“Space:Queens”: Shervone Neckles

Hello Everyone! I am back from my Barbados trip, where I learned a lot about the country, including finding out about some great visionary artists and creatives there. Speaking of visionary artists, below is my interview with Queens-based visual artist, educator, and community activist Shervone Neckles whose work looks at the intersections between science, nature, art, […]

StoryCraft: Jenny

Since I’m in Barbados with my mother for Barbados’ 50th Independence Day Celebration, I thought I should share a children’s story I had been working on inspired by my mother and Barbados culture. I wanted to write a kind of Bajan Cinderella story after hearing about my mother’s childhood and learning more about the culture […]

The My-Stery: “Get In-Formation: Black Performance, Black Code and Black Spies”

The Mask as Technology Part 3: Although I tried not to add onto the dozens of think pieces that are already out there about Beyonce’s latest video, “Formation,” sometimes I like to jump on the bandwagon to either use it momentarily like a free ride to a needed destination or to veer it off into my […]

Modern Griots Reviews: Pop Up Exhibitons from CCCADI and Black Eye

Last Thursday I managed to attend two pop up exhibitions, one in Harlem from The Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute (CCCADI), and the other in the Lower East Side, Nicole Vassell-curated Black Eye exhibit. The Spirit of El Barrio: Past, Present and Future exhibition was The Caribbean Cultural Center first in a series of […]

Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth: Caribbean Futurisms

Thank you Kelly Baker Josephs for calling my attention to this! Conor Tomás Reed did a post describing “Caribbean Futurisms” and listing a few books that would fall under the term as well as other sources for Afrofuturism, in which I was included: “Considered within this conditional crux, Caribbean cultural forms have developed a conscious […]

Modern Griots Reviews: Nick Cave’s Magical Horses in Heard.NY

As Ebony celebrated Katherine Dunham, Nick Cave was featuring dozens of Alvin Ailey dancers wearing 30 colorful horse “soundsuits” in his public performance piece at Grand Central station, HEARD•NY. Presented by Creative Time and MTA Arts, the 30 minute performances included a grazing pastoral music and dance sequence followed by a rhythmic choreographed dance, “crossings” […]

Behind the Mask: Playin’ Mas

As we are in the midst of carnival season, I would like to share something interesting that I learned about carnival in Dominica. The other day I visited my family in Brooklyn and one of my cousins let me borrow his book, Ma William and Her Circle of Friends. Written by Giftus John, who taught […]