theory & essay
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A Story About Charles Kinsey, My New (White) Neighbors, And The Racial Politics Of Calling The Police
I live in a two story loft that sits above a coffee shop on one of Pittsburgh’s busy intersections. It also exists directly across the street from a park, within walking distance of several restaurants, and a few blocks away from a hospital. Naturally, the neighborhood gets quite a bit of foot traffic during the day.…
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How Taylor Swift Is The Most Dangerous Type Of White Woman, Explained
Who is Taylor Swift? Taylor Swift is a transubstantiated vision board curation of inspirational quotes who happens to be perhaps the world’s most famous White woman. She’s also Snapchat. (To me at least.) She’s Snapchat? What do you mean? I recognize that Snapchat is a thing that is a very popular thing. I am not unaware of…
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The Definitive Ruling On The Single Best Way To Play Spades
Last weekend, I attended a birthday party for a friend. Which, all things considered, may have been the bougiest birthday party I’ve ever been at. Consider the following: A) It was marketed as a birthday party but it was actually just a day party that happened to occur during someone’s birthday. This is stealth bougie.…
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On Black Women and Erasure In The Face of Institutionalized Racism
Last week, I wrote a piece about the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week America was having in the aftermaths of the state-approved murders of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile and the subsequent killings of five police officers in Dallas, Texas, amid a peaceful protest of those killings. In this piece I pointed out…
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How To Avoid Getting Shot And Killed By The Police If You Happen To Be Black
I will concede that we don’t know everything about the circumstances that led to Philando Castile’s death. What we do know, however, is that it would seem like Castile did everything Black people are taught and learn to do when interacting with the police; all things we’re taught and learn to do to avoid what happened to…
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Dallas PD Owes Mark Hughes A VERY Public Apology
Dallas Police Department fucked up in a very real way last night. A citizen of Texas, Mark Hughes, was exercising his right to carry a weapon, in his case an AR-15, just as we’ve seen any NUMBER of individuals do at places like Chipotle, or wherever people go in Texas, where open carry of firearms…
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It Has Not Been A Good Week In Or For America
It has not been a good week in or for America. In a little over 72 hours, two Black men from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and St. Paul, Minnesota, have been murdered by the police, and last night, in Dallas, Texas, snipers took aim at the police during a peaceful protest over the first two killings.…
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A Guide On How To Properly Slander, Shade, And Insult Millennials…From A Millennial
As the youngest adult generation, Millennials seem to be under constant scrutiny from those a bit more seasoned. Why can’t they get off social media? Why are they so fickle in relationships? And how do they listen to this bastardized version of something we used to call hip hop? How could anyone think booming 808s,…
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Why I Don’t Steal Music Anymore (For the Most Part)
In a recent VladTV interview, living rap god Bow Wow (formerly of the “Lil’” varietal) discussed his entire career. He referenced Ray J. and Lil’ Kim’s “Wait a Minute,” a joint that I’d forgotten made me nod my head around the turn of the century (and the only worthwhile thing Ray J. ever did that…
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Jeremih's Song "Oui" Bothers The Shit Out Of Me.
I’m not a fan of Jeremih. I’m also not not a fan of Jeremih. In fact, Jeremih exists in a space where I typically forget he exists until one of his songs pops up on a Sirius station I listen to and I read the info and I’m like, “Wow, he’s still around, eh? Well,…