James C. Nieh: Unlocking secrets of the honeybee dance language
Bees learn and culturally transmit their communication skills.
Baron Wormser: The Good Life
It’s plain that the world as we know it is literally choking on its machine- and money-driven complexity.
Audio: Grateful Dead Live at Barton Hall, Cornell University, 1977-05-08
Generally considered one of The Grateful Dead’s best performances…
Barbara Hamby: My Translation
I am translating the world into mockingbird, into blue jay,
into cat-bombing avian obbligato, because I want
more noise, more bells, more senseless tintinnabulation
Video: David’s Voice
Through a series of intimate performances and conversations with David, his mother and others close to him, there emerges a portrait of an artist searching for his place in life.
Sabine Oishi: Nazi Gold & The Gnomes of Zürich
A hoard of gold, jewels and priceless art is securely tucked away, guarded, so the joke has long gone, by the gnomes of Zürich.
Philip Levine: Belle Isle, 1949
We stripped in the first warm spring night
and ran down into the Detroit River
to baptize ourselves in the brine
of car parts, dead fish, stolen bicycles,
melted snow.
David Kirby: My Girlfriend Killed James Brown
“Yeah, I got bumped up to first class, and when I saw who
my seatmate was, I went back to economy and told my girlfriend,
and even though she had the flu, we switch places, and three
weeks later, James Brown is dead.”
Juan Cole: The American War from Hell, 20 Years Later
The Iraq War ruined what credibility America had as a pillar of international order in the global south and gave Putin cover for his own atrocity.
Cynthia Atkins: Hairbrush
He’d fall asleep on my chest, breath light as a falling leaf.
Now, he glides the bristles down my neck— He gently fluffs
the tufts, like airing the pillows.
Irene Vázquez: How Black Hair Practices Can Inspire Architecture
An exhibit at the University of Houston explores how Black hair techniques can be translated into innovative building materials, designs, and methods.
Fred Shaw: To the Fuckhead Who Stole My Bike
gunning with the bebop of another
coaster at its last dip, the valves
of your heart opening
and closing without fail
Derrick Z. Jackson: EPA Can Save Lives with Tighter Protections on Fine Particulate Pollution
Globally, fine particulate pollution kills at least 4.2 million people a year, according to the World Health Organization, and perhaps as many as 5.7 million a year…
Vox Populi 