culture

  • DJ Jazzy Jeff Booted Off Stage for…Playing Hip Hop?

    DJ Jazzy Jeff, DJ legend no stranger to being tossed out of places, was asked to leave a Kansas City venue on Saturday evening while doing a set in Kansas City. Performing in the downtown Power & Light District—which some call the Power & White district stemming from dress-code restrictions which seem targeted at keeping…

  • Sprinting to Finish Line, VA Gubernatorial Hopefuls Court Black Vote

    Hoping to prosper off the momentum President Obama created last fall, the Democratic gubernatorial hopefuls for Virginia have been trying to corner the vote that helped the 44th President carry that state. State Sen. R. Creigh Deeds, former Democratic National Committee chairman Terry McAuliffe and former state delegate Brian Moran have spent the last portion…

  • New Orleans Mayor Possibly Exposed to Swine Flu

    While returning from an economic development trip, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin may have been exposed to Swine flu. CNN has reported that another passenger on Nagin’s flight is being treated for symptoms similar to that of the Swine flu and Nagin, his wife, and a member of his security detail are being held in…

  • What Single Women Can Learn From Michelle

    America has fallen for the Obamas. The history, the high glamour, the PDAs on the White House lawn. It’s a universal picture of love. But for many successful black women, with college degrees, ambitious careers and five-year plans, that enchantment has become something of an obsession. Those of us hoping to find suitable mates in…

  • Graduate and Get a Real J-O-B?

    At the University of Pennsylvania’s annual career fair, held on Sept. 16, 2008, things seemed pretty normal; blue-chip companies like Citigroup, J.P. Morgan, Barclays and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York had come to woo a bumper crop of undergraduates from the prestigious Wharton School. As business cards flashed, a tremor went through the…

  • Working for The Man When You Are The Man

    Recently, I was on a panel for black journalists discussing how to build a career as a self-employed journalist. When I did this same panel a few years ago, the attendance was sparse. This year, there was standing room only.  As jobs dry up in newsrooms, more and more of my comrades are being forced…

  • Video: Kobe's Rape Accuser Kicks a Verse on YouTube?

    We’d editorialize, but why? This couldn’t be her. Could it?

  • Jobless Rate at 9.4%! Yay?

    The US jobless rate jumped to 9.4% in May, though the pace of job slashing has slowed. An underwhelming reduction in payroll jobs gives the Department of Labor the impression that the recession may be showing signs of loosening. Still, this little tid bit from USA TODAY is troubling: “If laid-off workers who have given…

  • The WNBA Sells Itself or Its Soul?

    The WNBA doesn’t begin play until Saturday when the defending champions, the Detroit Shock, and the perennial powerhouse Los Angeles Sparks tip off in a nationally televised game that promises a full slate of action. But earlier this week, the league started its season with a bang. At a press conference in New York City…