Rawiya Kameir

Above anything, the reasons we’re getting divorced are the reasons we’re getting married. In the past—and, of course, this is still the case in many parts of the world—marriage was all about practicality. People got married to protect business interests, to ally families and clans, to procreate and extend their lineage, to create viable social and economic units.

It’s been years since the world stopped holding its breath for MTV to return to playing music videos. And I’m pretty sure we’d also given up hope the network would ever run any programs of substance. (Sadly, Jersey Shore and Teen Mom just don’t cut it.)

To be a feminist, I quickly learned in my first year of college, I had to be an activist. I had to be angry about the condition of women around the world. I had to despise pop culture for maintaining the status quo. I couldn’t be interested in fashion. Nor could I straighten my naturally curly hair.

Among the most common complaints about indie-rap group Das Racist is that their music is “dumb,” “silly,” “immature.” That they’re “over-privileged liberal arts college grads” who are “making a mockery of rap.” A friend recently laid out his issue with the Queens- and San Fran-born, Williamsburg-affiliated trio like this: “They have nothing to talk about. Their music doesn’t make you feel anything.”

According to reports, political science professor David Epstein has been arrested for having, um, sexual relations with his 24-year-old daughter. Consensual sexual relations, that is. Though Epstein has yet to respond to the allegations, his lawyer has asked the Columbia community to “support him and give him the benefit of the doubt.” Hmmm. Epstein is now on administrative leave.

Lawless book-borrower Jessekah Few of Baytown, Texas was arrested on Thanksgiving Day for charges related to library books due to be returned seven years ago. Few was arrested after failing to appear in court to address the case of the missing library property, which she claims was destroyed in a fire at her house.

Today marks the 30th anniversary of John Lennon’s death. In honor of that occasion, Rolling Stone is finally releasing his last interview. The interview, a nine-hour conversation that took place at Lennon’s home and studio three days before his death, was conducted by Jonathan Cott for a Rolling Stone 1980 cover story.

In your super funny discussion of race and white privilege with Jay Leno last Friday, you had the temerity to tell America something that black people have felt for years: “If you’re black, you get to complain more.”

A recently released Portfolio.com study purports to map out the smartest cities in America. The study ranks the “brain power” of 200 metropolitan areas using data sourced from the American Community Survey, and organized according to levels of educational achievement and corresponding income.

The good folks at YourTango, a “digital media company dedicated to love and relationships,” care about you. That’s why they produced this PSA warning of the very, very serious hazards of using social media.

A Hayden, Idaho Aryan Nations adherent who erected a noose-carrying KKK snowman in his front yard is quite literally hoping for a white Chrismtas (sorry, pun very much intended). The man, identified in news reports only as Mark, apparently has a history of public displays of white supremacy. His neighbors, aka normal people, are pissed.

Whatcha know ’bout cooking? These recipes involve a handle of Jack Daniels and an entire dead pig. Guaranteed to clean up the nastiest hangover. Watch the video inside.

It’s the work of a craftsman, a perfectionist whose attention to detail is evident in each drum pattern, each orchestral arrangement, each background vocal. Musically, the songs, especially gems like “Gorgeous” (featuring Kid Cudi and Raekwon) and “Lost In The World” (featuring Bon Iver), are layered in ways that we don’t expect from rap music.

“The problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete,” said Nigerian author Chimamanda Adichie in her popular TED talk “The Danger of a Single Story.” And indeed, the stories about Africa are incomplete.

Antoine Dodson was having a bad day: he had just saved his sister, Kelly, from being raped by “some idiot in the projects.” And when the news crew showed up, he was visibly distraught: “Hide ya kids, hide wife,” he warned the residents of Huntsville, Alabama.

And if said ad-poster sends a bunch of typo-riddled questions, and then asks you to wire a Western Union money order to Abuja or Belgrade, where he’s currently working as a missionary and from where he will send you a key once he receives your deposit…Well, if that happens, welcome to Craigslist.