141 Search results for "emotions"

When it comes time to communicate especially when you hurt someone, the other person in pain cant immediately understand you. An appearance of you remains clear to them; you appear to them as the harm. As the threat you are nowhere above doubt. How can you say something is real, when you’re suspect from the […]

Four years ago I got a phone call from the Obama Campaign in Cleveland, Ohio that requested me to “join the campaign.” I was more than happy to oblige, as the 2008 race for president seemed as if it would revolutionize our world. The pure hope felt in my 18-year-old mind at the inception of […]

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ccx7xYBArBc Over the past few weeks, the conversation around Black masculinity has been particularly invigorated in several ways. From Frank Ocean’s coming out to Lupe Fiasco’s shedding tears on thinking of the violence in Chicago, we’ve seen Black men produce profound moments of emotion—in a society where the showing of emotion is often positioned as […]

Tribal relationships—unions of people that involve romance and creativity—are hard to maintain because of conflicting worldviews. What it means to be a man or womyn in love causes problems for many tribes because their demands and dreams clash without a middle ground. Since I’m raised to be a black male by other black males, my […]

Humyns are the type of beings that always must be in the mood. Anything that can manipulate our emotions provides us with resources to do what must be done. Even our leisure time comes from our activities; perhaps smoking outside on a nice afternoon is our picture of a good mood. These days, our lives […]

Since when has skateboarding become a standard by which we judge black masculinity? Prior to Lupe Fiasco and Pharrell Williams, you would not see skate culture—promotion of local skate shops, perfection of kick flips and ollies, etc.—in music videos. Back then, the culture had an explicit expression whether it was Mr. “Skateboard P” himself or […]

Dedicated to Lakeesha Malone and Kim Jackson This past Sunday Dr. Dre and Snoop Doog achieved an impossible: they brought Tupac Shakur back to life! Using hologram technology, the musicians have awakened a level of consciousness that many would argue died with Tupac. However, the performance at Coachella 2012 is not merely an extension of […]

Kevin Powell, Akila Worksongs, MoveOn.org & ColorofChange.org hosted a Justice 4 Trayvon rally at the historic House of the Lord church in Brooklyn, NY, where I performed “A Song for Trayvon” backed by singers, featuring Inyang Bassey and a live band. My emotions almost got the best of me but I held it together, this […]

Court Theater, the professional theater located on the University of Chicago’s campus, premiered Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man last month. I haven’t read the novel since high school and was ripped open all over again, seeing Ellison’s words acted out on stage. I was surprised to feel such a deep connection to the emotions experienced in […]

I don’t know about anyone else, but I’ve always taken Michael Jackson’s optimism and musical happiness for granted. Black folks especially, at least those in my circle, praise his artful force for party R&B songs like “Shake Your Body” and “Remember the Time”. Not much has been said, however, about Mike’s collection of sorrow songs […]

Watching Love & Hip Hop the past couple weeks has brought several questions to mind. As a Black woman in the entertainment industry, I have looked up to Yandy Smith and Mona Scott-Young as positive examples of what it means to be a driven career woman. The lack of women of color in power positions […]

When the Occupy Wall Street Movement kicked off September 17th, 2011, many thought it would be short lived and a waste of time. For awhile, the objectives, goals and demands of the protesters were unclear and many thought this this demonstration would pass over just like the other dozens of rallies happening across the United […]