Black girls are awesome, right? We talk about this all the time. We’re fierce, funky, and fly. We make trends, we transcend. You go to any ‘hood in America and you can find sisters who are no less stunning than the Halle Berrys and Kelly Rowlands on TV. We’re dope. In Brooklyn, I am constantly…
I can honestly say that I’ve never wished that I’d been born a different race. It was only the illusive magic of beauty I wanted, beauty like my mother proudly possessed, the kind of physical aesthetic that transcended and bewitched.
Last week, Tracee Ellis Ross, known to most of us as Joan Clayton from Girlfriends, launched a website dedicated to uplifting and educating other women. Like most fashionistas that admire Tracee’s eclectic panache, I was excited about TraceeEllisRoss.com. Since the unveiling, I have not been disappointed. The fashion icon is tackling a host of topics,…
Why rush when true strength and wisdom come to those who can endure through any situation. It comes to those who can endure even the worst of times with a faithful spirit and positive outlook on life. Too many of us are looking for the microwave blessings. We want it now and fast without all…
Dear Fat Girl, Last week, I saw an overweight news anchor respond to a bully with such power and confidence that it made me cry. It also made me want to write about my own experience of being a fat girl. I almost wrote this letter to my younger self: a deeply sad, chubby fourth grader who…
I used to be the sort of person who was always looking for the next big thing. In high school, I wanted to be in college. In college, I wanted to have a job. Every job I had, I wanted to be more successful. I didn’t learn about stillness, about just being, until I had to….
Queen, Empress, Daughter, Wife, Sister, Beautiful…all names that mean so many different things to different people, but why is a name so important? A long time ago I started calling people names according to what I saw when I looked at them or what I perceived after I got to know them. I would often greet…
You know that moment, where you’re gripping some of your side fat in the bath, and you just ate all of the leftover spaghetti at once, with pesto and tomato sauce and grated cheese and, weirdly, liverwurst, and you’re thinking, Tomorrow I will go to the gym. And then I’ll go every day after that, for the…
Pink rainbow panties over her diaper and a huge hair flower: That’s what passes for a swimsuit (or “smimsmoop”) for Jelly Bean and watching her frolic in the end-of-summer 93-degree weather it seemed perfectly appropriate. Diaper and undies — who says you can’t have it both ways? In an attempt to make our last day…
“Don’t you know your imperfection/Is a wonderful blessing/From heaven is where you got it from/I love your smile/You can do it without style/From your lips, all the way to your eyebrows/It’s the beauty in her/But when makeup occur/I don’t see it/all I see is a blur.” — No Makeup (Her Vice), Kendrick Lamar As the…
