4. Webo Splash
    Date: Wed, Jul 9 2008 18:51:23

    QUOTE (Zombo @ Jul 9 2008, 11:49 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
    no offense, but he has a really annoying voice, I couldn't last through the first 30 seconds...

    anyway why is this thread called ethnic makeup when it talks about gender discrimination? do not confuse racism with sexism, please.

    If you listened to the whole video, he talks about ethnic makeup, zombo.

  5. minche
    Date: Wed, Jul 9 2008 18:52:24

    http://violasiris.wordpress.com/2007/02/22...by-adriel-luis/
    here

  6. ikore
    Date: Wed, Jul 9 2008 19:48:01

    is it just me or does that guy look kinda like eso? huh.gif but scientificly men are more stronger then woman and mostly men have a bigger ego and what not but still at least woman are getting better respect then before i mean they werent even allowed to vote before. but most men IMO are just fat faggots that dont know any repect towards other people

  7. Webo Splash
    Date: Wed, Jul 9 2008 19:52:01

    I personally don't know why girls dont get the respect they deserve. I guess maybe the world wuhs so used to being dominated by men, that everyone bases their opinion on that. I do disagree and all, buhh that's how it is.

  8. Teatime
    Date: Wed, Jul 9 2008 23:47:54

    I like to think that it's slowly being balanced. I for one can't specifically recall any moment where I've seen a woman being discriminated just for being a woman so I dunno. Maybe I just don't observe society a lot but I like to think that the situation isn't as bad as ethnic discrimination which undoubtedly still exists...

  9. Shadowserpant
    Date: Thu, Jul 10 2008 04:43:28

    i cant watch the video on this computer, but on the men = women issue-
    i think alot of these women aren't fair in their arguements. They want equality in all these ways but they don't want to pay for dates, they want the door held open for them, they want to always be the first priority
    and if a guy acts in an arrogant way towards a girl, in a case where it would be acceptible if it were a guy, then the girl calls him a jackass and everyone agrees

    there are cases where yes, girls need some more equality
    like getting charged more for car repairs cuz the repairman thinks the girl doesnt know what she's doing
    but if they're gonna apply it the everything, then they have to apply it to everything.

  10. Teatime
    Date: Thu, Jul 10 2008 09:45:29

    I don't think that has anything to do with it. courtship and politeness has nothing to do with discrimination.

  11. Xero
    Date: Thu, Jul 10 2008 18:37:38

    Women get the respect they deserve.
    It's not the fault of men if women doll themselves up to become an object of lust.
    The doll up to compete with other women, not for our attention.
    AND data shows that women prefer rougher men, so women have got to stop sending mixed signals.

  12. minche
    Date: Thu, Jul 10 2008 18:45:15

    wow xero, just wow
    not ALL women like rougher men
    and nobody understands women, so don't talk about mixed signals -__-

  13. Xero
    Date: Thu, Jul 10 2008 18:50:04

    QUOTE (minche @ Jul 10 2008, 02:45 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
    wow xero, just wow
    not ALL women like rougher men
    and nobody understands women, so don't talk about mixed signals -__-

    MOST do.
    That's right, so women should make shit clear as to what they want.

    And can someone change the thread title, please?

  14. minche
    Date: Thu, Jul 10 2008 18:52:04

    nobody understands women: nobody includes women too sleep.gif