Entertainment

Angelina Jolie’s Breast Removal: How One Woman’s Bravery Was Met With White, Male Arrogance

June 14, 2013
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Angelina + Brad

By Bill Patrick Straight, white guys often seem to think that we know what’s best for everyone else.  We love to go around telling people of other groups –women of all races, men of color, and people who are sexual and gender minorities what to do and how to live. This white, straight, male...
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Posted in Entertainment, Health, Sexism, Sexuality | 4 Comments »

No “Madea” in Tyler Perry’s New Drama, “The Haves and the Have-Nots,” But Still, a Muddle of a Mess

June 5, 2013
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By Lillie Anne Brown Ok, let me just start by acknowledging what I get: I get that Tyler Perry provides excellent employment opportunities for people of color at his Atlanta-based studio. I get that he is a spiritual person and understands from where his blessings come. I get that he says he doesn’t care what...
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Posted in Black Women, Culture, Entertainment, Family | 3 Comments »

The Rise of Beyoncé, The Fall of Lauryn Hill: A Tale of Two Icons

May 13, 2013
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By Janell Hobson Fifteen years ago, the stardom of then-23-year-old Lauryn Hill had peaked when she released what would become her defining musical legacy.  After rising to popularity as part of the hip-hop trio The Fugees, with fellow members Wyclef Jean and Pras, she later released her solo album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill,...
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Posted in Black Women, Culture, Entertainment | 44 Comments »

Why My Kingdom Needs Janelle Monae’s Q.U.E.E.Ndom

May 10, 2013
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Why My Kingdom Needs Janelle Monae’s Q.U.E.E.Ndom

By Hashim Pipkin I am not a black woman. And unlike many who are not, I do not claim to be able to speak for the quotidian existence of black women in this world. I do not know their interior lives. I do not know the battles their desires must take up daily to keep...
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Posted in Black Women, Culture, Entertainment, Style | Comments Off

Why I Haven’t Given Up on Hip-Hop

April 19, 2013
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By Amber Jones When did you first fall in love with hip-hop? This question frames one of my favorite films, Brown Sugar (2002). The film explores the relationship between two childhood friends, Sidney Shaw (Sanaa Lathan) and Dre Ellis (Taye Diggs), through the progression of hip-hop — best chronicled in the classic track “I...
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Posted in College Feminisms, Culture, Entertainment | 7 Comments »

First To Die: Evil Dead and Blackness in Horror

April 13, 2013
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By Joshua Alston The victor in this weekend’s box-office battle was Evil Dead, the remake of Sam Raimi’s 1981 cult-classic horror film, which roared into first place with a better-than-expected $26 million take, and won far better critical reviews than are typical for horror films. Like the majority of remakes, the new Evil Dead...
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Posted in Culture, Entertainment, Racism, Television, U.S., Violence | 4 Comments »

Untangling the Knots: Understanding the Hair Politics of Black Women (Revisited)

April 9, 2013
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Untangling the Knots: Understanding the Hair Politics of Black Women (Revisited)

By Mazuba Haanyama My central aim involves the politics of bodily performance, in negotiation with shifting realities of a post-Apartheid context, where constructions of gender, race and class are both mobile and stagnant… This project critically engages the role of popular culture in influencing youth cultures. In a context such as South Africa, such...
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Posted in Black Women, Culture, Entertainment, Style, Women of Color, World | 4 Comments »

Feminists We Love: Joan Morgan (Video)

March 22, 2013
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Joan Morgan is an award-winning journalist, author and a provocative cultural critic. A pioneering hip-hop journalist, she began her professional writing career freelancing for The Village Voice. Morgan’s passion and commitment to the accurate documentation of hip-hop culture combined with adept cultural criticism placed her at the forefront of music journalism. She was one...
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Posted in Academia, Activism, Black Women, Entertainment, Feminism, Feminists We Love, Style, Television, Writing | 2 Comments »

Confessions of a Black Morrissey Fan

March 21, 2013
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Confessions of a Black Morrissey Fan

By Joshua Alston This week, Morrissey announced that he is canceling the remainder of his North American tour, due to an ongoing battle with a bleeding ulcer, Barrett’s esophagus, and a case of pneumonia in both of his lungs. I was disappointed to hear about the illnesses plaguing the singer, who since fronting the seminal...
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Posted in Culture, Entertainment, Music | 9 Comments »

Taking the white man-boy seriously

March 15, 2013
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By Kyle Kusz The white man-boy is the most important cultural figure in America today. Hyperbole?  Maybe. But, allow me to make a case that the ‘white man-boy industrial complex’ is producing ways of being and knowing the world, particularly for white men, that threaten the social interests (if not rights) of women and...
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Posted in Entertainment, masculinity, Television | 15 Comments »

Arts & Culture

  • From Detailing Trauma by Arianne Zwartjesari_bio03

      THE ANATOMY OF TRUST OR BREAKING _____ I. HEART The pulse shudders the body at such infinitesimal levels that many of us ignore its existence. Walk around carrying fists in the center of our chests, the bottom tipped somewhat rightward, sitting more-or-less directly below the sternum, squeezing each moment [...]

  • 3 poems by Ian EllasanteIMG_3643

    Diana and the face of the moon another night you are          . turning your face ………………….. i am already gone and you are throwing stones        . Diana swearing never ….. swearing never …… swearing never ………………………………………… again just say what you are trying [...]

  • Two Poems: “Different Pages” and “The Bee Trap”969930_134837700045011_155646280_n

    By Kristy Webster   The Bee Trap   Some girls have eyes like invitations, and some girls wear glasses and scarves, walk with a whistle in their mouth,   Some girls leave the window cracked open, they need more air always more than the breeze will bring and some people [...]