Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. went to Memphis twice in 1968, to assist the city’s striking sanitation workers. On his first visit, a demonstration turned violent and he vowed to return to help them do it right. Tragically, on his second visit, he was killed. The campaign in Memphis became known as the “I Am [...]
What The Folger Means
When I was a senior in high school, a long time ago, in Southern California, I had an English class in a basement classroom. It was a typing classroom meaning the desks were metal with huge electric typewriters taking up nearly the whole desk surface. There was just enough room for a stand-up typing book [...]
Age, Youth, Love, & Loss in Amy Herzog’s “4000 Miles”
“The worst thing about getting old– is losing your words.” Tana Hicken as Vera, laments to her grandson, Leo, this particular sadness about aging. Amy Herzog’s play “4000 Miles” enters the space between a grandmother, presumably in her 70s or 80s, and her 20-something grandson. The Studio Theater has done a remarkable production of this [...]
Brian Gilmore’s “Chocolate City Review”
We live in a world of a zillion blogs. Some rant, some merely crank out one opinion atop another. But the good ones, the truly reflective and insightful ones, stand out for their careful thinking, good writing, and humble assertions. Brian Gilmore’s “Chocolate City Review” has all this. It’s among the best blogs I know. Brian [...]
45 Years After Dr. Martin Luther King: How Are We Doing?
Forty-five years ago today, Dr. King was back in Memphis. He had been in the city weeks before to support the city’s black sanitation workers in their “I am a man” campaign. The black sanitation workers were on strike against the city’s unequal pay practices; they were paid less than their white counterparts doing the [...]
April Fools’ Day – Everyone’s Holiday
While some don’t celebrate Christmas or Easter, Passover or an Eid, April Fools’ Day is one for us all. If we’re honest, we have to admit we are all, at some point, very foolish people. We make decisions based on fleeting desires. We give in to ease and make choices which do not relfect our [...]
Remembering Chinua Achebe – Part 1: Reflections by Chris Abani
It is hard to imagine a world without Chinua Achebe. So, over the next couple of weeks, I will post some reflections here on the life, work, and death of this essential writer, Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe. His death on March 21, 2013, last week, in Boston, is an enormous loss to the world of [...]
Picasso, Windows, and Hope
On this Good Friday, 2013, when North Korea threatens the world with bluster beyond its means, when Syria lurches into a second year of war, and countless other human failures seem to overtake us, I’m drawn to Pablo Picasso and one of his paintings which always gives me hope. Picasso’s “Studio (Pigeons)” painted in 1957, [...]
Gospel of Dust & The Next Big Thing
When a poet-friend “tagged” me for The Next Big Thing, I didn’t think I’d do it. It felt a little like a chain letter and I recall not liking the pressure chain letters contained. But I guess I’ve softened and come along to the point that I’m posting some reflections on the questions The Next [...]
Banneker H.S. & POETRY OUT LOUD
To truly recite a poem, you have to know and feel the poem. That knowledge and feeling flowed abundantly yesterday at Washington D.C.’s Banneker Academic High School. They rocked their POETRY OUT LOUD program. I was honored to be a judge for the second time and I sat amazed at these students, their passion for [...]
