Blogs

Yes, I admit to rocking a Donna Summer in my afro “do” with bell bottomed jeans, and platform shoes. I even do the Hustle on occasion, if the right jam plays.

The death of the sultry “Queen of Disco” on May 18, 2012 is a different kind of tragedy than that of songstress Whitney Houston.  Donna Summer succumbed to death after losing her battle with lung cancer at age 63.  The singer believed that the cause of her illness was “inhaling toxic particles” after 9/11, according to TMZ. Summer made history back in the 1970s disco era as a five-time Grammy winner and with the success of her iconic songs such as “Last Dance,” “Bad Girls” and “Hot Stuff,” she became a disco legend. Read More

This year the main attraction was Banks, who took that piece of Black women’s anatomy, “the booty,” which has received too much negative attention, and transformed it into a tool of power and education.  She waxed eloquently about the “Showing Booty,” “Kissing Booty,” and “Educating Booty.”  She also demonstrated the etiquette of presenting one’s booty—and you had to be there to see it. Read More

Irma McClaurin with Dive Master Eric Wederfoort. Photo Credit: ©2011 McClaurin Solutions
 My first memory of moving underwater wasn't real. At 8 years, old I participated in a special science summer program for what we would now call "gifted" children; I wrote a play in which the setting was the sea. The main character was a young girl who finds a seahorse that takes her on a magical journey underwater.

Never mind that I had not even visited the ocean or the sea, and never mind that I couldn't swim. My imagination -- which is immensely powerful when we are younger-- carried me to unknown places and introduced me to an enchanted new world, well, of which I could only dream.  Read More