I hesitate to jump into this matter of Will Smith and Chris Rock at the Oscars last, but there are things to be said and sorted through for myself, if no one else, about how people are treated and how black women in particular are treated. Most people who know me know I look for… Continue reading on black women and hair, or the oscars chaos
I am so excited. My short film “Gramercy” is now live on the Association for American Geographers’ website. If I understand it correctly, after this evening’s 5pm CST screening for the conference, anyone can view it by visiting this site. However, to watch the films you need to register first to grow AAG’s community of… Continue reading Gramercy, my short film, is now live on Film Geographies’ website
Just listened again to the soundscape featuring select interviews conducted 2013-20. Was shocked this weekend while writing a grant to create an HBCU pipeline to UA to see how many “subjects” were HBCU grads. Data can be used for the Miami book presently being peer reviewed as well as this new grant. Best of all,… Continue reading sounds of home
I am off to campus to teach. Wearing my red high-top Converse as a homage to one of the protagonists in historian Tiya Miles’ The Cherokee Rose: A Novels of Gardens and Ghosts. My Antebellum America students will be tasked this semester with thinking through how various people make claims to power in the years… Continue reading off to teach…red converse and all
This is a Founders’ Day to salute to Norma E. Boyd (1888-1985), a founding member of Alpha Kappa Alpha, my beloved sorority and the first Greek letter organization for women of African descent. Boyd was an educator, member of the first lobbying group that represented the interests of marginalized communities before the United States Congress… Continue reading a founders’ day salute
It has been good getting back into the academic head space for a bit. It is a privilege considering the suffering around us. Before us today in my “Gender, Race and Urban Space” class is the 1964 motion picture Nothing But a Man. It stars Ivan Dixon, a railroad worker named Duff, and jazz singer… Continue reading driva man and quittin time
As I count the hours until tonight’s broadcast of the 1974 motion picture Claudine on Turner Classic Movies with Ava Duvernay introducing, I am still thinking of TCM’s recent broadcast of Julie Dash’s 1991 Daughters of the Dust. Duvernay also introduced that beautiful film, which I will show in my Antebellum America class this fall.… Continue reading daughters and claudine
Made carrot crumb bread with cinnamon and cranberries yesterday. Locally grown carrots. That’s my berry/peach jelly on it, too. Yum with cardamon in my coffee this morning. Meanwhile, I make art in between prepping for next semester and other things swirling around, scholarly and otherwise. On my desk is none other than Zora Neale Hurston… Continue reading musings
This morning, I woke up to the sight of the Ohio River. Once upon a time, on one side lied freedom. On the other was slave territory. The history books now tell us there were different kinds of freedom. Cincinnati was the site of mob attacks on blacks before the Civil War. Although on free… Continue reading A river
“tell the story” – Art Blakey As I return to my research on the Florida peninsula with my hometown Miami in view and my recent visit to Iceland in view, I am reminded of how I can’t do what I do without the help of many, in this case, the participants in my initial research.… Continue reading tell the story
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