is...well....a QUEEN. I have both of her books, and I read an interview with her in African Business and Culture, where she was talking about what Sistahs need to do to reclaim our men, be it from jail, drugs, or even the arms of white women. I read that article like five times. In fact, I might pull it out and re-read it tonight. Did y'all read it? Maybe after work tomorrow I could type it in here, and we can discuss it next. Y'all seem to not be feelin' that Newsweek article, so maybe we should move onto another one. I liked the article, I thought it made valid points. I value the comments and different perspectives you all offered though.

As far as the support group, I am a member of three women's support groups on line: women_on_race(which is based out of Nashville, and started out as a weekly face-to-face women's group across racial lines, as an outgrowth from the Race Relations Institute), DC Naturals, and DC Sistagirls.

I miss having face-to-face women's meetings though. My homegirls are all married, engaged, or church ladies here at home, so it's not like I can call a last minute pow-wow @ 11p.m. on a Saturday night, like I used too. Leave home for 10 years, and this is what I get: girlfriends that are for the most part unavailable to me, so I spend most of my time alone. That is how I have so much time to be on OKplayer.

Anyhow, enough for my sob story. Inbox me w/ further details on your idea.

And let me take a moment to express GRATITUDE to y'all Sistahs for participating in this post. I feel really encouraged by that. I believe that for the most part, or really for the WHOLE part, the notorious(and sometimes infamous) strength of the Black woman emanates from within each of us, out to each other, so that we ALL are bouyed, above all the bs w/ our men, jobs, families, negative messages about body image....all of it. I think we feed off each other, and find strength from each other. This post is a perfect example of that. So THANK YOU!

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Oooo baby I like it raw. Oooo baby I like it RAAAW!(c)ODB- Shimmy Shimmy Ya