culture
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Confessions of a DC Lawyer-Lobbyist-Turned-L.A. Comedy Writer-Producer
As an only child and a latchkey kid, I spent a disconcerting amount of my childhood alone in front of a TV … and I loved every minute of it! By age 17, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with the rest of my life—I was going to make more of the shows…
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She’s in Love With a ‘Nice’ Boyfriend Who Doesn’t Trust Her and Still Has a Wife
Dear Demetria: I’m in love with my boyfriend, but he is always accusing me of cheating. I’m not and never have, but I have thought about it because he doesn’t satisfy me sexually. His penis is small and [the oral sex] isn’t good, either. I knew this before we got together, but I gave him…
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Old Folks May Hate the Way Young People Use Slang, but Who Are They to Talk?
Thanks to the Internet and social media universalizing certain aspects of culture, our slang has become less regional and maddeningly uniform. So a black dude could trek from New York City to the Atlanta University Center in his Timbs and not be clowned for saying how long it took, “dead ass.” Because he probably won’t be…
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Was Tamar Braxton’s Neck-Rolling Too Real for The Real?
Bless her heart: It’s been mighty rough for Tamar Braxton within the last year. Not only was she forced to leave Dancing With the Stars because of a life-threatening health crisis, but her very good album, Calling All Lovers, caught the fade from consumers. Now one of the biggest breaks in her post-Braxton Family Values career—a slot on the hit daytime…
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Black Music Month Means Studio Sessions at The Root
June is almost here—that means sunny skies, warm weather and black music, of course! For Black Music Month, The Root and McDonald’s will honor and celebrate the music (and musicians) of the African Diaspora with Studio Sessions at The Root. This video series will feature contemporary artists from a gamut of genres: global, hip-hop, soul—we’ve…
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Why Draymond Green Is and Isn’t a Dirty Player, Explained
Who is Draymond Green? Draymond Green is a do-everything utility man for the Golden State Warriors; the engine that steams their machine; the straw that stirs their coffee; the detergent that sparkles their dishes. He is their heart and soul, their guts and grit, their … Are you just going to speak in sportswriting clichés?…
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Cornel West and Arturo O’Farrill Speak Truth to Power Through Jazz
In this day and age, there is little reward in seeking the truth, and less profit in sharing that truth once you have found it. So it’s remarkable that a program like Jazz and Spirit could ever come together, much less on a world-renowned stage like Harlem’s Apollo Theater. On Saturday a great philosopher in…
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Meet the King of Golden Krust, Who Wants to Make Caribbean Cuisine Mainstream
Even Undercover Boss fans would be hard-pressed to recall any show where the “boss” was black, let alone from the Caribbean. But on Sunday, May 22, Lowell Hawthorne, President/CEO of Golden Krust Caribbean Bakery & Grill, the nation’s largest manufacturer, distributor and franchisor of Caribbean baked products and largest Caribbean-owned business, changes that. In 1989, Hawthorne,…
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This Emergency Room Doctor Was Tired of Seeing Gunshot Victims Who Looked Like Family, So He Did Something About It
Violence is a public health problem. At least that’s how Brooklyn, N.Y.-based emergency physician and community activist Dr. Robert Gore views it. “You look at public health problems as problems having these identifiable risk factors, and if you can intervene, then you can change the outcome,” Gore, a clinical assistant professor of emergency medicine at SUNY…
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Things I’d Like to See (and Not See) at the BET Awards’ Prince Tribute
Dear BET, As chief of staff for the Purple Politicians, I believe it is important that we begin planning your mandatory Prince tribute. See, there were major missteps in tributes you did to him in the past. Sure, there will be others (the Grammys, the MTV Awards and the highly anticipated, obnoxious tribute featuring Madonna…