5 THINGS I LOVE
1. JANET JACKSON
I remember it like it was yesterday. I was 6 years old. It was a Sunday. My mom was ironing her blue janitor’s uniforms for the upcoming workweek, and she turned on the radio as I sat on her bed and we talked. Suddenly, Herb Kent played the sweetest — yet somehow intensely funky — sound I’d ever heard. It was Janet Jackson. And I’ve been a part of the Rhythm Nation ever since.
2. COWBOY BOOTS
See that eternally cool dude? That’s Teddy Pendergrass. Teddy P. was but one of many east coast brothers who rocked the full urban cowboy look in the late 1970s — at least two years before John Travolta took it mainstream. I had an uncle who was in his prime during this era, and continued to don hats and boots up until his death a few years ago. That’s how I, a Black 30-something from Chicagoland, came to love cowboy boots.
2. COWBOY BOOTS
See that eternally cool dude? That’s Teddy Pendergrass. Teddy P. was but one of many east coast brothers who rocked the full urban cowboy look in the late 1970s — at least two years before John Travolta took it mainstream. I had an uncle who was in his prime during this era, and continued to don hats and boots up until his death a few years ago. That’s how I, a Black 30-something from Chicagoland, came to love cowboy boots.
3. SUSHI
In college, I was an RA alongside one of those Devastating Divas from Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. One day, she came to the dorm’s front desk with what appeared to be little balls of rice with pink stuff in the middle. Seeing my confused face, she wagged her finger at me and said, “Mmm mmm boo, you’re gonna learn to like this and how to properly use these chopsticks. You’re not going to be at a work lunch five years from now and look foolish because you don’t have an appreciation for good sushi!” I’ve been hooked ever since.
4. WEIGHTLIFTING
I was a really chunky kid. When I was 15, I picked up a pair of dumbbells solely to improve the way I looked. But over time, the weight room became not only a sanctuary to shape my body, but also my mind. Lifting heavy hunks of metal is therapeutic for me.
4. WEIGHTLIFTING
I was a really chunky kid. When I was 15, I picked up a pair of dumbbells solely to improve the way I looked. But over time, the weight room became not only a sanctuary to shape my body, but also my mind. Lifting heavy hunks of metal is therapeutic for me.
5. PERSONAL STYLE
I love how clothes allow us to make a statement without saying a word. My personal style is just one way I choose to express myself. My story is written on my body every day.