It’s difficult having friends who still diet. It’s difficult because I wish I could convince them of the toxicity and futility of the pursuit — like the scientifically-proven futility — but, in my experience, people will deny the science until they are ready to accept it. Extremely smart people, who…

I look at my finger and wonder whether the mark of my wedding ring will ever disappear. I wore it for ten years. Two rings actually — the diamond of engagement, and then the band of matrimony. …

There’s a moment in many movies. You’ve seen it: imminent danger, a desperate decision to flee, and someone, usually a man, cries out, “Women and children first!” I saw versions of this moment three times recently. Once during Paramount network’s re-airing of Waco, when a frantic (and despicable) David Koresh…

Poet, essayist, and activist Audre Lorde famously wrote, “If I didn’t define myself for myself, I would be crunched into other people’s fantasies for me and eaten alive.” I didn’t see The Whale, for which Brendan Fraser won an Oscar earlier this month. Nor will I ever watch it, for…

Weight Watchers recently acquired the telehealth company Sequence, allowing them effectively to prescribe weight-loss drugs like Ozempic to their members. Talk about being on the wrong side of history — body liberation is the future. I suppose there’s something refreshing about the acquisition, though it will cause incalculable harm. It…

It’s the last days of Black History Month, when non-Black people are encouraged, with varying degrees of success, to engage with and show curiosity toward Black people and our stories. And this engagement is a good thing. Still, it comes with complexities any mixed Black person will recognize — meaning…

Tuesday night was odd. My head felt wooshy when I turned it all the way left or right, but not when I did it just a bit. My shoulders ached. I found myself gazing at the kitchen sink, its stack of glasses and plates and the bits of food I’d…

There are so many Black men I love. My dad. My brother. Cousins and nephews. Friends and colleagues. Ancestors. Artists and philosophers I’ve never met but whose contributions are inimitable, indisputable (Jean-Michel Basquiat, John Coltrane, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.). The tone and shades of my love are varied. Sometimes…

When I was a kid (the 80s and 90s), dieting was en vogue. Intentional weight loss. Getting skinny. Finally losing the fat. Stopping the insanity. Hallelujah! There was no shame in it. If you were on a diet, you said so in public, proudly, and you made sure to use…