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26 Is Too Young to Die
My life changed on Sunday, July 16, 2000. Even though the official reports, the newspaper, and the family story all say July 17, my big cousin never saw Monday. After going to see the recently released film, Scary Movie, my younger cousin (his little sister) and I pulled into the driveway of my grandmother’s house…
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Dear Writers, What Do You Have Saved in Your Drafts?
If you’re somebody who writes for a living or as a hobby or because it’s not that you won’t stop, it’s that you can’t stop, then there’s a really good chance you use some sort of publishing platform to share your thoughts with the world. Many of us started out on Blogspot or whatever came…
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I Don't Know How We're Going to Make It Through This Campaign Season Y'all
I’m typically a pretty optimistic person. For instance, I believe the children are our future. I believe in miracles. I even believe in magic. Despite my penchant for seeing a glass half-full, I’m not sure we gon’ make it through this campaign season y’all. When Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said “I may not get…
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10 Thoughts About Soulja Boy's Awesome and Entertaining Appearance on The Breakfast Club
If you live under a (non-cocaine) rock, there’s a better than 100 percent chance that you were confused as to why Soulja Boy (is it still Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em?) was all over your social media timelines on Wednesday. It is the year of our lord 2019—why in West Hell would that lil “Superman dat…
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America. In Black.: A VSB Essay Series About the Unique and Individual Experiences of Black People in America
One of the best parts about VSB over the course of our existence—which is going on 11 years(!!!!!) come March—is that we’ve had the opportunity to write about and share many different aspects of blackness in America. Some of it has been serious and some of it has been fun, but the vast majority of…
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Middle School Teachers Are Saints
When I was younger, say 7 or 8 years old, I wanted to be an astronaut/pediatric neurosurgeon/inventor/NBA player. Though my life has been successful, it’s safe to say I’ve stopped just short of being the most awesome multi-hyphenate careerist of all time. By the time I hit my teen years, I wanted to be some…
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An Ode to Res’ Debut Album, How I Do
Back when Cash Money was takin’ over for the ’99 and the 2000, at least once a week, the homies and I would trek from various points on the west and southwest sides of Atlanta to the Circuit City at Greenbriar Mall. We made this weekly pilgrimage because, for some reason, Circuit City, at least…
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Someone Added Me to the Notable Morehouse College Alumni Wikipedia Page and I Almost Cried (Thug Tears)
This morning started out like any other day. I hopped up out my bed, turned my swag on, looked myself in the mirror and said what’s up, and then promised myself not to throw any 10-year-old lyrics from Soulja Boy songs into anything I wrote today. But things happen. When I sat down to decide…
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When, If Ever, Should We Explain Blackness, for The Culture?
VSB, in conjunction with a black-owned and -serving bricks and mortar bookstore in Washington, D.C., Mahogany Books, started a book club a few months back. So far we’ve read James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time, Glory Edim’s Well-Read Black Girl Anthology, and Kiese Laymon’s Heavy. Next month’s book is all about love by bell hooks.…
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11 Thoughts About Surviving R. Kelly Now That I’ve Had a Chance to Process It All
Like what I can only presume was the vast majority of black America, I spent a significant portion of the past weekend either watching the dream hampton produced/directed Lifetime docuseries, Surviving R. Kelly or talking about it. The discussions dominated social media and actual face-to-face interactions with people. Nothing in recent memory did such a…
