My Summer Reading List: Soccer, Politics, & Jews
When my uncle called me this morning, I had to shush him. “Hold one second,” I whispered. “I can’t talk too loud, I’m at the library.” “You’re at the library?” he asked incredulously, his voice actually getting louder despite my request. “On the Saturday morning of a three-day weekend??” Guilty…
Grammatically Correct
West Oakland, California. 1. The word crashes into my left ear like a well-aimed brick. I can’t stand him… he’s so ghetto. I overhear at 15th and Broadway, from a woman talking on her cell louder than her designer heels clicking down the sidewalk. She’s sharing her disgust for an…
DC Love: My Top 10 Artists from the (Formerly) Chocolate City
I love DC. Washington is what you see on TV — the White House, the monuments, the sex scandals. But where the folks actually live, where they teach, drink, ball, and tell you about “all those Bamas from Virginia” — that’s DC. That’s my hometown. But sometimes I ask myself,…
Slam in the Symphony Hall: Youth Speaks Grand Slam Finals this Friday!
Is it physically possible to overdose on poetry? Over the last three weeks, I’ve heard over 250 poets in 8 preliminary slams, 4 semi-final slams, last-minute workshops before the slam, street-side ciphers after the slam — shit, I hear metaphors and similes in my dreams every night. Dreams, I say….
The First City to Defeat Gang Injunctions? It Could Happen in Oakland.
America is not a total police state, but Oakland sure damn feels like one sometimes. Police murders of unarmed civilians, ICE raids outside middle schools, cops brutalizing anti-war protesters down at the docks — welcome to The Town. And now, just down the block from me in Fruitvale – the…