culture
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Black Women Should Be Like Ayesha Curry? How Many Black Men Are Willing to Be Like Steph?
It’s been roughly a month since Ayesha Curry—wife of NBA superstar Stephen Curry and mother of NBA post-game press conference superstar Riley Curry—published the tweet that would launch a million more tweets, a thousand more think pieces and a hundred more “clever” memes incorporating “thoughts” and “thots.” The dust and debris left by this dustup…
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In Praise of Jaleesa Vinson, the Unsung Hero of A Different World
In an effort to distract myself from the bad news of recent days—the fate of New York-area sports teams, the latest Kanye track, my most recent bank statement—I’ve kicked off some binge-watching of A Different World. A cursory Google search of the series will generate hundreds of thousands of words written about A Different World…
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No, Tyler Perry, People Don’t Dislike Your Work Because Your Characters Are Fat
I feel about Tyler Perry the way Spike Lee did before they both called a truce on bashing each other in the media, which is to say, with rare exception, I’m no fan of Perry’s work. I respect that many good people are Perry fans. Case in point: Perry has four shows on OWN, including…
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5 Common Facebook Villains and How to Defeat Them
The holidays are finally over! You’ve had to endure nearly two months of interacting with “family” that fondly remember changing your diapers when you were 22 months old, while simultaneously fondly forgetting that $500 you lent them when you were 22 years old. Oh, and there are also those longtime hometown “friends” that you duck…
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Don’t Blame Your Hysterectomy if He’s Not Happy
I am a 44-year-old married mother of three. A year ago, my doctor advised me to have a hysterectomy. My research and a second opinion proved him correct. I had the surgery but kept my cervix and ovaries. Since then, my husband complains that sex is not the same. He hints that I am not…
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How #YallQaeda Is Nothing but a Big Bucket of Highly Armed White Tears, Explained
Who is this #YallQaeda you’re talking about? On Saturday, a group of anti-government militiamen—armed to the teeth and ready to fight to the death—took over the federal Malheur Wildlife Refuge after a protest in Harney County, Ore. They were apparently upset because two ranchers—Dwight Hammond Jr. and his son, Steven—had been convicted of arson. The…
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Your Confusing Relationship With Cliff Huxtable Doesn’t Justify Victim-Blaming
When I was 11 years old, I sat on a witness stand and was interrogated for the crimes of my father. I had reported his sexual abuse to my mom when I was an innocent 10-year-old, woefully unaware of how the turn of events would play out. I understood nothing when his guilty sentence was…
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Seeking Justice: 6 High-Profile Cases to Watch This Year
Thanks to the efforts of the Black Lives Matter movement and a seemingly never-ending stream of disturbing videos, police brutality was one of the biggest news stories of 2015. A Washington Post investigation found that last year, at least 980 people were shot and killed by police. One in 10 was unarmed, and a disproportionate…
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Waist Training Is More Like a Waste of Time
If a new hourglass figure is one of your New Year’s resolutions, Kim Kardashian and many other celebs may have you thinking that whittling your middle is a cinch. However, waist shapers, appropriately named, are actually a waste of time. So don’t believe everything on your social media feed as you prepare to shape up…
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Kanye West Drops Surprise New Year’s Eve Track Dissing Bill Cosby
Kanye West, never one to shy away from controversy, dropped a new single on the last day of 2015, getting all up in Bill Cosby’s, Nike’s and Drake’s pudding. West, the father of 2-year-old North West, took it to the Coz on “Facts,” a track that has been burning up social media since Friday, when…