righteous BABYGIRLS

Day + Night

2012-01-10T22:50:00.001-05:00

Joan Smalls, out of control in Givenchy by Riccardo Tisci pre-fall 2012. The lines, the colors, the prints. That boot.

2012-01-07T22:00:00.002-05:00

How could I forget!

2011-12-31T17:24:00.000-05:00

The song that had me grinding thru summer 2011!

Motivation Ft. Lil Wayne by Kelly Rowland on Grooveshark

Y'all know Nyasha?

2011-12-31T13:50:00.001-05:00

Nyasha Matonhodze, burning up the cover of LOVE magazine, some recent Vuitton ads, and the lookbook for Versace Pre-Fall 2012. She's so good.

Eye wide open

2011-12-30T19:27:00.000-05:00

Two honorary babygirls stuntin' on the cover of i-D's winter 2011 issue.

Got me through it

2011-12-27T11:22:00.008-05:00

These are the songs that had me jumping, twirling and crying through 2011.

1. Tears Dry On Their Own, Amy Winehouse - My tears aren't dry yet. We miss you, Ames.

2. Rumor Has It, Adele

3. Born This Way, Lady Gaga - A pop-cultural force for good. I didn't grasp the real significance of Lady Gaga until this past Fourth of July at a friend's yacht club, when the young people sang along to Gaga with the 6-piece band - "No matter gay straight or bi... I'm on the right track, baby, I was born this way" - while they danced with their parents' generation of traditional white Republicans. This is how the culture is transformed by the irresistible allure of pop.

4. Don't Let It Break Your Heart, Coldplay - It did!

5. No Church In The Wild, Jay-Z & Kanye West - Watch The Throne was a major cultural moment for me, from the gilded Givenchy packaging of the album to the electric synergy between Jay and 'Ye. This was my favorite track, ominous and catchy.

6. Till The World Ends, Britney Spears - Don't call it a comeback, but babygirl's back.

7. In Your Dreams, Stevie Nicks - Stevie only gets better with age.

8. S&M (Remix), Rihanna f/Britney Spears - I like it like it; Brit's breathy vocals turn the heat up even higher on this erotic dance monster track.

9. Love On Top, Beyoncé - She stay on top.

10. Sadness Is A Blessing, Lykke Li

11. Bang Bang Bang, Mark Ronson f/Q-Tip - No one ever does it like that anymore.

12. Cry Baby, Cee-Lo Green - Fuck who?

13. Super Bass, Nicki Minaj f/Sophia Grace - One of the year's most fun and playful hip-pop hits made all the world better by one of the year's easily most joyful moments on camera. Sophia Grace for Prime Minister!

14. Two Kinds Of Happiness, The Strokes - There will always be a soft spot in my heart for Julian Casablancas and the Strokes.

15. We Found Love/Do Ya Thang, Rihanna - The kind of singles I have on re-peat.

16. Give Your Heart A Break, Demi Lovato - Demi's a brave girl, and 2011's Unbroken was the work of a songstress with chops beyond Disney.

17. Blue Jeans, Lana Del Rey

18. Sooner Or Later, Mat Kearney

19. Pumped Up Kicks, Foster The People - Not as cheery as its catchiness suggests!

20. Last Friday Night, Katy Perry - Can't deny it, why would you want to?

TODOS SOMOS ILEGALES

2011-12-21T13:20:00.002-05:00

Todos Somos Ilegales: We Are All Illegals by Outernational

an album by my good friends MILES, JESSE, DR. BLUM and LEO

-------------------------

OUTERNATIONAL MUSIC in association with
120dB FILMS and THE SOUND STRIKE present

TODOS SOMOS ILEGALES: WE ARE ALL ILLEGALS

OUTERNATIONAL
MILES SOLAY: vocals
LEO MINTEK: guitars
JESSE WILLIAMS MASSA: bass
DR. BLUM: trumpet, organ, keyboards, accordion

Produced by Outernational

Executive Producer: Stephen D. Hayes
Mastering: Reuben Cohen, Lurrsen Mastering
Management: Nicole Brydson at Misfit Media
Graphic Design: Kyledidthis
Merchandising: Jimi Vee at Bad Wolf

Happy Holidays!

2011-12-21T13:10:00.001-05:00

Words of wisdom from Aunt Dolly.

I meannnnnnnnnnnnnn

2011-12-17T12:02:00.000-05:00

Santa's gonna come and make ya mine this Christmas!

Dead chic

2011-12-16T16:44:00.002-05:00

Aymeline Vilade by Tommy Ton.

DO YA DO YA DO YA THANG

2011-12-16T14:56:00.004-05:00

Don't you love when artists put their best songs on the "deluxe" versions of their just-released albums so those of us who have bought (or illegally downloaded, as the case may be...) the plain old original don't get to hear them at first? Well, here's Rihanna's "Do Ya Thang," which I've had on literal repeat literally all day long:

Do Ya Thang by Rihanna on Grooveshark

Do ya thang, babygirls - have a great weekend!

Guess who's backshmi

2011-12-16T10:09:00.000-05:00

Lakshmi Menon walked in Chanel's extravagant Indian inspired pre-fall runway show. Haven't seen babygirl in a minute!

Stool pigeons take heed

2011-12-15T17:16:00.002-05:00

The Boss Bitches are back.

A perfect essay

2011-12-15T12:48:00.004-05:00

This is the kind of writing to which I aspire: a tidy, punchy, impactful piece that cogently hits every salient point on the issue, and one that does so in an engaging, entertaining way.

If I were a middle class white guy writing on Forbes.com about being a poor Black kid I’d be clueless. I’d be so clueless that I wouldn’t realize that I’m clueless, so I would not know that I should really, really step away from my expensive computer and not press send on my condescending, paternalistic and simplistic little essay that breezily fixes the problems of poor Black kids. I wouldn’t think, well, if these steps are so easy — use the Internet to get more learning and try real hard — then why don’t more kids do that? I mean, wouldn’t some of them have thought of that already? No, they wouldn’t because none of them are middle class white guys.

I wouldn’t think about how my cheery advice doesn’t really interact with the challenges of being a poor Black kid — from the lack of role models to poor schools to depressed employment opportunities to the lure of the drug game to the day-to-day difficulties of being poor that makes it hard to get out of being poor because of a system that’s constructed to keep you poor. I wouldn’t think about those things because I wouldn’t really know anything about them because I don’t have to. I could potentially solve some of my ignorance by interviewing some poor Black kids before I write about them, but I wouldn’t go do that because, you know, what if I get robbed. I saw that happen in a movie.

In my pithy, encouraging, bootstrappy message to the poor, Black kids of America I wouldn’t include a discussion of overcoming the challenges of racism — from the mind-numbing messages society sends to broken families to the paucity of opportunity to the overpolicing of poor Black communities, which leads to the prevalence of criminal records which makes it nearly impossible to get jobs. I wouldn’t realize that Black people who are applying for jobs with a clean criminal record are treated the same as white people with a criminal record, so the struggle to find a job is complicated by Black skin. I wouldn’t know that the recession has hit Blacks harder than it hit whites, so no matter what a Black kid does he cannot find a job if few exist.

I wouldn’t think about these things if I were a middle class white man because I never really think about racism because I don’t have to. Racism is something that happens to other people and I don’t really think about it that often because it’s complicated and it makes me uncomfortable to think about. I don’t even think about how race impacts my life, but I have a race card. You didn’t know I have a race card? Of course, I do. I don’t even have to pull out my race card for it to work. It works automatically. It’s accepted everywhere you want to be. Membership has its privileges.

If I were a middle class man writing about a poor Black kid I would assume that anyone who knows the world in the way that I do would make the decisions that I would make so I need only share with them the knowledge that I have. I wouldn’t think about how their environment might impact their ability or willingness to use that information. I mean, everyone has access to the Internet, right? Just turn it on and become a Google Scholar, and then Skype away to a better education. I wouldn’t think that some of them may lack Wi-Fi. I mean, everyone has Wi-Fi, right?

Look, I’m a middle class white guy on deadline at a big-time magazine, with no idea of the hornet’s nest I’m about to step into — I’m just trying to be nice and give some advice to some poor poor Black kids. I’m doing the right thing. I’m not even aware that the very gesture and the breezyness of my discussion is insulting because I’m wrapped up in a cocoon of white privilege that blinds me to the realities of being a poor Black kid, so I’m not even aware of how difficult it is to be a poor Black kid because my life has never been anywhere near as difficult. Thank God for that.

by Touré via TIME Ideas

Herstory

2011-12-15T11:27:00.001-05:00

The committee behind the forthcoming National Women's History Museum in Washington, D.C., photographed for Vogue by Annie Liebovitz. From left: NWHM president Joan Wages, Secretary Madeleine Albright (the nation's first female Secretary of State), U.S. Senator Susan Collins (R-ME), U.S. Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), Barbara Bush, Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), Patricia Nixon Cox, Dr. Maya Angelou, Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), and January Vogue covergirl Meryl Streep.

5 Years Makes All the Difference

2011-12-15T11:11:00.001-05:00

In Africa, a child under the age of five dies of malaria--a completely preventable and treatable disease--every 60 seconds. Help me celebrate Malaria No More's 5th birthday: watch the video, Tweet/Facebook the link, and consider making a small donation to support our next five years. Thanks, babygirls!

A little good news

2011-12-13T22:20:00.002-05:00

Fatou Bensouda, a Gambian, was just selected as the next chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court, the tribunal responsible for prosecuting crimes against humanity. Bensouda, who will be the first woman and the first African to lead the ICC, was unanimously elected by the 120 UN member states which recognize the ICC's jurisdiction (the U.S. shamefully not included). She was previously the outgoing chief's deputy and was deeply involved in prosecuting war crimes in Rwanda. She has recently said that she plans to make the prosecution of gender-based and sexual crimes a priority, which is wonderful to hear at a time when just last week I read news of Afghanistan generously agreeing to release a woman from her lifetime prison sentence for being raped - if she agrees to marry her rapist.

Congratulations, babygirl! I'm throwing my vote in now for Jordyne to succeed her.

jane birkin on the birkin

2011-12-09T20:36:00.000-05:00

WWD: Helping charities is an important part of so much of what you do and yet many people associate you with the Hermès bag that was named for you. Is that a challenge?
J.B.: No, not at all, I got Hermès to fork out for my charities once I saw the fortune they were making. A certain amount of money every year goes straight to my charity and it will continue to after my death. This year I was able to [use some of that money] to go to Japan for a benefit concert after the earthquake. We use some of the money to feed the poor people who can’t afford to eat in France. I sold one of my Birkin bags for $163,000 to help the Japanese Red Cross. So that rather trivial piece of heavy luggage has done a lot of good in the world.

Albums Of My Year

2011-12-08T19:55:00.007-05:00

Amended: Last night I decided 4 should be on here for the strength of "Love On Top" alone.

..but he a sex fiend tho

2011-12-07T17:40:00.001-05:00

A declaration

2011-12-07T11:43:00.001-05:00

Some have suggested that gay rights and human rights are separate and distinct; but, in fact, they are one and the same. Now, of course, 60 years ago, the governments that drafted and passed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights were not thinking about how it applied to the LGBT community. They also weren’t thinking about how it applied to indigenous people or children or people with disabilities or other marginalized groups. Yet in the past 60 years, we have come to recognize that members of these groups are entitled to the full measure of dignity and rights, because, like all people, they share a common humanity.

This recognition did not occur all at once. It evolved over time. And as it did, we understood that we were honoring rights that people always had, rather than creating new or special rights for them. Like being a woman, like being a racial, religious, tribal, or ethnic minority, being LGBT does not make you less human. And that is why gay rights are human rights, and human rights are gay rights.

...It is a violation of human rights when a person is beaten or killed because of their sexual orientation, or because they do not conform to cultural norms about how men and women should look or behave.
It is a violation of human rights when governments declare it illegal to be gay, or allow those who harm gay people to go unpunished
It is a violation of human rights when lesbian or transgendered women are subjected to so-called corrective rape, or forcibly subjected to hormone treatments.
It is a violation of human rights when people are murdered after public calls for violence toward gays, or when they are forced to flee their nations and seek asylum in other lands to save their lives.
It is a violation of human rights when lifesaving care is withheld from people because they are gay, or equal access to justice is denied to people because they are gay, or public spaces are out of bounds to people because they are gay.

...Some seem to believe it is a Western phenomenon, and therefore people outside the West have grounds to reject it. Well, in reality, gay people are born into and belong to every society in the world. They are all ages, all races, all faiths; they are doctors and teachers, farmers and bankers, soldiers and athletes; and whether we know it, or whether we acknowledge it, they are our family, our friends, and our neighbors. Being gay is not a Western invention; it is a human reality.

...And finally, to LGBT men and women worldwide, let me say this: Wherever you live and whatever the circumstances of your life, whether you are connected to a network of support or feel isolated and vulnerable, please know that you are not alone. People around the globe are working hard to support you and to bring an end to the injustices and dangers you face. That is certainly true for my country. And you have an ally in the United States of America and you have millions of friends among the American people.

- Sec. Hillary Rodham Clinton, 6 December 2011; Palais de Nations, Geneva

Read or view the full speech here.

"babe, what you did wit my doo-rag?"

2011-12-02T20:56:00.001-05:00

STELLAAAAAAAA!!

2011-11-30T21:32:00.000-05:00

how i'd like to be living

2011-11-30T21:12:00.000-05:00

BLACK FRIDAY CLINTON ST BLOCK PARTY - you're invited!

2011-11-24T11:44:00.001-05:00

...tell a friend to tell a friend!

kate admiring kate

2011-11-23T23:22:00.002-05:00

Cashmere Thoughts

2011-11-23T12:54:00.002-05:00

How you livin, Biggie Smalls?

this

2011-11-22T23:15:00.000-05:00

on today

2011-11-22T22:54:00.000-05:00

Women of today are still being called upon to stretch across the gap of male ignorance and to educate men as to our existence and our needs. This is an old and primary tool of all oppressors to keep the oppressed occupied with the master’s concerns. Now we hear that it is the task of women of Color to educate white women—in the face of tremendous resistance—as to our existence, our differences, our relative roles in our joint survival. This is a diversion of energies and a tragic repetition of racist patriarchal thought.
—

The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House, by Audre Lorde (1979)

and in this corner

2011-11-22T22:52:00.000-05:00

All blonde everything

2011-11-21T14:02:00.001-05:00

empathy.

2011-11-17T22:02:00.000-05:00

bidi bidi bam bam!

2011-11-17T21:59:00.002-05:00

an arrival to kill all arrivals

2011-11-17T21:55:00.000-05:00

2011-11-17T21:49:00.000-05:00

“ The greatest lie told about love is that it sets you free.
— Zadie Smith, On Beauty

a man after my own heart

2011-11-17T21:35:00.002-05:00

somewhere between heartbreaking and inspiring

2011-11-17T21:28:00.000-05:00

lies this little munchkin.

gif happy

2011-11-17T21:18:00.002-05:00

lebeam's my new favorite place.

if it's murder, you know she wrote it.

2011-11-17T21:07:00.002-05:00

three things

2011-11-17T21:03:00.003-05:00

from here.

richard cldn't with this

2011-11-17T20:58:00.000-05:00

but i thgt it was pretty cute.

Supe it up

2011-11-12T16:10:00.000-05:00

Na Na's slightly jiggling thigh here is just about cause for premature ejaculation.

who but he?

2011-11-12T08:52:00.001-05:00

our favorite marathon runner, RPT (this guy is our 2nd fave), tearing up the marine corps 'thon on oct. 30th.

how chic?

once upon a colony

2011-11-12T08:46:00.002-05:00

me and ma b in barbados

nah, but really- this is in Guadeloupe:

Guadeloupe's economy is kept afloat by public salaries and credits from Paris. Unemployment has been a long-running malaise, although its effects are tempered by France's generous social security system.

Agriculture revolves around sugar cane and bananas; the latter is troubled by regional competition and the phasing out of preferential European quotas.

Tourism is important. Visitors, most of them from France, are drawn to Guadeloupe's resorts, beaches, waterfalls and forests and the territory is a port of call for cruise ships.

Guadeloupe is prone to earthquakes and hurricanes. Mount Soufriere, Basse-Terre's volcano, last erupted in the 1970s.

Visited by the explorer Christopher Columbus in 1493, who named it after a Spanish monastery, the territory was home to Carib indians who resisted Spanish attempts to settle the islands.
French colonists arrived in the 17th century, wiping out the Carib population. The settlers brought slaves from Africa to work on plantations and Guadeloupe prospered thanks to the trade in sugar and tobacco.

There were several British occupations in the 18th and early 19th centuries - and a brief period of nominal Swedish rule - before the territory was restored to France. It became a French "department" in 1946, and from the 1980s, a region of France.

Although support for the status quo is strong, a campaign for secession from France flared in the 1980s when pro-independence groups bombed hotels and government buildings.
Discontent at the rising cost of living led to violent protests early in 2009, and France sent in troops when rioters killed a trade union official. The French government raised wages for the low-paid, a key demand of the protestors, who ended a general strike in March.

text from bbc news.

Pointe-a-Pitre, Guadeloupe, 1899

photos from the caribbean photo archive.

Eatin' a mango

2011-11-11T13:35:00.000-05:00

Mlle. Shala Monroque

Angélique Kidjo

2011-11-10T20:48:00.003-05:00

If ya don't know, now ya know!

PETA What, PETA Who?

2011-11-10T20:43:00.003-05:00

Constance Jablonski in Vogue Italia.

me too, girl. me too.

2011-11-07T21:20:00.000-05:00

An honor

2011-11-07T16:32:00.002-05:00

A glittering Katharine McPhee performed with the Tanzania House of Talent at the 2011 Malaria No More International Honors last night at Frank Gehry's IAC Building in New York. I was honored to have my beautiful wife by my side, seated with Fox News's Martha MacCallum, designer Prabal Gurung, and the fabulous Miss Maggie Betts, as we were treated to an additional performance by the legendary Angelique Kidjo and remarks from Laura W. Bush, Ray Chambers, Peter Chernin and Simon Fuller.

Still got it

2011-11-05T13:18:00.001-04:00

There's no one much sexier than Helena Christensen!

from Un-Titled Project via Fashion Gone Rogue

Hold tight

2011-11-05T13:15:00.000-04:00

Daphne Groeneveld in the new V Magazine.

Sometimes I wonder...

2011-11-04T12:49:00.001-04:00

If Kanye West remembers making this song.

THESE. BITCHES. HERE.

2011-11-03T22:10:00.000-04:00

happier times

2011-11-03T22:06:00.002-04:00

well isn't that something?

2011-11-03T22:03:00.000-04:00

via melodys.

to a healthy pregnancy and delivery.

2011-11-01T22:57:00.001-04:00

'I’m happiest in the kitchen, leafing through an interior design book, sticking recipes in my scrapbook, cosying up to the Aga, stroking the dogs, fielding phone calls from tradesmen. Believe it or not, I’m 26. And I used to be a pop star. I know. Weird right?'

The older I get, the less I know

2011-10-31T00:57:00.005-04:00

Want to know what I'm sure of? ..

Swingin in the back yard, pull up in your fast car, whistling my name
Open up a beer, and you say get over here and play a video game
I'm in his favorite sun dress, watching me get undressed, take your body downtown
I say you the bestest, lean in for a big kiss, put his favorite perfume on, go play your video game
It's you, it's you, it's all for you, everything I do, I tell you all the time
Heaven is a place on earth with you
Tell me all the things you want to do

I heard that you like the bad girls honey, is that true? It's better than I even knew.
They say that the world is built for two.
Only worth living if somebody is loving you ..

Maybe now you do.

Singing in the old bar, swinging with the old stars, living for the fame.
Kissing in the blue dark, playing pool and wild darts, video games
He holds me in his big arms, drunk and I am seeing stars, this is all I think of
Watching all our friends fall, in and out of old cars, this is my idea of fun
Playing video games
It's you, it's you, it's all for you, everything I do, I tell you all the time
Heaven is a place on Earth with you
Tell me all the things you want to do
I heard that you like the bad girls honey, is that true? It's better than I even knew.
They say that the world is built for two, only worth living if somebody is loving you ..

Maybe now you do.
---

Song might be eery-beautiful - like all the best things.

Never would I find and copy these lyrics.
Had to hear and type them out for myself, duuuhhh ha
That's the joy anyway, of something that speaks to your soul

Maybe they're wrong. It's just what I heard.

All I'm Sure Of

2011-10-31T00:39:00.001-04:00

DIY camera case

2011-10-29T11:59:00.002-04:00

if i was the crafty sort of girl, i'd be all over this. currently i'm wrapping my too-big-for-a-purse-fujifilm in silk scarves my mother used to own, as i refuse to buy a terrible padded nylon bag situation from B&H photo.

there are about a thousand steps involved, but i'll just say i love this pendleton camera wrap and God bless whoever had the time to make it.

Q&A

2011-10-29T09:26:00.000-04:00

derek blasberg: what gives you the most satisfaction?
giorgio armani: the many honest relationships i have with the people in my life.

american harper's bazaar, november 2011

november 18.

2011-10-29T09:08:00.003-04:00

and so it begins. was watching twilight last night with a tuned out james, and just when edward had to save bella's life for the 49th time, this song came on. after some research, figured out it that it was robert pattinson himself on guitar and vocals.

if there was anything else that could send me into a frenzy about the 4th installment of this series, it's this shit. beyond.

sign me all the way up.

pass go.

2011-10-28T20:14:00.002-04:00

Music stations always play the same songs

2011-10-28T19:47:00.000-04:00

We're bored of the concept of right and wrong.

There's so much that's right with this. Pop royalty at its best. Paris and Nicky in their glory days. Britney dancing with Missy at the end! I miss 2003.

Cruisin'

2011-10-23T19:28:00.001-04:00

Ajak Deng and Ming Xi rock some 2012 cruise collections in November's W, shot by Sharif Hamza and styled by Giovanna Battaglia.

JUST SAYIN'

2011-10-22T12:04:00.000-04:00

This winter

2011-10-20T17:47:00.001-04:00

I'll be rocking this boot. That is all.

Sare Harouna, Senegal

2011-10-18T17:13:00.002-04:00

I can't get over how beautiful this picture is. It was on the cover of the Sunday Times, accompanying an article about a growing village-by-village movement in Senegal to ban female genital mutilation.

2011-10-15T09:33:00.002-04:00

that about it.

2011-10-14T20:55:00.003-04:00

i'm mad at the waste that happens when people who love each other can't even bring themselves to talk. 

-alice walker 

this bag just hangs around the ofc

2011-10-09T12:08:00.001-04:00

le coveteur

might go missin' one of these days...

stubbs and wootton

2011-10-09T11:14:00.000-04:00


who gon' stop me, hunh?

Joan Smalls, Givenchy

2011-10-07T16:45:00.000-04:00

gretchen mol says the two of you worked together as ushers at the angelika.

2011-10-04T21:33:00.001-04:00

"we did all this menial shit, picking up popcorn bags. that's why my ego is in check, because, i always go back to this place where i'm like, 'i used to pick up people's garbage. stop tripping.'"

-maxwell in this week's nymag

Poison

2011-10-03T22:32:00.000-04:00

Nyasha, Miranda & Nana killed Lanvin.

i promise

2011-10-03T21:44:00.000-04:00

to never step outdoors in a mini dress and a skimpy leather jacket,
to keep myself warm all winter.

i try to look like this p much urrday

2011-10-03T21:36:00.003-04:00

boxing kitten wares

with an afro, of course.

to a great weekend

2011-10-03T21:15:00.002-04:00

2011-10-03T20:59:00.000-04:00

though it's counter-intuitive, when you hit a curve in love, you should accelerate--not brake.
-dream

Balmain's main man

2011-09-30T15:09:00.000-04:00

Olivier Rousteing

I'm more or less over Balmain, but I liked these two looks - on Anabela Belikova and Jasmine Tookes - and it's fun to see a 26-year old (of color!) at the helm of a storied Parisian fashion house. He cute, too!

Hands full

2011-09-30T15:00:00.000-04:00

Silk on silk on silk

2011-09-30T10:36:00.003-04:00

Damir Doma, Paris.

Poppy fields

2011-09-30T10:24:00.000-04:00

Ajak Deng for Mary Katrantzou - I'm all about it!

La bella mafia

2011-09-30T10:22:00.002-04:00

Besties

2011-09-26T23:31:00.000-04:00

Just pray they're not talking about you!

Joyful, joyful

2011-09-26T19:12:00.001-04:00

We often use "righteous" somewhat lightly, but there are rare individuals who carry with them the full weight of the word. The world needs more Wangari Maathais, and she will be dearly missed. I had the wonderful honor of meeting her in an elevator years ago, and her joyful smile and gracious spirit warmed my soul. The sort of strength and dignity with which she lived her life are no easy paths to follow, but we would all be well served to try.

photo NYTimes

#1 Stunner

2011-09-26T19:03:00.001-04:00

First Lady Michelle Obama, never better.

Bish, please

2011-09-23T18:08:00.003-04:00

Think before you speak to me next time.

Still.

2011-09-20T15:16:00.004-04:00

w| Boogie @ Le Bain

I distinctly remember receiving a Facebook message from Lauren at the beginning of the second semester of my sophomore year, after our epic Intro to African-American Studies class had concluded--the class, you may recall, that started all this ish--that said something along the lines of, "We ain't done, boo."

Seven years later and it's daily Gchat convos resulting in mutual fury at the faintest hint of disagreement on matters ranging Bigger Thomas to Beyonce's wig. Nights out I barely remember (pictured above) save for the moment when her glistening mile-high legs strut us past the usually bitchy door man. Marathon barbecues in the backyard of our mother's Bed-Stuy brownstone. Tacos de camaron and tortilla chips for days as we struggle to help save an old friend.

We ain't done, boo - and thank God for that! Happy birthday, babygirl. xoxo

I'm fed up.

2011-09-16T16:28:00.003-04:00

A wax figure of Lindsay Morgan Lohan at V Magazine's party at the Standard, 9.14.11

And I'm not the only one.

"I will put her over my knee and pull up her dress - she doesn't wear panties anyway - and give her a good old-fashioned black woman's spanking. Send her to me. I'll take her ass out. She'll get a good old-fashioned Miss J. spanking."

- via the Cut

Who run the world

2011-09-16T16:19:00.000-04:00

2011-09-13T22:57:00.000-04:00

Touré Calls Out Media 9/11 Nostalgia, Leaves Dylan Ratigan Speechless

2011-09-13T22:53:00.001-04:00

things that make you go hmm...

from soup.

stef.

2011-09-06T07:42:00.002-04:00

She left as quickly and quietly as the summer did. Truth is, the seasons changed within her way before we'd shaken the last sand from our towels. Unraveled and convicted, she felt the days roll off one by one. With each passing, her nights softened and became shorter. The sun had finally set.

I am so sad that you are gone. The loss is vast and suffocating. I've known such a huge friend in you. A tremendous companion. I am better because you're in my life.

We look to each other when ourselves are not enough. But sometimes God will arrange us. He'll renew in us what we thought had long dissipated, and show us the ways in which we are full and worthy. Breathing comes easier. Peace seeps in slowly. You are full and you are worthy.

Your new chick

2011-09-02T11:26:00.004-04:00

...can't fuck wit my old bitch

First Ladies Club

2011-09-02T11:17:00.001-04:00

Rosalynn Carter, Michelle Obama, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Nancy Reagan attended the funeral for former First Lady Betty Ford in July. I'm not sure who that white man in between Hillary and Nance is.

Royal invitation

2011-09-01T09:51:00.000-04:00

Naomi Campbell and Marc Jacobs were two amongst the most fabulous guests at the wedding of Kate Moss and Jamie Hince. Naomi is wearing Givenchy by Riccardo Tisci.

photo Vogue

please, God, tell me where to purch'

2011-08-28T15:53:00.002-04:00

@blakescotland?
ksubi women's spring/summer 2012

love this of M.E.

2011-08-28T15:46:00.000-04:00

in Egypt, natch.

table for 1

2011-08-27T10:56:00.000-04:00

had a solo dinner at the quaintest french bistro on 62nd and lex yestereve. it felt great.

ritual union

2011-08-18T10:04:00.001-04:00

mother, tell me how it is
i know you've been through all of this