Simply Cheris. . .

Two veterans of the radio industry, Alysse Stewart and Shay Moore have teamed up to bring listeners 2 Black Girls and a Mic, a weekly podcast that takes on hot topic with a smooth twist. 1.        How did you come up with  the idea for 2Black Girls and a Mic? AS: I was approached by QCityMetro.com's Carlton Hargro to host a podcast show. I agreed only after that light bulb moment that people sometimes experience.  I reached out to Shay Moore with the suggestion of a team effort, she said yes and the rest is history.  BTW my instincts were right in choosing Shay as a partner.  I love the synergy that exits between the two us.  We are very different, yet the same in many ways.   SM :  Alysse called me with the idea to do a podcast together and while on the phone discussing what the show would be and how it would be executed we created the meat and potatoes of the show. 2.      ...

Dictionary.com defines role model as: noun a person whose behavior, example, or success is or can be emulated by others, especially by younger people. Vibe Magazine, however, defines role model as this:  If you don't know who these people are, that's the bully Evelyn Lozada from VH1's Basketball Wives , catty Kandi Burruss from Bravo's Desperate Housewives of Atlanta , loud and vain Tamar Braxton from WeTV's Braxton Family Values and another bully, Chrissy Lampkin from VH1's Love and Hip-Hop.  Role models? Yeah-- no. These women are the stereotypes of black women that so many of us try to live down. I don't know who the editors of Vibe are, but can someone give them a reality check and a dictionary. What behavior have these women exhibited that we want to see young women -- or men for that matter-- model? What happened to standards? Morals? Common sense? There's nothing successful about these women, many who laid on their backs ...

Can't sleep. Can't write.

North Carolina voters just opened the door to discrimination. With the passing of Amendment One, voters said we don't respect people who aren't like the majority. What's next? Are black people going to be forced back into the cotton fields? Are Hispanic Americans going to be forced to carry freedom papers? Will the jails be filled with single women who kill their abusers, since this Amendment effectively voids Domestic violence protective orders? How many children are going to die because their parents can't afford health care?  Bigots won and we're all going to suffer. Way to go Tar Heel State. Here's what Twitter thinks: @ TheEllenShow : Getting married was one of the greatest things I have ever done. I hope everyone in NC gets the same opportunity someday. MichaelaAngela Davis ‏ @ MichaelaAngelaD North Carolina you are on the wrong side of history, the wrong side of love on this 1 # MarraigeEquality Step...

I often wave my North Carolina birth certificate at people, even though I was raised in South Carolina. South Carolina is many times the butt of  jokes; thank you Mark Sanford. But what's going on in North Carolina, where I now live, is no joke. Tomorrow is election day in the Tar Heel state and the main thing bringing voters to the polls is Amendment One . Here's what this thing is: The measure would define marriage in the state constitution as between one man and one woman, and would ban any other type of "domestic legal union" such as civil unions and domestic partnerships. Same-sex marriage is already illegal in the state of North Carolina. The proposed measure, however, would add the ban to the state constitution. This measure isn't just about gay marriage. It's about families and discrimination. Point blank, it's damned stupid. If people want to get married--same sex couples included -- the government knows damned well that they benefit. Ma...

While researching motorcycles for my latest novel, I ran across the story of a California man who had a 20-month erection after riding a BMW bike . Of course he's suing -- and he should. One thing that Viagra taught us is that an erection lasting over four hours is dangerous, 20 months had to be just painful. A California man has sued BMW North America and a motorcycle-seat maker claiming that a four-hour round-trip ride on his 1993 BMW bike with a "ridge-like" seat gave him "a severe case of priapism (a persistent, lasting erection)" that's lasted 20 months and counting. While there have been concerns about narrow "banana" bike seats causing loss of feeling in that area -- for men and women -- this is the first report we've seen of way too much. People joke about priapism, but it is no joke. After a man has reached his climax and his penis doesn't return to it's "resting" or flaccid state, it isn't us...

While you sleep, I write!