Chinua Achebe is one of the world’s literary treasures. His novels and short stories have moved and taught us for decades. Recently, I revisited one of his stories, that I read many years ago in high school. It moved me again, though in more nuanced ways. Chike and the River is one of those rare, [...]

Melanie Henderson’s new book, Elegies for New York Avenue turns remembering into a fine art. Winner of the 2011 Main Street Rag Poetry Book Award, the poems in this book are moving, generous tributes to the human skill of remembering. New York Avenue, like many places in Washington, D.C. is at once changing, and at the [...]

When we think of the skills required in political movements, we often consider shrewdness, a willingness to destroy the adversary, and clear communication as the essentials. It’s useful to explore what Dr. King expected, and required, of those who would join his protest movement. In his book, Why We Can’t Wait, which is the story [...]

abu ahraib arias by Philip Metres is as disconcerting as it is beautiful. Metres writes in the book’s Afterword that the poem “began out of the vertiginous sense of being named but silenced as an Arab American.” In this small book of 22 pages, Metres captures both the horror of torture and its accompanying silence. [...]

These days just after Christmas, the Winter Solstice, and the New Year, offer many of us some time to rest and gather before going back to our various works. Living so much of my life on the academic calendar, I’ve come to savor and appreciate these breaks in the routine of school. I’ve just had [...]

Hi Friends & Readers: As you can see, JosephRoss.net has received (and is  still receiving) a bit of a new look. As we begin 2012, I wanted the site to get a fresh face, including the capacity for reader comments and connections to other social media. The blog section of the site will still be [...]