Well hello again! I am back and ready to blog! I had to take a moment out to get through a few projects, but I have been itching to get back to Brown in the City. I wanted to have a bit of fun for my return to blogging. I could not think of a more appropriate return than a heartfelt thanks to the late great Eartha Kitt and her amazing rendition of the song I Want to be Evil. The first time I heard this song, I had to remind myself to keep breathing! First of all, Eartha Kitt was a brilliant songstress, the things she could get her voice to do are unparalleled! But, what really got to me was her ability to capture both the frustration with, and the rebellion against, an identity that was put upon her. She was not going to be constrained by the identity that the world was trying to shoehorn her into, oh no, she was rebelling and taking the world down with her! Eartha was somehow able to crawl into that song and tell the stories of all the women who were itching to cast off the identities that clouded their true selves. I have to say I love the above video in all it’s campiness, but seek out the recordings where she sings the more soul version that cuts right to through me every time I hear it. It allows me to remember that I can be anyone I want to be, that I can choose my own identity. She tells the tale of a woman chaffing against an identity put upon her by others. Imagine what it is like to be trapped so tightly in your skin that you long to rebel against the image everyone sees. To want to take that image and destroy it so thoroughly that you come out the other side as your polar opposite. Yes, Eartha was swimming in hyperbole, but she was making a point. She would rather be what society deems the worst of the worst, than continue living in the constraints put upon her by that society. Thus I tip my hat to Madame Kitt. When your life’s work is to be constantly challenging society’s preconceived notions of race and gender it is utterly refreshing to have Eartha’s talent as your soundtrack for the struggle.