Editor’s note: Joseph Ross, a poet and guestblogger at Tidal Basin Review, asked me to write an essay on where I find hope. The essay below, which will also be posted on the Basin Blog, is an attempt at illustrating that source. I’m challenged whenever I walk into the classroom. Especially every Tuesday that Truth […]
It’s “…the language of collard greens and black-eyed peas seasoned with fatback and Big Mama’s sweet tea” was how one writer put it in a blurb. Another writer called its contents “…intoxicatingly sweet, sharp, with a dash of bitter, good for the soul’s health.” A third one noted the poet finds “heaven in his Mama’s […]
When Yao Hoke Glover recently traveled to China, the 40-year-old didn’t expect his trip to reflect the state of affairs between Asians and African Americans. He was among 40 educators traveling abroad as part of an exchange initiative while representing elementary, middle, secondary and primary schools in both the U.S. and Canada to train English […]
WASHINGTON, D.C. — After watching a 22-minute film on the hair salons in Ghana, it was quiet in the Sub level 2 lecture hall of the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art. The screen went blank and the lights were up. Yet no one spoke, just the sounds of teens scribbling in their journals. Their […]
Editor’s Note: I’ve been busy trying to fit in a few novels on my summer reading list that I haven’t updated the blog. Hopefully, I’ll have some new material up for August. July is almost up, but I couldn’t let this month pass without posting something. So here’s something new. A work-in-progress. If you asked […]
WASHINGTON, D.C. — An irate business woman breaks up the crowd of dancers from in front of her office building. The scene could be any busy downtown street, populated by a cast of characters: a man late and lost on his way to a job interview, the business woman pacing and talking on her cell […]
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Six years ago, Richard Short’s older brother hit a road block in his education. The 15-year-old recalled his brother’s high school environment as a violent one, where fights broke out in the halls almost every day and some students were caught carrying guns in their backpacks. As a result, his brother lost […]
Editor’s Note: This essay is part of an ongoing series that poet and essayist Abdul Ali asked me to be a part of. He started it for his blog, Words Matter. Leading up to Father’s Day, Ali’s creating a space for a discussion on fatherhood. Here’s a memory I have of my father. THE TOOLS […]
As a self-described “movie buff,” Crystyn C. Wright loves films, especially those reflecting the lives of African Americans. At one time, the Bronx-native, going by mainstream’s offerings, settled on the assumption that not enough black filmmakers were producing those films. That assumption was corrected after she traveled to various film festivals. But Wright, a journalist […]
EDITOR’S NOTE: In honor of national poetry month coming upon us in less than two weeks, here’s an essay on a young poet’s never-ending journey and the lessons learned along the way. Standing in front of my fourth grade Eng/Lit class, I had only one goal: to recite every line correctly. It was more than […]
Alan W. King 