Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth: My Poetry 4

This is the last day of National Poetry Month and I wanted to share a couple of the poems I wrote for the NaPoWriMo challenge this month: Prosthetic Conscience We are the abominations: _ And like a bomb in nations We go off as we enter their spaces _ The sight of us Blowing off […]

Modern Griots Reviews: Futurist Film Showcase

When I first heard that the Black Radical Imagination were showing their Futurist Film Showcase at The Meat Market in Brooklyn, at first I was a little suspicious. Turns out, it’s a clothing boutique with a strange name and nice items. But anyway, I did enjoy the showcase, which for me was a selection of […]

Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth: Napo Masheane

As a poet, I am always looking for new poets to love, and I came across South African poet, playwright, director, and producer Napo Masheane on Poetry Potion (their latest issue, On Being Human). Masheane’s poetry has a magical and mythical feel to them as she writes about black women and her own heritage. Her […]

Moving on the Wires: Afrofuturism 2.0 Call for Papers, Janelle Monae + Erykah Badu, Kelis

*Call for chapters for an anthology on Afrofuturism 2.0: “We are soliciting scholarly research, theoretical essays, and applied studies that explore how the concept of Afrofuturism is related to Africana Studies for an anthology…Authors are to submit a 250-300 word abstract for consideration by the editors by June 10, 2013. Authors of accepted abstracts will […]

Happy Earth Day!

Enjoy these two videos that I recently saw that include themes about earth and nature from a speculative fiction angle. Also, take a look at Outdoor Afro, a social community encouraging the exploration of nature. Book video for Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents Nature SuperHero Heal our World Heal […]

Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth: Sekou Sundiata

Starting this month until October, there will be several events celebrating poet, playwright, educator and activist Sekou Sundiata, all part of Blink Your Eyes: Sekou Sundiata Revisited, a New York City-wide retrospective. There have been a few events this month already, including one with Tracie Morris, and during next two weeks will be events at […]

Modern Griots Reviews: Juice Aleem

(warning for epilepsy!) Remember E.T. with Elliot riding the bike into the sky; that was the first thought I had reading UK rapper Juice Aleem‘s title “MoorKaba Light Bikes” on his EP featuring three versions of this song and “Anumal.” That sense of theatrics and spectacle as well as a theme of elevating oneself are […]

Modern Griots Reviews: Futurology the Musical

“What these women become is what we will be,” Captain Larnyce Gaines gives the purpose of not only the three travelers from the future, but the underlying message of Futurology the Musical. The women finding power in themselves theme throughout this musical is its driving force and compelling feature. The Paper to Pen production, which […]

Moving on the Wires: Remapping the Black Atlantic Conference, Futurology the Musical, Black Radical Imagination Film, Octavia City …

*Still looking for an artist to do design a logo for my blog. For more information, click here. *Remapping the Black Atlantic: (Re)Writings of Race and Space Conference is taking place at DePaul University in Chicago from April 12-14. The theme centers on expanding and remapping Paul Gilroy’s work on the Black Atlantic. *In New […]

Modern Griots Reviews: Films at the Crossroads – Revolutionaries and Outsiders

Free Angela and All Political Prisoners, Toussaint, Boneshaker and Alaskaland may seem like distinct films on the surface, but underneath they all have similar themes of people who feel as if they don’t fully fit as if in a state of in-betweenness, and trying to find a place to belong, whether it’s a community, a […]