The first season of The Apprentice brought with it an impressive black woman (Omarosa Manigault) who deconstructed her brilliance to pacify an audience that seeks (if not requires) black women to fit a particular prototype on television. Omarosa embodied what Patricia Hill Collins would designate the black lady, a black woman whose intellect and success […]
Author: rboylorn
The Joy(s) of Being A (Black) Woman
I taught a class of Black Women’s Stories this semester and it culminated in a moment of clarity and a recognition of joy. When speaking with a black woman scholar whom I both admire and respect, I shared some of my concerns about the course and how while the stories are certainly powerful, many narratives […]
How To Say No: The “B” side to Self-Care
(This post is in response to Life Is Not A Fairytale: Black Women and Depression, one of our earlier and most popular posts.) It took me years to unlearn the habit of saying yes automatically when someone asked me for (or to do) something. So often had that single syllable fallen from my tongue that I […]
“We Created A Circle”: Reflections on the CFC Retreat
We began making plans for our first Crunk Feminist retreat months in advance. The first attempt, in May, failed because of an unexpected death in Brittney’s family. We initially planned a workshop-like gathering in Atlanta on Emory’s campus but the postponement, coupled with hectic schedules and life’s work, lasted one year. Our second attempt, scheduled […]
no love
i don’t write love poetry anymore or/poetry about love my heart and bed are empty my thoughts a distant memory of/what love used to be * i once wrapped my life & legs around him watched from the outside as i lost myself in someone else who didn’t lose himself in me it was an […]
Why I Am Watching “The Game”
“It’s so crazy how these fans are so embedded and … attached to these story lines,” Tia Mowry said. “They actually think Melanie and Derwin are real.” I was one of the 7.7 million viewers who tuned in to watch The Game’s resurrection on BET last Tuesday. And I will also be in the number, […]
Watch What You Say: On The Accountability of Words
In a communication course last year my students and I reached an impasse when they insisted that words have no power. When I challenged their overuse of popular, yet problematic, slang that is potentially offensive and harmful (i.e., saying something is “gay” or “retarded”) they claimed that words don’t mean anything, they are “just words.” […]
Keeping It Real: Black Women & Reality TV
My addiction started with good intentions. I am a scholar who studies representations of black women so it made sense to look for black women on reality television shows. This was not a practice I was unfamiliar with. Watching Jeopardy or Wheel of Fortune was always more “appealing” growing up when there was a black […]
A Return to Myself: A Delayed Response to For Colored Girls
I finally saw For Colored Girls yesterday with ambivalence. I had promised myself that I would not go, that I would not give Tyler Perry another 8 of my dollars, that I would not subject myself to false images of myself, and that I would hold on to the For Colored Girls Who Have Considered […]
“Words Hurt”: A (Personal) Reflection on Bullying as Verbal Violence
It began as daily torture and sickening waves of dread bellowing in my belly with tears collecting behind dark circles in my eyes too stubborn to fall. I learned the art of holding back the floods of hurt, that stung my eyes and soaked my pillows at night from daylight. They never betrayed me in […]