Death of the Purple Controversy
Seems the Color Purple movie is a quiet staple of holiday-season television. Many see it as an inspirational story of a journey to...
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KG1
Jan 1, 20224 min read
Class of ‘48
While Coop and I were talking about my recent post on the Class of 1953, we mentioned several New York City backcourt men we admired back...
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KG1
Nov 22, 20213 min read
Voice and Power
I never tire of teaching Their Eyes Were Watching God because I’m always interested in characters who emerge from relative voicelessness...
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KG1
Nov 7, 20214 min read
Class of ‘53
I start by apologizing to my good friends Glenn Cooper and the late Leroy Charles. Both were born in 1953 and were very good high school...
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KG1
Oct 28, 20214 min read
In Black and White
To illustrate the point of textual conversations in American literature, I had students read Toni Morrison’s Playing in the Dark:...
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KG1
Oct 7, 20215 min read
Some African American Poets
As we know, somebody will always come to your party, eat up as much food as possible, kill all the liquor, and then tell you how you...
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KG1
Sep 27, 20213 min read
Depictions
Semple hadn’t talked to his good friend in a while. Texting felt too clumsy, so he went old-school and called him on the phone, land line...
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KG1
Sep 22, 20219 min read
We Need a Literary Movement for Larry Holmes
I mentioned in the last post that I once commented about the need for a literary movement for Larry Holmes. I thought those remarks, made...
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KG1
Sep 17, 20212 min read
Homicide Hank
As Manny Pacquiao nears the end of his boxing career, we are hearing the story of his greatness more and more. Hype, after all, is what...
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KG1
Sep 8, 20214 min read
An Attica Story
When Leroy Howard Dewer, Jr. hit Senior Lieutenant Richard Maroney with a two-piece in A yard at Attica Penitentiary on the afternoon of...
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KG1
Jun 1, 20212 min read
Responsible
“Wait, Junior Boyd. You’re fading out. You must be moving around. Oh, that’s better. Watch the playoff game with y’all? That’s kinda...
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KG1
May 3, 20214 min read
Sugar Ray
Every knowledgeable boxing fan has Sugar Ray Robinson rated among the top 5 boxers who ever competed. Many consider him, pound for pound,...
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KG1
Apr 23, 20216 min read
"And Then There Was...X," by David F. Green, Jr.
My introduction to the energetic, charismatic wordsmith DMX was in the winter of 1998. I, like many others, became familiar with him from...
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KG1
Apr 12, 20215 min read
Trauma in "Home," Heads Up for Class
Frank Money, despite his name, contends with more misfortune than any of Toni Morrison’s major male characters. There is the KKK-style...
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KG1
Apr 3, 20212 min read
306
They say numbers speak to you sometimes. Maybe they say buy a lottery ticket. It could be that simple, as it is with me and 306. That is...
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KG1
Mar 26, 20213 min read
Tangled Up in Dark
In class yesterday, a perplexed student asked if Daniel Sullivan, a central character in Larry Duplechan’s Tangled Up in Blue, was Black....
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KG1
Mar 21, 20212 min read
Life, Music, and the Universe
When you reach for the new poetry volume by Ishmael Reed, you just wonder which varieties of wit will be on display. What is the poet who...
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KG1
Mar 8, 20214 min read
"Sometimes Words Hit Harder," by Gabriel I. Green
As a kid, one of my favorite movies was the 1989 boxing documentary Champions Forever. According to my parents, by the time I was about...
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KG1
Feb 22, 20213 min read
Doses
“Junior Boyd, I’m a little surprised at you on this vaccine situation.” Semple paused as he thought the call was dropping, but the...
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KG1
Jan 29, 20212 min read
On a Hill
Because he didn’t have speed and didn’t pinpoint well---touching the wrong letter a lot---Semple refrained from texting when he could get...
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