May 16Member-onlyMuhammad Ali’s Life Made A Greek Tragedy Look Like A Rap Skit. And Yet..Review: Muhammad Ali, by Ken Burns ( photo by Neil Leifer) In Part III of The Sea And The Mirror, his remaking of The Tempest, W. H Auden has Caliban break every single literary wall. In form and function, it is a departure for the poet and Shakespeare reader, as…Muhammad Ali10 min readMuhammad Ali10 min read
May 15Member-onlyHow Albert Was Born.The revised preface to I Never Dreamed You’d Leave In Summer, my novel coming out on August 22, 2023. In 1957's Pagan Spain, the second of three travel books he wrote, Richard Wright became his own harshest critic. He had done enough to cultivate a line of them in the…Literature9 min readLiterature9 min read
Published inAn Injustice!·Apr 27Member-onlySince I Been Down, One Year LaterPersonal thoughts from a son of the neighborhood this documentary scapegoated and shamed — One of the sadder aspects of Since I Been Down, the documentary on Kimonti Carter, criminal justice, and Tacoma, is that there were opportunities for its champions to convince people of their strongest arguments (or at least lower the anger people had toward them). In showing the agonizing racial history…Crime6 min readCrime6 min read
Published inAn Injustice!·Apr 15Member-onlyGo Tell It on the Mountain At 70On James Baldwin’s First Novel — Rereading Go Tell It on the Mountain, James Baldwin’s most recognizable work of fiction, I kept going back to a paragraph in Toni Morrison’s eulogy of him; Something that exists as a work of literature in itself. “You made American English honest — genuinely international. You exposed its secrets and…Race10 min readRace10 min read
Mar 26Member-onlyBenavidez/ Plant Postfight: The Good Bros.A recap of their terrific fight, and a brief look at the champion's ascendancy to superstardom. Another reason why David Benavidez is beloved could be seen at the 12th round of his star-stamping victory Saturday night. …Sports3 min readSports3 min read
Mar 24Member-onlyBenavidez/Plant PreviewOn the aspiring young Renton champion, and his superb, compelling( if overmatched) pro of an opponent. To this grandson of a bartender who watched tapes of the Univision classic fights replays her brown former customers gave to her; David Benavidez fights like another imperfect great fighter of half a century…Boxing2 min readBoxing2 min read
Published inAn Injustice!·Mar 4Member-onlyErnest Owens Doesn’t Speak Truth To Power As Much As He Sneers At Liberal GhostsReview: The Case For Cancel Culture If you’re a liberal with a skeptical streak to your personality, Ernest Owens’ The Case For Cancel Culture will bring you some pain. In 153 pages, the author creates a slapdash and vague history of liberalism, using examples of activism with numerous variables having…Woke4 min readWoke4 min read
Feb 2Member-onlyOn A Word Thomas Chatterton Williams Needs To Keep Out Of His Mouth.The man who blamed hip-hop records on his act of domestic violence wants to lecture black people (who think Tyre Nichols's death’s had a racial component) about agency. In the last few years, Thomas Chatterton Williams has cultivated a quieter, more eloquent online reputation. Gone is the writer who, in…Race6 min readRace6 min read
Published inThe Riff·Jan 4Member-onlyAttention Must Be Paid: Luther VandrossAn appreciation of the soul master on the 35th anniversary of his for-the-ages performance at the Image Awards. — It was the first warm day in a warm spring in a warm year. To add specifics, it was a Saturday, and my dad had dropped me off at big momma’s. …Music6 min readMusic6 min read
Published inAn Injustice!·Updated Jan 2Member-onlyYou Had Your Chance, Bro2022 was the year a new hip hop generation of men fully became the patriarchs they once blamed all their problems on — He used to bully me when I took the bus to University Place. In the years I went back and forth and then lived there, he and his “Starbuck Gang Homies” considered me to be a “bitch” “Faggot” and then an “uncle tom” because I wasn’t gangster enough. Time and…Racism5 min readRacism5 min read
