Antisocial
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Artist Nick Cave Teaches Me How to ‘Let Go’ at The Let Go
I needed this. That’s what I told myself as I walked into the Park Avenue Armory on Wednesday, June 6, to see the premiere of performance artist Nick Cave’s newest installation: The Let Go. I didn’t really know what to expect. I knew that there would be music and, obviously, dance, considering Cave’s background as…
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I Lost 10 Pounds and It All Went to My Head at Harlem Stage’s #Disrupters Gala
It really doesn’t take much with me. For most of my adult life, I’ve battled with my size. And it doesn’t help that the medication that keeps me on an even keel also makes me gain weight. So when I started taking antidepressants to bring my mood up a bit, I found a great, positive…
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Kendrick Lamar Gets His Pulitzer, but It’s Pulitzer Administrator Dana Canedy Who Is a Prize
There are no acceptance speeches at the Pulitzers. You get your prize. You pose for your photo and you politely exit the stage. Yet there was definitely something different about this year’s award luncheon at Columbia University’s Low Library on Wednesday, where hip-hop artist Kendrick Lamar strolled in about 30 or 40 minutes into the…
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Queen Sugar and Ava DuVernay Had the Sweetest Garden Party in NYC
First things first: When it comes to Queen Sugar and director Ava DuVernay, I’m a total fan. I am biased. I am prejudiced. I am not objective at all. I love the show she created, which is beautiful and heartfelt. I love the actors who were cast to star in it, who are charming and…
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Once Upon Once on This Island With Tamyra Gray
There are probably a few ways to read the wondrous musical Once on This Island, which originally debuted in 1990 and was revived on Broadway in New York City in December 2017. Perhaps it’s a lesson about following your heart against incredible odds. Maybe it’s a tale about the occasional perils of falling in love…
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How Physics Works and Other Things I Learned at All Star Code’s 5th-Anniversary Celebration
So I’m at All Star Code’s fifth-anniversary event at the High Line Hotel in New York City on Wednesday, and one of the program’s students, Alex Reyes, asks me if I know how the video game “Pong” works. I—who haven’t thought about “Pong,” a table tennis simulation game, in eons—realize that I have no clue…
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Never Bring Cicely Tyson Water in a Bottle, and Other Lessons From AT&T’s Humanity of Connection Event
If I am lucky enough to make it to 93, I want to be a fly 93 just like Harlem’s own, the legend, actress Cicely Tyson. One, she dresses impeccably. Two, she’s both wondrous and intimidating. As someone who loves (and still fears) her soon-to-be 90-year-old grandmother, I can only imagine what Tyson is like…
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Harlem Haberdashery’s 5th Annual Masquerade Ball Was ‘a Mood’
I’m back, Antisocialites! After spending most of the winter trying to both not freeze outdoors and not die from the sauna that is my radiator-heated apartment, I have to say, I really didn’t go to any parties. Oh, I went out on the rare occasion, but my social life (and this column about my social…
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Once on This Island’s Opening Night Gives Me Jitters While I Consider Reginald F. Lewis’ Billion-Dollar Deal
OK, first off, in this revival of the 1991 Tony Award-nominated musical Once on This Island, I had no clue that it was Merle Dandrige from Greenleaf playing the death demon, Papa Ge. I’ve watched one-and-a-half entire seasons of the OWN religious drama, and I thought I could pick her out of a lineup, but…
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SportsBalls and Benefit Galas: I Went to All These Things and Managed Not to Almost Kill Myself (Yet)
There are literally too many things to go to in the fall. During that season in New York City, every charity group, institution, media company and rando (including The Root) throws a ball, gala or fancy party of some kind. Our own shindig, The Root 100, goes down Nov. 9. So October, for me, has…
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