Dr. King and Miami
till 8 x 8 x 8 is four
I had so much fun reading from three works at Pure Products, an event sponsored by the University of Alabama’s Department of English’s Creative Writing Program. The first was “Makes You Happy,” a monologue heard underneath a choreopoem I directed and choreographed in part in 2005 for the 3rd Annual Greensboro (NC) Fringe Fest. The… Continue reading till 8 x 8 x 8 is four
after the storm
Tuscaloosa was spared during today’s storm. Isaiah, you’re something else. Lombardy poplars took a hit. A branch that broke several years ago, but was hanging way up high on a tree finally fell. Happy about that. Always worried it would fall on our heads. Sorry to hear about the lives lost. Will be glad when… Continue reading after the storm
happy birthday, Zora
What to say? This anthropologist-folklorist-writer inspires. This in from Yale’s Beinecke Library…Zora Neale Hurston: “Aunt Daphne (below on left) & Aunt Rachel, were born & raised on the plantation & were believed to have been nearly 100 years old when the picture was made. This cabin in which they lived was the last of… Continue reading happy birthday, Zora
trip home brings serendipity
I just returned to Tuscaloosa from South Florida. The main goal of the short visit was to see my mother for her 71st birthday. We celebrated with writer-artist Alejandrina Cue and her husband Michael. I first met Alejandrina, who made a lovely authentic Cuban meal, in Havana during a 1996 tour coordinated through the U.S.… Continue reading trip home brings serendipity
zora and christmas
Inspired by Twitter mention of Langston Hughes’ hand-drawn Christmas card in Yale’s Beinecke Library, I went looking for the Christmas cards. I recalled seeing in the Zora Neale Hurston Papers in Smathers Libraries at the University of Florida during two visits. The one above is a 1954 card from Mitchell Burroughs, her editor at… Continue reading zora and christmas
a solitude
My trip to the University of Florida’s George A. Smathers Special and Area Collections for my ongoing research on Zora Neale Hurston’s time in Miami was cut short by the onset of the beginnings of bronchitis. A bartender in Gainesville’s airport suggested brandy to cut through the congestion in my chest, but he had none.… Continue reading a solitude
