How many of us have felt that we’re only earning our money—really working—if we’re suffering? Even if you’ve never felt that way personally, how many of us think that’s what America wants us to believe? That if we’re not suffering, our work is not valuable, won’t be paid for, and we’re f*qed. We all knowRead more
I’ve been pretty quiet since Memorial Day because I have very strong feelings about what white folks should and should not be doing in the Black Lives Matter movement at this stage. My point of view is carefully honed from the last three decades I’ve spent learning about what marginalized people in the States goRead more
I’m the tail end of generation X and have explained that experience to millennials like this:when I was applying for college, I had to mail away for catalogues and write essays out on paper and mail ‘em in, and wait for paper letters of acceptance. My first week of school, my parents had moved toRead more
2019 street art saw animals everywhere. And it was not just the usual suspects like Sonny Sundancer, Marthalicia and Mr Prvrt anymore. No, it’s everywhere. And I think there are some very good reasons why… I’ve had cancer twice. The first time, I knew my life was messed up (there’s a book about it; youRead more
Twenty years ago, I set out to become a teacher of the literatures that have given me the most—meaning, clarity, purpose. I said I wanted to ensure that these important voices were heard and learned from. A year ago, I realized that a lot of emerging artists around me were also saying important things thatRead more
There’s a saying: “if you can hurt an animal, you can hurt a person.” That statement refers to the condition of the predator, not the prey, but I’m going to flip it for a moment. That predator sees no value in life. But what is the condition of the prey? For me, it’s not soRead more
Often we know more about the intangible than what surrounds us day in and day out. By virtue of reaching for what we desire, we study, and in studying an object it becomes intimate, an “other” part of ourselves that we need, perhaps one we are meant to search out. I believe it was AbbaRead more
The thing about creativity is that as soon as you start to create anything, take that first step, you become aware that you have no idea where you will end up, or what you’ll be holding when you emerge from that dark forest into the light. You make one gesture toward that glimmer of aRead more
With thanks to Octavia Butler. Lionesses all—we know: Lonely we race savanna down For blood for meat For ourselves to be found in a kill of love. He hunts, too, for her, but it’s not the same. Protect Provide Profess And thank goddess. And yet, still it is not the hunt of love lioness makes:Read more
Wise women made of reeds Rushing into water well above their knees. Women carrying children, carrying incense, carrying Scent of themselves, And the men in their sacks. Women, lionesses all, who work those bales Like thread, in and out of economies of loss. Locusts collecting where their hair begins Hovering for the color, sweat andRead more
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