Phoebe Robinson is a stand-up comic, which means that, often, her everyday experiences become points of comedic fodder. And as a black woman in America, she asserts, sometimes you need to have a sense of humor to deal with the nonsense you are handed every day. Robinson has experienced her fair share over the years: she"s been unceremoniously relegated to the role of "the minority friend," as if she is somehow the authority on all things racial; she"s been questioned about her love of U2 and Billy Joel ("isn"t that...white people music?"); she"s been called "uppity" for having an opinion in the workplace; she"s been followed around stores by security guards; and yes, people do ask her whether they can touch her hair all. the. time. Now, she"s ready to take these topics to the page. As personal as it is political, You Can"t Touch My Hair is an utterly modern essay collection: one that examines our cultural climate and skewers our biases, all told from Robinson"s singularly witty point of view.