Thank you, Pittershawn Palmer, for the link to this video. Please view and sign the petition for the Gulf Coast Recovery Bill of 2007. This simple act will help our sisters and brothers still strugglingContinue reading

Lat weekend the National Book Club Conference, an event that usually takes place in Atlanta, hit Chicago with a lively crowd of avid readers and authors. Susan McHenry and Ken Smikle of Black Issues BookContinue reading

Last night I attended the great poet’s memorial at The New School here in New York. The main auditorium and two additional lecture halls were filled to overflowing with artists, students, culture workers, and friendsContinue reading

Love it! Thanks, Farai and Val, for sending this to me. Warning: Lower the volume if you’re not at home. And Read a Book! http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=2038641925 Comment(s) § pittershawn said on : 08/23/07 @ 19:06 wow!Continue reading

Last week I interviewed one of our most important living American writers, Walter Mosley, at the National Association of Black Journalists Convention. Mosley’s work is important not just because he is so prolific and profound,Continue reading

This is an amazing article by writer and professor William Jelani Cobb: http://www.ebonyjet.com/politics/index.aspx?id=1290 Equal Opportunity Epithetswhen the name calling started, we responded with more than redemption songs08/20/2007By William Jelani Cobb Nigger, as you have noContinue reading

Many thanks to Chris Chambers, whose recent blog post about the tap in Dasani (Coca Cola) and Aquafina (PepsiCo) bottled water (no, it does not come from a spring in paradise, peoples, but from theContinue reading

One of my favorite radio shows, the Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC, just broadcast a discussion of “Hot Ghetto Mess.” (I refuse to use the new show title, “We Got to Do Better.” They needContinue reading

Imus, Flavor of Love Charm School, Norbit’s Rasputia: these giant leaps backward have sent our womanist ancestors roiling in their graves. A relentless media assault on Black women marks 2007. Time to help the spiritsContinue reading

This Sunday’s Book Review contains the article “Writers Like Me” by novelist Martha Southgate. In it, Martha explores race and class in American publishing. If you have trouble accessing Martha’s piece using the link above,Continue reading

A great series of articles that ran in the Miami Herald. Thanks, Pittershawn, for this! http://www.miamiherald.com/multimedia/news/afrolatin/index.html Comment(s) § Wendi Jackson Smith said on : 07/30/07 @ 14:39 Thanks for sharing this. As women with afro-latinoContinue reading

I was honored to moderate a panel celebrating writers of Caribbean descent this past Saturday at the Brooklyn Public Library. Organized by Maryland-based newspaper publisher Joy Bramble of The Caribbean International Literary Festival, publicist andContinue reading

Last week my husband and I went to the city to see the punk/soul/gospel/rock musical bildungsroman Passing Strange. In this production at The Public, musician, writer, and on-stage narrator Stew expands the realm of ideasContinue reading

What an amazing weekend. On Friday I went to Javits for Book Expo America. Ron Kavanaugh invited me to sign copies of Crystelle Mourning at the Mosaic literary magazine table since they put me onContinue reading

Thanks, Pittershawn, for sending me this! Oh, so funny – Check out the I-Rack. Comment(s) § pittershawn said on : 06/07/07 @ 13:01 It is rather funny. Comment(s) § simone said on : 06/14/07 @Continue reading

I love CNN. It’s my third favorite non-print news source, right after the ever-accurate, globally-focused BBC and the in-depth reportage of NPR. I do not like Lou Dobbs on CNN. I think this guy exploitsContinue reading

My cousin and his wife attended this forum (click below) in Burlington, Vermont – the state Ebony magazine called “the whitest state in America” several years ago. They moved from West Philadelphia to Burlington aboutContinue reading

Jillian Coneys is a student in my Multicultural American Literature class this semester: When the syllabus changed and it was announced that we would only be spending a single class on Willie Perdomo?s Where aContinue reading