Modern Griot Interviews: Janluk Stanislas and ‘Trafik d’Info’

I met Janluk Stanislas at a recent Caribbeing event and found out about his 2005 Caribbean futuristic short film, Trafik d’Info. As someone of Afro-Caribbean descent, I am always looking for speculative works from the Caribbean and so this excited me. Trafik d’Info, known as the first science fiction film from the Caribbean, centers on […]

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

During the past few week after witnessing the no indictments of Darren Wilson,for the killing of Mike Brown and Daniel Pantaleo for the killing of Eric Garner, in addition to the numerous cases of police violence, brutality and negligence acted upon black people before and after the two incidents, I have wondered how do we […]

Moving on the Wires: Cutting Back + News, Posts and New Music

*For the next six months, most of my time will be invested in a big project, so I will be cutting back on posting here to probably once or twice a week, or a few times a month. But if you would like to be a guest blogger or help moderate this blog, you can […]

Moving on the Wires: Taking a Break

I am just formally announcing that I am taking a couple of weeks off from my blog. Running it by myself can be a bit draining on me physically and mentally, and after my eye started twitching, I knew I needed a break. So I will be back after Thanksgiving with some new stuff, like […]

Moving on the Wires: News, Posts, New Music

*I am featured in Atlanta Blackstar’s blerd’s “Black Speculative Tech – Uses of Technology in Black Science Fiction, Part 2:” “Because of institutional racism and our positions as mere subjects of science, Black people have typically been excluded from the mainstream scientific establishment as actors, practitioners, researchers and policymakers. Black scientific and technological innovation and […]

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 […]

Modern Griots Reviews: The Summer of Gods and Panel Discussion

Some of the best stories are the ones that connect back to original tales and cultural rituals that are part of the human journey. Today, sometimes the universal meanings, archetypes and principles behind our modern stories are hidden because we are disconnected from those ancient tales and rituals. Think of, for example, Little Red Riding […]

Modern Griots Reviews: Notes from #FunkGodJazzMedicine Conversations

Below are some notes from two of the three conversations from Funk, God, Jazz and Medicine: Conversation on Self-Determination: Black Radical Brooklyn: Past, Present, and Future *The history of Weeksville (James Weeks bought land in order to vote) and the four projects of Funk, God, Jazz and Medicine pointed out the intersections between race and […]

Modern Griot Reviews: #FunkGodJazzMedicine at Weeksville

Our society often focuses more on representation and showing images of oppressed people as proof we have “progressed,” but the other side of true moving forward for people who live in oppressive societies is self-determination, something that often gets ignored for the more superficial representation only politics. Self-determination is the freedom and ability to control […]

Moving on the Wires: News, Posts, New Music

*Afropunk “Feature: Visual Artist AiRich Talks About Her Afrofuturistic and Raw Style:” “My name is AiRich. According to the people who surround me, my photography can work safely in the category of “afrofuturism”. This has mainly to do with the style, the spiritual aspects that others link to my work. I see this as a […]