Category Archives: North American African Perspective

North American African Poet

i am a poet language and ideas are my meat & bread the eye a tool that captures the light spilling on to the fully dressed fig tree the flight of birds the wind over the grass the pain in … Continue reading

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Inequity, Violence, Grief and Trauma: The Battlefield at Home

Ain’t nobody got time to cry in a war zone; where I live — “*even the birds sing bass”. –WordSlanger, (*Reginald Lockett) Anthony Lake, the head of UNICEF, observed during an Al Jazeera interview on the impact of war on … Continue reading

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Literacy through the Arts: An Artistic Approach to Mentoring

Mentoring is difficult, rewarding, and often extremely frustrating. It is an activity in which you will have to be able to take losses and stay the course. You may lose as many as you save and that can be heartbreaking. … Continue reading

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Eight of Ten: Jitney, a Director’s Note

I am mid way through the production of Jitney. Only 3 shows left. It’s the second show of the cycle we have done at the Flight Deck in newly dubbed “Uptown”, (used to be plain old downtown), Oakland.  This is … Continue reading

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August Wilson and Ferguson

The more I do this work the clearer I become that my art is my contribution to the battle for equity. Standing proudly on the ground of the dirt beneath the floor underneath the door of no return — I … Continue reading

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Happy Cul-du-Sac: A personal deconstruction of North American Holidays.

What do you celebrate? What does it mean?

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August Wilson and Ferguson

Wilson noted: “I think my plays offer (white Americans) a different way to look at black Americans,” he told The Paris Review. “For instance, in ‘Fences’ they see a garbageman, a person they don’t really look at, although they see … Continue reading

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spider woman and twin war Godz

    riding with spider woman and twin war Godz born into a state of war divined to be she who remembers shield carrier spear chucker hard to duck her up right in storm moving forward like water persistently efficient … Continue reading

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lynching tree memoy

there are things I can never do i do not take certain things for granted no rose garden only grey tinted glasses blessed with memory too many people afraid to remember least the scars come open pus all over the … Continue reading

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Cotton and the Lynching Tree Gang

    there was a gang of them holding us down we were no match for such fierce cruelty we fought back best we could but they had friends in high places with last words to say we had the … Continue reading

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