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I admit when Tara and I went to New England last summer we did drop in the LL Bean store. We exchanged things, I don't think we bought anything. African-American Boycott of L.L. Bean Enters 80th Year

Watina (Dig) by Andy Palacio Brilliant. Back in the 90s I took some grad level classes at LSU . One of the papers I did was on the Garifuna. Before that I had heard of them, I knew they were some cultural/ethnic mixture of African and Native in Central America or the Caribbean. Even with my constant focus on music I never considered contemporary music. A few days ago I saw this disk and decided to give it a try. This is an extraordinary disk. The liners have the words but I haven’t read them b/c, like much of the best music, I don’t have to know what he’s saying to understand. Musically it reminds me of mento, that laid back acoustic reggae-ish stuff. It’s got some latin american vibes and sounds as well. The guy’s voice is lush. I recommend this highly. See more about Watina (Dig)

Acacia: A Novel by David Anthony Durham All I know of fantasy is “Lord of the Rings” and, I guess, Harry Potter but I’m talking about the sword wielding, sorcery bound, warrior fantasy. I started to read this b/c the author David Anthony Durham is black, I remember good reviews of his “Pride of Carthage” and this book, the first of a triolgy, was getting compared to Lord of the Rings. Maybe because I am a novice at fantasy or maybe because of the writing I had a little trouble getting into it. I had trouble with naming schemes and found myself getting confused about who was part of what “race”. About 150 pages into this 600 page door stop I was hooked. I found myself exciting about moving to the next chapter. Each chapter tells a different point of view and rotates through the 6 or so primary players. It is the story of a prosperous empire brought down by a surprise assassination of the king and then the use of biological warfare to wipe everybo...

I think everyone who works and enjoys (sometimes) retail wears some of the same masks. Now, as a Black man the one I struggle with most often is not being a stereotype. Some of that is me saying to the outside world "not all Black men are what you see in the news or movies" and some of that is me saying to my community "there is more to being Black than what you see in the news or movies". I have used this mask (sometimes unknowingly, sometimes unwittingly) since I was a kid. Why? Well, I am fortunate enough to have been born into a true multi-generational middle class (sometimes upper middle class) family and to me that means education, world experience and dreaming are allowed and fostered. I am a 3rd generation college graduate (my grandfathers' grandfathers were slaves - one in Forsythe, GA; the other in Rutherford Cty, TN). I don't think I need to explain how extremely rare that is in any part of the African-American experience. Hell, it's rare in t...

It's 2007 and we're still noticing firsts. Congrats to Thelma, lets see if the College can follow soon. Thelma Monique Panton, a middler at Sewanee , the University of the South's School of Theology , is the first African American to be named student government president . Technorati Tags: sewanee , episcopal , african-american , black , religion