I grew up in a small town in North Carolina where my sister had a basketball goal connected to a tree and learned how to strategically run around the stumps to avoid falling. She also learned to perfect her jump shot through a conspicuous tree limb and branches that blocked her view like the outstretched […]
Tag: education
Twerkers Beware: Juicy J Thinks Reading is Fundamental
Yesterday, Juicy J announced the winner of the $50,000 twerking scholarship that he began advertising in October in a partnership with World Star Hip Hop. The winner, 19 year old biology major Zaire Holmes distinguished herself from many other applicants by deciding not to twerk. It turns out twerking was not required. […]
Starting With A Guide: New models of collaborative scholarship
Back in July, I attended nerd camp, THATCamp CHNM. I learned about the visualization tool Viewshare, created by the Library of Congress. I’m happy to announce the launch of Dr. Stephanie Evans’ “SWAG Diplomacy,” a project I helped her build in Viewshare. SWAG Diplomacy, as described by Dr. Evans, “maps locations of 200 African American autobiographers […]
Sexy, Self-Conscious, Sanctified, Sassy & Single: Why I Married My Ph.D.
2011 has garnered a lot of conversations centering on the undesirability (hence un-marryability) of (professional) black women. Black women have been fed unsolicited and unnecessary information about how to correct and prepare ourselves for our soulmate without giving us the credit due grown ass women who routinely (and effectively) handle our ish, look good doing […]
How it feels to be…
Last week, I spent some time with thirty black high school students from rural Alabama as a part of a summer enrichment program. After leading a session discussing Zora Neale Hurston’s “How if Feels to be Colored Me,” I had the students break into small groups to talk about how it feels to them in […]