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Comme Des Garcons: Not for the Faint of Heart
Natalie, I say you’re wrong! So sorry to disagree, but I think that Desiree Rogers rocks the Comme des Garcons… It looks absolutely beautiful on her, managing to be both cutting edge and glamorous at the same time. You’re right about one thing, though: Rei Kawakubo’s designs aren’t for everyone, but not because you’ve got…
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Whitney Was Saving All Her Love for Bobby
So now we know, thanks to Oprah: Crack remained wack, as far as Whitney Houston was concerned. But marijuana laced with cocaine—the better to “level things off”—now that was a different story. Whitney, by her own admission, made a lot of drug dealers very, very rich. But Bobby Brown was her biggest drug of all.…
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Bring Me That Old Time Reporting
Back in the ‘90s, when I was a cub reporter for the Chicago Tribune, I had the privilege of being hazed by my very first editor, Jim Gallagher. Gallagher was your serious Old School metro desk editor: Irish-American, New Yorker, chain smoker, a man possessing an exceedingly big voice and an exceedingly short fuse. “Wiltz!”…
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Dance Dance Revolution
ABOUT TERESA WILTZ I was born in Washington, D.C., and grew up in Staten Island, New York and Atlanta, Georgia. Yes, that made for a somewhat schizoid childhood; I quickly learned to flip back and forth between two accents. I like to think that sort of flexibility helped me in my journalism career. After graduating…
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Say Word the White House Likes Slam Poetry
It was a night that probably made Mos Def jealous, and one that most Americans didn’t see coming. On Tuesday, Barack and Michelle Obama hosted an evening of entertainment that featured poetry, music, and—you guessed it—spoken word. The event, held in the East Room of the White House, featured performances by James Earl Jones, Lin-Manuel…
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Putting It Out There, Alllll Out There
Sigh. Round Three/Four/or is it Five? in the Chrihanna saga: Last night, Kanye released a spanking new Rihanna—featuring Lady GaGA!—single on his website. For free. Yes, I think it’s safe to call it a dis track, considering that it’s called “Silly Boy” and the lyrics go something like this: But you`re not ok, tellin’ me…
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Right Flu, Wrong Swine
Let me be among the first to say that the move by some to rename ‘swine flu’ to ‘Mexican flu’ is offensive on its face and in its roots. It does everything to fuel unfounded fears, and it politicizes a serious health crisis in a thinly veiled effort to stoke hatred toward an already-vulnerable group.…
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Fake Loan Fixes Line the Path from Bad to Worse
The mortgage industry has been crowing for a couple of years now about its good faith efforts to fix the failed loans that it shouldn’t have made in the first place. The point, of course, has been to avoid any government mandate on modifications—a goal they’ve thus far accomplished. But the proof is in the…
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FBI Probes Anti-Black Vigilante Killings
Score one for investigative journalism. Back in December, THE ROOT spoke with reporter A.C. Thomspon about his exhaustive piece, published in THE NATION and ProPublica, on the vigilante murders of black New Orleans residents in the wake of Katrina. Thompson’s reporting found, among other things, disturbing signs that local police at least sanctioned, if not…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
