Warsan Shire: The Somali-British Poet Quoted by Beyoncé in Lemonade
Rafia Zakaria | The Guardian
“The migrant and the Muslim woman may be the most marginal figures of our divided and suspicious present, their realities dulled into the monochrome of submission and desperation, to elicit pity or polemic. In Warsan Shire’s poetry they speak for themselves, its vivid literary exploration of their inner lives adding the depth and complexity that grants them a full and realized humanity. Here is rebellion in verse … ”
“Isn’t This Funnier?” New Girl Creator Liz Meriwether Recalls the Making of the Prince Episode
Liz Meriwether | Vulture
“His voice was … I don’t need to tell you what his voice was like. Soft. Strong. A whisper that sounded like it was booming out over a loudspeaker. He spoke, and the street I was standing on opened up. It’s possible I was having a full-on panic attack … But I knew, all the way in Minnesota, Prince could tell he was speaking to a person who had, moments ago, spit a dumpling out of her mouth.”
Prince: A Eulogy
Greg Tate | MTV News
“It’s only in our mourning that we realize we know more about your furtive, mysterious, cunning, and offstage publicity-shunning fantasy life and psychic haunts than any black cat in history, famous, infamous, or even family. Yet the deepest thing about you in retrospect, my ninja, is also the most obvious. That like every other big-tent playa-pimp impresario we’ve ever known, you lived and died by that most basic rule: Give ‘em everything you’ve got in spades, but always leave ‘em grieving for more.”
I Can Tell You All About Lemonade
Laur M. Jackson | Complex
“I will give you names. Names of black women. Not a be-all list. But a good start if this is new to you. If anybody thinks this is an everybody project. Black women’s work. Black women’s magic. Black women who have chosen to gift the world knowledge that even themselves contain secrets deliberately unnoticeable by you who may never need get it.”
Beyoncé, Hillary, Michelle, and the Business of American Marriage
Josie Pickens | The Daily Beast
“Beyoncé’s art and Hillary Clinton’s real life reckoning, played out before the public, are presenting us with new commentary on wives and cheating husbands: The reason a woman chooses to stay in a marriage after her partner’s affair may have changed from financial dependency, or unyielding loyalty, or societal constraints, to staying because (most importantly) it’s good for business and her whole life trajectory.”
Why Won’t Hollywood Cast Asian Actors?
Keith Chow | The New York Times
“Such facts reveal Hollywood’s dirty little secret. Economics has nothing to do with racist casting policies. Films in which the leads have been whitewashed have all failed mightily at the box office. Inserting white leads had no demonstrable effect on the numbers. So why is that still conventional thinking in Hollywood?”
