It was the summer of 2004. I was a grad student with experience in resident life and I had taken on a job as co-director of a summer program hosted at my university. The pay was good and it gave me time to read and prep for my first go at teaching that fall. At […]
Category: Gender
Black Queer Trouble in Literature, Life, and the Age of OBama: Part II
Originally Delivered by Cheryl Clarke as the Kessler Lecture on Dec. 6, 2013 at the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies at the CUNY Graduate Center Scenes of black queer and feminist resistance; or “forced confinement and forced mobility” Recently I said the following at a “Symposium: Black Women’s Studies and the Transformation of […]
Interview with Kiini Ibura Salaam and Chesya Burke
CFs Sheridf and Crunkadelic had the honor of interviewing two awesome speculative fiction authors, the fabulous Kiini Ibura Salaam (author of Ancient, Ancient) and Chesya Burke (author of Let’s Play White). We talk feminism, Afrofuturism, and so much more. Check out the interview below. Kiini and Chesya will be reading from their works at […]
Somebody, Anybody? It’s Hard Out Here for a Sista
Trigger warning: Violent language “Somebody, anybody sing a Black girl song” Ntozake Shange, For Colored Girls Who Considered Suicide When the Rainbow was Enuf Being a Black woman or girl in the United States has never been easy. That much […]
Mama’s Baby, Papa’s Maybe
Father’s Day has come and gone again. As someone who did not grow up with a father or father figures, this day has not traditionally been on my radar at all. These days, though, it’s hard to forget Father’s Day, besides all the incessant commercials urging you to buy the fathers in your life any […]
Getting Crunk at Charis: Sweetwater and Supporting Feminist Bookstores!
Come one, come all! Join us in Atlanta at Charis Books and More on Friday, June 28th, 2013 at 7:30pm EST for CF Robin Boylorn’s book talk for Sweetwater: Black Women and Narratives of Resilience. The CFC is so proud of our girl Robin! Earlier this year, she published her first book with Peter […]
the light of us: a mother’s day mix
call it our craziness even, call it anything. it is the life thing in us that will not let us die. Poet Lucille Clifton’s language for lineage was cherished. “roots,” a poem from her 1974 collection An Ordinary Woman named it light and I choose to liken it to mothering. it is the light in us it […]
Truth. Be. Told. An Interview with Katina Parker
If you’ve been looking at my posts lately, I’ve clearly been on a kick of interviewing people who are creating work in the world that inspires me. The latest installment comes from multimedia maven Katina Parker about her project Truth. Be. Told. that highlights Queer Black Visionaries and their work in the world. Let’s take […]
Live Unchained: An Interview with Kathryn Buford
When I wrote my open letter to Quvenzhané Wallis, I began with a quote from Warsan Shire, a brilliant poet and writer who spoke the truth of giving your daughters difficult names. The equally amazing Jessica Solomon, a part of the Live Unchained organization, reached out with their intent to celebrate Warsan and other Black women creatives […]
From the Margins to the Mainstream: In Defense of Henry Enuta & Other Intersex People Around the Globe
A Guest Post by Sean Saifa Wall On March 26th, 2013 in Sapele, the Delta State of Nigeria, Pastor Henry Enuta was physically stripped and humiliated in public because he is an intersex person. According to news reports, he was almost killed by a lynch mob before being taken into custody by police. Most of […]