Living lovely in Harlem. Lynda Johnson was born and raised in Syracuse, New York but her family’s roots are in Montgomery, Alabama and it shows in her Southern hospitality and colorful storytelling. Her people were part of the epic, 20th century migration of blacks from below the Mason-Dixon line in optimistic search of opportunity up [...]
Archive for the ‘Books’ Category
The Trove: Ludlow Beckett
July 10, 2011
The distinguished proprietor. Back in 1999 one handsome, stylish LB, Lloyd Boston, hipped me to another, Ludlow Beckett. Ludlow had just opened his Fort Greene shop, Yú Interiors and Lloyd was spreading the word about his friend’s new venture. Given Lloyd’s clean, modern tastes I knew it would be good. Since then the emporium of [...]
The Trove: Eisa Ulen Richardson & Ralph Richardson
July 2, 2011
On the Fundy Trail. On each other: “He is my rock…She is wonderful, loving, giving.” Capricorn hip-hop heads Eisa Nefertari Ulen and Ralph Richardson, Jr. lived parallel lives near to, yet unaware of each other. Born in the city of Brotherly Love, each eventually moved with their families to idyllic Columbia, Maryland in the 1970s. [...]
The Trove: Anu Prestonia
June 16, 2011
Advancing the acceptance of natural beauty, the radiant hair care icon. So certain that their first-born child would be a boy, Barbra Jean and Preston Newsome awaited son Preston, Jr. When their Aries daughter arrived, they named her Prestonia and called her “Toni.” She would one day become “a new” Prestonia when spirit would dictate [...]
The Trove: Reed Morano Walker
June 7, 2011
Shooting the Oscar-nominated, Sundance hit, “Frozen River.” The year 2008 was a busy one for cinematographer Reed Morano. In January the exquisitely shot Frozen River (starring Melissa Leo who scored an Oscar nom for her performance) premiered to critical acclaim at Sundance (Reed’s first festival entry.) In June she gave birth to her remarkably beautiful [...]
The Trove: Abby Dobson
December 19, 2010
Mama’s Girl: “I am ever aware that I am standing on her shoulders and those of all the women in the house I was raised.” I was sitting in my mama’s living room in post-Thanksgiving satiety flipping through the Washington Post when I came across a listing about Abby Dobson’s performance at the Kennedy Center’s Millennium [...]
The Global Africa Project
November 19, 2010
An absolute must-see exhibition, The Global Africa Project is on view at the Museum of Art and Design at Columbus Circle through May 2011. I have anticipated this show for a while, as the works of my friends Xenobia Bailey and Cheryl R. Riley are included, but I was unprepared for the magnitude of the unprecedented installation of the design, art and craft [...]
The Trove: Matthew Serynek
November 11, 2010
Finding his center: Matthew Serynek. Though Matthew Serynek is well aware of white male privilege and the impact it has had on his life, he too is keenly aware of the feeling of otherness. A flame-haired adoptee, he bore no resemblance to his family and was a minority among Americans (2%) with naturally occurring Titian tresses. “So many things [...]
The Trove: Nicole Blades
November 4, 2010
NB: Smart, savvy, quick-witted ”and, to top it off nicely, Canadian.” In 1967 during a mass “Brain Drain” from his native Barbados, Telecom engineer Tony Blades headed to Montreal to create a new life for his growing family. Wife Maureen, daughter Yvette and son Sean joined him in 1970. A couple of years later, Nicole arrived, the [...]
