We pass each other and he doesn’t recognize me. It’s been over a decade since I’ve spoken to my father and much longer since I’ve actually seen him. I used to joke to myself that I wouldn’t recognize him if I passed him on the street. But I do and the jolt of recognition–the slight Read More
We love to see the underdog persevere. It makes us feel good, and like all monumental sports wins, it glosses over truth and makes it seem like progress is immediately possible. It’s telling that Spike Lee begins his Katrina documentary If God Is Willing and Da Creek Don’t Rise with the Saint’s Superbowl win. There’s Read More
There’s a game I like to play when I walk into a bookstore. Based on the the title, cover and store placement I can always interpret the marketing intention for a book meant for a black American audience. The best part of this game is that the books will, typically, fit into the following categories Read More
This week’s episode opens with a dream sequence, which are typically annoying, but it was a great way to allow the audience to catch both a glimpse of LaDonna’s missing brother, Daymo, and for us to grasp the kind of stress she’s under. But it’s not just her brother: after a night of haunting dreams Read More
It’s a Friday night. I’m sitting on my couch. I’ve picked out a PG13 pajama tank top to wear. I’m hoping to discourage the type of sexual advances I’ve heard of from this site; however, I’m well aware that it’s in vain. The tank top has got thick white granny straps and my camera is Read More
Nicholas Carr from the Britannica Blog on Why How We Read Matters: “A change in form is always, as well, a change in content. That is unavoidable, as history tells us over and over again. One reads an electronic book differently than one reads a printed book – just as one reads a printed book Read More
The phone calls started early. The mass text messages. Do you know anybody there? Yes, so-and-so can’t find their father. Damn. Her? Her grandmother landed the day the earthquake hit. How is she? She says that she doesn’t feel like her grandmother is dead. Me? My mother’s cousins are missing. Sorry, I gotta go. I Read More
“Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influences, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist.” -John Maynard Keynes In The Myth of the Rational Market, Justin Fox, the “Curious Capitalist” columnist for Time, traces the lineage of the efficient market hypothesis, a school of thought backed by the economic powerhouse Read More
My earliest reading of Wallace Thurman’s The Blacker the Berry, I believed and still contend that this novel is a defense of dark-colored skin. His portrayal of the light-skinned antagonists and the bevy of characters who subscribe to the “light is right” mindset are one-dimensional and often vicious. This is similar to what Richard Wright does with Read More
Emma Lou Brown is a dark-skinned black girl in the 1920s. born to a family reaching for status and desperate to avoid any semblance of blackness. For Emma, it’s a daily reminder of why everything in her life is wrong. Written in 1929, The Blacker the Berry is a fierce defense of dark-colored skin. At the time, critics who Read More
