"Going to Selma was always an escape from the daily grind, primarily because of its emptiness. There was no Target or Starbucks, and there still is not. Selma has one of a few things and not a whole lot of anything, except history. Every year there is a commemorative march and jubilee street festival and concert to honor the civil…
The University of Oklahoma Sigma Alpha Epsilon video is all over CNN and my timeline on Facebook and Twitter. I have never seen a university react so quickly to anything. Universities are bureaucratic mines where ideas rarely lead to action with any sort of speed. However, I question whether they acted too quickly. The fraternity members were absolutely wrong and…
Would you leave your job working as a T-shirt designer for a major denim company in Istanbul to move to Atlanta with no money and no plan-- only talent? A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to interview an artist named Hirut Yosef, and that is exactly what she did. She designed jerseys and graphic tees for Mavi…
Last Monday I interviewed international playwright Dominique Morisseau about her play Detroit 67. It runs at Atlanta's Southwest Arts Center, February 10 - March 8. We chatted a lot about her hometown of Detroit, and how she aspires to be the scribe for the people she grew up with. Below is a teaser of our conversation. Click the link…
On Sunday, January 18, just before MLK Day, OWN aired the documentary Light Girls. The film is a follow-up to the documentary Dark Girls, which toured the indie film circuit a couple of years ago. I attended a special luncheon in 2012 where I had the opportunity to interview D. Channsin Berry, one of the directors/producers of Dark Girls, and…
I interviewed actress, singer, and comedian Rain Pryor, daughter of famed comedian Richard Pryor, about her one-woman show Fried Chicken and Latkes. Here's a taste of our conversation: ArtsATL: Do you remember your first school play? Rain Pryor: The first school play I ever did was Winnie the Pooh and I played the ass Eeyore, because — this should be…