This semester, I’ve been a frequent commuter for work, and have often felt myself at a loss for focus, struggling to let go of frenzied thoughts between where I’ve been and where I’m going. Spying Shange’s poem, “What Do You Believe A Poem Shd Do?,” as a part of the MTA’s Arts for Transit collection hit me like a wave of present. It, quite literally, ‘stopped me in my tracks.’ Seeing, reading and experiencing the poem in transit reminded me of the beauty in mundane rituals, like travel and movement. To me, the poem seems to celebrate leaning in to the challenge of letting go of haphazard thoughts and committing to the experience and gestures of the present moment. Read More
The Well Told Story
While talking to Professor Glover in my vision for my digital project, she gave me the term “interactive poetry book” as a descriptor. This helped me to conceptualize a digital space that pairs image and poetry in the same way that The Sweet Flypaper of Life and The Sweet Breath of Life does.
I did some browsing on the internet for sites that replicate the kind of effect I would like my digital space to have and I came across http://whiteboard.is/work/. I think this site works because it is user friendly and the transitions between images as I scroll are very smooth. Read More
Archive Find! – Ndikko Journal Entry
I’ve been getting very caught up in so much academic jargon, so for my archive task I wanted to go back to the original roots of my interest — Shange herself.
I had seen this journal entry earlier last fall, but at that point I quickly moved on because I was searching for a piece of Shange within the archive that resonated with my project. Stumbling upon this journal entry again reminds me that within all our projects and all our research the chief task we carry is to fulfill the occupation of storyteller. We must weave together distant echoes, pure evidence, slang from generations back, and art from magazines present to create a narrative we can visually depict. Read More
Archival Task, Letter Addressed to Alexis De Veaux
From the Schomburg archives, I was able to find a letter addressed to Alexis De Veaux from Ellen Jaffe. And in that letter, there were two photos of De Veaux and two other women in front of the home of Harriet Tubman’s home. The letter is very beautiful and there is sense of familiarity as well as formality as to jaffe addresses De Veaux. The heading of the letter has tells DeVeauz the constitution of the letter and a poem at end. The letter speaks of Jaffe’s encounter with the waitress who was a bit discouraged about her writing. As well as a “pantoum” The verses are potent and are reflective of the process of self care, self-acceptance and growth. Read More
Archive Find of the Week: “They Are Safe for Now”
Typed copy of Ntozake Shange’s (Paulette Williams) poem “They Are Safe for Now” published in 1966 in The Phoenix, the literary publication of her high school, Trenton High.
This piece interested me initially because the poem was typed on a browned sheet of paper and the bottom left corner was significantly ripped off. I noticed the date, 1966, and the authorship, Paulette Williams. I recalled that there weren’t many pieces in the Archive that were taken from this time in Shange’s life, and I also hadn’t seen any using her name assigned at birth. Read More
Archive Find 1: “why i had to dance”
This program is from a theater production of Ntozake Shange’s essay “why i had to dance,” choreographed and directed by Dianne McIntyre. In Ntozake Shange’s essay “why i had to dance” she demonstrates the importance of dance not only to the preservation and exploration of black culture but also to the creative process of writing. In a mix of poetry and prose, she speaks to her experiences with dance and how it came to be an integral part of her writing process. This production of the piece took place at Oberlin College in 2012.
My plan was to go to the Shange archives to look specifically for a program from one of Dianne’s productions with Shange, but I was lucky that Professor Hall happened to bring such a program to class. I was able to scan this item in class and, therefore, was able to investigate the item more thoroughly on my own time. Read More
Archive Find of the Week
A small green journal containing entries from early 2000s. Contains entries noting details about performances, to do lists, personal thoughts, and number lists. Telephone numbers of acquaintances and friends are scattered throughout pages.
This object was of particular interest to me because of the nature of my project. I am interested in evoking the “archival body” as it appears in bodies of text. The journal is an obvious, yet appropriate, body of text. It evokes a fullness of a text while also alluding to bodies and spaces in the entries. In the pages of this journal, Ntozake Shange talks about spaces she’s inhabiting and other bodies that she’s interacting with. This object thus functions as an art object, a collection of memories, and a memorandum of physical activity.
I located this object in the Ntozake Shange papers at Barnard College and will be utilizing the permissions given to the Digital Worlds of Shange Class to use and publish choice sections and aspects of this journal.
I am not aware if there is any metadata associated with this item as I am almost certain I am the first to digitize the object.
Archival Find: TWWA Celebrates International Women’s Day!
“International Women’s Day Celebrated,” published in The Black Panthers on March 16, 1974. Found in the Third World Women Alliance papers at the Sophia Smith Archives, Box 2 Folder 21.
Archive Find 1: Jazz Poetry
While visiting Barnard’s Archive this past week, I happened across a jazz poem by a contributor to “Phat Mama”. The poem, entitled me & miles, contributed by Thulani Davis (formerly Barbara Davis) talks about the way Miles Davis’ music influenced the narrator beginning as early as childhood– “when i was a childhood/then and oh yeah now/ me and miles/ had a/ real/ thing.”
Archive Find 1: “Cancer and Lorde’s work”
In thinking about my self-care project, I became increasingly interested in Audre Lorde’s life and work.
