Reposting in loving memory of FOW’s late great Adam Schlesinger, a casualty of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic: If you know or remember alternative rockers Fountains of Wayne at all, it’s most likely for their massive[…]
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Category: Popular Culture
Long Division
I first encountered author Kiese Laymon when I read his essay “You are the Second Person,” an unapologetically bridge-burning reckoning of his encounter with a assimilationist editor who tried to deracinate his work. What stuck[…]
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Pirates of the Caribbean II: Dead Man’s Chest
The second Pirates movie was an entertaining romp, with some great action sequences, featuring the always-compelling Johnny Depp. However, the film also featured a disturbing racial subtext. Most blatantly, the film trafficked in broad racial[…]
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The Incredibles
In honor of the recent release of Incredibles 2, a repost of my look at the philosophical implications of the original movie. While I found it impossible not to like and enjoy Brad Bird’s animated[…]
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Both Eyes Open: Remembering James Alan McPherson
I first discovered James Alan McPherson when I read his masterful novella Elbow Room, in a collection of stories by black authors called The African American West. I traced it back to his Pulitzer-Prize winning collection, also[…]
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Not Playing the Background
Out of all the great black American talents, the ones who have arguably fared the best are the singers and musicians. While it may only be a fraction of what they deserve, they have at[…]
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In Memory of the Queen of Soul
The late, great Aretha Franklin, who, until her death on Thursday was perhaps the world’s greatest living singer, was the undisputed Queen of Soul, but she was a master of many genres. She grew up[…]
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Zora Neale Hurston and the Problem of Audience
My first real understanding of the power of affinity on attention came in 9th grade. When my teacher assigned a project called “The African-European Connection,” I was enthralled by history for the first time, as[…]
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Top 10 Movies: #1 – Children of Men
Repost: Just rewatched this amazing film recently, and what once felt like a warning from the near future now feels ripped from the headlines… Today, most people know director Alfonso Cuarón as the first Latino[…]
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Alt Classical: The Innovators
Reposted from 2015 This week brings a new installment of my series on alt-classical music –music that combines the instrumentation, elegance and sophistication of classical music with the vitality of newer and more modern approaches[…]
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