culture
-
The Fire This Time: Anthology Features a New Generation of Authors Speaking Out on Race
In 2011 Jesmyn Ward won the National Book Award for her novel Salvage the Bones, an exploration of one black family’s experience during the 12 days leading up to, and after, Hurricane Katrina. Ward is also the author of the novel Where the Line Bleeds and the memoir Men We Reaped, a deeply felt accounting…
-
Prenups Are for Poor People
And by “poor people,” I mean me and you, of course: basically, regular people. I’m 100 percent sure that the likes of Kanye and Kim Kardashian aren’t reading my writings, but if they are, I need the Pirate Black Yeezy Boost 350s in a size 10. Thanks. By definition, a prenuptial agreement is a contract…
-
Nice Day for a ‘White’ Wedding: The Problem With Whiteness in Bridal Magazines
Wedding season may peak from late spring to early fall, but the planning goes on all year. Many a bride-to-be starts her dreaming and planning with a plunge into the sea of wedding magazines and websites, studying images that promise to make her the most beautiful woman on the most important day of her life. Judging…
-
Drake Disses, Kobe Wishes: The Top 5 Pettiest Moments This Week
I’m not sure if the petty moon has eclipsed the sun of righteousness or if the winds of petty have swayed to and fro, but it has been quite a week of pettiness. I can’t recall another week when all the petty gods unleashed their wrath, but it feels like Petty LaBelle and Petty Pendergrass…
-
Donald Trump Scared the Hell Out of My Wife
About an hour after Donald Trump ended his speech last night, I looked over at my wife. The look of disbelief was still on her face. It was a look I had not seen since the jury read the “Not guilty” verdict in the Trayvon Martin several years ago. I asked the obvious question, because…
-
Rising Above a Disability Through a Comic Book
In March of 2009, David Rector suffered a series of horrific medical crises. The former NPR producer, with a voice like black velvet caressing your skin, lost the ability to speak—or walk. He was virtually comatose for two weeks. But a friend suggested using Rector’s encyclopedic knowledge and love of comic books—especially D.C. Comic’s Superman…
-
A$AP Rocky Is Right; He Should Stick to Fashion and Drugs. Police Brutality and Racism Are Not His Forte
Like many celebrities who wrongly employ the phrase as a means of evading responsibility for their actions, A$AP Rocky doesn’t seem to know exactly what “taken out of context” means. There are not many ways to interpret, “What the f—k am I, Al Sharpton now? I’m A$AP Rocky. I did not sign up to be…
-
More Than Microaggression: The Danger of White Obliviousness
I recently accompanied an artist friend to an out-of-town festival where he was exhibiting. As a photographer, he’s generally in the minority at these events; as a black man whose passion is creating narrative portraits of black and brown people, even more so. For this particular show, he confessed that he’d had to carefully curate…
-
He Says I’m Not a Booty Call, but I’ve Never Seen His House in 2 Years of Dating
Dear Demetria: I am currently separated and close to finalizing my divorce. I have been dating this man for about two years. I’ve never been to his home, and the only time we get together is for amazing sex. He will not include me in his life. He says I am not a booty call,…