• Kicking It At David’s Inn

    During school breaks, I would sometimes go to work with my mom. She was a cook at a restaurant called David’s Inn Restaurant and Cocktails on Michigan Avenue, and some of my favorite childhood memories are centered around that place. I was an inquisitive child—nosy as hell, really—and for some reason, adults loved my nosy…


  • Softness & Moi

    A soft life is not easy, but it’s possible to create it in the midst of hardship. It’s about finding joy in simple things, like a cup of coffee in silence or listening to your favorite music.


  • Three’s Company Was Dirtier Than We Remember — and That Was the Fun of It

    I’ve been watching old episodes of Three’s Company, and one thing keeps cracking me up: this show was nowhere near as innocent as nostalgia would have you believe. Take the episode where Mr. Furley ends up getting arrested for solicitation. Yes. Mr. Furley. Don Knotts. Arrested for trying to buy a prostitute. On network television.…


  • Mélusine: The Devil’s Daughter, the Serpent Woman, and Another Man Who Couldn’t Mind His Damn Business

    Every now and then I fall down one of my historical rabbit holes and come across a woman—real, legendary, mythical, whatever—who makes me stop and say, now who the hell is this? Today that woman is Mélusine. And baby, Mélusine has a story. She has been called the Devil’s daughter, a fairy, a water spirit,…


  • Winsome Witch and the Town That Forgot Women

    If you’ve never seen Winsome Witch, you’re missing one of Hanna-Barbera’s most charming and underrated cartoon characters. I had forgotten all about this cartoon until MeTv Toons started playing it again. My favorite episode is the one where Winnie lands in a lonely frontier town where the men have gone twenty years without seeing a…


  • Masters of Mischief: The Tricksters of Old-School Cartoons

    When I think back on old-school cartoons, I realize they were absolutely crawling with tricksters. I loved those characters—the ones who lied, schemed, disguised themselves, broke every rule in sight, embarrassed authority figures, and somehow still had me rooting for them anyway. Some of the best trickster characters from cartoons of yesterday: Bugs Bunny —…


  • The Tradwife Movement: A Pretty Apron Wrapped Around an Old Idea

    I’ve never understood the appeal of tradwife content. Watching a woman bake sourdough bread in a spotless farmhouse kitchen while wearing a ball gown has never been my idea of compelling entertainment. Yet it’s wildly popular, especially the content of Nara Smith. Nara Smith is a model with more than 12 million followers on TikTok.…


  • The Paradox of Race

    I’m not going to lie—I’m tired of white people. I’m tired of the wealthy ones who are destroying the planet through greed, exploitation, and an insatiable hunger for more. And I’m tired of the everyday ones with their astonishing lack of curiosity and critical thinking. Many of them benefit from white privilege, yet they’re still…


  • George E. Johnson Didn’t Just Sell Hair Products. He Sold Possibility.

    A living icon has become an ancestor and his name was George R. Johnson. Every now and then, somebody leaves this earth, and you realize they weren’t just successful.They changed the damn landscape.George E. Johnson was one of those people. He didn’t build Johnson Products because it was trendy. Hell, back then Black folks weren’t…


  • The Everleigh Club: From Silk Sheets to Section 8

    Chicago has always had a talent for reinventing itself. Sometimes it builds a skyscraper. Sometimes it tears down a brothel. And sometimes it tears down a brothel…and builds public housing on top of it. You really can’t make this stuff up. If you had wandered into Chicago’s Levee District around 1900, you would have found…