And no family was there to save me — When I was six and my brother was four and a half years old, our mother went to prison for the first time. Two Houston police officers drove a squad car into the parking lot of our small inner-city apartment complex, loose gravel crunching beneath their tires. The officers did…

Our mothers and fathers are the punchlines of your jokes — Readers please note: this story includes descriptions of addiction, suicide, and child exploitation. If you need help, contact the National Helpline. My mother was a crack cocaine addict for more than twenty years. Being her son was a lonely thing. It was not easy. Everyone thought it was a dirty…

I didn’t want to simply have a nice house in a bad neighborhood — I bought a little house a couple of years ago. It sits on a mostly quiet street in a mostly Black subdivision, with a good amount of Latinos. …

It’s not safe to be black in America — As I watched the video of the Alabama riverboat brawl, I had to remind myself that it is 2023, and not 1953. And like millions of African Americans, and people of African descent all around the world, I cheered and laughed at the images of the young black man social…

Is Rwanda becoming a real life Wakanda — I first started to think about traveling to Rwanda (the “W” is silent) a couple of years ago, when I came across a video by a guy called Wode Maya, a Ghanian Youtuber with more than a million subscribers. …

A certified sommelier’s tips for choosing the right wine every time — Five nights a week I work the floor as a sommelier at a high-end steakhouse in Houston, Texas. Houston is America’s fourth-largest city, and we love our steakhouses! Houston is also a city with one of the liveliest and most diverse food and wine scenes in America. …

The simple fitness and nutrition plan I use to add muscle to my 52-year-old body — First things first: No, I have never taken any steroids or hormones. In fact, I just started taking protein powder a couple of months ago. I guess I have decent genetics, but lots of people have much more naturally muscular bodies than me. I don’t have a personal trainer, and…

How Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars robbed fellow Academy Award winners of their moment The history of the Academy Awards, or the Oscars, is filled with the jokes of comedians from Billy Crystal to Whoopy Goldberg, Steve Martin, Chris Rock and many more. …

The Texas abortion ban takes freedom of religion away from all of us — The new Texas abortion law that all of America is talking about, is nothing more than Texas style religious law. American religious leaders are being allowed to force their religious beliefs on all Americans. This law is yet another attempt by the religious right, and the mostly religious white men…