Keith Josef Adkins

Keith Josef Adkins is an award-winning playwright, screenwriter and social commentator.

About On The Dig

In-your-face observations of art, entertainment and the world at large from someone who cares. Can you handle the truth?

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THE BLOG FAMILY

In-your-face observations of art, entertainment and the world at large from someone who cares. Can you handle the truth?

NOVEMBER 30 | NBC Heroes Employee Says There's Too Much Diversity in Hollywood

NOVEMBER 29 | Black Conservative Doesn't Want Oprah to Interview Obama on Christmas

NOVEMBER 28 | Peru Apologizes for Mistreatment of Afro-Peruvians

One man's opinion on very nearly everything. It's hard but it's fair.

DECEMBER 2 | Ten Things You Could Learn from Tiger Woods

DECEMBER 2 | Aunt Jemima and Politics in Darktown

NOVEMBER 24 | Meet The Parents

Manners and mores in modern life? It's about way more than where the fork goes.

DECEMBER 3 | Desiree Rogers' Teachable Moment

NOVEMBER 28 | The Tipping Factor

NOVEMBER 24 | The Turkey Is The Least of It

From finance to foreclosures, layoffs and lack of opportunity, a daily journal of the economic crisis and its effect on black professionals.

NOVEMBER 27 | Making The Most With Less This Christmas

NOVEMBER 25 | Young, Black, and Out of Work

NOVEMBER 24 | Have Blacks Been Shafted By The Stimulus?

Smart, up to the minute takes on politics--from the state house to the White House. Pull up a chair.

JANUARY 21 | Hillary Clinton Stands Up For Internet Diplomacy

JANUARY 20 | SATISFACTION, PRIDE OR DELIRIUM?

JANUARY 17 | Would Martin Luther King Get Out the Vote in Massachusetts?

Engaging commentary, interviews, and reviews that delve into and beyond the world of books. Get read.

NOVEMBER 25 | Conversation for the Dinner Table

NOVEMBER 19 | Reading List: The Poetry Edition

NOVEMBER 12 | Publishing with the Stars

A daily conversation on hot topic culture items. From Zora to Zane, True Blood to Tiny & Toya, TEWW covers high art, low-brow culture and everything in between.

FEBRUARY 5 | Thoughts on a Black Female "Living Legend": Mikki Taylor of Essence Magazine

JANUARY 26 | OMG Look at Your Hair!

JANUARY 25 | Tatyana Ali Misses the Target With "Love That Girl"

One woman's journey to shed 100 pounds in one year.

FEBRUARY 9 | Finding My Fitness Plan

KEITH JOSEF'S BLOG ROLL

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    2009

    A Belated Farewell to Painter Ernie Barnes

    May 1, 2009 at 6:12 PM
    Ernie Barnes' My Miss America

    I couldn't sit with myself if I didn't offer an official farewell to painter Ernie Barnes.  The prolific and talented painter passed away Monday.  I don't know about you, but I grew up watching reruns of Good Times and gazing at the cover of Marvin Gaye's I Want You as my parents listened and grooved to the music.  Barnes and his art were the main attraction for both.  Although Good Times was a weekly presentation of theater-quality TV that examined social issues within the Black underlcass, it was Barnes' Sugar Shack painting in the closing credits that stuck to my soul.  In a very sublte or maybe not-so-subtle way, Ernie Barnes' art asked me to study and observe "blackness" with a serious eye and heart.  It was like he was saying, Yeah, this is TV and Hollywood is white and J.J. is funny, but I'm [Barnes] putting my mark on this to assure you we are real.  Thanks, Ernie Barnes.  I'm keeping you close!

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