Inner-city girl, inner-city school, talented teacher. You may think you’ve seen this story before. You may think you’ve heard this story before. You haven’t. As Toni Morrison once noted, she wrote the The Bluest Eye to give voice to the interior lives of black girls. The eponymous subject of Precious: Based On the Novel by…

The economy is growing but jobs aren’t? Awesome. From the AP: The unemployment rate has hit double digits for the first time since 1983 – and is likely to go higher. The 10.2 percent jobless rate for October shows how weak the economy remains even though it is growing. Rising unemployment also could threaten the…

A valuable resource at Howard University may see its doors closed due to budget and structural setbacks. The Moorland-Spingarn Research Center may be shut down after 95 years. From Howard University’s The Hilltop: MSRC is recognized as one of the world’s largest and most comprehensive repositories for the documentation of the cultural history of people…

The latest from The Washington Post: The Arlington-born Army psychiatrist suspected of killing 13 people and wounding 30 others in a shooting rampage on a military base remains hospitalized and on a ventilator, officials said Friday morning. … The attack erupted shortly after lunchtime on the sprawling complex northeast of Austin that has absorbed more…

Barack Obama wants kids to be less dumb. From NPR’s Morning Edition The Obama administration will soon be awarding billions of dollars in education grants to help local school districts raise the bar on student achievement. In order to qualify for the money, schools may have to grade not only students, but also teachers. Speaking…

Italy went squad body on the preeminent squad bodiers. In a historic case, an Italian judge has convicted a CIA base chief, an Air Force colonel and 21 American CIA operatives with the kidnapping and rendition of a muslim cleric in 2003. Judge Oscar Magi handed an eight-year sentence to Robert Seldon Lady, a former…

First Lady Michelle Obama is not playing when it comes to nutrition and childhood obesity. And now she’s taking her agenda to ‘Iron Chef’. Or rather, ‘Iron Chef’ is coming to the White House garden. From The New York Times: On the episode, which will open the show’s new season Jan. 3 on the Food…

Journalsticks is reporting that after relaunching their Website last week into a more blog-like look, Essence magazine laid off its Web team today citing budgetary reasons.  An insider told J’sticks: “This is normal practice. Companies relaunch with new [site] schemes that allow them to do more with less, then they cut staff.” Gawker reported that there were…

RiRi is talking Breezy for the first time. From ABC: “The more in love we became, the more dangerous we became for each other,” she told ABC News’ Diane Sawyer in an exclusive interview set to air on “Good Morning America” at 7am ET Thursday, Nov. 5. Their full interview will air on “20/20” at…