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Step: Black Girls Stomping All Over Adversity to Create a Rhythmic Safe Space
On the totem pole of society, black girls are distributed at the bottom. The magic within us is an unmatched recipe consisting of our resilience, perseverance and love. No matter the adversity and hate hurled at us, we rise from the ashes like an intoxicating phoenix. And this is the feeling you’ll get while watching…
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This Man Cooking On A File Cabinet Grill Is The Blackest Thing I've Ever Seen This Week
I love us. “Us” being Black folks. And there is no greater time than today to flaunt and celebrate it. We are swimming in the ocean of the Black TV Renaissance resurgence, we’re the driving force of social media, our music (as always) is the soundtrack to everyone’s lives, and well… the Carter twins are…
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Why Casey Affleck's Win Aint A Defense Against Nate Parker's Loss
A few months ago, widespread rumblings about Casey Affleck’s sexual allegations began to surface in my social media space. To be completely real, my very first encounter was when someone dropped a NY Mag link in my women-centric industry Google Group. Not on my Twitter timeline, not on my Facebook feed, not via Instagram scrolling.…
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That Time I Decided To Move To Los Angeles To Chase My Dreams
It was December 2014. A highly emotional and stressful year was met with a last punch to my gut when a significant friendship ended. I felt worthless, burdensome, insufficient, and abandoned. And, frankly, I was tired. I was tired of crying every day and every night, sneaking away to bathrooms to delete my cache of…
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I Came, I Saw, I Conquered Caribana
***Disclaimer: The official name for Caribana is The Scotiabank Toronto Caribbean Carnival. Scotiabank doesn’t even have the rights to the name, “Caribana,” but it’s one of those things that just stick. Kind of like how no one in Chicago calls The Willis Tower by its current name, we still say Sears Tower. So… yo mama…
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Dear Respectability Politics Brigade: This Is Time For You To Shut The Fuck Up
In the wake of the Emanuel AME church in Charleston, South Carolina, this letter is equally outdated and timely. In what seems like the unsavory mixture of an eternity and “just yesterday,” Black people have been murdered (again) by a White person (again) for the crime of “existing while Black” (again). As I struggle to…
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Madonna Sucks The Everlasting Living Human Spirit Soul Out Of Drake
During a Coachella performance of his song, “Madonna,” the actual Madonna joined Drake onstage for a special guest performance. But, wait there’s more. She ended the performance by forcing a kiss on young Aubrey, much to his chagrin. Seriously, homie looked like when our mama used to force-feed us Tussin whilst inflicted with the cold…
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Cheekie Does SXSW: Part 3
Thursday, March 19th I woke up to do headshots with my bestie, Lauren (of Lauren Michelle Photography), which I had never done before. Right after that, she dropped me off at the Austin Convention Center for more SXSW festivities. At this point, all of the film panels were done (though, I believe there were some…
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Cheekie Does SXSW: Part 2
Monday, March 16th I woke up early to plant my butt in line for the second #SXSWFilm Keynote I wanted to go to: RZA. For those of you who may not know and are wondering why he gave a film-based keynote speech, RZA is a pretty talented film composer (I believe his most famous work…
