The Late Arrival

We didn't watch a lot of Good Times in the 1970's because my mom didn't approve of the way it portrayed black families as poor, uneducated and living in substandard housing. But for whatever reason, we did watch the episode when James Evans, the family patriarch, died. His wife Florida, true to the strong black woman trope, unflinchingly carried on with life. No tears, only work and shouldering the burden of children in mourning over the loss of their father. Until...until she broke. She broke not in tears, but in anger. I was too young to understand the many layers of Florida's anger bursting through the screen that night, but I could feel it; and I can still feel it even now, some forty-odd years later. Today, I felt Florida's anger when I heard that Prince died. It came to me as an overheard byline while I was about to scoop up the salad I brought for lunch. Internally, I broke down like Florida: "Damn, Damn, Damn!!" Bu...

It was the shot heard round the bundt pan : Paula Deen admitted to uttering the n-word...repeatedly. In the past. She issued one pathetic video recant (or so I've heard because it was taken down as quickly as it was posted), then was scheduled to issue another wanna-be mea culpa on The Today Show, but instead settled for a new  Please-I-Got-Butter-In-My-Recipes-Don't-Y'all-Remember-How-Much-Y'all-Love-Butter apology video. None worked and the Food Network summarily dismissed her and her buttery goodness by not renewing her contract. Sorry, Paula. Yes, I said it: Sorry. What hapeend to you is because you reflected your upbringing in the south during the days when people living south of the Mason Dixon Line regularly referred to the Civil War as the War of Northern Aggression . Trouble is, somehow, someway, you just couldn't keep those words, that history and that slant from bubbling up out of you and into conversation. Truthfully Paula, I'm not worried...

Besides “ Swamp People ” and “ Mad Men ,” my favorite show is “ Scandal .” Olivia Pope is the main character who’s known for “erasing” Beltway bigwigs’ career-threatening indiscretions. Impossibly beautiful, wicked-smart, put-together and cool as a cucumber, Olivia’s also in an on-again, off-again, rain-forest-steamy affair with the President of the United States . The married President of the United States. The white , married President of the United States. And he is yummy. But I digress. Olivia Pope is black, which in this context, is an important fact. Personally, part of the show’s appeal is that color is immaterial to an already absorbing plot line that never descends into cheap racial characterizations or stereotypes. But I’m betting race will become an issue in the coming weeks. Not from within the show itself, but from the fans. Here’s why: Olivia and the POTUS have put their relationship on ice (sort of) and a new love interest has appeared on the scene for our heroine....

The New Year is a few short days away and the "Year in Review" lists are coming fast and furious, as are "The People We Lost" montages. Neither tells us much, really. They serve as much purpose as Chris Farley's in-depth interview with Paul McCartney. We're like Sir Paul: we know what happened this year. We were there . What I wish those lists would relate are the things we've learned from the things that have happened. Seriously, I mean what are the take-aways from the Kardashians' latest breakup, or from reminsicing about the year's bitter bipartisianship, or even from Whitney Houston's untimely death? That we love celebrity soap operas? That we're sick of campaign ads? That drugs are bad? This is all old news. In fact, it shouldn't even be called news, it oughta be called Olds . Granted, there is something fascinating about looking over the year and remembering, but what if we as individuals came up with our own lists? What ...

The National Battle of the Bulge, otherwise known as the New Year is upon us: Enter the onslaught of celebrity endorsed weight loss commercials. Slim-Jim Jennifer Hudson now screeches alongside her meatier self from American Idol days. Teeny tiny Janet Jackson does a sexy voiceover for a weight-loss magical food program. Nice, but believable?  Seriously, is there anyone who really believes they can lose weight through a particular diet or weight-loss pill, powder or drink just because a celebrity gets pseudo-motivational and says: “If I can do it, so can you.”   As the Unofficial Spokesperson for Regular People, I must first say Ugh on all our behalf. And secondly, No. No, Mr. or Mrs. or Ms. Celebrity, you can do it because you’ve got nannies who are at your kids’ beck and call while you work out six or eight hours a day.  Regular People work in eight hours a day at a desk, or on a sales floor, or in a warehouse or behind a cash regis...