An open letter to my students, my close friend, and my mother: When I left the movie theater after watching Tyler Perry Presents For Colored Girls I felt like Tyler Perry took something from me. I went to see the film with a close friend and I was ready to feel some of the complexity […]
Author: sheridf
More Dispatches from NWSA
Sheri on the Classroom: a theater, dance studio, a closed door private space, a garden, an offering and opportunity, a place for tensions, burning, eruptions, cooling, change. Speaking of the classroom we have been going to school in various pedagogical sessions and in the hallways. SolHot rocked some embodied scholarship when Chamaura and Dominique danced […]
A (Hetero)Black Feminist F(ordin)airytale
My husband and I have been together for ten years, married for five. I have been reflecting on our relationship particularly because there are very few positive narratives about black male and female relationships in general. But I have been thinking about the fact that I haven’t come across many positive narratives about self-identified black […]
For Elsie Lacks
Does anybody see the black women Bound and gagged In dirtied white gowns Hair disheveled and feet bare Climbing over one another Trying to get your attention Does anybody hear the black women Moaning muffled cries Kicking and wiggling Banging their heads against the floor Trying to get your attention I see them. I hear […]
Do You Remember The Time When You Fell In Love…with Activism
The spring of 2000 changed my life. I was a graduate student in Women’s Studies at The Ohio State University, mildly active with the Afrikan Student Union. One April day an advanced grad student named T.J. reported that the CWA Local 4501 union campus workers were stalled in their negotiations with the University, primarily over […]
The Gifts Among Us
This past week I was talking with some friends about race and racism in academia, social circles, and beyond. One of my friends, a white woman, asked my opinion on how people in general, but particularly white people should address racism. My answer was racism should be addressed in community regardless of the race of the […]