Literary scholar and poet Carmen Gillespie asks us to consider the significance of the United States capital in African-American literature at a time when America is still learning how to read its first African-American lead political protagonist. Dr. Gillespie also discusses the role that poetry can play in reshaping the perception of national traumas such [...]

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By Miles Marshall Lewis As an occasional fiction editor, I’ve seen my share of short stories starring female protagonists variously described as black versions of the Icelandic avant-garde singer, Björk. In the real world outside the land of literature, the closest thing we have to that ideal in R&B is Dallas’s own Erykah Badu, as evidenced most recently by [...]

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by Dan Brady “Evolution favours what is good at replicating itself, rather than what is good.” Culture and Prosperity by John Kay Natural selection tells us that organisms will choose their mates based on traits favorable to the success of the species. In theory, each consecutive generation is better adapted to the environment than the [...]

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As is currently the case in many sectors, broadcast journalism is scrambling to figure out how to tap into and employ (and exploit . . . hey, it’s capitalism) new media and the public’s relationship to the developing formats. NBC News seems to have found a clue, if not an answer, in their new Digital [...]

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by Miles Marshall Lewis The world has a little while longer to wait for the end of Lupe Fiasco. The twenty-six-year-old Chicago MC—born Wasulu Muhammad Jaco—has declared way in advance that his delayed third album, LUPN, will most likely be his last. Hiphop has heard this kind of talk before. But Lupe pulling the plug [...]

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What constitutes the metro D.C. arts scene or what makes a D.C. artist, and does it matter if there are no distinctive characteristics? Though you may not hear these two questions raised publicly, they are—as the demographics of D.C. and surrounding environs continute to shift—questions on the minds of many arts administrators and artists. JOSE [...]

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“Whatever, yo!” Whatever happened those of us existing outside the black/white racial dynamic in the U.S. being acknowledged as more than “whatever”? Kelly Tsai has a new spoken word video out asking us, as we approach election day 2008, to peel back the worn veils of “whatever” and recognize what needs to be seen underneath. [...]

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ROUNDTABLE PARTICIPANTS: Adam Bradley R. Scott Heath Natalie Hopkinson Natalie Y. Moore Mark Anthony Neal

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