Living IncogNegro

Hidden Figures, Black Nerds & the Power of Community: Why These Stories Still MatterIt's been a while since I looked at the individual stories of the principal characters and the real people, who they were, but I love that Hidden Figures has brought attention to them and continues to, right? I still see things pop up and one of the things that I love about it the most is that it's one of these stories where you see people, these black women, who are clearly underappreciated, soaring despite everything and having to work twice as hard and it's not just themselves but it can be their community as well and showing what the power of community can do too and it's a funny thing with religion these days, you know, who is a part of it, who's not, but I do love the W. Kamau Bell's thing about it's such a white thing to be an atheist, right? No, I'm good. I don't need community. I don't need support. I don't need any spiritual boosters.But yeah, seeing how all of that comes together to sustain these women through things that would make most people quit right away, right? Especially because they're seeing the bigger picture, the bigger impact, and they're recognizing and feeling their own worth too. I think that's another exciting thing about the film that everybody can relate to, right? What is it when you feel your worth and you keep fighting to have that recognized properly, not just, hey, look at me, but recognized properly. And yeah, black scientists. It's just cool. Can I tell you how much I love black nerds and how excited I am that there are more and more events for black nerds.Even things that I'm not interested in, I just love that there has been a safe space created, and it's taken a lot of time. And a lot of my favorite friends happen to be black nerds, and it just feels so free and understood in this environment.And that's something that I'm seeking to do with Living IncogNegro.Just create safe spaces. Who knows? Maybe we'll have national events one day. That'd be cool.

I have a favorite summer cocktail, and that cocktail is the Aperol Spritz.It's Aperol liqueur and Prosecco with a dash of soda water, usually served with a wedge of orange,and it's always served in this sort of pear-shaped glass, and so the bottom part of it sort of magnifies whatever light is traveling through it, and the color of it, it's like a sunset, but a sunset when it's warm, like in the summerSo you see a beach full of people, I'm thinking about the beach in the Netherlands or when I was in Italy, you just see all these people with Aperol Spritzes that seem to be capturing the light, capturing the essence of the moment, and it's delicious.Except you have to be careful. Sort of like a Long Island iced tea, it doesn't hit you hard, but it'll hit you. I love those.As far as what to eat with it, you can go savory, you can go sweet, you can do the olives or charcuterie, anything. It goes with everything.I’m Gin Hammond and I’m Living IncogNegro. I’m glad you’re here and we’re on this journey together. Learn more at LivingIncogNegro.com https://www.tiktok.com/@livingincognegromhttps://www.instagram.com/livingincognegromoviehttps://shows.acast.com/living-incognegro-gin-hammond

The benefits of being white-skinned and speaking with what's called a Gen m accent, which is another way of saying a non-regional standardized way of speaking.It couldn't be more clear and it just seems to be getting more palpable day by day in the most awful way. You know, I'm thinking about loved ones getting snatched away, the possibility, the very real possibility of that happening. Both, family members and one person who is almost going to be a family member, as well as friends, as well as, gosh, I've been trying to help somebody, put it to you this way, maybe I've been trying to help somebody from a non-sanctioned country, or should I say a sanctioned country, who is an artist, a student, trying to see if there's any way that she can come here, and now I'm not advising her the same way I was before.And we're looking at maybe some other places because despite her disappointment, what if she came here and ended up at Guantanamo, you know? It's terrifying. And trying to balance so many things, right? Trying to balance the fight and the flight. So, I want to continue to retain my own humanity and have compassion for the people who would like to see me dead and people that I'm kind of afraid of, but also it's a war.So, it's the same thing.I want to do what I can here, but I'm also looking at history and thinking about situations where people did leave their country for a time. And also instances where people tried to.There was a ship that left Germany during World War II. It was filled with mostly middle-class Jewish people or just other people who the Nazis didn't like. So, that list is long.Kind of like some other lists we're getting more and more acquainted with here in 2025.And there were no ports, including any U.S. ports, that would let this ship dock. So, the ship with all these people, with their families and their hopes and their belongings and their abilities and skills. – Because that was an instance of brain drain. And that's happening in this country – The ship got turned around and sent back to Germany. And you can imagine what happened to the people who were on the ship, right? So many things going through the brain at the same time. It's going to start with loved ones, not wanting them to get snatched off the street or have theirhomes broken into. Yeah, it's a lot.I’m Gin Hammond and I’m Living IncogNegro. I’m glad you’re here and we’re on this journey together. Learn more at LivingIncogNegro.com https://www.tiktok.com/@livingincognegromhttps://www.instagram.com/livingincognegromoviehttps://shows.acast.com/living-incognegro-gin-hammond

If I could be in a movie with just other mixed actors, that'd be amazing.So it doesn't even matter. I think, what if we all got together? That's still my big question. Like, would a rift form in the vortex or would something crazy happen?That's almost the way it feels to me, at the idea of getting together with a whole bunch of mixed people.So, gosh, I mean, if I was going to say somebody in particular, why don't we go back to Keanu? I don't know. There's just so many people I admire. As a writer, there are two people who come to mind.One is Deb Kahn. We graduated from the ART together, the American Repertory Theatre for Advanced Theatre Training at Harvard University slash Moscow Art Theatre School. And she went on to write for the West Wing, Grey's Anatomy, I think it's called The Diplomat, all these things.And it's funny, when things started to take off for her, I didn't know what to do. My sense of self wasn't nearly what it is now. And I just got sort of too nervous to hang out with her, even though she was my friend.It was very silly. Funny side story, at the showcase for the ART, we did our little scenes and everything. And there were people talking to the actors and somebody talked to somebody else.And that person wanted to speak to the mixed person. And then that person was brought over to me. And the person was just befuddled, because they actually wanted to speak to Deb, who's Sephardic Jewish.And they thought that she was mixed. So it was just kind of a funny mix up happening there. Also, there's this Harvard Writers Group.I was taking some classes because you never stop taking classes. And there's a young Harvard writer named Monique Hall. And what she wrote captured me.So funny, so heartfelt, all of those things. And I'm already a fan. I know that she is going to go places.So I would want to write with this absolute hardcore veteran, and this shining newbie and just see what we could come up with.

There's a lot of different stars I'd like to work with and when it comes to the movie, it's use the right tool for the job situation.Right when you're casting somebody, you're like, "I love this actor, but this is the person who fits the best for whatever reason." But two people come to mind. I don't know if he was ever in any movies. He must have been. Ron Cephas Jones, may he rest in peace. He played William on This Is Us. I think he and his daughter got an Emmy the same year, which had never happened before in the history of the Emmys.But he and I did a show called Noonday Sun together, which was about a person who was passing. And I was nervous around him. I had an actor crush on him because it's one of these situations where, and he couldn't have been kinder, but you know the real deal when you see it.This person is not just an artist, he's an Artiste. E at the end, capital A. And he couldn't be any other thing if he tried.To see how he was always so pure about the work, it inspired and intimidated me at the time. But I wanted to grow up and be like him.Another person I adore is Keanu Reeves, one of my mixed idols. He's just such a cool person. So I love him, and I'll see him in anything.

Other cultural shifts that I'm seeing are how the government is making it harder and harder for artists to do their jobs, right, especially if our work is collaborative.And the less we're in touch with each other, the more our ability to express things and express them well and profoundly and in a unified way, the more that's weakened, you know. So many people, we have our echo chambers, right? But instead of shifting the narrative, we need to look at the framework, the world in which the narrative is happening, right? And I feel like one difficulty that a lot of artists and a lot of, you know, political artists too especially have is in finding where are these places where it's worth it to give a little for the greater good. I am a person who believes in the greater good.I don't associate the word compromise only with negativity, right? The first time I ever came across somebody who thought the word compromise was a negative thing, it took me a while. I always thought it was a positive thing, it's the way, you know, we find a way. But yeah, it's a lot of, I was talking with my agent, a lot of actors seem to be regarding acting or treating it more as a hobby because they're juggling so many other survival jobs.And what does that do? That impairs their work. I mean, you know, there's commercial stuff, but there's also other things, right? So it's interesting to see the direct impact that what's going on now in our country is having. That said, these things can be like a grit in an oyster shell, right? There's so many Soviet artists, you know, I studied in Russia for a bit.There's so many artists who, once the wall fell and perestroika started to take place and all of that, they're like, I don't know what to write about anymore. There's a great play at Seattle Rep. Mother Russia, where there was a singing star because she was singing against the government and oppression and the regime.And then come perestroika, she's like, now I'm just a school teacher because all this stuff that I was singing about is moot. So it could be one of these never waste a good crisis moments, but we just have to get our brains there faster, I think, for our own survival.

So it’s summertime and things happen.One of the main things that happens is humidity. If you have curly hair, I would say, give into it. You know, we spend so much time, money trying to fight what is natural during the summertime.Especially if it's hair, you can find something where you can let your hair be your hair and tell other people just to back off if they're going to give you a hassle about it, right? But if you want some more options, then I do love the Ouidad product. Climate control, anti-humidity. Something that a lot of us with what I call ‘potential melanin’ struggle with is that we can change color and get all kinds of different spots real fast.Now, part of me loves that. I wish we all had like stripes and spots and stuff. I would like to look like a jaguar.But, you know, things come and go and whatever. But for you youngins out there, note all the freckles and sunspots and things that usually go away during the winter and come back. After a while, they stick around, especially on your chest.So, if that is not something that you want, use that sunscreen, you know, 50, 70 + sunscreen. There are UV protection shirts out there, especially if you like to go swimming in lakes or in the ocean. It's so much better for the environment than putting on sunscreen.And if you got the spots and you wear stripes and you want your tiger to change its stripes and even out, there is a thing called Skin Better, Even Tone that slows down the spots and can even them out with a lot of patience and applications.It's spendy, but it does actually work. I know with my face, too. I always have to wear glasses when I'm driving and the places where the glasses come in contact with my nose, I get two spots right here and here.If I rub it there, then the spots go away. But I get a cluster of dark spots. Aquaphor, even Vaseline goes a long way.Just slather it on before you go to sleep. It's non-commodogenic, it doesn't clog your pores and you will wake up with softer skin. And that's a lovely thing, right?

So I've seen two trailers for Sinners and I've heard some buzz and from what I know about it, A: I'm terrified.And that's partly because it's like the same way I was extra terrified way back in the day with the Omen movies, Damien, Omen 1 and 2 and things like that.I think that has something to do with my quasi-Catholic cultural upbringing. They get you scared from a real young age, but of all of that kind of stuff.But also because we're talking about summoning the spirits, right? It's like how you don't say “The Scottish Play” in a theater. There's something extra scary about horror movies that relate to that for me. But also, even though I don't usually go see horror movies, I think I'm going to see it because of all the cultural stuff going on.It reminds me of the writer Nalo Hopkinson. I did an audio book of hers years ago called The New Moon's Arms. She's somebody who has done a masterful job of interweaving the supernatural with real terrors, especially as they relate to being Black.A lot of her writing has to do with the cultural milieu that Sinners happens in. All of that crossroads lore and all of the real terror of being a Black person in different areas of the world. So there's going to be a lot of lamaze breathing as I watch the movie.I’m Gin Hammond and I’m Living IncogNegro. I’m glad you’re here and we’re on this journey together. Learn more at LivingIncogNegro.com https://www.tiktok.com/@livingincognegromhttps://www.instagram.com/livingincognegromoviehttps://shows.acast.com/living-incognegro-gin-hammondSinners is this new horror movie that dropped in 2025, and it’s already getting a ton of buzz. It’s written and directed by Ryan Coogler — you probably know him from Black Panther and Creed. The story is set in 1930s Mississippi and centers on these twin brothers, Smoke and Stack Moore (both played by Michael B. Jordan, by the way—yes, he plays both roles), who come back home to open a juke joint for the Black community.But of course, it’s not just a feel-good story. Things get dark fast when a vampire named Remmick shows up and starts messing with their world. The movie blends horror with real social issues—especially racism and cultural identity—which makes it hit way deeper than your average scary movie.The cast is WOW too. You’ve got: Michael B. Jordan (again, doing double duty), Hailee Steinfeld,Delroy Lindo, Wunmi Mosaku, Jayme Lawson, and Jack O’Connell as the creepy vampire guy.It’s got this eerie, supernatural vibe but also feels grounded in real, historical trauma—kind of like what Jordan Peele does, but with a Southern Gothic twist.Oh, and the music is by Ludwig Göransson (same guy from Black Panther), so the soundtrack goes hard too.People are saying it’s scary and smart, and it already made like $350 million globally. So yeah, it’s a big hit.

The Summer that Changed me, and Brought Me Closer to the Truth, as remembered by Gin Hammond So when I was a kid, my family would go to the Del Mar Fair.There was this timeshare and we'd hang out there and we would also go to a place called La Costa. I remember there was a spot under a fence my brother and I would shimmy through (and we'd just be running around the fair all day, just the two of us.It was the 1970s, so my parents were like, whatever, we think they're over there. Let's go to the races.I remember that that's what comes to mind right away with La Costa. I remember the pinball machines. They were always playing Blondie and My Sharona and all of that.But I remember getting accosted in La Costa by the other kids Because gangs of kids just find gangs of other kids. All week long they would say (to me and my brother) you two aren't related (because I’m lighter-skinned and he’s darker-skinned). They just insisted.My brother and I would go back to our parents and ask ‘We're related, right?’ And they're like, yes, you're related. And we'd come back. Our parents say that we're related.The whole rigmarole would start all over again, but that's not the only place where that would happen. But that was definitely a place where we were reminded of our uniqueness. I’m Gin Hammond and I’m Living IncogNegro. I’m glad you’re here and we’re on this journey together. Learn more at LivingIncogNegro.com https://www.tiktok.com/@livingincognegromhttps://www.instagram.com/livingincognegromoviehttps://shows.acast.com/living-incognegro-gin-hammond