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I'm Getting Married In 10 Days. And I'm Fine With That.
I keep waiting for it to happen. Since maybe May, (approximately) 40% of the conversations I’ve had with everyone from my friends and family to my (new) barber and my fiancee’s co-workers have included a mention about my upcoming wedding. And, since June, 50% of those convos contain a variant of the following question: “So…are you…
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How Seinfeld Became My Dating Litmus Test
It was 2006. Her name was Ashley. We met at one of those “young professional” mixers people only attend to meet attractive young professionals of the opposite sex. She was an attractive young professional of the opposite sex. We exchanged business cards and made plans to “connect” in the near future. The connection ended up…
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What Solange Would Have Said About The Fight If She Were One Of Your Cousins
Of course, anyone with any knowledge of how the Knowles/Carter cult handles things knew Solange’s public non-response would likely be her official public response to the chicken fight seen ’round the internet. And, admittedly, this is how a family is supposed to handle family business. Leave the passive-aggressive Facebook posts about family to your cousins.…
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Relax, Everyone. White Rappers Aren't Taking Over
I returned home this weekend after spending the previous week on a cruise ship. Which means the last 48 or so hours have been spent reacclimating to real life and attempting to rid myself of the remnants of cruise culture. I have to keep reminding myself that I won’t be eating 17 full meals a…
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VSB Presents: The #Blackestname In America Tournament, The Sweet 16 (Pt. 1)
We started at the bottom, and now we’re here. And by “we started at the bottom, and now we’re here” I mean “we started with 64 of the loveliest examples of Blackness nirvana, and now we’re down to 16.“ Yup. 16. These are the 16 Blackest names in America. Which is an honor in its…
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How To Be Really Good At Being A Down-Low Brotha
Remember back in 2004? When gay Black men pretending to be straight became America’s boogeymen, getting blamed for everything from H.I.V. rates to your half-empty bottle of juice in the office fridge? (“Man. Damn DL brothas must’ve drank my apple juice again. Fuck J.L.King!”) And remember how everyone — well, everyone except Tyler Perry —…
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Three Quick Thoughts About Robin Thicke's "Get Her Back"
1. I don’t know how sincere Robin Thicke’s begging happens to be. None of us do, actually. Not even Paula Patton. But, I do know, though, that by crafting this album, he makes us all skeptics. Perhaps I’m just a natural skeptic. I still don’t believe it’s not butter. But, if someone is sincerely trying to…
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"New Black" Is The New Black
This level of awareness isn’t inherently negative. The process of thinking about Blackness doesn’t make you love it any less. Sometimes, it makes you love it more. And, as The Blackest Names tournament proves, it can be fun. But, an existence in and navigation of a place where you’re perpetually forced to examine how your…
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Entire Internet Surprised Women Like An Attractive Man
It’s one of the 10 most ratchet things I’ve seen this year. And six of those 10 are twerk videos. All taking place in Waffle House bathrooms, someone’s grandmom’s kitchens, and Waffle House parking lots. And all featuring young women with as many tattoos as criminal citations. And I loved every second of them. I…
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VSB Presents: The #Blackestname In America Tournament, Round 2, Day 1
10 observations from the last few days (from Twitter): 1. Nothing has ever been or will ever be Blacker than the email thread where we nominated names. That was prime Blackness. Blackness nirvana. 2. The athletes’ bracket was the hardest to narrow down. Could have had an entire bracket just for SEC football players at…
