Philly: CILLE AND THEMBI

Thembi (left): 29, originally from Philly, works for an educational testing service, really wants to be a "media maven--a writer and a talking head," writes a blog called "What Would Thembi Do?", a blog about black pop culture, among other things.

"One of the main things I'm disappointed about is that women don't band together more over sexual health. Don't ever have a women's health problem, because it will destroy your life. It makes me so mad the way doctors act toward something as personal as a reproductive system--which, by the way, are half female, it's not like it's some crazy thing that we can't understand. But if there's something wrong, the doctor is not able to say anything besides, 'Wait and see what happens.'...None of this, including breast cancer and diseases that affect women, has been addressed properly."

Cille (right): 24, originally from Philly, currently working for the city in emergency management, wants to pursue a Masters in public policy and a law degree--to become the "good" Condoleezza Rice.

"I relate to the term 'womanist' more than 'feminist.' It has a spiritual essence in it that you can't really divorce from the Black female experience. Feminism is not rooted in the spirit...it's too political. Womanist thinking is always based in theology: identifying the spirit in both men and women and making them whole, but in particular it relates to Black women and how we've been able to use the spirit of the Creator to heal our families and ourselves, and to take care of people and be the breadbaskets and mules of the world. What has sustained us over that time has been a spirit, whether it be God, whether it be whatever you believe in. [For many black women] that word has a more prominent meaning than feminism does."