The Lena Horne Legacy Earrings

‘My identity is very clear to me now. I am a black woman, I’m not alone, I’m free. I no longer have to be a credit, I don’t have to be a symbol to anybody, I don’t have to be a first to anybody. I don’t have to be an imitation of a white woman that Hollywood sort of hoped I’d become. I’m me, and I’m like nobody else.’
(Lena Horne)





'I 'm me, and I'm like nobody else'.
I felt I had to make this into a piece of jewelry, so this pair of earrings was the result. And what better thing to accompany this post, than 'It's not easy being green', the lyrics of the song written by Joe Raposo for Sesame Street, where Lena Horne sings with Kermit the Frog:

It's not easy being green
Having to live each day the color of the leaves
When I think it would be so much nicer being red, or yellow or gold
Or something much more colorful like that

No, it's not so easy being green
It seems you blend in with so many other ordinary things
And people? They tend to pass you over 'cause you're
Not standing out like flashy sparkles in the water
Or like stars in the sky

But green is the color of Spring
And green can be cool and friendly-like
And green can be big like an ocean, or important
Like a river, or tall like a tree

But, when green is all there is to be
It could make you wonder why; oh! Why wonder?
I 'm green and it 'll do fine, it's beautiful
And I think it's what I want to be