Very Smart Brothas
-
What Do Your Passwords Say About You?
At my previous employer, we were responsible for doing our own time sheets for HR and salary purposes. The system required us to come up with a minimum of (I believe) a 12-character password that included a combination of numbers, letters and special characters. Also, we were required to change said password every 90 days.…
-
Scholly Is Helping Howard University Students With Financial Aid Issues Get Their Money Right
While many of the stories about HBCU students being pulled out of line during graduation exercises for various reasons (usually financial or not having completed necessary coursework) skew hyperbolic, there is some truth to the narrative. At my own graduation from Morehouse College in 2001, I absolutely did see somebody pulled from our baccalaureate procession,…
-
What We Mean When We Call White People ‘Colonizers’
I’ve included references to East Liberty—a neighborhood in Pittsburgh’s East End—in pieces I’ve written for VSB, Ebony, Slate and GQ, and it’s peppered throughout my book. There’s an entire chapter, for instance, devoted to the changes it’s undergone in the past 20 years. I do this because it’s where I spent many of my formative…
-
I Tried Red Lobster’s Lobster and Cheddar Bay Biscuit Waffles and Lived to Tell About It
You know how, if you’re watching a game on TV and it happens to feature LeBron James or Tom Brady or someone else who has perfected their craft and has the prototypical body and mind for their position, the commentators might say something like, “LeBron was born to play basketball”? Well, considering all available evidence—my…
-
Black-ish Explores the Decision Between Attending an HBCU or a PWI That So Many of Us Had to Make
ALL THE SPOILERS ARE HERE. THIS IS YOUR SPOILER ALERT. Last night’s episode of Black-ish hit home. Junior’s waiting on college acceptance letters, and he gets two at the same time: an acceptance and full ride to Howard University (father Dre’s alma mater) and an acceptance—but not as much money—to Stanford University. For Dre, the…
-
I’m Playing in an Alumni Basketball Game in May, and I Have No Regrets About Agreeing to Do This!
All things considered—and furiously knocking on the closest wood possible—I think I’m in pretty good shape for a man of my advanced age (39). I am not, however, in the shape I’d like to be in. Admittedly, this want to be in better shape is at least partially cosmetic. I want to have more stamina…
-
White Woman Sentenced to 3 Years in Prison for Racist Tirade Appears in Court With … Cornrows
I do not know Vicki Momberg, the South African woman sentenced to three years in prison after her racist tirade toward a black police officer, so I won’t pretend to know why she decided to appear in court Wednesday with fresh cornrows. But I’ve got theories and suspicions! So many theories and suspicions! While in…
-
Why Howard University (and What’s Happening There Right Now) Matters So Much
A few weeks back, I attended a talk at Howard University in which my fiancee was guest-teaching a class on public relations and integrated marketing. Before I got to the class, I went to the bookstore and bought a Howard University crewneck sweater. I’m a huge advocate for and supporter of HBCUs—I make a monthly…
-
For Chloe x Halle, Being on Grown-ish Is the Best and Smartest Marketing of Their Music Ever
Grown-ish is an awesome television show set against the backdrop of a fictitious California University. We get to follow the life of Zoey Johnson (everybody’s fave, Yara Shahidi) after she graduated from high school (and Black-ish) as she learns to navigate life and love as an almost adult. The show addresses everything from social media…
-
Regina King Was Awesome in Seven Seconds; Seven Seconds Was Not As Awesome as Regina King
****SPOILER ALERT: THIS WRITE-UP WILL HAVE SPOILERS.**** Netflix’s original show Seven Seconds is the second television show that I watched purely because of the reactions on my social media timelines, with the first being This Is Us. I knew Regina King was in it and she’s a national treasure, but I had no idea what…