Trippin' with the RealTimShady

This week, a nod to the impending patriotic holiday and to today's debut of Hamilton: An American Musical , available for streaming on Disney+. (Mr. Jones and I plan to pop some popcorn and some bubbly and enjoy the full experience later today.) Hamilton  took the world by storm in 2015. Lin-Manuel Miranda's musical provided an energizing shot to the theater world, combining traditional musical theater sounds with rap, hip-hop, R&B, soul, and pop and featuring a diverse cast reflective of our contemporary world - the America-of-the-moment confronting and retelling the the story of the America-that-was. Hamilton  was (and still is) a theatrical phenomenon, earning accolades pre-Broadway (8 Drama Desk Awards) and on Broadway (11 Tony Awards) and ultimately earning the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2016. So far, I've missed my chance to see Hamilton  live. (I was to have experienced it back in April, but a pandemic interfered. I'm still hopeful to see it in Atlanta when ...

The Eurovision Song Contest  has been held every summer in Europe since 1956. More than 50 counties are eligible to compete each year (all of Europe plus Israel and Australia). Each participating country selects an original song and an artist to perform it at the grand finale - some are selected by committee, but most these days are selected through televised competitions such as The Voice Azerbaijan  or Ukraine's Got Talent . The grand finale - a live stage spectacle that involves a complex formula of country-by-country votes - is one of the most-watched shows of the year throughout Europe.  Winning Eurovision is not only a source of pride, but also a path to international stardom for both the song and the artist - Lulu sang "Boom Bang-a-Bang" to lead the United Kingdom to victory in 1969 ; ABBA went on to worldwide fame after winning for Sweden with "Waterloo" in 1974 ; and Celine Dion - representing Switzerland - won in 1988 singing a French-language ballad, ...

This week, not only a poem, but that same poem turned into song. Langston Hughes  is remembered as one of the most significant poetic voices of the 20th century, rising to prominence during the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s and contributing to the American literary conversation until his death in the 1960s. Like many of the great Black American poets, Langston Hughes was almost foreign to me during my own schooling. I don't remember reading his poetry until I was in college. What a shame, really, but I'm glad to have discovered Hughes and to have shared his work with my students through the years. Audra McDonald  possesses what must be one of the most beautiful, enchanting, haunting, and glorious voices in the world of contemporary theater. She has earned six Tony Awards, winning the first three before she was the age of 28! (I saw her perform in Ragtime  on Broadway back in 1998 and was so moved that I bought another ticket to see her again the next day.) Langston Hugh...

Paul Laurence Dunbar, born to freed slaves in Kentucky in 1872, became one of the first influential Black poets in American literature, presenting the plight of Black people in America through language that was simultaneously lush and romantic, vivid and realistic.   "Sympathy" is a potent synthesis of poetic form (the rhythm and the rhyme, the alliteration and the imagery) and social commentary (the caged bird with bloody wings contrasted with the sensorial beauties of spring, metaphors each for the oppressed and the oppressor). The poem was first published in 1893 - more than 100 years ago - yet it still beats and throbs today. The bird is still caged, still bruised and sore from years of systemic abuse. Sympathy Paul Laurence Dunbar (1893) I know what the caged bird feels, alas!     When the sun is bright on the upland slopes; When the wind stirs soft through the springing grass, And the river flows like a stream of glass;     When the first bird sings and fi...

These days Edna St. Vincent Millay goes unheralded, an oft-overlooked poet of the early 20th century despite having been awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1923. And though Millay's poetic scope spans a variety of styles, including forays into the free verse trend of her era, I always think of her as a master of the contemporary sonnet. [And sonnets, truly, are the epitome of the power of poetry - intense emotion compressed into 14 lines, 140 syllables, little jewels of beauty, tiny explosions of reality.]  What I like most about Millay's sonnets is that she strips away the romanticized notion that we might associate with the classic sonneteers - she's not interested in presenting us with love sonnets, immortalizing lovers with glinting eyes. No, Millay's sonnets - certainly beautiful and definitely intricate and syntactically complex - are aiming for something more didactic, raw, and profound. "Read History" is a command, a reflection, an admonition, a call to act...

It’s finally Election Day in Georgia! The day was twice-postponed by the global pandemic. Mr. Jones and I completed our mail-in ballots a few weeks ago - an easy process that, quite frankly, should maybe be the norm. We sat at the dining room table, phones in hand, and Googled candidates in order to review their positions before casting our votes. After completing our ballots, we secured them in the provided “envelopes” (one of them is just a sleeve, not really an envelope) and put them in the mail. After that, we monitored the Secretary of State’s “My Voter” page ( https://www.mvp.sos.ga.gov/MVP/mvp.do ) to make sure our ballots were received and approved (they were). If you aren’t sure where to vote, you can use the same link above to check your voter registration status and to find your polling place. If you have an absentee ballot and haven’t mailed it yet, don’t fear - you can drop it off today at a polling place or in one of the drop-boxes outside many county elections offices. ...

Chicken 🐔 Broccoli 🥦 Rice 🍚 Casserole To be honest, this recipe was a happy accident. We knew we had chicken, broccoli, and rice in the kitchen, and my suggestion of a goopy, scrumptious casserole seemed perfect until we realized we didn't have one key ingredient for most goopy, scrumptious casseroles - a "cream of something (chicken, mushroom, celery)" soup.  We Googled and found several promising possibilities for replicating the piping hot dish of comfort we were craving. Chef Max went to work, reviewing the recipes and then adding, subtracting, and refining until he created this completely satisfying meal-in-itself. Give it a try, and let us know if you like it! Ingredients 3 cups cooked rice 2 tablespoons vegetable oil 2 large boneless chicken breasts (approximately 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 pounds), chopped into bite-size pieces salt, to taste fresh ground pepper, to taste 1 diced white or yellow onion 3-4 cups chopped fresh broccoli 1 tablespoon celery seed 1 tablespoon po...