14 Jun 2013
Mark Anthony Neal is a professor of Black Popular Culture in the Department of African & African-American Studies at Duke University. Dr. Neal received his PhD in American Studies from University of Buffalo. He is the author of five books, including the recently published Looking for Leroy: Looking For Leroy: [...]
9 Jun 2013
By Mohadesa Najumi Many people object to the phrase “rape culture.” They don’t understand how a culture as civilized as ours can be defined by a force as destructive as rape. They deem it an overstatement, an “over-analysis” by angry bra-burning feminists. Some even consider it an oxymoron. And others [...]
5 Jun 2013
By Bruna Lobato In my first creative writing class as a Brazilian international student at a private American college I received my fiction assignment back with comments and a tall slender “A” written in green ink. I was glad to see validation that I, a non-native speaker, could write well [...]
3 Jun 2013
By Ashley Yenick Do millennials know of any famous feminists in our society? There are many feminists mentioned in this video: bell hooks, Audrey Lorde, Peggy McIntosh, Susan B. Anthony, Gloria Steinem, and Michelle Obama. I was intrigued to hear that Michelle Obama was considered a feminist. I think the interviewee’s [...]
7 May 2013
*Trigger warning* Sometimes I feel like the NRA is actively just trying to lose all the credibility it has left in this world. Just when you thought the NRA’s annual convention in Houston this weekend couldn’t draw any more negative attention, it goes out and casually promotes a company selling a product [...]
29 Mar 2013
By Monica Torres When I sign my name, it’s Monica, not Mónica. When I order pupusas at my favorite restaurant, the waiter will give my accent an approving nod, as if to say, you’re one of us. But it will only take a harder question for me to reveal the [...]
18 Mar 2013
By Alexa Lambertis At an early age, I was exposed to a woman who essentially changed my life. A sweet lady with a southern background, she was introduced to me as a family friend. I met her in her own home, where we would spend a majority of our time [...]
Did you know that my mom is a therapist? She is! And at it’s very best psychology is the science of learning how to love ourselves and each other better and better and better. (And like most fields…at its worst it is basically the opposite of that.) I have grown up hearing my mom...
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for Assata Amira Nakati Carter-Goff on her tenth birthday call down the name freedom call up the spirit of no matter what now call your shared name liberation veins steel will fierce focus shielding sacred smile laugh your own name radiant as cuba laugh your yawning name into language laugh in the face...
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Months ago, I was sitting in a Laotian restaurant talking about the possibility of Black Feminist Calculus with the brilliant mathematician and carpenter Maia Boudreaux and she said: “There is calculus going on all the time in our bodies. Imagine if we were to go outside and I were to throw you the keys...
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“Poems come to stand in the place of our spines.” -Cynthia Dewi Oka “notes on Captain Ahab’s workshop/ before the poet is harpooned” We are at my kitchen table. Sunlight dances through the back screen door. Sendolo, Yashna and Cynthia and I are eating. Cynthia is beaming with pride about the brilliance of her...
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Sounds to Me Like A Promise: On Survival (After Audre Lorde: The Berlin Years by Dagmaar Schultz) “I love the word survival, it always sounds to me like a promise. It makes me wonder sometimes though, how do I define the shape of my impact upon this earth?” –reflection cut from an early draft...
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In 1982, Black Lesbian Feminist Poet and Scholar Cheryl Clarke wrote a letter to her fellow Black Feminist Poet June Jordan: ”No there is nothing wrong with your eyes,” she reassured her colleague and collaborator, “my letterhead is indeed crooked.” June Jordan saved this letter and I found it almost three decades later in...
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From the series introduction: When I first met Natasha Trethewey she was a visiting fellow at Duke University’s Center for Documentary Studies and she said clear as day that her mission in her poetry was to do her part to create “a civilization based on justice, not amnesia.” Oh Natasha, ginseng to our dangerously...
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(Read Lesson 1 here.) From the series intro: When I first met Natasha Trethewey she was a visiting fellow at Duke University’s Center for Documentary Studies and she said clear as day that her mission in her poetry was to do her part to create “a civilization based on justice, not amnesia.” Oh Natasha,...
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This is part one of a three-part series celebrating the crucial lessons of the poetic body of work of United States Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey. From the series introduction: I am dancing and screaming with joy even more often than usual because Natasha Trethewey is our next US Poet Laureate! For those of you...
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19 Jun 2013
THE ANATOMY OF TRUST OR BREAKING _____ I. HEART The pulse shudders the body at such infinitesimal levels that many of us ignore its existence. Walk around carrying fists in the center of our chests, the bottom tipped somewhat rightward, sitting more-or-less directly below the sternum, squeezing each moment [...]
12 Jun 2013
Diana and the face of the moon another night you are . turning your face ………………….. i am already gone and you are throwing stones . Diana swearing never ….. swearing never …… swearing never ………………………………………… again just say what you are trying [...]
5 Jun 2013
By Kristy Webster The Bee Trap Some girls have eyes like invitations, and some girls wear glasses and scarves, walk with a whistle in their mouth, Some girls leave the window cracked open, they need more air always more than the breeze will bring and some people [...]
13 Jun 2013
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30 Apr 2013
The Guardian