Marriage is a big thing in this country, isn’t it? People are all up in arms about protecting the sanctity of it. Making sure people wait for it before they have kids, and that those of the same sex don’t do it because that would be wrong. With all of this to do about stopping certain people from marrying, who’s making sure that other people do?

It seems that marriage (according to statistics, which as we all know, are infallible) has become a white institution. Black people just aren’t doing it anymore.

Some of you may be familiar with the special CNN aired, “Black in America” in which they spoke on many of the issues that black America is having not only with marriage, but with other aspects of day to day life: employment, education, etc., all of which impact the black community.

Dionne Hill, the producer of the segment has a special rumination on black people and marriage. It’s not a new statistic, but the fact still remains: black people simply are not getting married in the numbers that we once used to. Certainly no longer comparable in numbers to the ethnic majority of Caucasian people marrying. In the article, which can be found in it’s entirety here, she talks about her own experience with the illusive unicorn that is marriage and her own vision of the perfect life, which is, of course: marriage, career, and children. Read More »

• If your ringtone is going to be an orgasm (ugh, totally lame), turn it off before you are in the midst of a courtroom. Manners, people! (news.com.au)

• London residents panic over chemical spill…I mean, 5-alarm chili! Literally. (timesonline.co.uk)

• Alabama woman: “My motto has been they are going to have to pry this vibrator from my cold, dead hand. I refuse to give up.” Haven’t we all thought that at some point? (TBO.com)

• Father makes 6 year old son chug a beer. Hilarity does not ensue. (tbo.com)

• An Alabama couple celebrates their 80th wedding anniversary. “After all these years,” he said, “I still enjoy being with her.” Does this give us hope or does it make us morbidly depressed? I’m going with depressed. (sfgate.com)

• Ditzy cheerleader bloopers are always a great way to wake up in the morning. (COED Magazine)

I can’t pinpoint exactly when my irrational affection for Britney Spears began. I remember watching “…Baby One More Time” on TRL, but I’m not sure it goes back that far. Maybe it started at a school dance, when I requested “Oops!… I Did It Again.” Or it just might have to do with the fact that I can also enjoy an entire family size bag of Cheetos now and again.

I do know that when Britney stopped by The Late Show with David Letterman last November, rocking a sleek new haircut and a hotter body than we’d seen in quite a while, I cheered. In fact, I was inspired. Thanks to the aforementioned bags of Cheetos, I wasn’t looking so hot myself at the time, but if Britney could pull herself together, I could find my way back to the gym, too!

And when she dumped K-Fed the very next day, I really began to hope. “I’m so proud of her,” I told my suitemates. “In fact,” I declared, “if she comes out with a new album, I will seriously buy it.”

Well, you know what happened next. There was drinking, bloating, shaving her head, in rehab, out of rehab, ridiculous wigs, more rehab. And those are just the highlights. Her “comeback” mini-tour wasn’t exactly encouraging, either. Read More »