World AIDS Day: Don’t Just Blog/Tweet About It, Be About It

December 1st is World AIDS Day. A day where the bloggers and tweeters will wax eloquently about the importance of getting tested, raising awareness, and taking action. Can you imagine the progress we would make as a community if everyone who blogged, tweeted, or retweeted actually got tested? I challenge everyone to put action behind [...]

You Down With HIV?

I remember a comedian riffing off of Naughty by Nature’s song Other People’s Property (O.P.P.) Instead of the song’s hook, “You down with O.P.P.? Yeah, you know me,” the comedian would add his own words….”You down with HIV? Hell naw, not me!” That comes to mind on this 27th day of June, National HIV Testing [...]

Book Recommendation: Black Woman Redefined – Available Now!

My good friend and colleague former JET Columnist, White House Reporter, MSNBC / Grio.com & Essence contributor Sophia Nelson has penned a new book that everyone is talking about! Black Woman Redefined:  Dispelling Myths and Discovering Fulfillment in The Age of Michelle Obama. We all heard about and were appalled by the Psychology Today article last week [...]

Have We No Shame?

Have We No Shame? Hat tip to Politics from the Eyes of An Ebony Mom for highlighting a recent article written by Star Jones for Uptown Magazine. I’m not a Star Jones fan. But I’m also not a hater. She operates in a realm of celebrity I rarely pay attention to. So it was with [...]

Six Weeks and Thirteen Fibroids Later (Part 1)

I think I was in my mid-twenties when I was diagnosed with uterine fibroids.  I hadn’t really heard the term before.  All I cared about at the moment was that it wasn’t cancer.  They were small and I couldn’t feel them.  Like many African American women diagnosed with fibroids, I decided to deal with the [...]

10 Things Black Girls Do

Interestingly trending on Twitter was #thingblackgirlsdo. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. But decided to take a look at the trending topic. What I saw was not so much good, too much bad, and a hell of a lot of ugly. So the black girl in me wanted to change the conversation to something [...]

Dear Doctor’s Assistant, #fibroids

Dear Doctor’s Assistant, Please refrain from using the word CUT so often in describing my upcoming myomectomy. Are you competing for one of the slots on House M.D.? Yes, we are all grownups but the word does not need to be repeated ad nauseum like you’re singing the hook of your favorite rap song. Respectfully, [...]

5 Reasons Why I Hate Fibroids

1. Because at the age of 35 I shouldn’t be forced to make a decision whether or not I want to have kids. 2. Because I should be able to function like a normal woman every 28 days instead of being drugged up on narcotics to make the pain stop. 3. Because I shouldn’t have [...]

Two Young Females Are Crossing the Street..

By now, we’ve all seen or heard about the video showing a police officer punching a woman in the face. It is ugly all around. But these women are not blameless. A Belle in Brooklyn has captured my thoughts exactly. There is no defending the actions of this police officer. But the incredible gall of [...]

Reflecting on The Moynihan Report

Sometimes the truth ain’t pretty. And we can’t ignore it or dismiss it just because we don’t like the messenger. Such was the case with the infamous Moynihan Report several decades ago. The report detailed what would become of the black community should the traditional black American family life continue to deteriorate. Columnist Clarence Page [...]

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