Culture

A month after Halloween, my friend S texted me a photo of the wig I left in his car. “What should I do with it?” It looked wounded. And yet…

I read about a hundred words each minute. It rings impressive, but it’s less than twenty pages an hour in a typical book. I stumbled through a history of the…

The M.I.A. documentary reminds me so much of why making art is the most healing work we can do. Also, a million other things:⁣ ⁣The first time I heard M.I.A.…

Urbanscapes provide a centrally-located space for people to coalesce: a place where we can exchange ideas, experiences, intimacies, and aesthetics. At its best, such spaces provide us with the ability…

In May 2018 I was invited to give a keynote speech at a symposium held at the Literarisches Colloquium in Berlin. The broader symposium focused on the realities of African…

Copyrighted Image. Image Credit: Sense8 Finale, Segolene Lagny / Netflix   The just-concluded Netflix series Sense8 is lonely, but never alone. There is a big bad multinational company (the Biologic…

I was twelve in July of 1993, the summer of Gits frontwoman Mia Zapata’s murder- though I wouldn’t know of her for another six years . I was in my…

Denver’s Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) recently launched their Octopus Initiative: a program that brings fine art into the homes of the general public. According to their website, the museum…

5 May 2018 – Cinco de Mayo   7:11 a.m.: I photograph the Death card with my iPhone, my card of the day. For nearly seven months, at the urging…

Featured Image Credit: Obi Kaufmann Books Discussed: The California Field Atlas, By Obi Kaufman DTLA/37: Downtown Los Angeles in 37 Stories, By Yennie Cheung & Kathryn E. McGee In the…

“Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at. This determines not only most relations between men and women but also the relation of women to themselves.” – John…

Racism being an ulcerated ostrich or a crenulated werewolf, perhaps an infected tourniquet or an awkward viper claiming itself as victim, aggressive, mamba-like, shape-shifting, always claiming its goal in terms…

My musical composition, “Calm Before the Storm,” was inspired by Mark Rothko’s later work (1957-1969). For me, Rothko’s work from this period, particularly his painting, “Black, Red and Black,” possesses…

I’ve been reading Selah Saterstrom’s writing for thirteen years, beginning with her first novel, The Pink Institution, which I discovered in 2005, a year after it was published. I bought…