Prince Committed Suicide

Prince Committed Suicide

By Cassandra George Sturges

Just a week or so prior to hearing of the news of Prince’s escape from his Earth suit, I told my students that unlike, Tupac Shakur, John Lennon, Jimi Hendrix, Michael Jackson, and Kurt Cobain—Prince was  not going to be an iconic legend because he was going to live to be an old man. I made jokes using an old man voice about how Prince would be singing “Little Red Corvette” with a cane barely shuffling across the stage to an audience who barely knew who he was.

I told my students that legends die young, in order to become immortal. For example, I always thought Elizabeth Taylor was much more beautiful than Marilyn Monroe was. However, Elizabeth Taylor’s iconic beauty faded with age and by the time she died we had forgotten about how stunningly gorgeous she was. Marilyn Monroe died in her prime and time captured the essence of her beauty and made her immortal. You can see pictures of her on t-shirts, bags, and posters at most department stores as if time stood still.

I wonder if Prince’s soul overheard me making jokes about him living  to be an old and forgotten super star, and he said “F—k you Cassandra. I am seizing my eternal space in time alongside the other irreplaceable iconic legends.”

I am writing this for me, so this may get a little long. So if you need to stop reading, please do so with grace. I need to tell this story.

When people die, society tells us how we are supposed to feel. Employers only pay for time off for deaths in your immediate family. God forbid you are devastated by the loss of anyone else. When someone dies, who is not a part of our immediate family—(who we are expected to and allowed to grieve over)—we have to tell stories to establish with others how much that person meant to us—otherwise people think we are faking sadness or seeking unwarranted sympathy from others.

So this is my scale of grieving: Sniffles, Cold, Flu, and Pneumonia. I have a cold. I am able to function. I am not missing sleep—but I am deeply sad—like an overcast day, a slight headache, or period cramps. I never met Prince. We have never texted. But, I love him. Always will.

Prince’s music is the soundtrack to the first quarter of my life. No body played Prince like the Detroit D-Jay the Electrifying Mo-Jo. Mo-Jo would tell his listeners to hang on and tie a knot when things got tough because he would say: “Remember ain’t  Nobody Bad Like you.” Just typing this gives me chills.

I first fell in love with Prince while listening to, “I Wanna be Your Lover.” Although I think Prince was an attractive man, I never thought of him in a romantic or erotic way. Prince exuded authenticity, and raw, unapologetic, artistic self-expression—that clearly stated—“I don’t care what you think of me. I am who I am. Love it or leave it.”

In the mid 1980’s, when it was announced on the news that Prince was coming to Detroit, my brother and I immediately left to go stand in line at the Masonic Temple downtown Detroit to purchase tickets to see his concert three nights in a row. When we got there, people were already lined up around midnight and the ticket office did not open until 8 or 9 AM in the morning. 

My brother and I slept on the ground with other Prince fans overnight on the cement waiting to get tickets. We got tickets. The first night when I first saw Prince, I nearly fainted. His stage performance astounded me. He was worth sleeping on the ground and standing in the long line to see him in concert. There is no other entertainer whom I have felt the least bit inspired-- to go to this length to see in concert.

While struggling to accept Prince’s death, of course, I am listening to his song, “Let’s Go Crazy” and I realize that Prince committed suicide.

In his lyrics he states:

"So when you call up that shrink in Beverly Hills
You know the one, Dr. Everything'll Be Alright

Instead of asking him how much of your time is left
Ask him how much of your mind, baby

'Cause in this life
Things are much harder than in the after world

In this life
You're on your own

 And if the elevator tries to bring you down
Go crazy, punch a higher floor."

Who dies in an elevator? Prince punched a higher floor—H for heaven. I believe that his Earth suit had completed its mission. He did what he came to earth to do. He gave his all and then some more.

Of course, I wish Prince was still here on Earth with me—but I understand that it was his time to go-- because Prince is an Iconic Legend who was destined to shine among the Stars.

DIY How to Sew a Lace Bra for Your Doll Tutorial

Greetings wonderful viewers, In this article, I am going to give you a free pattern for a fun, easy, DIY craft tutorial on how to sew a beautiful lace bra for your doll.

But first I am going to tell you a story before we get started.

I always wanted big breasts like all of the women in my family. The breasts goddesses blessed my mother and my maternal and paternal grandmothers. I envied them. 

I didn’t realize that there are advantages for having small breasts. I wore elegant evening gowns with spaghetti straps, skimpy bikini tops and bottoms, and tube tops. I would look at my small pointy, breasts and beg them to grow.

While pregnant with my son, my breasts became enormous. With my second pregnancy, they grew even bigger. After giving birth to my children, my breasts never shrank down to their pre-pregnancy size.

All of my cute bikini, tank, and tube tops could no longer fit. I was mortified. My new enlarged breasts were sweaty, heavy and cumbersome. I can’t wear business blouses or any of the cute summer clothes I use to wear prior to having my children.

The lesson that I am learning the most about life is that you should always appreciate and find value in what you have. The older I get, the more I realize that my beauty is not the size or shape of my body --it’s the confidence I exude by focusing my attention on complimenting and appreciating others. People love you because of how you make them feel about themselves. But you can’t give anyone a quality that you don’t own for yourself.

It’s almost like… the more I love and accept myself for who I am, the way I am, the more I am able to not only be an example of self-love—but extend this love to others by openly complimenting and recognizing the beauty in others.

If I had known that one day my little pointy breasts were going to change forever—I would have appreciated them more. I wouldn’t have beg than to be anything other than the size they were—because they were perfect—but I didn’t know it at the time.

I learned my lesson. I love my triple Ds because this is a part of my female human journey. I don’t wish they were smaller. They nursed my daughter. I love them.

 

 The first thing you want to do is cut out 4 rounded triangles.

  Pin each of the 2 halves together.

 

•Sew your sides together. Good side to good side.

•Then hem around the edges for a more polished look.

  This is what your 2 halves should look like when you have finished sewing.

 

  Now measure your lace to cover the inside edges of your bra, and around your doll’s shoulder to the middle of her back.

 

 Carefully pin the lace in place. I use a simple single stitch. Lace is delicate and stays in place easily.

 

 I like to sew the bottom edges together in the middle.

 

  Measure the lace to sew on at the bottom of the bra to fit your doll.

 

  This is what your lace bra will look like on the inside.

 

  Attach a hook, Velcro, or button at the end of the lace to hold the ends together.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DIY How to Sew Doll Panties Tutorial

In this tutorial, I will show you how to sew panties for your doll. When I was growing up we called these  "granny panties" because they are loose fitting and cover up most of a woman's bottom unlike bikinis, thongs, g-strings, and hipsters.

As I got older we called them "period panties" because you could comfortably handle your lady business.


When I was younger I would not be caught dead in a pair of panties like this. But now that I am over fifty, I love them because they are really comfortable and they cover the lower half of my stomach.

 

Remember: 

•Rules are made to be broken.

•All Mistakes are fun because they give you an opportunity to grow and find fun, innovative, and interesting ways to solve problems and perceived errors.

•And this is why God made erasers, lace, and ribbons.

 

 

 

 

•Doll pattern

•Fabric

•Fabric tracing pencil

•Measuring Tape

•Elastic

•Scissors

•Sewing machine

•Thread

•E600 Glue

•Lace (optional)

•Bows (Decorations are optional)  

Patience 50 %

Imagination 50 %

 Measure  Doll Hips
 

Greetings Wonderful Viewer, the first thing you want to do is measure your doll.

Measure across the widest part of her hips to get your width.

 

 

 

 Measure from navel to lower back

Next measure from the bottom of her stomach—take the  measuring tape between her legs all the way back to the bottom of her back.

This is how long your panties need to be.

 

 Draw Panty Pattern

 

Panties are basically the shape of an hour glass.

Look at my pattern for doll panties and draw your own based on your doll measurements.

 Trace pattern onto fabric and cut it out.

 

•To be perfectly honest with you I like to eyeball my size. If you are like me, find an old piece of fabric that you don’t need to eyeball your size.

•This way you won’t make a mistake using fabric that you need.

  Stretch Elastic around the Edges

 

•Now that you have your hourglass shape, you are going to attach the elastic around the leg.

•Leave approximately an inch of elastic at the end of fabric.

•Fold the elastic around the rim.  Stick one pin in at the end to secure the elastic.

 

 Set your sewing Machine to Zig Zag stitch

 

 

•Place the foot down on the elastic (say a prayer my child).

• Gently pull the elastic as tight as you can for a few inches at a time while sewing with the zig zag stitch until you are done.

 

 

•When you pull it nice and tight, the edges will curl.

•Go back and finish the other end with the pin.

 

 Sew on your Lace

•If you want to add lace to the edges of the panties, simply line it up over the elastic – (I use a simple straight stitch for this, gently pull the edges and sew on the lace.)

 

 

•Once you are finished sewing the elastic on the edges,

•Fold the fabric good-side to good-side (some  people call it right-side to right-side. Just remember this simply means the fabric side that you want to be seen when you are finished.)

•Sew one of the sides to together.

 

•Now you can focus on the waist line of the panties.

•Use the same method you used to sew around the legs of the panties to add elastic.

 

 

•The tighter you pull, the stretcher it will be.

•Double check the waist of the panties to make sure they can slide up pass your doll’s hips.

 

Put panties on doll first before attaching flowers or ribbons for symmetry.

Then glue or sew on flower to make sure that it is in the perfect spot.