Blog
Popular Posts
If you’re a white person, and you’re talking to people of color about a prominent person of their same race or ethnic origin, you can’t ever be too respectful… Not “MLK” but “Dr. King”
Have you seen the video of these two Scottish guys who try to get a voice-activated lift (elevator) to understand what they’re saying? What if they were black? … So These Two Scottish Guys get onto a Lift…
“I Ain’t no AY-rab”
I got on an airplane just nine days after 9/11. Everyone was on the lookout for more “Arab” terrorists. There were National Guardsmen all over the airport. Then there was a commotion in the security line ahead. Some Guardsmen were talking to this slender, 30-something, working-class white man who was wearing a lot of gold chains…
read more
Aibileen’s Secret
I’ve watched the movie “The Help” many times. You know that part at the beginning where Skeeter asks Aibileen if she ever wanted to be something other than a maid? Aibileen just smiles. I finally figured out what it was, and how it came true for her…
read more
The Powerful, Scary Words of Black Men
Three and a half years ago, I saw one of the most powerful, visceral, humorous, scary, and dangerous pieces of theater I’ve ever seen: “Hands Up: 6 Playwrights, 6 Testaments.” It was six black male actors, speaking the truths of six black male playwrights, infusing those words with the raw, visceral emotions of their own experiences…
read more
There Are Always New Experiences
Last weekend I went to see a play called “Familiar.” It wasn’t the experience I’d hoped for, but…
read more
Aunt Jean has had a Stroke
My husband’s Aunt Jean had a massive stroke last month. Who knows how much she’ll be like her old loving, friendly, mischievous self the next time I see her…
read more
The Janitor at Work
I recently started a new job, sitting at the front desk at a research organization. And after the novelty wore off, and my sheer relief at having a job, I noticed something. I do a lot of the same stuff, over and over. Then, one day, I saw the janitor waiting for the elevator, and I thought of something: he does the same stuff, over and over, every day.
read more
Of Course There are Lots of Black People in Saginaw, Michigan
I asked a black coworker a stupid question the other day. When he told me he’s from Saginaw, Michigan, I asked him if there are many black people there…
read more
When the Tectonic Plates of my Soul Shifted
Years ago, the tectonic plates of my soul shifted. It was October, 2006, and I was at my in-laws’ 50th wedding anniversary celebration. By the time I got to the hall where the celebration was being held, I knew three things. One, I was dressed wrong…
read more
White Women Reacting to my “Hands off the Hair” post
I read my post “Hands off the Hair” at the writers group that I belong to. At the end of the afternoon, when all of the writers there had read their pieces, some of them came up to me and told stories about hair…
read more
“Hands off the Hair”
The other day, I saw an African-American woman wearing a T-shirt that read “Hands off the Hair.” I paused, and smiled, and said to her, “I love your T-shirt.” She grinned and said, “Thank you.” I said it in a way that made it clear that I know why T-shirts like that exist…
read more