Category Archives: Writing

Lorraine Hansberry: The Battle for Fair Housing

We’re still struggling with fair housing. In so many areas of the United States, segregated neighborhoods are as bad as they ever have been—or worse, much worse—while over a million children don’t have homes at all. This made me look … Continue reading

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Elizabeth Alexander: Praise Song for the Obama Inaugural

As the 2012 election nears—yet another historic one, most say—I think about Elizabeth Alexander, the poet who read her poem “Praise Song for the Day” on January 20, 2009, at the Inaugural of President Barack Obama. The perils of writing … Continue reading

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“Neckties”

        — for Raja Rao   A thousand years old at birth, he kicked up the dust of Vedic sages wherever he walked. The molecules of air they had exhaled swarmed to him like gnats. He breathed … Continue reading

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