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  • Let Me Upgrade You?

    Kyle had just purchased a fresh pearl white Lexus coupe for his birthday. He said he’d rock it for a year or two, then trade it in. “Oh, it’s a lease,” I assumed.”No,” Kyle replied.”Two years…you’re not going to have it paid off by then, will you?””I’ll probably never pay off a car. If I’ve…

  • R. Kelly Gets Schooled

    R. Kelly has lost his mojo. He’s old, and he’s tired, and the sound and style he perfected are now flowing through the veins of more capable artists like The-Dream, Trey Songz and Usher. There’s nothing wrong with growing old, of course. Except when you think you’re still young.   With his first-ever mixtape, The Demo…

  • Hating on the Celtics: You Know How We Do

    Among the things that have, until now, been universal truths in professional basketball: · Someone, every three years, will be compared to Michael Jordan. It will be a fallow comparison, and the poor fellow will soon be playing in Europe, if playing at all. · The Miami Heat, year in and year out, will have…

  • It's Not Easy Being Green

    After the Celtics beat the Detroit Pistons in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals, the phone rang. I presumed it was an old friend from my childhood in Mattapan, Mass., one of my boys who, back in the 1980s, would typically ride me if the C’s lost a game and half-heartedly congratulate me on…

  • Running With Obama

    Since the race for the Democratic nomination has drawn to the end, many pundits have begun to ask how the choice of a vice president might help to repair the damage inflicted on the party as a result of the long contest. The Clinton camp has promoted the idea of an Obama/Clinton ticket that can…

  • The Other Verdict

    Single Father, Author, Screenwriter, Award-Winning Journalist, NPR Moderator, Lecturer and College Professor. Habitual Line-Stepper

  • Thank You, Thank You, Thank You

    Now that the weather is consistently warm throughout the country, we’ve entered into what the British would probably call high season for weddings. According to American Wedding Consultants, the nation’s oldest association of professional wedding planners, the months of May through October are big favorites for saying “I do.” So, if you’re getting lots of…

  • Whiteygate

    And so continues the conundrum of being a post-racial black candidate in a still-very-racial world. To speak the truth about anything involving race is to be accused instantly of dragging out that famous racial deck we’ve all been dealt that stands us in such good stead in America. The campaign of Barack Obama has had…

  • Donations, Please!

    In 2007, Oprah Winfrey gave $50 million to establish the Oprah Winfrey Foundation and Oprah’s Angel Network; in 1987 Bill Cosby gave $20 million to Spelman College; in 2004 Buddy Fletcher pledged to give away $50 million to organizations to further the goal of Brown v. Board of Education. African Americans have a tradition of…

  • Goodbye to a Standup Brother

    Here is something important you need to know about Tim Russert: On the night Barack Obama clinched the Democratic presidential nomination, even a casual viewer could tell Tim was beside himself with the joy of watching history unfold before his eyes. In that slightly over the top, nearly hokey way that characterized his love of…