I generally maintain lively interactions with the occult, the mysterious, and the spooky year round (blame Lilith in Scorpio in my natal chart, not to mention Aries in 8th house), but when Samhain rolls around, of course these things take more of a precedence. And that extends to books! I reached out to a dazzling […]
Category: Books
The Making of Umoja: There Is No Monolith
I will not lie: it is slightly intimidating to interview two individuals as beautiful as Biankah Bailey and Marcellus Nealy, co-editors of “Umoja: Black Diaspora Edition”, the latest trailblazing offering from ToPoJo Excursions. Fortunately, we do it over Zoom, which makes it just a tiny bit easier to keep my cool. On the screen, Marcellus […]
JOHN FRANCIS CROSS: I Enjoy Meeting You And Talking
There is something extraordinary about having a conversation with John Francis Cross. I’ve had the pleasure in a variety of locations over the years: A seedy, incense-and-cigarette-smoke-infused basement bar in Ikenoue A rooftop café in Sangenjaya Along the banks of several inner-city rivers A vast, Parisian-style underground coffee shop in Shinjuku, with elegant china and […]
Jeffrey Johnson Interview: The Irresistible Pull of Moonlight, Flamenco, & Noam Chomsky’s Brain
Meeting Jeffrey Johnson on the street in Setagaya on a sunny afternoon in October, you’d be forgiven for assuming he’s a moderately normal, well-adjusted man. He sports a neatly trimmed goatee and is dressed in the quietly suave manner befitting a professor of literature at Sophia University: well-fitted jeans, a black T-shirt, spotless white sneakers. […]
5 Spectacular Books for Creative Inspiration
My favorite thing about creativity is the way it feeds on itself. Great works of art—actually, any works of art—blast themselves into humanity, get absorbed by humanity, and then sit back and watch in amazement as humanity can’t help but create more art in response. I adore cycles like this. And while I absorb creativity […]
Books & Tunes (rainy season mix)
What I’m reading: The Snake Pit by Mary Jane Ward Ultra-stark and tumultuous tale, written in 1946 and based on the author’s own experience of being locked up in a psych ward, misdiagnosed with schizophrenia, and subjected to shock treatments. I’m loving the wandering pronouns in this book—sometimes you, sometimes I—it’s confusing and discombobulating and […]