• Cali Can't Balance Its Checkbook…or Yours

    California and in particular, Los Angeles, is famous for harboring residents who will try to stunt on you in a brand new Audi but can barely afford to cover the cost of an entrée off the value menu at Carl’s Jr. Unfortunately, the botched budgeting that is spending more than what you bring in has…

    By










  • Funerals, Memorial Services, Doing The Right Thing

    Unless you’re one of the 17,000 or so who got a confirmation number in your e-mail box, you won’t be going to Michael Jackson’s funeral today, but that doesn’t mean we outside the Staples Center can’t use this whole sad past week as an object lesson in the business of remembering the dearly departed. For…

    By










  • Washington's $1.4M Revolving Door

    The lede to this WASHINGTON POST story on health care says all we need to know about the purported debate over creating a public plan to compete with private health insurance companies: The nation’s largest insurers, hospitals and medical groups have hired more than 350 former government staff members and retired members of Congress in…

    By










  • Happy Fourth!!!

    Last week I had the opportunity to tour George Washington’s Mount Vernon estate in Virginia. My nieces, 11 and 6, and I spent the day learning about Washington’s life, viewing historical artifacts, visiting the mansion and the gardens and, most of all, marveling at the model of integrity and leadership he established as our nation’s…

    By










  • R.I.P., Vibe, 1993-2009

    GALLERY—Losing the Vibe Vibe magazine is dead. Just like that. No wake, no second line, no funeral. Nothing. Vibe is gone like a pocket full of singles at an Atlanta strip club. Gone, but certainly not forgotten. I can remember the inaugural Vibe magazine cover like it was yesterday. Snoop Doggy Dogg—as he was known at the…

    By










  • VIBE Magazine Folds

    From Gawker: “Vibe Magazine—one of the biggest music magazines in America—is folding. The entire music magazine landscape is full of the dead and dying. Wikipedia sums up Vibe unexpectedly well: The magazine owes its success to having a broader range of interests than its closest competitors The Source and XXL which focus more narrowly on…

    By










  • Why Shelby Steele Is Right

    I can’t believe I am writing this. But I am. Shelby Steele is right. Not in the conclusions expressed in his recent article in the Wall Street Journal about Judge Sonia Sotomayor and what her nomination reveals about President Obama’s supposed contradictions. That is the stuff of fantasy. But Steele is right about one thing:…

    By










  • DTRT@20 Compatibility Quiz

    Photo illustration of the Obamas, Bed-Stuy 1989 style by Kristen DiFate. Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Take this test online! ______________ Finish planning your own Do The Right Thing @ 20 house party with these free downloads! How to Rock it like it’s 1989 African Medallion coasters! LOVE/HATE four-fingered rings!…

    By










  • First Flick Compatibility Quiz

    SCROLL down to begin the Do the Right Thing Compatibility quiz. Also: The politics of the first couple’s first date to see “Do The Right Thing” by Dayo Olopade. READ more of The Root’s DTRT @20 coverage Natalie Hopkinson: Why Mookie did the wrong thing. Teresa Wiltz: Spike’s woman problem DOWNLOAD The Root’s Official DTRT@20…

    By










  • DTRT@20 Trivia Game

    DOWNLOAD AND PRINT THIS TRIVIA GAME! ______________ Finish planning your own DTRT @ 20 house party with these free downloads! How to Rock it like it’s 1989 African Medallion coasters! LOVE/HATE four-fingered rings! Do or Die Bed-Stuy Banner The Official Sal’s Pizzeria Box Michelle/Barack Compatibilty Quiz _______________ READ more of The Root’s DTRT @20 coverage

    By