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Honoring Mom–On HER Terms
I remember spending Mother’s Day with a woman who was furious. “What I want,” she told me “was to stay in and be quiet.” Instead she got dragged out to a noisy brunch. Not her happiest moment. And her husband couldn’t understand why she didn’t appreciate the gesture. Here’s the deal: there are 364 other…
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Touching Taboos
Scene 1: A black co-worker with a freshly-shaved head was working away at his computer terminal when a white colleague walked over, blissfully ran her hands over his head, and cooed “it looked so smooth! I just wanted to feel it…” He, who is rarely lost for words, was shocked wordless. Later he came to…
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Driving Slow in the Fast Lane
I watched someone ahead of me driving home last night. Lady in a Jaguar, tooling along at about 35—in a 55 mph zone. Apparently it made people crazy. It also made them make risky, last-minute moves: some folks drove right up on her tail, then quickly switched to the side, glared at her, and sped…
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Home Training: A Good Defense Against Swine Flu
When good manners and public health needs collide, it’s a great opportunity for a teachable moment. So just a reminder: shielding your cough and your sneeze now can keep you—and who knows who else—healthy later. As long as swine flu is making its way across the country, let’s put the home training our mothers and…
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Greener Than Thou
I recycle. I stay away from aerosol cans, the kinds that reduce the earth’s rapidly depleting ozone layer. I try to choose sustainable foods off the menu if I eat out and I don’t let the faucet run while I’m brushing my teeth. When I’ve finished with the day’s newspapers, they go into the recycler.…
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Flying While Rude
Jimi’s latest post (Flying While Fat) made me think of all the reasons I have come to hate flying. It’s not fear of hurtling through the air in a metal tube at 35,000 feet. Nah. It’s the people who really don’t believe the one-carry-on rule. (These are probably people who roll into the express line…
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Taking Care of (Dog) Business
The Obamas debuted the newest addition to the First Family on Tuesday when Bo (named after Mr. Diddley—and in loving homage to Michelle Obama’s dad, who also used it as a nickname) pranced across the White House lawn. There were lots of questions about how the girls liked him. “I love him—he’s perfect,” Malia sighed.…
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Bay Bay's (and everyone else's) Kids On Your Night Out
Maybe it’s my age—aren’t old people supposed to be grumpy?—or maybe it’s the economy. Maybe both. But whatever the reason, it seems to me there are a lot more people bringing babies and toddlers to places they shouldn’t be. (And, just to nip some of the outrage I know is coming in the bud: I…
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A Tad Too Familiar
On Monday, Gertrude Baines was having a little party: she turned 115, and became, as far as the Guiness Book of Records was concerned, the Oldest Woman In The World. People came from all over bearing flowers, gifts and good wishes. The aforementioned Guiness gents presented her with a proclamation declqring her unique status, and…
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The Presents of Your Company
Hard to be the most-scrutinized glamour couple in the world: everybody has an opinion about what you say and wear—even what you give as presents. That’s the unenviable position in which the Obamas have found themselves—twice—when exchanging the ritually-expected presents between the President and foreign dignitaries and heads of state. When English Prime Minister Gordon…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
