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Jericho Brown joins Kevin Young to read, “When,” by Elizabeth Alexander, and his own poem, “Colosseum.” Jericho Brown, who received the 2020 Pulitzer Prize in poetry for his collection “The Tradition.” He's a 2024 MacArthur Fellow and a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
In How We Write Now: Living with Black Feminist Theory (Duke UP, 2024), Jennifer C. Nash examines how Black feminists use beautiful writing to allow writers and readers to stay close to the field's central object and preoccupation: loss. She demonstrates how contemporary Black feminist writers and theorists such as Jesmyn Ward, Elizabeth Alexander, Christina Sharpe, and Natasha Trethewey mobilize their prose to ask readers to feel, undo, and reassemble themselves. These intimate invitations are more than a set of tools for decoding the social world; Black feminist prose becomes a mode of living and feeling, dreaming and being, and a distinctly affective project that treats loss as not only paradigmatic of Black life but also an aesthetic question. Through her own beautiful writing, Nash shows how Black feminism offers itself as a companion to readers to chart their own lives with and in loss, from devastating personal losses to organizing around the movement for Black lives. Charting her own losses, Nash reminds us that even as Black feminist writers get as close to loss as possible, it remains a slippery object that troubles memory and eludes capture. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/african-american-studies
In How We Write Now: Living with Black Feminist Theory (Duke UP, 2024), Jennifer C. Nash examines how Black feminists use beautiful writing to allow writers and readers to stay close to the field's central object and preoccupation: loss. She demonstrates how contemporary Black feminist writers and theorists such as Jesmyn Ward, Elizabeth Alexander, Christina Sharpe, and Natasha Trethewey mobilize their prose to ask readers to feel, undo, and reassemble themselves. These intimate invitations are more than a set of tools for decoding the social world; Black feminist prose becomes a mode of living and feeling, dreaming and being, and a distinctly affective project that treats loss as not only paradigmatic of Black life but also an aesthetic question. Through her own beautiful writing, Nash shows how Black feminism offers itself as a companion to readers to chart their own lives with and in loss, from devastating personal losses to organizing around the movement for Black lives. Charting her own losses, Nash reminds us that even as Black feminist writers get as close to loss as possible, it remains a slippery object that troubles memory and eludes capture. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network
In How We Write Now: Living with Black Feminist Theory (Duke UP, 2024), Jennifer C. Nash examines how Black feminists use beautiful writing to allow writers and readers to stay close to the field's central object and preoccupation: loss. She demonstrates how contemporary Black feminist writers and theorists such as Jesmyn Ward, Elizabeth Alexander, Christina Sharpe, and Natasha Trethewey mobilize their prose to ask readers to feel, undo, and reassemble themselves. These intimate invitations are more than a set of tools for decoding the social world; Black feminist prose becomes a mode of living and feeling, dreaming and being, and a distinctly affective project that treats loss as not only paradigmatic of Black life but also an aesthetic question. Through her own beautiful writing, Nash shows how Black feminism offers itself as a companion to readers to chart their own lives with and in loss, from devastating personal losses to organizing around the movement for Black lives. Charting her own losses, Nash reminds us that even as Black feminist writers get as close to loss as possible, it remains a slippery object that troubles memory and eludes capture. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/gender-studies
In How We Write Now: Living with Black Feminist Theory (Duke UP, 2024), Jennifer C. Nash examines how Black feminists use beautiful writing to allow writers and readers to stay close to the field's central object and preoccupation: loss. She demonstrates how contemporary Black feminist writers and theorists such as Jesmyn Ward, Elizabeth Alexander, Christina Sharpe, and Natasha Trethewey mobilize their prose to ask readers to feel, undo, and reassemble themselves. These intimate invitations are more than a set of tools for decoding the social world; Black feminist prose becomes a mode of living and feeling, dreaming and being, and a distinctly affective project that treats loss as not only paradigmatic of Black life but also an aesthetic question. Through her own beautiful writing, Nash shows how Black feminism offers itself as a companion to readers to chart their own lives with and in loss, from devastating personal losses to organizing around the movement for Black lives. Charting her own losses, Nash reminds us that even as Black feminist writers get as close to loss as possible, it remains a slippery object that troubles memory and eludes capture. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literary-studies
In How We Write Now: Living with Black Feminist Theory (Duke UP, 2024), Jennifer C. Nash examines how Black feminists use beautiful writing to allow writers and readers to stay close to the field's central object and preoccupation: loss. She demonstrates how contemporary Black feminist writers and theorists such as Jesmyn Ward, Elizabeth Alexander, Christina Sharpe, and Natasha Trethewey mobilize their prose to ask readers to feel, undo, and reassemble themselves. These intimate invitations are more than a set of tools for decoding the social world; Black feminist prose becomes a mode of living and feeling, dreaming and being, and a distinctly affective project that treats loss as not only paradigmatic of Black life but also an aesthetic question. Through her own beautiful writing, Nash shows how Black feminism offers itself as a companion to readers to chart their own lives with and in loss, from devastating personal losses to organizing around the movement for Black lives. Charting her own losses, Nash reminds us that even as Black feminist writers get as close to loss as possible, it remains a slippery object that troubles memory and eludes capture. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/critical-theory
In How We Write Now: Living with Black Feminist Theory (Duke UP, 2024), Jennifer C. Nash examines how Black feminists use beautiful writing to allow writers and readers to stay close to the field's central object and preoccupation: loss. She demonstrates how contemporary Black feminist writers and theorists such as Jesmyn Ward, Elizabeth Alexander, Christina Sharpe, and Natasha Trethewey mobilize their prose to ask readers to feel, undo, and reassemble themselves. These intimate invitations are more than a set of tools for decoding the social world; Black feminist prose becomes a mode of living and feeling, dreaming and being, and a distinctly affective project that treats loss as not only paradigmatic of Black life but also an aesthetic question. Through her own beautiful writing, Nash shows how Black feminism offers itself as a companion to readers to chart their own lives with and in loss, from devastating personal losses to organizing around the movement for Black lives. Charting her own losses, Nash reminds us that even as Black feminist writers get as close to loss as possible, it remains a slippery object that troubles memory and eludes capture. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Flourishing is not a fixed state; it is an unfolding. In this time of rupture we need encounters with flourishing, to know it in our lived experiences individually and collectively. In this transformative event on December 12, 2024, Ryan McGranaghan, host of the Origins Podcast and founder of the Flourishing Salons, engaged in a moving conversation with four profound provocateurs and a wider community of artists, designers, engineers, scientists, educators, and contemplatives. The event was co-hosted by Flourishing Salons and the Cultural Programs of the National Academy of Sciences (CPNAS) DC Art and Science Evening Rendezvous (DASER).Origins Podcast WebsiteFlourishing Commons NewsletterShow Notes:Video of the event (link) and event page (link)Opening remarks - JD Talasek, Cultural Programs of the National Academy of Sciences (03:30)DC Art Science Evening Rendezvous (03:30)Ryan McGranaghan framing (05:50)Flourishing Salons (06:00)Rainer Maria Rilke "Let This Darkness Be a Bell Tower" (07:30)Elizabeth Alexander (09:00)James Suzman (09:40)Danielle Allen (09:40)John Paul Lederach and critical yeast (12:00)Audrey Tang (12:50)David Whyte (13:10)"Knowledge Commons and the Future of Democracy" (14:00)Simone Weil (18:00)American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting (19:00)'Flourishing Summits' (19:45)Susan Magsamen provocation (20:15)Julie Demuth provocation (34:00)Jennifer Wiseman provocation (45:00)Dan Jay provocation (56:15)Salon discussion (01:11:00)Find the guests online:Susan MagsamenJulie DemuthJennifer WisemanDan JayLogo artwork by Cristina GonzalezMusic by swelo on all streaming platforms or @swelomusic on social media
Today's poem is The Presence in Absence by Linda Gregg. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Major writes… “As poet Elizabeth Alexander asks in one of my favorite poems, “Ars Poetica #100”: “and are we not of interest to each other?” While not its only function, for poetry also thrives beyond the affairs of societies, poetry deepens our appreciation for people. Their perspectives and life events take central stage. It's as if they are with us, though not with us.” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp
The Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost ORISON: Calm the Tempests of my Heart – Elizabeth Alexander (b.1962), Text: Sören Kierkegaard, adapted PSALM 84 – Sheila Bristow HYMN: O Christ, you are both light and day – David Hurd (b. 1950) NUNC DIMITTIS: Jeff Junkinsmith (b. 1956) ANTHEM: Adoremus in Aeternum – Ērik Ešenvalds (b. 1977) The […]
Today, a poem with a poignant question to live: “...and are we not of interest to each other?” Carry Elizabeth Alexander's reading of her poem “Ars Poetica #100: I Believe” with you — and hear Elizabeth read more of her poetry in the On Being episode, “Words That Shimmer.”Elizabeth Alexander is a poet, author, and educator. Since 2018, she has served as president of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. She was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2019 and is Chancellor Emeritus of the Academy of American Poets. Her books include American Sublime, a 2006 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry and the memoir, The Light of the World, a 2016 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Biography. Her most recent book is The Trayvon Generation.
To wrap up season seven of Moveable Do, Steve celebrates 100 episodes. You'll hear greetings and updates from 19 former guests - of course including new recordings of their music. Steve also counts down and shares clips from the top 5 episodes of Moveable Do according to listener downloads. In addition to the amazing music and people you'll hear, Steve also talks about and shares the piece that you've heard as the intro music this season, "Oh Call Him Back to Me." Thank you to the guests who participated in interviews in season seven! Z. Randall Stroope - https://www.zrstroope.com/ Judith Herrington - https://judithherringtonmusic.com Lawrence Kramer - https://lkmusic.org Marie-Claire Saindon - https://www.marieclairesaindon.com/ Elizabeth Alexander - https://www.elizabethalexander.com/ Jocelyn Hagen (Compose Like a Girl Podcast) - https://www.jocelynhagen.com/compose-like-a-girl/ Frank Ticheli - https://frankticheli.com Karen P Thomas - https://karenpthomas.com/ Molly Catherine Nixon - https://www.mc-studios.org/ Kim André Arnesen - https://kimarnesen.com/ Santiago Veros - https://santiagoveros.site Edna Yeh - https://www.ednayeh.com/ Nell Shaw Cohen - https://www.nellshawcohen.com/ Eric Alexander - https://www.ericscottalexander.com/ Bret Simmons - https://www.theatricalrights.com/author/bret-simmons/ Brett Stewart - https://www.millennial.org/ Thank you all for supporting Moveable Do! See you in Season 8! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/moveabledo/message
Today we pay tribute, with poems by Andrea Cohen and Elizabeth Alexander, to the indispensable golden wonder. Get full access to The Daily Poem Podcast at dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribe
Liberty: A principle emphasizing freedom, autonomy, and the inherent rights of individuals. In this episode, artist Lorna Simpson and poet and scholar Dr. Elizabeth Alexander question the nature of individual rights, autonomy, and separate the idea of "liberty" from "freedom" via Simpson's evocative representations of race, gender, and identity and Alexander's celebrated poetic insights.
This week on Moveable Do, we answer the most important question: How do you sing like a planet?! Composer and lyricist Elizabeth Alexander joins Steve in conversation about growing up in the Carolinas and Appalachian Ohio and how it didn't shape her career, but then did! They talk about being true to yourself and not trying to be something you're not. Pieces featured on this episode: "A Taste of Home" from Split Hickory, "How to Sing Like a Planet," "The Gate is Open," and "Get Curious." To learn more about Elizabeth Alexander and her music, visit https://www.elizabethalexander.com/. For more information about this podcast or a full archive of episodes, visit https://sdcompose.com/moveabledo. Connect with us! Email: moveabledo@gmail.com Website: https://sdcompose.com/moveabledo Instagram: @Moveable_do_podcast Twitter: @MoveableDo Moveable Do Merch https://www.teepublic.com/user/sdcompose --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/moveabledo/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/moveabledo/support
This poet, president of the Mellon foundation, quotes June Jordan on the question activists should ask: “Where is the love? What are we moving toward, not just what are we fighting against?” Poetry, politics, and why your Thanksgiving dinner should include lasagna. Made Eritrean style.
Campbell McGrath is among South Florida's most revered poets recognized with the MacArthur Genius Award, a Kingsley Tufts poetry Award and by admirers from Robert Pinsky to Elizabeth Alexander. His newest collection is Fever of Unknown Origin and on this edition of The Literary Life, we celebrate its publication with a reading at the Coral Gables location of Books & Books. Introducing Campbell is Scott Cunningham, executive and artistic director of OMiami, which is building community around the power of poetry. Campbell McGrath is the author of eleven books of poetry, most recently Nouns & Verbs: New and Selected Poems, and XX: Poems for the Twentieth Century, a finalist for the 2017 Pulitzer Prize. His writing has been recognized with a MacArthur Foundation “Genius Award,” a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Witter Bynner Fellowship from the Library of Congress, and a United States Artists Fellowship. He lives with his wife in Miami Beach, and teaches in the MFA program at Florida International University. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Legendary poet and teacher Elizabeth Alexander sits down with Michelle to discuss their 30 years of friendship, how they struggled as young mothers, and crucial support their friend group has given to them at the low points in their lives. Elizabeth also draws the curtain back on what really happens when you go on a retreat to Camp David with the First Lady. Find the episode transcript here: audible.com/tlp/episode7 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
“The love that can be between two people is actually a powerful life force that can do tremendous things if you circle it back out again,” says poet and memoirist Elizabeth Alexander. Alexander is the president of the Mellon Foundation, which is the largest arts and culture funder in America. She joins Cleo Wade to talk about keeping alive the work of the people who came before us, why creativity can be in service of our communities, and the difference between evolution and revolution. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
This week, poets Angela Jackson, Johanny Vázquez Paz, Faisal Mohyuddin, and Carlos Cumpián read from and discuss their contributions to the recent collection Wherever I'm At: An Anthology of Chicago Poetry. The following conversation originally took place May 15, 2022 and was recorded live at the American Writers Festival. AWM PODCAST NETWORK HOME About Wherever I'm At: The Chicago Literary Hall of Fame has partnered with Chicago publishers After Hours Press and Third World Press to produce a definitive collection of poetry by living Chicago poets. "Wherever I'm At: An Anthology of Chicago Poetry" features the work of a widely diverse list of over 160 poets and artists all with strong ties to Chicagoland. With a Foreword by noted scholar Carlo Rotello, the new anthology is edited by Donald G. Evans (executive director of the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame) who completed the project begun by the late poet-editor-teacher Robin Metz formerly of Knox College. A dazzling array of voices representing many generations of Chicagoans grace the pages of "Wherever I'm At" including essential poets such as Li-Young Lee, Elizabeth Alexander, Stuart Dybek, Angela Jackson, Tyehimba Jess, Sandra Cisneros, Campbell McGrath, Ana Castillo, Maxine Chernoff, Patricia Smith, Edward Hirsch, Kathleen Rooney, Luis Alberto Urrea, Emily Jungmin Yoon, Luis J. Rodriguez, Elise Paschen, Sterling Plumpp, Marianne Boruch, Haki Madhubuti, Rachel DeWoskin, Ed Roberson, Tara Betts, and Reginald Gibbons, to name a few. The list is exhaustive in its diversity and according to editor Don Evans, deliberately so. This anthology also showcases the incredible visuals of an equally talented group of Chicago artists whose work amplifies the poetic musings throughout.
“I call the young people who grew up in the past twenty-five years the Trayvon Generation. They always knew these stories. These stories formed their world view. These stories helped instruct young African-Americans about their embodiment and their vulnerability. The stories were primers in fear and futility. The stories were the ground soil of their rage. These stories instructed them that anti-black hatred and violence were never far.” - Elizabeth Alexander, The Trayvon Generation This week is dedicated to all the young Black people who've grown up in the Trayvon Generation. Elizabeth Alexander's essay and book of the same name guide this week's episode about what it's like living in times of anti-Black violence and not-guilty verdicts. We share how February 26, 2012 changed everything for us as Black boys, and ushered in a decade of constant fear, anger and cynicism. We address the struggles to better define what freedom might mean, with the help of many of our favorite books. Check out Growing Up in the Trayvon Generation this weekend anywhere you listen to podcasts. 1:37 Introducing the Trayvon Generation 2:57 What we remember from 2012 6:21 The Timeline of the Justice system 8:20 The medium in which we hear the news 9:21 Respectability politics 15:38 Becoming Disillusioned with politics 20:40 Turning away from social media 25:58 What does it mean to be free black man? 30:00 The Story of Herman Wallace 33:08 Finding freedom in prison? 36:50 What is freedom really? 40:00 Other books that come to mind 44:00 Time traveling to 1919 47:37 Surprise and Connectedness --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/realballersread/support
[Sell The Show! Enrollment is open! Use code PODCAST100 and get $100 off. Visit selltheshow.com today.] This week on the podcast, it's a Theatremaker Conversations episode with two fantastic leaders from Columbia Entertainment Company -- its executive director Enola Riann-White and artistic AND marketing director, Elizabeth Alexander. In our conversation, we talk about their first full season post-pandemic shutdown, how marketing has changed and Enola shares a profound story of how she challenged her board not to do business as usual and embrace the diversity Columbia has to refocus the theatre's intent and mission with inclusivity, diversity, equity and access as paramount to their present and future. -- Julie has just one more consultation opening in her first half of 2023 calendar. Interested in working one-on-one with Julie? Book a 15 minute chat here. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/inthegreenroom-jnemitz/message
Subscribe to Quotomania on Simplecast or search for Quotomania on your favorite podcast app!Elizabeth Alexander is a prize-winning and New York Times bestselling author, renowned poet, educator, scholar, and cultural advocate. She is also president of the Mellon Foundation, the nation's largest funder in the arts, culture, and humanities.Dr. Alexander's most recent book, The Trayvon Generation (2022), is a galvanizing meditation on the power of art and culture to illuminate America's unresolved problem with race and the challenges facing young Black America. Among the fifteen books she has authored or co-authored, her poetry collection American Sublime was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry in 2006, and her memoir, The Light of the World, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Biography and the National Book Critics Circle Award in 2015. Other works include Crave Radiance: New and Selected Poems 1990–2010 (2010), Power and Possibility: Essays, Reviews, Interviews (2007), The Black Interior: Essays (2004), Antebellum Dream Book (2001), Body of Life (1996), and The Venus Hottentot (1990). Over the course of an esteemed career in education, Dr. Alexander has held distinguished professorships at Smith College, Columbia University, and Yale University, where she taught for fifteen years and chaired the African American Studies Department. She has been awarded the Jackson Poetry Prize, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship, the George Kent Award, the National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, and three Pushcart Prizes for Poetry. Notably, Dr. Alexander composed and delivered “Praise Song for the Day” for the 2009 inauguration of President Barack Obama. Dr. Alexander is Chancellor Emeritus of the Academy of American Poets, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, serves on the Pulitzer Prize Board, and co-designed the Art for Justice Fund.From http://www.elizabethalexander.net/about. For more information about Elizabeth Alexander:Previously on The Quarantine Tapes:Elizabeth Alexander: https://quarantine-tapes.simplecast.com/episodes/the-quarantine-tapes-062-elizabeth-alexander“Elizabeth Alexander”: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/elizabeth-alexander“Elizabeth Alexander: The Desire to Know Each Other”: https://onbeing.org/programs/desire-know-elizabeth-alexander-2/The Trayvon Generation: https://www.grandcentralpublishing.com/titles/elizabeth-alexander/the-trayvon-generation/9781538737903/“Elizabeth Alexander: ‘We Can Never Give Up Hope'”: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/news-and-features/articles/elizabeth-alexander-trayvon-generation-interview/
Writer and poet Elizabeth Alexander talks with Anderson about how she and her two children coped with the sudden death of her husband, Ficre, ten years ago, and the recent death of her father.To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy
Jill Biden, la primera dama de Estados Unidos, dio positivo COVID -19, de acuerdo con la información que brindó su directora de Comunicación Elizabeth Alexander, la esposa del presidente Biden presenta síntomas leves de la enfermedad y se aislará durante cinco días.De esto y más, nos hablan Adriana Braniff y Pedro Ferriz Híjar en su Comentario Global.
When we think of racism, we often think of actions, obstacles, systems. What we often overlook is the power of images, movement, art, and words. They represent the power of both harm and hope. Elizabeth Alexander in her new book, The Trayvon Generation, uses this prism to share poetry, art, and film. And along with her exquisite, evocative language, we find ourselves educated, provoked and challenged. Elizabeth is singularly equipped to tell us this story. She is a poet. Many were introduced to her when she read her poem “Praise Song for the Day” at President Obama's inauguration. She is a bestselling, award-winning author and is now the president of the Mellon Foundation, the nation's largest funder in the arts, culture, and humanities. But at her core, she is an educator, having had that role as chair of African-American studies at Yale University. In her new book, that is just what she does. She educates us, and the poet in her delivers the education with lyrical beauty. Elizabeth Alexander is a prize-winning and New York Times bestselling author, renowned poet, educator, scholar, and cultural advocate. Her most recent book, The Trayvon Generation (2022), is a galvanizing meditation on the power of art and culture to illuminate America's unresolved problem with race and the challenges facing young Black America. Among the fifteen books she has authored or co-authored, her memoir, The Light of the World, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Biography and the National Book Critics Circle Award in 2015 and her poetry collection American Sublime was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry in 2006. Notably, Dr. Alexander composed and recited “Praise Song for the Day” for President Barack Obama's 2009 inauguration. Over the course of an esteemed career in education, she has held distinguished professorships at Smith College, Columbia University, and Yale University, where she taught for fifteen years and chaired the African American Studies Department. Dr. Alexander is currently president of the Mellon Foundation, the nation's largest funder in the arts, culture, and humanities. * Roxanne Coady is owner of R.J. Julia, one of the leading independent booksellers in the United States, which—since 1990—has been a community resource not only for books, but for the exchange of ideas. In 1998, Coady founded Read To Grow, which provides books for newborns and children and encourages parents to read to their children from birth. RTG has distributed over 1.5 million books. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Elizabeth Alexander is an amazing poet, writer, professor, and person, and the author of a fascinating new book The Trayvon Generation that explores how the Trayvon Martin killing and all the others like it have influenced us. Alexander also interviewed her friend Michelle Obama on her book tour and we talk about that, too. Toure Show Episode 336 Host & Writer: Touré Executive Producers: Jennifer Ford and Ryan Woodhall Associate Producer: Adell Coleman Photographers: Chuck Marcus, Shanta Covington, and Nick Karp Booker: Claudia Jean The House: DCP Entertainment Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
We're celebrating Juneteenth today with some of our favorite interviews about the holiday and our history: Clint Smith, staff writer at The Atlantic, award-winning poet, and author of How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America (Little, Brown and Company, 2021), leads listeners through a tour of U.S. monuments and landmarks that explain how slavery has been central in shaping our history, including a visit to Galveston, TX, where Juneteenth originated. Elizabeth Alexander, president of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, poet, educator, memoirist and scholar, looks back through American history -- both recent and not -- and asks the fundamental question "what does it mean to be Black and free in a country that undermines Black freedom?" as she wrote in an essay for National Geographic. Harvard professor and Texas native Annette Gordon-Reed discusses her book On Juneteenth (Liveright, 2021), the 2021 creation of the new federal holiday based on the events in Texas and why it's important to study our nation's history. Keisha N. Blain, University of Pittsburgh historian and president of the African American Intellectual History Society, author of Set the World on Fire: Black Nationalist Women and the Global Struggle for Freedom (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2018) and Ibram X. Kendi, professor in the Humanities and the founding director of the Boston University Center for Antiracist Research, co-editors of Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019 (One World, 2021), talk about this moment in Black history and their new collection of 80 writers' and 10 poets' take on the American story. These interviews were lightly edited for time and clarity; the original web versions are available here: Touring America's Monuments to Slavery (Jun 18, 2021) Envisioning Black Freedom (Jun 18, 2021) Juneteenth, the Newest Federal Holiday (Jun 30, 2021) A 'Community History' of Black America (Feb 3, 2021)
You're planning an afternoon with friends, just east of Atlanta, Georgia. A picnic, maybe a scenic walk, some fireworks as the sun goes down. You find a park that seems to have it all: Stone Mountain. Then you do some research on it—and learn that it holds significance for the Confederacy AND the modern Ku Klux Klan. WTF?! In the lead-up to Juneteenth, Dr. Elizabeth Alexander joins Jonathan to explore the history and contemporary significance of America's monuments—who's represented, in what ways, and what it'll take to change these narratives. Elizabeth Alexander – decorated poet, educator, memoirist, scholar, and cultural advocate – is president of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. She has held distinguished professorships at Smith College, Columbia University, and Yale University, is Chancellor Emeritus of the Academy of American Poets, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and serves on the Pulitzer Prize Board. Dr. Alexander composed and delivered “Praise Song for the Day” for the 2009 inauguration of President Barack Obama, and is author or co-author of fifteen books, including American Sublime (Pulitzer finalist, Poetry, 2006), The Light of the World (Pulitzer finalist, Biography, 2015), and The Trayvon Generation (2022). You can follow Dr. Alexander on Twitter @ProfessorEA and Instagram @alexanderlizzy, and at elizabethalexander.net. Want to know what the Mellon Foundation is up to? You can follow their work on Twitter and Instagram @mellonfdn. Want to learn more about monuments? Check out the Mellon Foundation's Monuments Project, and the work of Monument Lab. A special thank you to all of our listeners who submitted questions for Dr. Alexander, they very much guided this episode! Join the conversation, and find out what former guests are up to, by following us on Instagram and Twitter @CuriousWithJVN. Jonathan is on Instagram and Twitter @JVN and @Jonathan.Vanness on Facebook. Transcripts for each episode are available at JonathanVanNess.com. Love listening to Getting Curious? Now, you can also watch Getting Curious—on Netflix! Head to netflix.com/gettingcurious to dive in. Our executive producer is Erica Getto. Our associate producer is Zahra Crim. Our editor is Andrew Carson. Our socials are run and curated by Middle Seat Digital. Our theme music is “Freak” by QUIÑ; for more, head to TheQuinCat.com. Getting Curious merch is available on PodSwag.com. Headshot Credit for Dr. Alexander: Djeneba Aduayom
The Trayvon Generation (Grand Central, 2022) expands upon Elizabeth Alexander's gripping essay — under the same name — originally published in The New Yorker amid the 2020 summer social unrest. This collection is a mediation on race by recounting the pervasiveness of racial violence in American culture. The Trayvon Generation weaves prose, poetry, and art to cast historical and cultural resonances to understand the human experience while also humanizing the Black dead and living. This slender and exquisite book is a profound assertation that even though Black pain has become normalized, African Americans have always sought to memorialize their people to keep their spirits, memories, and joy alive. N'Kosi Oates earned his Ph.D. in Africana Studies from Brown University. Find him on Twitter at NKosiOates. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/african-american-studies
The Trayvon Generation (Grand Central, 2022) expands upon Elizabeth Alexander's gripping essay — under the same name — originally published in The New Yorker amid the 2020 summer social unrest. This collection is a mediation on race by recounting the pervasiveness of racial violence in American culture. The Trayvon Generation weaves prose, poetry, and art to cast historical and cultural resonances to understand the human experience while also humanizing the Black dead and living. This slender and exquisite book is a profound assertation that even though Black pain has become normalized, African Americans have always sought to memorialize their people to keep their spirits, memories, and joy alive. N'Kosi Oates earned his Ph.D. in Africana Studies from Brown University. Find him on Twitter at NKosiOates. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network
The Trayvon Generation (Grand Central, 2022) expands upon Elizabeth Alexander's gripping essay — under the same name — originally published in The New Yorker amid the 2020 summer social unrest. This collection is a mediation on race by recounting the pervasiveness of racial violence in American culture. The Trayvon Generation weaves prose, poetry, and art to cast historical and cultural resonances to understand the human experience while also humanizing the Black dead and living. This slender and exquisite book is a profound assertation that even though Black pain has become normalized, African Americans have always sought to memorialize their people to keep their spirits, memories, and joy alive. N'Kosi Oates earned his Ph.D. in Africana Studies from Brown University. Find him on Twitter at NKosiOates. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/american-studies
The Trayvon Generation (Grand Central, 2022) expands upon Elizabeth Alexander's gripping essay — under the same name — originally published in The New Yorker amid the 2020 summer social unrest. This collection is a mediation on race by recounting the pervasiveness of racial violence in American culture. The Trayvon Generation weaves prose, poetry, and art to cast historical and cultural resonances to understand the human experience while also humanizing the Black dead and living. This slender and exquisite book is a profound assertation that even though Black pain has become normalized, African Americans have always sought to memorialize their people to keep their spirits, memories, and joy alive. N'Kosi Oates earned his Ph.D. in Africana Studies from Brown University. Find him on Twitter at NKosiOates. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/politics-and-polemics
The Trayvon Generation (Grand Central, 2022) expands upon Elizabeth Alexander's gripping essay — under the same name — originally published in The New Yorker amid the 2020 summer social unrest. This collection is a mediation on race by recounting the pervasiveness of racial violence in American culture. The Trayvon Generation weaves prose, poetry, and art to cast historical and cultural resonances to understand the human experience while also humanizing the Black dead and living. This slender and exquisite book is a profound assertation that even though Black pain has become normalized, African Americans have always sought to memorialize their people to keep their spirits, memories, and joy alive. N'Kosi Oates earned his Ph.D. in Africana Studies from Brown University. Find him on Twitter at NKosiOates. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
On this almost-Summer Friday, enjoy some of our favorite recent conversations: Building on her New Yorker essay, Elizabeth Alexander, president of The Mellon Foundation, poet, educator, memoirist and scholar, examines the challenges of young Black Americans in her new book, The Trayvon Generation (Grand Central Publishing, 2022). First, listeners discuss ways they've changed their diet to help combat climate change. Then, Eric Goldstein, New York City environment director at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), explains how the various ways of composting help in the fight against climate change. Suzanne Nossel, PEN America chief executive officer, and Elie Mystal, justice correspondent for The Nation and the author of Allow Me to Retort: A Black Guy's Guide to the Constitution (The New Press, 2022), debate the state of free speech in America. Piping Plovers are tiny endangered shorebirds who spend part of the spring and summer right here in the Rockaways. Chris Allieri, founder of the NYC Plover Project, talks about how volunteers are working to protect the birds as they begin nesting on the beach. These interviews were lightly edited for time and clarity; the original web versions are available here: Young and Black in America (Apr 6, 2022) Climate Change and What You Eat (Feb 22, 2022) Climate Change and Composting (Mar 3, 2022) Debating Cancel Culture (Mar 30, 2022) Protecting Piping Plovers (Apr 5, 2022)
What does it mean for a generation of young people to come of age seeing other young Black people routinely endangered, attacked or killed? In her new book of essays titled “The Trayvon Generation,” poet, scholar and educator Elizabeth Alexander explores that question and meditates on the persistence of racism in the American experience. She writes that “the race work of the generations of my great-grandparents, my grandparents, my parents, and myself is the work of our children's generation” – a reality Alexander says she both laments and feels enraged by. The book, which includes poetry as well as visual art, expands on her viral 2020 New Yorker essay that reflected on the young people who have always known stories like Trayvon's – and George Floyd's and Breonna Taylor's and Philando Castile's and…. We'll talk to Alexander about “The Trayvon Generation” and her hopes for its future.
Gwendolyn Brooks: A Poet's Work in the Community opened at the Morgan Library on January 28 and will be on view through June 5, 2022.Comprising more than forty manuscripts, broadsides, and first editions, the exhibition explores Brooks's roles as a poet, teacher, mentor, and community leader. The exhibition traces the effect of the resulting relationships on her work and the work of other creatives, such as Dudley Randall, Sonia Sanchez, and Jeff Donaldson. It takes us through the story of Brooks as a young poet, her early published poetry and establishes her relationship with the Black arts and publishing communities of the 1960s and '70s. We learn of her contributions as a mentor to future writers through her children's books and self-published guides for young poets. Nic Caldwell's exhibition comes at an important moment in our collective history, providing us with a blueprint for building community as an essential part of creative growth.The Poetry Project Thank you to the Poetry Project for allowing us to use the recording of Gwendolyn Brooks reading at The Poetry Project in 1981. The program included Ntozake Shange, the American playwright and poet. best known for her play For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf. The reading was just after the premiere. Library of AmericaEdward Hirsch's essay on Gwendolyn Brooks can be found in The Heart of American Poetry, published by Library of America. Elizabeth Alexander edited wrote the introduction to The Essential Gwendolyn Brooks also published by Library of America. DuSable Museum of African American HistoryStudent readersTimia McCoade is a senior at the Ethical Culture Fieldston School. This recording was arranged through Alwin Jones, chair, the English Department and director of the Fieldston Summer Academic Program. Alex Waters is a technical producer for the Short Fuse Podcast. He is a music producer and a student at the Berklee College of Music. He has written and produced music and edited for podcasts including The Faith and Chai Podcast and Con Confianza. Alex writes, produces and records music for independent artists, including The Living. He lives in Brooklyn can can be reached at: alexwatersmusic12@gmail.com
How do you parent—lovingly and well—in the age of technology and police violence? That question is on host Brittany Packnett Cunningham's mind as she settles into motherhood—and for this episode, she sits down with Elizabeth Alexander, the inaugural poet at Obama's 2009 inauguration and now author of The Trayvon Generation. They talk about what it means to raise free Black children in a world that doesn't see them, and how we build communal futures. Plus, correspondent Treasure Brooks takes on this week's UnTrending News. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
How do you parent—lovingly and well—in the age of technology and police violence? That question is on host Brittany Packnett Cunningham's mind as she settles into motherhood—and for this episode, she sits down with Elizabeth Alexander, the inaugural poet at Obama's 2009 inauguration and now author of The Trayvon Generation. They talk about what it means to raise free Black children in a world that doesn't see them, and how we build communal futures. Plus, correspondent Treasure Brooks takes on this week's UnTrending News. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Elizabeth Alexander's new book, “The Trayvon Generation,” grew out of a widely discussed essay of the same name that she wrote for The New Yorker in 2020. The book explores themes of race, class and justice and their intersections with art. On this week's podcast, Alexander discusses the effects of video technology on our exposure to and understanding of violence and vulnerability, and contrasts the way her generation was brought up with the lives of younger people today.“If you think about some of the language of the civil rights movement: ‘We shall overcome' is hopeful,” Alexander says. “And if you stop there and take that literally, I would say that's what my childhood was about. But after that comes ‘someday.' Well, I think what we're seeing now is that we have not yet arrived at that day.”Lucasta Miller visits the podcast to discuss her new biography, “Keats: A Brief Life in Nine Poems and One Epitaph.”“I think the popular vision is of him as this rather sort of ethereal creature, a sort of delicate flower, the embodiment of loveliness, a spiritualized essence,” Miller says. “What I really wanted to do was to get back something of the real flesh-and-blood Keats, as a real complicated human being. I'm not trying to undermine him in any way. I'm just trying to make him more complex. And I love him all the same — I love him even more, as a result.”Also on this week's episode, Alexandra Jacobs and Jennifer Szalai talk about books they've recently reviewed. John Williams is the host.Here are the books discussed by The Times's critics this week:“It Was Vulgar & It Was Beautiful” by Jack Lowery“Private Notebooks: 1914-1916” by Ludwig WittgensteinWe would love to hear your thoughts about this episode, and about the Book Review's podcast in general. You can send them to books@nytimes.com.
Stephen lets out a big “WOO” to celebrate the news that Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson has been confirmed to the United States Supreme Court. Elsewhere in Washington, a coronavirus outbreak is washing over America's politicians including Speaker Nancy Pelosi who was in close proximity to President Biden on Tuesday. Next, updates from beyond our world: including news about a newly-discovered star with a name borrowed from “The Lord of the Rings,” and an explosive report on unexplained alien phenomena from our buddy Bret Baier at Fox News. And Pete Holmes, star of “How We Roll” on CBS, returns to The Late Show for the first time in three years and tells Stephen how his friends Ben & Jerry helped him cope during the long months of quarantine. Then, author and poet Elizabeth Alexander joins Stephen to talk about the content and goals of her new book, “The Trayvon Generation,” which features works of art inspired by the struggle against racism. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
To learn more about her new book “The Trayvon Generation,” we speak with author Elizabeth Alexander, poet and president of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the nation's largest funder in the arts, culture, and humanities. We also hear her thoughts on motherhood, philanthropy, and the anxieties of young Black people growing up and making art in this moment.
Washington Post senior critic-at-large Robin Givhan speaks with poet, playwright, scholar and president of the Mellon Foundation Elizabeth Alexander about her new book, “The Trayvon Generation,” and the philanthropic organization's racial justice initiatives. Conversation recorded Thursday April 6, 2022.
To learn more about her new book “The Trayvon Generation,” we speak with author Elizabeth Alexander, poet and president of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the nation's largest funder in the arts, culture, and humanities. We also hear her thoughts on motherhood, philanthropy, and the anxieties of young Black people growing up and making art in this moment.
Building on her New Yorker essay, Elizabeth Alexander, president of the Mellon Foundation, poet, educator, memoirist and scholar, examines the challenges of young Black Americans in her new book, The Trayvon Generation (Grand Central Publishing, 2022).
It's been a decade since Trayvon Martin was shot and killed. We asked Black listeners to reflect on growing up with visceral images of brutality against Black people. On Today's Show:Building on her New Yorker essay, Elizabeth Alexander, president of the Mellon Foundation, poet, educator, memoirist and scholar, examines the challenges of young Black Americans in her new book, The Trayvon Generation (Grand Central Publishing, 2022).
Some of the topics mentioned in this episode:– Out of Order by Alexis Sears– Field Knowledge by Morri Creech– Big-Eyed Afraid by Erica Dawson– My cool wife is going to AWP– Johns Hopkins people: Greg Williamson, Richie Hofmann, David Yezzi, Mary Jo Salter, Andrew Motion, James Arthur– Introduction to Fiction and Poetry– André 3000's verse on the new Kanye West record– Louder than a Bomb (the poetry festival)– Louder than a Bomb (the documentary)– The slam poetry scene from 22 Jump Street– Peter Kahn's intro to the Respect the Mic excerpts in Poetry Magazine– Louder than a Bomb student poets: Nate Marshall, Adam Gottlieb, Lamar Jorden, Nova Venerable– Wild Hundreds by Nate Marshall– The Hill We Climb by Amanda Gorman– Other bad inaugural poems by Elizabeth Alexander and Richard Blanco– Eurydice by Sarah Ruhl– The Venetian Vespers by Anthony Hecht– My conversation about Christians etc. with Kathleen Jones– Elizabeth Bishop on how embarrassing it is to be a poet– The Seafarer– He Hit Me (And It Felt Like a Kiss) by the Crystals– The Lost Daughter– Don't Look Up– Eratosphere– Quincy Lehr– Kim Bridgford– The West Chester Poetry Conference– Poetry by the Sea– Alexis and I are giving a reading together in April at Johns Hopkins– Andrea del Sarto by Robert Browning– Golden Years by Alexis SearsTwitter: @sleericketsEmail: sleerickets@gmail.comMusic by ETRNLArt by Daniel Alexander Smith
In the sixth episode of Giving Done Right season two, CEP's Phil and Grace talk with Dr. Elizabeth Alexander, poet and president of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Elizabeth delves into how to apply a social and racial justice lens to your philanthropy, the fundamental role of the arts in a healthy society, and how the arts and artists are faring as we enter a new phase of the pandemic.
Ficre Ghebreyesus and Elizabeth Alexander were born two months apart in 1962, he in Eritrea, she in Harlem. They didn't meet until 1996. He was an artist and a chef at a New Haven Eritrean restaurant he owned with his brothers. She was a poet and professor. She had been teaching at the University of Chicago, where she had also met a senior lecturer named Barack Obama. She married Ghebreyesus. She delivered Obama's 2009 inaugural poem. In 2012, a few days after her husband's 50th birthday, he died abruptly. Her new book, “The Light of The World,” tells that story.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Ficre Ghebreyesus and Elizabeth Alexander were born two months apart in 1962, he in Eritrea, she in Harlem. They didn't meet until 1996. He was an artist and a chef at a New Haven Eritrean restaurant he owned with his brothers. She was a poet and professor. She had been teaching at the University of Chicago, where she had also met a senior lecturer named Barack Obama. She married Ghebreyesus. She delivered Obama's 2009 inaugural poem. In 2012, a few days after her husband's 50th birthday, he died abruptly. Her new book, “The Light of The World,” tells that story.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.