To Willie Bell Gibson, Thanks for Everything!
Willie Bell did not abide cutting corners, and it’s that pride she demanded in both our output and overall character that I’ve strived towards since choosing this craft as my life’s passion.
Faith Without Works
For two leagues that are predominantly Black and brown, and in a country that pays Black women 64 cents to every dollar paid a white male, the NBA is uniquely positioned to make one of the boldest statements regarding women’s and civil rights that this nation — this planet — has ever seen.
The Truth Shall Make You Free
Since George Floyd’s murder caught national attention, discussions around issues of race and gender have suddenly become much more candid, and seemingly much less ephemeral. We may actually be our closest to finally getting that boulder over the hill than we’ve been in this nation’s history. Seriously.
The Perfect Sports Villain
I almost chose to sit this eulogy out. I mean, transparently, making fun of Kobe’s eccentricities has been a favorite pastime of mine for two decades. His scuffle with Chris Childs remains quality content, to this day. He semi-pursued a music career, and enlisted Tyra Banks for his only single. I used to make fun of his mini-fro just because I thought it looked dumb. (In hindsight, he started the era of the thot fro twenty years ago. A man truly ahead of his time.)
Surrender to the Air
It sucks that Professor Morrison’s passing was the spark I needed to write for myself again, but I’d be a hypocrite considering her a role model and mentor while continuing to be so passive about my truest passion. I know I’m a damn good writer, because I wouldn’t have launched this project if I didn’t. I can’t be a writer if I, er, don’t write. The plainest truths are often redundant that way.
Am I a F***boy?
A co-worker and I were discussing the toxic traits that people often bring into a relationship and he gave an example of a person’s “fuckboy”-ness. Alarmed by his example, I felt compelled to a self-examination of my own.
Could I be a fuckboy?
Fresh Never Fades Clothing | 2018 Collection 1
Major shoutout to Blake Hall and Fresh Never Fades Clothing for the launch of their 2018 Collection 1!
Hypocrite!: Black Authenticity in the Age of Social Media
I’ve been crafting my personal brand around the aesthetic that I’d like WSH to exude — clean, refined, much cooler and over everything than you’d believe — and while it can be fun to play that character on Twitter and Instagram, it’s a weird feeling to consider how detached our two personalities can be. Not entirely disparate, mind you; I’d never accuse anyone of faking for likes and retweets. But we’ve all now become curators of our personal running diaries, for better or worse. Can’t blame a curator for exercising creative control, can you? That's precisely why my Twitter drafts folder is pouring over at the moment. Creative control.
Black Superstar Power: The Political Awakening of the Millennial Athlete
Sure, continue to ignore all the intentional system failures harming people of color in the name of pretending we don’t have a legitimate gripe. Let’s also pretend these wealthy, black athletes weren’t dead broke once-upon-a-time, because in this fantasy, they shouldn’t complain about anything! They don’t have it bad at all! Or — even better — let’s continue to pretend that America has this spotless history, that the many terrible things happening right now in the United States — white supremacist rallies, mass shootings by domestic terrorists, the election of an incompetent imbecile to run the country — are just aberrations and not the byproduct of backlash from the eight years prior, anger not only of a black man being President, but of him being damned good at it, too.