The TCW Archives

by Dana Muwwakkil Meet Coco (rapper Azaelia Banks), the self-assured wordsmith looking to get a record deal for her music group. A natural leader, she is the only female rapper in her group and her ability to string together words effortlessly is important to her because music – particularly rap – is her life. While Coco considers herself a bit of a master of her craft, her social life is at a standstill as she is hung up on Mahlik, a young man in her group who doesn’t seem to be interested in anything more than their casual hook ups.    Coco is hustling to get a demo together for a potential agent and waiting tables at her mom’s cafe, but her mother hounds her to finish school. Coco concedes to her mother’s wishes and signs up for classes at her local community college. Only a few credits shy of getting her degree, she decides to take what she assumes will be an easy course called Poetry 101.  Immediately Coco and Professor Dixon (Jill Scott) butt heads ove...

by Tri-County Woman Staff Spare time is sort of like spare change - most people tend to use whatever extra there is the moment it becomes available. And if you or your mate have hectic schedules, it often gets squeezed in somewhere between the morning rush to get everyone out of the door and the scramble to get to bed at night. Your partner may only catch glimpses of you while you are hovering over the bathroom sink brushing your teeth or deep in slumber. Sure, quality is more important than quantity, but how does a busy woman find any time to be with her partner with all that goes on during the course of a day? Make It a Priority Most relationship experts would agree that the relationship between you and your significant other needs just as much nurturing as a career. The trouble is that we generally forget to pencil that nurturing in on our “to-do” lists. “We all have intimacy needs,” says sex educator Deb Levine, a relationship counselor with www.ThriveOnLine.com...

History in the Making Although the United States Military Academy at West Point has been training commissioned army leaders since the early 1800s, it has yet to see more than 20 African-American women graduate in a single class.  Simone Askew When she marches among the graduating class of 2018, Cadet Simone Askew will do so as the very first Black woman to lead the Corps of Cadets in the school’s history, the highest student position at USMA. Her appointment comes 28 years after Cadet Vincent K. Brookswas named the first African-American to ever serve as First Captain. ​ Askew, a native of a Washington, D.C. suburb in Northern Virginia, has said her interest in the armed forces started when she was a little girl, when her mother took her and her sister to football games at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD.  ​ “I never saw my race or gender as a roadblock to me being selected or even for me being competitive as a First Capta...

In mid 2014, Laura Bagnarol, a social worker from Dutchess County who worked with survivors of child sex abuse and domestic violence, began looking for a summer program for her daughter. “There weren’t a lot of choices and everything was hyper-feminine. There was only cheerleading, dance, gymnastics, soccer and T-Ball,” she says. “Then I was like, why don’t we take the most masculine sport, flip it on its head and introduce it to girls?” By summer, the Pigskin Princess Project – a football empowerment program for girls who would rather be on the field than on the sideline – began with a group of 10 5- to 7-yr-olds. By spring 2018, there were 50 girls between the ages of 3 and 10 registered. The Pigskin Princess Project gets young girls up and moving – even those who may not be that big into sports at all – by teaching them the basics of football through fun drills, challenging agility exercises and scrimmaging. It also highlights community involvement project...

by Tri-County Woman Magazine Staff Most people have probably come in contact with a less-than-friendly cashier, waitress or salesclerk at one time or another, but is it expecting too much not to be made to feel like a bother?  “For service professionals, rude behavior could be ignoring you, not giving you any eye contact, talking to someone else while helping you or what have you,” says Lydia Ramsey, business etiquette expert and author of  Manners That Sell: Adding the Polish that Builds Profits . “It doesn’t matter if that person had a rough night’s sleep or fought with their boyfriend. It should never affect the level of service you receive.” So even if your server just got evicted from his home, just had difficulty with the customers in front of you and has a toothache, you should not be treated as if those difficulties are your fault. And suffer in silence you shouldn’t, either. There are plenty of things you can do to keep the ugly behavior to a minimu...