Companion Peace
Savoring the Obamas' victory from a distance, on a family trip to Trinidad & Tobago, know what I discovered? Now that Shrub (thank you, Molly Ivins) is no longer wreaking havoc and murderous mayhem while pretending to be President, Barack's people are welcome around the world.
I wanted to be home when the Obamas took the White House, so my husband drove with me to Birmingham and I drove the rest of the way to Charlotte. And after we won, I was curious and apprehensive about how the Other Winners were handling it. (Yes, they, too, won that day even though they're having such a hard time accepting it.)
So, I took myself on a Post-Obama Victory Lap--alone, by car--from North Carolina through the heart of McCain-Palin Country: South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and finally to Texas. Whew. Are you kidding? Of course, I wrote about it!
As a consultant to the Government of Bermuda, developed and co-facilitated a year-long, national race dialogue with the people of Bermuda.
During 2-day sessions each month, we sustained the conversation with a core group of participants. Guest lecturers from the US helped more closely examine how race influences media, business, education, and criminal justice. Dubbed "The Big Conversation," our activities generated intense interest, and often controversy, among islanders and the media.
As far as we know, this kind of sustained, focused race conversation--not occasioned by crisis or impending disaster--has never, ever happened anywhere else in the world. If you know differently, we'd like to hear about it.
Curious about the ground we've covered since 2002? Scroll waaaaay down this page until you reach PLACES WE'VE BEEN....
Click here to hear WHEN RACE BECOMES REAL on NPR
Pulitzer Prize winners Les Payne, Leonard Pitts, and Natalie Angier along with Robert Jensen, Susan Straight, and Kimberly Stringer read from their essays on NPR's "The Tavis Smiley Show."
Browse a chapter: "Jasper, Texas Elegy"
Remember the gruesome truck lynching in Jasper, Texas? Welcome to my world.
"Murder and the Reasonable Man"
Book review of MURDER AND THE REASONABLE MAN: PASSION AND FEAR IN THE CRIMINAL COURTROOM, by Cynthia Lee, published in the "Women’s Review of Books," Wellesley College Center for Research on Women, January 2004.
"The Old Wink and Nod"
Book review of UNDERGROUND CODES: RACE, CRIME, AND RELATED FIRES," by Katheryn Russell-Brown (New York University Press 2004), published in the "Women’s Review of Books," Wellesley College Center for Research on Women, June 2004.
"Bearing Witness"
“Bearing Witness,” KENTECLOTH: SOUTHWEST VOICES OF THE AFRICAN DIASPORA, Jas. Mardis, ed. (Denton: University of North Texas Press 1997).
South African Safari
A decade of marriage merited a memorable celebration. Mission accomplished.
"White Friends"
My chapter in CHILDREN OF THE DREAM: OUR OWN STORIES OF GROWING UP BLACK IN AMERICA (New York: Pocket Books, January 1999)
"The New South Africa: Warm and Welcoming"
A slightly different version was originally published as “The New South Africa—Warm and Welcoming,” Heart & Soul Magazine (May 1999, p. 85).
"Take Me to the Water"
Short story in TEXAS SHORT STORIES 2, Billy Bob Hill & Laurie Champion, eds. (Browder Springs 2000)
"Heat"
Short story in "TEX! A Magazine of Texas Fiction, Poetry and Art."
"The Tutu"
Excerpt from a work-in-progress.
~2007~
4-8 February
Race Dialogue Initiative
Hamilton, Bermuda
20-22 February
"Undoing Racism" Workshop
People's Institute for Survival and Beyond
Austin, TX
1 March
Honors Hours Lecture Series - 1:30PM
Northern Virginia Community College
138 Bisdorf Hall
Alexandria, VA
2 March
Workshop - 2:00-4:00PM
Prof. Joseph Windham et al., hosts
Northern Virginia Community College
Location to be announced
Alexandria, VA
18 March
Guest speaker: "Bloodwork: My Life Among White Folks"
St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church - 12:30PM
14311 Wells Port Drive
Austin, Texas 78728
(512) 251-0698
Pastor, Dr. Jim Rigby
www.staopen.com
19 March
"Talking Race"
Public forum with University of Texas journalism Prof. Robert Jensen
St. James' Episcopal Church - 9:30AM
3701 East Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd.
Austin, Texas 78721
512 926 6339
The Rev. Greg Rickel, D. Min, Rector
www.stjamesaustin.org
25 October
Moderator, UNT Fine Arts Series
Panel Discussion with Zoë Charlton, artist; Willie Hudspeth, Denton businessman; and Lee Martin, author
University of North Texas, Denton, TX
~2006~
5 February
Busboys and Poets, Andy Shallal's coffeehouse, bookstore, performance space, and restaurant at 2021 14th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20009, (202)387-7638, which he calls "a place for social and political activists to network."
University of Texas journalism professor Bob Jensen and I helped launch their experiment with a monthly race dialogue.
For more info, go to www.busboysandpoets.com.
16-18 April
University of Oklahoma Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication “Dream Course” on Race, Gender and the Media.
Sponsored and created in 2002 by Meta G. Carstarphen, Ph.D., Gaylord Family Endowed Professor and Associate Dean, Academic Affairs, this interdisciplinary class for Gaylord College engages students in probing discussions about contemporary media portrayals and culminates in a community reception and public lecture.
Following a brown bag luncheon with University of Oklahoma Black Law Students Association, I ended my visit with a public lecture and lively discussion entitled “Can You See Me Now?”
~2005~
1 March
Lecture/discussion, Simmons College, Boston, MA
"Power, Pride and Perseverance" series organized by the Office of the Dean for Student Life.
27-28 October
"2nd Annual Youth & Race Conference 2005: "Acting White,"
Hosts: Duke University, African and African American Studies Department and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Institute of African American Research
3 November
"10th Annual Derrick Bell Lecture," New York University Law School, 40 Washington Square South, NY, NY, Vanderbilt Hall, Greenberg Lounge, 6PM, "And We Are Still Not Saved: 21st Century Constitutional Conflicts" will be presented by Professor Derrick Bell.
8 November
Panel Discussion with Robert Jensen, author & University of Texas journalism professor; Lucile Ebisch Gibson, community activist & business owner; Ira Hadnot Alexander, journalist and publisher; and panel moderator, Jim Lundstrom, journalist.
Hosts: Appleton, WI Public Library and the Fox Cities Rotary Multicultural Center.
~2004~
22 January
Lecture//discussion, "Ethics, Diversity, and the Law," University of Florida Levin College of Law, Gainesville, FL, organized by JaDawnya C. Butler and sponsored by the Thornal Campbell Moot Court.
6-7 February
Attending "Cross-Cultural Issues in Counseling Education, Georgia Southern University, Savannah, GA
9 February
Lecture/discussion, Paul Baker Annual Writers Conference with Jimmy Santiago Baca, Shin Yu Pai, & Lawrence Welsh. Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts (alma mater of Erykah Badu, Roy Hargrove, Nora Jones, et al.), Dallas, TX.
26 March
Virginia Festival of the Book, Charlottesville, VA, panel discussion w/ Les Payne (Newsday) & Robert Jensen (University of Texas), organized and hosted by Enid Krieger and the African American Authors Book Club of Charlottesville.
~2003~ *13 February – University of Texas, Dallas – Theresa Towner & Joycelyn Moody
20 February – Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA w/ Lisa Dodson
*20 March – The Black Academy of Arts & Letters, Dallas, TX w/ Ira Hadnot
*10 April – W. Dallas Community Center, Dallas, TX w/ Kimberly Stringer, Kalamu ya Salaam, Ira Hadnot, & Lucile Gibson
15 April – “Howard Thurman Guest Lecturer,” Stetson University, Deland, FL
*15 May – KERA-FM – Reading and panel discussion before live audience w/Toure & Robert Jensen
*18 June – Black Images Book Bazaar - Dallas, TX – Theresa Towner, Kiini Ibura Salaam & Ira Hadnot
30 June-4 July - Dublin, Ireland
5-13 July - International Conference on Narrative Therapy and Community Work, University of Liverpool, England
15-21 November – Dulwich Centre for Narrative Therapy, Adelaide, Australia
~2002~
BOOK LAUNCH
25 June 2002
Co-hosted by New School University and University of Missouri School of Journalism at New School, NY, NY
Reading and panel discussion with Natalie Angier (New York Times), Patricia J. Williams (The Nation & Columbia Unviersity Law School), and Les Payne (Newsday); introduction by author and journalism professor Mary Kay Blakely (University of Missouri).
3 August – National Association of Black Journalists Convention, Milwaukee, WI w/ Les Payne, Shawn Rhea, Lucile Ebisch Gibson, & Ira Hadnot
23 Sep – Cambridge Public Library w/ Lisa Dodson, Odessa Dorian Cole & Noel Ignatiev
24 Sep – WUMB-FM, Commonwealth Agenda – with host BarbaraNeely
26 Sep – Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, MA, w/ Noel Ignatiev & Lisa Dodson
*10 October - The Writer's Garret, Dallas, TX w/ Susan Straight & Ira J. Hadnot
11-13 October - SisterSpace & Books, Washington, DC, w/ Robert Jensen, Julianne Malveaux, Leonard Pitts, and Tim Wise
15-17 October - University of Texas, Austin w/ David Bradley & Robert Jensen
12-14 November – Northern Virginia Community College, Alexandria, VA
*14 Nov – Mesquite Arts Center, Mesquite, TX, w/ David Bradley, Ira J. Hadnot, Theresa Towner, & Robert Jensen
16-18 Nov - Texas Book Festival, Austin w/ David Bradley & Robert Jensen
22 Nov – CNN Center, Atlanta, GA w/ Hanna Griffiths
23 Nov - National Council of Teachers of English Convention, Atlanta, GA
*5 December – Writer’s Garret, Dallas, TX - Ira Hadnot & Theresa Towner
*Monthly discussions Singley conceived to create sustained race dialogue throughout city and to build audiences for the upcoming anthologies in the “Beyond Black & White” series.
