[INTRO MUSIC PLAYS]
ELENA: Hello and welcome back to Hoo’s at the Writing Center! I’m Elena,
KARISSA: I’m Karissa,
SARAH: I’m Sarah,
KIMBERLY: And I’m Kimberly!
SARAH: February is Black History Month. As you may have guessed from our previous episode Hoo’s at the Writing Center is all about celebrating amazing authors of all different backgrounds that you should add to your reading list.
ELENA: We are honored to talk about author’s that we’ve loved or are looking forward to reading from. However, it goes without saying that there is a lot of history behind this month and what it means in today’s context. So, we wanted touch in how February came to be proclaimed as national Black History Month.
KARISSA: To begin, we wanted to talk about how this history behind Black History Month and why it’s important to uplift the voices of Black and African American individuals. All of the following information we’ve pulled from History.com.
KIMBERLY: It was birthed in 1915, when Harvard historian, Carter G. Woodson, and minister, Jesse E. Moorland, founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History or ASNLH, an organization devoted to the achievements of Black and African Americans.
ELENA: Now known as the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, the group was responsible for “National Negro History Week” in 1926. With the conscious decision to hold the event during the second week of February; thus coinciding with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass.
SARAH: This event widely spread to schools all over the U.S., and soon communities and schools held celebrations, history clubs, performances and lectures surrounding National Negro History Week. Eventually, being recognized by city mayors who requested annual proclamations holding Negro History Week.
KARISSA: By the late 1960s, the week-long celebration evolved into Black History Month, particularly on college campuses, thanks to the Civil Rights Movement, which achieved many accomplishments in the name of equality and justice for Black individuals.
SARAH: In 1976, President Gerald Ford formalized Black History Month, declaring to the public to, “seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of Black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.”
KIMBERLY: While it is imperative to honor Black excellency and resilience, it is more important to expand our celebration of Black History from beyond 28 days. There are a lot of criticisms regarding the sort of shortened period for Black History month-- the fact that it’s the second month of the year, which happens to be the shortest month of the year. And Karissa has actually brought up a really great article and link, which will be in the description box about the sort of acknowledgment of Black History Month and the sort of passiveness toward it, but I think Karissa can speak more onto this article than I can, so I’m just gonna hand it over to her.
KARISSA: Yeah, so this is an article that was published in The Humanist, um, written by Sincere Kirabo and it’s titled “Why I’m a Black Man Against Black History Month.” Kind of like Kimberly already touched on, it just talks about how a lot of the acknowledgement surrounding Black History Month is quite passive, and especially kind of highlighting the way that it’s taught in schools. And I know that Sarah, in conversation before recording this episode, also brought up that there’s no governmental regulation on how it’s taught, so It’s really free reign for public schools, or just any schools to be teaching it and what it looks like for them. Um, which kind of brings up another issue on how Black History Month is acknowledged in more of a scholarly and academic setting. And yeah, so like we said this article will be linked in the description box, and we really encourage you to, uh, kind of join this conversation and look into it more, um, because although Black History Month is really important and it’s important that we acknowledge it and celebrate it, it’s also important that we acknowledge there’s also 11 other months out of the year—11 longer months out of the year that these things need to be celebrated and acknowledged as well.
SARAH: I don’t know if everyone knows about common core. So, common core is pretty much like the standard for most—all, excuse me—all public schools around the country, and in the common core it’s pretty much like all subjects that you teach, and lesson plans in which you should teach, and like kind of accomplishments you need to achieve in every grade. And when you look up Black History Month or just Black History in general on the common core standards there are none. And, like, I understand that Black History Month was implemented federally, but—and it is celebrated quote, unquote in all schools, but the extent to which it’s celebrated is very blurry and like very wishy washy depending on what school you’re at. And so, I know some teachers who just like don't’ do anything about it, and like, even like growing up, I don’t really remember February being specifically like Black History Month or like having any specific like lesson towards it—or activity, excuse me. But I don’t know, it’s hard because some teachers are really really good about implementing, um, these kinds of like historical moments into their curriculum, but others, like, are very-- I don’t wanna say bad at it, but also when you’re not required to do and when you have so many other accomplishments you have to get done and you’re really like stuck in this very hard place of like, well I need all my students to learn, like, all of these different things, unfortunately, like, if I were to do an activity on Black History Month, or carve out time for that, they would be lose precious time that they’re going to be tested on later, you kow? And so I totally understand that really hard place teachers are in, but I think it’s just—it's not their fault at the end of the day. It’s the federal government’s fault and like the Department of Education for not making it, and also like, other, like, Hispanic Heritage Month, or like Asian American Month, like it’s-- those are also not implemented into common core. So, we just need to celebrate everybody, and I just think It's the Department of Education’s fault for not implementing the celebrations into their accomplishments for kids, ‘cause that’s not important enough apparently, to learn, which is quite a shame.
ELENA: Yeah, so I think—thinking about the common core as well, something that it really lacks is a focus on literature that’s not non-fiction, and I mean, I haven’t looked at the curriculum list, but I would make the assumption that probably that non-fiction is not written by a lot of Black authors. So, because we are the Writing Center, we wanted to specifically talk about celebrating Black authors, poets, writers, screen writers, artists of works that we’ve read or that we’re hoping to read, and, which you can read in any month, not just Black History Month, and I wanted to start off by talking about some works recommended from a really great professor at SU who has recently joined the English department, uh, Dr. Ferrari, and she specializes in African American Lit, specifically Black feminism and modern African American Lit. So, some works that she introduced me to, which I really recommend are—it's a novella called Passing by Nella Larsen. It’s about 1920s Harlem and it’s about kind of the complexity of Black identities and the politics of white-passing, um, it also has female protagonists and has a lot of queer themes, and it is also now a podcast, which is super cool, so it’s kind of like a thematic audiobook version of it, and that’s available on Spotify, and we can maybe link it in the description. And another recommendation from Dr. Ferrari is An American Marriage by Tayari Jones. That was published pretty recently in 2018, and it’s about the prison industrial complex, specifically effects of incarceration on Black family structures and on marriages, and on kind of like what happens to the people—not just the people who are in prison, but the people kind of waiting for family members to be released.
Some personal, like, recommendations that were texts that I think are really, really significant are James Baldwin—pretty much anything by James Baldwin, but specifically James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time, which is like a collection of essays, I believe written in 1963. So, it’s sort of like a quote, unquote foundational like civil rights era reflections and talking about his experiences in Harlem and just about America in general. And a more recent one Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Between the World and Me was published in 2015. The entire book is kind of a letter from him to his son, um, and he’s talking about basically growing up Black in America and police brutality, especially because that was when we saw a lot more like Black Lives Matter protests coming to the front. And then also anything by Toni Morrison, specifically Beloved, which was published in 1987. It’s what’s called a neo-slave narrative, so written by—not written by somebody who was enslaved but written as kind of like looking at it through the lens of that experience, and reflecting on generational trauma, which is, of course, related to a neo-slave narrative. And there’s also a specific focus on Black women in Beloved and most of Toni Morrison’s works. And then I also just wanted to shout out to Anastacia-Renee Tolbert who is a local Seattle writer, poet, educator, podcaster, slash a million other hats, and I believe she was a writer in residence at Seattle U’s English department a couple years ago in like 2018, and we will include a link to her website, which has all of her work in the description.
KARISSA: So, some of the books and authors that I wanted to highlight, um, is first Angie Thomas’ book The Hate U Give. I read this for a book club last summer, and I honestly can’t believe I didn’t read it before. It’s really well written; it’s really good, and it’s about—um, focusing on police brutality, a young girl and her friend are just kind of driving around, they get pulled over, and he gets shot and killed by a police officer kind of without reason, so it follows that journey of her kind of moving through that grief and also confronting that specific aspect of systemic racism that shows up in police brutality, and kind of how she—yeah, how she navigates that in her life with a lot of her white friends who don’t seem to understand the situation and just like becomes an activist in that. It’s really powerful, I know they made a movie on it too, which I haven’t seen yet, but I’ve heard good things about that as well. Um, and then next is Ijeoma Oluo’s book So you want to talk about race. I actually read this for a class last year, and it’s really—it breaks race and systemic racism down in a way that is very easy to understand and very easily applicable to everyday life and I just wanted to shout out this book because it was kind of the foundation of a lot of challenging conversations that I had about race and systemic racism with friends, with family, and I think that it just gave me a better understanding of all those issues, all those topics, and I feel like it equipped me very well to have those conversations and just learn more about them. So yeah, that book was incredible, very worth reading, and I think that it’s something I’ll go back to and keep revisiting often. Um, the next book, I haven't’ actually read it, but I’ve ordered it online so it’s like on its way here and I’m very, very excited to read it. It’s Oyinkan Braithwaite’s My Sister the Serial Killer, and I can’t really give a huge synopsis on it because I haven’t read it, but from what it told me online when I was buying it, it’s about—one of the sisters is a serial killer and the other one is kind of like cleaning up that mess, picking up the pieces, taking responsibility. It’s kind of like a horror thriller which I really like, so I’m super, super excited to read that. And then last one, it’s not a book but a film, um, Moonlight it’s based off of Tarell Alvin McCrany’s unpublished semi-autobiographical play called In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue, and he’s also written a lot of other plays, some Broadway shows as well, but the screenplay and the movie was directed by Barry Jenkins, and it is critically acclaimed, a really, really powerful film, and I know that Sarah’s also seen it so I’ll let her talk on it as well. She was really excited when it got brought up. But yeah, just a really beautiful coming of age film talking about different issues like confronting identity, sexuality, emotional abuse, childhood trauma—all of those things, so really powerful and really beautiful and worth the watch.
KIMBERLY: I’ve also watched Moonlight so I can also attest to its brilliancy because—and its well-deserved academy award because it was truly beautiful. I watched it on a plane which I don’t recommend because when you’re crying and there’s strangers around you, you’re like “I’m fine. It’s nothing. It’s okay.” [laughs] You’ll get looks, but overall, it’s a beautiful movie, but I will also let Sarah speak more about that because—no it’s too bad I’ve said it. It’s in the podcast now. This is actually live [laughs]. So along the theme of “does Kimberly read or not?” I actually have a couple of plays and playwrights that I definitely recommend. My first one is In the Blood by Suzan Lori Parks. I also recommend anything by Suzan Lori Parks. I remember reading this for a class my freshman year of college, and it’s actually based off of The Scarlet Letter if everyone is familiar with that. It takes Esther who is a mother of, I believe, five children and she is living in poverty and she’s trying to navigate helping her children and finding help from friends, colleagues, and former lovers, and you are taken to a story of her life, watching her navigate that and through confessions by the people around her and it’s very chilling. It’s also fantastic, and Suzan Lori Parks is an amazing writer, and I got a chance to actually be in one of her workshops, um, I think two years back which is really awesome. The next one, I recommend is Fences by August Wilson, but I also recommend anything by August Wilson, notably Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and Two Trains Running. There’s also a movie Fences starring Viola Davis and Denzel Washington, which is—I have not seen it. It is in my watch list. There’s also Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom starring Viola Davis and Chadwick Boseman. I’ve heard really amazing things about it. Also, Viola Davis is just a powerhouse of an actress and she’s been my idol since middle school and she’s amazing, so I recommend all things that I just mentioned. Additionally, Born a Crime by Trevor Noah. I also have not read this book, my partner is currently reading this book, but she says it’s fantastic. It’s amazing. Trevor Noah is a storyteller, and he is also a great host for The Daily Show. Is it The Daily Show? Thank you I have head nods from my friends. It is The Daily Show with Trevor Noah which, uh, if you haven’t checked him out yet, please do. My next one is Bone by Yrsa Daley-Ward. She actually—I had to do a poem unit in my high school and I chose her work, and she is a young, Black, LQBGT, female poet who writes on love, sexuality, and growing up. She’s kind of regarded as one of those Instagram poets but she does it so well, so revel in her work anyway. And, uh, I also wanted to include—we've talked about her before in previous episodes of the podcast, but any speech or text by Jamila J. Lyiscot. She’s an educator, activist, author of Black Appetite. White Food: Issues of Race, Voice, and Justice Within and Beyond the Classroom, and talks a lot about social justice in that setting. She has TEDTalks that are really amazing to listen to and to watch because she’s such a poet, but she does it so with an academic pedagogy. But I second everyone who speaked on about their sort of book recommendations, authors, playwrights, screenwriters, movies...’cause they’re all really amazing!
SARAH: I also second [Laughter] Um - [Laughter] I don’t know why I drew my breath for that long, but um, I also second. So many of the like, books and works that everyone was talking about – I don’t have too much to say on Moonlight; I don’t know [Laughter] um, if my friends want me to say – a lot – but I just cry every time I watch it and it’s just gorgeous beyond belief. So, highly recommend. Also, it’s very just like emotionally intense, so get ready for that. Also, I just like read Beloved, for a class recently, and it’s so timely, and I just wanna reread it, like every time I read that book I just wanna reread it again. Some books that I have read that I recommend – um, one is called Hunger by Roxanne Gay; she is an incredible woman, this like, amazing like, activist, oh, she’s just – this book is a memoir, um, and it’s specifically talking about her...embodied experience, and what it is like to live in a Black body, specifically like a Black fat body, and she talks a lot about that. Another kind of emotional, heavy one, so, get ready, but it’s beautiful. Another one that I read – so, I actually read a short story for class, called The City Born Great by N.K. Jemison, and she decided to turn – or, the short story she wrote, inspired her to start a book trilogy, and I’m currently reading the first book of the trilogy, um, it’s called The City We Became. It’s awesome. I don’t really read fantasy books; this is actually like my first fantasy book I’ve ever read, and it’s...amazing. I just – I think I get really intimidated by them, ‘cause they’re usually so large, but, I decided to dive in; I’m halfway there, which means I’m like 300 pages in, you know? Um...[Laughter] But don’t worry, I’ll finish, and let y’all know everything. But, um, it’s so cool. It’s pretty much like, New York City is being swallowed almost, by like a...creature, and all of the little boroughs are personified into people? So like, Manhattan and Queens and Staten Island, they’re all like, people, and they have to come together to fight this, um, creature. Anyway! Highly recommend that. Also, for some easy reads, I have Heart Talk by Cleo Wade, um, she’s just a poet – um, not JUST a poet, excuse me, she is a poet – [Laughter] How dare I! Also, you know, social justice activist, artist, etcetera, poet, and...she’s amazing, she’s wonderful; this is her first book, she has another book – er, two other books, maybe? One is called Where To Begin, but this one’s called Heart Talk; it’s just...when your heart’s hurtin’ a little bit, maybe it’s what you need. Next one, is just a nice little easy YA, uh, Nicola Yoon is the author, and she has two books: Everything, Everything was like so much more popular, um, ‘cause it was made into a movie first, but I really appreciate The Sun Is Also A Star a little bit more. Sun Is Also A Star was made into a movie, which I haven’t watched yet; I also haven’t watched either movie and I don’t really plan to, I don’t wanna ruin the books for myself. BUT, if you’ve watched them, that’s really cool! You should read the book. A couple that I’m really excited for...one, um, I haven’t read yet, but I always really wanted to—and watch the movie—um, called If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin. I know—[Laughter] Yes, we’re always here to plug more reading—I know Elena talked a bit about James Baldwin, so, y’all know all about him, but. This book is really cool as well because it’s the only book in his writing narrated by a woman, and I’m excited; it’s like a love story in 1920s Harlem, and, ugh, sucker for love stories. The last one that I’m excited for is a book called Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas. It’s the same author that Karissa was talking about, um, for The Hate U Give, and it’s in the same world as that book, but it’s just a different story. So. Excited to read that one as well.
ELENA: So sorry, I just thought of another book, which I read recently, but my brain just like—isn't working these days. So, there is—I think it was published in like, also 2015-ish, but it’s called Binti, and it’s a series...I think it’s like three short novellas, and you can get them all in like one like regular novel-sized volume, um, but it’s called Binti and it’s by Nnedi Okorafor, and it’s African Futurism, which is like – it's, uh, different from Afrofuturism because it’s focused on like, the African diaspora specifically, and on like the real people living – like real African cultures. So it’s like a sci-fi version of this like, real African people who live today. But it’s super, super cool, would recommend, and it’s a super quick read too!
KIMBERLY: Also, read anything by Maya Angelou, and also shoutout the fact that Angela Davis gave an MLK speech at Seattle U virtually; I don’t know if that’s recorded anywhere, or if it’s archived somewhere where people can come back and read it. If not, that’s totally fine because we deserve to be there in real time. [Laughter] But, that’s also something. That’s another activist and figure that you should check out. But that was also an event that happened in Seattle U, and so please look forward to other events, uh, celebrating Black History Month, beyond February and within February.
KARISSA: Thank you so much for joining us today. Again, we’ll include the links to all the stories and authors we mentioned throughout the episode in the description box, and we encourage you to check them out. Additionally, we’ve included a link to Seattle U’s Black Student Union, where you can find out about events and other ways to support them. And if you’re in Seattle, one of the ways to support them during the month of February is to stop by a Mighty-O's Doughnuts location, um, because during the month of February all Good Ol’ Glaze sales support the BSU scholarship fund.
ELENA: Also, if you haven’t the chance to, we had our first episode of season three, talking about 21 Things to Look Forward to in 2021. It’s a very chill and low stress episode, which I think we all need right now, reflecting on the year before and the year to come.
SARAH: We’ve also included our blog which includes wonderful blog posts from our very own writing center staff, as well as links to transcribed episodes from our previous seasons.
KIMBERLY: We will also include Black owned bookshops doing online orders in the description box. We've also mentioned in a previous episode of season two, I believe it’s our pilot—it's not our pilot episode, it’s our first episode of season two, um but we will go ahead and include that also in our description box.
And with that, be sure to stay safe, take care of one another, and this has been another episode of...
ALL: Hoo’s at the Writing Center!
KIMBERLY: You know, someday we’ll get it [Laughter].
[OUTRO MUSIC PLAYS]
ELENA: Hello and welcome back to Hoo’s at the Writing Center! I’m Elena,
KARISSA: I’m Karissa,
SARAH: I’m Sarah,
KIMBERLY: And I’m Kimberly!
SARAH: February is Black History Month. As you may have guessed from our previous episode Hoo’s at the Writing Center is all about celebrating amazing authors of all different backgrounds that you should add to your reading list.
ELENA: We are honored to talk about author’s that we’ve loved or are looking forward to reading from. However, it goes without saying that there is a lot of history behind this month and what it means in today’s context. So, we wanted touch in how February came to be proclaimed as national Black History Month.
KARISSA: To begin, we wanted to talk about how this history behind Black History Month and why it’s important to uplift the voices of Black and African American individuals. All of the following information we’ve pulled from History.com.
KIMBERLY: It was birthed in 1915, when Harvard historian, Carter G. Woodson, and minister, Jesse E. Moorland, founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History or ASNLH, an organization devoted to the achievements of Black and African Americans.
ELENA: Now known as the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, the group was responsible for “National Negro History Week” in 1926. With the conscious decision to hold the event during the second week of February; thus coinciding with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass.
SARAH: This event widely spread to schools all over the U.S., and soon communities and schools held celebrations, history clubs, performances and lectures surrounding National Negro History Week. Eventually, being recognized by city mayors who requested annual proclamations holding Negro History Week.
KARISSA: By the late 1960s, the week-long celebration evolved into Black History Month, particularly on college campuses, thanks to the Civil Rights Movement, which achieved many accomplishments in the name of equality and justice for Black individuals.
SARAH: In 1976, President Gerald Ford formalized Black History Month, declaring to the public to, “seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of Black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.”
KIMBERLY: While it is imperative to honor Black excellency and resilience, it is more important to expand our celebration of Black History from beyond 28 days. There are a lot of criticisms regarding the sort of shortened period for Black History month-- the fact that it’s the second month of the year, which happens to be the shortest month of the year. And Karissa has actually brought up a really great article and link, which will be in the description box about the sort of acknowledgment of Black History Month and the sort of passiveness toward it, but I think Karissa can speak more onto this article than I can, so I’m just gonna hand it over to her.
KARISSA: Yeah, so this is an article that was published in The Humanist, um, written by Sincere Kirabo and it’s titled “Why I’m a Black Man Against Black History Month.” Kind of like Kimberly already touched on, it just talks about how a lot of the acknowledgement surrounding Black History Month is quite passive, and especially kind of highlighting the way that it’s taught in schools. And I know that Sarah, in conversation before recording this episode, also brought up that there’s no governmental regulation on how it’s taught, so It’s really free reign for public schools, or just any schools to be teaching it and what it looks like for them. Um, which kind of brings up another issue on how Black History Month is acknowledged in more of a scholarly and academic setting. And yeah, so like we said this article will be linked in the description box, and we really encourage you to, uh, kind of join this conversation and look into it more, um, because although Black History Month is really important and it’s important that we acknowledge it and celebrate it, it’s also important that we acknowledge there’s also 11 other months out of the year—11 longer months out of the year that these things need to be celebrated and acknowledged as well.
SARAH: I don’t know if everyone knows about common core. So, common core is pretty much like the standard for most—all, excuse me—all public schools around the country, and in the common core it’s pretty much like all subjects that you teach, and lesson plans in which you should teach, and like kind of accomplishments you need to achieve in every grade. And when you look up Black History Month or just Black History in general on the common core standards there are none. And, like, I understand that Black History Month was implemented federally, but—and it is celebrated quote, unquote in all schools, but the extent to which it’s celebrated is very blurry and like very wishy washy depending on what school you’re at. And so, I know some teachers who just like don't’ do anything about it, and like, even like growing up, I don’t really remember February being specifically like Black History Month or like having any specific like lesson towards it—or activity, excuse me. But I don’t know, it’s hard because some teachers are really really good about implementing, um, these kinds of like historical moments into their curriculum, but others, like, are very-- I don’t wanna say bad at it, but also when you’re not required to do and when you have so many other accomplishments you have to get done and you’re really like stuck in this very hard place of like, well I need all my students to learn, like, all of these different things, unfortunately, like, if I were to do an activity on Black History Month, or carve out time for that, they would be lose precious time that they’re going to be tested on later, you kow? And so I totally understand that really hard place teachers are in, but I think it’s just—it's not their fault at the end of the day. It’s the federal government’s fault and like the Department of Education for not making it, and also like, other, like, Hispanic Heritage Month, or like Asian American Month, like it’s-- those are also not implemented into common core. So, we just need to celebrate everybody, and I just think It's the Department of Education’s fault for not implementing the celebrations into their accomplishments for kids, ‘cause that’s not important enough apparently, to learn, which is quite a shame.
ELENA: Yeah, so I think—thinking about the common core as well, something that it really lacks is a focus on literature that’s not non-fiction, and I mean, I haven’t looked at the curriculum list, but I would make the assumption that probably that non-fiction is not written by a lot of Black authors. So, because we are the Writing Center, we wanted to specifically talk about celebrating Black authors, poets, writers, screen writers, artists of works that we’ve read or that we’re hoping to read, and, which you can read in any month, not just Black History Month, and I wanted to start off by talking about some works recommended from a really great professor at SU who has recently joined the English department, uh, Dr. Ferrari, and she specializes in African American Lit, specifically Black feminism and modern African American Lit. So, some works that she introduced me to, which I really recommend are—it's a novella called Passing by Nella Larsen. It’s about 1920s Harlem and it’s about kind of the complexity of Black identities and the politics of white-passing, um, it also has female protagonists and has a lot of queer themes, and it is also now a podcast, which is super cool, so it’s kind of like a thematic audiobook version of it, and that’s available on Spotify, and we can maybe link it in the description. And another recommendation from Dr. Ferrari is An American Marriage by Tayari Jones. That was published pretty recently in 2018, and it’s about the prison industrial complex, specifically effects of incarceration on Black family structures and on marriages, and on kind of like what happens to the people—not just the people who are in prison, but the people kind of waiting for family members to be released.
Some personal, like, recommendations that were texts that I think are really, really significant are James Baldwin—pretty much anything by James Baldwin, but specifically James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time, which is like a collection of essays, I believe written in 1963. So, it’s sort of like a quote, unquote foundational like civil rights era reflections and talking about his experiences in Harlem and just about America in general. And a more recent one Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Between the World and Me was published in 2015. The entire book is kind of a letter from him to his son, um, and he’s talking about basically growing up Black in America and police brutality, especially because that was when we saw a lot more like Black Lives Matter protests coming to the front. And then also anything by Toni Morrison, specifically Beloved, which was published in 1987. It’s what’s called a neo-slave narrative, so written by—not written by somebody who was enslaved but written as kind of like looking at it through the lens of that experience, and reflecting on generational trauma, which is, of course, related to a neo-slave narrative. And there’s also a specific focus on Black women in Beloved and most of Toni Morrison’s works. And then I also just wanted to shout out to Anastacia-Renee Tolbert who is a local Seattle writer, poet, educator, podcaster, slash a million other hats, and I believe she was a writer in residence at Seattle U’s English department a couple years ago in like 2018, and we will include a link to her website, which has all of her work in the description.
KARISSA: So, some of the books and authors that I wanted to highlight, um, is first Angie Thomas’ book The Hate U Give. I read this for a book club last summer, and I honestly can’t believe I didn’t read it before. It’s really well written; it’s really good, and it’s about—um, focusing on police brutality, a young girl and her friend are just kind of driving around, they get pulled over, and he gets shot and killed by a police officer kind of without reason, so it follows that journey of her kind of moving through that grief and also confronting that specific aspect of systemic racism that shows up in police brutality, and kind of how she—yeah, how she navigates that in her life with a lot of her white friends who don’t seem to understand the situation and just like becomes an activist in that. It’s really powerful, I know they made a movie on it too, which I haven’t seen yet, but I’ve heard good things about that as well. Um, and then next is Ijeoma Oluo’s book So you want to talk about race. I actually read this for a class last year, and it’s really—it breaks race and systemic racism down in a way that is very easy to understand and very easily applicable to everyday life and I just wanted to shout out this book because it was kind of the foundation of a lot of challenging conversations that I had about race and systemic racism with friends, with family, and I think that it just gave me a better understanding of all those issues, all those topics, and I feel like it equipped me very well to have those conversations and just learn more about them. So yeah, that book was incredible, very worth reading, and I think that it’s something I’ll go back to and keep revisiting often. Um, the next book, I haven't’ actually read it, but I’ve ordered it online so it’s like on its way here and I’m very, very excited to read it. It’s Oyinkan Braithwaite’s My Sister the Serial Killer, and I can’t really give a huge synopsis on it because I haven’t read it, but from what it told me online when I was buying it, it’s about—one of the sisters is a serial killer and the other one is kind of like cleaning up that mess, picking up the pieces, taking responsibility. It’s kind of like a horror thriller which I really like, so I’m super, super excited to read that. And then last one, it’s not a book but a film, um, Moonlight it’s based off of Tarell Alvin McCrany’s unpublished semi-autobiographical play called In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue, and he’s also written a lot of other plays, some Broadway shows as well, but the screenplay and the movie was directed by Barry Jenkins, and it is critically acclaimed, a really, really powerful film, and I know that Sarah’s also seen it so I’ll let her talk on it as well. She was really excited when it got brought up. But yeah, just a really beautiful coming of age film talking about different issues like confronting identity, sexuality, emotional abuse, childhood trauma—all of those things, so really powerful and really beautiful and worth the watch.
KIMBERLY: I’ve also watched Moonlight so I can also attest to its brilliancy because—and its well-deserved academy award because it was truly beautiful. I watched it on a plane which I don’t recommend because when you’re crying and there’s strangers around you, you’re like “I’m fine. It’s nothing. It’s okay.” [laughs] You’ll get looks, but overall, it’s a beautiful movie, but I will also let Sarah speak more about that because—no it’s too bad I’ve said it. It’s in the podcast now. This is actually live [laughs]. So along the theme of “does Kimberly read or not?” I actually have a couple of plays and playwrights that I definitely recommend. My first one is In the Blood by Suzan Lori Parks. I also recommend anything by Suzan Lori Parks. I remember reading this for a class my freshman year of college, and it’s actually based off of The Scarlet Letter if everyone is familiar with that. It takes Esther who is a mother of, I believe, five children and she is living in poverty and she’s trying to navigate helping her children and finding help from friends, colleagues, and former lovers, and you are taken to a story of her life, watching her navigate that and through confessions by the people around her and it’s very chilling. It’s also fantastic, and Suzan Lori Parks is an amazing writer, and I got a chance to actually be in one of her workshops, um, I think two years back which is really awesome. The next one, I recommend is Fences by August Wilson, but I also recommend anything by August Wilson, notably Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and Two Trains Running. There’s also a movie Fences starring Viola Davis and Denzel Washington, which is—I have not seen it. It is in my watch list. There’s also Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom starring Viola Davis and Chadwick Boseman. I’ve heard really amazing things about it. Also, Viola Davis is just a powerhouse of an actress and she’s been my idol since middle school and she’s amazing, so I recommend all things that I just mentioned. Additionally, Born a Crime by Trevor Noah. I also have not read this book, my partner is currently reading this book, but she says it’s fantastic. It’s amazing. Trevor Noah is a storyteller, and he is also a great host for The Daily Show. Is it The Daily Show? Thank you I have head nods from my friends. It is The Daily Show with Trevor Noah which, uh, if you haven’t checked him out yet, please do. My next one is Bone by Yrsa Daley-Ward. She actually—I had to do a poem unit in my high school and I chose her work, and she is a young, Black, LQBGT, female poet who writes on love, sexuality, and growing up. She’s kind of regarded as one of those Instagram poets but she does it so well, so revel in her work anyway. And, uh, I also wanted to include—we've talked about her before in previous episodes of the podcast, but any speech or text by Jamila J. Lyiscot. She’s an educator, activist, author of Black Appetite. White Food: Issues of Race, Voice, and Justice Within and Beyond the Classroom, and talks a lot about social justice in that setting. She has TEDTalks that are really amazing to listen to and to watch because she’s such a poet, but she does it so with an academic pedagogy. But I second everyone who speaked on about their sort of book recommendations, authors, playwrights, screenwriters, movies...’cause they’re all really amazing!
SARAH: I also second [Laughter] Um - [Laughter] I don’t know why I drew my breath for that long, but um, I also second. So many of the like, books and works that everyone was talking about – I don’t have too much to say on Moonlight; I don’t know [Laughter] um, if my friends want me to say – a lot – but I just cry every time I watch it and it’s just gorgeous beyond belief. So, highly recommend. Also, it’s very just like emotionally intense, so get ready for that. Also, I just like read Beloved, for a class recently, and it’s so timely, and I just wanna reread it, like every time I read that book I just wanna reread it again. Some books that I have read that I recommend – um, one is called Hunger by Roxanne Gay; she is an incredible woman, this like, amazing like, activist, oh, she’s just – this book is a memoir, um, and it’s specifically talking about her...embodied experience, and what it is like to live in a Black body, specifically like a Black fat body, and she talks a lot about that. Another kind of emotional, heavy one, so, get ready, but it’s beautiful. Another one that I read – so, I actually read a short story for class, called The City Born Great by N.K. Jemison, and she decided to turn – or, the short story she wrote, inspired her to start a book trilogy, and I’m currently reading the first book of the trilogy, um, it’s called The City We Became. It’s awesome. I don’t really read fantasy books; this is actually like my first fantasy book I’ve ever read, and it’s...amazing. I just – I think I get really intimidated by them, ‘cause they’re usually so large, but, I decided to dive in; I’m halfway there, which means I’m like 300 pages in, you know? Um...[Laughter] But don’t worry, I’ll finish, and let y’all know everything. But, um, it’s so cool. It’s pretty much like, New York City is being swallowed almost, by like a...creature, and all of the little boroughs are personified into people? So like, Manhattan and Queens and Staten Island, they’re all like, people, and they have to come together to fight this, um, creature. Anyway! Highly recommend that. Also, for some easy reads, I have Heart Talk by Cleo Wade, um, she’s just a poet – um, not JUST a poet, excuse me, she is a poet – [Laughter] How dare I! Also, you know, social justice activist, artist, etcetera, poet, and...she’s amazing, she’s wonderful; this is her first book, she has another book – er, two other books, maybe? One is called Where To Begin, but this one’s called Heart Talk; it’s just...when your heart’s hurtin’ a little bit, maybe it’s what you need. Next one, is just a nice little easy YA, uh, Nicola Yoon is the author, and she has two books: Everything, Everything was like so much more popular, um, ‘cause it was made into a movie first, but I really appreciate The Sun Is Also A Star a little bit more. Sun Is Also A Star was made into a movie, which I haven’t watched yet; I also haven’t watched either movie and I don’t really plan to, I don’t wanna ruin the books for myself. BUT, if you’ve watched them, that’s really cool! You should read the book. A couple that I’m really excited for...one, um, I haven’t read yet, but I always really wanted to—and watch the movie—um, called If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin. I know—[Laughter] Yes, we’re always here to plug more reading—I know Elena talked a bit about James Baldwin, so, y’all know all about him, but. This book is really cool as well because it’s the only book in his writing narrated by a woman, and I’m excited; it’s like a love story in 1920s Harlem, and, ugh, sucker for love stories. The last one that I’m excited for is a book called Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas. It’s the same author that Karissa was talking about, um, for The Hate U Give, and it’s in the same world as that book, but it’s just a different story. So. Excited to read that one as well.
ELENA: So sorry, I just thought of another book, which I read recently, but my brain just like—isn't working these days. So, there is—I think it was published in like, also 2015-ish, but it’s called Binti, and it’s a series...I think it’s like three short novellas, and you can get them all in like one like regular novel-sized volume, um, but it’s called Binti and it’s by Nnedi Okorafor, and it’s African Futurism, which is like – it's, uh, different from Afrofuturism because it’s focused on like, the African diaspora specifically, and on like the real people living – like real African cultures. So it’s like a sci-fi version of this like, real African people who live today. But it’s super, super cool, would recommend, and it’s a super quick read too!
KIMBERLY: Also, read anything by Maya Angelou, and also shoutout the fact that Angela Davis gave an MLK speech at Seattle U virtually; I don’t know if that’s recorded anywhere, or if it’s archived somewhere where people can come back and read it. If not, that’s totally fine because we deserve to be there in real time. [Laughter] But, that’s also something. That’s another activist and figure that you should check out. But that was also an event that happened in Seattle U, and so please look forward to other events, uh, celebrating Black History Month, beyond February and within February.
KARISSA: Thank you so much for joining us today. Again, we’ll include the links to all the stories and authors we mentioned throughout the episode in the description box, and we encourage you to check them out. Additionally, we’ve included a link to Seattle U’s Black Student Union, where you can find out about events and other ways to support them. And if you’re in Seattle, one of the ways to support them during the month of February is to stop by a Mighty-O's Doughnuts location, um, because during the month of February all Good Ol’ Glaze sales support the BSU scholarship fund.
ELENA: Also, if you haven’t the chance to, we had our first episode of season three, talking about 21 Things to Look Forward to in 2021. It’s a very chill and low stress episode, which I think we all need right now, reflecting on the year before and the year to come.
SARAH: We’ve also included our blog which includes wonderful blog posts from our very own writing center staff, as well as links to transcribed episodes from our previous seasons.
KIMBERLY: We will also include Black owned bookshops doing online orders in the description box. We've also mentioned in a previous episode of season two, I believe it’s our pilot—it's not our pilot episode, it’s our first episode of season two, um but we will go ahead and include that also in our description box.
And with that, be sure to stay safe, take care of one another, and this has been another episode of...
ALL: Hoo’s at the Writing Center!
KIMBERLY: You know, someday we’ll get it [Laughter].
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