In a recent interview, New York punk poet Eileen Myles calls for men to stop writing. “I think it would be a great time for men, basically, to go on vacation,” Myles says. “There isn’t enough work for everybody. Certainly in the arts, in all genres, I think that men should step away. I think men should stop writing books.”
Since the day in 1440 when Johannes Gutenberg popped the tab on a can of pilsner and congratulated himself for having invented the printing press, readers and writers and people who aren’t either have been telling us what we should or shouldn’t read. When one Caliph Omar was asked what was to be done with the library of Alexandria, he was reported to have said that, if the books in that library contained doctrine opposed to the Qur’an, they were bad and must be burned, whereas if those books supported the most important text of Islam, they should be burned anyway, for they are superfluous.…
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As a registered caffeine addict, I’m more than a little bewildered by anyone over the age of twelve who doesn’t drink coffee. I’m with Michael Pollan, whose recent audiobook, Caffeine, explores not only how the world’s most widely used psychoactive drug has taken over our lives but also tells how he tested his own reliance on caffeine by giving it up for three months. Pollan slept better, he says, but his brain power flagged and his productivity declined, so he went back to the stuff.
As for myself, well, I’m glad that somewhere around the year 850, an Ethiopian goatherd named Kaldi noticed that when his charges nibbled the berries of a certain plant, they gave up the foxtrot, waltz, and mambo forever and began to do the twist, frug, swim, hitchhike, monkey, slop, Watusi, pony, shake, jerk, stomp, shag, and mashed potatoes.…
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During an interview with Donald Glover, also known as Childish Gambino, the creator of This is America, he is asked to “explain what’s happening during the video.” Gambino simply replies with, “No, I feel like it’s not my place to say that,” leaving the video up for interpretation. He implies that defining the meaning of the song would defeat its purpose, as the true value and theme of the song is derived from the variation in interpretations and what viewers choose to focus on. This is America, an artistic masterpiece released in 2018, used film and lyrics to portray a hard-hitting message about the frightening reality of the black experience in America and how it’s masked by the media’s portrayal of black Americans. Throughout his career, Gambino has been known for his symbolism in complex discography and visual genius, making this one of his hit singles, considering its dire message and ability to spark a national conversation.…
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For the past few days, I took a lot of time thinking about my legacy. Thinking about what I will leave on this earth, in this city, that will outlive me. For many people they find this in their children, in families, and those they leave behind. As much as I dream of having children, I fear my reality and lifestyle is pushing that dream farther and farther away. I’m not sure if that’s a blessing or not, but I am sure of one thing. I do not want the burden of telling my story to fall on the shoulders of my family. For those who have to create the narrative for their dead loved one. To my wife, who would prefer family time over the idea of a legacy, for this to all fall on her lap would be the cruelest gift my death could leave her.…
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Cold crystals beautifully shaped and delicately formed into soft snow or the harsh ice on an inaccessible mountain. This is what the word crystal conjures up for me.
For others, it may be the cure of
crystal healing or the devil calling in piece of crystal meth, an expensive
cut-glass thing or just a pretty stone. I had even known a girl called Crystal,
whose beauty had the magic of a piece of crystal rock.
Berlin. November 9th 2014.
The bar was dimly lit. In fact, from the outside it barely looked open. There were no customers, not even a barman was visible. The only clue that it may be open was the flickering of candles burning on top of empty wine bottles, thick with teardrop wax.…
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I hang around a lot of people who are older than me. I have been labeled as an “old soul” who is well beyond her years in wisdom, actions, and musical tastes. Nonetheless, I have also been the victim of tongue lashings by older women of color for the lack of activism and attention that Generation Y and Z pay to social injustices and current events. According to these “seasoned” women, we are more focused on “fake hair and popularity appearance” and “who’s fighting on Basketball Wives” and “the Snapchat filter.”
Obviously, these women have not cleaned
their bifocal contact lenses lately.
Young women of color are speaking up and out on injustices that happen every day, and it is not just with a social media filter. …
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“Toubab! Toubab!” A band
of small children break the morning silence. They are following us at a respectful
distance, just in case the ‘white people’ would suddenly turn on them.
More than 20 years have passed, yet these memories remain as vivid
as if they occurred yesterday. A journey to Senegal, the cradle of the West
African drum scene, changed my musical appreciation—and my life—forever. I
still get goose bumps when I mentally relive the journey’s high point, our final
night in the nation’s capital, Dakar. But more about that in a moment.
It was the culmination of my youthful exploration of West African
drum and dance culture, a truly life-changing period of immersion into some of
the greatest music on Earth. You couldn’t make it up, a tale of bribery,
malaria, and ecstatic musical virtuoso.…
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