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Yes You Can, When Can We?
There has been much talk and much written about the significance of Barack Obama’s candidacy to African Americans. But Obama’s acceptance of the Democratic Party nomination is an unprecedented moment for blacks Europeans, too. As we watch, we do so with the hope for similar strides in our communities, in our countries. To see this…
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How Low Can You Go?
With thousands of Olympic tourists flooding out of China this week, now may be a good time to book a trip east. With the streets relatively quiet—well, as quiet as they get in Beijing—it is likely a great time to hit the markets and find a bargain. If you’re adventurous and impulsive enough to strike…
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The Senator from Scranton
One of the most remarkable things about Barack Obama’s choice of Joe Biden as his vice presidential nominee—apart from the fact that he managed to keep it secret—is that in this remarkably contentious election season, it did not seem to anger anyone. That is a remarkable feat for a party so desperate to win and…
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A Team Redeemed
The U.S. national basketball team, dubbed the Redeem Team, won the gold medal in the Beijing Olympics with a 118-107 win over Spain—very late—Saturday night. It was the culmination of a three-year program to rebuild the national team and restore American primacy in basketball. However, the gold medal isn’t the end of a long, arduous…
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Dayo on Nutrition in New Orleans
Covers the White House and Washington for The Root. Follow her on Twitter.
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18 Million Cracks, Now What?
Without a doubt, Hillary Clinton has been a trailblazer. She steeled herself for a tough primary battle, became a terrific campaigner by the end of the season and ended up, in her own words, making 18 million cracks in the glass ceiling, with the help of her fiercely loyal and energized base of supporters. Those…
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Taming it Down
An untrained ear listening to Michelle Obama speak at the Democratic National Convention might have dismissed her carefully scripted and reassuring comments as the unfortunate repackaging of a woman derided for being too strong and outspoken. But perhaps the audience was witnessing something entirely the opposite, a Michelle Obama so confident in her essential self…
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The Catharsis Campaign
Let’s start from the beginning. The concept of catharsis has a powerful pre-Freudian connection to the sacred feminine. In 355 B.C., Aristotle developed the idea of collective purging in response to tragedy based on the medical term katamenia, which described reproductive fluids. Hundreds of years later, devotees of Mary Magdalene found inspiration in his idea…
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Off-Color Confessions
Something about the widespread media coverage of David Carr’s new memoir, The Night of the Gun, is bothersome. It is noteworthy that The New York Times columnist attempts to correct an unfortunate trend of exaggerated or fictitious redemptive memoirs like James Frey’s A Million Little Pieces (2003). Carr did well to take a reporter’s approach…
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Talking Points
Barack Obama’s 2004 keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention contained sound-bite-worthy lines that would be replayed long after the ovation subsided. “There’s not a liberal America and a conservative America—there’s the United States of America,” he said. Despite his greenness—Obama had never before used a teleprompter—the reaction was titanic. Bill Clinton waited with throngs…