14 Jun 2013
Mark Anthony Neal is a professor of Black Popular Culture in the Department of African & African-American Studies at Duke University. Dr. Neal received his PhD in American Studies from University of Buffalo. He is the author of five books, including the recently published Looking for Leroy: Looking For Leroy: [...]
9 Jun 2013
By Mohadesa Najumi Many people object to the phrase “rape culture.” They don’t understand how a culture as civilized as ours can be defined by a force as destructive as rape. They deem it an overstatement, an “over-analysis” by angry bra-burning feminists. Some even consider it an oxymoron. And others [...]
5 Jun 2013
By Bruna Lobato In my first creative writing class as a Brazilian international student at a private American college I received my fiction assignment back with comments and a tall slender “A” written in green ink. I was glad to see validation that I, a non-native speaker, could write well [...]
3 Jun 2013
By Ashley Yenick Do millennials know of any famous feminists in our society? There are many feminists mentioned in this video: bell hooks, Audrey Lorde, Peggy McIntosh, Susan B. Anthony, Gloria Steinem, and Michelle Obama. I was intrigued to hear that Michelle Obama was considered a feminist. I think the interviewee’s [...]
7 May 2013
*Trigger warning* Sometimes I feel like the NRA is actively just trying to lose all the credibility it has left in this world. Just when you thought the NRA’s annual convention in Houston this weekend couldn’t draw any more negative attention, it goes out and casually promotes a company selling a product [...]
29 Mar 2013
By Monica Torres When I sign my name, it’s Monica, not Mónica. When I order pupusas at my favorite restaurant, the waiter will give my accent an approving nod, as if to say, you’re one of us. But it will only take a harder question for me to reveal the [...]
18 Mar 2013
By Alexa Lambertis At an early age, I was exposed to a woman who essentially changed my life. A sweet lady with a southern background, she was introduced to me as a family friend. I met her in her own home, where we would spend a majority of our time [...]
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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By Bo Luengsuraswat One decade is a long time. Ten years. One-zero. It’s the beginning of the next digit. A transition. One decade is a vast space. Constantly shifting, warping into different shapes, rolling across landscapes. One decade is a great distance, yet unpredictably proximate. It will be one decade this fall. One decade...
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By Chaya Babu I was a few weeks into my freshman year at Duke when my sister, a senior at the time, said to me, “Indian girls who date black guys are sluts.” Just like that. We were sitting in her car in the circular driveway behind my dorm. The night was warm and...
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By Quincy Scott Jones Town and Country: A Review of Marci Blackman’s Tradition (Water Street Press, 2013) In the most brilliant crimes stories, the detective must travel, and hence guide the audience, from more familiar settings to enter hidden and hostile communities. Sherlock Holmes leaves the humdrum armchair to investigate the Red-Headed League. Easy Rawlins leaves his...
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By Kelly Sharron and Abraham Weil Laura Briggs is the chair of the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies department at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. We had the opportunity to speak with her about her latest book, Somebody’s Children: The Politics of Transracial and Transnational Adoption, an interdisciplinary text that analyzes transracial and transnational adoption,...
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Sarah Mantilla Griffin Charles Ramsey, the hero who recently rescued Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus, and Michelle Knight from a decade of captivity, has become the latest in a new trend of unwitting viral video stars. As Aisha Harris has noted, Ramsey joins Antoine Dodson, Sweet Brown, and Michelle Clark as a YouTube sensation, generating...
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By Breea C. Willingham The 5 ½ hour drive to Hunlock Creek, PA is always filled with conflicting emotions. I’m excited about seeing my brother, but at the same time, I dread the visit because of the overwhelming guilt I feel when I leave. Visiting a loved one in prison never gets any easier,...
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Too often, we do not celebrate the extraordinary individuals who, because of their race, gender, and/or socio-economic standing, lived what appeared to be ordinary lives. This year, I am paying homage to my paternal and maternal grandmothers’ lives and legacies. I proudly stand upon the shoulders of my Nanas—Mrs. Rebecca White Simmons Chapman and...
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By j.n. salters This letter is for my mother. Our mothers. Grandmothers. Aunts. Sisters. All of the other black women who continue to raise black and brown warriors in this battlefield we call America. Who constantly find ways to make ends meet–in a world that continually fails to acknowledge your worth and beauty–just to...
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By Anis Gisele “Did he hurt you, in a new way?” –Fear and Convenience, Thao Nguyen And you were finally free to call yourself gay. Fifteen years after your mother first asked you, in front of your extended family, in a red-decked Chinese restaurant, if you were a lesbian—and you said no. Four years...
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12 Jun 2013
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 [...]
5 Jun 2013
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 [...]
29 May 2013
from Narrative & Nest by Danielle Vogel Toward Untraumatizing the Sentence— If anything comes through in spite of all this, it is a miracle, and probably no book is born entire and uncrippled as it was conceived. —Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own I’m beginning [...]
13 Jun 2013
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The Guardian