Author: Michael C. Reyes

Posted on

“Haitians May Leave Their Country, but It Never Leaves Them” (NYT)

“Haitians May Leave Their Country, but It Never Leaves Them” (NYT) by Aminatta Forna (August 27, 2019)

“Throughout the stories in “Everything Inside,” Edwidge Danticat’s birthplace, Haiti, emerges in an almost mythic fashion. It is a land where a life can be changed, a land that exists both in the past and the present, whose essence may be carried as far as Miami or Brooklyn. Perhaps most of all, it is a land that is rarely visible, for despite its overwhelming presence in these stories, Danticat sets only two of them there. In and from this unseen Haiti a woman’s ex-husband’s new lover will be kidnapped; a woman’s father will return to be part of a bright post-dictatorship future; a faithless husband will try to reconcile with his wife, only to lose her and his daughter in the earthquake of 2010; a desperate man, ditched from a raft, will crawl onshore and into the arms of the woman who will become his wife.”

For more, click through the New York Times link.

Posted on

“Arcade Fire Members Talk Haitian Rum and Keeping It Loud at Their Restaurant Agrikol” (Eater)

“Arcade Fire Members Talk Haitian Rum and Keeping It Loud at Their Restaurant Agrikol,” by Tim Forster. July 29, 2019. (Eater).

“It’s been over three years since two members of famed band Arcade Fire — Régine Chassagne and Win Butler — opened a restaurant in Montreal’s Village. Working with Toronto restaurateur Jen Agg and her partner Roland Jean, Agrikol quickly became a go-to for Haitian food and rum-laden cocktails, and then even more of a hub when next-door bar Ti-Agrikol opened.

Agg and Jean left the restaurant in 2018 to focus on their Toronto businesses (perhaps the most amicable split ever, notes Butler), but the restaurant is still going strong. Butler, Chassagne, and Agrikol chef Paul Toussaint sat down with Eater to talk about it.”

Posted on

“Where to Start if You Haven’t Read Enough Toni Morrison” (TIME)

“Where to Start if You Haven’t Read Enough Toni Morrison,” by Annabel Gutterman (August 6, 2019)

“Pulitzer Prize-winning author Toni Morrison died Monday night at 88. Powerfully interrogating some of the most pressing issues in American society, Morrison’s books cover themes including the psychological impacts of slavery and the destructive nature of oppression. Morrison wrote 11 novels during her career, beginning with her debut The Bluest Eye in 1970, in addition to children’s books, plays and an opera. She was also working on a 12th novel at the time of her death, her publisher confirmed to TIME. As the loss of one of America’s most accomplished writers prompts many to feel they haven’t read enough of Morrison’s books, here are some suggestions for where to begin if you find yourself among that category.”

Posted on

“‘See You Yesterday’ and the Perils—and Promise—of Time-Travelling While Black” (The New Yorker)

“‘See You Yesterday’ and the Perils—and Promise—of Time-Travelling While Black,’ by Maya Philipps (May 27, 2019)

“Loopholes, resurrected characters, plot resets, ever-branching arcs: time travel is an infinitely flexible conceit, limited only to its own pseudoscientific rules of causality. The new Netflix movie “See You Yesterday” makes an unusual contribution to the time-travel canon while highlighting one of its most prominent flaws: the racial privilege baked into these stories, or the dangers of time-travelling while black.

From Marty McFly to James Cole and even Wolverine, time travellers are almost always white and frequently male. It’s a practical choice on the part of writers. Post-Reconstruction? Not a problem. Colonial times? Let’s make it a three-day weekend. Time-travel shows and movies tend to fall into one of two categories: quaint personal journeys and heroic quests. In stories like “Back to the Future,” “The Time Traveler’s Wife,” and “The Butterfly Effect,” the scale is that of a personal narrative, with a white protagonist comfortably insulated from a larger racial history. On the other hand, in stories like “12 Monkeys,” “The Terminator,” and “Timecop,” the central conflict is so large—apocalypse, dystopias, national or global disasters—that the narrative can easily sweep past issues of race. (As for forward time-travelling, the future tends to be surprisingly post-racial, as evinced in “Star Trek” and “Doctor Who.”)”

Continue reading at The New Yorker by clicking the link in the title.

Posted on

“A Chef Tells the Story of the Slave Trade Through Dinner” (NYT)

“A Chef Tells the Story of the Slave Trade Through Dinner,” by Korsha Wilson (May 17, 2019) (NYT)

“Nearly a year ago, the chef Eric Adjepong stood in Macau on the set of the “Top Chef,” having made it to the finals of the cooking competition show. The only thing standing between him and the title was a four-course meal, served in two parts. He’d decided to use his menu to show the judges how influential Africa’s culinary heritage is on other parts of the world, including America.”

Posted on

“Latina Reads: Haitian Women Authors to Make Room for on Your Bookshelves” by Virginia Isaad

“Latina Reads: Haitian Women Authors to Make Room for on Your Bookshelves,” By Viriginia Isaad, May 07, 2018.

“Haiti is a Caribbean country rich in revolution and Black freedom. Enslaved Africans achieved independence from France in 1804, after centuries of colonial rule. Haiti, which means “mountainous country” in the language of the Taínos who first inhabited the land, is the source of inspiration for the works of the women on this list — for its beauty, its resistance and its turmoil.

Here, brilliant Haitian women authors, on the island and in the diaspora, you should know and read.”

Posted on

“Community, Revolution, and Power: How Long ‘til Black Future Month? by N. K. Jemisin”

“Community, Revolution, and Power: How Long ‘til Black Future Month? by N. K. Jemisin” by Martin Cahill (Nov. 27, 2018) (Tor.com)

“What started out as the topic of an essay written back in 2013 has now become the rallying cry behind multiple award-winning writer N. K. Jemisin’s first short story collection.” […]

“Her stories run the gamut from hard science fiction, to cyberpunk, to alien invasion, to steampunk, to urban fantasy, and more, and more, and more. Jemisin’s vision is limitless, and in every story, in every world, you get the sense that she is testing the waters, tasting the air, getting a sense of how this genre works, and how she can best use it to her strengths.” […]

“Many of her short stories revolve around similar themes: community, revolution, justice, revelation, power, and more. Jemisin isn’t satisfied with just looking at a system from the outside, and documenting what’s seen; she’s far more interested in digging her hands into the cogs and gears of how such systems work, who they benefit, and how they can be recreated so that there is a more even flow of justice, of power to those who have none, of compassion for those who have been ignored.”

For more, check out the original article at tor.com (Link in title)

Posted on

Comment la peinture a façonné la représentation des Noirs en Europe

“Comment la peinture a façonné la représentation des Noirs en Europe,” by LE MONDE AFRIQUE, Dec. 15 2018.

“Que dit la peinture de la perception des Noirs dans les sociétés européennes du XIVe au XXe siècles ? Après avoir étudié près de 5 000 tableaux sur lesquels figurent des personnages noirs, Naïl Ver-Ndoye et Grégoire Fauconnier en ont tiré l’anthologie Noir, entre peinture et histoire. Cet ouvrage dense met en lumière des figures restées dans l’ombre de l’histoire de l’art. Leurs trajectoires singulières, du diplomate au soldat en passant par le domestique, éclairent l’histoire des relations entre l’Europe et l’Afrique. Entretien avec Naïl Ver-Ndoye, professeur d’histoire-géographie.”

Posted on

Les civilisations noires ont désormais leur musée à Dakar

“Les civilisations noires ont désormais leur musée à Dakar,” by MARIE LECHAPELAYS, December 7, 2018 (Le Point Afrique)

“Au Sénégal, il y a eu 1966, année du premier festival mondial des arts nègres, et il y a 2018, celle pendant laquelle le musée des Civilisations noires a été porté sur les fonts baptismaux. Ainsi, ce 6 décembre est à marquer d’une pierre blanche dans l’histoire d’un pays, le Sénégal, et d’un continent, l’Afrique, qui reconquièrent doucement et sûrement leurs espaces culturels, leur mémoire aussi. Plusieurs pays d’Afrique mais aussi non africains, la Chine et la France, entre autres, ont assisté à l’inauguration de cet écrin des peuples noirs”