Two seconds into Where the Wild Things Are, I was in love with it. Two minutes into Where the Wild Things Are, it’d reduced me to tears. It didn’t matter how terrible and reckless and awful Max was; I couldn’t shake the overwhelming urge to brush his shaggy bangs from his damp little face. I [...]
Archive for the ‘Nonfiction’ Category
Remembering Where the Wild Things Are.
Posted in Nonfiction, tagged dave eggers, max records, spike jonze, where the wild things are on October 16, 2009 | 3 Comments »
A Post-Pentecostal Musing.
Posted in Faith, Nonfiction on September 12, 2009 | 8 Comments »
People hear that you grew up religious, and they can’t imagine you’d have a complex relationship with faith. If you believe one part, you must believe it all. But who gets more chances to see the absurdities than the devout? An answer that’s satisfying on Sunday becomes contradictory by Wednesday night. Belief is a wrestling [...]
36 Tweets About 9/11.
Posted in Nonfiction, tagged childlike envy, frenemies, Loss, September 11, Twin Towers on September 11, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
This morning, I found myself on Twitter, reading a lot of reflections on the collapse of the Twin Towers. Usually, I don’t write about 9/11 because I don’t feel like it impacted me as profoundly as it has many of my friends, friends who were there, friends who lost loved ones, friends who’ve since gone [...]
Our Little Boys are Growing Up!: Mutemath’s Armistice.
Posted in Faith, Nonfiction, tagged Armistice, Darren King, greg hill, Mute Math, Paul Meany, roy mitchell-cardenas, sophomore albums on August 20, 2009 | 8 Comments »
Mutemath’s sophomore album (if you’re only counting the full-length LPs and the Warner Bros.’ releases) dropped two days ago. I preordered it, something I’d never done in the several years that I’ve had iTunes, so I was almost startled Tuesday at the crack of midnight, when it became available to me. (What? So soon?) I [...]
Constants for the Wanderer: Mute Math.
Posted in Faith, Nonfiction, tagged Adam LaClave, christian spoken word, Club of the Sons, Darren King, dcTalk, Earthsuit, greg hill, Jennifer Knapp, Kevin Max, Leigh Nash, Mute Math, Nichole Nordeman, Paul Meany, roy mitchell-cardenas, Sixpence None the Richer on March 25, 2009 | 12 Comments »
I first saw Mute Math in concert at The Knitting Factory, not long after I moved to New York. I was so excited, I think I might have completely lamed out and worn a band t-shirt. I knew there was a distinct possibility that I’d be the only Black person there and I didn’t care. [...]
The Incomparable Jessie Redmon Fauset.
Posted in Nonfiction, tagged intraracism, Jessie Redmon Fauset, passing on March 18, 2009 | 3 Comments »
I’m fairly certain that I first encountered the work of Jessie Redmon Fauset in early high school. Someone had bought me an anthology called Revolutionary Tales: African American Women’s Short Stories, from the First Story to the Present. Her short story, “Emmy,” was nestled somewhere between the writings of Pauline E. Hopkins and Ann Petry [...]
Parisienne Top Ten (Plus One).
Posted in Nonfiction, tagged Paris on March 6, 2009 | 4 Comments »
(in no particular order):
1. When you stop to take pictures of buildings and monuments, Parisian passersby actually halt, on either side of your shot, until they see you lower your camera, content with your photo. They’re so respectful of their own culture and your admiration of it that they pause for you. Those pauses resulted [...]
Purple Haze.
Posted in Nonfiction, tagged Paris on March 5, 2009 | 3 Comments »
I’m back. I have a lot to write, but for those who want an initial response, some encapsulation of what it was like and how I felt, I have only one word that would make any sense: transformative.
Paris was transformative.
Here are a few pics to hold you over until I process everything and recapture my [...]
A tout à l’heure!
Posted in Nonfiction, tagged Black Paris, dreams deferred, expatriatism, James Baldwin on February 26, 2009 | 3 Comments »
I’m going to Paris tomorrow.
Typing the sentence above, reading the sentence above, and embracing the reality of the sentence above are nothing short of astonishing. Like many accomplishments before it, traveling overseas seemed wholly inaccessible… before I found a way to access it. And, like many accomplishments before it, traveling overseas this first time makes [...]
You Know How I Know I’m Black?
Posted in Nonfiction, PostBourgie on February 18, 2009 | 3 Comments »
I write about Blackness.
Check out this piece on “Cultural Purgatory” I penned for PostBourgie:
Sandmann’s isn’t the only establishment that triggers my racial-acceptance-related paranoia. I also keep my head down at the beauty salon because I don’t want the women with the fingerwaves and rhinestoned acrylics judging me by my hair’s length or lack of “adventure” [...]
