culture

Read the washingtonpost.com Live Online discussion on CHRIS BROWN’S MISSING PRESCHOOL LESSON with The Root’s Lisa Crooms. ***** My son Joel fancies himself a crooner. Over the holidays, he would sing into the shampoo bottle in the bathroom, belting out “This Christmas” with his eyes closed, like he was headlining a concert. So as I put…

Excerpted from One Big Happy Family: 18 Writers Talk About Polyamory, Open Adoption, Mixed Marriage, Househusbandry, Single Motherhood, and Other Realities of Truly Modern Love by Rebecca Walker. Courtesy of Riverhead Books, a division of Penguin Group (USA). ***** Let’s start at the beginning. My husband, C (his name is Charles, but so is our…

At a time when many a career has been toppled by any whiff of Obama Hate, The Buzz has to give culture critic Robin Givhan credit for daring to ask the question of who will deflate the myth around Michelle Obama, in the way the First Lady did for her husband during the campaign.  Speaking…

Sen. Roland “I am the junior senator from Illinois” Burris recently disclosed that he had multiple conversations with the office of impeached former Gov. Rod “Gracias por su apoyo” Blagojevich about the senate seat to which Burris was appointed in January. The Chicago Tribune reports that Burris amended his January 8th testimony to the Illinois…

His double-double averages and the memories are all Shaquille O’Neal has left these days. Making what is likely his final appearance in the All-Star game before his hometown fans Sunday, the Big Aristotle, as might be expected, is a little reflective. “I’m the Shogun of all centers,” O’Neal told me. “I’ve done the most; any…

When the NBA all-stars take the court in Phoenix Sunday night, it will mark a subtle but distinctive change in the game. During the last few years, the game’s top players have been moving away from the concept of a great player with a supporting cast toward a more team-oriented approach where the best player…

Like most corporate Negroes, The Buzz is a pro at code-switching, been perfecting the artform since birth. So it isn’t exactly news to us that our new President has mastered the art, as our homie Jack Shafer recounts in fascinating detail in Slate. I a speech reprinted in the New York Review of Books, the…

Romance needn’t be the latest casualty of the recession. The Buzz was disappointed to hear the NPR report by Sam Fullwood III that flower sales are down at one of our favorite U Street shops. But take heart: Over at AfroBella, The Root contributor Natalie McNeal a.k.a. The Frugalista, gives these pointers on how to…

On a day when President Barack Obama spoke in Springfield, Illinois and Washington, D.C. about Abraham Lincoln’s legacy, shared sacrifice, and the importance of national unity, noting that history teaches us, “There are certain things we can only do together,” Sen. Judd Gregg, Obama’s nominee for Secretary of Commerce, and the third Republican slated to…