culture

Pregnancy can be a wonderful time in a woman’s life. There is the excitement of starting or adding to your family, picking out potential names for the new baby, decorating his or her room and experiencing the physical changes that come with preparing the body for birth. But some of those physical changes are decidedly…

Call the blues passé if you like, but there’s no denying that it is a fitting soundtrack for today’s scary economy. America is singing the blues about foreclosure and job loss, a broken health care system and dwindling retirement funds.  Blues superstar Shemekia Copeland rolls all that anxiety into her latest disc, Never Going Back…

WP: Sisterhood of Powerful Black Women Coming to Fore in DC; Some Wear Sleeves, Others Don’t BBC: Can Catholicism Help Africa? The Buzz Is Gonna Take the Under on That The Job: Yep, We’re in a Recession* J&J: Women’s History Month Blurb on Angela Davis; Yes, It’s Women’s History Month The Hill: AIG Employees—’We Deserve…

The annual onslaught of March Madness, aka the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, always reminds me of when my alma mater almost made it to the postseason. It was 30 years ago, and in the final game of the season, our school needed to beat our archrival to have hope for a spot in the NIT.…

Years ago, I sat in my public-policy journalism class when a professor circulated a 25-year-old essay that ran in the Washington Post. None of my mostly white peers could read beyond the provocative headline: “How Chicago Taught Me to Hate Whites.” Only I, the lone black student in the classroom at Northwestern in the late…

Back in the day, saints sang “Gimme that ole time religion.” But now a larger percentage of blacks are saying, “No thanks.” Unlike grandma and grandpa, who built their lives on deep religious faith, Bible study, prayer meetings and consistent church attendance, more black Americans—now 11 percent—say they have no religion at all. They are…

The Indalian Job: Sometimes, You Just Forget Your Color Newsday: The Zing Heard ‘Round the Hill: New Bill to Tax AIG Exec Bonuses at 100 Percent The Guardian: Pope Says Condoms Would Make African AIDS Crisis Worse; No, for Real, He Said That WP: New iPhone May Be on Horizon Because, You Know…that Whole ‘Turbines…

A few weekends ago, I rolled out of bed early Saturday morning to attend Tavis Smiley’s State of the Black Union symposium in Los Angeles. Like many Americans, I’m out of work. My money is tighter than a black power fist, and finding a job is challenging. So I was eager to get a dose…

David Johnson probably shouldn’t be an NBA prospect. He’s 25 years old, ancient for a possible rookie, and stands all of 5’10”. His college career lasted 10 games. He’s a junior-high counselor and the coach of a middle-school basketball team, has two kids and no professional agent. But he does have Jessica Raumer. His girlfriend…

WP: AIG Discloses Use of Bailout Funds; You Didn’t Get Any, But an Incompetent Did Times of London: Thousands of Girls Mutilated in Britain WSJ: Having Little Interest in Being Opposed, Chavez Sends Navy to Venezuela’s Seaport to Make This Clear AP: Imus Has Prostate Cancer; Rev. Al Sharpton to Protest This in Some Way…