Llanor Alleyne
Writer | Editor | Artist
Yesterday, news of the arrest of Harvard Professor Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr. last Thursday hit the news and blog wires with a decidedly loud twang. Gates, arriving home from a trip to China to find his front door jammed, used his shoulder and the aid of his driver to force his way in. A [...]
The whole world is mourning Michael Jackson today and with good reason. The grief that his sudden death evokes has everything to do with his musical presence in our lives and how his songs defined some aspect of our coming of age, at least for my generation (born in the 1970s). Everyone has at least [...]
“LOL, Charles Hamilton is a pussy n*****, got punched by a bitch…” Charles Hamilton must be waking up this morning praying for a better day after facing ridicule yesterday from all corners of the web. I was pretty late to this myself, but comments like the quote above made my back hunch up. After following [...]
In the last few weeks I have been exploring ways to keep writing every day. In addition to the notorious “free write” (taking 15 minutes to just write without stopping), and polishing half-written short stories that I’d set aside ages ago, I have taken to writing microfiction via my new twitter account: @scetches. Although many [...]
In the 17 years I have spent as a working, productive member of society, this past month is the first that I have not been willfully and gainfully employed. The first week, my shell-shocked self received optimistic visitors to my flat who insisted on the silver lining around a dark, rain-soaked cloud. The second week, [...]
I have always argued that exploring the gray area is ok. In fact, we rely too heavily on seeing things as black and white, eschewing the possibility that both sides might be right…or even wrong. Gray area suggests compromise, a giving up of an inch, maybe even a mile; it reeks of complexity and forces [...]
The Gemini in me has been, as to be expected, distracted; jumping from one beautiful, creative flower to the other. Last month, I went to Amsterdam for work followed by a much needed and enjoyable four-day layover in London. My time in the former–the highlight of which was dinner and a much needed drink with [...]
I was walking to the bus stop amid the snow and slush a couple of mornings ago, when I overheard a rushing mother say to her toddler who was struggling to keep up: “You are too young to have something hurting you!” This was in response to an unintelligible complaint the child had made seconds [...]
The other day I took a good look at my main email’s inbox and had a start. Not only was it overrun with Facebook and Twitter notifications (oy!), it was practically choking on “special offers” from American Airlines and MacMall, as well as redundant receipts from various online stores. My email inbox had become a [...]
Today has finally arrived. Barack Obama will be sworn in as the 44th President of the United States. I, for one, will be glued to my television at noon. I woke up this morning anxious and tense, not because it is inauguration day, but because I have got so very much to do work-wise. I [...]
Another year has flown by quickly, though during the presidential election it seemed like 2008 would never, ever end. But on cue, the calendar pages have faithfully flipped by and we are two days away from 2009. I didn’t learn any personal grandiose, scary lessons this year (thankfully), but I did stick to one mantra [...]
I have been quiet lately on purpose. A lot has happened, both good and bad. I have been promoted to editor of the international version of the magazine I currently work for, while at the same time, I have been emotionally dealing with one of my good friends discovering she has breast cancer. I know [...]
After Barack Obama broke through the storm clouds of American politics to bring some sunshine and optimism back to these shores two weeks ago, many of my friends have been describing a kind of reawakening; an emergence from a dark, dark place where we have long resigned ourselves to staying…until visas could be had for [...]
It is impossible to express how elated I feel about President-Elect Obama. I just cry a lot, and have resigned myself to crying for the next two days. As a black person, as the auntie of several young black boys, as the daughter of a black man, an Obama presidency chokes me up. I have [...]
In what I can only call brilliant, Barack Obama is leaving no frontier unexplored. Ben Smith over at Politico, is reporting that serious Xbox 360 players are coming across Obama campaign ads in their video games. This offers even greater insight into what can only be called Obama’s beautiful mind.
I had the weirdest thing happen to me today, and I think the incident serves as one of the reasons why I am super cautious about who I befriend in the wide, wide interWeb. At 33 years old, and having come to the internet when I was in my early 20s, I have gone from [...]
I have been attempting a clean up, a consolidation really, of all the notebooks I have scattered around my flat. It is amazing how many of them I have and how randomly I have used them. Although their covers announce a particular purpose, “Music I Want”, for example, I would find scribbled interviews for newspaper [...]
As it is when someone you loves dies, I have been unconsciously thinking about the many layers we all hide behind our smiles and “I’m fine.” Kelley’s death is still sinking in, and as I learn more about how she came not to be with us anymore, this thing of good people suffering quietly both [...]
In election season, there is a price for being turned into a symbol … Which brings me to the sexism of John McCain. He knew full well what Sarah Palin was going to face if he nominated her. He knew that reporters would go through her past, that they’d quizz her on the present, that [...]
It seems utterly ridiculous that the world should have kept on turning two whole weeks without me being aware that my friend, Kelley had died. But that is exactly what happened, and as I sit at home today, trying to finish up an issue of my magazine, I can’t help but feel heartbroken that she’d [...]
I have been chatting quite a bit with a new friend recently, who has been listening to Camille Yarbrough–one of the greatest civil rights/afrocentric wordsmiths out there. There is, in this breed of startlingly stark and touching poet/writers, the truthful June Jordan, the beloved Nikki Giovanni, the sublime Rita Dove, and perhaps the most famous [...]
It’s important not to waste energy on worry and fear. I am hoping for peaceful transition into a new age. Obama has already played a great role in initiating us into that vision. If he were to be harmed in any way, it would spawn the birth of a million Obamas. – Saul Williams, Poet
John McCain likes to say that he’ll follow bin Laden to the Gates of Hell — but he won’t even go to the cave where he lives. – Sen. Barack Obama, DNC Acceptance Speech, August 28, 2008, Denver, CO
Limited edition poster created by Shepard Fairey @ Obey Giant.
