culture
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How 2015 Was Drenched in White Tears
Abigail Fisher is the average-est white woman in the history of average white women. Her averageness is so average, it’s aggressive. Enthusiastic. Transformative. It boldly goes where no average has gone before. She’s unambiguously average. Obnoxiously average. Disruptively average. If she were a character in Star Wars, her name would be Darth Average. She’s to “average…
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Here’s Why the Country Club Went Ballistic Over the Sam’s Club CEO
Something in the way Sam’s Club CEO Rosalind Brewer said it, or a verb or two by the way she threw it, made a bunch of white people run scared into a corner. Correctly miffed by the absence of any female or “of color” representation at a recent negotiating table, Brewer went brave and did…
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Serena’s SI Cover: Can a Sister Have a Moment Without All the Drama?
So. Sports Illustrated named Serena Williams its 2015 Sportsperson of the Year, the first time an individual woman has won the award in more than 30 years. In a lengthy essay, the publication lauded Williams’ remarkable professional accomplishments, then got to the more important reasons why Williams was chosen: “Because Williams kept pushing herself to…
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Holtzclaw Verdict Is Not a ‘Win’; It’s Fuel to Keep Fighting
It has taken me a few days to sift through my feelings about the 18 of 36 guilty verdicts handed down by an all-white jury to former Oklahoma City Police Officer Daniel Holtzclaw for the rapes and sexual assaults of seven black women and one black child. After over a year of screaming his name…
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Who Cares About Haters When You’ve Got Wins? The Cam Newton Story
Those who dislike Cam Newton have their reasons. His bright-white smile—as flawless as the Carolina Panthers’ 13-0 record—is a good place to start. Misery loves company, and Newton clearly would ruin the best pity party. The quarterback’s effervescence as he runs roughshod over the league gets on some folks’ nerves. If his smile is “fake,”…
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Harvard Hosts Symposium on the Afrodescendant Movement in Latin America
“This is the most important event of the first year of the United Nations Decennial on Afrodescendants.” That is how Celeo Alvarez, leader and founder of ODECO (Organization of Community Ethnic Development), the best-known organization of Afrodescendants in Honduras, characterized a recent gathering of activists, government representatives, academics and agency representatives from international organizations at…
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He Lied About Erasing Our Sex Tape and Was Surprised When I Got Mad
My boyfriend and I recorded a sex tape one day and agreed to delete it months ago. Last night he took out his phone without warning or asking and played it. I was upset and felt gross. He apologized but seemed surprised at how upset I was. Was I wrong for being mad? Is this…
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How Being Petty Won 2015
On July 21 at 11:46 p.m., Meek Mill, upset that Drake didn’t help him promote his recent album, took to Twitter to announce to his millions of followers that Drake doesn’t write his own rhymes. Then, 11 minutes later, he tweeted that he wouldn’t have even allowed Drake to be on his album if he…
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The Color Purple Broadway Review: A Story of Sisterhood That Never Gets Old
Sisterhood is powerful. That’s the theme that has carried The Color Purple in all of its incarnations: a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel in 1982, an Oscar-nominated film in 1985, a Tony-winning musical in 2005, and now, its latest iteration, a revival, back on Broadway after a very successful stint in London in 2013. It’s a theme…