news from kintespace.com ::: Wednesday, July 30, 2008

These three Shá Cage YouTube.com videos catch this strong voice live. This is an interdisciplinary artist based in Minneapolis, travelling to Africa by way of Mississippi. Andrea Myers of tcdailyplanet.net introduced Shá Cage in February 2008: “Sha Cage is a woman of many talents, currently working in the Twin Cities as an artist, poet, actor and playwright. Her spoken word performances are both riveting and heartfelt, showcasing her talent for internal rhyme schemes, wry humor and strong will.”

::: bell hooks: Postmodern Blackness

::: ::: http://kintespace.com/kp_bell_hooks.html

It took me years, over six years, to understand that when bell hooks told me twice (on two separate occasions, upwards of at least a year apart) that it was okay to re-publish this classic essay “Postmodern Blackness“ she was indeed exercising her rights and was not (I assumed) overruled by the University of Pennsylvania or Oberlin College. In fact, due to my incessant digital journal writing, Lisa Spiro, Managing Editor of Postmodern Culture, graciously took the time to explain how unfair I was being to her—and me. This turn of events is an awesome example of classic, self-inflicted oppression—what bell hooks certainly might have regarded as a deficiency from my distinctly masculine form of Black essentialism! With my apologies to Lisa Spiro, we here in the kinté space present the words of bell hooks for the first time.

::: Trey Ellis: The New Black Aesthetic

::: ::: http://kintespace.com/kp_trey_ellis0.html

When renowned author and screenwriter Trey Ellis appears with “Obama: Cultural Mulatto“ in the February 19, 2007 edition of The Huffington Post, it is clear that the term “cultural mulatto” still is very potent and relevant in the 21^st century. Ellis coined this term back in 1989—and somewhere around 1992 he might have found a message on his answering machine from a 20-something-year-old me mumbling something he probably did not understand and definitely failing to understand the immature awe I had for his accomplishments. I know I sound gushing (and I am aware that the insulting word “mule” is inside the word “mulatto”—and I am even more aware that I have been systematically ostracized by the super-fine women of the elite, largely New-York-based class that Ellis represents) but this is my first, relatively appropriate opportunity to express years-old sentiment that kintespace.com exists, in part, for pop-cultural, hyper-linking voices like Trey Ellis and it is a dream come true for me not only to finally be able to publish his work electronically after almost 20 years but to receive the go-ahead from him directly.

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