shani-o: Sometime early in the year (or was it last year?), I heard a radio interview on Philly’s public radio station with a man named Joel Berg. Berg was discussing ‘low food insecurity’ (also known as ‘hunger’) in the U.S. His energy and candor made me take note of his book, which came out just Read More
After a walk by the Apollo theatre or a visit to the local music or book store, it’s clear that Michael Jackson is going to make people a ton of money posthumously. And as the media stories speculate on how he died, and people start barking for who owns what of his estate, the rights to Read More
*Note: We’re making this discussion a sticky post, and it’ll be at the top of the page all this week. Scroll down for newer posts. Benji, Reggie, Nick, Clive, Bobby, Randy, Marcus & NP (“Nigga Please”). Back when summers were idle, the coming of September meant reinvention and, in the meantime, there were a ton Read More
Your reading companion to Colson Whitehead’s Sag Harbor May’s book pick which we will be discussing on June 15th: “What are the origins of the strange compulsion that forces them to reach out to smooth, squeeze, pet, pat, bounce their fingers in the soft, resilient exuberance of an Afro, a natural, a just doin’ -its-own-thing Read More
Regrettably a long weekend has come and gone and, if you’re anything like me, the anticipation for all the wonderful “time off” in order to “take care of things” culminated in an uneventful weekend full of hair washing, reading, back-to-back viewings of Coming to America on Comedy Central, and the Pam Greer Blaxploitation marathon on Read More
Over at Editorial Anonymous: “Giving an award for creating art about the experience of race is a wonderful thing. But giving an award for creating art and being a particular race? That’s racism in action,” and “If the CSK were in charge, male writers wouldn’t be able to comment on what it’s like to be Read More
Via every book blogger on the web a high school in Shelby, Michigan has banned Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison. The article states that “members of the community objected to its profanity, sexual references and violence.” Oh My. The book was removed from an AP English course. I found the syllabus (a very thorough rendering Read More
I’ve already got my copy. You can find out more about Colson Whitehead here and look through some of his other titles here. We’ll be discussing this book on the 15th of June. We can save this for the discussion, but this is an early preview of a “new market,” for black folk. As an author at writeblack.com puts Read More
via. So you know that book discussion group thingie we started a couple months ago? It got off to a rollicking start with Junot Diaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, and then rapidly flamed out with Edwidge Danticat’s Brother I’m Dying. We weren’t alone in noticing the problem. belleisa, a regular reader, volunteered Read More
blackink: If you get a moment, or something closer to 30 minutes, please make sure to check out Zadie Smith’s penetrating essay about multiple voices and the appeal of Barack Obama. The narrative hones in on the many voices of our president, all of them authentic in their own way, culled from a life spent Read More
