For Dreamers, Thinkers and Achievers
By Cheryl Mattox Berry After seeing the movie Think Like a Man, I couldn’t help but wonder how grown women could be so clueless about men and dating. The movie, based on the book Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man: What Men Really Think About Love, Relationships, Intimacy, and Commitment by Steve Harvey, was hilarious. The […]
Continue ReadingBy Cheryl Mattox Berry Exams. Special projects. Extra credit. Dances. Tournaments. Banquets. Senior activities. Graduation. Summer job. College freshman summer experience. The school year is winding down. So much to do and so little time. You’ll get through it, but you must get organized NOW! Pull up your calendar. On a sheet of paper, write […]
Continue ReadingBy Cheryl Mattox Berry “Fame is a fickle food – upon a shifting plate” – Emily Dickinson In the opening scene from the 1980s TV series “Fame,” the dance teacher, played by actress Debbie Allen, tells students seeking celebrity that it won’t come easy. They would have to work hard for it. Fast forward to […]
Continue ReadingBy Cheryl Mattox Berry Would the U.S. Centers for Disease Control call lawmakers in states with an abstinence-only sex education policy and tell them that their stringent laws won’t solve the teen pregnancy problem. Exhibit A: CDC researchers attribute a decline in teen births to messages about sexual practices, use of contraceptives and greater awareness […]
Continue ReadingBy Cheryl Mattox Berry It’s that time of year again when mothers and daughters hit the mall in search of the perfect dress for end-of-the-year school dances and prom. Racks of the latest styles in neon colors popped up in stores a few weeks ago. I was probably the only one paying attention to them. […]
Continue ReadingBy Cheryl Mattox Berry Bloggers are using tweets and email by shooting victim Trayvon Martin to portray him as a violent person in an effort to support claims by gunman George Zimmerman that he acted in self-defense. After reading some of the messages, I concluded that Trayvon was a typical teenager who talked about girls, […]
Continue ReadingBy Cheryl Mattox Berry It looks as if soulful British singer Adele has lost more than 25 pounds over the last several months. That came as a surprise because in an interview on 60 Minutes, the Grammy-award winning artist said she was fine with her full figure and didn’t want to be one of those skinny […]
Continue ReadingBy Cheryl Mattox Berry One of the most powerful things to emerge from the tragic shooting death of Trayvon Martin is a new level of activism among young people. From participating in marches to staging walkouts at dozens of Miami-Dade high schools, students have been moved to take action. Social media – specifically texting and […]
Continue ReadingBy Cheryl Mattox Berry A few months before her 18th birthday, Shavonda asked her mother if she could get a tattoo. Her mother said no. She got her name framed by wings and a halo tattooed on her arm anyway and hid it from her mother. Within two months, Shavonda also got a butterfly tattooed […]
Continue ReadingBy Cheryl Mattox Berry Whether you’re a white student driving through a black neighborhood or a black or Hispanic student walking around a white neighborhood, you’ll stick out and make folks wonder why you’re there. It’s assumed that the white kids are looking for drugs, and the minority kids are burglars. That’s the plain, ugly […]
Continue Reading