-
Character Counts
“The measure of a man’s character is what he would do if he knew he never would be found out.” Baron Thomas Babington Macauley And that’s for good or for bad things. What we do unobserved or when we don’t have to in some measure defines who we are. So to pick some pretty mundane…
-
The Wedding of WHOSE Dreams?
Dear Come Correct: The love of my life and I are getting married over the Christmas holidays. We grew up in the same city, so many of our nearest and dearest will be there. He and I are in perfect agreement about how much to spend, what we want to wear, what kind of wedding…
-
Pressed for space
Maybe it’s something in the air, maybe the alleged beginning to the recession’s recovery is making people feverish to go out and spend money. Whatever it is, they are hella anxious to grab a parking space. Over the past week, I have seen three—count them, three—serious set-tos in parking lots. Person A is waiting for…
-
What Black Looks Like
Dear Come Correct: I see me as a regular looking black woman—fair, but with definitely black features. Despite this, I get asked ‘so what are you, anyway?’ more times than you can imagine. Then, when I say “I’m black,” I get the second insult: “no, really. Are both your parents black? What are you mixed…
-
Pees and Queues
First of all, apologies to Seiko and anyone else who was offended at the title The Tao of Poo. As a couple of you pointed out, it was indeed a riff on the bestseller, The Tao of Pooh. As in Winnie The. Which was in itself a homage to a series of Buddhist insights. It…
-
The Tao of Poo
Dear Come Correct: I work in an office with about 50 people in it. We are generally pretty considerate of each other—the cultural environment is pretty invested in polite behavior and a crunchy-granola version of “do unto others”—but there are lapses. One important one for me occurs in the women’s bathroom on a daily basis,…
-
Small World, Isn't It?
A friend called to check on me while I was sick last week. We were supposed to go to a fancy ladies’ lunch, but with a sore throat and temperature, the kindest thing I could do was stay home. I did, and she was calling to fill me in. “Ooooh, girl—you missed it!” “So, how was…
-
An Affair To Remember
John Edwards’ baby-daddy drama really makes you wish—aside from the obvious, that he’d been faithful to his wife—he was French. All this would have been handled entirely differently. Remember when Georges Pompidou died? His wife and family were at his funeral of course— but so were his longtime mistress and the adult illegitimate daughter they…
-
No Home Training!
I’ve stopped worrying about the approaching H1N1 virus epidemic and started to focus more on the already-here contagion of rudeness that is apparently raging through the ranks of the prominent and privileged. First South Carolina Republican Joe Wilson calls the president a liar on the floor of Congress—a gathering he and his peers have invited…
-
Friendly Skies … Sorta
Remember when you dressed nicely to fly, when there was actually leg room so your suit (yes, suit) didn’t look like an accordion at the end of the flight? When the staff acted as if they were happy that you’d chosen their airline over another, and acted accordingly? When passengers were courteous to each other…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
