In this National Blog Posting Month, I decided to pick my favorite work so far on my blog Negression. My eulogy of a total stranger, Joyce Vincent, remains the most personal piece of writing I have ever done publicly for the sheer emotional response I had to her story's resonance in my life at the point when I wrote it. I think this chilling black female version of a "Sex in the City" tale will always stick out to me and beg attention. It is something I wish I had never had to write, because that means it would have never happened. But since I did have to write it, it was a privilege to learn about myself and my life and what I need to do for myself and for others through the pain of another who was unable to.
Category: Cultural Criticism
The New College.
The Wall Street Journal has reported that the number of “college” students who need a remedial (or high school repeat) course funded by the U.S. government had risen a staggering 160% in the last 12 years. This means that students are now arriving on campuses in America so poorly prepared and scarcely educated they must redo a version of pre-school in order to prepare for professions.
*On The Color Purple and Beloved film adaptations…
I remember when The Color Purple movie came out in 1986. To have a beautiful and serious movie, that was not about Blacks killing each other or acting stupid but truly featured the story and amazing acting, was a big event. Oprah Winfrey was already a sort of star, and the other actors were people we knew as well. … Continue reading *On The Color Purple and Beloved film adaptations…
On the Channon Christian and Chris Newsom losses of life, and Vanessa Coleman’s impending parole*
*Since the time of this writing, Tennessee courts have upheld the decision to keep all offenders involved in this tragedy behind bars, including the female accomplice who was up for parole this December. Vanessa Coleman's parole was DENIED. Among the reasons for denial were a "depreciation" of the seriousness of what took place in a … Continue reading On the Channon Christian and Chris Newsom losses of life, and Vanessa Coleman’s impending parole*
On Creative Activism
No matter what, it is impossible not to see, to stay silent, to fall asleep oblivious, to do absolutely nothing. This is a reality shared by all of us, whether we are creative people or not.
Are You a Joyce Vincent?
I A definitive 21st Century Western biography concerns a Black female Londonder who passed away in her government-subsidized bedsit/SRO flat in 2003, at a time she was wrapping Christmas presents and writing Christmas cards—and she remained in there, seated on her couch, putrefying and finally skeletizing, for the next three years. In 2006, a government agency kicked in … Continue reading Are You a Joyce Vincent?
The Way We Will Celebrate Them Today
Today, January 15th, 2014, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. would have been 85 years old. It is arguable that, in this age of globalization and its increased emphases on the heightened role Americans should play in African diaspora nations and the increasingly cosmopolitan approach writers must take to expand their audiences, too many times we scramble past … Continue reading The Way We Will Celebrate Them Today
negression 