hahahahah oh that’s good! Some days I look at pictures of my slender younger self and think, “Oh younger me, why didn’t you wear more short shorts and tube tops?”

hahahahah oh that’s good! Some days I look at pictures of my slender younger self and think, “Oh younger me, why didn’t you wear more short shorts and tube tops?”

I am more consumed with jealousy over the fact that her braids stay in with no fasteners. It’s not her wealth and slender figure that truly make me jealous -conceivably I could win the lottery and get a personal trainer and chef and a new wardrobe - but I have known since elementary school that I could never be as…

There is a video of my sis and I, ages 8 and 10, on Christmas morning. My dad had unwrapped his gift of a video camera, read the manual, set the time and date stamp, and then filmed his children sleeping soundly. “Girls!” he says, “It’s ten a.m. Don’t you want to see what Santa brought you?” One of us mumbles,…

Has Trump acknowledged the death of Richard Collins III at all? (The young man from Bowie State who was killed by a racist when visiting UMD)

The other night I was at an annual awards ceremony for local historic preservation sites, and this year’s exciting news was about a man who had found dozens of freedom papers (dating from the 1780's to the 1850s) in an old family safe. Local historians haven’t yet figured out why his family would have had them, but…

It’s the “take it” part that is so weird to me. A pic of some object over a women’s body is incredibly boring because it’s only been done millions of times. But “take it” - well, I immediately hunched over at the thought of a a creepy, sweaty man reaching out to honk my boob. Like, with all the sexual assaults in…

YES

Or the beauty of a male rugby player’s thighs and bum.... mmm....

Thank you so much, that is super helpful!! I will definitely do that!

I bought my wedding dress for two reasons: empire waist, so I didn’t have to wear a girdle and could eat as much pie as I wanted that night, and pockets for my handkerchief and lipstick.

I understand why that happens - but I think that can be really hard later in life if you are a woman. My mom was in her mid-50's when my dad died, and it was SO DAMN HARD for her. She was an attractive, smart, and active woman, but when she was ready to date she found that most of the men approaching her were either…

I have a VERY difficult time with gory movies. I can handle psychological thrillers as long as there is a minimum of blood or mutilation, and violence happens mostly off screen. I only have to glimpse a zombie or maggots while flipping through channels and it will give me nightmares for weeks. (A few years ago I…

Living in a community of well-educated black folks, I’m also thinking about how, for the rest of her life, she’s going to be at places where folks are proudly talking about being a Howard grad. At every chamber of commerce gala, every local award ceremony, someone will mention their alma mater and then others will…

Okay, but what about an old-fashioned name that you share with an older woman in your family? Your family might start calling you the diminutive to distinguish you from grandma, and then it sticks. I think it’s kind of charming when a young woman is named Betty, Betsy, Meggy, etc.

Yup, that makes a lot of sense. Yet Trump cut the Violence Against Women funding that trains police departments across the country in how to properly investigate sexual assault.  

YES.

A third recommendation for eShakti here! I am tall and curvy, and over the years have gotten more and more frustrated with bad fitting clothes. At this point, I only shop at Talbots (during sales) for shirts and pants, at Kmart for cotton tees and jeans, and on eShakti for dresses and nice blouses.

As a tall lady, I finally made the switch to eShakti for dresses. You can order by your size & height, or you can pay 10 bucks extra and give them your full custom measurements. Even more exciting, they let you customize hem length, sleeves, and neckline on most garments. Most dresses are in the $45-$85 range - and…

Oh, and I should also mention one thing - I am kind of tall. I am 5'9" and hit my full height by the time I was 11. So I was used to feeling gigantic and looming over people, even though looking back I realize I was in great shape for my height (I’d be thrilled to be that slender nowadays!). I remember once when a…