Are African-American women limiting the dating pool by not dating other cultures in the diaspora? On this week’s episode of “Listen To Black Women,” our diverse panel Jessie Woo, Africa Miranda, Bianca C. Williams, author of The Pursuit of Happiness: Black Women, and host Shamika Sanders discuss the complexities and positive aspects of dating outside your own culture. About Listen To Black Women: HelloBeautiful and MadameNoire have collaborated on a brand new digital talk show called Listen To Black Women , and we want to hear from you! Each episode we will include the voices of our audience online, feedback from an expert, and results from weekly polls that ask you to weigh in on the topic. This show is shaped by your input, so make sure to let your opinions be heard! RELATED STORIES: Listen To Black Women: Why Do Black Women Feel Hurt When We See Black Men With White Women? Listen To Black Women: Can Black Women Literally Afford To Wait To Have Children? Listen To Black Women: Does Colorism Hold People Back From Success?
Are African-American women limiting the dating pool by not dating other cultures in the diaspora? On this week’s episode of “Listen To Black Women,” our diverse panel Jessie Woo, Africa Miranda, Bianca C. Williams, author of The Pursuit of Happiness: Black Women, and host Shamika Sanders discuss the complexities and positive aspects of dating outside your own culture. About Listen To Black Women: HelloBeautiful and MadameNoire have collaborated on a brand new digital talk show called Listen To Black Women , and we want to hear from you! Each episode we will include the voices of our audience online, feedback from an expert, and results from weekly polls that ask you to weigh in on the topic. This show is shaped by your input, so make sure to let your opinions be heard! RELATED STORIES: Listen To Black Women: Why Do Black Women Feel Hurt When We See Black Men With White Women? Listen To Black Women: Can Black Women Literally Afford To Wait To Have Children? Listen To Black Women: Does Colorism Hold People Back From Success?
It’s only been eight months since Maci Bookout and Taylor McKinney got married , but it seems the Teen Mom stars’ wedded bliss has already given way to the complexities of life in a blended family under the constant glare of the media magnifying glass. On last night’s episode of Teen Mom: OG , we learned that Maci and Taylor have entered marriage counseling. While that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re having serious relationship troubles, many fans have pointed out that there’s ample reason to believe that Maci and Taylor’s home life is less than ideal. For starters, there’s the revelation that it’s not unusual for Maci and Taylor to engage in drunken fights off camera . “Obviously, having three kids is catching up to us,” Maci told her friend Keelie in a scene from last night’s installment. “Eighty-five percent of the time, we’re good to go. The rest of the 15 percent, it’s hell. It’s like all of our stress and emotion and everything … we take it out on each other.” Bookout added: “When the cameras leave, we’ll drink and freak out. It’s always like, literally, the smallest things.” Maci didn’t go into specifics about what she meant by “freak out,” but the comment certainly didn’t paint a pretty picture. Fortunately, she and Taylor followed Keelie’s advice and sought counseling. Based on the comments she made to her therapist, it sounds like Maci allows the day-to-day pressures of her hectic life to build up , and then vents her frustrations after her tongue’s been loosened by a few Bud Lights: “All of the little things build up because neither of us ever communicate them,” Bookout told the couple’s counselor. “Then all of a sudden, we’re mad and we don’t even know why we’re mad.” She added: “To be honest with you, he could go the rest of our lives and never tell me ‘thank you’ or ‘you’re awesome.’ Just grab my ass every now and then and give me a kiss.” We’re sure the situation isn’t helped by recent issues involving Maci’s first baby daddy. Fans learned last week that Ryan Edwards has checked into rehab for unspecified substance abuse issues. Sources close to Maci say she’d been frequently breaking down in tears out of concern for her ex. So Ryan, Maci, and Taylor are all far from out of the woods, but the important thing is that they’re seeking the right kind of help, which considerably improves their chances of working through these issues. And for that, we commend them. Watch Teen Mom online to relive the rocky road that led Maci to her current situation. View Slideshow: Maci Bookout-Taylor McKinney Wedding Photos!
With controversy swirling over the latest Rolling Stone cover – it features Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and teases how he “became a monster” – the magazine has come out with an online statement. As an editor’s note to the Web version of the story, Rolling Stone writes: “Our hearts go out to the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing, and our thoughts are always with them and their families. The cover story we are publishing this week falls within the traditions of journalism and Rolling Stone’s long-standing commitment to serious and thoughtful coverage of the most important political and cultural issues of our day. ” It continues: “The fact that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is young, and in the same age group as many of our readers, makes it all the more important for us to examine the complexities of this issue and gain a more complete understanding of how a tragedy like this happens.” Along with stinging criticism from those who feel the cover story is inappropriate, CVS has announced a boycott of the issue. The chain says it will not sell the August edition of Rolling Stone “out of respect for the victims of the attack and their loved ones.” Where do you stand? What do you think of the magazine putting Dzhokhar Tsarnaev on its cover? Why not? He’s topical and interesting … What a disgrace. View Poll »
On June 4, Bravo will debut a new season of The Real Housewives of New York , replete with new cast members and new scripted drama! That’s right, Jill Zarin, Alex McCord, Cindy Barshop and Kelly Bensimon are out; Carole Radziwill , Heather Thomson and Aviva Drescher are in. But, don’t worry fans, the new ladies are just as irritating and clueless as the old ones, as evidenced by one asking in the following sneak preview: “Do you think we’re part of the one percent?” Other lowlights include: Countess LuAnn calling out Ramona for blackmailing her; the gang getting trashed in the tropics; and Aviva referring to Ramona and Sonja “white trash.” Yup. She fits right in… The Real Housewives of New York Season 5 Trailer
He’s sexy. He’s a Cuban soap star. He’s got the moves. And he’s shirtless. With all those things going for him, it’s a miracle anyone on Dancing With the Stars even shows up to compete against William Levy. But Green Bay Packers star Donald Driver isn’t about to hand over the Mirror Ball trophy just yet. In fact, he might give William a run for his money in an “ab-off.” William Levy’s sexy, abs-baring salsa routine with partner Cheryl Burke on Monday’s DWTS episode was a sign that the showdown is on, Driver says. “William knows the ladies love us, but they love him a little bit more because he took his clothes off,” Driver told People . “I haven’t taken my clothes off yet.” I’m going to pace myself and talk to the wife; if the wife agrees then I’ll take it off.” Disney star Roshon Fegan, 20, agrees, saying Levy’s display “makes it personal … I’ve got my eye on William and whatever his secrets are – working out in the gym, super-duper protein shakes – I’m gonna get me some muscles.” A worthy goal, but for now, it’s Donald vs. William in this hunk-a-thon. Which DWTS star do you think is … well, hunkier? Cast your vote below!
A month after Kony 2012, the documentary about the crimes of indicted Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony, took the Internet by storm, a sequel has arrived. A sequel that’s more of a follow-up to capitalize on the success of the original, which drew more than 100 million views on YouTube, but a sequel just the same. The non-profit Invisible Children released a new film, Kony 2012: Part II – Beyond Famous, today. You can watch the 20-minute expose in its entirety here: KONY 2012: Part II – Beyond Famous Kony 2012 drew attention to the reign of terror by Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army and examined strategies activists take to stop the guerilla leader. Accused of kidnapping children and turning them into soldiers, among other war crimes, the Ugandan national has become persona non grata … everywhere. Missing from the sequel is Jason Russell, the Invisible Children co-founder who directed the first installment and ended up arrested and hospitalized after an unbelievable meltdown earlier this month near his home in San Diego. As he recovers, Invisible Children seeks to silence critics that the group practices “slacktivism,” i.e. oversimplifying issues and having the adverse effect of elevating Kony’s celebrity instead of tackling the complexities of the subject. “One month later, we are releasing this film to explain the creation of the campaign, the progress that’s already been made and what we can all do now to put a stop to the violence of the LRA,” says narrator Ben Keesey in the new film. This time around, the film expounds on things that went unmentioned in Kony 2012, like the fact that Kony and his army had abandoned northern Uganda in 2006 and that the conditions in the region have vastly improved. The African outlaw remains a threat to neighboring countries, however. They also aim to provide viewers with ways to make a difference, including contacting U.S. policymakers and calling on them to increase funding to help end the conflict in central Africa and capture Joseph Kony himself.
‘Love is always going to be a huge theme in what I write about,’ singer tells MTV News after premiering ‘Safe & Sound’ video. By Jocelyn Vena, with reporting by Sway Calloway Taylor Swift Photo: MTV News In 2010, Taylor Swift released the Grammy-winning Speak Now. The album was a study in the complexities of love and life, full of ponderings on the romance of new love and the pain of a broken affair. Drawing inspiration from her own life, the album topped the charts and kept Swift ever-present. As she embarks on her next album release, she tells MTV News that she’s still got work to do, even if her bosses at the record label are ready to pull the trigger on it. “So far, I’ve been writing so much in the last year and the label keeps telling me, ‘All right, we’re finished; all right, we’re satisfied; OK, this is done now.’ And then I just keep writing and I keep turning it in in different versions,” she told MTV News’ Sway during “MTV First: Taylor Swift,” when she dropped her video for her “The Hunger Games” track, “Safe & Sound.” “I’m going to work on it until I literally have zero time left to work on it, because I’m having so much fun working on this album,” she explained. “I made my last album, Speak Now, with this idea I really wanted to make an album without writing with anyone else just because I always wanted to do that. And now I have a different approach to this record. I’m getting to work with people that I’ve always wanted to work with.” That means that she’s seeking out some assistance “from all different places in music.” “I’m trying to be as much of a sponge as possible,” she explained. “You have to evolve and try new things and change and that’s what I’ve loved to do with this album.” But just because she’s trying some new things musically doesn’t mean she’s quite ready to move on from writing about love. “I think that love is always going to be a huge theme in what I write about just because there are no two similar relationships, there are no two times that you feel love the same way or hurt the same way or [feel] rejection [in] the same way. It’s all different and I’m fascinated by that,” she said. “I really love to go back to human interaction and the way we make each other feel. But that at 22 is different than it was at 18 or 19 when I made my last album and 16 and 17 when I made Fearless. As you grow, you change in the way you process emotion.” What are you hoping to hear on Taylor Swift’s next album? Leave your comment below! Related Videos MTV First: Taylor Swift
