This week I started reading Erasure, Percival Everett’s 2001 novel about how African-American literature is perceived and discussed in the literary mainstream. (This 2001 novel was adapted into the film American Fiction, which was nominated for an Oscar last year, and which I wrote about here.) I find the title of this novel especially relevant at this time of year, as the annual celebration in the U.S. known as Black History Month draws to a close, and as attempts to erase our nation’s Black history continue. At all levels of government, in schools, colleges, and universities, and in the corporate world, Black History Month celebrations have been “muted,” as Forbes puts it, due to a rollback of diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI, initiatives and practices. One highly visible example: on the eve of Black History Month, newly appointed Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth barred the DoD from using “official resources, to include man-hours, to host celebrations or events” related to Black History Month and other “cultural awareness months.”)
Continue reading “Friday Five: the end of Black History Month”Category: poets
Friday Five: winter solstice reads
There’s something about this time of year that makes me want to spend more time with a book. Maybe it’s the shorter days and lengthening hours of darkness, which translate into less time outdoors and more time inside. Or maybe it’s the chill in the late autumn air, the bare trees, the transition into midwinter, and the weariness that arrives with the end of a long year.
Whatever it is that puts me in the mood to read, I’m thinking I’m not alone and that you, too, might be looking for some worthwhile reads. With that in mind on this winter solstice eve, I offer you five pieces that celebrate the coming day, our shortest of the year in the northern hemisphere. So build a fire, grab a cup of coffee or hot cocoa or mulled cider, crack open that screen, and enjoy these reads.
Continue reading “Friday Five: winter solstice reads”
Andrew Careaga 