So it’s January and the weight loss advertisements are literally flooding in. Like two days into the new year Bobby Flay was in a warm up suit talking healthy eating when October-December he and all his foodie buddies on the Food Network and the new Cooking channel were all about indulgence. But the ad that […]
Watch What You Say: On The Accountability of Words
In a communication course last year my students and I reached an impasse when they insisted that words have no power. When I challenged their overuse of popular, yet problematic, slang that is potentially offensive and harmful (i.e., saying something is “gay” or “retarded”) they claimed that words don’t mean anything, they are “just words.” […]
Does This Make Me Look Fat?
I own the movie Phat Girlz and I’m not ashamed. Starring a pre-Oscar Mo’Nique, Phat Girlz is part Cinderella-story, part conventional rom-com about a big girl searching for some love. It’s not remarkable in terms of budget, plot, or acting. In fact, a fair bit of it is cringe-worthy. (What immediately springs to mind is […]
Do Good Guys Always Finish Last?: Thoughts on Dating in the New Year
Happy New Year! If you are over 30, highly accomplished and yet still single, perhaps you are breathing a sigh of relief at having survived another holiday season of prying questions, inappropriate remarks, and even, loneliness. This year, all of my aunties informed me at Christmas that they needed to know if I had a […]
Crunk List 2010
We can hardly believe the year is over! We’ve been thinking about the blogs, books, films, and so on that have sustained us throughout 2010. So, what we’ve come up with is the inaugural “Crunk List”! CF Crunktastic Sesame Street, “I Love My Hair”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enpFde5rgmw– This song is a celebration of the beauty of Black girls’ […]
A World Where We are Free
Someday at Christmas men won’t be boys Playing with bombs like kids play with toys One warm December our hearts will see A world where men are free Someday at Christmas there’ll be no wars When we have learned what Christmas is for When we have found what life’s really worth There’ll be peace […]
Do we need a body count to count?: Notes on the serial murders of Black women
“Number 47 looks like my second-grade teacher. Number 83 resembles one of my daughters. Number 66 calls to mind my children’s grandmother. And although some faces were cropped from near-naked bodies, others were shot outdoors, wearing boots and jackets,” said LA Times Reporter, Sandy Banks, commenting on photos of unidentified Black females. Debra Jackson. Click. […]
Keeping It Real: Black Women & Reality TV
My addiction started with good intentions. I am a scholar who studies representations of black women so it made sense to look for black women on reality television shows. This was not a practice I was unfamiliar with. Watching Jeopardy or Wheel of Fortune was always more “appealing” growing up when there was a black […]
The Dirty South: GA Prisoners on Lockdown for Liberty
13th Amendment: Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for a crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. On December 9th, courageous inmates at 10 Georgia state prisons staged a peaceful protest in which they locked themselves down […]
Men and Feminism: A Primer
Balance is required in all things. And since we at the CFC are perfectly willing to check somebody when they get it wrong, we are also willing to give you some resources and pointers on how to get it right. But when it comes to combatting privilege, often folks are unwilling to acknowledge the privilege […]