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The Re-Education of NeNe Leakes: The Reality Star Talks About College Hill, What Housewives She's Still Friends With and More

I’ve been a fan of The Real Housewives of Atlanta since the beginning.     So I jumped at the chance to chat with original RHOA cast member and breakout star NeNe Leakes.     It’s been a tough couple of years since NeNe parted ways with the show. In 2021 her husband Gregg lost his battle with colon cancer and earlier this year she filed a discrimination lawsuit against her former employer, Bravo. But on the brighter side, the 54-year-old is dating again and starring in the BET limited reality series,   College Hill: Celebrity Edition.    Along with other headline-grabbing reality TV stars including, Big Freedia, Lamar Odom, Stacey Dash and Ray J., NeNe and the members of the cast lived together and attended classes at the historically Black Texas Southern University.     We asked NeNe what it was like to go back to school, what the biggest misconception about her is, which housewives she's still friendly with, and more.   Everything She Wants : What did it feel like being back in
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4 Travel Essentials for a Clean and Safe Trip

Travel takes a lot more planning and preparation these days.  If you're like me, in addition to packing versatile and comfy clothing, accessories and footwear, and essential toiletries and beauty products, your travel checklist also includes several PPE options. KN95 masks, hand sanitizer, antibacterial wipes and gloves. Check! To help you keep your PPE game on point, here are four new travel-sized sanitizing products that Everything She Wants recently discovered. Sanitizing Hand Wipe Mitts ($12.99 for a pack of ten) : Winter may be over, but here is a pair of mittens you might want to wear all year round. R eportedly the first wearable wipe that provides a protective liner between you and all surfaces you touch, this multi-use sanitizing mitt kills germs and 99.9% of bacteria on your hands. T his new mitt also reduces the number of wipes needed and makes it easy to keep hands safe and clean on the go – just think: no contact with hotel doorknobs, shopping carts, elevators, airport
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5 Self-Help Books and Journals That Promote Self-Care and Self-Healing

You only need to scan the news headlines to see that now more than ever, what world needs now is love, sweet love. In order to love our neighbors as we love ourselves, however, we first have to treat ourselves with love, care and compassion. For as the wise RuPaul ponders, "If you can't love yourself, how in the hell you gonna love somebody else"?  Ready to dig a little deeper? Here are Everything She Wants' picks of five workbooks and journals that may help to promote self-care, self-discovery and self-healing. Self-Care for Black Women ( Oludara Adeeyo, $15.99) :    This book personally speaks to me as a Black woman. I wouldn't trade living in  the rich melanin skin I'm in, but b etween micro- and macro-aggressions we experience at work and everywhere in between, it can be tough to prioritize physical and mental wellness as a Black woman, especially with a constant news cycle highlighting Black trauma.  Written by a Black female  psychotherapist who is   p
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Celebrate the Holiday Season with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in New York City

Watching the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater makes me proud to be a Black woman. This ballet company is graced by dancers of color who can tackle any technique or dance style. But whether the choreography is rooted in jazz, lyrical, contemporary, hip hop or ballet, they do it the Ailey way, which means they move with so much culturally rooted soulfulness and swag that I find myself marveling at their languid form and fierce footwork. In my lifetime, I've seen the Ailey company perform at least a dozen times and each time I picked a performance that included Mr. Ailey's beloved "Revelations." I will never grow tired of witnessing this jubilant homage to the Black Southern Baptist church. By the end I'm always standing, singing and clapping along with the rest of the audience's Amen chorus. Yes, rock a my soul in the bosom of Abraham ! Like most theatrical events and performing arts programs, this is Ailey's comeback season after going dark in 2020 due to
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Gift Ideas: Journals and Planners from Paper Sunday and Go Getter Girl

For many of us, the recent events and times have prompted greater reflection and deeper introspection. And journaling can be cathartic and a constructive way to process both our positive and negative thoughts and feelings, and to remember that we can still find hope and joy in the midst of of pain and sorrow.   Another helpful tool to unplug and turn inward during this unpredictable period when days and weeks have often become a blur (and we've spent way too much time glued to our computers and tech devices) is to map out daily appointments and personal and professional goals.  So this holiday season, treat yourself and a loved one to a gift that will keep on giving -- a personalized devotional journal and a planner that promotes self-care. Paper Sunday You won’t find a more personalized Christian scripture journal or agenda anywhere else, except at Paper Sunday. Every single page will have your name or the name of the person you are giving it to. It’s the perfect gift for newlywed
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Must-See Play in New York City at BAM: What to Send Up When It Goes Down

What to Send Up When It Goes Down , an interactive play written by Aleshea Harris and directed by Whitney White taps into the gravity of the racially polarized times we're living in.  If Public Enemy's woke  anthem, "Fight the Power," were a theatrical work, this would be it.   Cast member Denise Manning./Photo by Donna Ward   Presented by BAM and Playwrights Horizons in association with The Movement Theatre Company through July 11 th at BAM Fisher (321 Ashland Place, $25) , I attended a performance of  What to Send Up When It Goes Down  and a week later I'm still reeling. The evening began with a pre-show lobby experience, an installation of photographs of men, women and children who mercilessly and senselessly lost their lives to anti-Black violence, including Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice, Ahmaud Arbery, Eric Garner, Sandra Bland and Freddie Gray.  From the outside of the BAM building some of the portraits of Black lives lost are illuminated like saints in stained
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Guided Reflections to Kickstart Your Day and to Help You Sleep Peacefully at Night

As soon as  you wake up, it's easy for your mind to get cluttered with thoughts of the mountain of tasks in front of you -- work deadlines, bills that need to be paid, helping the kids with their homework, and household chores like grocery shopping, doing laundry, cooking and cleaning the house.   It can be overwhelming. To help quiet what is called "the monkey mind"in meditation (a term that refers to being unsettled, restless or confused), Everything She Wants was gifted The Good Morning Journal: 5-Minute Guided Reflections to Start Your Day with Inspiration, Purpose and a Plan  (Molly Burford, $14.99). Each day is a blank slate—a gift that we choose how to use. You can begin each day with clarity, purpose, and inspiration with  The Good Morning Journal . This beautifully packaged, easy-to-use guided journal is filled with quick, thoughtful prompts that help you recognize what you want to accomplish—and why—and create a simple plan to achieve your goals. You’ll also fi
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