c.2023, various publishers, $26.99 – $29.00, various page counts

By Terri Schlichenmeyer

The last two apps you downloaded were for diets. Ugh.

Friends say that you’re perfect but you’d like to lose your flabby arms, your thick thighs, and a few inches from your belly. You imagine what you’d be like if you were a size 6. You wonder if you could wear skinny boots again. But before you download another app, read these books about Black women’s health and body image…

There’s not just one, but at least two books out this spring that ask if it isn’t time for Black women to reclaim positive self-images about their bodies.

“It’s Always Been Ours” by eating disorder specialist Jessica Wilson (Go Hachette, $29.00), looks at the politics of Black women’s bodies. You don’t need to be told that this isn’t a new thing but the true history of Black women and the harm such negativity has done may still surprise you; Wilson also pulls in the works of novelists, friends, influencers, and others to get the best, most interesting look at the subject. If you want a call to action, this is it.

Along those lines, author Chrissy King says that body liberation is what Black women should strive for, and in “The Body Liberation Project” (Penguin Random House, $28.00), she offers ways to achieve body freedom. What sets her book apart from the Wilson book is less history, more personal tales and thought-provoking question-pages to get readers thinking about how they’ve been thinking about their bodies. Again, there could be surprises in what you learn about yourself.

With these books, King and Wilson advocate for the individual as well as for all Black women and if it feels difficult for you to pick between these two books, then don’t. Read them together or concurrently and you’ll be happier.

But okay, you love your body. Your legs, your arms, your shoulders and hair and smile — so how do you keep all that gorgeousness healthy? You can start with “Black Women’s Wellness” by Melody T. McCloud, MD (Sounds True, $26.99) and learn. Indeed, even if you’re feeling well and looking great, this book explains how to keep yourself that way, starting with what healthy looks like for a Black woman. From there, McCloud touches upon things like cancer, HIV, heart disease and diabetes before moving on to reproductive health, sex, relationships and mental health. It’s written in real language and everything is in simple, easy-to-understand, authentic terms created for grown-ups.

Beware that “Black Women’s Wellness” isn’t a replacement for your doctor or clinic, but it’s a nice question-answerer and a good launching point for knowing your body.

If these three books aren’t exactly what you’re looking for, be sure to ask your favorite librarian or bookseller. Admittedly, there aren’t a lot of modern, new books out there about body image for women of color, but a bookish person can help you find what you need. They’ll be able to put the book in your beautiful hands, your soft arms, for your gorgeous eyes.

There’s no app for that.

By Janis Mara
Bay City News Service

Cartoon enthusiasts, graphic novelists and folks from all over the Bay Area braved the rain to meet Wonder Woman – or at least the first woman to draw her – at the Cartoon Art Museum Saturday and Sunday.

The occasion was a pop-up Women’s Comic Marketplace, and Trina Robbins, the first female illustrator of the feminist icon, was on hand along with 20 or so exhibitors whose work reflected the rich variety of styles and subject matter in women’s comics today.

“We love comic books. We are vibing out,” said Valaree Garcia of San Francisco, who attended the event with her partner Sunday. “Every single booth is amazing, every woman is telling her story her own way.”

Exhibitor Avy Jetter of Oakland displayed her indie comic “Nuthin’ Good Ever Happens at 4 a.m.” which offers an Equal Opportunity look at the world of zombies, with an all-black cast of undead.

Around the corner at another table was cartoonist Jules Rivera, a surfer who detailed her dive into the largely male world of surfing in one of her first zines.

“I was already an aqua creature. I grew up in Orlando and had always lived on the beach,” Rivera said. When she moved to California, becoming a surfer came easily.

Rivera took over the decades-old Washington Post cartoon strip “Mark Trail” in 2020. The conservation-minded but rather conventional male character quickly got a makeover.

Rivera said, “I made him hot. They always intended him to be hot, they just went about it the wrong way.” In her zine, “Thirst Trapped in a Cave,” Rivera depicts Trail in a series of seductive poses she describes as “pinups.”

While many of the exhibitors create material intended for adults, Jen de Oliveira, a Livermore resident, is the co-creator of Sunday Haha, a free weekly comics newsletter for kids.

Children were much in evidence at the event, grouped around a table in the back industriously coloring and drawing, gathered in front of a big screen in another room watching (what else?) cartoons, sprawled on the floor reading (what else?) comic books.

At 4 p.m., the event adjourned to the library for tea with Robbins and Marrs.

Sitting at a round table sipping tea and eating gingersnaps, the two shared stories of their lives in the comics field.

Marrs, a Berkeley resident, created the comic book series, “The Further Fattening Adventures of Pudge, Girl Blimp,” which was nominated for an Eisner Award in 2017, the highest honor bestowed in the comic book world.

In 1972, Robbins, a San Francisco resident, wrote and drew a short story called “Sandy Comes Out,” starring the first lesbian comic-book character outside of pornography. Shifting gears, she began drawing for DC Comics in the 1980s, and since then has authored several books and continues to write and draw comics.

“Lee Marrs and Trina Robbins talking about feminism, and the younger artists writing graphic novels about their lives – you don’t have to create a universe. You don’t have to make up a planet” the way traditional cartoonists have done, said Ron Evans, chair of the museum’s board of trustees, who was on hand for the event.

“It’s what you experience, and it’s much more relatable,” Evans said. Reading about common experiences in graphic novels and cartoons can make people, especially young people, feel less alone.

“In school you’re taught to write about what you know, and that’s what they’re doing. It’s cathartic, and who knows? Maybe it will help other people.”

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By Ken Epstein

Leaving many students, faculty and Oakland residents feeling betrayed, Holy Names University’s leadership is aggressively moving ahead with plans to sell the 60-acre campus in the Oakland hills for high-end private residences and have not been willing to work with city leaders and other universities that are reaching out to save the site as a center for higher education.

In a reply to a recent letter to Vice Mayor Rebecca Kaplan, Jeanine Hawk, HNU’s vice president for finance and administration, wrote that HNU has already placed the property on the market through real estate broker, Mike Taquino at CBRE marketing, to market the property and is already distributing marketing materials offering the campus for sale.

Responding to Kaplan’s offer to collaborate with HNU to save the campus for educational purposes, Hawk replied, “At this point it is unclear to HNU how the City of Oakland can assist with the process of achieving the objectives of obtaining the highest and best use of the HNU property for public good.”.

“Nevertheless, if the city is aware of any interested acquirer or successor entity, please provide that information to Mike Taquino or to me,” she wrote.

She added that HNU had sent letters to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) so see if they might be interested in establishing a campus on the West Coast.

The CBRE Group, Inc. is the world’s largest commercial real estate services and investment firm. The term “highest and best use” is used in the real estate industry as expression of seeking to sell a property for its highest possible value.

Hawk did not mention the universities that have expressed interest in collaborating with Holy Names nor the university’s lender, Preston Hollow, which has also offered to find solutions other than selling the campus to a real estate developer.

Campus leaders at Holy Names and members of the Oakland community were stunned by the announcement of HNU’s latest moves to dispose of the campus,

“It’s too bad I don’t believe my own rhetoric sometimes,” said activist and scholar, Kitty Kelly Epstein. “I’ve been saying for some months that it seemed like the chair of the Holy Names Board was actually trying to sell the campus to real estate developers, and that’s why he refused to meet with any of the elected officials and city leaders who have offered help in keeping Holy Names open as a college campus.

“So – guess what? Now the marketing materials are out to sell the campus, while our trusting students, many from Oakland, are tossed out with hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt and no college degree. It’s more evil than even a suspicious person like me can wrap my mind around.”

“I’m shocked,” said a HNU faculty member when hearing the news about the real estate developer.

A Holy Names student leader said, “Students are furious. They are afraid that Holy Names will be sold to a private developer.”

Said Councilmember Carroll Fife, “As an alumnus of Holy Names University, I am deeply disappointed the administration refuses to work with city leaders to ensure the campus can continue to be an important resource for Oakland but insists on selling the campus for maximum profit. I’m most concerned for students and faculty. I hope Oakland residents will make it clear that preserving this campus for generations of future students is more important than enriching a developer.”