59 Search results for "rejection"

This past week I had the opportunity to attend two great events on the south side. A showing of the Kartemquin film, The Interrupters, and an all day event dedicated to youth activism past and present, which included a showing of The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975. Both events were well attended by both community members and college […]

Our community has a crisis on its hands. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, rates of HIV infections amongst gay and bisexual African American men rose 48% between 2006-2009. And nobody seems to know why. According to the CDC, potential reasons for the continued increase in HIV infections amongst black gay and […]

When I’m asked “What are you?” a question which my slight racial ambiguity warrants on almost a daily basis, I say black. So I check black on my college app. Then sometimes (most times actually), the question is followed by “Yeah, but what else?” and sometimes “She’s Cuban!” “She’s Puerto Rican.” “She’s Italian.” from eavesdroppers. […]

It’s hard to hold your confidence together without knowing where you stand, at first glance, with a person that you’re interested in. During high school, especially freshmyn year, you will have plenty of times when you try your luck, without a reliable strategy for getting a date. Rejection is a trip: before you move on […]

If last week’s rather desultory and occasionally poorly rendered post on The Fab Five was any indication, my love for Jalen Rose and the rest of the Fab Five is immense and endures even today.  I appreciate many of the things they symbolized.  Just like back in ’91, many do not hold this cohort of […]

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78_loMbmKJ8 Welcome to the world of Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All (OFWGKTA) by way of 17 year old Earl Sweatshirt. You thought Chicago youth were bad, peep the hard truth of LA. This is your first day of millennial purgatory, complete with super drugs, aggressive sexuality, and lyrical violence. If you ask me, […]

Next week is Valentine’s Day. So, I thought I would write an early post about it from the perspective of someone (i.e. me) who deeply desires “soul abiding” relationships, but who struggles greatly in that regard. So, you know what is troubling for me is to look in the mirror and see myself becoming like […]

For far too long have people been forced into silence, a silence that neither yields equality or freedom. This is the silence that conjures depression, subjugation, and ostracization. A creed that keeps people quiet in the name of sustaining what traditionalist preach to be “proper.”  This silence is what keeps men on the DL, women […]

Where I come from, the homeless are a dime a dozen, and beggars are as common as the neglected pennies of college students. It sounds harsh, but it’s true. While growing up, it was not uncommon for me to run into a crackhead who literally asked for a quarter everyday. It was no secret, everyone […]

One of my friends came to me this week and told me one of those stories that make you shake you head in disappointment. My eighteen-year-old male friend (For Blog purposes we will call him Timothy) was approached and asked out on a date by an older man (We will call him Bernis). Bernis was […]

As I was perusing twitter the other day, I came across the following link that was posted by @afrobella. The video is of Lauryn Hill performing at the Apollo in 1987, getting boo’d off stage (yes back in the day you could boo at kids). As a person who has chosen writing as her lifelong […]