culture

On my desk, in my office, is a picture of my mother and me. I might be 2 weeks old. She’s cradling me with one arm against her chest, her slender fingers smoothing down my baby hair. She’s got a close-cropped afro, and we’re in somebody’s kitchen—maybe ours, but probably my Grandmommy’s. There’s a bag…

The lunch was supposed to be about politics. I had just moved to town and sitting across from me was a 50-something former Cincinnati city councilman and preacher who was helping to run down the lay of the land. Earlier, when he showed me his church’s new recreation room, I lamented that I wished I…

Everyone has little mind games to occupy themselves when waiting unexpectedly; mine usually involve sports lineups in some way. The habit isn’t a holdover from my sports geek youth; it developed a few years ago when a Yankee fan at my corner bar kept announcing with great pride that proof of the Yankees greatness lies…

-BOOK EXCERPT Pig Candy: Taking my Father South, Taking My Father Home By Lise Funderburg Copyright © 2008. Reprinted by permission of Free Press, a Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc. ********** In March of 2004, just when the urge to rake out garden beds and plant summer bulbs is too strong to resist, despite…

Four years ago, I made a promise to my newborn daughter in her hospital room. I stayed awake the entire night waiting for her to open her eyes. I’ll never forget the feeling, as if I were on top of a skyscraper, feeling the rush of greatness and being consumed by fear—fear of not knowing…

Copyright © from the forthcoming book THE JIVE TALKER by Samson Kambalu, to be published by Free Press, a Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc., N.Y. Printed by permission. —My father wore three-piece suits that he had ordered from London in the ’60s and ’70s, when he could still afford them. Back then he looked…

I’ve boycotted Father’s Day for longer than I can remember. In content rebellion, I’d refuse to telephone my father and would avoid his call when he pined for my gratitude. I’d reject any urges to select and purchase hideous neckties or other unnecessary gifts. I’d dismiss images of sitting around a bountiful dinner table honoring…

All across Harlem USA, it’s known as the ‘Memorial Day Shootout.’ And no one wants to remember it. As families, friends and acquaintances celebrated the season’s most picturesque evening late that Monday, a scene erupted on the borders of Marcus Garvey Park that could have come right out of a frightening war movie. And when…

Just when I thought the unsavory litany of insults, absurdities and hypocrisies that defined the race for the Democratic presidential nomination could not possibly get any longer, the long goodbye of Hillary Clinton proved me wrong. The Grief Narrative that led up to the New York senator’s grin-and-bear-it endorsement of Barack Obama on Saturday just…

For much of her musical career and indeed her life, Lalah Hathaway’s legendary last name likely mattered most to the people who encountered her. There was a novelty to Hathaway’s debut recording in 1990­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­—the daughter of a legendary soul singer makes good—though 18 years and four recordings later—Hathaway is a fully-grown woman who can stand…