May 3, 2016
Palimpsest, Ohio
Out in Lockbourne, there is a house anchored in my memory. It was an old white farmhouse, set back from the road. Behind it sat an unused garage, a chicken […]
April 26, 2016
Prince, The King of France
“Ahhhh, Prince! C’est enorme!” shouted Jean-Baptiste as I handed him a burned copy of the pop god’s most recent release, Musicology. He was a French college student from a small […]
April 16, 2016
The Land of Land
I’m your lovers, your VFWs, and your broken down factories and mills, I’m your freight trains, and your friends Your shopping malls Your tanning beds Please forgive me, Ohio, my […]
April 5, 2016
The Classic Crates Time Capsule: A Proposal
I play it cool I dig all jive That’s the reason I stay alive My motto as I live and learn Is dig and be dug in return —Langston Hughes, […]
March 30, 2016
Phife’s Islands
The third death of A Tribe Called Quest occurred last week with the passing of Phife Dawg. The first death came after The Love Movement, when the group broke up; […]
March 24, 2016
Your Skin or Your Soul
In the photograph “Frustrated Lynch Mob,” a group of about 15 boys and men fill the frame, as they stand outside a courthouse in Shelbyville, Tennessee. The mob had attempted to […]
March 18, 2016
Speaking of “Thuggery”
“In the years after World War I, Florida was still a loosely policed frontier state. White Protestant mobs staged regular lynchings and beatings to intimidate black voters, drinkers and anyone […]
March 8, 2016
Why the Klan Branded a White Pastor
In July 1924, Oren Van Loon, a white minister in Michigan, posed for a news photographer, who focused his lens on the letters “KKK” branded into Van Loon’s back. Intrarracial […]
March 5, 2016
Ghost City
Yesterday, someone asked me if I missed Columbus. I said that I missed certain people, and that I supposed I missed the city, too. “What places do you miss?” she […]
February 23, 2016
Postscript to My Kanye West Posts
I’m a human being. . . I’m an artist, bro . . . —@kanyewest, February 13, 2016 Since I wrote about Kanye’s arrogance, based mainly in interviews and lyrics from […]
February 17, 2016
“I Am Warhol”: On the Arrogance of Kanye
But if you guys that’re investing in the arts, y’all want to invest in the school in Brazil, y’all wanna go to Africa, I am standing up and I’m telling […]
February 9, 2016
“We All Slaves”: Kanye’s Theory of Power
Back in the days, if slaves had they own money they could buy they own freedom. We all slaves, we slaves to Nike, we slaves to Benz, we slaves to […]