Bad Bitch Or Bitch Bad?: Mixing Up Messages For Younger Generations

By Nancy Campos

Photo courtesy of http://soundcloud.com/atlanticrecords/lupe-fiasco-bitch-bad-explicit

What’s in a word? Many of us grew up hearing some version of sticks and stones may break my bones, but names (or words) will never hurt me. As a child, this message was often used as defense against those who resorted to name-calling and teasing; though in retrospect, this saying could not be more wrong

Eternal graffiti

Hala Mohammad, an exiled poet living in Paris, writes about the tragedies of the Syrian crisis. 

Abu al-Qasim al-Shabi's poem If the People Wanted Life One Day, despite being written decades before, ignited the people against the Tunisian government. Today, contemporary poets add to the fire of revolutions through their words, as seen recently in the Arab Spring. In nearly every country experiencing hardships, poems have emerged "the medium for expressing people's hopes, dreams and frustrations." 

What is "Bitch Bad" All About?

A short while ago Lupe Fiasco came out with a single from his album, Food and Liquor II, called "Bitch Bad". The song,like many of the others on the album, seeks to challenge many of the ideas that have become norms in American, Black, and hip hop communities

Qalandia and the Right to Return

 By Jill Ricotta

Even after 3 weeks of being in Israel/Palestine, I had yet to truly be shaken to my core like I had expected. Checkpoints (in specific, the ones you drive, not walk through) were quite fast and simple for a blonde American. East Jerusalem was so fun at night after iftar (breaking of the fast at sundown during the month of Ramadan), it was easy to forget the political situation of the city, and country in general. The conflict remained somewhat academic in nature, just like sitting in class back in the US.  So far I was just enjoying Palestine during Ramadan, stuffing my face with sweets, practicing my Palestinian Arabic, joking around with the locals. That’s the thing about Arab culture. No matter how hard times are, they will always find a way to

Blind Fate

I am an immigrant and an American. I dance salsa, I eat burgers, and I get my news in two languages. Years ago I struggled through four textbooks to write a decent paragraph in English. Now in college, I write twenty-page essays on Heidegger and Kant. By means of education, I have become assimilated. I wear silk ties and collared shirts. I pay taxes and I dabble in trendy hobbies like photography and literature. I have become ‘safe’ to join the exclusive group of “us” while eschewing the society of “them.”

Tribalism, Trust, and Terrorism – the intricacy of refugee assistance in Jordan

A Syrian boy waves the revolutionary flag at the June 21, 2012 protests in front of the Syrian Embassy in Amman, Jordan

It is nearly impossible to spend a few weeks in Amman without seeing a protest. Stumbling upon one is especially likely on Fridays, but many of those found do not fit the bill of a typical “Arab Spring” protest. While Jordanians continue to fight for reform and against corruption of their monarchy, other protests consist of both Jordanians and Syrian refugees against the Bashar al-Assad regime.

Paper Tigers: An Examination of Continuing State Planned Economies OR – Why I'm Not Scared of China

Paper Tigers: An Examination of Continuing State Planned Economies

OR – Why I'm Not Scared of China

By- Travis Nemmer

If I had a dime for every time I heard from some American politician or self-proclaimed expert told me that we'd “wind up working for China,” that the People's Republic “owns the United States,” or, most odiously that “Hu's our Daddy,” I would give all that money back to the government to pay down our debt – then we'd all have nothing to worry about from Beijing.

The London Olympics Round Up: Legends Are Born

(Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images)

The Jamaicans dominate. Again. 

It began with the women’s 100-meter, an event the Jamaican women swept in Beijing. Alas, a sweep was not to be in London. The Beijing silver medalist, Kerron Stewart, failed to qualify for the finals. This did not stop the Jamaican women from the stealing the headlines: Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, the gold medalist from the 2008 games repeated in spectacular fashion with a time of 10.75 seconds. The two-time Olympic gold medalist in the 200-meter, Veronica Campbell-Brown, took third at 10.81 seconds. The Jamaican sandwich: the lone American Carmelita Jeter, running in her first Olympics at age 32, took the silver.

3 Reasonable Reasons Why Obama Doesn’t Deserve Black People’s Support

By William Richardson

President Obama may be one of the most important politicians of our generation. This fact is magnitudes truer for people of African descent in America. Our people were the first in the history of this nation to see a man of African descent accent to the highest office in the land and the fact that one of us has reached that point has immense implications for our people.