On days like this, meaning a notable artist like Zora Neale Hurston's birthday, the custom is to suggest enjoying his or her work and to "support" others like them in their names. However, something tells me this is not what Zora would want. I think most writers take their birthdays off for things like cake, people, wine and gluttony over discipline. So today Zora wants us to party in her name. And for you to write your own novel, put elbow grease on your big dream and take her as example somebody somewhere will love your work someday.
Category: Negression
Hoppin’ John, Skippin’ Jenny and keepin’ tradition…
These traditions go on to honor those heroic Black Americans and keep their same spirit of drive, ambition and making do until freedom and prosperity.
My Fave 2020 Reads
Warm winter wishes to all... I'm a fan of books but I also loved some short reads as my favorites of 2020. All are worthy time fillers to cozy up with in any season!
“Black Woman Gossip” Update: More Essential Black Women’s Story Collections
"Black Woman Gossip" listed my favorite black women story collections, including Alice's IN LOVE AND TROUBLE: STORIES OF BLACK WOMEN. In particular I noted the transfer of African oral tradition to the printed word, with the necessity to shortcut African-American speech for varieties of oppressive reasons leading to virtues of expression and cadence, and, of course, secrets. Since then, today's publication of Deesha Philyaw's THE SECRET LIVES OF CHURCH LADIES (West Virginia University Press, 2020) pinched me like a church lady would, to tell me it's time for an update.
Cyntoia’s Done Her Time. Have Mercy and Let Her Go.
A 16-year old woman of color received what female slaves may have if they refused their master's sexual advances: death sentences at worst, and more tortured lives at best.
Remembering Trayvon Martin…
February 5, 2018, would have been Trayvon Martin's 23rd birthday.
An Interview with Maya Jensen, Filmmaker behind ‘Solidarity in Saya: An Afro-Bolivian Music Movement’
Bolivians of African descent introduced Jensen to Saya music, an old artform which was a universal language in the Spanish-speaking land of their political and labor oppressors. Jensen’s film documents Saya music of today.
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