Summer Breeze…Check….Sitting Poolside…Check…Good Book…Double Check!! Alright, good people, we are back with another edition of “Dr. G’s Monthly Book Recommendations”! As always, there is a little something for everyone, even the kiddos!!
Check out July’s Monthly Book Recommendations below:
You’ve Got a Place Here, Too: An Anthology of Black Love Stories Set at HBCUs ~Edited by Ebony Ladelle
If I Could Go Back ~Briana Johnson
The Girls Who Grew Big ~Leila Mottley
Positive Obsession: The Life and Times of Octavia E. Butler ~Susana M. Morris
King of Ashes ~S.A. Cosby
Toni at Random: The Iconic Writer’s Legendary Editorship ~Dana A. Williams
I Got You: A Brother’s Promise ~Derrick Barnes
Swing Time ~Zadie Smith
Lonely Crowds ~Stephanie Wambugu
As always, don’t forget to support your local bookstores!! Matter fact, for all my Chicago readers, or if you need to build out your bookstore network, check out these Black-owned bookstores in the Chi:
We are back!! Starting out the year with a few goodies for you to either visit, stream, buy from your grocery store, or add to your calendar!! Nothing like a few hot topics to get you through the mid-week hump! Check them out below:
For all my Toni Morrison fans this coming February her papers will be part of an exhibition called, “Toni Morrison: Sites of Memory” at Princeton University in the Millberg Gallery-Firestone Library. Conceived by Autumn Womack, Assistant Professor of African American Studies and English, the exhibition is a multi-faceted, immersive journey into the archives of Toni Morrison. Before she passed away, Morrison gave her archives to Princeton in 2014. The exhibition will consist of essays, speeches, day planners, and letters. The exhibition will be open to the public Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from noon to 6 p.m. through June 4, 2023.Looks like I’m gonna need to take a trip to New Jersey!!
Items from the Papers of Toni Morrison, Special Collections, Princeton University Library (PUL)
If you have been keeping up with the latest Netflix movies or series, you will know that the heist-drama Kaleidoscope just dropped on New Years Day! The eight-part series centers around master thief Leo Pap (Giancarlo Esposito) and his crew attempting an epic heist worth $7 billion! However, there is a little twist, the episodes can be watched in any order and it still make sense; the introduction “Black” explains the concept of the show, while the episode “White” is intended to always be the series finale. According to various outlets they have offered some suggestions:
Stars Giancarlo Esposito and Tati Gabrielle recommend no particular order or watch it “in the colour scheme that appeals to you.” When it is all said and done the ball is in your court, choose as you wish!
Award-winning filmmaker Ava DuVernay is partnering with Ben & Jerry’s to launch its newest flavor, Lights! Caramel! Action! DuVernay, who is the first Black woman to be a featured partner on the Ben & Jerry’s pints, will have a flavor that is an ensemble of vanilla ice cream, salted caramel swirls, graham cracker swirls and chocolate chip cookie dough pieces. MMM Good!! The new flavor will begin shipping out this month!! Proceeds from Lights! Caramel! Action! will benefit DuVernay’s non-profit ARRAY Alliance (a woman-led nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization, works to advance social justice through art)! According to DuVernay, “Ice cream is a simple joy of life. A comfort food that I’ve turned to on many days—making sunny ones brighter and dark ones sweeter,”
Sneak peak into the 15th Doctor Who…BBC has released some first looks into the upcoming continuation of the “Doctor Who” series. Ncuti Gatwa (also known for his role in “Sex Education” will star as the 15th doctor. It’s unclear when Gatwa will take on the mantle and pilot the TARDIS, but it looks like he will be featured in the 60th anniversary special in November 2023.
And last, but not least, for all my Black Panther: Wakanda Forever fans, just in case you missed it in the theaters it’s coming to Disney+ on February 1st!! So hang tight only a few more weeks till we can watch it on repeat!!
It’s the last day of 2022, we are almost there folks!! So the pandemic is still real, but somehow we are managing it. Let’s just say this was another unforgettable year!!
Definitely had some moments that shook the nation with such things as abortion no longer being a constitutional right, the ongoing war in Ukraine, the tragedy in Uvalde (TX), banned books, the retirement of a tennis legend Serena Williams, we got the slap of the century when Will Smith cold clocked slapped Chris Rock, and jaw-dropping seasons of Euphoria and Bridgerton.
In sports news, Argentina wins the World Cup, the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, the Los Angeles Rams win the Super Bowl (along with an AMAZING halftime show-Hip Hop and R&B reigning supreme), the Houston Astros win their second World Series title…then you got the suspension of Boston Celtics coach Ime Udoka (and his split from Nia Long), Tom Brady retired…back in the game and then divorced, Brittney Griner is released from a Russia prison and returns home to the U.S….and one of my fave moments the Golden State Warriors reclaimed the NBA Title throne!!
Lena Horne became the first Black woman to have a Broadway theater named after her…Two Literary Pioneers were honored with USPS stamps, Toni Morrison and Ernest J. Gaines!
In politics, for the first time in history the four largest U.S. cities New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Houston will all have Black mayors after this year’s midterm elections…Karen Bass sealed the deal with her historic win! And THANK GOD Georgia did not elect Herschel Walker into the U.S. Senate, we can all breathe a sigh of relief!
The elements are still having their way whether its the frigid winter storm in Buffalo, Hurricane Ian and Fiona, and heat waves coming in July, August and October!!
The Little Mermaid teaser trailer…Just wow!! I’m so ready!!…Also, definitely gotta shout out some good friends for putting me on to Billions and Yellowstone, talk about some good tv!!
Speaking of good tv let me just drop a few more nuggets:
Riches (Amazon Prime Video)
Reasonable Doubt (Hulu)
Abbott Elementary (ABC)
Blood & Water (Netflix)
Dahmer: Monster-The Jeffrey Dahmer Story (Netflix)
Wednesday (Netflix)
P-Valley (STARZ)
Raising Kanan: Power Book III (STARZ)
Final season of OWN Network Queen Sugar and FX Atlanta
Cherish the Day (OWN)
The Bear (Hulu)
Let’s Go To The Movies… I was so glad that the theaters have opened back up again, feels good to sit back and relax at my local AMC!!
The Woman King: Finally these stories are being told!!
Everything Everywhere All at Once: Brilliant movie that definitely did not get the pub it should have…such a good movie!!
Top Gun: Maverick: Now that was a fun ride!!
Descendant (Netflix): Gotta love history, especially when they speak the truth!
Confess, Fletch: Pure laughs!!
Bullet Train: Who knew you could enjoy a movie that is set on a bullet train…
Nope: Layered and complex!!
Prey (Hulu definitely knows how to drop those gems!!)
Devotion: A piece of history that I didn’t know about but glad I do now!
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever: Not a dry eye!! Ryan Coogler & Ruth E. Carter you did it again!! Angela Bassett proved once again why she is that one!!
Remembering those we lost in 2022…Folks that definitely made some sort of impact on my 41 years of life!!
Sidney Poitier (January 6th): The epitome of elegance and stage presence!
Lani Guinier (January 7th)
Bob Saget (January 9th)
André Leon Talley (January 18th)
Charles McGee (January 23rd): One of the last surviving Tuskegee Airmen!
Cheslie Kyrst (January 30th): Mental Health is real!!
Ivan Reitman (February 13th): Ghostbusters!!
Johnny Brown (March 2nd): Ohhhhh “Good Times”
Traci Braxton (March 12th)
William Hurt (March 13th)
Madeleine Albright (March 23rd)
Gilbert Gottfried (April 12th)
DJ Kay Slay (April 18th): Ahhhh takes me back to my undergrad days
Naomi Judd (April 30th)
Bob Lanier (May 10th)
Ray Liotta (May 26th)
Sam Gilliam (June 25th)
Paul Sorvino (July 25th)
Nichelle Nichols (July 30th): SO Grateful and Thankful for the barriers she broke and the history made!
Bill Russell (July 31st): A legend in every sense of the word!!
Roger E. Mosely (August 7th): I will always remember those days of watching Magnum, P.I. (the original)
Olivia Newton-John (August 8th): Such a sweet soul taken from this earth!
Hanae Mori (August 11th): Haute Couture at its finest!!
Denise Dowse (August 13th)
Mikhail Gorbachev (August 30th)
Queen Elizabeth II (September 8th)
Ramsey Lewis (September 12th)
Pharoah Sanders (September 24th)
Coolio (September 28th): One more “Fantastic Voyage”
Charles Fuller (October 3rd)
Loretta Lynn (October 4th)
Angela Lansbury (October 11th): Murder Mysteries will never be the same!!
Leslie Jordan (October 24th)
Rev. Calvin O. Butts III (October 28th)
Takeoff (November 1st)
John Aniston (November 14th): Soap opera’s will never be the same!
Irene Cara (November 26th): I just wanna dance forever!!
Dorothy Pitman Hughes (December 1st): Co-founder of the prominent feminist publication Ms. Magazine
Kirstie Alley (December 5th)
Paul Silas (December 11th)
Stephen “tWitch” Boss (December 14th)
Franco Harris (December 21st): There will never be another “Immaculate Reception” … One for the books!!
Pelé and Vivienne Westwood (December 29th)
Barbara Walters (December 30th)
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI (December 31st): The longest-living pope, having surpassed Pope Leo XIII in September 2020, known as “God’s Rottweiler”.
Beyoncé gave us her 7th studio album, Renaissance...Afrobeats continues to rise and I’m here for all of it! Usher’s Las Vegas show makes huge waves…Ari Lennox brought us Age/Sex/Location…And another bomb soundtrack from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever!!
The housing market was a win for sellers, but it looks like that is taking turn back for buyers (I hope so, cause your girls will definitely be looking in 2023). Twitter was bought by Elon Musk…We witnessed our first Black woman Supreme Court Justice, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson (RBG is definitely smiling)…and soooooo much more!!
For me 2022, was all about roller coaster rides of life. I had many valley lows and just as many high moments. Sold my house in ATL (the end of an era)…I dealt with with anxiety, some depression, some trauma, and deep loss. Losing my Uncle Oscar hit me deep in my core! And if I am being honest, I am still grieving and probably will for some time. He meant so much to me, he will never be forgotten. There is not a day that doesn’t go by where I just want to shoot him a ring and ask for him to pray with and for me. But when it is all said and done I know he is watching over me, smiling, and having a good laugh with my Grandma!! I definitely got a chance to travel and collect some more passport stamps. I went to New Mexico for the first time, tried real Belgium waffles IN Belgium (Twice)!! Presented at Wonder-Con (Anaheim, CA), gave a keynote lecture at Ghent University (Ghent, Belgium). Got to celebrate Black History Month twice once in the US and in London!! Went to the Roots Picnic in Philly…Celebrated many of my friends 40th Birthday’s….that was fun!
Even got me a new ride…a Christmas gift to myself!!
This year I got to spend a lot of time on several beaches and oh was that therapeutic (Thank you Turks and Caicos and Playa del Carmen)…Lord knows I love the water!!
…It was good to be back in the classroom for another semester with some AMAZING students!! I am truly grateful to have this job/career. I look forward to completing 2023 as I will (I’m claiming) get through my Third-Year Review and become another step closer towards Tenure!! Oh and I got boosted again! I launched a new project, Black Girl Magic in Media (BGMM) and let me tell you I am very excited about what is in store! Be on the lookout for what is in store!
I continue to learn more about myself…grow…find balance…navigate all the moving parts of my life…and taking one day at a time!
Let me just say I am also very thankful for my BFF family and friends!! I look forward to bringing you more good news and culture in 2023!!
Nothing like some mid-week goodies!! Check out this week’s Hot Topics, see below:
Preparing for Spring 2023 Festival Season … “Something in the Water” festival is coming back to Virginia Beach, VA in 2023!! On Saturday November 5th, VA Beach native Pharrell Williams along with VA Beach mayor Bobby Dyer made the announcement during Williams inaugural Mighty Dream Forum.
In a statement made by Williams, “The demand for the festival in Virginia Beach and The 757 – among the people – has never wavered. If anything it has only intensified.” Well folks will not have to wait long!!
The full line up and details will be announced soon. Tickets have gone on sale starting Saturday, 11/5.
This is for you Sneakerheads!! … Need some new sneakers…Going to be visiting New Orleans (NOLA) well I have a spot for you!! Check out the only Black-owned sneaker shop in Kenner (a suburb of the crescent city-New Orleans), Peddlers Ave. Birthed out of a hustle and love for shoes, owner Lawrence Wilright launched the sneaker shop in 2010 with a brick-and-mortar building in 2017.
There’s Power in a Name …One of my favorite authors Octavia E. Butler is getting a school named after her, matter fact, it’s her alma mater. Washington STEAM Multilingual Academy in Pasadena, CA will be renamed “Octavia E. Butler Magnet,” the only school in the nation named after the late author. Adding to the excitement, fellow sci-fi and horror author Tananarive Due exclaims, “It feels like a prophecy fulfilled almost…I mean, here she was learning to dream when she was a child attending the school, and now it’s turned into a school that would have been something beyond her dreams.” The decision to rename the school was first made this spring and comes the same year as the new FX television series based on Butler’s 1979 novel “Kindred” is set to debut (December 13th on Hulu).
PUSD leaders and local officials pose in front of the school’s new name and logo.
New Postage Coming Soon in 2023!!… It was announced late October two Black literary giants Toni Morrison and Ernest J. Gaines will be honored with USPS stamps!! Both trailblazers used their craft and literary gifts to amplify stories that provided a lens into the Black experience in America. The “Toni Morrison” stamp features a photograph of Morrison taken in 2000. Art director Ethel Kessler designed the stamp with photography by Deborah Feingold. And the stamp of “Ernest J. Gaines” features an oil painting of Gaines, based on a 2001 photograph. Mike Ryan designed the stamp with art by Robert Peterson. Greg Breeding served as art director.
Broadway Legacy!!… Broadway has something new to celebrate!! The former Mansfield Theater in New York City will now grace the name of the legendary actress and civil rights activist Lena Horne. Horne becomes the first Black women in American history to have a Broadway theater named in her honor. As noted by her granddaughter Jenny Lumet, “My grandma’s a Bed–Stuy girl, and we’re a New York family. So to have her always be in New York City in the theater district, it means everything.”
Photo credit: Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images
New Exhibition in Oakland, CA… A new exhibition project “Angela Davis—Seize the Time” is on view at the Oakland Museum of California. The exhibition provides a lens into Davis’ revolutionary quest for change, her incarceration, and the “Free Angela Davis” movement that followed. It will compose of of artwork, sketches, literature, stickers, buttons, postcards, and letters from the “Free Angela and All Political Prisoners” campaign, Davis’ writings, and other multi-media elements to encapsulate her story. The exhibition was cultivated by the Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University, and curated by Donna Gustafson and Gerry Beegan of Rutgers University and Lisa Silberstein and Peggy Monahan of OMCA. “Seize the Time” is on view now through June 11, 2023.
A new exhibition honoring the life and legacy of the legendary activist Angela Davis is currently on display at the Oakland Museum of California Art. It is titled "Angela Davis: Seize the Time". Read more on EBONY. #EBONYMag#AngelaDavis#Californiahttps://t.co/SGJIHKXghW
So recently I have had many people ask what would I recommend as an introduction into Afrofuturism. This is something that I am always talking about, teaching, and or even consuming for myself, so why not have a list for beginners! And voila…I compiled various books, short stories, comic books, graphic novels, children and YA fiction, and movies that offer a unique look into Afrofuturism.
Books
Afrofuturism: The World of Black Sci-Fi and Fantasy Culture ~Ytasha Womack
Afrofuturism 2.0: The Rise of Astro-Blackness ~Edited by Reynaldo Anderson & Charles E. Jones
Beloved ~Toni Morrison
Kindred ~Octavia Butler
Wild Seed ~Octavia Butler
Brown Girl in the Ring ~Nalo Hopkinson
The Conductors ~Nicole Glover
How Long ‘Til Black Future Month? ~N.K. Jemisin
Dark Matter: A Century of Speculative Fiction from the African Diaspora ~Edited by Sheree Thomas
Dark Matter: Reading the Bones ~Edited by Sheree Thomas
Black No More: Being an Account of the Strange and Wonderful Working of Science in the Land of the Free ~George Schuyler
Lion’s Blood ~Steven Barnes
Zulu Heart ~Steven Barnes
Black Leopard, Red Wolf ~Marlon James
Minions: A Vampire Huntress Legend ~L.A. Banks
Octavia’s Brood: Science Fiction Stories from Social Justice Movements ~Edited by Walidah Imarisha & adrienne maree brown
Black Kirby: In Search of the MotherBoxx Connection ~John Jennings & Stacey Robinson
Mothership Tales: Tales from Afrofuturism and Beyond ~Edited by Bill Campbell & Edward Austin Hall
Short Stories/Lecture
“The Princess Steel” & “The Comet” ~W.E.B. Du Bois
“Caramelle 1864” ~Jewelle Gomez
“I Left My Heart in Skaftafell” ~Victor LaValle
“Don’t Go There” ~Tracy Cross
“Ain’t I a Woman” ~Sojourner Truth
Comic Books/Graphic Novels
Matty’s Rocket and Infinitude: An Afrofuturist Tale ~Tim Fielder
“Sit back and wait to hear a slammin track…Rockin jams by popular demand, I’m back” ~Rakim, ‘Guess Who’s Back’
WE ARE BACK for another season of “Conversations with Beloved and Kindred!” And we are hyped and excited to get back to it!! Did you miss us?!! Well we missed you!!
Kicking off Black History Month, in this second season Dr. Robinson and I are looking forward to bringing you more intellectual commentary as we dive into the Horror and Thriller film genre!
In the past five years since Jordan Peele’s 2017 film Get Out debut on Hollywood screens the genre horror has really picked up steam and garnered new audiences. But what about Black horror and thrillers specifically?? Although not a new genre it has not received the same amount of attention as other horror films. So Dr. Robinson and I want to shed light on some seminal, classic Black horror and thriller films as well as some newcomers that are worthy of your viewing!!
As noted by horror writer and educator Tananarive Due “We’ve always loved horror, it’s just that, unfortunately, horror has not always loved us”. Well we hope that with each episode we can bring to you this season we share some love and appreciation to the Blackness in horror!!
And just in case you need a little refresher or you are new to the series, Conversations with Beloved & Kindred is a web series in collaboration with the Program & Outreach Division at Auburn Avenue Research Library (Atlanta, GA) hosted by two Black feminist creatives myself Dr. Grace D. Gipson (Virginia Commonwealth University) and Dr. Kaniqua Robinson (Furman University). Through each episode, we talk about creative works (i.e. literature, film, television, and art) that are grounded in the Black experience. Following in the footsteps of two legendary women Toni Morrison and Octavia Butler, Gipson and Robinson seek to fill in the gaps of Black history by reimagining a supernatural Black past and present, while giving voice to the silenced narratives.
So stay tuned!! Mark your calendars and save the date, February 10th will be here before you know it!!
To Be Young Gifted and Black: Finding Black Excellence in “The Hill We Climb”
Sweet Baby Jesus!! Today (and yesterday) we witnessed #BlackExcellence and #Herstory in multiple ways, from the swearing in of Madame Vice President Kamala V. Harris, to the inspiring benediction by Rev. Dr. Silvester Beaman, to the full display of Black fashion (Pyer Moss, Christopher John Rogers, Sergio Hudson), to the powerful and poignant National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman !! My cup runneth over and I was filled with pure joy and happiness.
However, one moment in particular that stood out for me was witnessing 22-year old Amanda Gorman recite her poem The Hill We Climb on the Capitol steps this morning! Gorman’s poem was more than just words on a paper, but a call to the past, a moment to reflect, a call to action, and a space to inspire. Glowing and shining like the North Star, Gorman stunned audiences with her long yellow coat and crisp white shirt, with a ruby red headband atop her braids … listening to her reminded me of watching Maya Angelou share her poem On the Pulse of Morningat President Bill Clinton’s 1992 inauguration.
“Now we assert: How could catastrophe possibly prevail over us?“
Gorman’s words, poise, and presentation inspired me as a fellow Black woman and it is my hope and prayer that her action and representation inspires not only young girls, but women of all ages to make their voices heard!
National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman delivering her poem “The Hill We Climb” during the Biden-Harris Inauguration on January 20th, 2021
Everything about this occasion reads dignified, graceful, and refreshing! She had such a natural flow…literally and physically! Gorman’s eloquent moment in so many ways channeled the legacies of Shirley Chisholm, Maya Angelou, Ella Baker, Toni Morrison, and Fannie Lou Hamer!! The foundations they established laid the groundwork for a young Black woman like Amanda Gorman. Ahhhh they would be so proud! The acknowledgement of this moment is essential and should not be forgotten, if anything we should continue to see more moments like this one!
Let me tell you the ancestors are truly smiling today!!
“For there is always light if only we’re brave enough to see it, If only we’re brave enough to be it.“
To see the full video and transcript, please see here!
Black Future Feminist 