culture

Excerpted from A Journal for Jordan by Dana Canedy, Pulitzer Prize-winner and senior editor for the New York Times Copyright © 2008 by Dana Canedy. Excerpted by permission of Crown, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the…

If it’s a choice between the mortgage payment and a long weekend away this summer, then, please, stay at home! But if you’ve got a little wiggle room, here are The Root’s picks for great black history road trips. Unless otherwise indicated, admission is free. The Southeast 23 Montgomery St. Savannah, Ga. 912-233-6597 Guided tours…

Citigroup Exec Goes Knucklehead Route, Has Child with Mistress The New York Daily News reports that Richard Parsons, who has been in enough of a professional pickle trying to get the Citigroup’s life together has apparently found enough time in his schedule for an extramarital dalliance with model/philanthropist MacDella Cooper that resulted in the birth of…

One Homeowner Down, Only 399,999 to Go ProPublica reports a baffling statistic regarding Congress’ plan to help homeowners facing foreclosure. The “Hope for Homeowners” plan, launched last summer, was set to help 400,000 homeowners from joining the ranks of the dispossessed. To date, it has managed to help just one homeowner. ONE. How does that even happen? That’s…

Voiced by David Alan Grier and Kenan Thompson—who skyrocketed in The Buzz’s book with this career-salvaging voice-over tour de force—the ads feature Kobe Bryant and LeBron James puppets who room together. The ads are hilarious and harken back to Chris Rock’s Li’l Penny Days before Penny Hardaway just became plain Anfernee. Bravo, Nike. Bravo.

What’s up down there? Turns out a lot of women may be afraid to ask this question. Many are too embarrassed to admit that they can’t exercise vigorously without the risk of peeing their pants. That’s what I discovered when I tried to add jump rope intervals to my boot camp class. My group of moms…

Every year in baseball, there is a division that turns things on its head for a while; this season, the entire American League is break dancing. The National League is progressing according to expectations. All four of last year’s playoff teams—the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Milwaukee Brewers, the Philadelphia Phillies and the Chicago Cubs—are in…

Hundreds of Civilians Feared Dead in Nigerian Military Action Amnesty International has received reports hundreds of Nigerian civilians may have been massacred in a government attempt to rid the oil producing Niger delta region of rebel enclaves Reuters reports. The government has denied this claim, saying that no civilians were harmed or displaced. A military spokesman…

I’ve never been a Kobe Bryant fan. Maybe it’s because I’m still getting over the Lakers 4-1 deafening defeat of my mainstay, the Philadelphia 76ers in the 2001 NBA finals. Maybe I just don’t like his particular blue-chip swagger. Of his generation of athletes, I have always appreciated Serena Williams’ extroverted braininess, Donovan McNabb’s self-composure,…