Fined!

Happy New Year to all! I hope that the new year brings in more creativity, joy, and abundance to everyone’s lives. For the women of 7Adinkras, it seems like one group resolution is to be sure to never say anything negative about ourselves. Last month, as we rushed to pull together our trailers for our December 14 fundraising event, we began an in-house fundraising program: Whenever one of us says something negative about ourselves, we are fined one dollar.

As women, we put ourselves down too often, belittling our talents, our ideas, the way we look in photographs… One of our members recently was fined two dollars for bad-mouthing the way her lovely thighs appeared on camera -- one dollar for each thigh! My 7Adinkras sisters fined me $20 (!!) for announcing my short documentary Hoo Hoo: Losing Mother Tongue as “my little story” in front of some 70 people during our fundraising mini-screening.

Our fining system not only helps us raise money for our projects -- it helps us be more aware of how casually and frequently we insult our greatness. In less than a month, the glass vase in Akanke’s house is filling up with dollar bills and change (along with sticky notes announcing our personal transgressions). Hey, while it’s great to contribute towards a worthy cause, I can’t afford to put myself down any longer!