Simply Cheris. . .

 When you look at other Black women mayors across the country, like Keisha Lance Bottoms and Lori Lightfoot, don’t you feel proud? Like Black women lead.  Then, you remember you live in Charlotte and Vi Lyles is your mayor.  Real tears.  Lyles was super invisible at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic . She hasn’t kept her campaign promises and sat back while Charlotte Mecklenburg Police gassed protesters during a peaceful march in Uptown.  (Why is she not on the ballot so I could vote against her? Next year, y’all/) But earlier this month,Lyles and members of Charlotte City Council made total asses of themselves when they visited a local bar.  This is what the Charlotte Observer reported ,  The initial reservation was for 6 p.m., then it started getting pushed back, DeLoach said. The council members, along with Mayor Vi Lyles, City Manager Marcus Jones, and other city employees showed up at 7:45 p.m., she said. Also in attendance on Monday night was...

I consider myself to be pretty smart, except when it comes to matters of the heart. I might lie about my age, sometimes my dress size but I don't play with people's emotions. Either I like you or I don't. And you will know either way. The fakest thing about me is my hair color. So, I cram to understand why I keep taking a dude at face value. It's obvious that this generation of men are skilled at one thing. Not good sex. Not great communications. Not good food. These men are angry liars! They lie so well that they make fiction look autobiographical. Did their mother's not love them as children? Are they trying to make the women in their lives pay for their mother issues? I'm going to go with yes. It's been my experience that when you reach a certain age and you're still single, it seems as if you're subjected to broken men with a point to prove and lies to tell. Then these motherfuckers wonder why a broad gets an episode of Snapped. Listen, ...

This is the last year that the CIAA Basketball tournament is contracted to be in Charlotte. Here's my hope, I hope another city comes in and takes the tournament away. Yes, I live in Charlotte. The greatest CIAA school in the world, Johnson C. Smith University, is in Charlotte but the City of Charlotte doesn't deserve this tournament. Over the last nine years, the city has made an average of $50 Million. The CIAA has made $9 Million for the member schools scholarships. That. Is. Not. Right. According to The Charlotte Observer , "Last year, the CIAA rebuffed the city’s request to exclusively negotiate a contract extension. Instead, the association has said it will issue a formal request that all interested cities submit proposals. At stake is one of the city’s biggest tourism events, estimated to generate more than $40 million in economic impact." If the City of Charlotte is making that much money off the league, there is no way in habanero hell that th...

I went home and took a shower, changed into a pair of leggings and a form fitting tunic. Just in case there was going to be a round two; I left the underwear in the drawer. Slipping into a pair of black pumps, and spraying on my favorite body spray, I headed out the door. Already late for a dinner I didn’t want to eat, I stopped and grabbed a sandwich from Wendy’s so that I could pick at the fish that I wasn’t going to eat and not offended the cook. Actually, I didn’t care about offending him, how do you invite someone to dinner and not even ask them if they like fish? I just can’t get past the smell of fish. And fried fish. You need to hand me a gas mask. Funny, because I grew up on the coast, I’m supposed to love this stuff. I’m just not your typical southerner, I guess. That’s what makes me – me – and so hard for people to understand. And now I’m starting to worry. What if this whole thing with David turned out to be another mistake with a man? I was getting pretty tired of...

How and when we made it into his place is still kind of foggy to me. But in a flash, I was pressed against the ivory wall of his foyer with my legs wrapped around his waist and my lips kissing mine. Our tongues danced as his hands squeezed and massaged my breasts. I wanted him so bad that it hurt. My legs quivered and I wanted this sensual torture to end. Reaching down, I stroked his hardness through his pants. He moaned and I stroked faster. His mouth opened and the heat from his from his breath added to the lustful inferno raging in my body. I struggled to unsnap his pants and was grateful for his assistance and the strength he had to keep me up right. David’s thighs looked as if they’d been cut from the finest marble. And that throbbing erection peeking through his silk boxers, the Statue of David should be jealous. When he caught my glance, he smiled. “See something you like?” Smart ass. “Let me show you how much I like it,” I said as I unfurled my legs from around him and d...

All of this brings me to Charlotte, three years after I left Raleigh.   Year one in Charlotte was profitable. I had a job with the city as a researcher in the Neighborhood and Business services department. I loved my job – at least for a while. In my first year working with the city, I had a wonderful mentor, Sonia Parker. She ’ d been the woman I wanted to be when I grew up, smart as a whip, fair but tough and respected by all. When she took me under her wing, I knew moving to Charlotte and selling my house in Raleigh – at a loss – had been the right choice. “ Mimi, ” Sonia had said one afternoon as I headed out the door. “ Yes, ma ’ am? ” “ There you go with that ma ’ am stuff, ” she joked. The native New Yorker hadn ’ t been a big fan of being called ma ’ am, despite the fact that she was 50 years old. She would often say that she didn ’ t look a day over 30. She was almost right, I ’ d say 40. “ My mother taught me well, ” I said with a laugh. “ What ’ s going o...