By Andreana Clay Originally Posted on Queer Black Feminsist “I’m the man!” the little girl screamed at her father in a climatic scene from Beasts of the Southern Wild, a new film by Behn Zeitlin. My dear friend Holly and I checked it out tonight in downtown SF. It’s a film I’ve been wanting to check out for […]
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 […]
Asking for Sex: Revisited
Last week, I wrote a post called Asking for Sex: What to Do When the Guy Says No. My interest in writing the post was to explore the contingencies and challenges of asserting sexual desire as a straight Black woman. What I know now is that there is much truth to that saying about hell […]
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. […]
Asking for Sex: What Do You Do When the Guy Says No?
Frequently, I tell my friends that my life is a bad romantic comedy. There’s plenty of comedy, little romance, and never a happy ending. This has become all the more apparent as I have attempted to make sex a regular rather than sporadic occurrence in my post-30 life. I swear that I have managed to […]
Blue-Eyed Jazz & Love: 3 Blackgirl Lessons I Learned From Toni Morrison
As a writer when I feel the pull of creativity it is as seductive as the lure of a would-be lover, arms outstretched with whispers in my ear as sweet as honey mixed with molasses. It is enough to keep you up all night and daydreaming throughout the day imagining the next thing to say […]
Health care reform, politics and power: Is the Supreme Court Crunk?
At 10:07am Eastern Standard Time the Supreme Court of the US (SCOTUS) released its long-awaited decision on whether the Affordable Care Act (ACA), President Obama’s major policy achievement during his first term, was constitutional. The ACA was Congress’ first major effort at reforming our health care system in many years, with many Presidents trying and […]
Thoughts on Lupe’s Bitch Bad
On most days, mainstream Hip Hop is a place that makes me grimace and shake my head derisively (at the exact same time that my hips begin to gyrate and my ass demands to follow the pull of gravity.) It’s Du Bois remixed for a new era: this inherent two-ness that Hip Hop engenders. If […]
The Evolution of a Down Ass Chick, Part II (or Why Miss Independent Is Probably Single)
NOTE: This blog continues the conversation about the implications of hip hop masculinity on heterosexual love relationships between black men and women (see The Evolution of a Down Ass Chick). Independent Woman: A woman who pays her own bills, buys her own things, and DOES NOT allow a man to affect her stability or self-confidence. […]