Ventures Category
Gordon Parks at Jack Shainman Gallery

There are countless images of young white men joyfully swimming around naked: Winslow Homer, Marsden Hartley, Thomas Eakins. But how many photos of black youth playing nude in the water can you name?
15 screenwriting lessons from Bridgerton
Posted on December 31, 2020 Leave a Comment

The only reason we know the name of the Duke’s mother is because the badass that is Lady Danbury (Adjoa Andoh) says her name before she passes. The main story of Daphne’s suitors continues as this backstory to the Duke and all he owes to Lady Danbury becomes the subplot.
Coming Out Reading 10/9!
Posted on October 8, 2020 Leave a Comment

Tomorrow 5-6pm Coming Out Reading at Lehman College!
Come hear the sui generis Mariam Bazeed, JK Chukwu, Edgar Gomez, and Mecca Jamilah Sullivan 🙂 Zoom link in flyer.
‘In Praise of Fragments’ by Meena Alexander
Posted on July 26, 2020 Leave a Comment

Syntax of flesh and stone and root
Anchoring us to ordinary earth.
Posted on June 26, 2020 Leave a Comment

“On the Impossibility of Freedom in a Country Founded on Slavery and Genocide.”
Posted on June 25, 2020 Leave a Comment

“You can’t make a difference in the world by going to parties.”
Donna Tartt’s ‘The Secret History’ and The God of Illusions
Posted on May 20, 2020 Leave a Comment
Introductory talk given at Shakespeare & Co. on April 13, 2020 to Donna Tartt’s brilliant novel The Secret History ***spoilers ahead!*** A good way of introducing Donna Tartt’s debut novel is the working title, which for most of the 8 to 9 years Tartt spent writing this, was The God of Illusions. That title I […]
Posted on April 6, 2020 Leave a Comment

In a sparse and beautiful page-long prologue, we encounter a violent act against Kayden Kelliher, a 17-year-old Geshig High School basketball star. His death, brought on by gang violence and communal depression, haunts the town in this story of violence, redemption, and self-determination.
Sarah Viren’s “Mine”
Posted on March 22, 2020 Leave a Comment
One of the best book of narrative essays I’ve read in years.