Sometimes Rhythm, Sometimes Blues: Young African Americans on Love, Relationships, Sex, and the Search for Mr. Right

by Taigi Smith (Editor), Audrey B. Chapman (Foreword by)

Overview

Today’s women expect it all: a successful career, an understanding and equally successful mate, and children—all wrapped up in a white picket fence. But recent studies show that while black women have ascended to form a new middle class and have attained success in the business sector, black men haven’t followed suit. Perhaps as a result, with other sociological and economic factors at play, many successful sistahs are having trouble finding a partner to call their own. This groundbreaking anthology explores the many reasons why—analyzing materialism and financial expectations, single motherhood, bling bling culture, media representations of African-American gender roles, missing fathers, incarcerated partners, and more—and offers hope from women who have beaten the odds. Writers including Kevin Powell and Victor LaValle weigh in on the men’s side in a "Talking Back" section, while female contributors include Kiini Ibura Asalaam, Shawn E. Rhea, Shani O’Neal, and Asha Bandele.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781580050968
Publisher:	Basic Books
Publication date:	12/24/2003
Series:	Live Girls
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.25(h) x 0.75(d)

About the Author

Taigi Smith is a network news producer. Her writing has appeared in New York Newsday; Honey magazine; the San Francisco Chronicle; and the anthologies Step into a World, ReGeneration, Listen Up, and Colonize This!, among other publications. She lives in Brooklyn. Audrey B. Chapman is a nationally-known relationship expert. She has appeared on dozens of national radio and television programs, including Oprah, 20/20, and NPR’s Morning Edition; and has been featured in the Washington Post, Essence magazine, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Ebony, and others. Host of radio program “The Audrey Chapman Show,” Chapman lives in Washington D.C.

Table of Contents

	Introduction	xvii
	Interview	ix
	A Tangled Web We've Weaved: Exploring the Complexities of African-American Relationships	1
	When Conception Equals Confusion: The Battle Between Mothers and Would-Be Fathers	3
	The Edge: Topography of a First Date in Prison	11
	Dance Like Nobody's Watching	17
	Marriage: The Unfulfilled Prophecy	25
	Retracing Our Steps: An Examination of the Personal Histories that Shape Us	33
	The Trial	35
	Black, White, and Seeing Red All Over	49
	Different Ways of Saying I Love You	59
	Las Cartas del Alma de Pedro Valentin Carol Almeraz	65
	The Bride Price	79
	Bass	87
	I'll Sing You a Song from My Soul: The Love Stories	97
	The Gift of Breath	99
	Baggage Claim	107
	Pack Light	119
	Love Down Under	131
	What One Dance Can Do	137
	For Better or Worse: African-American Marriages Under the Microscope	149
	Me and My Marine: Holding Fast in Love and Faith	151
	Don't Judge a Brother by His Cover	167
	Co-Parenting: Stay-at-Home Dads and Other Family Constructs	173
	Notes on My First Year of Marriage	181
	Talking Back: Black Men Speak	191
	Love Letters	193
	Big Time	201
	Wilderness 101	207
	I Don't Need No Man: Does a New Kind of "Bling-Bling" Feminism Create a False Sense of Emotional Empowerment?	215
	The World of Yes	221
	Acknowledgments	233
	About the Contributors	237
	About the Editor	247

Editorial Reviews

In an effort to clarify the state of relationships in the black community, network news journalist Smith has assembled 25 mostly unfamiliar writers who bare their souls, discussing burning issues like marriage, infidelity, and single parenting. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

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