Yesterday, I tuned in, as I have done nearly every summer since I was nine or ten years old, to watch the finals of the U.S. Open. Serena Williams was vying for her 15th Grand Slam title against Australian player Sam Stosur. As I tuned in, I steeled myself for the endless stream of racist commentary from the sportscasters, […]
10 Years Later – Memory and Memorials
Today is the 10th Anniversary of the September 11th attacks on the US. The media and the blogosphere are abuzz with news and specials, with memory and memorials. I was in college 10 years ago, planning a career in science. My whole life has changed since then. My entire politicization happened in the context of […]
Update: Justice for Kelley Williams-Bolar!
In January, we reported the story of Ohio mom, Kelley Williams-Bolar. Bolar was arrested for “records falsification,” tried, convicted, and sentenced to nine days in prison for sending her two daughters to school in a more affluent district outside of Akron where she resided. In July, in a move that defies reason, a parole board […]
Rituals , Spells, and Intuition
I come from a world where you don’t mess with your ancestors, dreams have meaning, seashells give advice, upside down coffee cups tell stories, and practicing black magic has severe consequences. As a child, I would sit between my mother and aunties’ legs witnessing women tipping stained coffee cups to the side, preaching of ills […]
Irene, Erykah and the Stuff after Storms
When Irene whistled, I listened to Erykah. Curled on a daybed in the dark, I rummaged for ways to salvage stuff in the midst of a hurricane when Badu pleaded to the self-proclaimed bag lady on a drained battery to let it go. This summer, I returned to my Virginia hometown to weather a different […]
Feminist Musings on Showing Up
It’s 11:30 PM. I have a baby with a cold. I have a looming, untouched exam prep list. I have a sink full of dishes. I have students writing me after 9:00 asking for “leeway” in tomorrow’s class. I have a headache. I have a backache. I have anxiety-induced insomnia. I have people. And when […]
On C. Breezy and Feeling Old
Last night, I watched the VMA’s. They were chock full of typical MTV silliness, Lady Gaga in drag, and shocking announcements via dance numbers. You know, the usual. Mostly, it became clear to me that I am no longer the target demographic for the show. (There were points where I looked at the screen and […]
Back-to-School Beatitudes: 10 Academic Survival Tips
Graduate school was nothing short of an emotional and physical rollercoaster. I spent the first semester depressed and homesick, years 2-4 battling a stress-induced stomach condition that caused me to lose not only 75 pounds but also a whole semester of work. I healed just in time to begin my dissertation, wherein I gained back […]
Mamie Till’s Memorial
she wanted the world to see what they had done to her baby, Emmett. so as we quickly approach the day Emmett was violently violated and killed (August 28), i want to consider again the religious ethics that prompted his mother’s — Mamie Till-Bradley — desire for the world to experience the death of her […]
Confessions of a Reality TV Junkie
What began as morbid curiosity and harmless voyeurism has turned into somewhat of an obsession. Reality Television has become a habitual part of my nightly routine and something that I am not particularly proud of. As I spent the weekend clearing out my DVR, which was full of reality tv shows I missed while being […]