KWhole Apoethecary Rescriptions — Rx #10

Rx #10: Inside the Black Psyche Hey everyone, I am back after a needed break. Since I am reading through James Baldwin’s work in preparation for a possible reading and discussion series I am leading, I wanted to share this conversation, “James Baldwin: Race, Media and Psychoanalysis,” about his cultural criticism work and psychoanalysis, featuring […]

KWhole Apoethecary Rescriptions — Rx #8

Rx #8: Black Midwifery History and Current Black Midwife/Doula Organizations Black women, non-binary/genderfluid people and transmen face many challenges when it comes to birthing, reproductive health and maternal and infant mortality rates. Healthcare systems are embedded with problematic practices and education based on medical and scientific racism. A few days I was fortunate enough to […]

The M(N)STRY: Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Round

This week, this country has elected a egotistical bigot to become the next president of the United States. I am saddened, scared and sobered by it but I am not shocked. This country was founded on favoring white male landowners. The founding fathers were racist slaveowners who though the only men who should be seen […]

“Space:Queens” : Margaret Rose Vendryes

Welcome back to my Space:Queens blog series! For the past month, I’ve been participating on the advisory council committee and as a creative writing workshop facilitator for the upcoming No Longer Empty exhibition, Jameco Exchange, that is opening on May 21st at 89-62B 165th St. No Longer empty is an organization that works with […]

Modern Griots Reviews: Renegade Performance Group’s “The Inscription Project”

Graffiti and The Dance of Power Relations From its beginning almost 40 years ago, Hip-Hop culture has had afrofuturist tendencies, from costumes and sounds of artists like Afrika Bambaataa and Ramellzee to later Missy Elliot and her videos with Hype Williams; to the hacking of street lamps to power sounds systems and other innovative rewiring […]

The My-Stery: We Must Value Our Own Stuff Even in the Face of Doom Part 2

If you have been following the news, you most likely have heard about Azealia Banks’ interview on Hot 97, in which she gave an honest critique of appropriation of the cultural forms that originated in black cultures: “I feel, just in this country, whenever it comes to our things, like Black issues, or Black politics, […]

The My-Stery: Five Black Witches Is Too Much for Black Audiences?

On Wednesday night after watching American Horror Story: Freak Show, I tuned in to watch the latest of TV One’s Hollywood Divas episode, “Five Black Witches.” One of the opening scenes is the de facto leader of the group, Paula Jai Parker, presenting to producer Carl Craig the idea agreed upon in previous episode for […]

Rewind: Retrofuturism of SteamFunk, DieselFunk, Rococoa, Black Medieval, and Black Westerns

When it comes to depictions of black people in history from the Medieval era to the 20th century, the tendency is to show us only as slaves or to downplay stories outside of that narrative. But black people have existed in various forms throughout these periods of time within and outside the narrow scope of […]

Rewind: Dapper Ladies

Currently, when we think of a black woman artist who showcases an androgynous or gender-bending look, we think of Janelle Monae. But, before Monae, other black women have challenged gender coding and in less accepting times, and possibly with less conventionally attractive features. Black women doing gender-bending often received less attention than when it is […]

MLK: Who His Dreams Were For

This is jazz singer, Jose James’, Martin Luther King, Jr.-inspired song, “The Dreamer:” “I saw the dreamer raise his hand Into a world of possibilities” While today many will try to appropriate and sanitize his image and legacy for their own agendas (looking at you PETA), let us remember that King fought for the freedom […]