The Urban Erma

The Huffington Post: My Maya Angelou

We lost The Phenomenal Woman, Maya Angelou, this week. I wrote a piece about my first and only time to meet her and it appeared in the Huffington Post. You can read it here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/leighann-lord/my-maya-angelou_b_5406506.html

Cell Phones Don’t Irritate People, People Irritate People

I went to the theater on Sunday. Just before show time the house lights dimmed and the stage manager announced, “...Please turn off your cell phones.” I’m highly addicted to my phone. I’m a social media butterfly. My phone is my mobile office. It’s my third opposable thumb. And yet I did the unthinkable. I turned off my phone and put it away. There was no one I wanted to text, tweet, or talk to while I was sitting in the dark enjoying a play I’d bought tickets for. But not everyone felt that way. READ THE BLOG @ TheUrbanErma.com

Zumba By Any Means Necessary

When I first heard about Zumba I didn’t pay it any mind because I wasn’t interested in another exercise fad. Remember when hot yoga was hot? Pilates? Pul-lease. I’m embarrassed now to think of how much I weakened my living room floorboards by trying to keep up with my Billy Blanks Tae Bo tapes. But when I got an opportunity to take a free Zumba class I figured why not... READ THE BLOG @ TheUrbanErma.com