Please understand that before there was crunk there was The Chronicle; before there was Bone Crusher there was Lyrical Giants; before there was India Arie there was Donnie and Joi, before Janelle Monae there was Edith’s Wish. Atlanta was bursting with musical creativity and at the center of the live music scene was a band […]
Hail to the…Naw!
So Summer’s Eve has a new marketing campaign for their line of “feminine” washes and deodorants called “Hail to the V!” And, just to be clear, that “V” is for vagina! If you visit their website you can take a quiz to “ID the V” and get your hands on a “Vagina’s Owner’s Manual.” In case […]
Tough Titty: On Feminist Mothering and the Breastfeeding Doll
Dolls and doll-play have been a long-standing point of entry into discussions about the social construction of race and gender. My mother and grandmother certainly invested in all of the latest doll trends of the 1980s when I was a child—I had Cabbage Patch, Kid Sister (though he’d deny it, my cousin Chad had a My […]
Prelude to an Exhale: My Best Friend Is Getting Married!
My best friend is getting married (in three weeks). In fact, in the last four months, three of my close friends have tied the knot. I can remember having “waiting to exhale” conversations with all three of these friends (one of them male) about the improbability and impossibility that true, enduring, forever-type love was possible […]
happy and ‘blackful’: a mini playlist
I dusted up my Keds something terrible Monday night. Maze featuring Frankie Beverly opened the 2011 season of Brooklyn’s Martin Luther King Jr. concert series and I two stepped until my calves cramped. I arrived early enough to get beat down by the late afternoon sun and ate up by the bugs attracted by my […]
#FAME: On C.Breezy’s 12,000 Fans
This morning, 12,000 fans, some of whom had camped out since Wednesday, showed up to watch Chris Brown perform tracks from his latest album F.A.M.E. (Fans Are My Everything) on The Today Show’s Summer Concert Series. The multi-racial crowd was filled with young women in their late teens and early twenties, but by far, from […]
Hateration, Holleration
I’m not trying to be the grammar police, but I really think some words just need to be retired. Take, for instance, “swagger,” or simply “swag.” I mean, once a word becomes connected to a scent that your grandfather used back in the day, it might be best to let that go. (Sorry, PawPaw). “Hater” […]
Dominique Strauss-Kahn and Who’s Really Being Set-up Here
Dominique Strauss-Kahn made some more headlines this week – and so did the woman who has accused him of rape. Much has been said about him and about her already. Reporters have noted his aspirations to become the socialist candidate for the French Presidency and others have reported on the character of the housekeeper at […]
Did you say lesbians? I love lesbians!
So I’m sitting in a coffee shop talking with a brother about a trip he took to Africa to work in a village. I was a little annoyed by his comments that more black kids should be taken to Africa so they can see how good they have it in America, but I decided not […]
Please Accept My Sincere Apology
Dear Sonja, I just wanted to write a letter and let you know how important you are to me. You have been there by my side all these years and I am ashamed to say that I have never showed you my full appreciation. Sonja, you helped me learn things about myself, my body, and […]