Saturday, June 19, 2010

Top Online Reads & Sees From The Root

I know that I haven't written in several months, but I found these articles from The Root so interesting, I thought I'd share them with you. The Root describes itself as "a daily online magazine that provides thought-provoking commentary on today's news from a variety of black perspectives." Enjoy!

The New Middle Passage
By: Malika Saada Saar Posted: June 17, 2010
Think Abraham Lincoln freed all the slaves back in 1863? Think again. And then get angry. Very, very angry.

On this Juneteenth, I am thinking of those who are not yet free. Most of them are girls. Born in America.
Every year in this country, between 100,000 and 300,000 children--most of whom are astonishingly between the ages of 11 to 14 years old-- are sold for sex by pimp-captors, according to government statistics. ...

Photo courtesy of ThinkStock.com
What Will Happen to Juneteenth?
By: Erin Evans Posted: June 18, 2010
Gen Y seems less than enthused about the day that slaves in Texas found out they were free. How will Black Independence Day fare in 2050?

"So how do you celebrate Juneteenth?" I asked my Twitter friends a few weeks ago. After a dead-tweet silence, I retweeted myself for emphasis. Even then, just a handful of my 300 or so Twitter friends responded with a few half-baked answers. "Go to some crappy festival," one Californian said. "I celebrate by doing nothing," said a childhood friend from Texas. ...
The Miseducation of Texas Schoolkids
By: Afi-Odelia Scruggs Posted: May 26, 2010
There's a reason why Carter G. Woodson established a Negro History Week in 1928.

See, a bunch of guys needed something to do in 1865 and 1866, right after the Civil War. It wasn't like they could go back to their plantations; Northerners had seen to that. So these good ole boys amused themselves by dressing up in sheets and riding through the countryside pulling pranks. Just good, clean hijinks, until they discovered their antics terrorized former slaves. Then, things turned naughty and nasty. But in the beginning, the Klan was just a social club. ...

Single-Minded: Sending My Mom Love on Father's Day
By: Helena Andrews Posted: June 18, 2010
No one can be both a 'mother and a father' to their kids. I'm so glad that my mom knew this.

I don't get those single women who say they've had to be ''the mother and the father'' to their kids. Nobody can be two people. Not even Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde could pull it off, and they had mad science on their side. Thing is you're either someone's mother or father, the two roles are mutually exclusive for a reason. ...

Florida Christian-School Teacher Fired for Premarital Sex
By The Buzz Posted: June 14, 2010
Fresh from our "Wow file," a former fourth-grade teacher at Southland Christian School in St. Cloud, Florida, was fired for conceiving several weeks before getting married. Oh, the shame -- getting pregnant by your fiance a few weeks before the actual marriage. ...
The Myth of Black-on-Black Violence
By Natalie Hopkinson Posted: June 16, 2010
As we head into another long, hot summer, the media -- and black folks -- need to retire this loaded term.

This year's Black History Month was a particularly bloody one in Shelby County, S.C. Sergio Leary, Ja'cole Wilson, Karon Barrow and Leon Thurman Jr., all young people in their 20s, were all shot dead, according to local news reports.

The Shelby Star's analysis of the burst of violence, hit on all the usual crime reporting clichés: ''black,'' ''at-risk youth,'' ''subcultures that don't value'' life. And then, there's the clincher. ''Despite overall crime numbers falling in recent years, black-on-black [emphasis added] violence remains a prevalent issue,'' the newspaper reported. ...

Monday, January 11, 2010

Top Online Reads & Sees: JOBS & MONEY

10 Careers That Didn't Exist 10 Years Ago
By Rachel Zupek, CareerBuilder.com writer
Every so often, you meet someone with a job title that makes you go, "Huh?" Either it's too technical to understand, too hard to describe or in some cases, people just may not have heard of it. But, why would someone not have heard about a job's existence? ...
Sneaky coupon tricks: 6 hacks to help you fight back
Don't let the fine print stop you from saving.
Posted by DonnaFreedman on Monday, October 26, 2009 2:47 AM
A recent Safeway ad had a coupon for a dozen eggs for $1, a swell deal these days.... However, the coupon's fine print -- there's always fine print -- said shoppers needed to spend at least $10 to use the dollar-a-dozen coupon. The thing was, I didn't need $10 worth of stuff. Just eggs. But I wasn't about to let a teeny-tiny disclaimer keep me from getting cheap protein. I have a frugal hack for just such an occasion. ...
 9 Sneaky Tips for Saving More
First trick yourself into building a cash cushion, and then trick yourself into keeping it. The process is profitable and might even be fun.
By DonnaFreedman, MSN Money
In a perfect world, we wouldn't need tricks to save money. Life isn't perfect, though. The national savings rate in November was 4.7%, which actually is an improvement over recent years. That means Americans, on average, tucked away about a nickel of every dollar.

Did you?

Top Online Reads & Sees: WEATHER

Even fish can't escape Sunshine State's cold
100,000 killed, wiping out farmer; hard freeze warning for South Florida
AP Associated Press, updated 8:02 a.m. ET, Mon., Jan. 11, 2010
MIAMI - Freakish cold weather continued to grip the South, with snow flurries spotted around Orlando and a record low set for Miami, and forecasters said Sunday that more of the same was expected.
Deep Freeze Costing Americans Big Bucks
Jan. 11: Farmers in Florida are battling crop-destroying cold and heating bills in the Northeast are skyrocketing as a record-breaking cold snap. NBC’s Ron Mott reports from Atlanta.


Top Online Reads & Sees: RELATIONSHIPS

How to Make Romance Last
By Helen Fisher, Ph.D., from "O, The Oprah Magazine"

There's nothing like young love, is there? Actually, long-term love can be pretty similar, with one key difference. Learn more about what keeps marriages together.
Should You Give an Ultimatum?
By Diana Vilibert and Abraham Lloyd

Is it ever a good idea to throw down the ultimatum gauntlet in a relationship? Ultimatums are examined from a male and a female writer's perspectives.

Friday, January 8, 2010

Top Online Reads & Sees

Bacteria Found in Nearly Half of Fast-Food Soda Foundations
By Slashfood Editor, Posted Jan 7th 2010 @ 5:30PM By Catherine Donaldson-Evans

The latest fast food "ick factor" isn't in the burgers or fries -- it's in the soda. A group of microbiologists at Virginia's Hollins University found alarming levels of bacteria, possibly from feces, in fast-food soda fountains.

A scary 48 percent of machine beverages tested contained coliform bacteria – ...

Mind-Reading Systems Could Change Air Plane Security
By Michael Tarm, AP


CHICAGO — A would-be terrorist tries to board a plane, bent on mass murder. As he walks through a security checkpoint, fidgeting and glancing around, a network of high-tech machines analyzes his body language and reads his mind. Screeners pull him aside. Tragedy is averted. ...

Unsold Clothes Destroyed at H&M Until Twitter Roared
Sarah Gilbert, Jan 7th 2010 at 2:10PM, Wallet Pop

New York City's homeless may be wearing a motley collection of castoff clothing: the rejects from the closets of more financially-blessed residents, perhaps, or the logo merchandise from now-merged banks or defunct companies, maybe even some cast-offs from local discount retailers that lingered too long on the clearance racks. Yet, you won't see any such freebies from H& M or Walmart. Instead of donating unsold clothes to the needy, the two retailers have evidently been quietly stuffing unloved frocks in the trash. ...

Hotel Survey Reveals Surprising Trends in Guest Behavior
Libby Zay, January 7, 2010

Each year, the Novotel Hotel Chain polls their workers to identify trends in guest behavior. This year's survey, released today, took into account results—some of which are shocking—from 30 hotels across Australia and New Zealand. Here are the highlights:

Women Behaving Badly
The survey found that women are more likely to 'souvenir' popularly pilfered items such as mini shampoo bottles and other toiletries, and also more frequently take a 'five finger discount' on unacceptable items such as bathrobes, hairdryers, cushions, and even toilet paper. ...

Kids Begged Drunk Bus Driver to Pull Over
by Amy Hatch, s posts) Jan 6th 2010 3:57PMParentDish, AOL Living

A school bus driver who drove 37 students while intoxicated was sentenced to five years probation and jail time, but some parents of her terrified passengers say the punishment is not nearly harsh enough. ...