August 1, 2016
by Emily
Comments Off on Love and Jazz in the Time of War
Esi Edugyan’s prize-winning novel Half-Blood Blues (Thomas Allen, 2011) tells the story of struggling African-American jazz musicians in World War II Europe. Her narrator, Sid Griffiths, is the heartsick drummer, hoping in 1992 to redeem himself from the events from 1940. Called … Continue reading
June 23, 2016
by Emily
Comments Off on Iron Tenderness in The Samurai’s Garden
Gail Tsukiyama created a world I have since needed to visit in her novel The Samurai’s Garden . I end up there when trying to cope with the hard news of another shooting or kidnapping and seeking calm, peace or escape. I … Continue reading
April 11, 2013
by Emily
6 Comments
1. GenerationZero All we had to do was take the prize. They’d marched, chanted, been jailed and taunted. Their civil disobedience earned us the right to new social freedoms. Those baby boomers, in short, rocked it. The door was wide open … Continue reading
February 10, 2013
by Emily
1 Comment
We’ve come so far. No more slavery. No more Jim Crow. We have Oprah. But let’s pretend we haven’t. Let’s pretend that we still have the wrongest of wrongs to right, The most unfair Most unjust Most small-minded and cruelest … Continue reading