I am not in the business of disrespecting legends. I swear I’m not. But Aretha Franklin is really starting to try my patience.

This is a very grown black lady look – her blonde highlighted wig is tossed to the side and she is wearing it like she’s got some business. As usual, her bountiful breasts are howling out less so for R-E-S-P-E-C-T and more for S-U-P-P-O-R-T. I mean, I just

{Editors Note: David Mills was a journalist, television writer, and blogger who died suddenly on March 30. He was part of the WWTD family, very brilliant, and only 48. The loss is tragic and my condolences go out to his family and loved ones. I admired David too much to not add to the wonderful eulogies from close friends and colleagues, and I hope that you either join me in remembrance or learn a little bit about a great talent that we

A few days ago Dj Stylus shared this video on Facebook and I haven’t been able to shake it since. He quipped, “I’m surprised that I saw this before Thembi, aka the mistress of all things obscure and Negronian.” Yeah thanks, but courtesy of this video I’ve developed a mild phobia related to brown leather and fringes. I’d never seen Fox’s Celebrity Duets let alone this performance, but there is so much squatting and doing-the-most-ness on the part of Alphonso Ribero that Chaka Khan’s trademark extraness is almost a mere distraction. Just watch

“The Grio’s 100″ is a comprehensive list of black influencers from ten fields: sports, education, business, science and the environment, media, service an activism, politics, health, pop culture, and the arts. The list is driven by the need to highlight…

It doesn’t seem like most of America is feeling the Hope anymore. Anyone could have predicted the fierce opposition that Obama has faced in office, and sadly he is on track to become a single-term mistake. How can Obama fix this? Well, in addition to the obvious need for progress on his campaign promises – health care, managing our two wars, and reviving the economy – Obama should reach for some low hanging fruit. If he does anything in his four years the least he can

Fact #1: I cannot now nor could I ever double dutch

Fact #2: I cannot double dutch because I came from private school to a public school where no one would let me have enough turns to learn how to do it.

Fact #3: When I tried to participate by turning the rope, I was called “double-handed.” I still don’t know what that means.

Fact #4: Due to the above events, there is a hole in the tapestry of my blackgirlness.

Fact #5: Michelle Obama is way blacker and doper than I am, because even though she is not very good at it, she has double dutched on the White House lawn!

AND she hula hoops.

“In tight jeans, Chinese eyes/Indian hair/Black girl a**/let me pour you a glass of Belvi” – Memphis Bleek, “Do My”

I have a close friend who is half Japanese and half Ethiopian. I have another who is half Panamanian and half Filipino. Both of these women expect to hear a common catcall in the street “Hey Indian Hair! What’s good?” Neither one of them as a single drop of Indian blood, so what gives?

Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas from TLC is of both Indian and Native American descent, and her baby hair game is notorious.

Google “Indian hair” and your search will yield page after page of hair from the Asian subcontinent

Everyone you’ve ever heard of died this summer, but so did someone you probably recognize by face but not by name. Zakes Mokae almost fits into the Obscure Black C-Lister category, and sadly instead of a timely post celebrating his career I have to write about him in memoriam after his passing last week.

Zakes Mokae was the African dude – Father Kani in Cry Freedom, Lettie’s South African old flame on A Different World, Dr. Zeko in A Vampire In Brooklyn, and Big Kathy in A Rage In Harlem. Mokae had a recurring role on Oz and guest spots on Law & Order, Monk, and The X-Files. If you saw the extremely creepy Wes Craven movie The Serpent

Why is it that the older I get the more I sweat Diana Ross? I always thought she was so gorgeous and glamorous but now that I know what a *diva* is I’m in awe of the career she’s had.…

I’ve stayed quiet on the Chris Brown/Rihanna situation because the thought of one person beating another person until her mouth fills with blood is not very funny and you know I like to crack myself up. Notice that I did…

It happens to most black women. Whether you have relaxed or natural hair, a weave, or braids. I’m talking about white people asking questions and making nutty comments about your hair.

If you spend any time in an environment where blacks are in the minority (i.e. if you have a job), then there has to be someone who wants to touch your ‘fro, another who asks how long your braids took, and another who innocently inquires about your new weave. The effects of humidity and heat styling on Negro hair are lost to most people, and the difference between a “perm” and a “curly perm” has still not been clarified for the masses.

Editors Note: The flashbacks are funny so feel free to bust on me for being such a corn, but the point is just to share my journey.

The Naïve Years. Left to right, me in second and third grades. Those two cornrows were go-to style #1 and the sassy pigtails were #2.

The first time I chemically straightened my hair it was because I really really wanted a perm – in fact I’d wanted one for over a year. I’d had childlike cornrows, a braid bang that needed to be curled with a sponge roller at night, and a press n’ curl that caused other girls at

“Time flies,” is one of those cliches that becomes truer as I age and quite admittedly become my mother. Case in point: she and I went to see the film Soul Power and realized that we have many common musical…

Aisha Hinds is striking: brown, bald-headed, and full-lipped, with a deep, crystal clear voice and black and beautiful features. My “a-ha!” moment with Ms. Hinds came courtesy of HBO’s True Blood in her role as voodoo lady/drugstore clerk Ms. Jeanette (a character that was meant to be a good twenty years older than Ms. Hinds, who is thirty-five). Aside from her commanding screen presence, the true pleasure in her performance is her voice.

I need for white girls and fellas to stop getting blackgirl haircuts. Cease and desist. Do not pass Go or collect two hundred dollars. In the immortal words of Full House‘s Uncle Joey “Cut. It. Out.”

Kate Gosselin, I see you. I hate that you’ve been abandoned by your man and are now the single mother of eight screaming kids (as much as that sounds like a stereotypical black woman’s dilemma). But you’re not doing yourself any favors with that characteristically complicated blackgirl haircut. Why on earth would a white woman do such a thing?