theory & essay
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Do You Have To Keep Inviting A Friend to Events Who Always Says No? A Discussion.
Every day across this land (and presumably across lands across the world), butthurt friends and associates get into their feelings about an alleged slight. You’ve been there. I’ve been there. We all scream for ice cream. You’re doing what we all do during the course of the day, skimming your Facebook timeline or perusing Instagram…
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Jesse Williams is Brilliant
Apparently, God woke up one fine mornting and she said you know what it’s a Friday and I ain’t got shit to do. Except it was actually Wednesday, August 5, 1981. On this day I shall give y’all Earth heathens a man. He will be smart. He’s gon’ be famous. And y’all don’t say “woke”…
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I Played Basketball For The First Time In Six Years The Other Day. I'll Probably Never Do That Again. Ball Is Not Life.
As is customary when a new family member is welcomed into the world, other and older family members descend upon your domicile to offer congratulations, salutations, and help. For the parents of newborns, its often the best time since you usually have more help than you know what to do with and the fear of having…
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A Man Like Him: To My Godfather
I read recently that dreams always start in the middle. There is no real beginning, there is no chronological sequence; just snapshots of visions in jarring order. I think memories work the same way. A lot of my more important memories seem to be snapshots of the climax in a particular moment, or glimpses filled…
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VSB Relaunched Two Years Ago Today. It's Been A Ride.
While being on Facebook and still not understanding what Snapchat is used for might make me the old guy at the club, ye olde Facebook does have one function that serves to heal the world, and make it a better place for you and for me and the entire human race. Facebook’s memory function of days…
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An Unofficial Guide To Ramadan Fasting For The Uninitiated Negro
The holy month of Ramadan has started for much of the Muslim population—which, despite all statements by Donald Trump and his ilk, is not exclusively made up of bomb-toting Arabs in menacing turbans. This demographic includes Asians (fun fact—Indonesia contains the largest Muslim population in the world), Caucasians, the man who sells you your bean…
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Where The Hell Is Panama Jackson, Explained
Who is Panama Jackson? He’s the lightskint half of VSB. You may remember him from such luminary documentaries as “The Other Splash Brother” and “I Know You Hear Me Looking At You: A DC Gentrification Story”. Okay, well, where the hell has he been? As you can tell, he cares about DC’s gentrification problem, so…
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When Peak White Privilege And Peak Rape Culture Create The Perfect Fuckshit Soufflé
If you are a person who… 1. cares at all about concepts like social justice, racism, gender equality, feminism, patriarchy, and privilege …and… 2. carries a frustration with people who have either been unable or unwilling to possess a nuanced understanding for what any of these concepts mean …convicted rapist Brock Turner, his father Dan, and…
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Can Black People Be Gentrifiers?
While I was not born in the United States, I spent the bulk of my formative years in Harlem. I went to elementary school on the north end of Amsterdam Avenue and middle school on Convent Avenue. While my mom was still getting comfortable speaking English when I was younger, she found solace in the…