culture

We tuned in to this week’s Scandal anxious to find out who was finally going to save Olivia. The episode picks up with Olivia being handed over to the Iranians who bid on her. As it turns out, Olivia, who we already knew was magical given her steady supply of trench coats and fresh blowouts even…

Should a man get upset or feel a type of way if his girlfriend goes out, either solo or with friends, and other men buy her drinks? Or should she turn them down? —Anonymous Let me ask you this instead: Would you be OK if your man went out, either solo or with friends, and…

In the midst of a ratings slide that has seen MSNBC fall further behind competitors CNN and Fox News in recent months, the left-leaning network has canceled its 2 p.m. weekday program, The Reid Report—hosted by veteran journalist Joy Reid—and its 1 p.m. weekday show, Ronan Farrow Daily, hosted by relative newcomer Ronan Farrow, reports…

Lisa Price is unapologetic about the growth of her beauty brand, Carol’s Daughter. After the Carol’s Daughter retail division sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and closed five of its stores last year, many customers were confused about the state of the business. Its focus, Price says, had turned from selling out of its own stores…

Jamaican-born Orlando Patterson, a Harvard sociology professor since 1969, likes to tackle big issues. Slavery and Social Death and Freedom in the Making of Western Culture, two of his most acclaimed works, traverse centuries and continents. Now he’s confronting the issue of culture and black youths. In the newly released The Cultural Matrix: Understanding Black…

Whether imagined by a semibored press or very real for those the post pissed off nonetheless, the controversy surrounding Mary Cheney’s Facebook inquiry about drag and blackface speaks to many truths. For starters, it proves for the umpteenth time that no matter what the privacy settings on your social media tell you, if you’re a…

Caution: dancing microwaves ahead. Yeah, so a lot happened this week; some of it poignant, some of it unexpected, some of it absurd. Let’s get started. Hakeem’s arranged a candlelit dinner, prepared by Chef Roblé, for Camilla. He calls her “bae” and then must explain that the word means “babe.” Camilla is 40ish. Don’t make…

The Motown musical genius Smokey Robinson—the man whom Bob Dylan famously called America’s “greatest living poet”—turns 75 today. In a career of astonishing longevity spanning more than half a century and with hits too numerous to list, he has given pleasure to millions throughout the world. As such, it is only fitting that we pause to…