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Ta-Nehisi Coates

Ta-Nehisi Coates - Ta-Nehisi Coates is a senior editor for The Atlantic, where he writes about culture, politics, and social issues for TheAtlantic.com and the magazine. He is the author of the memoir The Beautiful Struggle. More

Born in 1975, the product of two beautiful parents. Raised in West Baltimore—not quite The Wire, but sometimes ill all the same. Studied at the Mecca for some years in the mid-’90s. Emerged with a purpose, if not a degree. Slowly migrated up the East Coast with a baby and my beloved, until I reached the shores of Harlem. Wrote some stuff along the way.

What ages well and what doesn't

By Ta-Nehisi Coates
Sep 10 2008, 10:01 AM ET Comment

That thread on old-school nerdom got me thinking. Was half the stuff I loved as a kid even that good? I recently bought a collection of every old Transformers episode ever made and--surprise--most of the sucked. The movie was still incredible though and holds up remarkably well. Anyway from time to time I go on Youtube and play the following video. I don't even know how good the show was--but it reminds me of a time I thought I'd never yearn for. God damn, I hated being a kid. But the one thing that age robs--and probably technology--is that sense of wonder. I got to tap into that when I wrote my book. But now, rarely a day goes by when I don't yearn for that sense of boundlessness.

On another note, my dream is to do an oral history of cartoons from the late 70s to the early 90s and publish it online--something like Thundarr to Batman The Animated Series. Justice League is really the last great one.




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