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Radical, Socialist, Feminist and Black: Meet Newly Elected Pennsylvania State Rep. Summer Lee
I was introduced to Summer Lee last year by a mutual friend. We met for drinks in the lobby of the Ace Hotel, and she shared her background (Howard University Law grad who recently moved back to the Pittsburgh area), the work she was currently doing to oust racist members of the Woodland Hills School…
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The Best Way to Battle Internet Trolls Is to Treat Them Like Ice Cubes Dropped in the Dirt
“I dropped it, Daddy! I dropped it!” my daughter exclaimed while sitting on my lap, as the ice cube she held in the palm of her hand slipped from her grasp and crashed on the cement stoop outside our house. Determined to retrieve the wayward cube, she crawled off of me, stood over the ice…
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Did Chris Paul Elbow Kevin Durant in the Butthole Last Night?
Below, because I know you’re curious, are the five worst places to be elbowed during a basketball game (in reverse order): 5. armpit (trust me) 4. nose 3. eye Tie: 2. nuts/stomach/ribs 1. butthole (presumably) Anyway, yes. Chris Paul definitely elbowed Kevin Durant in the butthole. Perhaps the first midgame butthole elbow I’ve ever seen.…
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I Took a Knee for the Anthem Before an Alumni Basketball Game … but I Just Felt Silly
I am currently still recovering from the alumni basketball game I played in last weekend, a process that, considering how my back and knee(s) and throat and chest and spleen feel right now, will likely last until June (of 2019). I am hydrating frequently; I am taking longer-than-usual showers; I’ve developed an intimate relationship with…
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‘Calling the Police’ Is White People’s AppleCare for Black People
You’d think learning that Sarah Braasch—the woman who called the police on Yale graduate student Lolade Siyonbola for #NappingWhileBlack—is a philosophy Ph.D. candidate who’s studied gender and law would add something to this story. A surprise, perhaps, that a person who has undoubtedly encountered lessons on unconscious bias and systemic oppression would be so transparently…
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If You’re Still Mad That People Didn’t Want You in High School, I Get It, but Please (for Your Own Sake) Get Over It
If you happened to be a teenager in 1996, and if you were a teenager who also happened to be black, there is a moderate to strong likelihood that you have a soft spot in your heart for the Ghost Town DJs. If this describes you and you heard Virgo Williams’ 18-word-long a cappella soothe…
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A List of the Fucks I Give About the Snitch-Ass Police Dogs That’ll Be Unemployed if Marijuana Is Legalized
1. Zero fucks 2. Nil fucks 3. Nan fucks 4. Zot fucks 5. Zip fucks 6. Nada fucks 7. Void fucks 8. Zilch fucks 9. Squat fucks 10. A negative fuck 11. A fuck that exists on an event horizon, which means it doesn’t really exist, at least not with the properties that we’ve come…
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The Dumbest (and Most Common) Argument for Why Michael Jordan, Not LeBron James, Is the Greatest Basketball Player Ever
“Don’t be a prisoner of the moment!” said the person on the internet, who is 36 years old, about the reaction to LeBron James’ theatrics against the Toronto Raptors on Saturday. And against the Raptors the game before that. And against the Raptors the game before that. And against the Indiana Pacers the series before…
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Making Donald Glover the ‘Anti-Kanye’ Is Gross and Wrong and Will Backfire, so Please Don’t
I spent Saturday evening in a room full of black people, celebrating the birthday of a friend and the genius possessed by two people who were not in that room: LeBron James and Donald Glover. The first part of our night was devoted to the second half of the Cleveland Cavaliers game, and as we…
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How to Speak in Front of Large Groups of People When You’re an Introvert and It Terrifies You
It’s been nine (!!!) years now since I was invited to serve as a panelist for Paul Carrick Brunson’s Modern Day Matchmaker live event in Washington, D.C., which means it’s been nine years since the first time I spoke in front of a large audience. And also it’s been nine years since I was so…
