I was so dismayed to hear another symbol of hate, a swastika, was posted on a Columbia University professor’s door. Seething rage within average Americans has fed the Hate Crimes fire. What distinguishes this generationContinue reading

Check out Chris Chambers in a six minute discussion of street fiction recorded by The Back List’s Felicia Pride at The Capital Book Fest. He likens street fiction to twinkies, and talks about Nick Chiles’Continue reading

America failed after 9-11. The media failed because Thinking Journalists were silenced by the corporate interests now controlling the news. Thinking Journalists have mortgages and family obligations and Thinking Journalists aren’t getting any younger, soContinue reading

Dre Oba of The Shield magazine sent this to me. Some of you may have seen it on the Internet already. Either way, please spread the word: Subject: Blackout – November 2, 2007 Date: Mon,Continue reading

As reported today by EUR: JUANITA BYNUM PAYS $32K PROPERTY TAXES: Televangelist says she’ll turn the property into a spa for women. Prophetess Juanita Bynum, 40, says she has paid the back taxes on theContinue reading

The open letters keep coming in… I must admit, I had never heard of Juanita Bynum before the recent news she’s made as a victim of domestic abuse. Black Voices reported she was “beat upContinue reading

Thanks to Linda Duggins for sending this Amy Alexander article to me: http://www.thenation.com/doc/20071029/alexander Terry McMillan vs. Ghetto Lit Amy Alexander Almost two years have passed since writer Nick Chiles published a New York Times op-edContinue reading

Karen Grigsby Bates interviews Terry McMillan, Susan McHenry of Black Issues Book Review (“the industry’s Bible for Black publishing news”), Calvin Reid of Publisher’s Weekly, and Troy Johnson of AALBC.com about the proliferation of streetContinue reading

Stacey Patton, author of the powerful memoir That Mean Old Yesterday, wrote a concise New York Times article about what she perceives as the failures of the Montclair, New Jersey Historical Society to preserve theContinue reading

Thanks to Keith Carr for sending me a Village Voice article about three African American men who tried to create a Brooklyn venue for urban arts and music. Todd Triplett, Shaun Jenkins, and Philip McKenzieContinue reading

As a proud graduate of Teachers College Columbia University, I’m surprised and outraged by the recent hate crime on campus. As the media have been reporting, someone placed a noose on the office door ofContinue reading

Thank you, Keith Carr, for forwarding this message from Mitty Owens to me: Dear Community Friends: Can you join me (and little Naia!) for next Sunday’s neighborhood walk-a-thon??? (Sunday, 10/14 at 12noon … see websitesContinue reading

This YouTube video is amazing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWm7Uw78epQ Watch it for beautiful images of a Fort Greene corner, not far from the Bed-Stuy border, and young folk gathered around the late and greatest MC of all HipContinue reading

Don’t mess with Terry. The letter below was forwarded to me — and others in Black books and media – this morning. This is Terry’s letter, Terry’s words. This is what was forwarded to me:Continue reading

Or, is that a stretch? You decide after reading this LA Times article Susan McHenry of Black Issues Book Review just sent to me: Book newsL.A. bookshop focused on African Americans may closeEso Won hasContinue reading

My earlier post shared Terry’s letter. Here’s her blog entry. Amazing, not only for the revelation of her personal strife, but also for the way she contextualizes her experience in the larger debate of UrbanContinue reading