One of the great things about being in college is that you get to meet tons of people from many different nationalities and backgrounds (see: hot foreign exchange students). This is definitely a good experience for those who come from towns where the only color they see is the one of their own skin.

But the sad fact is, many students don’t take advantage of getting to know the diverse kinds of people occupying the same lecture hall or dorm as themselves. Instead, they choose to stick with people who resemble them because it’s what they’re comfortable with; which goes to show that colleges (and the United States as a whole) are not melting pots, but merely salads where different groups of people simply coexist without choosing to mingle with others.

It drives me insane!

As a kid I had friends who were every color under the rainbow, so I assumed that college would be no different. I imagined a vast body of people from places all over the country who intermingled with one another on a daily basis. When I arrived on campus however, it was like stepping into some type of reverse culture shock. Read More »

When I was younger, I was fan of saying to my more melanin challenged friends when they offered me sunscreen, “I don’t need that! I don’t burn, I’m black!”

Oh how very wrong I was. It’s not that sunburn is all that different when you’re black, it’s just way more embarrassing. And way less attractive.

The first time I got burned by my hated enemy the sun was in Hawaii. Proof that you should screen up even on cloudy overcast days. The day albeit warm, was gray — but those wicked rays got me anyway. I didn’t know what it was at first. My shoulders itched and burned. I thought I was having some allergic reaction to something in the Hawaiian air. My mom took one look and said, “Ha! You got sunburned!”

The second time it happened I was in Africa and that was even more unbearable for different reasons. After that I decided that the sun and I just aren’t friends. Read More »

As I’m writing this, Ali Gilmore has been missing for 799 days, 15 hours, and 43 minutes according to the website dedicated to finding the missing pregnant woman.

Her disappearance was one of the bigger news stories in Tallahassee, FL for a couple of months, with fairly consistent news reports about the continuing search for her whereabouts and billboards all around town with phone numbers to call with any pertinent information about her disappearance. The case even got some national exposure, appearing on Dateline, MSNBC, the Montel Williams Show, and Nancy Grace among others. The reward was and still is $30,000, but absolutely nothing has been found in the two years that she has been missing.

With all of the coverage surrounding the so-called “Marine Murders” and even the story of Laci Peterson’s murder a couple of years ago, reports of missing or murdered pregnant women have been surfacing more and more and the news exposure has been increasing exponentially. But, as a recent story by CBS news reports, the stories getting the widest exposure aren’t indicative of the real statistics of maternal homicide victims. Read More »

Eight months after radio-host Don Imus used racial slurs against the Rutgers Women’s Basketball teams he’s back on the air - and he’s not racist anymore! Promise!

Imus (and the heads at RFD-TV, no doubt) must have thought it would be a great idea to prove his non-racial stance by hiring on not one but two black comedians. (We are only calling attention to their race to prove how “un-racist” we are here at College Candy.)

Diversity has a name, or two names in this case: comedians Karith Foster and Tony Powell. Foster is a Jewish/African-American/Texan who graduated from Oxford (JACKPOT!) and Powell is…an African-American comedian!

Don Imus, African-American sidekick(s), continued wisecracks and controversy - sounds like the show is extending an olive-branch towards its infamous rival.

Will this act of unity (and comedy) scream heavy-duty marketing or turn this never-ending controversy on its ear? Tune in to WABC-AM (or RFD-TV) and find out.

Everyone knows that the fashion industry can be bitchy, but now there are reports that it actually might be racist.

UK magazine The Independent recently ran an article about the lack of black and minority models on the runway.

Dee Doocey, a former fashion manager who’s currently campaigning for diversity on the catwalk says she can’t remember “being sent a model who wasn’t white,” during her days in the field “I don’t know if it’s racism, or just the fashion industry languishing in the doldrums”, Doocey continues, “but it needs to change. Agencies only seem interested in leggy white blonde girls.”

While none-white people make up about “30 percent” of London’s population, they “don’t even make up 1 percent of the models”, a ratio that sounds like it might have a reflection in America as well.

One managing director at a London agency that specializes in ethnically diverse models illustrated the crux of the problem by explaining her difficulty in getting work for her black models.

“The racism you come across is not underlying, it’s blatant” she reveals, going on to say that “People will say things like ‘Don’t send any more black models’, and one designer even said black people didn’t suit his clothes. And we’re not talking about small designers here; it’s all the big ones.” Read More »

Days as a Freshman: 28
Current Mood: Anticipating

“So, are you going to the dance tonight?”

Naima leaned against the soda machine, her arms sagging underneath two giant boxes. Crystal and I were waiting with her in the mail line. Neither of us had anything to send out; it was mostly a moral support thing. No one liked to wait in the mail line alone. No matter what time of day you went, it was always the longest line in history.

“I’m not sure. Those things always end up sucking.” Crystal reached out to take one of Naima’s boxes, but Naima pulled away.

“I got it, honey.” She said reassuringly. “Your girl’s a bodybuilder!”

Letting out her signature laugh, Naima hitched the boxes up higher in her arms and completely ignored the people turning around to see where the noise was coming from.

Naima was another freshman Crystal and I had met in our unholy Statistics class. Unlike us, she was completely unafraid of asking questions, and more we got to know her, the more she seemed to be completely unafraid of anything. Read More »

When you live in New York City black is everywhere.

People sport in on a daily basis, you’ll see 10 raven-haired beauties before you see a blonde…and I’m pretty sure the city air leaves my lungs a healthy shade of ebony.

So, perhaps this is why it comes as no surprise that companies are picking up on a new trend where “black is the new black”.

Irony at it’s finest? No way! I say it’s revolutionary!

The Japanese (ever the trendsetters) have begun to release black products like there’s no tomorrow. Summer may be the time for white, but black is finally getting its due. For instance? Japanese airliner StarFlyer is outfitting its aircrafts with black leather seats. Some may call it morbid…I call it classy.

Want to talk revolution? How about black toilet paper? It’s a big hit in Europe (what isn’t?) but damn if it isn’t, at the very least, a lovely novelty. Even if you aren’t feeling the dark hue…try out a different color. Okay, so maybe you’re concerned about the TP. I understand. How do you feel about black cotton swabs? Black Nail Polish? Black toothbrushes? Black toothpaste? It never ends! Read More »