Lucy Anne Hurston Celebrates the Life of Her Aunt Zora

RICHMOND, Va.— Lucy Anne Hurston, shared her book on Wednesday, “Speak, So You Can Speak Again: The Life of Zora Neale Hurston”, to VCU students, guests and faculty. The 3D multimedia biography includes poems, removable artifacts, photographs and a CD featuring Zora singing.

Hurston, the niece of acclaimed Harlem Renaissance writer Zora Neale Hurston, shared her appreciation and respect for the life and work of her aunt, as well as detailing her research of putting together the book.

“It represents the physical residue of what’s left of the life of Zora,” Hurston said. “I began building a library of books as gifts at a young age. After you read a good book, you have to share it. This was a 30-year exchange of ideas about who Zora was.”

A Professor of Sociology at Manchester Community College in Manchester, Connecticut, Hurston delved into her journey of exploring Zora’s life as a graduate student at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, where she received her master’s degree in sociology.

There were occasional and tastefully humorous tales and discoveries about the life of her aunt, emphasizing Zora’s outspoken, individualistic and at times rebellious personality.

“Zora was an individual character. This was seen in her novels and plays, and in the way she wore her trousers and smoked her cigarettes.” Hurston said.

Elisa Chong, biology major, said the event was at the top of her list among others that have been featured at VCU.

“I’ve been to prior readings and this one was definitely the most engaging and amazing,” she said.

As the night progressed, listeners were captivated as Hurston began to unfold the many layers of Zora's life.

Kamya Kommaraju, a bioinformatics major, described the event as captivating and relatable to all VCU students.

“I found it to have quite a significant impact, she said. “Hurston discussed various racial themes that I felt were important.”

One of the themes discussed, were the obstacles Zora faced as a female, African-American writer during her stay in Harlem.

“At the time, black writers wanted to fit in and emulate the issues of whiteness,” Hurston said. “Zora’s work did not follow that tradition and at times she was told to stop acting like a minstrel.”

The 1937 novel, “Their Eyes Were Watching God”, was written in southern black vernacular and criticized for it's dialect. Today, the novel is recognized as one of the greatest literary works of the Harlem Renaissance.

When asked if Hurston had any preconceived plans for the artifacts she said, “I didn’t want Zora’s work in an ivory tower away from people, I wanted to make it available for everyone.”

It's Time to Get Scared

Alright, it's that time again. Time to rant and rave about a new artist who I've become completely and utterly consumed with this entire week. I should try to do some of these more often, just to keep a regular tab on some really good new bands.

Okay, so this week, is a pretty energetic and refreshingly stimulating, post-hardcore band by the name of "Get Scared". Don't be fooled by their name, these guys are very laid back and their music reflects it. They aren't exactly the kind of metalcore outfit I would predict with a name like that. They're different. These guys are comin straight outta Ogden, Utah. Yeah, I know what you're thinking. OGDEN? Where the hell is that?! 40 miles north of Salt Lake City.



Oh yeah, and the birthplace of.... uh... The Osmonds.



Members Nick and Brad (Brad also goes by Lloyd), have reportedly been helping out with the debut album of "From Behind These Walls". If the name sounds familiar, I mentioned these guys in a previous post about Ronnie Radke. So, Ronnie has teamed up with some of Get Scared's members to put out some new material of his own. While Ronnie was in jail, Get Scared was featured on some tracks off of Ronnie's new album.




They currently have demo tracks that are available on their myspace.

1. If Only She Knew Voodoo Like I Do
2. Lock the Doors
3. You Are What You Are



So, give it a listen!

A Night at the 2009 Grammy Awards

The 51st Annual Grammy Awards did not disappoint me tonight.

First, can we please talk about this whole Chris Brown and Rihanna debacle. Okay, according to E! Online, Chris Brown and Rihanna were scheduled to perform tonight. But a cancellation was made after a report came in claiming that Chris Brown had gotten into a physical altercation with his "female companion". He was arrested around 6pm and is being brought in for investigation. Wow, I never saw that coming.


courtesy of Rolling Stone


Next, what I loved was the Radiohead performance (minus Colin, Phil and Ed). Backed by the USC Marching Band, known as The Spirit of Troy, Thom Yorke and guitarist Jonny Greenwood performed "15 Step". Thom was jerking back and forth on stage while the band carried on behind him and it was pretty amazing.

I recently got the chance to listen to some of Thom's solo work off his debut album, The Eraser, and was blown away. Now, I know, this album was released in 2006 but I was bored while Radiohead was taking a break off of their current album. Radiohead will be on tour for 2009.


courtesy of Los Angeles Times

And lastly, I wouldn't forget, did you see M.I.A. perform?! Her performance was outstanding considering her baby was due tonight. She still went out on stage and rocked it, even with a baby literally due at any moment.

Michael Phelps Admits to Smoking Marijuana

Courtesy of the LA Times

A picture of Olympic gold-medalist swimmer, Michael Phelps, surfaced on the Internet today. The picture, taken at a November college party at the University of South Carolina, shows Phelps smoking out of a bong .

Phelps was notified last week that newspapers across the country had their hands on this picture and were going to publish it. After hearing this, Phelps had to set up "discussions" with his sponsors. So, basically he (or his publicist) had roughly about a week to prepare an apologetic statement for the public, simply because he was forced to; he was caught in an illegal act and there was proof. So, for me, this statement was just kind of expected. Who wouldn't release an apology after having this sort of picture on the Internet.

Phelps issued the following statement today:

"I engaged in behavior which was regrettable and demonstrated bad judgment. I'm 23 years old and despite the successes I've had in the pool, I acted in a youthful and inappropriate way, not in a manner people have come to expect from me. For this, I am sorry. I promise my fans and the public it will not happen again.''


Courtesy of CNN

Now, I think that Michael Phelps is a great athlete. He is young and has everything going for him. But how stupid could he have been?!

I would think that surely, being a widely known public figure as well as a young adult who knows that pictures are taken everywhere, he would be aware of the possibility of these pictures being shown to other people. He should know the risks of his actions having an impact on his career too, which also includes valuable endorsements that can be taken away from him (Speedo, Visa, Kellogg, AT&T, and Hilton to name a few).

This is occurring after a 2004 incident where Phelps was pulled over for a DUI. He had to serve an 18-month probation term.

So no matter how much 'spin' he or his publicists try to put on why he smokes marijuana, his label as a role model is no longer relevant. He has the drive and ambition to work hard and win six gold medals, yet he can't resist the urge to smoke some pot?

I guess it's a good thing we haven't seen him in an anti-drug commercial yet. Oh, the irony.