And then there are the ones we left behind…
“This shit is so hard, babe. People think it’s easy but it isn’t. It is so so hard,” I told my partner through tears this morning. I was standing in...
“This shit is so hard, babe. People think it’s easy but it isn’t. It is so so hard,” I told my partner through tears this morning. I was standing in...
It was a few days before Christmas. The kids were off of school. I was wishing I had a nanny. “I’m supposed to take care of J,” my daughter declared....
Lifestyle / Motivational / Reflections
by Jenn M. Jackson · Published August 10, 2017 · Last modified August 13, 2017
I recently purchased Shonda Rhimes’ Year of Yes: How to Dance It Out, Stand In the Sun and Be Your Own Person for my partner. It wasn’t until I read the...
Love and Relationships / Reflections
by Jenn M. Jackson · Published July 12, 2017 · Last modified July 28, 2017
One of the greatest R&B lines ever delivered is “don’t need no hateration, holleration, in this dancerie.” The Queen of R&B, Mary J. Blige gave us that one in...
by Jenn M. Jackson · Published April 14, 2017 · Last modified January 15, 2018
I give myself away all the time. To my children. To my partner. To mom. To my friends. To my job. My boss. My peers. My couch. My studies. My...
I was born in 1984. While I wasn’t really allowed to watch popular television shows for almost a decade, I vividly remember seeing TLC’s “What About Your Friends” video on...
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a conflicted piece about NBC’s “This Is Us.” Befuddled by the dissonance I experienced between the show’s resounding praise and my own thoughts...
Culture / Gender & Sexuality / Motivational / Race / Reflections
by Jenn M. Jackson · Published February 14, 2017
Growing up, my mother never had a shortage of Ebony and Essence magazines splayed across our coffee table, a fact that has shaped me into adulthood. When I was bored, I...
Gender & Sexuality / Motivational / Race
by Jenn M. Jackson · Published April 20, 2016 · Last modified October 5, 2020
Almost every morning for the past two years, I have found myself sitting in my car on this predominantly White campus playing Tasha Cobbs or Kendrick Lamar or BJ the...
Culture / Race / Reflections
by Jenn M. Jackson · Published March 7, 2016 · Last modified December 16, 2016
The other day, as I was driving and watching his little puzzled face in my rear-view mirror, I told my son how Lauryn Hill’s experience having her son Zion was so similar...
by Jenn M. Jackson · Published August 11, 2015 · Last modified December 17, 2016
There have been few constants in my life. But, as I was reflecting today, I remembered a daily, weekly, monthly occurrence throughout my childhood that often left me questioning my...
Culture / Entertainment / Motivational / Race
by Daren W. Jackson · Published July 5, 2015 · Last modified December 16, 2016
Musiq Soulchild was one of the biggest faces in the neo-soul movement of the early-2000s. His soaring falsetto and straight to the heart compositions on tracks like “Love” and “Don’t...
Gender & Sexuality / Lifestyle / Race
by Jenn M. Jackson · Published August 14, 2014 · Last modified December 17, 2016
Being a six-foot-four inch tall black woman often precludes me from being mistaken for other people. Growing up, I was almost never told “Hey, you look just like my friend,”...
Lifestyle / Love and Relationships / Motivational / Parenting / Race
by Jenn M. Jackson · Published April 17, 2014 · Last modified April 14, 2017
I am losing my dad to cancer. I decided to write about it now so I never have to write about it again. He has been battling the disease since...
Gender & Sexuality / Lifestyle / Race
by Jenn M. Jackson · Published April 17, 2014 · Last modified December 17, 2016
I looked out of my driver side window at a shiny, red convertible. Next to it was an average looking white man and a black girl no more than twelve...
Entertainment / Lifestyle / Politics / Race
by Staff · Published November 25, 2013 · Last modified March 27, 2017
My daughter’s beauty is beyond skin deep. She is compassionate, sensitive, and affectionate, always looking to cheer up those around her with a card, a handmade gift, or a hug....