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• Election Night in Accra
• Some Election Thoughts
• Dave Eggers Wants to Change The World
• Women Playwrights Demand Change

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Patricia's Big Night!

I'm on my way to Amherst, MA to give a reading. If you're in the area, I'd love to see you there. Also, tonight is the National Book Awards ceremony. Patricia Smith (pictured here) is nominated for her knockout book of poetry, Blood Dazzler. Make sure you send her some positive vibes tihs evening. As I will probably be in the middle of my reading when winners are announced, I am going to be a little out of the loop. I would really appreciate it if someone would DM me on twitter as soon as you find out who won what.

Posted at 07:22 AM | Comments (0)
Category: Current Events

Election Night in Accra

Yes We Can!

Posted at 05:49 PM | Comments (1)
Category: Current Events

Some Election Thoughts

Since I will be in Ghana for the election, I am going to post my reflections now. Much is being made of the fact that Barack Obama will provide little black children with inspiration that they, too, could be president one day. Hillary was thought to provide the same inspiration to little girls.

Well, when I was a little girl, the year this photo was taken, I had no idea that the presidency could be limited by race. Jimmy Carter was running for president and a film crew came to our school to ask the children who they would vote for. I said "JIMMY CARTER!" The reporter asked me why and I said "BECAUSE HE'S A BLACK MAN!" The lady was confused and asked me how I had come to this conclusion. I said, "Because my daddy is voting for him." Needless to say, I was not included in the final video.

I blogged a while back about my novel in progress. There is a moment when a very light-skinned character is described as "white as the president." Maybe I will have to change that line in my next round of revisions.

But before we commence with the group hug, I know that when I was a little girl, I never thought a girl could be president. A lot of sisters I know are really excited that a black woman could be first lady. They are as excited as the Hillary supporters were at the idea of a woman being president.

This world is really complicated. Maybe I'll make some sense of it while I'll away.

Posted at 08:51 AM | Comments (2)
Category: Current Events

Dave Eggers Wants to Change The World

Recently Dave Eggers have a talk about his community outreach program 826 Valencia. On a rainy day like today, I really appreciated this dose of optimisim. The video is part of an archive of talks given by community change-makers and is sponsored by TED (Technology, Education, and Design.) Each year, TED gives a $100,000 prize to help the recipients "change the world." I love that they use that unabashedly idealistic language.

I am going to take some time to go through the archives and I'll post the ones that seem right for the blog. (Uh, not to hate on a philanthropic organization, but a drive-by scan of the roster makes me think they could use a little effort to up the diversity situation.)

But, anyway, with no further ado, here's one of the 2008 winners, Dave Eggers.

Posted at 09:15 AM | Comments (0)
Category: Current Events

Women Playwrights Demand Change

Did you know that of the new plays produced in this year's theater season 42 are written by white men and only 13 by everybody else put together? I didn't either, but this staggering statistic has lead women playwrights to organize and demand a meeting with the artistic directors of the major NY theaters.

The article in the NYT is both interesting and disturbing. (Although the article focuses on women, I think the points raised are relevant for everybody that comes under the heading "everybody else.") When confronted with their dismal records, the artistic directors interviewed in the article range from sheepish to indifferent to downright hostile. Andre Bishop attributes the gender imbalance at his theaters to the fact that he is a "pathetic mortal." (Would you like a side of snark with that sarcasm, sir?)

When I was looking for the link to post here, I searched the NYT database for the term "women playwrights." It seems that every ten years there is an article about the fact the plays by women are not being produced.

I have a great respect for all of the women who are involved, including Sarah Schulman who has written for this blog. To demand change is risky. Who would want to alienate the most powerful theaters in New York? As one of the women interviewed said "I have to keep my mouth shut; don’t be part of the problem, don’t be a whiner." Well, one person's whiner is another person's change-maker.

The town hall meeting is tomorrow night. I would advise people to try and attend, but the room only holds 90, and there are almost 150 people RSVPed. If you want to show support, you can write a letter to the NYT commenting on the article or you can make a point to go see a play written by someone who can be categorized as "everybody else." These voices deserve to be heard.

Posted at 07:42 AM | Comments (0)
Category: Current Events

A Liitle Bird Told Me..

That Toni Morrison will be featured on the NPR website reading from her new novel, A Mercy! The info came from Publishers Marketplace

Toni Morrison's Sound Serial
NPR's web site will offer a four-day series of pre-publication readings by Toni Morrison from her forthcoming novel A MERCY beginning October 27 as part of their Book Tour program. Additionally, NPR's Lynn Neary will discuss the book with Morrison in a webcast interview and All Things Considered's Michele Norris will have a broadcast interview with Morrison.

I can't wait until they post the link! Oh please, please, please let it be available as a podcast!

Posted at 01:15 PM | Comments (2)
Category: Current Events

The Untelling Giveaway for NIAW

Anika at WriteBlack brought to my attention that last week was National Infertility Awareness Week. To mark the occasion, she posted a very moving and personal post about her experiences with this painful issue. She speaks of everything from her own struggles with the desire for "biological" children, to her experiences being the only black woman in the waiting room at the reproductive endocrinologist's office.

Since my second novel, The Untelling, deals with the issue of black women and infertility, I offered up a copy as a giveaway. I wanted to post here so you all could participate and to encourage you to read her post, but it all happened when I was in Nebraska.

So, to make it right, I am offering a second copy. If you'd like to win the signed first edition of The Untelling, leave a comment over on Anika's post about Black women and infertility. On Friday morning at 8am, I will choose a winner by using the randomizer.

Posted at 12:56 PM | Comments (1)
Category: Current Events

The DAZZLING Ms. Smith!

Congratulations to Patricia Smith who is a finalist for the NATIONAL BOOK AWARD for her poetry collection, Blood Dazzler.

Blood Dazzler is a magnificent poetry collection lyrically exploring life in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. I heard her read at Housing Works. Amazing. Her books sold out in ten minutes flat.

Posted at 02:26 PM | Comments (0)
Category: Current Events

Amy Goodman Wins Right Livelihood Award

Amy Goodman, host of my favorite news show Democracy Now! and author of several works of nonfiction has won the 2008 Right Livelihood Award. The Right Livelihood Award, presented by the Parliament of Sweden is sometimes called "The Atlernative Nobel". Congratulations to Ms. Goodman, whom I would love to meet one day. Take a minute to go to the website and look at the other winners. Impressive, insprirational stuff.

Posted at 09:10 AM | Comments (0)
Category: Current Events

Gone, But Not Forgotten

In my contemporary African-American literature class, we read Anthony Groom's magnificent novel, Bombingham. This is the 45th anniversary of the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham.

We also watched Spike Lee's heartbreaking documentary, 4 Little Girls.

And Stereohyped points out the link between that disgraceful happening and a recent attack on an Ohio mosque. (Weigh in, Mr. Obama. Weigh in, Mr. McCain! To remember "I have a dream" without remembering the other events of that important year is a crime.)

Posted at 08:55 AM | Comments (1)
Category: Current Events

Komunyakaa at Rutgers-Newark

Wednesday, September 24. Yusef Komunyakaa will open the 2008-09 Writers at Newark Reading Series. The reading is at 5:30 pm at the Paul Robeson Gallery on the campus of Rutgers University, Newark Campus. New Yorkers, it is just a quick subway ride away. And Newarkers, come on down. The event is free and we'd love to see you there.

more info here

Posted at 09:10 PM | Comments (0)
Category: Current Events

The Geniuses are Here

The 2008 MacArthur Awards have been announced. This $500,00 fellowship-- nicknamed the "Genius Award"-- is an out-of-the-blue award to the lucky winner. I tend to think that the award may be a little more out of the blue for some winners than others. Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche, author of the magnificent Half of a Yellow Sun is a most deserving winner, but I doubt that she was stunned by the honor. Pleased, yes, but stunned, maybe not.

This year's list is pretty interesting. For one thing, there are at least two really handsome men on that list! (Is that shallow?) Also an award was given to an Urban Gardener and to a Rural Family Physician. I am delighted to see people who are doing important humanitarian work being rewarded in this way. I am sure they will pour most of the grant into their good works, but I hope they remember to hold a little back for their own pleasure.

Posted at 07:30 AM | Comments (0)
Category: Current Events

Depends on What You Mean By "Generation"

Did you see the (latest) remembrance of David Foster Wallace in the NYT today? I have to admit that I am suffering from DFW fatigue. At first, I couldn't figure out what it was that was sticking in my craw. Well, for Joy Castro, the NYT article "The Best Mind of His Generation" was the last straw. And she's not being quiet about it.

I must say that the NYT article got to me a little bit, although the tributes have been pushing my buttons all week-- at not just because the DFW tributes eclipsed the death of Reginald Shepherd, just a couple of days earlier. The loss of Wallace has got everybody talking about genius and talking about genius makes folks want to talk about geniuses and it has become clear that, for many people, genius has a demographic designation and it doesn't really include women and writers of color. The A.O. Scott piece in the NYT was just the latest example.

But I won't go on. Just go see what Joy says.

Posted at 03:17 PM | Comments (1)
Category: Current Events

RIP, David Foster Wallace

This is such a sad story. 46 year old author of Infinite Jest and receipent of a Mac Arthur "Genius Grant" was found dead in his California home of an apparent suicide. Ed Champion reports, and LA Times gives more details.



Posted at 07:47 PM | Comments (0)
Category: Current Events

Throw Flowers At Her Feet

Reading my horoscope made me wonder if Michelle Obama is a Saggitarius, too.

According to the Guinness website, the world record for opera singers receiving curtain calls is Luciano Pavarotti, who got 165 after his 1988 show at the Deutsche Opera in Berlin. If that mark is ever broken, it may soon be accomplished by a Sagittarian performer. That's because you people will be at the peak of your potential to garner acknowledgement, recognition, and rewards in your chosen field. Here's a secret about how you can take maximum advantage of that potential: Imagine that there is a higher, finer level of excellence that's beyond what you've understood as excellence up until now. Then figure out what you'd have to do to rise to that higher, finer level.

Non-Sags out there can get yours here.

Posted at 07:41 AM | Comments (1)
Category: Current Events

Trouble The Water: Trailer

Posted at 07:51 AM | Comments (0)
Category: Current Events

For 60 Million, And More

Toni Morrison has dedicated a memorial to the men and women whose lives were damaged by slavery. The memorial is a simple one, an iron bench. This bench is the first in ten which will make up the "Bench By The Road" project.

One of her favorite sites for a bench would be in Oberlin, Ohio, a stop on the Underground Railroad near her hometown of Lorain, she said. While a number of museums dedicated to black history have sprung up around the country since 1989, as well as much new scholarship about black history Ms. Morrison said she liked the idea of an “unpretentious” bench for its simplicity and accessibility.

“Well, the bench is welcoming, open,” she said. “You can be illiterate and sit on the bench, you can be a wanderer or you can be on a search.”

The rest of the article here.
Thanks to my daddy for sending the link.

Posted at 12:10 PM | Comments (1)
Category: Current Events

Support PEN's FISA Lawsiut

I've just received a message from Francine Prose, the president of PEN American Center:

Because Democracy is About the Government Listening, Not Listening In

This week, the ACLU is taking out a full-page ad in a major national newspaper expressing our disappointment over this abandonment of Constitutional principles. The ad will print the names of tens of thousands of Americans who believe in the Constitution and want Congress to hear us loud and clear: next time, stand up for our rights.

I have signed my name, letting Congress know exactly how I feel about them selling out our right to privacy. You can sign your name to the ACLU’s newspaper ad, but you have to do it no later than 6 pm today. Signing only takes a minute. When you do, let people know in comments.

This is important.

Posted at 10:00 AM | Comments (1)
Category: Current Events

Artists In The Workforce

Maybe you've aleady seen this, but the NEA has just released a comprehensive report on artists in the workplace. (Full 150-page report here, NYT highlights here.) I honestly don't know what to make of it. Here are some of the big points.

In 2005 nearly two million Americans said their primary employment was in jobs that the census defines as artists’ occupations — including architects, interior designers and window dressers. That's a lot of people, but some of these jobs seem sort of artistic, but I am not sure that I would classify these workers as artists, exactly....

The percentage of female, black, Hispanic and Asian artists is bigger among younger ones. Among artists under 35, writers are the only group in which 80 percent or more are non-Hispanic white. I wonder why it is that all other areas of art are becoming more diverse, but not writing? I would think that writing would really lend itself to inclusion since the start up costs are so low. A question worth thinking about is whether this means times are good or hard for writers of color. On the one hand being so darn rare makes us attractive, or at least it does, theoretically. But on the other hand, the scarcity suggests steep challenges.

The “Artists in the Workforce” report, prepared by Sunil Iyengar, the endowment’s director of research and analysis, identified 185,000 writers.... That's a lot of people.

Overall, the median income that artists reported in 2005 was $34,800 — $42,000 for men and $27,300 for women. That's just depressing. No comment needed.

Here's another money-related fact: Over all, artists make more than the national median income ($30,100). They are more highly educated but earn less than other professionals with the same level of schooling.

For some reason, the NEA makes this report sound like good news, but for me, it's making me want to get back in bed.

Posted at 01:14 PM | Comments (0)
Category: Current Events

Love Jones

Posted at 02:14 PM | Comments (1)
Category: Current Events

H-A-P-P-Y -- E-N-D-I-N-G

So this made my day.

Posted at 10:30 AM | Comments (2)
Category: Current Events

Product Placement?

I am not even sure what to make of this. Well, that's not true. I know what I think about it. But then again, there are some writers I respect on this list. So good grief. Here's the deal:

Galleycat reported today that Lexus is paying writers to write short stories that make their cars look good. (Perhaps they should give back-pay to a lot of urban-lit authors that have that territory covered. And they could send a few checks to a few rappers I could name. And what about Chrissette Michele? "Be OK" is my jam.) But anyway, I was surprised to see a number of serious writers on the list. I actually know a couple of them, so maybe I could send an email and ask what gives? From where I am sitting, it reminds me of this article I blogged about back in 2005. Apparently the pharmaceutical companies were paying writers to create thrillers that would scare people from buying drugs from Canada. And Lexus is hiring writers to make thier product look good, look smart, look hip.

I was trying not to go there-- with the nation trying to heal and every thing-- but it seems that irony is already embedded in this post. The urban-lit writers and rappers (and lovely Chrissette)who already say such nice things about the Lexus brand don't get any love from the company. I couldn't help but take another look at the list of artists whose endorsement the company will pay for. They are from a whole other world entirely.

Posted at 08:04 PM | Comments (4)
Category: Current Events

Meet Ruth Dargan, Witness To History

The Root has posted video of Kyle Dargan interviewing his grandmother, Ruth Dargan. Ms. Dargan was a police detective during the infamous Newark Riots in 1968. (That's her on the right.)

In an essay that accompanies the interview, Kyle writes:

Periodically, I get a phone call from my grandmother that begins with her saying, "Listen to this," or simply with her reading aloud a vignette she'd just written about her life in Newark, N.J. Usually, I tell her the brief tales sound good and encourage her to keep writing. "I'm leaving all this stuff for you so you can write my story after I'm gone," she often tells me, in reply. I ponder her statement and then reply, as warm and loving as only a grandson could, "You ain't dead yet!"

I am so bummed that I can't embed the video so you can just watch it here. (You have to follow this link.)They talk about the death of MLK, Barak Obama, and the housing crisis. She read "The Audacity of Hope" in bookclub and wasn't all that impressed.

On a silly and superficial note, I had to smile at Kyle's appearance in this video. You can see he got all cleaned up to sit with his grandmother. His hair is cut and his facial hair is all orderly. And the argyle sweater. So sweet. (If you're in the mood for comparison, here's a snapshot of Kyle.)

OK. Back to business. This intergenerational sit-down is really interesting, and progressive. She is his grandmother, certainly, but she is not being interviewed as a "granny." This is no old lady rocking on the porch, hulling peas and rattling off memories. Ms. Ruth Dargan she not just a witness to history, she is also a player in the stories unfolding before our eyes.

Posted at 08:08 AM | Comments (1)
Category: Current Events

Happy Birthday Spelman

127 years ago today, Harriet Giles and Sophia B. Packard founded The Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary, later renamed Spelman College. Giles and Packard had only one hundred dollars to their names--- pocket change given to them by John D. Rockefeller. Reverend Quarles gave them space in the basement of Friendship Baptist Church and they gathered eleven students together and got to work.

(Image via flickr.)

Posted at 12:57 PM | Comments (0)
Category: Current Events

Let's Help The Dunbar Village Survivors!

The ebay auction is up! Go there now to bid on manuscript critiques by me, George Saunders, Nichelle Tramble,Sarah Schulman, Laila Lalami, Joy Castro, Martha Southgate, D. Nurkse, and Honoree Fanonne Jeffers! Carleen Brice is offering to critique your non-fiction book proposal. (Having sold three books this way, she knows how it's done!) There are books up for grabs-- a full set of George Saunders titles and a set of memoirs and a collection of debut novels. Natasha Trethewey is giving a signed hardcover of her Pulitzer Prize winning collection, Native Guard. Erika Dreyfus, the "Practicing Writer", has offered her three e-books on how to find paying markets for what you write! This is just in: Rachel Eliza Griffiths will take your photo if you live the NY area. (Trust me. You want her to take your photo.)

We got the good stuff.

If you'd like to contribute directly to the victims of the Dunbar Village tragedy here's the info.

Individuals who would like to donate money to the victims can go to any Wachovia Bank and donate to the St. Ann’s Victim’s Assistance Fund. Donations will go directly to the mother and her son.
St. Ann’s Catholic Church will accept donations. Checks can be made payable to the "Dunbar Village Victim Assistance Fund - St. Ann’s".
Donations can be mailed to: St. Ann’s Catholic Church, 310 N. Olive Avenue, West Palm Beach, FL 33401

If you go this route, let me know. At the end of the week, I want to post the results of our hard work and I want to make sure I include you.

On that note, I received the first contribution last night at KGB Bar. Alicia, a member of our blog community, slipped me some cash. "This is for Dunbar Village," she said.

Ashe.

Posted at 08:12 PM | Comments (0)
Category: Community Service , Current Events

Dunbar Village Fund Raiser-- Update!

So many people have offered to help raise money for the mother and son who were attacked at Dunbar Village. Check out what we have collected, so far:

George Saunders has donated a signed set of his books and a short story critique.

Sarah Schulman, Nichelle Tramble, and Tayari Jones will give feedback on fiction manuscripts.

Honoree Fanonne Jeffers will give feedback on 20 poems.

Joy Castro will give feedback on a memoir essay.

Natasha Trethewey will contribute a signed first edition of her Pulitzer Prize winning collection, Native Guard.

And think.. we have only been collecting donations for two days! If you have something to contribute, let me know. Also, in comments, give us some ideas of other things we can include in the auction.

This is a great opportunity to help someone in need. Whatever money we raise will make such a difference in the life of a woman in serious need. We can undo the damage that has been done to her by the criminals who attacked her, or the politicians who defended them, but we can help her move forward and put her life back together.

Posted at 09:34 AM | Comments (3)
Category: Current Events

Dunbar Village Fund Raiser

Today I saw an article about the sister-bloggers who raised their voices against the NAACP's support of the Dunbar Village rape suspects. For those of you not following the case, here's a recap: The details are far too graphic to post here, but a woman and her son were raped and tortured in their home. The assault is the most brutal thing I have ever heard of. Well, the good Revered Al Sharpton of course went to Florida to show his support-- for the suspects. The sister-bloggers (and some brothers) went ballistic and mobilized their readers to turn the ships around. By the time they got through, Sharpton and the NAACP were claiming they never wanted the suspects released on bond (though these flyers tell a different story.)

I am horrified by this crime, but at the same time inspired and impressed by the sister-bloggers who stepped up to the plate. I started thinking, well what can I do? I'm just a novelist. Then I had this idea.

I am going to auction off a manuscript critique and the proceeds will go to the fund for the victims of the Dunbar Village Rape Case. Any other writers out there want to lend a hand? We can put all the offerings on ebay together. I am thinking manuscript critiques, maybe someone can have coffee with their favorite writer? If you're down, email me. We can make this happen.

Posted at 05:34 PM | Comments (5)
Category: Current Events

Packer on Obama and Black Exceptionalism

Z.Z. Packer makes so many good points in her brilliant essay, that I don't know which to quote! It's a long one, but worth printing out and forwarding all over the place. (You'll have to read the article yourself to see what Barak Obama has in common with Michael Jackson....) Meanwhile, here is a choice paragraph:

The horrible double standard is obvious. According to those of Ferraro's ilk: if you're a poor black man, or incarcerated, or jobless or homeless, you are where you are because of your own ineptitude and should take responsibility for your actions. However, if you've excelled at one of the top schools in the nation, then later on became a star attorney and later become a senator who inspires millions, then you're only there in spite of your ineptitude and you really shouldn't take responsibility for it. Talk about movin' on up.

More commentary to come, but I didn't want to wait to share this with you. Read the article and we'll meet back here tomorrow to talk!

(Thank you, JT, for forwarding the link!)

Posted at 08:26 AM | Comments (2)
Category: Current Events

Ben & Jerry's-- Anti-Southern?

Ben & Jerry's has named an ice-cream for Barack Obama-- this may the pinnacle of pop-culture liberalism. The ice-cream is called (drum roll please...)YES, PECAN!

As Ladylee would say, *crickets*.

See, where I come from we say p-e-c-a-n as "puh-CAHN". So I was saying aloud "Yes, Puh-CAHN?" Then, I looked around me, surrounded by northerners and got it. "Yes, Pee-CAN!", rhymes with "Yes, We Can!" Cute, I guess.

Granted, I am sensitive, but I felt a little left out of the joke.

Posted at 03:18 PM | Comments (6)
Category: Current Events

I Am Trying to Leave This Alone

Really, I am. But this LA Times piece on the Love and Consequences drama was really interesting.

Jones/Seltzer, who claimed to be half Native American and often lapses in the book into the inner-city black vernacular of "hoods," "homies" and "ima make sure," is part of a long tradition of white artists impersonating or borrowing the voices and experiences of racial minorities, experts said. ....
"I think some of the authors of these memoirs have pain and suffering they don't know how to name, so they attach them to something that's universally associated with suffering," like race.

The whole article is really interesting.

Posted at 08:35 AM | Comments (2)
Category: Current Events

Why? Oh, Why?

Yesterday, in the comments, Sarah asked why people like Margaret Jones just don't publish thier stories as novels. Why do they feel compelled to call it "memoir"? I don't know, but there are a couple interesting hypotheses out there in the blogosphere.

GalleyCat:

Maybe Jennifer Joseph of Manic D Press is right when she emails that this whole fake memoir trend points to a dysfunction at "New York commercial houses." As she analyzes the situation, "Bookselling is all about categories, and the Memoir category sells better than Fiction. Agents know this, Editors know this, Publishers know this. Authors learn this... Blame it on reality TV shows which give the illusion (though they're scripted) that 'true stories' are somehow more appealing than fiction." (That said, it should be conceded that Misha Defonseca's phony Holocaust survival story was published by an indie press.)

Yxta Maya Murray, who reviewed Love and Consequences for TruthDig (she loved it), has this to say:

The answer? Because we don’t value the novel anymore. The coin of the realm is Reality: blogging, biography, Web confessions, “The Real Housewives of New York City.” We have learned to so diminish the importance of the imagination that we no longer pay sufficient attention to the “ecstatic truths” (Werner Herzog’s much-repeated maxim) that may be gleaned from fiction. Thus we have created a market that demands “true crime” and “authentic” tales of woe, which are easily exploited by frauds.

Anybody else got a theory?

Posted at 07:27 AM | Comments (2)
Category: Current Events

There's A Sucker Born Every Minute

And apparently, they all go to work in publishing.

This has been a bad week for liars. First the holocaust survivor who said she was literally raised by wolves turns out to be just a regular, if depressed, person. Now, Margaret Seltzer, the author of Love and Consequences, the highly acclaimed "memoir" about her life as a half Native American/half White gang banger, has been been explosed as a fraud.

In the vividly told book, Ms. Seltzer wrote about her African-American foster brothers, Terrell and Taye, who joined the Bloods gang when they were 11 and 13. She chronicled her experiences making drug deliveries for gang leaders at age 13 and how she was given her first gun as a birthday present when she was 14. Ms. Seltzer told The Times last week, “One of the first things I did once I started making drug money was to buy a burial plot.”

It's like a satire of a satire. This is my favorite line in the whole NYT article: "Sarah McGrath, the editor at Riverhead who worked with Ms. Seltzer for three years on the book, said she was stunned to discover that the author had lied." Gotta love that understatement and comic timing.

But seriously, you may remember an article last summer that appered in TimeOut New York about matters of race in publishing. (My post on the subject here.) This was one of most important quotes from the article:

“Invariably,” says Craig, “a black-themed book will come up for consideration, and there won’t be anyone of color to put in an opinion, or there’ll be one, who shouldn’t bear the burden alone. So we all pretend we’re experts. Maybe I’m the only one who’s embarrassed by that.” The end result of such roundtables, one can only fear, could be that the only books depicting people of color that get published are those that do not challenge white assumptions.

I can't help but wonder if Ms. Seltzer's book with all it's far-fetched, tales-from-the-urban-jungle flair, would have passed the smell test were it read by a more diverse panel of editors.

Posted at 10:57 PM | Comments (4)
Category: Current Events

CONGRATULATIONS TRACY K!

Tracy K. Smith has won the first annual Essence Literary Award in the category of poetry! (Full list of winners, here.) Just think: we can say we knew her way back when she was the Karaoke Queen.

Posted at 11:40 PM | Comments (0)
Category: Current Events

Boondock's Revenge

So sorry about the slow down in posting. AWP is this week and we are really rippng and running at my job because we are a sponsoring institution. So, for those folks who sent me little nudges, I'm okay. Just busy. But here is something to tide you over until I start bombarding you with AWP snapshops.

Aaron McGruder, creator "Boondocks" has declared war on BET. Anyhoo, T.R.O.Y. sent me this link to a short film which BET has banned. While you're at it, go to AALBC. I love that McGruder is endorsed by Tavis Smiley, who is identified as "Host of BET Tonight". Right under that is a quote from Bob Johnson, founder of BET (and Obama hater), calling McGruder everything but a child of God.

Don't forget to watch the film! (It's only about 5 minutes.)

Posted at 09:43 AM | Comments (2)
Category: Current Events

D.C. Readers, You Can Stop Blaming Yourselves

There is an article in the Washington Post about the close of Karibu books. It wasn't because "black people don't read" or because of the Wal-Martization of America. The store is closing because the owners couldn't work out their differences. The whole sad story here.

Yes, it's a crying shame, but at the same time let's not come down to hard on Karibu owners, Simba and Yao. The real problem is that whole burden of selling books by and about black folks-- in "Chocolate City", no less-- was on the shoulders of these two brothers. That's a lot to carry around. Simba and Yao held it down for fifteen years; whatever went down in recent history can't change that.

Posted at 09:01 PM | Comments (2)
Category: Current Events

Another One Bites The Dust

I am jsut heartbroken to announce the closing of Karibu Books in Washington, DC and Maryland. This announcement took me by surprise although I have heard, as often as everyone, that Americans don't read anymore and big chains are snuffing out the little guys. Sigh.

The photo to the left is Brother Yao, poet and entreprenuer whose find-a-way, make-a-way mentality kept Karibu Books alive for 15 years.

This is just terrible news.

Posted at 11:54 AM | Comments (4)
Category: Current Events

HAPPY MLK DAY

I am on the road still, so I couldn't prepare a new post for King day, but you are welcome to revisit the essay I wrote last year called "Walking in Memphis." It's about visiting the Lorraine Hotel, the site of Dr. King's assassination.

At the very end of the exhibit was rooms 306-307, where Dr. King had stayed in on the last day of his life. The curators took care to recreate the atmosphere. There was a coffee cup half-full, an unmade bed and other personal touches that made it seem like Dr. King, Andy Young, Jessee Jackson, et al had just been in here making plans. When I crossed the threshold of the room, I tripped a switch that caused Mahalia Jackson to sing "Amazing Grace." I felt it all over my body. I closed my eyes for a moment and took a careful breath before looking out onto the balcony.

Posted at 07:26 AM | Comments (0)
Category: Current Events

Rico and Kiri, The Pleasure is Ours

Tonight, I tagged along with Dahlia to a houseparty in Brooklyn. I didn't know the hosts, but who says you have to know the people to have a good time? We were there early enough that we were able to chat a little bit with the man-half of the host couple. "I know your name," he said. "Do you have a blog?" Well, it turns out that he was Rico Cullen who works with the Media that Matters Film Festival.

He wanted to thank this blog commumunity for all we did to get the word out to support Kiri Davis and her film, "A Girl Like Me." (He even remembered the date of my first post about it-- June 8, 2006!)

It's almost midnight and I am really sleepy, but I wanted everyone to know that our efforts were noticed and made a difference for Kiri and her project. Group hug, y'all.

Posted at 10:58 PM | Comments (0)
Category: Current Events

Reality Check?

I was just reading an NYT article about Candance Bushnell, the author of the Sex and The City, the book on which the hugely popular TV show and movie are based. The article is about how her "friend" stole her idea for a second show. Interesting and dramatic. But what I am posting here is this shocking paragrah:

Ms. Bushnell did not exactly get rich from “Sex and the City.” The executive familiar with her business dealings said she had made “a little more than” $500,000 in royalties from the HBO run. She has yet to receive any syndication profits although she is due “something under a half-million dollars” more now that production has started on the film version, the executive said.

Don't get me wrong, I would happily welcome an extra $500,000 into my life. Happily. But I would have thought that Ms. Bushnell was a millionaire many times over after producing such a hit.

I guess this goes to show something, but I am not sure what.

Posted at 10:43 PM | Comments (3)
Category: Current Events

Alice Walker Gives Her Papers to Emory

Just before the holiday break, Alice Walker's papers arrived at Emory Univeristy. As I understand it, a writer's papers are anything of her life that she has saved. This can be highschool journals, scrap books, drafts of novels, snapshots-- whatever evidence she chooses to hand over.

There was a point in my own life when I used to save all sorts of stuff. (My father once told me that W.E.B. Dubois started saving his papers at 12. I was about ten at the time and figured that this was a good a time as any to get started.) I am not sure what happened to all those carefully preserved slips of paper. I can't remember throwing them away, but my parents have moved twice since then and I am pretty sure that no one wanted to save my pop-sickle stick collection for posterity.

But on to Alice Walker. She says that she chose Emory for its location in the south, its relationship with the Dalai Lama, and because of all the other wonderful authors who have chosen to deposit thier papers in its care. (Langston Hughes!)

Not that anyone is asking for my papers, but I would imagine that it is pretty tough to decide where to store them. My impulse would be to put them at my alma mater, Spelman College. Afterall, this is where I became a writer. But at the same time, I don't know if Spelman would have the resources of a place like Emory to store and care for the papers. Also, a person would want her papers to be in a place that is frequented by scholars.

Anyway, I will be certainly going to Emory to check out Alice Walker's archives when they are open to the public. I have always been fascinated by her life. (More on that in another post.)

Posted at 08:58 AM | Comments (2)
Category: Current Events

Good Hair Day!

You know, one of the most popular blog entries I have ever written was about the time I went as an adult to get a press and curl, as research for my new novel. When I check my sitemeter, there is always someone googling the subject and they visit the blog. Almost two thousand people have viewed the pics on flickr!

There is no denying that black women and their hair is a real hot-button topic. (Remember the Imus fiasco?!) Well, someone's got their finger on the buzzer again. Here is the recap as best I can give it:

An associate editor at Glamour said that unprocessed black hair is inappropriate for the workplace. Glamour them apologized for being so stupid and to show they were serious, they hosted a panel on the subject. (Wow, that's really going to make a difference!) So Janice went to the panel and gives a pretty amusing twitter report.

I, on the other hand, am celebrating my birthfest, and cannot be bothered to think too hard about oppressing depressing topics. Next week, I'll be back on the front lines. But for now, does anyone know a good spa in Jersey City? And related to the topic of this post: Ladies, if you go to a spa, you can usually substitute an extra 30 minutes of massage time for the hair part of your "luxe package." Just FYI for those of us with a gorgeous head of Glamour "don'ts".

Posted at 08:16 AM | Comments (5)
Category: Current Events

Book-Award-Season Making You Queasy?

Like many folks, I start getting a little green around the gills this time of year. (There is just far too much annointing going on!) As just a little bit of a balm, I encourage you to think about books that would qualify for the Ridenhour Book Prize given by The Nation Magazine. From what I can tell, it isn't open to fiction, but you have to love a prize that sets as it's criteria:

"books that defend the public interest, advance or promote social justice, or illuminate a more just vision of society."

(via Galleycat)

Posted at 08:56 AM | Comments (0)
Category: Current Events

Let's Send Natasha Some Positive Vibes

Our very own Natasha Trethewey is at Harvard today to celebrate the inaugration of Drew Faust, the first woman president of that institution. Natasha will be introducing Toni Morrison at the event, for which she has composed a poem. The event will be webcast. It starts at 2pm, but I have been told that Natasha and Lady T will be on around four. (EST)

Posted at 10:22 AM | Comments (1)
Category: Current Events

Bring on The Rainbows and Unicorns

Mary Collins is complaining about the required reading for her 14-year old daughter. Apparently, the topics on the reading list are too heavy and the little moppet is losing sleep over it.

I know that my own literary taste tends to lean toward the devastating. When I was a kid, I read Mildred Taylor's classic Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry, which, to this day, remains one of my favorite titles. It's a hard book set in the 1950s. The family has to decide which is more important to them, preserving their plot of land or halting the lynching of a young boy. Should this be included on a 8th grade reading list, even though Mary Collins would probably pronounce it too "depressing?"

Forget the silly writing-teacher argument that good writers don't have to write about extreme events to write a good book. This is good advice to give to undergraduate writing students who can't resist ending all stories with a suicide, but when we are talking about accomplished writers, they can handle the more dramatic subject matter.

Collins is most disturbing when she gets into ideological territory:

The string of searing plot patterns has resulted in some very peculiar unintended consequences. Most of the students I spoke with from my daughter's middle school claimed that the readings made them feel inadequate because they never "experienced these horrible things."

"It becomes awkward," one student said, "because you're constantly made to feel spoiled or privileged."

I am having a hard time feeling sorry for people who feel "awkward" because their lives have been too easy. Yes, I can imagine that it must be worrisome to be made aware of your privilege as opposed to just exercising it without even thinking about it.

This, also, makes me wonder if Collins would advocate for different reading lists for kids who haven't had it as easy. Maybe only children in inner-cities should be assigned the rough stuff? Maybe only black kids should read Beloved since it won't make them feel guilty?

The more I think about this argument, the worse it gets.

(Thx, Ed, for the link. And check out how Acephalous breaks it down.)

Posted at 07:49 AM | Comments (4)
Category: Current Events

Women's Prison Book Project

I just received a request for donation for the Women's Prison Book Project. Here's what they are looking for:

Here is a list of book requests we've received frequently in recent weeks. We usually have a few of these books in stock, but we're going to need more in order to fulfill the requests we're getting. If you have any books in these categories, mail it to us or bring it to our drop box at Arise Bookstore. Our address is 2441 Lyndale Ave S, Mpls, MN 55405.

cookbooks

dream interpretation

contemporary African American fiction (especially Triple Crown publishers)

books by James Patterson

Christian topics

I know we have done quite a lot of talking on this blog about so-called "street literature" and Triple Crown books fall firmly in this category. I think that if you have any Triple Crown Books that you are not using and are in good shape, you should send them on. At the same time, I really urge you to send titles that you think would nurture the spirits of incarcerated women. I plan to send copies of my own books, but also books by Eisa Ulen, Sigrid Nunez, Monique Truong, Ravi Howard, and others.

Posted at 08:44 AM | Comments (1)
Category: Current Events

Growing Up Is So Hard To Do!

The Brand New Heavies are playing NYC tonight and I won't be there! It's a school night and I am a responsible adult. Well, the truth is, I am not that responsible, but my friends are, so I don't have anyone to go with me!

BNH will be in concert with Macy Gray and word on the street is that The Heavies blew Macy Gray out of the water when they performed in Louisville.

Anyhoo, here is the flickr set from my adventures in groupie-dom.

Posted at 06:52 AM | Comments (0)
Category: Current Events

R.I.P. Madeleine L'Engle

At age 88, children's author Madeleine L'Engle has passed away. I had to read A Wrinkle in Time about five times before I really "got" it. In light of our conversation earlier in the week about Judy Blume and whether kids need to see thier own stories (apparently verbatim) in books, we really must give Madeleine L'Engle her props. Ms. L'Engle's books were not comfort food-- mashed potatoes for the mind. This was challenging reading, putting forth bold ideas.

I remember my fourth grade teacher, Miss Thomasina Gaither, reading aloud from A Wrinkle In Time. We had gotten to the part where the main characters discover that the little boy who wouldn't bounce the ball has been put in a cell. I didn't know the word non-conformity then, but I knew exactly what the scene was about. And unlike my experience with other kids' books, I didn't walk away with a lesson about being tolerant of difference-- I walked away angry and with the impulse to fight back!

(Oh, my outrage when Miss Gaither shut the book and said we would have to wait until Monday for the next chapter!)

If Judy Blume books are beloved because they are about "real" kids struggling with their need to fit it, then Madeleine L'Engle's books are about fantasy kids who represent how smart and brave if we could just find the strength to resist all that crap and be our authentic selves.

R.I.P. Madeleine L'Engle. This writer- this woman-- thanks you for your searing and beautiful work.

Posted at 07:24 AM | Comments (3)
Category: Current Events

Lest We Forget

Two years ago, Hurricaine Katrina decimated New Orleans and the Mississipi Gulf Coast. I've collected some links of artists' responses to the storm and its aftermath. If you have other links, please send them to me.

It's a good time to revisit Walter Mosley's essay, "Shouting Underwater",published in The Nation in the aftermath of the storm.

Not only did our government fail to answer the call of its most vulnerable citizens during that fateful period; it still fails each and every day to rebuild, redeem and rescue those who are ignored because of their poverty, their race, their passage into old age

.

Spike Lee distributed cameras to the children of Katrina. Go to CNN.com to read the article and see some clips.

Joshua Clark a writer who remained in New Orleans through the storm and it's aftermath has a memoir called "Heart Like Water". He's interviewed on the NBCC blog.

I remember, being there at the Convention Center, there was not a single person in sight. There never was in those days. I put my face up to the glass. Inside, it was as though Judgment Day had come and gone, everyone vanished. And no one had touched a thing since. There was an ungodly amount of food, sodas, water, cigarettes, shoes, bedding, these last posessions they had after losing everything else, all of it covered in flies, millions of them flitting about lazily. Two torn pages were pressed up against the window with a pillow. They were from the Bible, The Book of Lamentations.

The Tin Roof Blowdown is the latest by New Orlean's crime novelist, James Lee Burke. This time the mystery happens in the wake of Katrina.

Graphic artists Damian Duffy and John Jennings present "Day 8" a story created for the UIUC Katrina Summit. **warning, the interface is kind of tricky.. you have to scroll down to get to the link to see the next page.

New Orleans photos on flickr.

Posted at 05:25 PM | Comments (0)
Category: Current Events

Race and Publishing... again

James Hannaham's recent article in TimeOut New York about race and publishing is the most interesting article on the subject that I have read to date. The piece starts with the fact that hardly anyone working in publishing is willing to talk about this matter on the record.

The article suggests that in addition to the racial issue, socio-economic class factors in heavily. After all, the salaries in publishing are so low, that you have to have money already to afford to work there. And then, there is the connections issue. Entry level jobs are usually filled by candidates who already know someone in the industry which perpetuates a culture of exclusion.

The next point was really shocking. It wasn't that I was shocked by the idea itself, as it had crossed my mind already, but I was shocked that it actually appeared in a mainstream publication:

Nevertheless, if the strings are generally pulled by whites, that creates a more complicated problem. “Invariably,” says Craig, “a black-themed book will come up for consideration, and there won’t be anyone of color to put in an opinion, or there’ll be one, who shouldn’t bear the burden alone. So we all pretend we’re experts. Maybe I’m the only one who’s embarrassed by that.” The end result of such roundtables, one can only fear, could be that the only books depicting people of color that get published are those that do not challenge white assumptions.

My only complaint with the article was on the matter of audiences for literature by people of color. Hannaham doesn't challenge the assumption that literature by people of color is to be read only by audiences of color. Take this quote from an industry official:

“There is a way to make money on books directed at people of color, [italics added] but you need to know how to publish them successfully. If someone has the energy and knowledge, they can do it. But you have to reinvent your machine.”

I can't help by wonder why it has failed to occur to the executives (or the author of the article) that the real way to make money off of books by writers of color is to figure out how sell them to everyone.

Or is that, (to quote another industry type), too "Pollyanna-ish"?

(via galleycat)

Posted at 07:42 PM | Comments (5)
Category: Current Events

Blogging Matters!

Well, there is more good news for Kiri Davis, our favorite teenaged filmmaker. She is now the first filmmaker ever to receive the Extraordinary Service Award from the Minority Media & Telecommunications Council! I know it looks like we are congratulating her every time we turn around, but I can't keep good news to myself.

The interesting thing is that our blog community has been cited for the way we worked to get the word out. I must say that this warms my little heart.

(thank you, lauren, for sending the link!)

Posted at 04:53 PM | Comments (0)
Category: Current Events

How Come Nobody Told Me

that Kiri Davis won the Cosmogirl Contest. I am sure that you all remember all the drama earlier in the summer-- Teenaged filmaker Kiri Davis's film about black folks and self-image was up for a big prize, then it was announced that people were cheating on the web-based contest... Well, she won the $10,000 award and other goodies. Hurrah.

Here's Kiri Davis's prize-winning film, "A Girl Like Me."

Posted at 02:57 PM | Comments (1)
Category: Current Events

The Abu Ghriab Project

Yesterday, Daniel Heyman invited us to his studio to view the prints in his series of portraits of people released from the infamous Abu Ghraib prison. Daniel traveled to the Middle East to sit in as Iraquis released from Abu Ghraib described their experiences to human rights lawyers.

As the detainees spoke, Daniel drew the portraits and wrote their testimonies alongside their likenesses. You will see from the images that the words are crammed in with the faces, the letters often traveling up the sides of the pages and even onto the speaker’s clothing. This is because Daniel drew and wrote in real time. As the translators converted the words to English, Daniel wrote them down.

Below is an excerpt from the text accompanying the portrait which is called Jasim Was In A Cage (you can see the image here):

Jasim was in a cage. A metal cage. He was not allowed to stand. He was hooded for ten days. When a father was forced to bury his son in a ½ meter deep hole. That they both dug. Then the son was forced to lie down in the hole. The soilders were laughing. The Prisoners were crying. The son stayed in the hole covered with dirt for one hour. The son and the father and Jasim thought the son would die.

The images you see here are made from copper plates. Here is a little explanation for folks not versed in the technique. Instead of writing on paper, Daniel etched the images onto copper plates using a diamond-point stylus. He wrote the testimony in the same way except he had to write backwards, as everything transferred from plates comes out mirrored. His tremendous investment of labor underscores his commitment to this cause.

During the Q&A, Daniel said that he would not sell these prints to any private collectors. Because these prints are for the world to see, he will only sell them to public collections. (One set has been placed with the New York Public Library.) He was also asked about the women in Abu Ghraib. Unfortunately, no woman would allow him in the room during her testimony, but he was able to draw a portrait of one woman and used the transcript of her testimony for her plate. This woman, like many of the subjects of this remarkable series, has since been murdered. (You can see her watercolor portrait here.)

When asked what this project has taught him about the war in Iraq, Daniel said, “What you learn, is that we don’t know anything about this war. You think you know, and then you learn that it is so much worse than you thought, and that you don’t even know the half it. No matter how much you see, how much you hear, there is always something worse.”

You can see the full collection at Daniel Heyman’s website.

An NPR interview with Daniel Heyman.

Libby Rosof reports about a recent exhibition of these pieces.

PoliticsTheoryPhotography has a nice write-up, too.

Posted at 10:29 AM | Comments (0)
Category: Current Events

Up Up and Away!

I am growing very fond, these days, of The Atlantic Monthly. I am even ready to forgive them for rejecting all of the stories I wrote as a graduate student. Clearly, their taste is improving. Exhibit A-- they had sense enough to award Dwayne Betts one of their summer internships. And. Now. This.

In the Summer Fiction Issue (which isn't out yet) there is a big article on MFA programs. Included in this spread is a piece on "up and coming" programs. RUTGERS-NEWARK was chosen among the top five. And we don't even open our doors until Fall.

I know a couple members of our blog community wil be starting with us in the fall. And if you thought about it last year, but didn't apply, we'll be accepting applications again in the late fall. We're trying to do something different with our program. The motto, "Real Lives, Real Stories", says it all.

Posted at 05:29 AM | Comments (1)
Category: Current Events

Kiri Davis On Oprah!

Remember Kiri Davis whose film "A Girl Like Me" was featured on Cosmogirl a few months ago? Well, it seems she has much bigger fish to fry than whatever shadiness was (or wasn't) going on with that contest. 18-year-old Kiri was on Oprah today. I didn't see it, as I am in cardboard hell, trying to pack all my stuff to get out of town.

If someone did see it, I'd love a recap in the comments section. From the link above, it seems that it is a show about kids being ashamed of their looks.

(A quick aside... I worry a bit that the question of girl's self-esteem often comes down to whether they find themselves pretty or not. I mean, aren't their other measures of a self? Do we ask our sons whether they believe themselves to be beautiful? I am all in favor of reversing the trends that cause black girls to hate their dark skin and kinky hair. Like many sisters, I have an inner-Pecola that shows her sad face from time to time, so I am all for the balm. However, we must be careful not to swing so far in the direction that convinces our girls that all they need in life is to be pretty. OK. Off the soap box. I've got packing to do. Somebody tell me what they said on Oprah.)

And before I go, folks are blogging about it. I just have to pack. So here is the link to all the blog posts.

Posted at 05:48 PM | Comments (2)
Category: Current Events

Sister-Writers In The News

The NYT has a big spread on Natasha Trethewey! Again, the NYT is catching on to things those of us in this community have known all along. (thx, ms.tjc for the link!)

Here's a great NPR segment on Eva Rutland. She's 90 years old, blind, and still writing. And, FYI, she is a Spelman woman!

Posted at 01:32 PM | Comments (2)
Category: Current Events

Oh, Just Whiten Up!

"Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee," the groundbreaking non fiction account of the displacement of Native Americans is being made into a movie. If you've read the book, be prepared for a significant change. According to the NYT article:

“Everyone felt very strongly that we needed a white character or a part-white, part-Indian character to carry a contemporary white audience through this project.”

So they added a new character. Not as a supporting part, but as the protagonist. He's "a man who was part Sioux, was educated at an Ivy League college and married a white woman." (The caveat-- this character is based on a real person.)

There is a part of me that wants to slap the filmmakers. (I'll admit, a BIG part of me.) And much of it comes from my own frustrastions as I observe similar bias in the consumption of American literature. And I guess I want to slap the filmmakers because it would take to long for me to go out and slap every small-minded viewer and reader for whom the statement is sadly accurate. If I did, I'd be too busy slapping to ever write another word.

(Thanks, Ed, for the link, atlhough it has singlehandedly ruined my day.)

Posted at 07:46 AM | Comments (11)
Category: Current Events

We've Got Friends in High Fun Places!

LeAnne Howe, a member of this blog community, is going to be on The Daily Show on Wednesday, May 2! LeAnne is a terrific writer; she does it all-- fiction, non-fiction, poetry, plays, screen plays.

The folks from The Daily Show went down to The University of Mississippi where LeAnne is the Grisham Writer in Residence. LeAnne, a member of the Choctaw Nation, is giving her opinion on the Indian mascot at The University of Illinois.

I'll have to drink coffee to stay up late enough to watch. Meanwhile, here are a couple of snapshots LeAnne.

Posted at 08:51 AM | Comments (0)
Category: Current Events

ATLiens Unite!

I've just received word from a certain bold-genius that the Atlanta Writers Club is hosting a read-in at the Atlanta Journal Constitution to protest the abolition of the book section. If you are in Atlanta, I hope you will join in. Participation is pretty simple. You just show up and read.

WHAT: ATLANTA “Save the Book Review” READ-IN! Bring a book (or many books!)you love, and let’s create a critical mass of readers to put the pressure on the Atlanta Journal-Constitution to reverse its terrible decision to “reorganize” its book review out of existence! They got rid of the book review editor, and without an official champion for books within the paper, the quality of books coverage is endangered! It will become disorganized and sporadic, if not simply perfunctory, until, worse, it’s no longer there. TIME: 10:00 AM until…you decide! DATE: THURSDAY, MAY 3, 2007 *rain or shine

If you go, take a picture with your camera phone and email it to me.

Posted at 09:15 PM | Comments (0)
Category: Current Events

Around The World in A Day

This weekend, folks who live in New York get to attend the Pen World Voices Book Festival. Novelist Martha Southgate is keeping a blog of the event. I'll warn you, the blog interface they're using over at Pen isn't the easiest to follow, but just keep clicking for her reports. It's the next best thing to being there.

Posted at 03:18 PM | Comments (0)
Category: Current Events

When Does "Crazy" Become Deadly?

I wonder if teachers of creative writing get more than our share of students who seem a bit "off". In light of the tragedy at Virginia Tech, the issue of troubled students has been on my mind. As many people know, Nikki Giovanni threatened to resign if Cho Seung-Hui wasn't removed from her class. To many people, this should have been enough of a red-flag to have the student removed from school.

In my experience as a university professor, I have dealt with quite a few disturbing students. Each time, I have gone to the supervisor. The responses have ranged from "Oh, don't worry, a lot of people have had problems with him. It doesn't develop into anything." OR "Him? I've taught him before and he's a nice kid." It's as though past incidents mean he is harmless, as does a clean record.

Continue reading this entry

Posted at 07:00 AM | Comments (3)
Category: Current Events

Nikki Giovanni Puts It All In Context

Nikki Giovanni delivered the closing remarks at the memorial convocation at Virginia Tech on yesterday. She struck a perfect ballance between honoring the sadness particular to the Tech campus and linking it with the horrors around the world. So many people in the world are suffering; as she says, "no one deserves a tragedy."

Just yesterday, I was thinking of all the bombings happening in Iraq. How often do we hear "twelve killed", "twenty killed"... Maybe one thing we will learn from this tragedy at Virginia Tech is a greater degree of empathy for the suffering all over the globe. And once we have felt the sorrow and mulled its implications, maybe we will act.

I am posting the YouTube here, but there is a clearer video over at CNN.

(via crystal)

Posted at 08:15 AM | Comments (1)
Category: Current Events

News From Virginia Tech

Like the rest of the nation, I was horrified by the news of a massacre at Virginia Tech University. I was concerned on a personal level as I gave a reading at Tech a couple of years back and have maintained a friendship with a few of the professors there. I am very relieved to report to you that I spoke with Virginia Fowler this morning and she assured me that both she and poet Nikki Giovanni are safe and sound.

Posted at 02:18 PM | Comments (0)
Category: Current Events

Thanks for Voting for Kiri Davis, but...

It doesn't even matter. Cosmogirl has determined that there have been "one of more instances of tampering" with the on-line voting for the young filmaker contest. So, all of the votes are going to be thrown out. The editors, apparently, will just pick a winner.

I try not to be a paranoid conspiracy monger. I really do.

Posted at 06:57 AM | Comments (5)
Category: Current Events

Have You Voted for Kiri Davis Today?

I went to the site. It's perfectly legit to vote everyday. So VOTE for her.

Posted at 06:20 AM | Comments (1)
Category: Current Events

Moving countdown: 53 days to go!

All the cool kids live in Jersey City.

Posted at 01:21 PM | Comments (1)
Category: Current Events

Happy Birthday Spelman!

On this day, 126 years ago, Spelman College was born! Happy Founders Day, Ladies!

Posted at 09:31 AM | Comments (0)
Category: Current Events

Let's Win it For Kiri Davis **updated

Remember the film,