Category: Writing While Black

TBT: Remember when the University of Wisconsin Photoshopped a Black Student into their application booklet?

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wisconsinYep.  In 2000, UW tried to make their milky white campus look a little more tan.  They photoshopped a picture of black student Diallo Shabazz into their promotional materials. And they did it over and over again without his knowledge.  You can see his head in the duplicate image on the right.

“Diallo sued. He didn’t ask for a settlement. He said that he wanted a “budgetary apology.” He asked that, in compensation, the University put aside money for actual recruitment of minority students. He won.” -the Society Pages. Read the rest here.

Inspired by #blackoncampus.

If your friends aren’t your friends…then who are they? #frenemies

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Two weeks ago I had to put my dog to “sleep.”  Cancer.  The type that is immune to treatment and sticks itself in places that are inoperable.  He was my soul.  He was the one I took with me when I left my husband five years ago.  I chucked that life to start a new one…just me and Maximus-my black French Bulldog.

His proud bat ears and stocky legs owned the sidewalks of the Lower East Side.  I even wrote about him for TheFrisky.com

The night he passed, I left the animal hospital wanting to die too.  I became a recluse and drowned myself in video games, Netflix, and porn. Work helped, but I wasn’t all there.  None of it really pulled me up, but it was a good distraction.

A lot of my friends were really supportive, as were the special people in my writing group.  Even work colleagues, people I’ve known for a month, had my back.

So how is it that some of my oldest friends couldn’t find a way to give me a phone call? Or send a text?  It’s so disappointing to think that you gave support to someone who can’t seem to give it back to you.  I’ve pinpointed a few peeps in my crew as frenemies.

And all I have to say to frenemies is “EAT A DICK!”