i'll tell you what freedom is to me
➡️ no. fear.
The year is already moving fast. It’s crazy. Only thing I’m truly obsessed with is getting vaccinated. And in California getting vaccinated is a struggle plus a hot mess mixed with a riddle hidden within an enigma. I’m just trying to keep up. So I’d rather talk about cool stuff my friends write and have written. I’m inspired by my friend Bonsu Thompson’s series, Fan of a Friend. Bon, a Sundance Fellow who writes a lot of great stuff for Jermaine Hall’s LEVEL, basically sits down with his creative pals and talks with them about their process, and about their journeys. I love it. Plus he spoke to my husband Elliott last week and, and even though I of course know them both, it’s wildly enlightening.
So in the the spirit of being a fan of my friends, here’s some amazing stuff (disclosure: a few of these pieces I worked on as editor). All of the below folks are doing hugely creative new things right now — from creating narrative podcasts to writing screenplays to raising families to writing books to all of those things at the same damn time. Mostly though they’re trying to do things, and make things that keep them happy, and are in service to the culture. All this while the world tries to figure out basic stuff like giving shots to all of us that need them. BUT!
here we go:
No one, though, except maybe Bryant himself, expected No. 8 to be only half of the equation. — Justin Tinsley and Aaron Dodson on Kobe Bryant’s career as No. 8 and No. 24.
I am the rage Nina Simone sang about in “Pirate Jenny.” And my patience with the unreasonable attention whiteness demands is thin as gossamer silk. — Karen Good Marable on joyriding in Atlanta during the pandemic
If “bad and boujee” was trademarked … by Migos, it originated on the fictional Hillman College campus and was created by the grande dame of the dorm known as Gilbert Hall: Whitley Marion Gilbert. — from Danielle Cadet’s” Whitley’s World”
I grew up in Baltimore City, played everywhere in Baltimore City. Grew up with the real Avon Barksdale’s nephew. He played on my football team in high school. — from Kelley L. Carter’s oral history of the “Game Day” episode of The Wire
⬆️ I had more men asking me if we could make them a pinkie nail than I had a lady crew asking for a full set. — from Darian Symoné Harvin’s deep dive into the nail art on Claws
I’d been trying to take my own life for years. You name it, I’d tried it. Slitting my wrists with a box cutter and bleeding out all over the bathroom floor, putting loaded guns to my head, all of that shit. If you’d asked me then, I’d have told you straight up: I was ready to go. But I never did it. — Scarface, from Diary of A Madman by the Geto Boys’ Scarface with Benjamin Meadows-Ingram
Memphis’ dialect is unique. A lot of Memphis’ vocabulary is compressed into one four-letter word. It’s spoken by males, females, young, old, black or white: MANE. — from that time Kelley D. Evans wrote about her hometown
⬆️ Aquemini is my Songs in the Key of Life. It’s my Purple Rain. It’s my Thriller. — David Dennis Jr. on OutKast
oh + also, food:
if you live in Southern California, you need a ‘guide to the family-run ‘hood burgers of Los Angeles barrios.’ and it’s right here. on the other hand ⬇️
One of my happiest childhood memories is shaking a fat pork chop in a Ziploc bag full of Shake ’n Bake seasoning before my grandmother slapped a few on a tray and put them in the oven. — from Amirah Mercer’s radical history of black vegans
The death of NBA reporter Sekou Smith has me angry. He was 48 years old. Taken by COVID. Or more truly the raggedy and evil way COVID has been handled by the previous administration.
please be well and safe in these wild times