Monrovia, July 6 -- Every time I drive by the Paynesville Park basketball court, I often get flashbacks to the good old days when childhood pals Rich, Teah and I would show up to play ball. That's Richlieu Dennis and James Teah Tarpeh II to you.

We spent most days after school when we were not playing pickup basketball or sitting down in Rich's family home basement on AB Tolbert Road chatting about our young lives and what we would be when we get big, as we say in Liberia.Those days, when fathers, mothers, or uncles and aunts travel to America, they were fond of bringing back the magazines that spoke to black American families. Back then, three main options spoke to us, and for us, it was either Jet, Ebony, and Essence.Yes! Essence!These...