Fans Get Too Close to Rumi Carter at the ‘Cowboy Carter Tour’ Until They See …Jay-Z
Behind Florida’s Sheriff’s ‘We Will Kill You’ to Anti-Trump Protesters
What Black Men Secretly Want For Father’s Day
5 Gangsta Moves From Gov. Gavin Newsom Throughout the Years
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Reality TV Killed CBS' Guiding Light
CBS will shut down Guiding Light this fall. After seven decades of daytime melodrama Light is unable to satisfy working mothers and advertisers who rely on reality TV. Sad yes, but I guess that’s show business. Well, at least show business during a so-called Recession. Except for a fascination with Tad, Jenny, Jesse and Angie…
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Hammerin' Hank
On April 8, 1974, Aaron and the Braves faced the Dodgers in a nationally televised game; in the fourth inning, during his second at bat, he hit his 715th record-breaking home run. Aaron didn’t consider himself a celebrity athlete. But what he lacked in flash and charisma, he made up for it with his performance at bat. For…
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Thursday's Headlines
WP: Blago Expected to Be Indicted Today (Did You Hear that Roland?) CNN: Michelle Obama Hugs Queen, (White) People Freak Out Reuters: Sarkozy Gives G20 Presser, Asked If Obama Hug Freaked Him Out Too BBC: G20 Seals $1T Deal; Media Asks, “No, But for Real, Did You See That Hug”? NYT: China Looks to Own…
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When Friends and Family Ask for Money
Your brother needs to borrow money to pay the mortgage on a house he could have never afforded in the first place. Your parents’ 401k has been decimated, and they need a little help. Your sister is drowning in credit card debt, and it is up to you to throw her a lifeline. Commercial lenders…
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Did Black Power Birth Obama?
April 4, 2008—the 40th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1968 slaying in Memphis—provoked endless conversations about the way forward for black politics and whether it was King who truly prepared the nation to elect Barack Obama as the first black president. This year, the topic has moved beyond musings about what is possible for…
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Why Wynton Marsalis Should Never Do Spoken Word
The marriage of jazz and spoken word is an iffy one—the seemingly promising union is often better on paper than in practice. Such is the case with Wynton Marsalis’ newest disc, He and She (Blue Note), a clumsy endeavor that finds the celebrated trumpeter and composer in dual roles as bandleader and narrator of a…
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Why 'More Than Just Race' Matters
I wish William Julius Wilson were as evocative a writer as he is a thinker. Over the past 30 years, the legendary Harvard sociologist has done more than any other social scientist to illuminate the desperate plight of the poor. But he buries his brilliantly nuanced analysis in such flat, academic prose that his insights…
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Should You Qualify for Food Stamps?
There are days when I go to the grocery store and leave with the feeling that eating everyday is overrated. I assumed that sentiment was becoming universal. However, some people in the check out lines still manage to crack smiles when it’s time to pay. I thought the source of their giddiness stemmed from having…
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Wanda Sykes: Gay and on Late Night
Goodbye MadTV, hello Wanda Sykes! Actress-Comedian Sykes is scheduled to take a late spot on Fox this Fall. I have to be honest: I’m a growing fan of Sykes and not a confirmed one. She’s certainly witty, sharp and unfiltered, but I haven’t been won over. I didn’t know much about Sykes before her clash…
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The GOP’s Long, Dark Days Ahead
Looking at the radiant Michelle Obama smiling from the covers of every major magazine in America, it’s not hard to imagine that the unquestionably foxy Supriya Jindal could make a very elegant first Indian-American first lady one of these days. But she’ll never get that chance if her husband doesn’t tighten up his game. Republicans…