pop culture
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Black Man Who Wants To Be Dominican Dates Puerto Rican Who Wants To Be Black
I was away from my computer for much of the day on a journey that took me to quite a few places, including The Container Store. Which although I’d never actually been there until today, has always fascinated me. I first heard about it in a Bill Burr stand-up routine over a decade ago, in…
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You Were Probably Going To See Hidden Figures Anyway, But Go See Hidden Figures.
I feel like I’m in a pretty enviable position in life. Since I was 18-years-old, I’ve been surrounded by Black people who are actively involved in STEM fields. I have several friends with STEM PhDs, including one who writes for VSB on occasion. Two of my closest friends in life are PhDs in biomedical engineering/biology…
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Donald Glover's Atlanta Was A Love Letter To Black People, And The Year's Best And Most Important Show
Three moments from Atlanta keep coming back to me when attempting to gather and articulate my thoughts about this show. 1. Black Justin Bieber pitted against Paper Boi in the celebrity basketball game, calling for the ball and unsuccessfully trying to get his teammate’s attention with “Nigga! Nigga!” And then, fed up that he’s being ignored, breaking…
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My TI-83 Graphing Calculator Is The Real MVP and My STEM Folks Know What I'm Talking About
In the summer of 1997, right after graduating from high school, I was offered the opportunity to participate in a pre-freshman summer program at Morehouse College (my eventual alma mater) directed at those of us entering the school as science, math, or engineering majors. It was called Center of Excellence in Science, Math, and Engineering…
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"Martin" The Show Was Great, But Martin Payne The Character Was Trash
Hey you! Yeah you over there. Are you sitting down? If so, great! Stay sitting down. If not might I suggest you find a nice comfy lumbar-supporting transcendental meditation cushion and commence to sitting your ass all the way the hell down because I’m about to drop a truth bomb on your said seated asses.…
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Kanye West Is What Happens When Whiteness Becomes The Standard
Admittedly, reminding myself that Whiteness isn’t any sort of standard to measure myself by is a concept I still wrestle with. Even today, as I’m acknowledging the existence of White privilege, of White supremacy, and of the creation of Whiteness, I have to consciously urge myself not to allow it to infect me. But it’s so pervasive,…
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An Ode To Donny Hathaway and "This Christmas"
If you know like I know you don’t want to step to this Christmas season doesn’t officially begin until the first time I play Donny Hathaway’s “This Christmas”, his 1970 single (that he wrote with Nadine McKinnor) that tanked upon release but over time has become as vital to the Christmas season as Mariah Carey’s “All I Want…
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This Clip Of Zara Larsson Covering Beyonce Is Peak Mayonnaise, And Harper's Bazaar Is Petty For Sharing It
Surprisingly, the worse part about this video isn’t actually Zara Larsson’s attempt to cover Beyonce. It was bad, of course. It looks and sounds like a professionally edited clip from karaoke night at Mayonnaise Caribana. But although I was tempted to coin her “Darth Mediocre” after first watching it, that would be unfair because she…
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The Only Takeaway From The ‘Insecure’ Finale Is That Lawrence Is No Catch
This piece was originally published on November 30th, 2016 on The Frisky. The sight of black men cheering for Lawrence during Sunday night’s Insecure season finale gave me heart palpitations. Men gathered around the TV to howl like it was a NBA Championship game when Lawrence (Jay Ellis) had revenge sex with bank teller Tasha…
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I Dont Know How I'm Supposed To Feel About Kanye
This piece started off quite differently. You see, after years of skating around the margins of the sentiment, I’d finally leaned into full-on “Fuck Kanye West” mode. It followed years of annoyance at his trend of constantly obnoxious and solipsistic behavior. Even his admission during a recent concert that he didn’t vote at all Nov. 8 but…