What did the First Lady wear on Monday? A floral print dress? Who makes it? Want to buy it?
Well, now you can know all of this and more. Released last week, the Michelle's Style List app will show you where to buy FLOTUS' fashions. Whether you want the originals or similar pieces, the app tracks her every style move and keeps you connected with links to the designers' websites. So if you're interested, for only 99 cents on itunes.com, why not?
What prevented you from attending school? An arranged marriage? Child slavery? "Girl Rising" is the story of nine girls in developing nations deprived of education just because of their gender. Each story is written by a writer from the girl's homeland and told through a mixed narrative that is slight fact and slight "made for tv" re-imagination.
The story is narrated by 9 actresses. Narrators include Cate Blanchett, Selena Gomez, Anne Hathaway, Salma Hayek, Alicia Keys, Chloe Grace Moretz, Liam Neeson, Freida Pinto, Meryl Streep, and Kerry Washington. The stories are so compelling that you won't even try to guess which celebrity is narrating. One girl is a child of the dump. Another was sold into bonded labor while her brother was allowed to attend school. Then there is the girl whose parents sold her to buy a beaten-up car for her brother. But through determination and often intervention from others, they are taught to read, and have the opportunity for education.
The narrative is presented by 10x10. It's an organization advocating for female education across the world. Read more here.
Since April 15th is just around the corner, we've decided to debunk a frivolous tax credit argument--the Black Tax Credit.
This is the kind of thing that gets passed along by email forwards, but this nonsense must stop. You might think that this is an old scam that nobody is falling for, except I recently overheard people talking about it. In case your loved ones, friends, and neighbors have not fallen for the scam, and you're unaware of the back story, then keep reading. Apparently, some folks believe that African Americans can claim a Black Tax Credit on their tax return as a reparation for slavery. It seems that the IRS actually gave fraudulent tax filers millions of dollars for this credit in 2002 and 2003. However, there is no provision in the tax code that allows such a credit. As people continue to claim this fraudulent credit, they become subject audits and will end up owing that money plus interest to the IRS. Here's some advice - don't try to get something for nothing. If you weren't a slave, then don't try to get slavery reparations. It's not going to happen. Nobody's going get 40 acres and mule from the federal government. Move on. Try a new argument, and try to decrease your tax burden with legitimate tax credits.
April is National Poetry Month (It's also National Grilled Cheese Month and we're celebrating that one as well.) Here's to celebrating the great African American poets and poems.
What did the First Lady wear on Monday? A floral print dress? Who makes it? Want to buy it?
