InfiniteBody Honor Roll 2021

InfiniteBody Honor Roll 2021

Eva Yaa Asantewaa

As always, this is not a Best-Of list, certainly, but a kind of memory palace of remarkable arts events and resources I connected with in 2021 during the continued pandemic. Given how things went this year, it was not a very dance-focused time for me, except where dancing was streamable, but it was great for catching up with streaming series I might have missed otherwise or books I now had more time to read.

2022 looks like it will start out pretty much the same. I send you, your loved ones, and your community best wishes for a safe, healthy, artful, and wonderful New Year!

 

Michaela Coel's I May Destroy You (HBO)

Omar Sy starring in Lupin (Netflix)

 

I Hate It Here: Stories from the End of the Old World, written and directed by Ike Holter, world premiere, Studio Theatre, streaming from December 10, 2020 through March 7, 2021

Lupin (Part 1), directed by Marcela Said, Ludovic Bernard and Louis Leterrier, starring Omar Sy, Netflix, streaming from January 8

New Sounds Presents: ETHEL with John Schaefer, The Greene Space and WNYC and WQXR, YouTube, from January 14

 

Regina King, director, One Night in Miami (photo: Evan Agostini)

Regina King in The Harder They Fall (photo: YouTube)

One Night in Miami  (Amazon Prime Video)

 

One Night in Miami, directed by Regina King, Amazon Prime Video, streaming from January 15

I May Destroy You, created by and starring Michaela Coel, directed by Sam Miller and Michaela Coel, HBO Max, streaming from June 7, 2020

Kapaemahu, directed by Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu, Dean Hamer and Joe Wilson; animation director, Daniel Sousa; 2020; viewed February 2021

Black Art: In the Absence of Light, directed by Sam Pollard, HBO Max, streaming from February 13

Nomadland, directed by Chloé Zhao, Hulu, streaming from February 19

Mr. SOUL!, directed by Melissa Haizlip and Sam Pollard, released August 28, 2020; streaming on PBS from February 28

I Care A Lot, directed by J Blakeman, Netflix, streaming from September 12, 2020

Mank, directed by David Fincher, Netflix, streaming from December 4, 2020

Sound of Metal, directed by Darius Marder, Amazon Prime Video, streaming from December 4, 2020

Megan Thee Stallion on Legendary (HBO Max)

Cast of HBO Max's A Black Lady Sketch Show

Radiant Rest: Yoga Nidra for Deep Relaxation and Awakened Clarity, by Tracee Stanley, Shambala, 2021

Tina, directed by Daniel Lindsay and T.J. Martin, HBO Max, streaming from March 27

Twyla Moves, directed by Steve Cantor, American Masters, PBS, streaming from March 26

All In: The Fight for Democracy, directed by Liz Garbus and Lisa Cortés, Amazon Prime Video, streaming from September 9, 2020

All the Rage, by Rosamond S. King, Nightboat Books, 2021

Chasing Magic, by Ayodele Casel, streaming on The Joyce Theater website, beginning April 8

Conversation without Walls: Alice Sheppard and iele paloumpis, YouTube, April 9

Legendary (Season 1), directed by Rik Reinholdtsen, HBO Max, streaming from May 27, 2020

Legendary (Season 2), directed by Rik Reinholdtsen, HBO Max, streaming from May 6, 2021

Romeo and Juliet, National Theatre, directed by Simon Godwin, PBS Great Performances, April 23-May 21

A Black Lady Sketch Show, created by Robin Thede, directors Dime Davis (Season 1); Lacey Duke and Brittany Scott Smith (Season 2) HBO Max, streaming from 2019-2021

A Body in Fukushima, by Eiko Otake and William Johnston, Wesleyan University Press, May 2021

DanceAfrica 2021, BAM, streaming May 29 through June 10

In Treatment (all four seasons), various directors, HBO Max

The Flight Attendant, HBO Max, streaming from November 26, 2020

 

Author Clint Smith (photo: Carletta Girma)

                                                    Author Farah Jasmine Griffin (photo: Peggy Dillard Toone) 

 

Author Annette Gordon-Reed (photo: Stephanie Mitchell)

 

Culture Strike: Art and Museums in an Age of Protest, by Laura Raicovich, 2021

How the Word is Passed, by Clint Smith, Little, Brown & Co., 2021

Naomi Osaka, directed by Garrett Bradley, Netflix, streaming from July 16

In Our Mothers' Gardens, directed by Shantrelle P. Lewis, Netflix, streaming from 2020 

Transcendant Kingdom, by Yaa Gyasi, Alfred A. Knopf, 2021

Mary J. Blige's My Life, directed by Vanessa Roth, Amazon Prime Video, 2021

Poet Warrior: A Memoir, by Joy Harjo, 2021

Surrealism Beyond Borders, Metropolitan Museum of Art, October 11, 2021 through January 30, 2022

The Harder They Fall, directed by Jeymes Samuel, Netflix, streaming from November 3

 

Bo Burnham in Inside (Netflix)

Cast of Call My Agent! (Netflix)

King Richard, directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green, HBO Max, streaming from November 19

Read Until You Understand: The Profound Wisdom of Black Life and Literature, by Farah Jasmine Griffin, W.W. Norton & Company, 2021

Succession, created by Jesse Armstrong, HBO Max, streaming from 2018

Inside, by Bo Burnham, Netflix, streaming from May 2021

On Juneteenth, by Annette Gordon-Reed, Liveright Publishing Corporation, 2021

Call My Agent!, Netflix, streaming from 2015

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Stars talk star stuff: Neil deGrasse Tyson and Robert Krulwich at 92Y

What's your hurry? Whatever.
Dr. Tyson's here to drop some science.
(W. W. Norton, 2017)

Since its 1935 opening, there have been five directors of New York's beloved Hayden Planetarium. Okay, class. How many can you name?

That's right: Neil deGrasse Tyson

L-r: Neil deGrasse Tyson and Robert Krulwich

And there you have it. A solid scientist---astrophysics, for heaven's sake!--with top-notch communication skills, irrepressible charm and the celebrity of a rock star. Raised in New York's very own Boogie Down Bronx by a Black father and Puerto Rican mother. Able to tap into his own life-long wonder and intellectual curiosity to help the rest of us mortals wrap our brains around stuff like the possibility of dimensions beyond the mere three we perceive with our puny, survival-oriented senses.

Last night, when Dr. Tyson strode out onto the stage of 92Y's Kaufmann Concert Hall, cheers went up from the audience, so much so that host Robert Krulwich (himself a celebrated broadcast journalist and co-host of NPR's Radiolab) had to wave us into silence so the two friends could get down to their conversation and the business of promoting Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, Tyson's latest book.

While waiting for your morning coffee to brew, or while waiting for the bus, the train, or the plane to arrive, Astrophysics for People in a Hurry will reveal just what you need to be fluent and ready for the next cosmic headlines: from the Big Bang to black holes, from quarks to quantum mechanics, and from the search for planets to the search for life in the universe.

Science and scientists have taken a severe beating in Trump's New American Order. In this toxic atmosphere, Tyson's educational mission, visibility and accessibility loom even larger, approaching heroic status. While no one, onstage or in the audience, broached political or needlessly politicized issues during the 92Y appearance, anyone who thinks Tyson shirks from speaking up for rational policy needs to look at this video. The informal and wide-ranging chat revolved around both men's interest in stripping science facts of their austerity and their abilities to approach all of this with a storyteller's ready wit.

Tyson: "I have a photon joke. Can I tell it?"

Krulwich: "Go ahead."

Tyson: "Photon checks into a hotel, and the bellhop asks, 'Do you have any luggage?' Photon says, 'No, I'm traveling light.'"

And if you ever run into Tyson, you must ask to hear the entire hot cocoa/whipped cream story, which I will not spoil here. No worries. Just thank me when you see me later.

To be honest, I'm more of a casual science geek (and Tyson fangirl) than a deeply knowledgeable one but, as a neo-pagan, I share the agnostic Tyson's sense of wonder and admire his dedication to a cosmic perspective that rescues spirituality from being defined, confined and ultimately smothered by religious orthodoxy.

Excerpts from "Reflections on the Cosmic Perspectives," Astrophysics for People in a Hurry

The cosmic perspective comes from the frontiers of science, yet it is not solely the provenance of the scientist. It belongs to everyone.
The cosmic perspective is humble.

The cosmic perspective is spiritual -- even redemptive -- but not religious.

The cosmic perspective opens our minds to extraordinary ideas but does not leave them so open that our brains spill out, making us susceptible to believing anything we're told.

The cosmic perspective opens our eyes to the universe, not as a benevolent cradle designed to nurture life but as a cold, lonely, hazardous place, forcing us to reassess the value of all humans to one another.

The Virgo in me--sorry for the astrological reference, Dr. Tyson--completely gets his resistance to calling the color violet anything but "violet" as in "Roses are red, violets are...violet." The poet in me forgives him for that and grooves on the very idea of things called dwarf galaxies and runaway stars. The nosy person in me likes the question "What's going on between planets?" OMG, what, indeed?

I'm sympathetic to the notion that humans are simply not smart enough to figure out universes that might be trivial to the brain of a more intelligent species. I've seen what my fellow Americans are capable of unleashing on this planet. So, there's that. And how's this for real talk from Tyson? "The universe is under no obligation to make sense to you." Oh, yeah. That much is clear every. damn. day.

For information on Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, click here. And to learn about other cool programs at 92Y, click here.

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Richard Eder, 82

Richard Eder, Arts Critic and Foreign Correspondent, Dies at 82
by Bruce Weber, The New York Times, November 21, 2014

Thank you, Ursula K. Le Guin!

I think hard times are coming, when we will be wanting the voices of writers who can see alternatives to how we live now.... Power can be resisted and changed by human beings; resistance and change often begin in art, and very often in our art--the art of words.

--Ursula K. Le Guin

Read more:

“We Will Need Writers Who Can Remember Freedom”: Ursula Le Guin and Last Night’s N.B.A.s
by Rachel Arons, The New Yorker, November 20, 2014

You can't throw an unloved e-book across a room, but....

33 thoughts on reading
(A manifesto of sorts.)
by Austin Kleon, Medium, October 17, 2014

Of margins and sticky fingers

Let’s talk about margins
We’re making a book. The margins are important. Do you know how important?
by Craig Mod, Medium.com, August 18, 2014

26th Annual Lambda Literary Award Finalists Announced

26th Annual Lambda Literary Award Finalists Announced
Lambda Literary, March 6, 2014

2014 marks the debut of the Graphic Novel category. The awards ceremony will be held on Monday, June 2, at The Great Hall at Cooper Union, New York City.

For complete information and tickets, click here.

Novelists Edward P. Jones and Yiyun Li read at 92Y, April

92Y

welcomes novelists

Edward P. Jones and Yiyun Li

Thursday, April 10, 8:15 pm

Edward P. Jones won the Pulitzer Prize for The Known World. “It’s difficult to think of a contemporary novel that rivals its sweep, its humanity, the unvarnished perfection of its prose and its ultimately crushing power,” wrote Dave Eggers.

Yiyun Li’s new novel is Kinder Than Solitude. “Li is extraordinary, a storyteller of the first order,” wrote Junot Díaz. She “inhabits the lives of her characters with such force and compassion that one cannot help but marvel at her remarkable talents.”

Ticket information

92nd Street Y
1395 Lexington Avenue, Manhattan
(map/direction)

Topaz Arts and Bliss on Bliss rally support for the Philippines, November 30

Join Us Nov 30 to Support Typhoon Relief

TOPAZ ARTS, Inc. and Bliss on Bliss Art Projects co-present:

Novelist James McBride on winning his National Book Award

Traveling With John Brown Along the Road to Literary Celebrity
James McBride on His Novel ‘The Good Lord Bird’

by Julie Bosman, The New York Times, November 24, 2013

Neil Gaiman: why reading is fundamental

Neil Gaiman: Why our future depends on libraries, reading and daydreaming
A lecture explaining why using our imaginations, and providing for others to use theirs, is an obligation for all citizens
by Neil Gaiman, The Guardian, October 15, 2013

Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie on race and writing

Life Across Borders: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Talks About ‘Americanah’
by John Williams, The New York Times, June 6, 2013

Edward de Grazia, anti-censorship lawyer, 86

Edward de Grazia, Lawyer Who Fought Censorship of Books, Is Dead at 86
by Douglas Martin, The New York Times, April 23, 2013

Poets as activists, activists as poets

POETRY+ACTIVISM+IDENTITY, OH MY!!

A celebration, discussion and reading with 

Susan Sherman and Kathy Engel

Wednesday, March 27 (7pm)

at Bluestockings

Sharing personal experience and their own work, these two poet/activists will examine the fulfilling but often problematic relationship of poetry/identity and activism, as well as celebrate the NYC launch of Susan Sherman's new collection of poetry, The Light that Puts an End to Dreams (Wings Press).

For over thirty years, Kathy Engel has been a cultural worker, writer, educator, producer and consultant in the meeting place of imagination and social justice/change. Her books include Ruth's Skirts (IKON, 2007) and We Begin Here: Poems for Palestine and Lebanon, co-edited with Kamal Boullata. (Interlink Publishing, 2007). In 2012, she was Featured Poet at the Split This Rock Poetry Festival, and a fellow at the Hedgebrook Women Writers Retreat.

Poet, playwright, co-founder of IKON magazine, Susan Sherman, has published five collections of poetry, and a memoir, America's Child: A Women's Journey through the Radical Sixties (Curbstone, 2007). Intense political poems, intimate love poems and provocative reflections characterize her new collection, the journey of one woman intimately involved with "many of the most important events of our time, including feminism and gay liberation, anti-war activism, and the movements in Chile, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Cuba.

Free admission

Bluestockings
172 Allen Street (between Stanton and Rivington Streets), Manhattan
(map/directions)
212-777-6028

Poetry as a therapeutic force

Finding Poetry in Cancer
by Tara Parker-Pope, The New York Times, February 4, 2013

Book Awards go for glamour

Book Awards Seek a Bigger Splash, Red Carpet and All
by Leslie Kaufman, The New York Times, November 11, 2012

Eileen Myles: the politics of writing now

Many thanks to my colleague Lise Brenner for sending the link to Full Stop's provocative interview with writer Eileen Myles.

The Situation in American Writing: Eileen Myles
Full Stop, May 18, 2012

Leo Dillon, 79

Leo Dillon, Illustrator of Children’s Books, Dies at 79
by Margalit Fox, The New York Times, May 30, 2012

Three children's books on ballet

‘Ballerina Swan,’ ‘Bea at Ballet’ and ‘Invitation to Ballet
by Jennifer B. McDonald, The New York Times, May 9, 2012

OWS: Long live The People's Library!

The People's Library of Occupy Wall Street Lives On
by William Scott, The Nation, November 22, 2011