On the Kojo Nnamdi Show, YA author Jason Reynolds discusses the goal behind writing Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You with Ibram X. Kendi. “I think it’s always complicated to take such massive ideas and to whittle them into something bite-size without pandering or condescending to children,” Reynolds explains. “I don’t think you have to condescend in order to give them that which is true. It can be sophisticated and nuanced, and still be for them.”
Jason Reynolds on the Language of Discussing Racism with Kids
I’ve Got Ideas
If you have a blog, you’ve probably fielded suggestions from your relatives about what you should write, who you should write about and what personal issues you should address in your posts. At The Hairpin, Michelle Markowitz shares a conversation with her mother on the subject.
Leap Before You Look
Can the art of teaching art actually be exhibited? A new exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston about the one-time Asheville, NC institution Black Mountain College asks just such questions. Black Mountain College was a controversial, short-lived bastion of free-thought and artistic expression which hosted such figures as Josef Albers, John Cage, and Robert Creeley from 1933 to 1957.
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Five Symptoms
Recommended Reading: Maddox Pratt on battling depression and writing a long work of hypertext literature.
Hail to the Chief (Librarian)
During the riots in Baltimore following Freddie Gray’s death, the city’s chief librarian insisted her neighborhood branch remain open. Yesterday that librarian, Dr. Carla D. Hayden, was sworn in as the 14th librarian of Congress, the first woman and African-American to hold the position. We wonder what Dr. Hayden might make of our own Jacob Lambert‘s “Open Letter to the Person Who Wiped Boogers on My Library Book.”
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PW Reviews Late American Novel and More
The book I co-edited, The Late American Novel: Writers on the Future of Books, got its Publishers Weekly review this week – a very nice writeup. Also spotted this week, a longer consideration of the book at tumblr Feriatus.
Poetic Prayer
“I’m interested in character. I’m especially interested in how language—story, memory, names, word choice—reflects and reveals character. The language of the Catholic Church—the liturgy, the prayer, the gospels—was in many ways my first poetry. ” Year in Reading alumna Alice McDermott discusses her short story, “These Short, Dark Days,” published in the latest The New Yorker.
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Kindles Your Interest
Good Morning, Poems
A dozen lullaby poems written by Goodnight Moon author Margaret Wise Brown were recently unearthed in an old trunk, and the trove is slated to be published in the United States soon.
I grew up a poor white child, in the 60s. I was taught to love and respect all people regardless of race. I’ve traveled extensively, have long-lasting friends and dated women of all races. I’m sure there are racists out there. Yet I see a media inciting racism, eager to get attention for financial gain, way ahead of investigation. We’re all being had. Our cities were burned and looted, using George Floyd under false pretense. On a fatal dose of meth, we now know he cried out “I can’t breathe”, in the car, long before the officer put his knee on him. Most of racism was overcome, lawman policies changed a long time ago. We’re being had, by those who seek to gain by reigniting this tired wornout excuse for lack of initiative, personal accountability.