April travels and media
Alright, it's finally stopped effin raining in the Bay (our big winter issue-aside from, maybe, radiation) and yes, that's big news. 1St, well, because it's freaqin' gorgeous and signals the return of the bike riding, outdoor festival goin' “this is why we live here...
Happy New Year! Fuck Depression!
In order to be who you’ve never been you must do things you’ve never done. For a months I’ve been flipping between this quote and a conversation a few years ago, when I 1st admitted to an acquaintance that I suffered from depression. He tried to be helpful and...
My own personal Lovelle Mixons
You can always tell when the words poised at the edge of someone’s mouth, waiting to spill out in a declarative statement, will be bad news. Doesn’t matter if it’s face to face or phone to ear, there’s always a pause-a heavy hesitation that hangs in the air right...
Shawn Taylor, Paul Kivel and dj fflood on street harassment and male allies
Its likely that few women around the country will ever say that they have never been the victim of some kind of street harassment at the hands of passing men, and thats a huge problem. Offenses can range from off color cat calls and inappropriate pick up lines to...
Oscar Grant and Oakland Local
Tomorrow night marks the 1 year anniversary of the murder of Oscar Grant by BART police officer Johannes Mehserle and emotions in Oakland are running high. From renewed anger over police brutality, to BART announcing it will increase the number of police on call for...
To Kirkus w/love: A book geek’s lament
I found out a couple of days ago that Kirkus Review is shutting it's doors and it kinda felt like someone had hit me in the chest with a hardback copy of Infinite Jest, ie. it stung, more than a little. And I know that outside of authors and folks in the book biz, the...
World AIDS Day, dads and dancefloors
Today was World AIDS Day and in 2009 it's also a reminder that a decade ago this year my dad died of complications related to HIV. Bad needles, bad sex, bad something. I never got the whole story and to be honest that's one tale I'm cool with not knowing. Truth is...
Spells on the Wall: A Q&A with Curator Cicely Sweed
Article originally published on Oakland Local Virtually all artists flirt with the divine when they work, delving deep into themselves and their beliefs in the name of creation. But for artist and curator Cicely Sweed art is a chance to dialog with ancestors, a...
The problem with the CNN Don Lemon & Nas interview
(Props to The Hood Nerd for his original post.) CNN, we have a problem. By now most people have heard of Derrion Albert, the 16 year old Chicago honor student killed in the middle of a...
Afrofuturist down. RIP Charles Huntley Nelson
While a lot of the future soul crowd has been (rightfully) mourning the death of Slum Village MC Baatin, another afrofuturistic luminary passed over the weekend. Charles Huntley Nelson was a visual artist, experimental film director and proffessor at Morehouse in...
