ARKANSAS TIMES
Photographer Harlan Bozeman straddles tragedy and hope in Elaine
“Look once at Bozeman’s photographs of mostly Black subjects, and his work appears like the documented evidence of their lives. Look again, and it appears as portraiture. Straddling that line between candid realism and heightened sophistication has enabled him to snap images that have gained notice from The New York Times, which described his work at…
An introvert walks into a bar: How — and why — Paul Whannel launched the AR Queer Men’s Social Club
“Watch enough movies with gay characters at the center of the plot, and you’ll become convinced that the closet is, to put it in video game terms, a gay person’s final boss. But one of the hardest things about gay life in a flyover state in the 21st century for me had little to do…
In praise of Jim Dailey Fitness & Aquatic Center, the people’s gym
“Over time, my relationship to Jim Dailey has deepened from initial wariness to warm fondness, to deep love, to conspicuous proselytization. Lately, I’ve been borrowing the urban planning term “third space” to describe, and perhaps elevate, the facility supported by the city of Little Rock’s Parks and Recreation Department, an entity for which I admittedly…
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OXFORD AMERICAN
After Effects
Sorting through belongings, or refusing to “My response to his passing, both in the immediate aftermath and in the months that followed, was like a caught breath. To me, grief has come to feel like bewilderment, a kind of “Idunno” shoulder shrug when trying to suss out my emotional responses. The clearest evidence of this…
An Unquiet Approach
“For almost three decades, Adrian Quesada has been an architect of some of the most exciting music coming out of Austin—with Latin funk band Grupo Fantasma, with the Black Pumas, and as a solo collaborator with various artists. He’s gained seven Grammy nominations through his collaboration with vocalist Eric Burton as the Black Pumas, performing…
Becoming Integrated
“To my mind now, integration narratives erase native communities by design. It’s necessary to think separate and unequal also meant shabby or lacking. The more lack, the greater the achievement, the greater the moral self-congratulation for achieving integrated space. Also, the easier it becomes to forget how recently black people were denied equal access to…
BUZZFEED READER
The Rich, Black, Southern Heritage Of Hip-Hop Majorettes
“Beyoncé’s recent Netflix concert film Homecoming highlights her admiration for the hip-hop majorette style. Her iconic Coachella performance, which opens with a phalanx of majorette-inspired dancers clearing the way for Bey costumed as Nefertiti, arrives at an auspicious moment for majoretting. Advocates of this uniquely Southern performance style — a community that includes both Southern straight black…
Does Desiring White Guys Make Me A Traitor To My Race?
“Of course, you could look at white men the way the culture wanted you to — chiseled and perfect, or draped in the signifiers of a lower socioeconomic, or black, performance style. White male beauty was Chris Evans as Captain America, swole up on Super Soldier serum, or Channing Tatum as Magic Mike in a fitted cap, grinding to Ginuwine’s Pony. But…
My Father And I Both Chose HBCUs, But Not For The Same Reason
“We’d worked ourselves into such a froth of passive aggressiveness that one night in the spring of my senior year of high school. I splayed the acceptance letters I’d received from the four colleges I’d applied to across the dining room table, my attitude that of a spades player holding the last four books. This…
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