M.G. Recap: The Legacy of Octavia Butler

As a speculative fiction author, Octavia Butler broke new grounds in the genre, going beyond the patriarchal Eurocentric and white supremacist framework of a lot of early speculative fiction. In her novels, she explored underrepresented topics like the continuing impact of American slavery and racism on black bodies and minds and larger society, and the seeds […]

Moving on the Wires: News, Posts, New Music

*Wildseeds: The NOLA Octavia Butler Emergent Strategies Collective is presenting Cosmic Belonging: A Conversation on Afrofuturism, Sustainability, and Dreaming Black Into the Future. See more information about it in the picture below. *John Jennings and Stacey Robinson has released their comic, Kid Code: Channel Zero via Rosarium Publishing. Here is the description of it: “Kid Code: […]

Moving on the Wires: This Week’s News and Posts

*Please DONATE at the side panel! *Submissions guidelines at top of page. “Speculative Fictions By Women Writers I’m going to Read This Year” on Ladies Finger including works from NK Jeminson, Nnedi Okorafor and Karen Lord. *”Whitewashing reproductive rights: How black activists get erased” on Salon: “Many in the black community have fought for reproductive […]

Modern Griots Recap: Highlights from Black Comic Book Festival

Attending the Black Comic Book Festival for the first time this year introduced me to a wide scope of the comic book world from the lens of the black community and so I wanted to share some of the creators and their works that I came across while there. It was difficult walking around the […]

Cosmic Ghost at the Museum: Notes from Kindred Book Club

Here’s the third recap from The Shadows Took Shape exhibition. Today, I am sharing the notes and questions (some thoughts came after the club) from the book club for Octavia Butler’s Kindred with moderators Rasheedah Phillips of The Afrofuturist Affair and artist John Jennings. First, notes from Rasheedah’s presentation, Time, Memory and Agency *The mechanics […]

Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth: My Poetry 3

The Sound From Silence Its cry shouts out as if birthed, like the breaking of light from darkness, demanding to be heard, the universe, in search of itself, singing us into existence Vibrations pouring themselves into ears, waiting for the sounds to burst from mouths and hips and hands and feet, it sings body’s self […]

Modern Griots: John Jennings

John Jennings, who describes himself as a “a professional bender of time,” and is an associate professor in visual studies at University at Buffalo, blends together the worlds of comics, hip-hop and racial discourse. Here is some of his article from Buffalo’s website: John Jennings centers his life on provocative questions: How can we show the […]