ordinary thoughts: did someone say yeehaw?
Hi community! Welcome to April. 💐It’s National Poetry Month, and you know we’re geeked to continue sharing some of our favorite poems, and poets, with you throughout this month. In the meantime, we encourage you to expand your poetry repertoire by supporting Black, Latine, and other underrepresented voices. And please stay tuned to our new podcast, Ordinary Thoughts, where we’ve been interviewing amazing poets and writers about their cultures, creative processes, and more. You can subscribe today on Apple and Spotify.
- Isaiah & Cybele
on the blog
american requiem
Celebrating country music’s Black roots, and why Beyoncé’s latest album release was right on time.
new episode
higher creative frequencies with shakira hunt
We had the pleasure of talking to Shakira Hunt, the Owner and Chief Creative Director of Philly-based Shakira Hunt Creative Studio.
Shakira is an interior designer by training, graduating from Moore College of Art & Design, with a BFA in Interior Design, and a photographer by trade. After side hustling in photography while working a full design job, Shakira decided to take a leap of faith into full-time entrepreneurship.
Plus! At the time you’re listening to this, Shakira’s “Give My Flowers: Soft Petals” exhibition is currently on display at the Delaware Art Museum from March through September 2024. Stay tuned for more information about the inspiration behind the project.
stories that have our attention
The Women Who Run Harlem
Since the Harlem Renaissance, Black women have shaped the culture uptown: In 1948, Jean Blackwell Hutson was appointed curator at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, and in 1968, Dr. Barbara Ann Teer founded the National Black Theatre. Yet only now are the majority of the neighborhood’s most prominent theaters and museums being simultaneously led by Black women — women who are fortifying and expanding their organizations in spite of funding cuts for libraries and arts programs and the rapid gentrification of their community.
28-Year-Old is the Youngest Black Professor to Simultaneously Teach at Columbia, NYU, and UCLA
Despite his distinguished accomplishments, however, Dr. Joseph is no stranger to failure and rejection. In his lifetime, he’s been turned down by more than 1,500 employers, 30 colleges, and 75 scholarship foundations. He was denied admission to other elite institutions like Princeton, UPenn, Cornell University, Dartmouth University, and Brown University. Back in 2012, Dr. Joseph received a letter of rejection from Columbia University. Today, he serves as an associate faculty in the Applied Analytics program at Columbia University School of Professional Studies. Back in 2016, he was also rejected by the New York University Tandon School of Engineering. Now, he teaches graduate students at the NYU School of Professional Studies.
Bridge Collapse Brings Stark Reminder of Immigrant Workers’ Vulnerabilities
Last March, a speeding car plowed between highway barriers on the same Baltimore highway and killed six workers, including Villatoro’s husband and brother-in-law. That crash along Interstate 695 was about 20 miles from the bridge. Now, a massive ship stacked with containers had crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge, causing its collapse. Six workers, all native to Latin America, were lost in the Patapsco River and presumed dead.
“We leave with so many dreams,” she said, her voice trembling. “Here, immigrants have the hardest times and do the hardest jobs, and then we’re the first to break.”
in other news...
Politics
José Andrés' NGO says 7 aid workers killed in Gaza strike
RFK Jr. calls Biden bigger threat to democracy than Trump
Behind DEI’s rise and fall
Markets
Baltimore bridge collapse a ‘national economic catastrophe’
The global crypto market cap fell by 6.88% to $2.46 trillion
Oil prices are near a 6mo high after Israel bombed Iranian consulate
Tech
Top musicians warning against replacing human artists with AI
These are the 8 Google employees who invented modern-day AI
A Nigerian app is saving lives connecting people to pro bono legal services
Sports
Caitlin Clark leads Iowa win in LSU rematch to reach Final Four
Judge Denies New York County's Request to Let It Enforce Trans Sports Restrictions
The NCAA's push to ban prop bets on college sports
pa' la cultura
cultural trivia
Question: What self-described "Black, lesbian, warrior, mother, poet" was the State Poet of New York in 1991-1992?
Audre Lorde
Maya Angelou
Rita Dove
Toni Morrison
Scroll further down to see if you’ve got it.
song of the week
We’re paying close attention to the latest exceptional music output from artists who deserve more flowers. This week, you should listen to:
Be Easy – Odeal, a genre-surfing Nigerian artist by way of Germany, Spain, and London
words of wisdom
Cultural Trivia Answer
The answer, ladies and gentlemen, is… *Drum roll please*
Audre Lorde
Audre Lorde (1924-1987) was named the New York State Poet Laureate in 1991 by Governor Mario M. Cuomo.
Born in Harlem, Lorde attended Hunter College and Columbia University, and worked as a librarian in New York public schools before teaching at the college level. She published her first work in 1968 and went on to release more than a dozen poetry and prose collections that politicized all parts of her life.
Lorde spoke out against all forms of injustice, and her activism is honored today by the Audre Lorde Project, a New York City community organizing center that works toward social and economic justice for LGBTQ people of color.