Blackness, Performance, Freedom
In “Which Way is Down? Improvisations on Black Mobility” by Jason King, many claims are made about the relationships between falling and ascension, verticality and the horizontal, and the intersections of masculinity, activism, queerness, and shame. King uses the extended metaphor of a ladder to convey his ideas about shame and social mobility, elaborating on…
The love song “All the King’s Horses” by Aretha Franklin that is referenced in Jason King’s “Which way is down?” encompasses the metaphor of falling as well as acts as an example of the black female singer’s desire to be heard. King’s article uses the metaphor of the act of falling and climbing a ladder…
Reflection on Content Describe a few of the connections you see between your different entries? As you reflect on your entries, do you find any contradictions between one entry and another? Or even within one entry? Compare your first entry and your latest entry. Are their similarities to the types of questions and topics you’re…
You may email me your responses directly as a Word document, but I encourage you to post your project check-ins to the class site.* Doing so facilitates the feedback loop and also allows you to get a sense of how other groups are tackling similar or related issues. TOPIC FOCUS (Central Objective) What key idea,…
Beyoncé’s 2016 “Formation” music video includes a montage of scenes invoking both modern and historical settings. One image I’d like to pay particular attention to and which I discussed in an earlier journal entry is the parlor scene in which Beyoncé and several other women dance in the hallway of a 19th century southern home wearing…
Plays are not meant to be read, but to be staged. Of course, in the process of staging a play, or studying text for academic analysis, the play must be read. This reading provides a different, clearer understanding of the playwright’s intentions. Instead of wondering about the director’s or designer’s work, we as readers are…
Last week, I enacted the scene in Sassafrass, Cypress, and Indigo on pages 74-75, where Sassafrass cooks dinner. I made a variation of the fish with red sauce and a vegetable side. Like Sassafrass, I did breathing exercises while preparing the ingredients and relevés while waiting for the fish to broil—embodying her physical state and…
Listen to first minute and a half AND from 5:40 on. “Max Roach & Abbey Lincoln perform Tears for Johannesburg & Tryptic (Prayer, Protest).” Posted by thepostarchive. YouTube.com. October 20, 2018 (Accessed 9/30/20).