Photo courtesy of orijinculture.com

Ode to girls who aren’t slim, but aren’t too big either. Ode to big chops and sporting a small crown with no fear. Ode to equilibrium of woman, clumsy and sensual, awkward and beautiful.

We are real.

However, within Hollywood, the media, and other forms of the aesthetic that persuade the mind, we’re rarely seen in our averageness. I find it difficult to find myself within the fictional characters that unravel before my eyes. However, in Issa Rae’s notorious YouTube series “The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl,” I can spot my idiosyncrasies, every episode, from a mile away.

As artists and creators, we are guilty of placing pieces of ourselves within the confines our craft. I saw Issa Rae speak at the Influencer Con, this summer, and I was sure I was going to witness an entirely different woman, than the one I saw depicted within her series. This also includes, her role on Black&SexiTV’s “The Number” and her solo “RatchetPiece Theatre.” Laced in a cardigan, Converse sneakers, wooden bangles, and glasses, her simplicity stuck out to me. While she spoke about adoring instant feedback for her web series and cyber racism, I couldn’t help but see my reflection within her.

This was heightened by her story of a father who’d emailed her to tell her, that because of her show and quick come-up, his daughter was no longer ashamed of her natural hair, that she was being teased for.

She was quirky, funny, incredibly intelligent, and yes even a bit awkward. I was taken aback that her mannerisms, minus J’s Tourette-style raps and succumbing to her annoying co-workers, were awesomely similar to her character’s. I could see a correlation between J, Issa Rae, and myself as well. So, I decided to write this letter:

Dear Issa Rae and/or tidbits of J,

I don’t know if anyone has ever told you, but you reflect the predominance within us. I’m suddenly comfortable with my fro, thickness, and clumsiness when you flash across my screen. I often ran home to write rhymes and poems about boys/men who did not appreciate my swapping of third-grade PB&J. Who am I kidding? I still do that now, sans the trading of lunch.

I frequently pass the control-freak, in the hallway at work, and have daydreams of the different ways I could trip her. I’ve fantasized about the brown skin man who’s come in and simmered every on looking female’s soul (and that one gay intern), but never had the courage to truly say hello.

I imagine full out scenarios, atop the brownstone steps of Harlem, to some Rent/hip-hop inspired musicality, belting out my love for brown skin and my disdain for my own Nina-like control-freak standing across the street, with smoke blowing from her ears.

But the truth is, I haven’t stumbled over the boundaries that J has and I’m just crossing the threshold of freelancing, as you’ve done, some time ago, with screenwriting.

Is it just me, Issa Rae, or is it difficult to make it here? Even when you’re behind the scenes, aren’t you still cognizant of the onlookers/haters ready and willing to fling their opinions at your heart? If you are, it doesn’t look like it.

On or off the screen.

Your pride seems to dangle from every movement. You will not allow yourself to be confined and you’ve broken out of the boxes they’ve tried to put you in. As an evolved suburbanite, living in Brooklyn, who writes raps in secret, who ran into her car after telling her boyfriend that she liked him and spent a week avoiding him, I get your protagonist. I also get Issa Rae, an image I’ve been waiting for, a black woman who seems to fit perfectly into different circles, a chameleon to her industry.

Bereft of superficiality, your writing is the perfect hybrid of what we’re all thinking and feeling, but too self-conscious to say. We appreciate your protagonist’s embarrassments, showing us that the art of awkwardness is one that is universal and commonplace. We are not alone, those of us with or without Ceces, when it comes to stumbling through life.

That much is clear.

Thank you.

“RivaFlowz” is a teacher and professional writer living in New York City. You can follow her on Twitter: @rivaflowz.

AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes

From Essence

Comedic actress Issa Rae, who is best known as the creator and star of The Mis-Adventures of Awkward Black Girl, is opening up about the pilot for her new TV show, I Hate LA Dudes.

The highly anticipated new show is a collaboration with Scandal creator Shonda Rhimes, and it’s name is no joke.

“I really do hate them,” says Rae in a recent interview with Vulture. “I hate the guys. I hate the mentality they have. Everyone’s so chillaxed, the way they speak and carry themselves. They’re very much laid-back in the sense that they feel like they don’t have to pursue you. Especially this generation, they don’t really court women anymore.”

Well, that sounds like some men everywhere! You can get more inside scoop about the show, including whether or not Issa will actually star in the show, over on Essence.

Are you a fan of The Mis-Adventures of Awkward Black Girl series? Will you be watching the new show when it hits ABC?

Anybody else missing “Awkward Black Girl” these days? Well, if you are, there’s a new web series that brings the laughs and is chock full of talented black actors and actresses. It’s called “Black and Single,” and if you’re one or both of those things, I’m sure you’re low-key very much interested. Don’t get it twisted though, “ABG” and “Black and Single” don’t have much in common other than the fact that they’re both hilarious.

“Black and Single” follows young men and women trying to navigate the dating scene in Atlanta. In fact, here’s the actual premise:

“Black & Single is a web-series that follows the lives of Oni and Jesse. Two young, single and black professionals that work in the same office building and are seemingly perfect for each other. There is one problem. They never meet. They intersect each others lives at hilarious and various moments while searching for love when true love passes them by every day unwittingly. Will they ever meet? Only time will tell.”

Both characters encounter real issues with their prospects just like everyday people (this guy’s crazy, that guy lied about how he looks, this one’s already got a woman…make that a crazy baby mother) that makes the results all the more hilarious. There are two episodes right now, new ones drop bi-weekly and the third premieres on May 21 if you’re interested in continuing to follow the series. Each episode is less than 15 minutes so far so it will be a great watch for that late lunch break…or if you’re just really feeling ratchet about your workday, you can just watch them now.

Just don’t tell anybody I said that.

But seriously, I was pretty impressed and it takes a lot for me to find something funny. Plus, the writing was actually very well done. Check out episode one here and the other via their YouTube channel and let us know your thoughts!

More on Madame Noire!

• Bet You Didn’t Know: Secrets Behind the Making of “The Color Purple”
• Lord Help Me, I’ve Got The Old Chick in The Club, Ready For a Family Itch
• An Open Letter to People With Jobs…Who Don’t Want to Work
• Wondering What The Most Popular Baby Names Were of 2011?
• Made For T.V. Moms: Our Favorite Reality Show Mothers
• Where Are They Now? The Cast of “New York Undercover”
• Evening Eye Candy: Model Broderick Hunter

Are you one of the socially awkward types? The kind of person who struggles to make new friends, dreads public speaking and wonders when is the appropriate time to speak when you see someone at the end of a hallway?

Some of you can relate; but if you can’t, you’ll still get a kick out of Issa Rae’s webseries “The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl.”

In addition to dealing with her struggling social graces, Issa Rae, who plays “J” in the series deals with obnoxious colleagues, a boss who unknowingly makes racist statements and a co-worker who cannot take a hint. (Even though she did kind of sleep with him. No judgment.) It’s funny and it deals with the real life issues we [all] go through.

Check out Black Voices’ analysis of the show and watch the first episode.