Tête-à-têtes
Sometimes I do these weird tête-à-têtes with writers & artists i stumble across. Get cozy and have a read.
JOHN FRANCIS CROSS
( in memoriam )
When John Francis Cross passed away on Sept. 10, 2022, after a lengthy battle with cancer, I was heartbroken for a number of reasons… But one of my most immediate and distressing thoughts was: HE NEVER SENT ME THAT POEM.
THE MAKING OF UMOJA: There is No Monolith
with editors Marcellus Nealy and Biankah Bailey
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.
JEFFREY JOHNSON: The Irresistible Pull of Moonlight, Flamenco, and 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. We actually talk about the weather for the first couple minutes, I kid you not (my fault; I was totally the instigator of this).
JOHN FRANCIS CROSS: I Enjoy Meeting You and Talking
There is something extraordinary about having a conversation with John Francis Cross.
It has something to do with his accent, which is exotic to someone like me (though probably less so to anyone from the UK), and the way he drawls out a casual response like “Riiiiiiiiiiight” before catching you off-guard with a follow-up Pandora’s box of stories, anecdotes, and quietly brazen imagery: all containing hints to the magical worlds that lie within his psyche.
