February 2017

“East of Flatbush, North of Love” by Danielle Brown, Ph.D.

Reading Time 4 minsA Review by Jeff Hercules If one word were acceptable as a review of Dr. Danielle Brown’s East of Flatbush, North of Love; An Ethnography of Home, the word would be, ‘Wow!’ All that would be left is for me to explain my review. It’s not often I read a book that speaks as if it were a replay of aspects of my life: This book does that. It’s not everyday I realize a book has information that would have made me a more knowledgeable student in school: This book would have done that. It’s also not everyday… Read More »“East of Flatbush, North of Love” by Danielle Brown, Ph.D.

Independence and Nation-Making – Caldwell Taylor

Reading Time 1 mins    Independence and Nation-Making  by Caldwell Taylor A Nation is the ecstatic electricity that inhabits May Fortune’s* voice A Nation is the healing thunder of Sugar Adams’ * drum A Nation is a concert of comforting conceits A Nation is  the repository of our dreams And a Nation is the insurgent sea that lifts our boats our nets  our hopes  our heroes  our sheroes.   A Nation is a site and sight of struggle, a thing calypsonian “Black Wizard” noted: “If you want to get rid of Babylon and build a just Nation You’ve got to struggle… Read More »Independence and Nation-Making – Caldwell Taylor

Happy Earthday to Brother Bob Marley, the Trench Town Messiah – Martin P. Felix

Reading Time 2 mins2017-02-06 Martin P. Felix “Nathanael said to him, ‘Can anything good come out of Nazareth?‘ Philip said to him, ‘Come and see‘.“ — John 1:46. Like his biblical counterpart, Bob Marley took a socratic approach to unpack that recurring question loaded with upper class prejudice: “Can anything good come out of Trench Town?” and, with Philipian confidence, answered in the affirmative “…everyone see what’s taking place… / Another page in history.” And indeed it is. Bob Marley was born on this day, February 6, 72 years ago in rural Nine Miles, Saint Ann, Jamaica but later moved to Trench Town where he spent his formative… Read More »Happy Earthday to Brother Bob Marley, the Trench Town Messiah – Martin P. Felix