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My 8-Year-Old’s Tuition Is More Expensive Than a Year at Most Colleges. We Can’t Afford It. But We Still Pay It
I can’t bring myself to watch any show that features Suze Orman, the financial guru. Why? Orman often does a segment where people tell her about something they want to buy, and she asks questions about their finances and decides if they can afford it. So, for example, someone may call in and say they…
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My 8-Year-Old Knows Everything About Sex and Procreation. Is She Too Young for That Information?
Two years ago, when Emmy was 6, she spent the day with her aunt and cousin. When I came to pick her up, she had her nose deep in a book. Emmy has always loved to read, and I can’t count how many times she’s discovered a book at a friend’s house that she then…
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Remembering When ’90s Hip-Hop Beefs Turned Fatal
In 1994, Tupac Shakur was famously shot several times while entering New York City’s Quad Recording Studios. While he would survive that shooting and wouldn’t be killed until two years later, the Quad Studios shooting ratcheted up the so-called East Coast vs. West Coast rap wars of the ’90s. By the time Tupac had recovered,…
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People Say My Daughter Is ‘Too Grown.’ I Think That Idea Is Detrimental to Black Girls—and Boys
“Are those your earrings Emmy is wearing?” I ran into a neighbor recently while running errands with my daughter Emmy. As we were chatting, she did a double take at Emmy’s medium-sized hoop earrings. “No,” I said, steeling myself for yet another scolding about my parenting choices. “Those are Emmy’s earrings.” “Oh, she’s grown,” my…
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That Moment We Realized That Coolio Was Serious About Those Braids
I have to admit, I rolled my eyes when I discovered that this week was the anniversary of Coolio’s sophomore album, Gangsta’s Paradise. Coolio? With the crazy braids? (Unlike most old-school trends, Coolio’s braids looked (almost) as ridiculous then as they do now). From what I could remember, Coolio was just that rapper with that…
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My 8-Year-Old Decides What She Will Eat—and I Think That’s the Best Way to Go
One evening, when I was 7 years old, my mother served peas for dinner. I hated peas with a passion. I ate everything else on my plate and then stared at the peas for a good 20 minutes. My mom made it clear that eating the peas was nonnegotiable. I slipped a few onto my…
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That Time We First Discovered Ladies Love Cool James
Along with rappers-turned-actors like Will “Formerly Known as the Fresh Prince” Smith, LL Cool J helped lay the blueprint for how to transition from hip-hop to film and television. Thirty years before he was solving crimes on NCIS: Los Angeles and hosting award shows like the Grammys, LL Cool J was a 17-year-old with a gold-certified album.…
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Why My 8-Year-Old Calls Adults by Their First Name
Two years ago, on the first day of school, my daughter Emmy came home talking nonstop about “Allie.” Allie was so fun! Allie was so cool! Allie was so awesome! I told her that perhaps we could set up a playdate with “Allie” if it was OK with her parents. Emmy looked at me quizzically.…
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Cheat Sheet: Everything You Need to Know About … New Edition’s All for Love
Just because you’re a ’90s baby doesn’t mean you shouldn’t brush up on your pop-culture history. The Root is here for you. In a new weekly feature called Cheat Sheet: Everything You Need to Know About, The Root will celebrate the anniversary of a major event in pop culture and make sure you know why…
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My Religious Parents Never Let Me Celebrate Halloween, but Things Are Different for My Kid
Never, not once, did I ever celebrate Halloween as a kid. I never dressed up in costume or went trick-or-treating. On Halloween, I stayed on the porch, handing out candy to my friends in the neighborhood as they went from door-to-door. My parents were in the Nation of Islam when I was born. And although…
