Confession time. I tried, with all the good-black-girl-solidarity within me, to like Shonda Rhimes’ show, ‘Scandal.’ It’s a black girl’s dream show: Kerry Washington in the lead role being bawse-y in Louboutin’s and Outre Remi, sexy black guy-candy, sexy white guy-candy, annoying whiny women upstaged by Kerry’s awesomeness, powerful white man sprung on Kerry’s goods…youContinue reading “Why Scandal Is Scandalously NOT Great”
Category Archives: race & culture
How to Be a Great Social Non-Drinker
The first (and last) time I went out for drinks with co-workers was a disaster. I have been a teetotaler most of my life. Social environments intimidated me somewhat, but I felt honored that they had invited me out to shoot the breeze and toss back a few. My co-worker Kim gallantly offered to buyContinue reading “How to Be a Great Social Non-Drinker”
Can We Afford the Cost of War?
“Daddy will be home SOON! YAAAY!” My mother invented this cheer to ward off the persistent question my brother and I lobbed at her. I was eight and my brother was three but we both wanted to know the same thing: When is Daddy coming home? Her answer, “soon,” was neither lie nor truth, a tightropeContinue reading “Can We Afford the Cost of War?”
Decoding Ratchets, Respectability, and Racism
I think of the word ratchet like a friend you graciously let stay on your couch: it was cool at the beginning, but it’s really overstayed its welcome by about a year. The first time I heard the word was in a 2009 song by Hurricane Chris called “Halle Berry (She Fine),” where the rapperContinue reading “Decoding Ratchets, Respectability, and Racism”
One Less Crab in the Barrel
Over the years, I’ve come to realize that an aphorism is the particle board of conversation: cheap and easy to drill holes through. They hold no weight, and when challenged, the trite words collapse as if we never meant them at all. Like many linguistic tools, aphorisms are best used with care instead of beingContinue reading “One Less Crab in the Barrel”
dara t. mathis 