culture
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My Man’s Ex Won’t Stop Hanging Out With His Mom
My boyfriend’s ex is still close with his mother. She even calls her “Mom.” They have been broken up for over a year, and he says they no longer communicate. Am I wrong for wanting this relationship to stop? It is awkward at family functions when both of us are around. —Anonymous You are not…
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My 1st Same-Sex Wedding Was Just a Perfect Wedding
I love weddings. And one of the best weddings I’ve ever attended took place last week in Brooklyn, N.Y. The whole evening was a perfect blend of elegance and casualness. Rose petals were strewn about a wooden deck, and a Juilliard-trained musician bowed her violin as 100 well-dressed guests sat underneath the setting sun, sipping…
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Is There Value to Beyoncé’s Brand of Popular Feminism?
“I think Olivia Pope is the bomb. And if that’s the way we’re going to get it, then we need to get it.” “It,” according to Alexis De Veaux, is black feminism. The retired professor of women’s studies at the State University of New York, Buffalo, says she does not question the legitimacy of popular…
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NBA Player’s Transgender Sister Found Dead in Baltimore Alley
Another transgender woman has been found dead in Baltimore. This time the victim has been identified as the sister of NBA player Reggie Bullock, Reuters reports. Mia Henderson, 26, was discovered Wednesday in an alley, having suffered “severe trauma,” a police representative told the news site. Her brother was a first-round draft pick for the…
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Girl Abandoned on a Doorstep Off to College 18 Years Later
Sara Gibbs was a single woman, working long hours as a nurse, when she made a decision that would change her life. Gibbs never thought she would be a mother, but after an infant girl was left on the doorstep of a nearby doctor’s office, she made the decision to take the child in. She’s…
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Study: Black Men Have Made Very Little Progress in 50 Years
The cradle-to-prison pipeline and the sharp decline in employment opportunities during the Great Recession remain very real for black men. University of Chicago economic researchers Derek Neal and Armin Rick looked at census data to measure the status of black men and presented preliminary findings from their working paper at the National Bureau of Economic…
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Survey: White Males Dominate Cable-News Talk Shows
In a five-week major cable-news survey, Fair, a progressive national media watch group, uncovered some startling and unprecedented results. For five interspersed weeks—the first two weeks of February, first week of March and first two weeks of April—the watch group monitored guests appearing on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 and OutFront With Erin Burnett, MSNBC’s All…
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Florida Barbershop Promotes Literacy by Giving Books to Its Young Customers
Your local barbershop probably consists of televisions broadcasting ESPN, animated banter on almost any subject and music to match the vibe of the shop. The only literature you would expect to find is a magazine. A Palm Beach County, Fla., barbershop is altering this traditional view of barbershops by taking away the TVs and radios…
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New Captain America Is an African American From Harlem
If only comics were like the real world, then the second-in-command who has been valiantly putting in the work and learning the trade would get promoted regardless of color. On Wednesday, Marvel Comics announced just such a promotion as Falcon, the African-American character born and raised in Harlem, will become the new Captain America. (Comic…
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Texas Actress Who Sent Ricin Letter to the President Gets 18 Years
A Texas actress who mailed ricin-laced letters to President Barack Obama, then-New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and a gun control advocate was sentenced to 18 years in federal prison on Wednesday, the Associated Press reports. Shannon Guess Richardson, 36, pleaded guilty in December to the federal charge of possessing and producing a biological toxin. In…