Sometimes I stay inside for days. I moved into my new apartment a little over a week ago, and I've already managed to stay inside for two days straight at least twice. One might say that I am enjoying the new-found freedom of just being, as in being in my own space, but being inside for long lengths of time does not make me happy. During those days, I only saw sunlight through the solitary set of windows in my living room, deciding instead to organize the moving mess, take care of Baby Equis, watch television and eat.What Will Happen to Juneteenth?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. ...
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The Miseducation of Texas Schoolkids
"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. ...
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. ...
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. ...
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
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. ...
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
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
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?
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.
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?
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.
