February 2017

The long-awaited weekend has finally arrived. This Sunday, at 8:30 EST, is the 89th Annual Academy Awards, more commonly known as the Oscars. This is the oh-so-exciting time when actors, directors, screenwriters, and basically everyone in the movie business get recognized (or snubbed) for their hard work. I am one of the hopeful few who aspires to work in the entertainment industry someday, so the Oscars is something that I always look forward to.

Ladies, it’s time for us to have a chat. 

I’m going to talk to you about something I’ve been seeing more and more on social media lately. It is a harmful idea that people of all genders and races have perpetuated, acting as though it is normal and acceptable. This is, the “crazy girlfriend” trope.

Hey y’all. It’s me. Your favorite unapologetic, black, advocate for feminism coming at you with something new for this semester. A column. The Black Column, to be exact. 

“Oh no!” One might be thinking. “They gave her another opportunity to shove her agenda down our throats?!”

Yes. Yes, they did. 

About a month ago, in the midst of the chaos of exams and three days before I was scheduled to go home, my mother sent me a text that read “No clean drinking water here, not sure when it will be resolved.” I wasn’t really surprised by this message, as contaminated drinking water isn’t out of the ordinary where I live. Corpus Christi, Texas, where I was born and raised, sits on the coastal part of the state, and is littered with refineries as you move inland.