Class of ‘48
While Coop and I were talking about my recent post on the Class of 1953, we mentioned several New York City backcourt men we admired back...
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KG1
Nov 29, 20212 min
I Wish
“Wonder how Rittenhouse gon do with the whole Stevie thing?” “Semple, you know I try to understand you the best that I can. But I am...
KG1
Nov 22, 20213 min
Voice and Power
I never tire of teaching Their Eyes Were Watching God because I’m always interested in characters who emerge from relative voicelessness...
KG1
Nov 7, 20214 min
Class of ‘53
I start by apologizing to my good friends Glenn Cooper and the late Leroy Charles. Both were born in 1953 and were very good high school...
KG1
Oct 28, 20214 min
In Black and White
To illustrate the point of textual conversations in American literature, I had students read Toni Morrison’s Playing in the Dark:...
KG1
Oct 7, 20215 min
Some African American Poets
As we know, somebody will always come to your party, eat up as much food as possible, kill all the liquor, and then tell you how you...
KG1
Sep 27, 20213 min
Depictions
Semple hadn’t talked to his good friend in a while. Texting felt too clumsy, so he went old-school and called him on the phone, land line...
KG1
Sep 22, 20219 min
We Need a Literary Movement for Larry Holmes
I mentioned in the last post that I once commented about the need for a literary movement for Larry Holmes. I thought those remarks, made...
KG1
Sep 17, 20212 min
Homicide Hank
As Manny Pacquiao nears the end of his boxing career, we are hearing the story of his greatness more and more. Hype, after all, is what...
KG1
Sep 8, 20214 min
An Attica Story
When Leroy Howard Dewer, Jr. hit Senior Lieutenant Richard Maroney with a two-piece in A yard at Attica Penitentiary on the afternoon of...
KG1
Aug 22, 20212 min
Fall of a City
Semple was perplexed as he sat on Boyd’s sofa engaged in the news streaming from the flat screen on the wall. He had not tried to focus...
KG1
Aug 17, 20213 min
The Terrible Fours
After a wait of more than three decades, we have a new installment of Ishmael Reed’s The Terribles. Long intended to be a trilogy, if my...
KG1
Jul 23, 20213 min
Guardians
Junior Boyd approached Semple, sitting in a familiar spot on the park bench, with excitement, “I just heard that the Cleveland Indians...
KG1
Jul 22, 20213 min
Language and Struggle
“Perhaps the black intellectual we still have the most to learn from is David Walker.” This perhaps is the pivotal statement in Jesse...
KG1
Jun 27, 20214 min
Wakanda-like Intrigue
Next month, Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollins, will release The Minister Primarily, a novel by John Oliver Killens. The manuscript...
KG1
Jun 1, 20212 min
Responsible
“Wait, Junior Boyd. You’re fading out. You must be moving around. Oh, that’s better. Watch the playoff game with y’all? That’s kinda...
KG1
May 3, 20214 min
Sugar Ray
Every knowledgeable boxing fan has Sugar Ray Robinson rated among the top 5 boxers who ever competed. Many consider him, pound for pound,...
KG1
Apr 23, 20216 min
"And Then There Was...X," by David F. Green, Jr.
My introduction to the energetic, charismatic wordsmith DMX was in the winter of 1998. I, like many others, became familiar with him from...
KG1
Apr 12, 20215 min
Trauma in "Home," Heads Up for Class
Frank Money, despite his name, contends with more misfortune than any of Toni Morrison’s major male characters. There is the KKK-style...
KG1
Apr 3, 20212 min
306
They say numbers speak to you sometimes. Maybe they say buy a lottery ticket. It could be that simple, as it is with me and 306. That is...
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