The shift in Kamala Harris’s acceptance speech–from heartwarming bio to Churchillian call to action–reminds me of the shift in Sonny’s jazz playing in Baldwin’s story.
Tag Archives: James Baldwin
Harris’s Speech and a Baldwin Story
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Democratic National Convention, Election 2024, Kamala Harris, Sonny's Blues Comments closed
Tim Scott’s Self-Debasement
Sen. Tim Scott’s self-abasement before Donald Trump brings to mind various “Uncle Tom” poems written by Black authors.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "All of Us Are All of Us", "robert", "Uncle Tom", Donald Trump, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Langston Hughes, Lindsey Graham, Lucille Clifton, racism, Tim Scott, Uncle Tom's Cabin Comments closed
On Falling Leaves and Letting Go
In falling leaves, Clifton finds a graceful faith in letting go. It is a continuing theme for her.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "blessing of the boats", "lesson of the falling leaves", Lucille Clifton, safety, Sonny's Blues Comments closed
Baldwin, Cop Sadism, and MAGA
In “If Beale Street Could Talk,” Baldwin captures cop sadism of the sort we also seen in Trump supporters.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Donald Trump, Fascism, If Beale Street Could Talk, MAGA, racism, sadism Comments closed
Hang Together or Go Under
A James Baldwin prose poem alerts u to resources we have to resist the darkness that threatens us.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Nothing Is Fixed", complacency, Donald Trump, Nothing Personal Comments closed
Reading during the Shutdown
Monday The United States has finally come to its senses and reopened the government, but while we were stumbling through our presidential temper tantrum, a couple of publications talked about the salutary effects of reading. A Washington Post article recounted stories of furloughed workers plunging into books, and a Nation article argued that fiction is […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Chang-rae Lee, Donald Trump, Giovanni's Room, Into the Beautiful North, Leavers, Lisa Ko, Luis Alberto Urrea, Native Speaker, Shutdown Comments closed
Baldwin on Making Education Relevant
Baldwin’s “Essays to Teachers” reminds them of what education should really be about.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Invisible Man, Julius Caesar Ralph Ellison, Letter to Teachers, racism, Terrorism, William Shakespeare Comments closed
Act in All Things as Love Will Prompt
My lectures on Flannery O’Connor, James Baldwin, Shakespeare and Sophocles all seem to track back to Lent these days.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Flannery O'Connor, Good Man Is Hard to Find, King Lear, Lent, Oedipus at Colonus, Sonny's Blues, Sophocles, Suffering, William Shakespeare Comments closed
