blackgirl on mars: notes on a life in copenhagen (or how my alienation brings me closer to people).

Indigenous Spirits Representing... Flatbush Style He so Brooklyn... Someone gave him this t-shirt!  big up to Terry & Stephen for this design!  on the streets of BK All hail to the ancestors It's not a crisis, it's a scam. Capitalism is the Crisis! a walk with wah wah

Two Heroes: Glenn Thompson & Marie D. Brown I am so not looking forward to returning to Copenhagen, Denmark. It's ironic that it's touted as being among the happiest places to live in the world & here I am so bloody miserable being there.  Ugh. Universe & Ancestors Save Me Please. 

Suheir Hammad Magic happens. Suheir is a poet I have loved and admired forever. I go over to Ali's in Brooklyn for my weekly fix of roti and who is there on the line? Yeah, magic happens when I'm in my element. For real. Shout out to the ancestors, Lesley-Ann reporting from Brooklyn. 

1. 2. 3. 1.  MLK, David Huffman 2008 (Acrylic, oil and glitter on canvas) 2. The Score, Cauleen Smith  2012 (Porcelain, underglaze, acrylic paint and music stand) 3. Slave Ship Zong Series, Edgar Arceneaux, 2013 (Graphite, acrylic paint and paper on drywall) ‘The Shadows Took Shape,’ at the Studio Museum   addresses a concern that I, and many of my confidantes have been discussing heatedly, secretly even, amongst ourselves. I say secretly, because many of us have discovered to discuss such things have become, well, tabu.  The conversations usually take place in walks in parks in Brooklyn, where little black children used to play, only to be now displaced by designer dogs trampling upon the grass with their colonizing owners; or when Award shows are  stumbled upon and there are little or no presence of US despite the prevalence of our creations (aka Elvis, you know the deal). It is a bit of a conundrum, to be fair - here in the U.S...

Ancient Africa Powerpoint Shayna Christina Tom from bassmanb

your father's boots underground beats in brooklyn inspiration on the streets my old block in the b-k. an afternoon w/the spirit of rosenfeld an artist's home rosenfeld's home an artist's desk (rosenfeld) a sunday at rosenfeld's snowy view in harlem the forgotten father 'dreams realized'.  carrie weems is the boss #1 carrie weems is the boss #2

my new guitar, a very chilled cat and a photograph by Marie What color guitar you want? he asked.  You have a selection? I ask, thinking that pawn shops only carry pawned stuff - right? Not a selection of brand new guitars. We're a corporate pawn shop, he tells me, we got lots of stores all over Manhattan. We got piles of these guitars downstairs. What color you want? We got red, green, blue-- Blue I say. Blue. He leaves and returns with a blue guitar. I look outside at a 125th Street and contemplate the idea that pawn shops got brand new guitars in the middle of Harlem. It's a toy guitar, but it'll do. My grandfather built guitars, so I know you can get any guitar to sound good. You just have to know how to play it. So I got blue. I go home to find out what color chakra blue is. It's the throat chakra. It's speaking your truth. It's about expression. A corporate pawn shop he said. In the middle of Harlem. We got tons of them, he told me. What color do y...

My Mentor & shero Marie D. Brown!

Snapshot of Marie D. Brown at the Abyssinian Baptist Church  w/ Rev. Calvin Butts