culture

When you grow up in a big California city, you learn at an early age that factors beyond your control can have a powerful impact on your life; factors like earthquakes, violence and whether your family lives in the mean flatlands or the glorious hills. This year, three young Californians have been forced to add…

My first taste of freedom came in the form of an ’87 Buick Century—Ol’ Bessy, my older brother called her. I just called her an escape. Back then, all it took was a few dollars to keep her gassed. Skim a little from my lunch money, charge a few kids for rides home after practice,…

Certain birthdays are special for almost all jazz fans. On April 7, the mental iPod almost always lands on Billie Holiday classics in honor of Lady Day’s birthday. Ditto April 29 for Duke Ellington, May 26 for Miles Davis, September 23 for John Coltrane, March 9 for Ornette Coleman and October 10 for Thelonious Monk.…

Strange things happen when the husband of a happily married woman goes out of town. She calls up her girlfriends and begs them to come over, plying them with champagne and cupcakes. She spends inordinate amounts of time online, staring at dresses that if her husband were home, he would mock derisively. “I hate those…

It took almost one year, hundreds of gallons in gas and several mall madness Saturdays, but I finally got it. “It” wasn’t just another low-cut shirt with a ring of elastic around the bust line. And it surely wasn’t another pair of too-tight jeans that required an inhale-exhale exercise to wiggle into. It was a…

Los Angeles’ gang problem has many intricate and labyrinthine causes, all of which have been deconstructed and debated for literally decades. The gang culture in Los Angeles is a well-oiled and self-perpetuating institution with a remarkable capacity for self-renewal that probably best explains the durability of gangs in Los Angeles. The recent debate about whether…

There’s something uniquely New Orleans about being serenaded by an Obama-hat-wearing trumpet player while perched next to the Mississippi River, munching hot beignets buried beneath piles of powdered sugar. Add to that the presence of thousands of doozied up black folks from around the country celebrating the Fourth of July. There, you have the Essence…

Hot, hotter, hottest. Africa Hot. Like someone’s fired up the grill, and you’re what’s cookin’ hot. That’s how it feels when you’re exercising on a triple “H” day, when it’s hazy, hot and humid. Working out with the sun beating down on you isn’t just uncomfortable, but it can be dangerous, particularly if you’re not…

Hallelujah! Have you heard the good news? If not, let me be the first to tell you. BET has FINALLY gotten the ol’ Don Imus treatment. That’s right. Some major sponsors have pulled advertisements from BET, due to the gratuitous violence, profanity and obscenity on some of the cable network’s programs, according to a report…

Whether it’s on the beach blanket or the porch swing—or, for those with little or no vacation time, the commuter train—summertime provides a kind of natural blank slate. Maybe it’s because all your favorite shows are in reruns and the summer movies leave you cold, but suddenly you feel you have time to embark upon…