It’s New Year’s Eve, and tomorrow many of us will start making resolutions we will inevitably break. I don’t make resolutions; I’m also not into composing “Best of…” and “Worst of…” lists mostly because I don’t choose to dedicate my memory to cataloging such things. Since my blogging day has coincided with the event, however, […]
Chicago has officially reached 500 homicides in 2012, after a fatal shooting on the city’s West Side yesterday. What can we do to make 2013 a safer, more peaceful year?
The Catholic Church lead by Pope Benedict XVI continues to spew out homophobic teachings as he (a man disconnected by at least 5 generations) called me “unnatural.” As the Pope ironically celebrated his pagan holiday by lighting a Christmas tree, he also used the stage as an opportunity to tell women what they could and […]
This year McDonald’s will be open on Christmas day. “Starting with Thanksgiving, ensure your restaurants are open throughout the holidays,” reads the Nov. 8 memo from McDonald’s USA Chief Operating Officer Jim Johannesen. “Our largest holiday opportunity as a system is Christmas Day.” But at least that means thousands of minimum wage employees will get overtime pay, right? Wrong! McDonald’s […]
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5fa6TZc8kI Lately, I’ve been greatly concerned with the misconceptions and myths that continue to be perpetuated about youth in our society. For Black youth in particular, we are often subjected to ahistorical misconceptions that revolve around notions of youth apathy. We often get projected as rebellious ciphers that are for some reason less respectful, less […]
Robert Johnson, BET founder, billionaire, and head of RLJ enterprises, has once again called for President Obama to address black unemployment more directly. And he’s got an idea.
Megan Piphus, an upperclassman at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, recently appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. She’s using music, ventriloquism, and puppetry, to inspire youth to dream big and in color!
It’s sad that it takes a tragedy so horrifying it’s beyond belief to get us to recognize a problem that’s been staring us in the face for decades. The culture of violence that this country was founded on is as American as apple pie. Sadly innocent children and brave teachers were murdered in Newtown, CT, and we can only […]
In the wake of the terrible massacre in Newtown, Conneticut, Democrats (and many Republicans) are pushing for the return of an assault weapons ban. Would such a ban go far enough?
I had planned on using this morning’s post to conclude my silly holiday special. Since I took time last week to make a mixtape of rappers covering Christmas songs, I figured I’d spend this morning telling you all about this new, mythical black Christmas figure I had invented. Since Kwanzaa is insufficient and the idea […]
I attend Temple University in Philadelphia, and almost every time I mention that I am from Chicago I get 2 questions: “Do you know Chief Keef?” and “Have you ever been shot?” When did Chief Keef become the poster-boy for Chicago? What does this say about our society’s obsession with violence?
In the LGBTQ community there is something called “throwing shade.” A colloquial term used to describe instances when one individual verbally and offensively altercates another. I am not interested in the shade itself, but moreso the reasoning as to why this experience is so common among interactions between youth of color in the LGBTQ community. […]
