culture

Much has been made about Oprah going vegan for 21 days. But she, of course, does not have to worry about managing her vegan eating plan on a budget like I do. As a vegetarian, do I have to give up the items I have become accustomed to because they are more expensive as a…

Legislatures in two more states—Missouri and Nebraska—are contemplating apologies for slavery. Slavery was introduced in what would become Missouri at least as early as 1720 when Philippe Francois Renault brought 500 enslaved Africans to excavate the mines in present-day St. Louis and Jefferson counties. Missouri outlawed the practice with the ratification of its state constitution…

In some of the most respected medical manuals, fibroids are referred to as little more than a pesky annoyance. On a legitimate medical Web site they are described as, “generally symptomless, rarely causing problems and seldom requiring treatment.” But that’s not the story whispered in late-night phone conversations, shared at sister circle support groups, posted…

After a four-year battle with uterine fibroids, I am finally surrendering. Last Monday, I checked into N.Y. Presbyterian Hospital and underwent a hysterectomy. I am 34 years old. I fought back with hormones and holistic treatments. I have had second and third opinions in Chicago, Philadelphia and New York. I’ve seen black doctors and white,…

Now that the much buzzed about all-black issue of Vogue Italia has hit stands, readers can finally take in the mezmorizing glamour of black models filling the glossy’s pages—even if they can’t read the text, which will remain in Italian, even in U.S.-circulated copies of the magazine. I sat down with legendary modeling agent and…

For decades, jazz was a horn player’s game. Since the ’80s, the jazz business has engaged in a furious search for the next trumpeter a la Wynton Marsalis, and since the ’90s, they’ve looked for the next saxophonist like Joshua Redman. The 2000s may be remembered as the decade of the pianists. Not since Humphrey…

Women’s basketball doesn’t need dunks to be relevant and popular, but paradoxically Candace Parker’s dunks may give the WNBA just the boost it needs. Parker, the Los Angeles Sparks’ rookie forward, dunked in the waning moments of L.A.’s win over the Indiana Fever on Sunday. Then on Tuesday, she threw it down again in the…

*Sayin’ yo momma black, his momma this, his momma that/Then he get mad and wanna scrap/We stay mad about 10 minutes then it’s like back on the bike… — “Back in the Day” by Ahmad —In middle school, battles for respect weren’t decided on dodge ball courts or black asphalt. Back then folks lived or…

Last winter turned out to be a milestone of sorts. I had spent the past four years researching, reflecting and writing about the food of black people and of the Middle East. The watershed occurred in the backdrop of a winter in Chicago cooking and eating foods of Africa and the black Diaspora almost daily,…