Author: Kalisha Buckhanon for negression

SULA

In Toni Morrison’s 1973 novel Sula, published by Alfred Knopf at a time when “Black Power” commingled with Blaxploitation and Black revolution, three generations of impoverished Black "whores"—the third generation being educated, city-dwelling and experienced with “White men”—confront each other and their interior mysteries within their grand pre and post-Depression Ohio mansion. How is the home still standing? Who has passed through it? Who dies off within it? Who returns to claim it? Why are all levels occupied by vestiges of characters we would love to know better but almost hate to know at all—

I love mad Black women even if no one else does…

In the elite class of  First Ladies in which she resides and with nearly 50 predecessors before her, Mrs. Obama ranks among Abigail Adams, Mary Todd Lincoln, Eleanor Roosevelt and Jacqueline Kennedy in terms of recognition, studiousness, diligent work and an identity of her own entirely separate from her world-leading husband.

Where Oh Where Have Our Attention Spans Gone…Oh Where Oh Where Can They Be?

As I compose my first blog of 2012, I know it could very well be my only blog or at least one of just a few.  I am nervous and frightened at the future of my lifelong passion and chosen profession: writing.  Forasmuch as I could be tapping out my latest novel at this moment (as opposed … Continue reading Where Oh Where Have Our Attention Spans Gone…Oh Where Oh Where Can They Be? →

Lena Horne

Much has changed since the 16-year old who was Lena Horne danced her first tentative steps across the stage of the Cotton Club. Through myriad triumphs and challenges, she paved the way to stardom for countless others in the entertainment industry. Her continued musical, theatrical, and political efforts grew with the times and met each new decade with courage and grace. But, if one thing hasn’t changed, it’s Horne’s ability to break our hearts with her shimmering resonant voice, singing songs like “Black Coffee” and “Stormy Weather.”