Gotham City Soul

So my mom bought Nikki Giovanni's album "The Truth Is on the Way" when I was a kid. Eventually I got around to listening to it (I listened to all my parents album in an attempt to understand their musical tastes, which ran the gamut from R&B, blues, jazz, and funk, to classical, folk, and country). I memorized this poem and used it as protection and defense against junior high school boys. It stunned at least a few of then into silence. I've since met Nikki, had the great pleasure of having lunch with her. I told her that my mama was my introduction to her poetry. But I didn't tell her I used her as a secret weapon. Ego Tripping by Nikki Giovanni I was born in the Congo. I walked to the Fertile Crescent and built the sphinx. I designed a pyramid so tough that a star that only glows every one hundred years falls into the center giving divine perfect light. I am bad. I sat on the throne drinking nectar with Allah. I got hot and sent an ice age to Europe to cool ...

I can never say enough about the Library of Congress and its terrific archive of images. Here is a lovely blog from the Denver Post featuring photos taken around the United States from 1939 to 1943, but instead of the usual black and white, they are in stunning living color. The photographers all worked for the Farm Security Administration and were given the task of chronicling the effects of the Depression. Please take a moment and look. Unlike the famous photo of the Depression era mother and child that we've seen many times, these are actually more about living life and overcoming.