Tag Archives: twerking

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”

Tales from the B-side of a Skinny Twerker

At age 14, I loved dirty dancing. We called it booty shaking back then. But I weighed less than 100 lbs and not much was shaking on me but bones. I would watch my summer camp friends dance while, in the corner, I twitched in a pattern that imitated rhythm to stay unnoticed. The girlsContinue reading “Tales from the B-side of a Skinny Twerker”