Nothing brings a #blackademic back to the blog game like the trailer for the biggest movie of my Black-ass lifetime!
Over the past few weeks, between getting proofs for an article I’ve had in the works for a bit (let’s go ASAP/Journal) and seeing work I’ve done in print, it’s been a really great scholarly time!
You can read my article Spectacular Intimacies: Texture, Ethnicity, and a Touch of Black Cultural Politics in the “Black Scenes” issue of Souls journal (vol. 19, no. 2).
You can read my article Minor Miracles: Toward a Theory of Novelty in Aya of Yopougon in Lateral (vol. 6, no. 1), which features a special section on Cultural Studies and Intersectionality as Intellectual Practice! This piece has been in the works for some time, and it’s gone through quite a bit of reconsideration. I’m looking forward to seeing it put to use in Black and American Studies, queer studies, and comics studies.
Speaking of comics: Black Panther!
Wonder Woman, I’m really happy for you, and I’mma let you finish, but Black Panther is about to be the biggest superhero movie of all time–all time!
The lasso is one of the coolest and most original things about Wonder Woman
Good god
Like every Black nerd, I am contractually obligated to react to the Black Panther trailer. All I have to say is: YES. Yes to all of this.
Also, I saw some birds, and I’m reading some books.
Eastern Towhee!
Yellow Warbler!
Osprey!
Willet!
Finally, here’s a preview of my summer reading. Check out Roy Christopher’s site soon to see what sound studies aficionados and other smarties are reading.
Gabourey Sidibe’s memoir, This Is Just My Face: Try Not to Stare. I’m already enjoying this a few chapters in, because the chapters read well on short trips. It’s not only funny, it’s genuinely touching. Sidibe has been a breakout star thanks to TV, but what has really flipped the script on her tragic/triumphant character in Precious is her incredible wit. I’m excited to see how she writes about her successes and the setbacks put in her way. Also, I follow her on Twitter and she is SO smart and SO funny.
Surpassing Certainty: What My Twenties Taught Me, by Janet Mock. I read Redefining Realness in like t-minus three days, I was so into Janet Mock’s voice and her ability to move me, as a reader, through times and places while conveying really important principles she’s come to value in her life as a Black trans woman with Native Hawaiian ancestry. The twentysomething memoir is an interesting genre that I hope will help me age into mentoring relationships as I approach my nextdecade. Janet Mock is already decisive about putting her own life lessons and interests into forms that connect with more and less privileged people, and I expect that she’s even more reflective in this book. Recently, she launched a podcast, Never Before, and the first episode with Ms. Tina Knowles-Lawson was just… poise.
Sexagon: Muslims, France, and the Sexualization of National Culture, by Mehammed Amadeus Mack. I picked this up at MLA in January. While it’s hard to keep pace with contemporary criticism, because of the pressure on academics to increase productivity, just like in every other profession, I want to say I’m catching up with people who have done the work in areas I care about. This is a study on desire, the nation, ethnicity, and religion, as well as sex, gender, and sexuality. I’m going through 2017 without knowing if there’s any such thing as loyalty to the field of queer studies, so for me, it’s important to do work that makes academia a space where we can exist, as desiring people, from marginalized backgrounds, engaged in a dialogue that implicates all of the social formations that claim us.
Boondock Kollage, by Regina Bradley. Regina is a colleague whom I’ve had the distinct honor of befriending earlier this year. I bought this book for my partner, and I’m going to have to get my own, because I need to read these stories as much as anybody else. I made my way through some classic short stories while teaching a course on science fiction, recently, and there was nothing like this that blended hip-hop, Southern everyday life, and race consciousness; there should be, and now, there will be. She’s giving you a voice from the South for the 21st century and beyond.
Bonus!
I’m also reading My Brother’s Husband by Gengoroh Tagame! I’m excited for this book as a continuation of my Queers & Comics journey. For the same reason, I’m a convert to the work of Mariko Tamaki, and I’m going to look for her novel (You) Set Me On Fire.
Jen Camper & Mariko Tamaki
Gengoroh Tagame & Anne Ishii
Meanwhile, I’m reading a little of the Marvel series about America Chavez/Ms. America, whose adventures I read a little about in The Ultimates, one of my favorite big superhero books over the last few years. I may also try to expand my reading of comics for educational purposes, in the interest of teaching a Comics & Graphic Novels course again.