The title above may make this post seem extremely urgent – as if this were an emergency. Well, in many ways it is. We are still in the midst of at least one global health crisis. I didn’t have the experience that many of my colleagues had in the Spring where classes were abruptly interrupted… Continue reading Pandemic Teaching
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Vampires, Race, and a Global Pandemic: Standing with Bonnie Bennett
If you casually peruse my posts, you might be fooled into thinking I only watch things if a particular genre. That’s not true. But maybe there is a pattern I should think more deeply about. Anyway, that’s not what this is about. As I am writing this, I am enduring, like many, the realities of… Continue reading Vampires, Race, and a Global Pandemic: Standing with Bonnie Bennett
Dissertation Acknowledgements
It hit me that when I uploaded my dissertation to Emory’s thesis and dissertation database a month ago (and had it embargoed) no one would have the change to read the part that I don’t want to have embargoed. And so, I figured that I would reproduce it here. I’ve got nothing to hide and… Continue reading Dissertation Acknowledgements
Shakespeare and Spirituality
You may or may not know that I used to adapt Shakespeare into modernized prose narratives. I wrote Othello, for example, as a short story about a white South African guy enrolled at an HBCU and all the problems that ensued. During the pandemic, I’ve rediscovered many of these stories – much to my excitement.… Continue reading Shakespeare and Spirituality
“Back & Forth”: Towards a Theory of The New Jack Swing
I really, really enjoy the song “Finesse (Remix)” by Bruno Mars and Cardi B. Judging by the streaming and play numbers, you probably do as well. I wonder if part of the reason why I like the song so much is because it has that wonderful blend of smooth singing and hip hop beats –… Continue reading “Back & Forth”: Towards a Theory of The New Jack Swing
Where are the Coffee Shops in Black Atlanta?
Ok. So the title of this post is a little misleading, especially the term “Black Atlanta.” You might say that Black Atlanta is full of cafes and coffeeshops. Just look at the area just east of downtown formerly known as Sweet Auburn around Edgewood. Old Fourth Ward is the name of part of that area.… Continue reading Where are the Coffee Shops in Black Atlanta?
‘Angel’ Observations
I’ve been binge watching the late 90s-early 2000s TV show Angel since some time in November. I was always a fan, and so seeing it show up on my Hulu after all these years of being Angel-free (but not Joss Whedon free) was really exciting! It was one of my two favorite shows back in… Continue reading ‘Angel’ Observations
“Just Bought a Cadillac”: Hip Hop and Caddy Culture
Spurred on by an amazing talk about Outkast by African American life and culture researcher Dr. Regina Bradley at Emory’s James Weldon Johnson Institute, I’ve been thinking a lot about the figure of the Cadillac in Southern hip hop music. But nothing here is fully fleshed out just yet. Bradley talked a bit about Outkast’s… Continue reading “Just Bought a Cadillac”: Hip Hop and Caddy Culture
Black Batman, Black Joker
So there was some talk in the universe about a new Batman actor to replace Ben Affleck. You know, the Batman actor who replaced Christian Bale… who replaced George Clooney… who replaced Val Kilmer… who replaced Michael Keaton… who replaced Adam West… to say nothing of the marvelous Kevin Conroy and a bunch of others… Continue reading Black Batman, Black Joker
An Undetectable Blackness in Coogler’s ‘Black Panther’ (2018)
“Real G’s move in silence, like lasagna.” My favorite line of Lil’ Wayne’s brilliant and catchy “6 Foot 7 Foot” resonates with me seven years later after seeing Marvel’s (Ryan Coogler’s) Black Panther for the second time. The fact that the “g” is silent in the word lasagna, and supposedly also “real G’s” in the… Continue reading An Undetectable Blackness in Coogler’s ‘Black Panther’ (2018)