I’m obsessed with Christie, you know the black Barbie doll. Me, a married, sometimes spoiled, all right often self-spoiled 41-year old African-American mother of four. So far, no one has stepped up to claim one of my other favorites, Smurfette, nor have I seen a celebrity cooking with an Easy Bake Oven or crazed with my o.g. love, Betty Boop. Let me first start by saying that I make no apologies for loving all of my childhood icons. I’ve collected many of these favorites since my teens and have no intentions of stopping. That being said, with Hello Kitty seemingly taking over the world by way of Target, Walmart and Apple products. I’m growing a bit concerned of the messages we are sending to our young girls.

Dear Zoe,

Before I begin, please know that the majority of my disgust is reserved for Cynthia Mort and Jimmy Iovine. They hold primary responsibility for your casting in the upcoming film "Nina," and that choice symbolizes the utter disregard the film industry has shown for telling the stories of Black women faithfully.

I went to a wedding a few weeks ago and it was beautiful.  Normally, I wouldn’t be too excited about going to a wedding, as a single woman (with no date).  But this one, in particular, was one I had been looking forward to attending for a while.

From the Cradle
Over the course of a lifetime, we forge an array of relationships and kinships through a combination of choice, circumstance, and/or fate. The primary relationship, the bond between parents and child, however, is clinically considered to be one of the most important and influential in our lives. This is because we enter it without choice or preparation, and at the most vulnerable and impressionable stages of our human development-- infancy and childhood. As adults, we are pretty cognizant of how our childhood experiences with loved ones molded our sexual, racial, and spiritual identities. We may even be able to trace the foundation of our political leanings and political outlooks to certain experiences in our youth. But what about our financial selves? How much do we think about the impact of our primary relationships on the development of our financial identities?

Weird. Adj. Different from the standard or norm. Atypical; freaky.

I’ve always been “different.” The outcast. And finally… after many years and tears; my heart, mind, body, are all on one accord with my name. Eris. The name my mother gave me in honor of my father. Eric. Growing up… it wasn’t an easy road to be an Eris, especially when I had a lisp and could barely pronounce it myself. Getting mistaken for a boy, or being called Erica, Paris, Eric, Harris, Erin, Iris, or Edris, I’ve had to toughen my skin. And even to the day… my co-worker calls me “Air-ez” …sometimes I grow weary of correcting people. But the Ashleys, Jennifers, Nicoles and other “normal” names… don’t come up against those barriers (With their first names at least).

Lupe Fiasco says, “Bitch Bad”. That, I agree with. The combination of those two words is overused and incredibly detrimental to society. The rapper then declares, “Woman good”.  OK Lupe, indeed. Just as I am nodding my head along to what will be the final part of the stanza, Lupe throws in a quickie that abruptly sends me into an ethical dilemma with the song: “Lady better”. I still shared the song on my Facebook page, and I pleasantly agree when everyone raves how great it is. But the question remains: how is being a lady better than being a woman?

Originally posted at Coffee Rhetoric

[Editor's Note: I've decided not to post the video on For Harriet. View the video here. -Kim]
When 59-year-old bus driver Artis Hughes decided to pull over the bus he was driving to engage 25-year-old female passenger Shi’dea N. Lane in a brawl, I’m sure he never anticipated a video of his actions going viral via the bastion of social media’s dark underbelly, World Star Hip Hop. But go viral it did.

No matter where dad has gone or what dad has done, mother, mom, mama, makes the difference. Mama must forge ahead with her children on her back and dreams in her gut.

Everyone focuses on the absent parent, the father, who is no longer around to make a difference in the child’s life, but if there’s a solution for single mother households, it lies within the parent who’s still involved in the child’s life--the mother.

Originally posted on Ashleigh, Not Ashley 

Like many sistas across the country, I was watching the Steel Magnolias remake Sunday night and tweeting about it. As I do with anything I critique, I’m open about my like or dislike for something. It doesn’t matter what it’s about or who is in it, I’m honest about my opinions and feelings about it. I wasn’t too fond of this remake and I wasn’t shy about it.

Originally posted on Amour and Apparel

If video killed the radio star then the smartphone killed courting. I love my iPhone. I can’t get through a day without it, but iPhones, Blackberries and Androids have ruined the art of dating and it’s not even the calling feature that did it! These darn apps, and social media as a whole, straight up murdered dating. They wrote its obituary in emojis and played a polyphonic ringtone at its funeral.

This time three years ago, I was working in a fast-paced nonprofit organization in Washington, DC. I was a twenty-something black woman at the top of my game at work, while at the same time pursuing a PhD and managing a budding consulting business on the side. One day, I was taking the metro in to the office when a little voice whispered in my head, “I don’t want to do this anymore.” 

Yesterday's news that Issa Rae (the Awkward Black Girl herself) had paired up with Shonda Rhimes and sold I Hate L.A. Dudes to ABC, is exactly the kind of news I've been wanting to read, and always love to read!

And if you're a content creator with similar goals, hopes and dreams of your own, this should excite and inspire you.