100 Greatest Wire Quotes

Is you taking notes on a criminal *@# conspiracy?

Good looks to fellow teacher Abed Bhuyan for forwarding this!

Klassic Kreationz

They're like the 2009 version of the Souls of Mischief. Check out the track "I Just Wanna Be Me". Very nostalgic.

Bill Cosby Doing Hip-Hop?

Bill Cosby is putting out a Hip-Hop album via Hip-Hop group the Cosnarati about personal responsibilities. He's encouraging folks to setup private listening parties. For more info go to www.billcosby.com. Meanwhile, here's a snippet.

Bill Cosby Presents The Cosnarati performs "Safe of Your Heart" from Bill Cosby on Vimeo.

The Art of Frank Morrison

Ever wonder where Corner Boy got its headlining icon? Mr. Frank Morrison. This man is the unsung arbiter of urban art. Gotta throw a piece up here from time to time.

Salon.com Diary Days 2-4

Follow Sidik Fofana on his quest to land a freelancing job at the prestigious publication, Salon.com.

When I last left, I had sent a lengthy email to managing editor, Jeanne Cartensen, seeking a position as a contributing writer for the Books section. I got this email back...

Jeanne Carstensen is no longer at Salon. She can be reached at
jcarst@earthlink.net.

For Salon inquiries, please contact Ruth Henrich, associate managing
editor, at ruth@salon.com.

Bummer. But then, I checked my gmail and I got this email from associate editor, Thomas Rogers...

Hi Sidik,

I'm writing because one of our Salon writers came across your tweet today -- and had many of us (including Joan Walsh) intrigued. While we can't exactly offer you a job right now, we'd love to have you join and cross-post to Open Salon, our blogging site, where we'll keep a special eye out for your work. There may also be an opportunity to get involved more involved in Salon books content in the future (we have some bigger projects in the works).

To join you just need to go to open.salon.com and sign up for an account. E-mail me when you do, and I'll make sure to check out your blog.

All the best,

Thomas Rogers

Associate Editor
Salon.com
trogers@salon.com

They actually wrote me back! Although I didn't exactly get my desired result, the future looks promising. So for now on, I'll be blogging on Corner Boy Jazz and Open Salon with hopes to build an audience as a cultural critic. Meanwhile, I'll keep writing my book reviews and nudging the Salon editors from time to time. Tune in for more diary entries!

Mos Def spits Black Thought's "75 Bars"

Good looks to my homie, Noah Barnes, for putting me on to this clip. This is an example of two great lyricists with an appreciation for each other's art. Mos Def is such a fan Black Thought's that he knows the lyrics to Thought's modern classic, "75 Bars". Have fun...

Salon.com Day 1

Call it Gonzo. Call it reality blogging. Call it whatever you want, but I'm introducing a new topic on the blog where you get to see my real life hustle to get a writing gig. The target: salon.com. I absolutely love the writing on this site and it has been a dream of mine for the past umpteen months to contribute to their book section. So every few days/months, I'll update you on the job hunt. If this were basketball, it would be the equivalent of following a college senior through the bumps and bruises of trying to play professionally. This should be fun or depressing. Anyway, here's the first note I sent them...

Dear Mrs. Carstensen,

I’m writing because I would like to contribute to your literature section. As thorough as it is (Laura Miller’s last review of Pynchon’s Inherent Vice really left no stone unturned), I think it could be benefit from a minority writer. You guys have done a marvelous job of covering the big name contemporary authors of color, but I think there are more minority authors that your progressive audience would love to read about. For instance, I noticed that you have a very meticulous review of Junot Diaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, but no review of Edwidge Danticat’s Brother I’m Dying, which came out around the same time (and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Award). I saw a terrific review of Colson Whitehead’s Sag Harbor, (which I read with both delight and discouragement), but no review of Toni Morrison’s A Mercy. Those are the gaps I can fill.

Though my experience is nowhere as extensive as say an Andrew O’Hehir or Stephanie Zacharek, I have a few strong suits of my own. One, I am a voracious, eclectic reader. I read everything from Margaret Atwood to Zadie Smith. I’ve gone broke walking out of the Strand with a canvas bag of books (yesterday I bought the Hakawati by Rabih Alameddine among a slew of other goodies). Two, I got one of those Ivy League degrees that may or may not grant me some legitimacy. And three, I’ve written tons of book reviews for seeingblack.com. I'm such a fan of salon.com's writing that I've modeled my reviews after those Laura Miller's.

So, why not give me a shot? I recently wrote a review for Victor Lavalle’s new book Big Machine. It’s being doing well with the major press. It's a 1500 word review in the salon.com voice. I pasted the link to it. Whaddaya say? At best, you’ll have an even more thorough book section with a dedicated contributor. At the very least, you’ll have to write a short pink slip to the author of a mediocre review.

Please let me know what you think--even if it’s one or two sentences—so I know that this letter was not just fired into the response-less ether. Thanks for reading this and hope to hear from you soon!

Sidik Fofana


http://www.seeingblack.com/article_717.shtml