30 Search results for "playing in the dark"

by Briana Lawrence Self reflection is… weird. You’re sitting there, drinking a cup of coffee out of your favorite mug (mine being a Tetris themed mug with the words “EPIC FAIL” plastered on them since the pieces aren’t put together properly — it’s me in a nutshell). You’re sitting there, minding your own beeswax when, […]

“Nina,” the biographical film that focused on a period of singer Nina Simone’s life, is set for a limited release tomorrow (April 22), according to Colorlines. This day has been long in the making, after multiple attempts to get the project off the ground and has seen its fair share of controversy. Namely, the use […]

Ever had a song stuck in your head? “Its the money, money and the cars, cars and the clothes…I just wanna be successful.” This past Sunday I would not help but repeat the Drake rap song in my head. What caused this hip-hop hook rotation? Nothing other than a South African mega church that I […]

I sat under the air conditioning in a charter bus and simultaneously struggled with and enjoyed my privilege. This image is the manifestation of the division of two individuals who are phenotypically similar enough to be mistaken. It is in this context in which both individuals (myself and a South African child named Michelle) become […]

“Culture today is infecting everything with sameness. Film, radio, and magazines form a system. Each branch of culture is unanimous within itself and all are unanimous together.” —”The Culture Industry: Enlightenment As Mass Deception”, Dialectic of Enlightenment Stephen King recently tweeted, “I would never consider diversity in matters of art. Only quality. It seems to […]

by Daniel Johnson Toni Morrison, arguably the most influential living Black writer and some would say the most influential writer regardless of race, has crafted a body of work that is simultaneously grounded in a Black feminist/womanist politic, unquestionably Black, and commercially successful. In America, those things usually do not come all in the same […]

Dalvin Aboagye Near the end of May, the more melanin-infused parts of the internet were set ablaze by a questionable scene in the second season of She’s Gotta Have It, the Spike Lee-produced Netflix series based on his 1986 film of the same name. Within what many already saw as a weak portrayal of Black […]

by Jamila Dawn Mitchell I’m writing this because I need to feel wanted. That’s it. It may sound selfish to most. To a psychologist, though, this makes sense. Most things we do are done in spite of our desire to want to be loved. The sense of belonging is the essence of our humanity and […]

This year, Fix—Grist’s solutions lab—put out a call for short stories for their first climate- fiction contest. The call was an invitation to look beyond this moment of climate devastation and dream up what the next 180 years of climate repair can be. Imagine 2200: Climate Fiction for Future Ancestors, sponsored by NRDC, drew more […]

By Donnie Moreland “Where do you keep the shells?” Earl whispered. Willis, enamored with the searing heat of a bullet having ripped through his shoulder, seemed to hear his nephew retroactively. “Jesus….Lord.….I can’t remember.” Earl looked back to the door, accepting he was just going to have to wait here. Wait to know their enemy, […]

By Donnie Moreland It was no later than 6:23 am, on September 19th, when Officer Jacob Dochavney discovered the two bodies in the Tacoma River. He waited to call it in. He was three days from his two week vacation he’d been hollering about since February. He was supposed to be going to Las Vegas […]

by Vernon  Jordan, III She sat in the back of the joint, eyeing him. From over the shoulder of his bass, he noticed her fingers around the rim of a glass, miming the bass notes. He was the player, but so was she. Rooted, was their first glance, she minded him the way trees mind […]