One time, I was at the $2 movie theater (R.I. Motherfucking P.) with a bunch of my friends watching the Sigourney Weaver flick Copycat. The theater was packed, not surprisingly, as a $2 trip to the movies in Manhattan was the steal of the 90's. During a climactic scene on a rooftop where Sigourney is nearly killed, when the cops finally show up after the showdown, this kind of drunk guy who'd been annoyingly grumbling throughout the movie exclaimed about the arriving police "Always late....just like my brother!" I don't know why I just told you that story because since it's probably not funny to anybody except me and my friends, but I did. And you read it, so the joke's on you. It's also black history month in case you didn't know, and here I am telling you that with 6 days left in the month. Always late....(fill in the punchline.)
I was drawn to this book Black Girl in Paris in a Brooklyn discount store. I didn't read it, since I don't know how, but I found the image on it's cover enchanting. If this book were set in New York, she'd be sporting a showercap, airbrushed corn chip nail tips, and puffing a blunt an hour on some Jaimee Foxworth steez. But it's not. I had to delve into my brain as to what attracted me to this book. And then I realized, I've seen her before. I know who this girl is. It's one of the most awesome black girls on the planet. The one, the only Surya Bonaly.
Surya Bonaly is the blackest and most fantastic and explosive figure skater ever. Born in Nice, France, and adopted by a white lady, she went on to become France's nine time National Figure skating champion, five time European Figure Skating Champion, and a three-time silver medalist at the World Figure Skating Championships. She unfortunately never won any golds in Worlds, or placed in the Olympics, but her unconventional skating style remains one for the legends, with her signature move, a backflip, which she lands on one foot - and she is the only skater in the world capable of doing this. She's basically the love child of 50 Cent and Serena Williams on ice. I used to skate, and when I was a kid, I thought she was the Sugar Honey Iced Tea.
Peep some Video:
Surya now lives in the United States, and does those Professional Ice Skating tours. I can honestly say I haven't had a hankering to see Elvis Stojko in action with his leather pants and vest set spinning through a quadruple toe loop since I was about 12, but now that I know Surya is involved as well, it's on like Donkey Kong. Who's coming with me?