Consider this a public penance. Last year I wrote a story for Clutch magazine, “No Longer Trapped in the Closet,” boldly defending my decision to still like R. Kelly’s music despite the rumors surrounding him about his proclivity for sex with underage girls. You have to understand, R. Kelly’s first solo album dropped in 1993, when […]

Short version:   A woman in St. Louis made headlines after she claimed she was a victim of the “knockout game” an alleged urban trend where Black guys run up on unsuspecting people and try to knock them the “*** out” like “Deebo” in Friday.   Ashley DePew, 23, told police she was picking up […]

  Last night this question came in.  This afternoon a follow-up arrived.  Scroll down. UPDATE:   I didn’t expect a follow up here. It’s pretty cut and dry what happened and what needs to happen. Surprisingly the BFF wrote back in: “I slept on it and I think that it is best that I do not […]

Earlier this week, a woman wrote into Ask. FM with this: “I had huge fight with my boyfriend over the phone and told him I wouldn’t go to his annual work gala that night. After I said it, I regretted it and felt bad so I made steps to make things right. I got dressed […]

It took me most of last Wednesday to figure out who or what a “Sharkeisha” was and why it was the leading trending topic on Twitter. I mistakenly guessed that it was a jab at the infamous Sharknado movie on the Syfy Channel, where an unprecedented number of people unexpectedly tuned in to watch sharks fall from […]

“A Belle in Brooklyn” relationship columnist Demetria L. Lucas, who grew up in Prince George’s County and hit it big as a blogger with columns on dating advice for African-American women, is set to star in a reality television show.   “Blood, Sweat & Heels,” produced by Bravo, debuts Jan. 5 and features a group of […]

Several weeks ago a black woman in Louisiana was kidnapped by her boyfriend when she went to pick up their child from day care. The police did a requisite search for her but came up empty. That’s when her family got involved. An uncle and other male relatives tracked the woman down to an abandoned […]

Monday morning, entertainment trade magazine the Hollywood Reporter broke the news of an upcoming reality show, Blood, Sweat & Heels, which will debut on Bravo on Jan. 5. Since taping began in the spring, I’d been biting my tongue for months, alternately excited to reveal the news to my readers and, to be honest, afraid of what the […]

“My Ghanaian boyfriend is upset because I left his family’s party without him knowing. The feud between his mother and me came to a head at the event. She told me I wasn’t good enough for her son because I’m African American, I don’t have an Ivy League degree, I have kinky hair, I don’t […]

Earlier this week, I was driving home from the gym. I’d conveniently remembered my headphones so as not to die from boredom on the treadmill, but I forgot The Chord, the one that connects my iPhone to my truck’s stereo system.   I was stuck in the end of rush hour traffic and forced to […]