I credit my fiancé, Michael, with any knowledge I have about prisons, prisoners, and prison justice. Early in our relationship, he told me that he was fascinated with criminal justice after watching “The Wire.” Then it was serial killers, and over the course of years that’s morphed into an insatiable passion for information about our […]
A seemingly impervious narrative dominates today’s social discourse in the Black community where Black men are painted as more vulnerable victims than their female counterparts. This far-reaching myth typically arises along with discussions about gender inequality or sexism where claims are made that Black women face less hardship than their male counterparts, or even — […]
At the exact time that I’m writing this (8:30 a.m. ), on this exact day two years ago, I was reporting my rape. It had happened after midnight on March 10, 2013. I’ve been trying not to write about it too much, anymore, because I feel like I’ve said everything I need to say about […]
We don’t get to choose our mothers. That would make everything so much easier. Or would it? There’s no such thing as a perfect mother. We may wish our mothers were in some way different, but that’s a waste of energy. The truth is, any mother we would have had would’ve left us with a […]
I have reached a point in my life where it seems that everything I wear looks kind of the same. Call it an accidental uniform. There are many stripes, lots of florals, and tons of floppy, oversized tops that conceal my figure and make me look with child in the wrong light, but allow me to […]
Last year, I was on vacation in Berlin when I woke up at 4 a.m., unable to move. Searing pain began at the crown of my head and extended well below my shoulders, causing my head, face, and neck to clench up and spasm whether I tried to move or lie perfectly still. The most […]
Big, full, dramatic eyebrows are a thing now. If this was 1998, Cara Delevigne’s brows would be waxed within an inch of their life. Lily Collins has brows that are as lush as her father Phil’s melodies. The Kardashian Klan’s eyebrows defy most logic, threaded to perfectly arched perfection. I’d love to see what they look […]
I used to have an expiration date, like eggs or 2% milk. Nine months was my limit; nine months of dating and then a guy gave me my walking papers. But tomorrow will be one year since my boyfriend and I met each other at a birthday party and sometime in the next couple of […]
This is not a story of how abortion is right or wrong. Nor is it about what other people are doing with their bodies, or what I think about that (as though it’s any of my business). No: this is just my story of how Planned Parenthood made some hard times a little easier for […]
