Audra McDonald canada goose outlet on Starring in ‘Beauty and the Beast’ and Raising Confident Black Daughters

Audra McDonald arrives at the world premiere of “Beauty and the Beast” at the El Capitan Theatre on Thursday, March 2, 2017, in Los canada goose deals Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP) Audra McDonald is #BlackGirlMagic personified. Why? Because the singer and actress has racked up a laundry list of awards, honors and accolades, including a record breaking six Tony Awards—more than any other actor. Because President Barack Obama awarded her with the National Medal of Arts. Because she’s been an ally, advocate and tireless supporter for equal rights, LGBTQ causes and underprivileged youth. Canada Goose Coats On Sale And because now she is sprinkling her Black girl magic all over Disney’s latest film, a live-action version of the classic tale, Beauty and the Beast.EBONY sat down with McDonald to talk about her role as Madam Garderobe—the Beast’s Italian opera singer who has, along with the castle’s other inhabitants, fallen under a curse and now exists as a very animated, inanimate object—but the conversation quickly turned from light-hearted banter to what it means to be a Black female entertainer, a feminist living in these tumultuous times, canada goose black friday sale raising two daughters to be bold and independent in their brown skin and standing for those who cannot stand for canadian goose jacket themselves.EBONY: You’re known for your ability to transform yourself for your roles, especially in your last project as Billie Holiday in Lady Day at Emerson’s Canada Goose Outlet Bar and Grill and now in Beauty and the Beast. But how does one go about preparing to transform into a wardrobe?Audra McDonald: (laughs) It helps that they’re humans first so you’ve got that basis for the character and so here I am, an African American woman playing some sort of wild, crazy Italian operatic diva from the 1800s, who then turns into forcanadagoose a canada goose coats on sale wardrobe, so talk canada goose clearance sale about transformation!Basically I just went off of what I know about opera singers and characterized that. I had a really great Italian diction teacher when I was at Julliard, and she taught me how to sing in Italian—I used that for my inspiration. Then when you’re doing the voice work as the object, the director is in there with you Canada Goose Parka saying, “Ok she’s trying to get down the stairs now so I need to hear the ugh,” or, “She’s falling asleep but she’s still trying to Canada Goose online sing so can you snore.” The exploration is very freeing. You just feel very safe and you’re in a Disney film, it’s like you’re playing. It’s make believe.EBONY: Emma Watson characterized Belle as an activist, and even possibly a feminist. Where do canada goose replica you stand on the feminist spectrum? McDonald: I consider myself to be a feminist. My hope and goal is that I’m going to raise two very strong independent women that won’t need anybody, unless they chose that. I want them to be mistresses of their own destiny. But I don’t judge people on the other end of that spectrum either. It’s just where you fall.EBONY: On Twitter you have the now-famous Senator Mitch McConell quote that Senator Elizabeth Warren “was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless she persisted.” How buy canada goose jacket cheap do you see that manifesting in your own life?McDonald: Oh, canada goose store I was constantly [told], “You’re too dramatic,” and what do I do? I turn it into a career. In terms of being an African American woman, I was raised being told by my mom, “This is how society is going to buy canada goose jacket see you. You MUST rise about that. Rise above the way society is going to see you and society is going to see you at the absolutely bottom of the totem pole because not only are you female, you are Black. Canada Goose Online Never believe it and never give into that, that that’s where you live or that’s who you are.”I was being colorblind casted in roles. I played Mother Abbess in The Sound of Music and everybody’s like, “Well she wouldn’t have been this and that, she shouldn’t be playing it.” Well I’m going to do it and I did it. I’ve been warned my entire life and I’ve persisted and that’s what I hope my children will do as well.EBONY: Speaking of your children and playing roles that they can possibly be proud of, how important is that for you to either embody “Black girl magic” or find those images for your little girls? McDonald: It’s all of it. It’s absolutely important. My daughters are biracial, so I probably maybe went a Canada Goose Jackets little too far early on. When my 16-year-old was young all her dolls were Dora and darker. They were all brown, brown and black dolls and one day she started crying. She must have been three or something and was like, “None of my dolls look like me” because my canada goose clearance daughter has lighter skin and I realized, oh I’ve gone too far in that direction. I have to make sure that I embrace Canada Goose sale all that she is.And so it’s a constant awareness to make sure that she is embracing her whole self and that she is seeing absolutely Black girl magic and that is something that is very important to cheap Canada Goose her. In fact we did the Women’s March in New York and she had a shirt that I got her that said “Danger: Educated Black Woman” and she wore that as we marched down the street and she was very proud. So Black girl canada goose coats magic is a very important thing in our household for sure.EBONY: The Beast—and the story of the Beast—represents tolerance of a whole person, of who they are, not just what they look like and that’s an important message in today’s narrative when there’s a ban on some Muslims and taking away personal freedoms to simply use the restroom in your full self. What do you say about this message of the Beast?McDonald: It’s very important that this story’s out there and in a time when we need to make sure that we’re looking past just the surface and looking into the soul. Also, the allegory in this story is with the Beast is the most beautiful package—Gaston—is the monster so we should not judge books by their cover. Because if that’s the case then you’re going to have a monster living and being in control of everything as opposed to a good soul.EBONY: You’re an LGBTQ activist and this film certainly is more inclusive than any other Disney film that we’ve seen. There’s been some hubbub about that but I’m sure for you, being an activist, this was a great move on Disney’s behalf. McDonald: We know what the message of Beauty and the Beast canada goose is, but more importantly Disney is reflecting the world that is. In the end the message is to learn to love others and learn to love yourself and that’s what’s most important. And that’s what Disney has encapsulated with this film.Beauty and the Beast is in theaters nationwide.

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Supreme Court cheap Canada Goose to Take on Same Sex Marriage

UCLA Professor Mignon Moore (left) and her wife Elaine Harley were married in New York last May. They want their marriage to be recognized Canada Goose Jackets in Californ The battle over gay marriage is shifting from the voting booth to the nation’s highest court. The Supreme Court entered the contentious debate on Friday canada goose store when it agreed to review canada goose coats California's voter-approved ban on same-sex unions.The announcement comes as the national climate on marriage equality is rapidly changing. It was only one month ago that voters in Maryland, Maine and Canada Goose Parka Washington made the historic decision to approve marriage equality bills passed by their legislatures. This followed President Barack Obama’s endorsement of marriage equality last May.“I am Canada Goose Coats On Sale hopeful [this] decision will move California and this nation one step closer to truly standing for equal rights for all,” said Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-Oakland) in a statement to EBONY.com. “As a founding member of the Congressional LGBT Canada Goose Outlet Equality Caucus, I have repeatedly spoken against the effort to ban same-sex marriage.”The Proposition 8 challenge is Hollinsgworth v Perry. The canada goose coats on sale court will also buy canada goose jacket cheap hear a challenge to Section Three of the Defense of Marriage Act, often referred to as “DOMA.” Section Three prohibits federal recognition of legally married same-sex couples and denies more than Canada Goose online 1,000 benefits, such as canadian goose jacket Social Security, pension benefits and preferential tax treatment. Other sections define marriage as between “one man and woman” and allow states not to recognize legally valid same-sex marriages from other states. Those provisions are not being challenged—yet.The court will also canada goose deals review challenges to affirmative action in hearing education and a key section of the Voting Rights Act. Decisions in all of these cases are expected by June.“It’s going to be canada goose an important term,” says Darryl Moore, a member of the Berkeley City Council buy canada goose jacket and chairman of the National Black Justice Coalition, the nation’s leading civil canada goose clearance sale rights group for the Black lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.“My partner and I were able to get married before Prop Canada Goose Online 8 was passed, but [we] want everyone else in California to be able to have that opportunity,” said Moore. “At the same time, I was also hoping that they wouldn’t take it up and we could start marrying people in California next week.”Same-sex couples were allowed to marry in California during a brief window between June 2008 and November 2008. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld canada goose clearance Judge Vaughn Walker's landmark 2010 decision striking down Proposition 8 as unconstitutional. If the Supreme Court declined to hear the Prop 8 challenge, that decision would stand.But the court also “asked the parties to address whether supporters of Proposition 8 have standing, or the right to defend the measure,” because the State of California has refused to do so, reported the Los Angeles Times.“That has me concerned, given the conservative nature of the court,” says University of California – Los Angeles Associate Professor of Sociology Mignon Moore. “But now we have nine states that mandate same-sex marriage and hopefully the court will want to be on the right side of history.”Moore and her wife Elaine Harley have been together almost 11 years and were married last March in New York. “We want our marriage to be recognized like any other marriage,” says Harley. “Voters should not have that power over someone else’s civil rights.”Dr. Moore canada goose outlet has extensively researched Black same-sex couples and is the author of Invisible Families: Gay Identities, Relationships and Motherhood among Black Women. “We are in our communities and have always been in our communities. That’s also what these court cases are about—the visibility of families,” she says. “The South has about 55 percent of the nation’s Black population. These are also the places where Black same-sex households are mostly likely to raise children. These are also the states that they are canadagooseoutletcanada the least likely to have any legal protections.”Same-sex couples can now legally marry in canada goose replica Connecticut, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Vermont, Washington and the District of Columbia. The Supreme Court could merely uphold the appeals court ruling—or rule “broadly that Prop 8 and DOMA violate citizens’ fundamental rights, opening the door to same-sex marriage nationwide,” notes the canada goose black friday sale Los Canada Goose sale Angeles Times.“I’m a practical person but I also believe in the power of prayer,” said Dr. Moore. “Wouldn’t a [favorable] nationwide ruling be lovely?”Rod McCullom has written and produced for ABC News, NBC and FOX, and his writing has appeared in EBONY, The Advocate, OUT, The Los Angeles Times and many others. Read his award winning site Rod 2.0. Follow him on Twitter: @RodMcCullom.

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