LA Barbers To Start Testing Blood Pressure

Jeff Robinson, AP

(NPR)- Barbershops are a traditional gathering place for African-American men — a place to talk politics, sports and gossip. Now, some doctors in Los Angeles are hoping to make the barbershop a place for combating high blood pressure among black men.

President Obama Encouraging Family-Friendly Work Policies

Manuel Balce Ceneta, Yahoo! files

(AP)- President Barack Obama says many American women can't even get a day off to give birth.
The president tells a working families summit that it's an issue this country isn't handling very well.
The United States is the only industrialized nation that doesn't mandate paid leave for mothers of newborns.
Obama says that's not a list he wants to be on — and it's time to change it.
But he hasn't thrown his support to legislation that would raise payroll taxes to cover the costs of paid family leave. His aides say that he wants instead to explore the issue further.
Read more: here


Finally! This male-centered work bias has gone on far too long, America. We are long overdue for some major change. Hopefully this country can pull it together-- for real.

Two Cleveland Nonprofits Win Fed Grants Aimed at Making Ex-offenders More Employable

(Plain Dealer) - Towards Employment has received a $2 million federal grant to create a comprehensive program aimed at helping those recently released from prison successfully complete job training, get hired and keep jobs.

Harlem Teen Opens World's First Pawn Shop for High-end Sneakers

Talk about knowing your market and making business models work in your community.

Meet Chase "Sneakers" Reed (age 16), entrepreneur, and owner of the world's first high-end sneaker pawn shop.

(Photo: Angel Chevrestt)

Drinking Kombucha Is A Lot Like Going Through Life

My uncle should be the spokesperson for Kombucha.
Not one of those fake spokespeople that act as the face of a product they don't even own. He is the real deal. Over the last few years, he has been on a covert mission to convert family members to drink the magical elixer-- and actually enjoy it. While he is yet to lead us all to the mystical powers of Kombucha consumption, he is well on his way.

Every time the infamous fermented tea bottles were whipped out of the fridge, I stared at the goopy sludge that swirls around on the bottom. What is he drinking?! How could he stomach that?
You see it was not just the bacteria on the bottom, it was more so the smell that made me decline a cool glass. It is... strong. An "acquired taste". 
However, with each sip, I grew to *gasp* enjoy the drink.

I realize that drinking Kombucha is a lot like living life:

1. Sometimes the things that are best for us are, at first, hard to swallow, but the value is so great, we press on.
Kombucha tastes like apple cider vinegar, carbonized, with a hint of something foul. If you haven't tried it already, odds are your first try will be a bit like:

Stretch Marks and Dollar Bills... Still Got My Money

I have a confession.
It is something that had embarrassed me for years. Oh, heck. Here goes nothing!
I... have... stretch marks.

There. I said it.

Many women are probably reading this thinking, um, where's the scandal?
Even though anywhere from 50-90% of women report having stretch marks, we seem to be completely ashamed and, for some reason, repulsed when we see such public displays of honest dermis.
Stretch marks are not a product of pregnancy alone, and are not a women's-only issue. However, the standard of impossibility imposed not surprisingly by men, but far too often by women, has fostered an uncomfortable self-hate space for beauty. The in-circle judgement of some women upon others whose bodies do or do not look like their own, is, quite frankly, disgusting. Whether people are nitpicking the nearest celebrity, or trash-talking their frenemy, women are the cruelst, most ferocious peddlers of pain.

I recently stumbled across a tweet that commented on a picture of a woman's bathroom selfie that rubbed me the wrong way. Firstly, the picture was a woman, in her underwear, taking a faceless, backshot selfie. The first thing I thought was, ohmygoodness she has a great butt. Yes, I noticed the stretch marks, but, c'mon, her butt was nice! The response tweet was less than favorable-- something along the lines of "ew, stretch marks. How unfortunate." Oh wait, the punchline? The tweet was written by another woman!
Huh? How is this a thing? Have we not learned, post-elementary, that calling your peers ugly at recess does not make you magically more pretty? When even Sports Illustrated supermodels are confirming their membership to the I-have-real-skin club, from where does this disgust and cruelty arise?

Jessica White, supermodel (see butt)

If you have stretch marks, odds are you have looked for ways to get rid of them. I've been there. By no stretch of the imagination do I consider mine as severe as others, but even still I have wished and wondered which oil/creme/procedure/machine/doctor/prayer/potion will remove them.
Where's my buttery-toned booty?!
After my desperate, insecure teenage years, I had to sit myself down, and face what all of the trusty internet sources were telling me all along: there is no true cure! Nature is nature and I had to come to terms with what nature meant for me. Haters were just going to have to stay PRESSED. So, girls, save your coins, because while some salves may help, odds are you are not going to get what you really want. It is easier-- and cheaper-- to grab some cocoa butter, slap it on daily, eat some skin-loving foods, and do you.

Alex Elle, blogger/poet/mother, alexelle.com

There is no rational explanation for why women react so negatively toward other women's physical presentations. Whether it is "hate", jealousy, mean-spiritedness, or boredom, there is never a good excuse. So often, us women base our perceptions of beauty on what we think men want-- that then being the standard from which we orient our preferences for ourselves and others. We have all heard it before: She's not that cute, she's too thin. She might be bad, but that's because she has on makeup. Ok, her butt is big, but she has stretch marks though!
Katt Williams said it best when he eloquently reassured us women that we have nothing to fear when it comes to our insecurities. So, do men really hate stretch marks as much as we think they do? Um, does it matter?

Melissa Forde, Rihanna's bff (see butt and hips)

So, when you see me on the beach, wearing whatever it is I choose to wear, and you catch yourself staring at my rear, wondering why on earth I would be so bold as to expose my stretch marks, here are some things to remember:

1. Yes, I do have a nice backside. I got it from my mama... don't hate.
2. If for some reason you aren't satisfied with the priviledge of viewing these here buttocks and choose to focus on the slight striae distensae instead, there is something wrong with you. 
3. They are a daily reminder to myself that I am a growing, functioning, healthy human being, who has lived some portion of life and will continue to do that and more.

Admittedly, it is hard to look in the mirror and see anything deemed "less-than" by greater society. However, no one lives in your skin but you. If we women make a collective effort to squash the scrutiny and save our money, we would all be a little bit happier residing in our own bodies. In the words of Beyonce, "pretty hurts", so why don't we learn to except ourselves, flaws and all.