Category Archive » Culture
This page contains 16 entries posted under the "Culture" category.
REview: Gil Scott-Heron
You could ask a hundred different people what they think about Gil Scott-Heron and get a thousand different answers. As much as I feel a creative connection to the man, the soul that brought us the "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" at the age of 19...I'd probably remain silent.
ReNEWal: A Chef's POV
You can renew your work and creative place with fresh scents and herbs as natural aromatherapy. I like to keep mint, sage and basil handy in the kitchen and in my room. The scents are lovely all mingled together.
I Create: Print Magic
What ReNEWal means to: Carleen Brice
ReNEWal means: rejuvenation, rest...allowing my spirit to tap into something greater so I can bring that out in the world.
I Create: poetry, interviews, articles, short stories, essays and all things pertaining to the word.
Folk are upset. At Essence. At the people upset at Essence. No need to rehash the "controversy." Let's talk takeaways. What can we learn, reaffirm, and possibly gain?
Okay, so the other day I got word that the DC Black Theatre Festival would be showing a play called-get this- The Ass Chronicles. I'd heard about it before, and would liken it to the Vagina Monologues based on the description, but I wasn't quite sure what to expect. So I contacted Kim West, the publicist for the production and scheduled an interview with the playwright, Empress Joyner. I arrived at rehearsal and was greeted by the wide grin, and welcoming warmth of Empress herself. Empress was full of life, and excited about the interview but her eyes bugged as she saw my video equipment.
Earlier this month, Casey Gane-McCalla, a journalist, rapper, comedian and Facebook friend, declared on his FB status: "I am an Ivy league college educated journalist with no criminal background...still when I hear this song...I think I'm Big Meech." The song that Gane-McCalla refers to is B.M.F, a single from Rick Ross's fourth album, Teflon Don which dropped Tuesday. The song's considered a heater. The summer's hip-hop anthem.
Recently, the Los Angeles Times, published a somewhat grim article suggesting that black-oriented films without Tyler Perry attached will struggle harder these days to find a studio home. Centered on the success (or lack thereof) of Fox Searchlight, an outlet known for "urban" films like Notorious and I Think I Love My Wife, the article reasons that the weak box office performance of these movies and the recently-released Just Wright is pushing the studio (with the implication that other studios have or will follow) to abandon black-themed films.
Andre Torres doesn't have a background in publishing. But he has passion and perseverance. So much so that he eventually learned how to run a magazine and evolved into the guy at Wax Poetics "who tells people what to do." Translation: He ensures that the Brooklyn-based Wax Poetics brand is fully enforced across everything that the company does.
We're thrilled to launch a new series of interviews featuring creative visionaries talking about, well, stuff. Why box it? Our inaugural interview is with Thembisa S. Mshaka, an entertainment powerhouse who's been in the business for more than fifteen years. And she ain't stopping anytime soon. We thought she'd have a thing or two to say about staying power.
Taking It to the Next Level
Sometimes ideas come from the least likely places. Ask Tracey Ferguson. She conceived JONES magazine, a high fashion publication aimed at affluent Houston women of color, during a book club meeting where she and girlfriends gathered to talk lifestyle.
Consuming: José James
I recently stumbled upon José James during one of my web-based procrastination periods. But it was worth it. He earns my dope rating.
The Classics - Series 2: Soul
Soul. It's considered by most to be a weighty word. It's used to describe a variety of people, places, and things and even the most intangible of ideas. Soul has implications of every kind, from food to the spiritual, but perhaps none are greater than it being used to define an era and a genre of music.
Happy Anniversary to The Black Book!
Thirty-five years ago, Toni Morrison, then an editor at Random House, joined with a team of black memorabilia collectors, helmed by Middleton A. Harris, to assemble what Henry Louis Gates Jr. considers the "ultimate treasure chest of the black experience." The result is a collection of more than 500 documents, photographs and articles that fashion an imaginative narrative of the African-American journey from slavery to the civil rights movement. There are slave sale receipts, patents by African-American inventors, sheet music for "coon songs," images of black war heroes and everything in between.
Producing Precious
Precious was a very political and personal film for me to make. It was political because so many of the issues, from literacy to overall neglect and sexual abuse are so prevalent in the film but not talked about or addressed actively as they should be. The film has provided a tremendous forum for healing and discussion.
Felicia Pride on ReNEWal
BackList Shop
Resources to inspire your inner creative (that includes you too, educators!)... (read more)
Creative Entreprenuers! Spark Your Fire
THE FIRE STARTER SESSIONS is: an e-book meets video transmission of acumen and love. You: are likely sitting on an empir... (read more)
THE MESSAGE Hip-Hop & Literarcy Enrichment Program
Order Your Signed Copy of THE MESSAGE today! Educational institutions around the country--including high schools, out-of... (read more)
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