“Well, they began it.”
the Jets
“Well, they began it.”
the Sharks
“And we’re the ones to stop it once and for all…tonight.”
the Jets and the Sharks
I was just thirteen when I encountered the troubling reality that two people could share a singular experience and come away with opposite perspectives. The movie, West Side Story, was the vehicle of that lesson, and a childhood friend was my unwitting teacher. Meridith, wherever you are, I thank you. read more…
Beauty is no quality in things themselves: It exists merely in the mind which contemplates them; and each mind perceives a different beauty.
David Hume
In the summer of 2000, I was on the island of St. Kitts teaching in an international doctoral program as part of the university’s residency requirement for its graduates. I was preparing the students for their dissertation projects read more…
I write this on the day before the October 2, 2021 Women’s March for Reproductive Rights, remembering my participation in the first Women’s March of January 2017.
I have the best hat in the world. It is black and sags a bit to the side giving it the air of a living thing that moves this way and that as I turn my head. read more…
I was taught to see racism only in individual acts of meanness,
not in invisible systems conferring dominance on my group.
Peggy MacIntosh, White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack, 1988
I entered class that day with a bounce in my gait. My exit was less buoyant. I was about to be rudely awakened to the concept of privilege.
In the summer of 1973, I was a graduate student at Rutgers University read more…
The unconventional treatment of our revolutionary beginnings with its brilliant lyrics and vibrant production made the show Hamilton a Broadway smash. It is the iconic embodiment of the hope of American multi-culturism with its use of hip-hop lyrics read more…
