a different world
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Watch: Patti LaBelle Is Everyone’s Favorite Mom
There’s something about Mrs. Wayne from A Different World. She was a black mother personified: Adele Wayne would put you in check, was protective of her kin (Chipmunk!), witty and intelligent, and boy, could Mrs. Wayne cook. In her role as Adele Wayne, Patti LaBelle did that. Over the decades, the legendary singer has played…
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30 Years Later, 7 Ways A Different World Was Woke AF
A Different World was an American sitcom that aired for six seasons beginning in September 1987, making it 30 this year. The show focused on students attending a fictional historically black college in Virginia, Hillman, the alma mater of Clair and Cliff Huxtable of The Cosby Show. While the show has been cited as a…
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10 Ways A Different World Lied to Us About HBCU Life
If there’s one way I know that the show was a pure work of fiction, it’s that in all the seasons of A Different World, we never saw anyone having to go to the financial aid office and act a straight donkey. There are a few experiences that truly bind those of us who graduated…
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The Mighty, Mighty Panthers of Clark Atlanta University
I was 8 years old when A Different World premiered, and after watching the first episode, I knew without a doubt that I would be attending an HBCU. I didn’t know much about life, or even where or what exactly an HBCU was, but I was absolutely certain that I was going to a school…
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From A Different World to Dear White People: Meet the Black-TV-Series Whisperer, Yvette Lee Bowser
“We’re all storytellers,” Yvette Lee Bowser said to me during our chat after I asked her how she battles creative blockages. She went on: “Writer’s block only exists when trying to figure out specifically how you’re going to tell the story. I never feel a dearth of stories to tell or characters of whom to…
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SportsCenter’s Jemele Hill and Michael Smith’s A Different World Remake Is Epic
Our favorite sportscasters have done it for the culture. Jemele Hill and Michael Smith, hosts of the first hour of ESPN’s SportsCenter, on Friday opened their show with a remake of the intro of The Cosby Show spin-off A Different World. Hill and Smith, co-hosts of SC6, were almost unrecognizable as they perfectly blended into…
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An Ode To Jaleesa Vinson: The Unsung Hero Of A Different World
In an effort to distract myself from the bad news of recent days — the fate of NY area sports teams, the latest Kanye track, my most recent bank statement — I’ve kicked off a binge of A Different World. A cursory Google search of the series will generate hundreds of thousands of words written…
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Boycotting Bill Cosby Means A Different World Too
Earlier this year, I admitted that the moral quandary many face about recognizing R. Kelly’s misdeeds and being fans of his music has never been an issue for me. Not because I’m any more or less moral than those struggling with — or just straight not caring about — his history with young girls, but…
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Shit Bougie Black People Love: 20. A Different World
You might remember the late 80s and early 90s as a forgettable period of time where Republicans ran the White House, t-shirts had shoulder pads, and everyone cool got AIDS. This is because you’re not a Bougie Black Person. Bougie Black People hold this period especially dear, as many of their favorite memories were created in…