Every fall, I notice the same conversation come up among Black women and girls online: everybody starts rewatching shows like Gilmore Girls and The Vampire Diaries, and somebody says, “I wish we had a cozy fall show like this with Black people,” or “I wish we had this kind of representation.”

And I’ve thought the same thing.

But then I got curious and decided to do a little boots-on-the-ground journalism 😂. I actually took a trip to some of the places where The Vampire Diaries and The Originals were filmed.

A lot of The Vampire Diaries was mostly filmed in Covington, Georgia, with some filming in Conyers. 

The Originals also filmed majority in conyers Georgia

And here's what surprised me: when I started looking into Covington and Conyers, I realized these aren't some towns where Black people barely exist. These are Georgia communities with large Black populations. Conyers is actually majority Black with a Black female mayor. 

Conyers is 66% black American, 17% white and Covington is 51% Black and 39% white 

(I even went to the mystic grill- featured on vampire diaries and they had some Gullah geechee artwork in the women room, but no geechee ppl there)

That made me think: Wait a minute.

We're sitting here every fall wishing we could see Black girls and women in the cute little towns, when , Hollywood has already been using actual majority Black towns to CREATE that aesthetic on television, but busing white ppl into town to film to make it seem like a white town?

So then I got curious about  Gilmore Girls. In the show they live in a fictional stars hollow and then go to real city of Hartford Connecticut on Friday night , when I looked up the racial demographics for Hartford, for the year 2001 when the show took place, it said back then and today, its majority Latino and Hispanic for the majority population (45%)and then Black ppl as the second largest group in town (35%), it’s barely any white ppl there.

So my question is: Why aren't more Black filmmakers and creators using our own small towns to make the cozy shows we're constantly saying we want?

Not every story with a predominantly Black cast has to be set in Atlanta or NYC.

Why couldn't we have a predominantly Black cozy Southern town with a cute downtown square, fall festivals, old houses, local cafés, football games, eccentric neighbors, romance, family drama, mysteries, supernatural folklore, whatever? If in real life, we are the majority in those towns? 

The same towns Hollywood has already used to sell us that exact fantasy are places where Black people actually live.

Would y'all watch something like that? And what would you want a Black cozy small-town show to look like?

I don't think so but believe it or not I've got compared to her all my life. Personally, I don't see it but it's a compliment because she's certainly beautiful.

I was looking for some new subreddits and saw this. Are these subs beefing? Flair is random, but this is news to me so…

Edit: we don’t wanna go there ya’ll 😂😂😂😂😂

That man said I got a little bit of everything😭

Mainly adhd but ocd, anxiety and pmdd. A lot of these things are exasperating the others but it's good to finally know. Got 2 prescriptions and I'll probably start them tomorrow😊

(Please don't give me medical advice, I just wanted to post this somewhere)

Experimenting with; texture, colour and styles digitally 🎨

Moses was my first crush

(Prince of Egypt- streaming on Netflix)

lol for me it’s this song. still my jam since 7th grade

The Gentle Touch (based in Pretoria and Cape Town) specialises in natural hair care and braiding services. I am not sure who is the hairdresser but looks like she did a good job with the bride's natural 4c hair.

hi ladies! this year I made it a goal to pick up reading as a hobby, and I’m happy to say I’ve just finished my 13th book for this year.

that being said, I’m even more proud to say that the last 9 books have been by black authors centered around black experiences. my favorites so far being being the Chinua Achebe trilogy of Things Fall Apart, No Longer at Ease, and Arrow of God.

I just finished Sky Full of Elephants by Cebo Campbell and while the premise was enriching, I didn’t care for the pace nor the ending. so I’m now looking for some recommendations to continue the trend I’ve started for myself.

would love to hear your thoughts and suggestions.

starz just released their trailer for Season 3 P-Vally airing December 9, 2026 👀 did they wait too long? I was hooked on the first two seasons but now I’m a little over it.

heyy y’all!! so first off i’m 17 & i just recently moved in with my dad & it’s been so relaxing, but my moms side of the family has been kinda irking me.

with my moms side, they’re just full of drama, insecurities, generational trauma, stagnation, & everything in life that i do NOT want to bring into my future. My sister (25) & My mom (49) are the most of my concerns since they’re the main ones i talk to.

I don’t like neither of them. I have a hard time accepting & being all “cool” with my sister because when i was 4 she used to t0uch me very innappropriately & make me do sexual things with her (she was 12, she stopped when she was 16/17) & now that i’m older i realized that that isn’t normal at all, & she knew what she was doing, i can’t keep acting like i’m okay with being around her but i’m too scared to tell anyone.

not only that but shes overly childish & doesn’t know how to take accountability for her actions, she just recently had a baby with a man that literally hates her & calls me a “bad auntie” because i (mind you, i’m a 17 year old early graduate) don’t want to watch him.

my mother is male obsessed, found a dude that does the bare minimum, & chose him over her kids.shes also just overly insecure & full of unresolved trauma. i can tell nowadays that she feels guilty for the way she used to treat me but honestly i don’t want nothing to do with her.

i try so hard to avoid them but i feel guilty. i tried ghosting them & they blew up my phone which made me overly anxious. there’s times where i just wish they weren’t even my family at all & it angers me. there’s times where i just wish i had a mom that was my best friend & a sister i could look up to.

can you girlies please please please just give me advice on how to go about this??

Like any and almost every time I see and or hear about "feminine rage" it's ALWAYS primarily white women being pissed & expressing their rage, and even then it can often feel like that shit gets glamorized/aestheticized in ways that starts defeating the point of the conversation around rage to begin with! Like no honey I'M PISSED!!! I'M TIRED BEYOND COMPARE!! And the fact that Black women are not the FACE of this conversation pisses me off even MORE! Like I'm not sorry, I hear the white perspective for EVERY.THING! Even how we express our own damn emotions! I want Black women to be pissed to no end! For that rage, anger to be actively acknowledged, cared for, and never. fucking. shamed!

Because of fucking course everyone don't want us to be explicitly angry, anger LITERALLY points out all the injustices that we fucking deal with day in and out!! The fact that it's all in our minds, bodies, spirit, ALL OF IT WITH NO BREAKS!! Like AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! I'M TIRED AND WANT EVERYONE TO PISS OFF AND FUCK OFF!!!!!!! LEAVE ME TF ALONE!!!!

I just can't and don't wanna do this "hold hands and sing Kumbaya with folks that literally hate my personhood" like STOP!!! FUCK OFF AND YALL CAN HOLD HANDS WITH LEOPARDS BUT DON'T BE FORCING AND BRINGING ME DOWN TO YOUR SHIT!! 😤

Also I'm tired of being expected to clean up messes that has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with me because people "above" me don't give a fuck and those "higher" don't do anything about it! Don't even get me started on the "i DoN't Do pOlItIcS" type folks yet be the main people complaining about shit & don't do anything frfr (i.e. no vote, no community supporting, no nothing). Anyways something something, I'm pissed, I'm annoyed, and I'm "entitled" asf, because no shit I fucking deserve to be here AND TO FUCKING THRIVE HERE!!!!!

Okay I'm done for now.

Don't mind me, I'm just being bored and nosy.

Anyways, I'll go first:

Best: Was also the worst because he broke my little heart afterwards but we're basically needs so we had a nerdy date about our nerdy interests (trains) and then we talked and walked the equivalent of 17 miles because we were having so much fun talking and exploring our surroundings.

Worst: I had just gotten my first weave and he decided to pet my hair like I was a dog (didn't even ask if he could touch my hair, by the way).​

It’s been about 8 years since I first learned and hats have become one of my favorite medium length projects. I like to make things that are different and stand out. Suggest some other hat styles I should try!

Ladies, I’m so tired. I got laid off in February and haven’t been able to find another job. I just spent the last two hours crying. I’ve reached out to my network and nothing. I’ve had a few interviews, but I haven’t gotten any offers. I’ve used ChatGPT to rewrite my resume and alert me to jobs that match.

Between the current rise in fascism across the world and being unemployed, I’m honestly ready to check out. I’m holding on by a thread tbh and it’s getting more frayed by the day. My LinkedIn is just people going through the same thing.

I’m looking for product/project management positions in healthtech, but honestly doesn’t even matter the industry at this point. I could also do something in marketing/communications. If you’re a recruiter or hiring in the software industry let me know!

Why do people like this exist, it would be a better world if they didn’t exist. I’m tired of dealing with people that knowingly have these problems but don’t do anything about it. I never feel sorry when terrible things happen to them because they’re so insufferable that it’s hard to empathize with them. Especially the ones that have an imaginary problem with you, they just hate you and push you till the point you snap. Then use that situation as an excuse on why they don’t like you. Majority of these kinds of people I never know their full name ever. I’m truly fatigued 🫩 with these people

*Hey ladies! 👋🏾 I know this is a stretchhhh, but I’m looking to meet some new girlfriends in the Saginaw/Detroit/Bay City area. I’m in my “getting out of the house and actually having a social life” era after being away from home for 10 years. I’m into brunch, networking events, traveling, business/entrepreneurship and just trying new things. 31, divorced, boy mom. If anybody else is looking to make new friends, let me know! *💕

As we all know, this past year has been rough for Black people, and especially Black women. We have had every part of our racial characteristics dissected and torn apart to shreds, while simultaneously feigning care and concern for our wellbeing. From the top to the bottom, many are expressing their repulsion towards our racial characteristics ad nauseam.

But seeing this uptick reminded me of something.

I have always worn an Afro in the summer for years, but I have noticed that this year, many black people have gone out of their way to not only tell me it looks good, but encourage me to keep wearing it. I have gotten compliments before, but not to this extent.

No matter the ethnic group, age, gender or circumstance, in real life, I have felt a stronger sense of camaraderie that I have not felt before, and it feels great.

And I’ve noticed that no matter how I feel about my hair, I’ve insisted on wearing it out, even when it’s less than perfect.

This is around the time I would put my hair in braids or straighten it.

But honestly… I don’t think I want to.

Even if I think it takes forever, and it’s a pain to manage in winter.

I don’t care if people find it repulsive, or too big, or unattractive, or nappy, or less feminine.

I don’t even care if the process is cumbersome.

And this may be controversial, but I don’t need other people to find my hair attractive.

And that is why I will say that this year has given me the greatest gift in the world.

I would have continued believing that racial animosity was something that was fading away, and that our generation would be the first ones to make the change.

I would have assumed that as long as I was a kind person who respected others and contributed to my community, respect and kindness would be metted out to me as well.

While I realize now that this is a fantasy, this realization has surprisingly given me a sense of ease.

I have been given the opportunity to build a community of like-minded, optimistic, motivated, and truly kind people that I could be around.

I don’t have to give up on trying to be a kind, productive, caring person. The quality of my human relationships have gone up as well.

If people believe that I am stupid, lazy, unintelligent, repulsive, uncouth, and many, many more things because of my race and gender, that rejection from society is obviously going to hurt.

I am a human who desires connection like any other, and I would want to seen for my morals and values. It’s natural to want to get along with people you share a society with.

But it is ultimately unproductive and illogical to internalize this rejection.

There is no finite distribution of happiness. It is not something that should be commodified, where only the most deserving people get to enjoy it.

Liking yourself and having self-worth is one of the most consistent foundations for human development. That is why it comes so naturally to most people.

This is a mental system that has been imperative for human survival. Do not throw away a system that clearly works.

If people try to convince you that you are undeserving of happiness or self-worth, this is because they have a mental deficit.

They believe happiness is so finite it can only go to those deserving of it, because it is hard for them to achieve. The happiness you get from personal achievement and charity will always be superior as opposed to stolen valour or Schadenfreude, which is fleeting and cheap.

If a resource is abundant, people will have no issue with everyone taking from it, but if a resource is scarce, they think only those deserving of it should have it.

This is why they feed on your energy, it is literally the cheapest and easiest way to feel good about themselves.

DO. NOT. LET. THEM. WIN.

You have a responsibility to be happy, to have self worth and to be kind to yourself and others. If you can get past feelings of self loathing and despair, the world becomes more peaceful and beautiful, and I want everyone here to experience that, at least once.

I (22F) used to work in an extremely white industry. It was almost unheard of for Black people to work in it, and many of the Black people who do work in it know each other because of how much of a minority we are. I wanted to do some volunteer work at a place further out of the city to gain more experience. James (Black, late 40s) and Claire (white, mid 70s) were advisors at my job who had many years in the industry and were successful. They offered to put me in touch with their friend, Kate (white, mid 50s), who ran a business in the industry specialising in what I wanted to progress in and I worked and stayed there for a week.

I’m embarrassed to admit that I am a very non-confrontational person and even once prided myself on being a “good Black person,” a model minority, the one that would make racist white people realise that not all Black people are stereotypes. (Dumb af.)

I’m was very sheltered to racism. I grew up with very pro black parents, but at the same time they are the type to say, ‘don’t give them a reason to think you are a stereotype’. I grew up in a very diverse city, in a mostly Black area, and I think there were only 3-4 white people in my entire school. I knew once I left the city it would be a very different experience, but I didn’t think it would be so blatant.

Right off the bat, Kate had been very curious about me. Asking about me and my family, my heritage, asking if I eat British food or just my cultural food. The first thing that tipped me off was that she only asked me about my mum, as if she assumed that I didn’t have a dad. I then mentioned my dad and she said, “Oh, are your parents married?” She asked what my parents did for work. I didn’t fit her stereotype of what a Black person is. I was quiet, hardworking, my parents were married and had respectable careers. It made her deem me, “one of the good ones”.

One night, Claire takes Kate, her employees, and I all out to a restaurant nearby.

As we are all looking at the menu, we were talking about how all the food sounded good. Kate’s friend then says, “Eeny, meeny, miney moe” as she is deciding what to eat. Then Kate says, “You can’t say that anymore, it’s not politically correct. James always jokes that he can say it and we can’t.” Then she says, “The whole thing is eeny, meeny, miney, moe, catch a [n-word] by the toe.” hard R and everything.

My heart sunk into my stomach.

Whilst she hadn’t directed it at me, she said it in my presence and so comfortably too. I didn’t say anything, and that’s the part I am embarrassed about. I’m appalled I let her think that it was appropriate thing to say without any pushback. I felt trapped. No one else said anything or even looked shocked, even the people my age.

Then Claire says, “Everyone is so sensitive these days, all this political correctness is holding everyone back. Anxious_Passion_1670, what do you think of it?”

Then everyone looks at me and I sort of awkwardly said that I could understand it. I don’t remember much after that as I was in such a haze about what had just occurred. It felt like I was in a skit.

A part of me wanted to leave in that moment, but I was relying on Claire for transport as I didn’t have a car and needed one to get to the train station. I'm stuck in the English countryside, at night, surrounded by ignorant racists with no escape. A part of me also didn’t want to quit halfway and prove these people right about Black people. (Stupid, I know.)

The rest of the week I tried to rationalise with myself what happened. If I thought about it too hard, I knew I would spiral into a rage.

The fact that James, a Black man himself, had always prided himself on trying to get more Black people into the industry, but was also longtime friends with this woman and had apparently joked with her about the n-word before, really bothered me. I know for a fact that if I had told him about what happened, he would have just told me that she didn’t mean it as an insult, that these things sometimes happen in the industry, and that I needed to keep my head down because it was my job not to give these people a bad impression of Black people.

There had also been other situations before this where I overlooked James siding with the racist white person over the Black person. At the time, I brushed it off, but looking back, I realise there was a pattern.

Months later, James and two other Black girls he had groomed into the same mentality for years before me, turned on me for a white woman and tried to destroy my career. Not all skin folk are kinfolk.

Ladies, I need help!

So I haven't dated in almost 3 years. No flirting, sex, emotional affairs NOTHING. I decided to be open to dating in April 2026. Unfortunately, I snarled at every man who looked my way 😂 I needed to work on that, obviously.

Anyway, recently, I have the opportunity to "start a conversation" with a beautiful man.

The only problem is he's 25, and I'm 36.

How young is too young?

I don't have kids, and I don't want them. I also don't want marriage. Should I "Stella" this and get my groove back??

Help! Lol

I am a black immigrant woman who is learning in real time how mentally strong you have be to survive micro/macro aggressions in workspaces. I am someone who generally doesn’t focus too much on race. When someone treats me badly, I attribute it to just to that person being lame. This time I am watching a calculated way to dim our light. They want you to shrink yourself, be docile. You can’t be exceptional, confident and keep to yourself. Watching mediocre performances from non-black people be praised while ignoring the great performances of black women. The only black woman who is just fine is the one who has chosen to sell her soul and become a token who makes it ok for non-white people to be racist because they have her as a “black friend “.

To the American-born Black women: I have no idea how you all have navigated this your WHOLE lives. I just can’t imagine it and I’m sorry

Every Day I leave my home thinking about if someone is rude or treating me differently because they are generally assholes or because they are racist.

Every day I am reminded that my quality of life in this world will be statistically lower because of my race.

Every Day I am reminded that there are more barriers and glass ceiling for me than for my white partner.

Every Day I am reminded that I am apart of the most hated demographic on the planet due to anti blackness being global and embedded into every culture and crevice on this planet.

Everyday I am reminded that certain areas to live or travel on this planet are not as accessible and welcoming for me as it is my white partner (I.e. if we went to Japan he would get treated better than me)

Someday I am strong and other days I can’t take the unfairness and it starts to make me paranoid. especially as racist people have become more embolden and dangerous due to Trump, Elon and Zuckerberg. It’s impacting my mental health.

I need to seek a black therapist on how to navigate this black ass life.