Why Evie Shockley's Poems Require Multiple Readings

Yesterday, my crew of students and I were discussing the new black, and a question came up: "How should we read Evie Shockley's poems?" The answer we arrived at: in multiple ways.

There are all kinds of poems that require multiple readings in order to "get it." But with three of Shockley's poems -- "dependencies," "x marks the spot," and "mesostics from the american grammar book" -- though, more than one series of ideas are communicated at one time, so multiple readings are a requirement, not simply a good idea.

Bargains and Outliers

The “Marita’s Bargain” chapter focuses on a leading college-prep school, the KIPP (Knowledge is Power Program) in a struggling community in New York City. Gladwell gives special attention to one of the students, Marita, and the considerable effort and sacrifices she must make in order to do well at the school. She must rise early and study late into the night

Gladwell argues that KIPP “has succeeded by taking the idea of cultural legacies seriously.” That means that a tradition like summer vacation is replaced with year-round schooling, and the times that the school day begins and ends changes as well as how students are instructed to pay attention in class. And, a student like Marita is given more of a “chance” when someone brings “a little bit of the rice paddy to the South Bronx” and explains “the miracle of meaningful work.”

African American Poets and Academic Appointments

A list of African American poets and their academic appointments.  

• Elizabeth Alexander, Yale University, Department of African American Studies

• Rita Dove, University of Virginia, Commonwealth Professor Department of English

• Cornelius Eady, University of Missouri, Department of English

• Kelly Norman Ellis, Chicago State University, MFA in Creative Writing

A Notebook on the work of Elizabeth Alexander

Elizabeth Alexander is one of our major poets and black studies thinkers. Her work has been prevalent in African American artistic and historical discourse for years now.  She has produced several publications over the years, including The Venus Hottentot (1990), American Sublime (2005),and Crave Radiance: New and Selected Poems 1990-2010 (2010).

Entries:

Elizabeth Alexander's Books

Volumes of poetry:
• The Venus Hottentot (1990)
• Body of Life (1996)
• Antebellum Dream Book (2001)
• American Sublime (2005)
• American Blue: Selected Poems (2006)
• Miss Crandall's School for Young Ladies and Little Misses of Color, with Marilyn Nelson (2007)
• Poems in Conversation and a Conversation, Lyrae Van-Clief Stefanon (2008)
• Praise Song for the Day (2009)
• Crave Radiance: New and Selected Poems 1990-2010 (2010)

Books of essays:
• The Black Interior (2003)
• Power and Possibility: Essays, Interviews, Reviews (2007)

Edited works:
• Love’s Instruments: Poems by Melvin Dixon (1995)
• The Essential Gwendolyn Brooks (2005)

Related:
• Elizabeth Alexander Week

The Accessibility & Availability of The Boondocks

Part of what made The Boondocks such a popular breakthrough when it appeared in 1999 and on into the early years of the 21st century was its accessibility and availability in various newspapers and on the net. Folks would circulate humorous strips via email, and it was possible to check out the archive of strips on gocomics.com.

Early on too, there was quite a bit of activity on the message board for, Boondocks.net, which made it possible for fans and critics of the strip to make their voices heard. Folks sometimes had intense debates about the merits and offenses of McGruder's comic strip.

Elizabeth Alexander: At the Crossroads of Poetry & Black Studies

In 2000, Elizabeth Alexander began working at Yale University as an associate professor. Although she had distinguished herself as a poet and while creative writers often work in English departments and MFA programs, Alexander's appointment was in African American Studies. In 2005, she was promoted to full professor with appointments in African American Studies, American Studies, and English, and in 2009, she became chair of African American Studies at Yale.

Alexander's now 12-year appointment in African American Studies is especially noteworthy when we consider the growing distance between African American poetry and Black Studies over the last 20 years. During the black arts era of the late 1960s and early 1970s, black poets were actively involved in the development and operations of black studies. Amiri Baraka and Sonia Sanchez, for instance, collaborated with students and activists who worked to create the first black studies program at San Fransisco State University.

The Boondocks & White Spaces

The Boondocks, April 23, 1999

Among other notable results, Aaron McGruder's The Boondocks had the distinction of shining a light on two distinct white spaces--the suburbs and the funny pages of newspapers. McGruder was not the first African American comic strip creator, but few had ever gained the widespread attention that he did.

The appearance of a comic strip starring two (black) black boys was remarkable. Unlike the many black culture-less or black-lite African American characters who appear in mainstream commercials and on television shows, Huey and Riley Freeman were self-consciously black.  Their prevalent black racial identities were a reminder that the surrounding comic strips on the funny pages were almost exclusively white.