Fed Up

Women got real last week, and we couldn’t help but make the brave and scary declaration, #MeToo. Like you, we were willing to be open and vulnerable about just some of the moments in which we have suffered sexual harassment and assault at the hands of men in power. For those who shared, and those who couldn’t bear to share, we hear you, we see you, we are you.

We keep trying to do a “fun” episode but sexism, racism, white supremacy, you name the -ism, won’t let us live. We hope you’re enjoying taking this journey with us as we reflect on the world and our place in it.

We're Listening 

A Baltimore middle-school choir sang Andra Day’s “Rise Up” and it was exactly what we needed to hear and see. So cliché but like mama Whitney, “we believe the children are our future, let them lead the way.”

What We Got Open 

• With the recent attack in Somalia, many have asked, “where is the empathy?” Alexis Okeow of the New Yorker had an answer, “we feel compassion more easily for people who look like us, or live close to us, or share our values. It’s easier to identify with them and to imagine their pain as if it were our own. Empathy, then, for distant conflicts, especially ones happening to African, Muslim people, is a stretch.”

• We know it was all over Twitter but we're still not over it. Thanks Blossom a.k.a. Mayim Bialik for letting us know that being “hot” and “flirting” are prerequisites to sexual assault. There’s something to say about personal responsibility but this isn’t it.

• Apparently pop stars like Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus and Katy Perry are going through an identity crisis. Guess what’s causing it...hip-hop.

• This is so terrible but why do we love this 87-year-old Black woman jewel thief who claims she’s retiring. In a 2013 documentary about her life, she said: “I do not have any regrets about stealing jewelry. I regret getting caught.” Also truth to this tweet.

We Just Think It's Funny How...

• ...Mr. Bush and Mr. Obama implicitly stood out against Trump. The things that bring people together 🙃.

Shoutout of the Week 

Ikhlas is co-hosts of another podcast, Voices4Ed! Listen to the first episode where she, and her co-host Lane Wright, share their K-12 experiences and why everyone should be involved in investing in better schools for kids.