I’ve been thinking a lot about what it means to be a progressive in a political world that mostly recognizes the binary of Republican and Democrat. Now that the Democratic National Convention is in full swing–especially after rousing speeches by First Lady Michelle Obama and former president Bill Clinton–the questions concerning the role of those […]
Category: Activism
Memories, survival and safety
TRIGGER WARNING This post contains information about sexual violence that may be triggering to survivors. I know if feels like I been gone for a minute but now I’m back, green tea on ice with a fitted. 🙂 Mi familia, it has been a while since I last posted. I have to be honest, for […]
For Whites Who Consider Being Allies But Find it Much too Tuff
Trigger Warning: Some language about sexual violence to follow. The following post is a crunk public service announcement for our own post most racial times. For the record, being a white ally means… Not expecting your friends/colleagues of color to do the heavy lifting around your own privilege… Not recentering the conversation back to yourself […]
The Wait of the Nation II: Parent Companies, the “Bain” of our Existence!
On May 24th I posted the blog “The Wait of the Nation” in response to the four-part HBO documentary “The Weight of the Nation,” and I specifically focused on part three “Children in Crisis.” My major concern is both the blaming of individual parents as the primary problem and the marketing of obesity clinics as […]
Coming Out Stories: On Frank Ocean
By Summer McDonald Original Published at The Black Youth Project I’ve spent the last week treading in the liquid of a queer-flavored ambivalence, trying to determine why the Anderson Cooper and Frank Ocean coming out announcements mean less to me than other people. I have seen enough episodes of Coming Out Stories and foolishly subjected myself and […]
The Joys of Stillness
Recently, Tim Kreider published a piece in the New York Times called “The ‘Busy’ Trap,” where he extolled the virtues of being both lazy and ambitious. Krieder is not really talking about genuine busyness brought on by meaningful obligations, but all the small stuff that can take up a lot of room in our lives. […]
Interrupted Attachments: On Rights, Equality and Blackness
Remaining attached to certain ideals even when – and sometimes, most especially after – privileges that accrue to such concepts have been pointed out and problematized, should force us to ask some serious questions about the relation of citizenship and subjectivity, the relation of citizenship as subjectivity, to ongoing processes of exclusion and violence. The […]
Get Crunk! Two Years and Counting!
http://www.ustream.tv/embed/recorded/21662874 Video streaming by Ustream I’m in a reflective space after the Black Thought 2.0 Conference at Duke. I want to begin by thanking the conference organizers for inviting me to be on this panel. It felt good to be recognized as a junior scholar for my work and contribution to a growing network […]
Reconciling the Non-Profit “Post Industrial” Complex with Black Girls in Mind
Who is Anna Julia Cooper? Click here to learn more. Awesome FIRST wave Black Feminist. On Monday, I went to visit the Score Small business mentoring office to learn about the benefits and limits of a 501 (c) (3) versus an LLC or a conventional corp. #planning. #wingsup. I was REALLY surprised to learn that […]
Why I Supported the Hoodie March and Not SlutWalk
Nearly two Wednesdays ago, after a long day in the office, I frantically drove home, donned one of three dark hoodies that I own, hopped a train to NYC from Jersey, met another Sista Prof friend and made it via taxi to Union Square just in time to participate in the first One Million Hoodies […]