Poetry and Bad Men

When I was thinking through the idea of bad men for my book, three figures kept coming to mind: Jack Johnson, Leadbelly, and the unnamed fictitious black man who was said to have kidnapped a white woman's children in the early 1990s.

I thought of those three figures most by reading Cornelius Eady's Brutal Imagination (2001), Tyehimba Jess's Leadbelly (2005), and Adrian Matejka's volume The Big Smoke (2013). Those volumes of poetry, along with Kevin Young's book To Repel Ghosts (2001) on Jean-Michel Basquiat had given me so much to consider.

My studies on creativity and black artistic productions took me to so many different realms of thought. Along the journey, I regularly returned to Leadbelly, Jack Johnson, and that imaginary criminal black man.  

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This entry is part of a series--28 Days & Ways of Thinking about Bad Men & Vulnerable Black Boys.

Note: For a 30% discount, use the promo code 10FEB23 when and if purchasing the book on the University of Virginia Press site.  (For February 2023 only).

Riley Freeman as a vulnerable black boy

In my book Bad Men, I spend time discussing Riley Freeman as a vulnerable black boy. That take is not at first obvious since Riley comes off as such a bad and troubling character. 

However, it's clear over time that the real troubling folks are the adults in Riley's life as well as the bad role models he has. Thinking about Riley's vulnerabilities as a black boy gave McGruder an abundance of comical (and in the long-term distressing) storylines. 

So this bad and vulnerable black boy was a crucial creative muse. 

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This entry is part of a series--28 Days & Ways of Thinking about Bad Men & Vulnerable Black Boys.

Note: For a 30% discount, use the promo code 10FEB23 when and if purchasing the book on the University of Virginia Press site.  (For February 2023 only).

Paul Beatty's many people references in The Sellout

Paul Beatty references an incredible of people in his novel The Sellout. The novelist mentions a massive number of historical events, concepts, and people.   

I took count of the people and characters and realized that Beatty mentions more than 300 historical and cultural figures and over 150 fictional characters in the course of the novel. It's a really extraordinary  display of concentrated cultural cataloging. 

And so we're clear, Beatty isn't just listing names. He's interspersing those people into the many jokes that appear throughout the novel. The multitude of references speak to his resourcefulness as a storyteller. 

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This entry is part of a series--28 Days & Ways of Thinking about Bad Men & Vulnerable Black Boys.

Note: For a 30% discount, use the promo code 10FEB23 when and if purchasing the book on the University of Virginia Press site.  (For February 2023 only).

Amiri Baraka's many references in "Jungle Jim Flunks His Screen Test"

Amiri Baraka mentions and critiques a wide range of people, things, and ideas in his poem "Jungle Jim Flunks His Screen Test." I discuss the poem at length in my book, citing Baraka's approach as a notable example of what I call "concentrated cultural cataloging," which refers to artistic creators making multiple referencing in a single composition.  

Here's a checklist of Baraka's references:

• "Night in Tunisia" 

• Adolf Hitler 

• Armstrong Williams 

• Assassination 

• Barbara Bush 

• Benito Mussolini 

• Cab Calloway 

• Clarence Pendleton 

• Clarence Thomas 

• Denmark 

• Devil doo doo 

• Dizzy Gillespie 

• Francisco Franco

• François "Papa Doc" Duvalier 

• George W. Bush 

• Ghouls 

• God 

• Halloween 

• Jeffrey Dahmer 

• Jerry Falwell 

• John Ashcroft 

• Jungle Jim 

• Lynch mob 

• Mobutu Sese Seko 

• Oscar Wilde 

• Police 

• Prison 

• Satan 

• September 11, 2001 

• Spiro Agnew 

• The Devil 

• Theodore G. Bilbo 

• Tor Johnso ("the Swedish Angel") 

• Trent Lott 

• Vampire 

• White people 

• White supremacy 

• Winston Churchill 

• Zombie vomit 

• Zoo dirt

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This entry is part of a series--28 Days & Ways of Thinking about Bad Men & Vulnerable Black Boys.

Note: For a 30% discount, use the promo code 10FEB23 when and if purchasing the book on the University of Virginia Press site.  (For February 2023 only).

Wayetu Moore’s She Would Be King -- ep. by Ebony Lumumba

This episode of our Remarkable Receptions podcast focuses on Wayetu Moore’s novel She Would Be King (2018).  The episode was written by Ebony Lumumba. The episode was read by Kassandra Timm.

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Related:

• Episodes of Remarkable Receptions

Colson Whitehead and Creativity

There's no one full chapter dedicated to Colson Whitehead in my book Bad Men. But I mention him and his work throughout the book in part because he's been integral to my thinking on creativity. 

Bad men and vulnerable black boys show up in his novels, especially in The Underground Railroad (2016) and The Nickel Boys (2019), respectively. But even before those works, I found Whitehead's expansive body of work fascinating and representative of a truly inventive artist. He's prolific, imaginative, and clearly interested in certain kinds of creative problem finding.  

Reading and examining Whitehead's writings over the years undoubtedly raised my interest in the study of creativity.   

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This entry is part of a series--28 Days & Ways of Thinking about Bad Men & Vulnerable Black Boys.

Note: For a 30% discount, use the promo code 10FEB23 when and if purchasing the book on the University of Virginia Press site.  (For February 2023 only).

Problem finding and Black Writing

One of the concepts from the field of creativity research that I found especially useful for examining the creativity of black writers was "problem finding." The term refers to acts of devoted searching for questions and perspectives that might yield original interpretations of well-known topics. 

Problem finding often involves artists presenting themselves with self-imposed challenges that might lead them to produce really outstanding or complex works. Problem finding is a way of thinking about the processes of creation, as opposed to only focusing on finished products. 

Thinking about the processes of creators and considering the ways that they may have sought out new ways of framing and addressing issues gave me fresh perspective on the work that they produced. 

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This entry is part of a series--28 Days & Ways of Thinking about Bad Men & Vulnerable Black Boys.

Note: For a 30% discount, use the promo code 10FEB23 when and if purchasing the book on the University of Virginia Press site.  (For February 2023 only).

1970s Black Superheroes -- ep. by Stephyn Phillips

This episode of Remarkable Receptions highlights 1970s Black heroes from comic books.  

The episode was written by Stephyn Phillips and read by Kassandra Timm.

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Related:

• Episodes of Remarkable Receptions

Writing about contemporary Black Writers

Writing Bad Men gave me a chance to write about a range of contemporary black writers -- poets, novelists, comic book creators, journalists, essayists. I sometimes feel that contemporary black writers don't get enough examinations in the scholarly discourse, so I was pleased to contribute to conversations in this way. 

I hope that my book assists folks interested in the histories of black writing and writers during the early part of the 21st century. Documenting key topics addressed by writers as well as their accomplishments provides opportunities for understanding the big picture with black writing. 

The writers and works I cover in the book have given me so much to think about over the last two decades, and it feels good to share my thinking on what I covered and considered with readers.

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This entry is part of a series--28 Days & Ways of Thinking about Bad Men & Vulnerable Black Boys.

Note: For a 30% discount, use the promo code 10FEB23 when and if purchasing the book on the University of Virginia Press site.  (For February 2023 only).

A Discography from Bad Men

In my book Bad Men, I mention several rap songs that referenced slavery and rebellious slaves. Here's a discography of the rappers and songs I cited.

AZ. “Whatever Happened.” Pieces of a Man. Noo Trybe Records/Virgin Records, 1998. 

Big K.R.I.T. “Praying Man.” Live from the Underground. Def Jam Recordings, 2012.

Bizzy Bone. “Everyday Thugs.” T.H.U.G.S. Def Jam, 1996.
Black Thought. “No Alibi.” Illadelph Halflife. Geffen Records, 1996.
———. “Black Thought Freestyles on Flex.” 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prmQgSpV3fA.
Dometi Pongo. “Ex-Slave.” The Malcolm X Mixtape, 2010.
Ice Cube. “No Vaseline.” Death Certificate. Priority Records, 1991.
Inspectah Deck. “The City.” Wu-Tang Forever. Loud/RCA Records, 1997.
J. Cole. “Folgers Crystals.” Revenge of the Dreamers II. Dreamville/Interscope, 2015.
Jay Electronica. “Exhibit A.” 2010.
Jay-Z. “BAM.” 4:44. Roc Nation, 2017.
———. “Tidal Freestyle.” 2015.
Jay-Z and Jay Electronica. “We Made It (Remix).” 2014.
Killah Priest. “Among Gangsters.” The Untold Story of Walter Reed. Mixtape, 2009.
KRS-ONE. “Ah-Yeah.” KRS-ONE. Jive Records, 1995.
Lecrae. “Freedom.” Church Clothes 3. Reach Records, 2016.
Lil B. “Hancho.” Bitch Mob: Respect Da Bitch Vol. 1. BasedWorld Records, 2011.
M-1. “Sharp Shooters.” Lyricist Lounge 2. Rawkus Records, 2000.
Meek Mill, Rick Ross, and Jay-Z. “What’s Free.” Championships. Atlantic/Maybach Music, 2018.
Nas. “It Ain’t Hard to Tell.” Illmatic. Columbia, 1994.
Tyler the Creator. “I Ain’t Got Time!” Flower Boy. Columbia Records, 2017.
U-God. “Watch Your Mouth.” The Wallabee Champ. Def Jam, 2008.
Vic Mensa. “Children of the Sun.” 2013. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fk26mii-isg.
Wyclef Jean. “How Many Mics.” The Score. Ruffhouse/Columbia, 1996.

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This entry is part of a series--28 Days & Ways of Thinking about Bad Men & Vulnerable Black Boys.

Note: For a 30% discount, use the promo code 10FEB23 when and if purchasing the book on the University of Virginia Press site.  (For February 2023 only).

African American literature, film adaptations, and Barry Jenkins

This episode of Remarkable Receptions focuses on African American novels adapted to film by Barry Jenkins. 

The episode was written by Nicole Dixon and read by Kassandra Timm. 

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Related:

• Episodes of Remarkable Receptions

Trymaine Lee and high productivity in the coverage of vulnerable black boys

In 2012, more than a year before the emergence of "Black Lives Matter" as a rallying cry, Trymaine Lee produced more than two dozen articles about the killing of Trayvon Martin. He was the first national reporter to cover the case. 

In fact, when and if you read about Martin, you were likely reading a piece by Lee or an article that drew on his reporting. Later, Lee produced extensive coverage on Mike Brown as well. Taken together, Lee's writing on Martin and Brown is really extensive,  outstanding work.

Beyond the fact that what he produced was a proto-version of Black Lives Matter writing, Lee's work constituted high productivity in the coverage of vulnerable black boys. I try to examine what he was doing in my book.  

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This entry is part of a series--28 Days & Ways of Thinking about Bad Men & Vulnerable Black Boys.

Note: For a 30% discount, use the promo code 10FEB23 when and if purchasing the book on the University of Virginia Press site.  (For February 2023 only).

Collegiate Black Men and Creativity

A group of guys from class talking (March 2010).

I've been teaching an African American literature course comprised of first-year black men for the last 19 years, and that class, those series of class no doubt influenced my research interests. In the case of my book Bad Men, which also focused on vulnerable black boys, I was definitely drawing on my teaching experience. 

We've spent considerable time over the years discussing works by and about black boys and black men, and we've frequently conversed about bad men across many races and ethnic groups. Oh, and creativity was also a recurring topic. 

So in retrospect, it's perhaps no major surprise that I chose to consider those subjects in a formal study. Those classroom discussions contributed to my research, which became a book.

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This entry is part of a series--28 Days & Ways of Thinking about Bad Men & Vulnerable Black Boys.

Note: For a 30% discount, use the promo code 10FEB23 when and if purchasing the book on the University of Virginia Press site.  (For February 2023 only).

Studying Black Writing through the lens of Creativity Research

It seems a given to study black writers and writing through the lens of creativity, right? Well, I was surprised that more wasn't said about the subject in the scholarly discourse on black literature.

We don't have enough investigations on what it means for black writers to be prolific, to engage in productive ways of formulating ideas, to find inspiration in common subjects, to come up with really good, original ideas.  My sense of those absences or under-studied areas inspired me to research and write this book Bad Men: Creative Touchstones of Black Writers. 

I was fascinated by this world of creativity research that somehow did not have enough takes on black writers, and I've been deeply immersed in African American literary studies, which I didn't think attended enough to considerations of creativity.  

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This entry is part of a series--28 Days & Ways of Thinking about Bad Men & Vulnerable Black Boys. 

Note: For a 30% discount, use the promo code 10FEB23 when and if purchasing the book on the University of Virginia Press site.  (For February 2023 only). 

Some Ways of Thinking about African American Literary Data Work

This episode of Remarkable Receptions collects a series of shorter episodes focusing on African American literary data work -- covering subjects such as frequently featured authors in scholarly journals, film adaptations and Wikipedia pageviews, novel ratings on Goodreads, and Toni Morrison's reception.

The episode was co-written by Kenton Rambsy and me. The episode was read by Kassandra Timm. 

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Related:

• Episodes of Remarkable Receptions

A timeline of works related to Bad Men book

Here's a partial timeline of works, published since 1999 that I cover in my book Bad Men. 

1999: Aaron McGruder launches syndicated comic strip, The Boondocks.
2001: Colson Whitehead publishes John Henry Days.
2001: Ta-Nehisi Coates publishes "The Last Angry Man."
2001: Kevin Young publishes To Repel Ghosts: Five Sides in B Minor.
2001: Cornelius Eady publishes Brutal Imagination.
2002:  Amiri Baraka performs his poem "Jungle Jim Flunks His Screen Test" on April 6.

2003: Aaron McGruder publishes A Right to be Hostile: A Boondocks Treasury.
2003: Amiri Baraka publishes Somebody Blew Up America & Other Poems.
2005: Aaron McGruder’s The Boondocks television series premiers.
2005: Tyehimba Jess publishes Leadbelly.
2005: Kevin Young publishes To Repel Ghosts: Remixed from the Original Masters. 

2006: Greg Tate published "Eulogy for Black Caesar" on December 26. 

2006: Opal Palmer Adisa publishes "Peeling Off the Skin."

2006: Evie Shockley publishes "From the Lost Letters of Frederick Douglass."

2006: Vievee Francis publishes Blue-Tail Fly.

2008: Ta-Nehisi Coates publishes The Beautiful Struggle.
2008: Kyle Baker publishes Nat Turner.
2008: Ta-Nehisi Coates publishes "‘This Is How We Lost to the White Man.’"
2010: Jay Z publishes Decoded.
2012: Colson Whitehead publishes "A Psychotronic Childhood: Learning from B-movies."
2012: Ta-Nehisi Coates publishes "Fear of a Black President."
2012: Trymaine Lee begins publishing articles about the killing of Trayvon Martin on March 8.

2012: Ta-Nehisi Coates begins blogging about Trayvon Martin on March 13.

2012: Reginald Flood publishes Coffle.
2013: Tony Medina publishes Broke Baroque.
2013: Mark Anthony Neal publishes Looking for Leroy: (Il)Legible Black Masculinities.
2013: Adrian Matejka publishes The Big Smoke.
2013: Reginald Harris publishes Autogeography.
2013: Jason McCall publishes Dear Hero,.
2014: Trymaine Lee begins publishing articles about the shooting death of Mike Brown on August 11.

2014: Jay-Z and Jay Electronica release "We Made It (Remix)."

2015: Ta-Nehisi Coates publishes Between the World and Me.
2015: Paul Beatty publishes The Sellout.

2015: Jay-Z performs "Tidal freestyle."

2016: Ta-Nehisi Coates publishes Black Panther #1. 

2017: Black Thought performs freestyle on December 14.

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This entry is part of a series--28 Days & Ways of Thinking about Bad Men & Vulnerable Black Boys. 

Note: For a 30% discount, use the promo code 10FEB23 when and if purchasing the book on the University of Virginia Press site.  (For February 2023 only).

African American Literary Data Work

This episode of Remarkable Receptions focuses on what Kenton and I refer to African American literary data work. The episode is part of a series on literary data work that we've produced. The episode is read by Kassandra Timm.

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Related:

• Episodes of Remarkable Receptions

Quantifying Toni Morrison's Reception

Our newest episode of Remarkable Receptions focuses on a quantitative look at scholarship on Toni Morrison. The episode was co-written by Kenton Rambsy and me as part of a series on literary data work. It's read by Kassandra Timm.

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Related:

• Episodes of Remarkable Receptions

Bad Men: Creative Touchstones of Black Writers (whiteboard animation)

Here's a brief whiteboard animation on my book Bad Men (published by the University of Virginia Press). The book focuses on ways that "bad" men and vulnerable black boys have served as creative touchstones for evocative and vibrant art produced by African American writers.

 
The book demonstrates the fruitfulness of viewing black literary art through the lens of creativity research.

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This entry is part of a series--28 Days & Ways of Thinking about Bad Men & Vulnerable Black Boys.

Note: For a 30% discount, use the promo code 10FEB23 when and if purchasing the book on the University of Virginia Press site.  (For February 2023 only).

Writing about Black Men Writers

The rise of Black Women Writers classes in English department course offerings over the last 30 years represents a major achievement in the history of African American literary studies. Given my focus in Bad Men, however, I gave some thought to black men writers. 

Now, some individual writers who are black men have been highlighted and received extensive attention. But it's not common to see folks provide extensive writing on groups or generations of black men writers who address overlapping topics in their works. 

Tyehimba Jess, Aaron McGruder, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Kevin Young, Amiri Baraka, Paul Beatty, Trymaine Lee, Colson Whitehead, Adrian Matejka, and many more were central to my thoughts on bad men and vulnerable black boys as creative touchstones. The processes of producing my book gave me a chance to present and expand ideas about black men writers.    

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This entry is part of a series--28 Days & Ways of Thinking about Bad Men & Vulnerable Black Boys.

Note: For a 30% discount, use the promo code 10FEB23 when and if purchasing the book on the University of Virginia Press site.  (For February 2023 only).

Ta-Nehisi Coates, blogging, and creative output

These days, Ta-Nehisi Coates is widely known as the author of Between the World and Me (2015) and "The Case for Reparations" (2014). He's also widely known for writing the comic book Black Panther.  But, one of his most productive moments as a writer was as a blogger.

Coates covered a wide range of subject while blogging for The Atlantic. Football. Politics. His childhood in Baltimore. Comic books. movies. Rap music. The Civil War. And on and on and on. 

In my book, Bad Men, I discuss Coates's relentless focus on the killing of Trayvon Martin and so-called Stand Your Ground Laws. In retrospect, Coates's blogging on Martin was instrumental for his later more famous creative output.

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This entry is part of a series--28 Days & Ways of Thinking about Bad Men & Vulnerable Black Boys.

Note: For a 30% discount, use the promo code 10FEB23 when and if purchasing the book on the University of Virginia Press site  (For February 2023 only).

Film Adaptations and Wikipedia pageviews

Our newest episode of Remarkable Receptions focuses on Film Adaptations and Wikipedia pageviews. The episode was co-written by Kenton Rambsy and me as part of a series on literary data work. It's read by Kassandra Timm.

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Related:

• Episodes of Remarkable Receptions

Quantifying African American Novel Ratings on Goodreads

This episode of Remarkable Receptions focuses on African American Novel Ratings on Goodreads. The episode was co-written by Kenton Rambsy and me as part of a series on literary data work. It's read by Kassandra Timm. 

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Related:

• Episodes of Remarkable Receptions

What's the Spring 2023 Group assignments & Schedule?

[Haley Public Thinking Exhibits information]

Students will be divided into two groups for Public Thinking Exhibits (PTEs) this semester. Students will be notified of their assigned group via email. You may be assigned to a different group from your classmates or friends. 

Students assigned to Group A who are unable to attend PTEs due to ongoing scheduling conflicts should email jhscholar@siue.edu immediately to be reassigned. 

Students taking FAME/GAME (ENG111) this semester will attend PTEs during the FAME/GAME class time and do not need to be reassigned.

Group A: PTE #1A: Wed. 1/25 OR Thur. 1/26   (Time: 15 minutes between 12 - 3 p.m. for  Location: 

Group A: PTE #2A: Wed. 2/22 OR Thur. 2/23

Group A: PTE #3A: Wed. 3/29 OR Thur. 3/30

Note, for Group A: Time: Attend Wednesday or Thursday, for approximately 15 minutes, any time between 12 - 3:00 pm. Location: Eugene B. Redmond Center, 2nd floor of Lovejoy Library

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Group B: PTE #1B: Wed. 2/8 - Thur. 2/9

Group B: PTE #2B: Wed. 3/1 - Thur. 3/2

Group B: PTE #3B: Wed. 4/5 - Thur. 4/6

Note, for Group B: The surveys can be completed at any time on Wed. or Thur. Response Surveys due on Thursdays by 11:59 p.m. Online (links will be emailed)

What is expected of me?

[Haley Public Thinking Exhibits information]

Viewing an exhibit and completing the response survey takes about 15 minutes. 

If you are in Group A, you must sign in at the table outside the front entrance of the Redmond Center upon arrival AND complete the response survey to receive credit for attending the exhibit. 

If you are in Group A, you do not have to be present during the entire event time. You may arrive after the start time and are free to leave after you have completed the response survey (just make sure you arrive at least 15 minutes before the exhibit is scheduled to end for the day). 

Group B will view exhibits virtually and complete the same online response survey as Group A.

What Are Public Thinking Exhibits?

[Haley Public Thinking Exhibits information]

Public Thinking Exhibits consist of students viewing a topical series of posters (the “exhibit”) and completing an online response survey. Previous exhibits have focused on technology, art, academic journeys, poetry, and film. These events provide opportunities for Johnetta Haley Scholars to participate in a vibrant network for learning and building knowledge beyond the context of conventional classrooms.

All recipients of the Johnetta Haley Scholarship are required to complete Public Thinking Exhibits.

How are Public Thinking Exhibit groups determined?

[Haley Public Thinking Exhibits information]

This semester, the following students were placed in Group A: 

Spring 2023 FAME/GAME students 

Students on scholarship probation 

Students who did not complete the Fall 2022 Community Service or Public Thinking Exhibits 

Students who did not receive the scholarship during the Fall 2022 semester 

The following students were placed in Group B: 

Students taking classes fully online

Students whose schedules prevent PTE viewing in-person

Students who have demonstrated prior commitment to completing Community Service and Public Thinking Exhibits

Haley Public Thinking Exhibits information

Frequently asked questions 

• What's the Spring 2023 Group assignments & Schedule?

• What happens if I miss an exhibit? 

• How are Public Thinking Exhibit groups determined? 

• What Are Public Thinking Exhibits? 

• What is expected of me?

What happens if I miss an exhibit?

[Haley Public Thinking Exhibits information]

Because of the flexibility in both group schedules, make-up opportunities will be very limited. You are expected to adhere to your group’s schedule. If you miss an exhibit, email jhscholar@siue.edu immediately. Any Group B make-up opportunities will be in-person, and there will be no make-up option for PTE #3B.

Rappers, Creativity, and Nat Turner

Rap and rappers are known for so many things, but their focus on "slavery references" rarely gets attention. I  try to address that absence in my book Bad Men by discussing how rappers invoke slavery and famous former enslaved people such as Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, and particularly Nat Turner.

Turner is the definitive insurrectionist. His willingness to use violence to liberate himself proves inspiring for rap artists. J. Cole, Black Thought, Tyler the Creator, Jay-Z, and many others have all cited Turner by name and fashioned themselves in the spirit of his rebelliousness. 

In the process of rhyming, several rappers have played on the term "burner" (gun) and the last name Turner. M-1 from Dead Prez goes, "Call me Nat Turner with the burner." Killah Priest raps, "Nat Turner, gats will learn ya / Collapse with the burner." 

When it comes to bad men, creativity, slavery, and rap, then Nat Turner remains a key figure.   

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This entry is part of a series--28 Days & Ways of Thinking about Bad Men & Vulnerable Black Boys.

Note: For a 30% discount, use the promo code 10FEB23 when and if purchasing the book on the University of Virginia Press site.  (For February 2023 only).

Cultural Catalogs and Creativity

Over the years, I became fascinated by the inclination of several different writers referencing an assortment of concepts, historical figures, places, and compositions in a single poem, essay, novel, and so forth. I referred to such creations as a "concentrated cultural catalog." 

I was thinking about the abundance points of reference in Black Thought's epic 2017 freestyle or in Amiri Baraka's poems "Dope" and "Jungle Jim Flunks His Screen Test." I was thinking of Colson Whitehead's essay, "A Psychotronic Childhood," where he mentions several horror movies and Paul Beatty's The White Boy Shuffle (1996) and The Sellout (2015), where he's noting dozens and dozens of different people. You see it in Tyehimba Jess's poem "When I Speak of Blues Be Clear," and in Jason McCall's volume of poetry Dear Hero, (2013).  

Hey, I could produce a whole cultural catalog of folks who do cultural cataloging in their works. Those catalogs speak to creativity of artists to absorb and re-present large bodies of information in engaging ways. 

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This entry is part of a series--28 Days & Ways of Thinking about Bad Men & Vulnerable Black Boys.

Note: For a 30% discount, use the promo code 10FEB23 when and if purchasing the book on the University of Virginia Press site.  (For February 2023 only).

Amiri Baraka's Onslaught of Poetic Jokes and Insults

On April 6, 2002, at the close of a lecture at Penn State, Amiri Baraka read his poem "Jungle Jim Flunks His Screen Test." The poem was captivating and far out in all kinds of ways. I was a graduate student at the time, and had no idea that the poem would someday become part of my book Bad Men. 

I was fortunate to have recorded Baraka giving that reading. Over the years -- for two decades! -- I played  the poem for students. Only a bad man poet could produce and perform such an audacious composition, offering these artful insults of so many different people. 

In my book, I provided an extended treatment of "Jungle Jim Flunks His Screen Test," focusing on Baraka's onslaught of poetic jokes and insults. 

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This entry is part of a series--28 Days & Ways of Thinking about Bad Men & Vulnerable Black Boys.

Note: For a 30% discount, use the promo code 10FEB23 when and if purchasing the book on the University of Virginia Press site.  (For February 2023 only).

A checklist of poets covered in Bad Men

Here's a checklist of poets who I reference or whose works I examine in Bad Men. 

• Opal Palmer Adisa 

• Elizabeth Alexander

• Amiri Baraka

• Sterling Brown

• Sam Cornish 

• celeste doaks

• Rita Dove

• Camille Dungy

• Cornelius Eady

• Reginald Flood

• Robert Hayden 

• Langston Hughes 

• Tyehimba Jess

• June Jordan

• Allison Joseph

• Adrian Matejka 

• Tony Medina

• Dudley Randall

• Eugene B. Redmond

• Tim Seibles

• Evie Shockley

• Clint Smith

• Tracy K. Smith

• Kevin Young

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This entry is part of a series--28 Days & Ways of Thinking about Bad Men & Vulnerable Black Boys.

Note: For a 30% discount, use the promo code 10FEB23 when and if purchasing the book on the University of Virginia Press site.  (For February 2023 only).

Trayvon Martin, Mike Brown, and Creative Productivity

Chapter 5 of my book Bad Men highlights the significance of creative productivity related to writings about two black boys: Trayvon Martin and Mike Brown. The combination of vigorous writing, fairly rapid publication, and unique reporting by Ta-Nehisi Coates and Trymaine Lee on Martin and Brown indicates why those black boys became so iconic in the public discourse concerning Black Lives Matter. 

In addition to revealing the capabilities of two influential writers, the compositions by Coates and Lee reflect a distinct capacity of the digital age. Publishing online empowered the journalists to post blog entries and news articles about black boys at an accelerated speed in ways that other, non-digital modes of writing cannot. 

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This entry is part of a series--28 Days & Ways of Thinking about Bad Men & Vulnerable Black Boys.

Note: For a 30% discount, use the promo code 10FEB23 when and if purchasing the book on the University of Virginia Press site (For February 2023 only).

Dometi Pongo to visit SIUE

Dometi Pongo, an MTV News host and award-winning journalist, will visit SIUE on Wednesday, April 12. His visit is part of SIUE's Arts and Issues series. 

He'll give a presentation and respond to questions about pursuing a career in news and television. Pongo is the host of the hit MTV docuseries True Life Crime. He also hosts MTV's "Need to Know" program, which provides analyses of popular news stories. Just this week, as he's done for the last few years, Pongo served as a red carpet interviewer at the Grammy's. 

We'll get a chance to talk to Pongo about one builds a career in journalism and/or media. Needless to say, we're looking forward to the event.  

Related: 

• A Notebook on Dometi Pongo

The Sagas of Huey and Riley Freeman

Chapter 4 of my book Bad Men focuses on Huey and Riley Freeman from Aaron McGruder's comic strip and television show The Boondocks. 

It's fascinating how McGruder utilizes humor and playfulness to present multiple social critiques of American society. His black boy protagonists of the comic strip provide the impetus for amusing, biting commentary about race relations, the challenges of black militancy, the harm popular culture can inflict on impressionable African American youth, and media and governmental responses to 9/11. McGruder proves to be an exuberant and resourceful cultural cataloger, referencing and ridiculing a far-reaching number of people.

I first discovered The Boondocks in 1999, the year it became nationally syndicated. I followed the strips since that time, so I was pleased to include Huey and Riley in my study of bad men and vulnerable black boys.  

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This entry is part of a series--28 Days & Ways of Thinking about Bad Men & Vulnerable Black Boys.

Note: For a 30% discount, use the promo code 10FEB23 when and if purchasing the book on the University of Virginia Press site (For February 2023 only).

Sellouts as Muses

In Chapter 3 of my book Bad Men, I address an important yet understudied topic in considerations of bad men: sellouts. It's amazing and fascinating how creatively inspiring apparent race traitors have been for so many black artists.

I spend considerable time highlighting an outstanding poem, "Jungle Jim Flunks His Screen Test" by Amiri Baraka and a novel, The Sellout by Paul Beatty. 

This chapter sheds some light on why this category of bad men serves as crucial artistic muses.

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This entry is part of a series--28 Days & Ways of Thinking about Bad Men & Vulnerable Black Boys.

Note: For a 30% discount, use the promo code 10FEB23 when and if purchasing the book on the University of Virginia Press site (For February 2023 only).

Rebellious Ex-Slaves as Poetic Muses

The second chapter of my book, "Rebellious Ex-Slaves as Poetic Muses," discusses fugitive, unruly slaves who inspired creative works by poets and rappers. 

The chapter explains how Elizabeth Alexander, Opal Palmer Adisa, and Evie Shockley, to name a few, creatively represented insurgents and venerated ex-slaves. In addition, I discuss how Jay-Z, Black Thought, Jay Electronica, and other rappers alluded to bad man slaves in their lyrics. 

 We see this common interest in resistant slaves among black creative artists. At the same time, a close look reveals the divergent thinking among the approaches that poets and rappers take when they invoke defiant slaves.

This entry is part of a series--28 Days & Ways of Thinking about Bad Men & Vulnerable Black Boys.

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Note: For a 30% discount, use the promo code 10FEB23 when and if purchasing the book on the University of Virginia Press site (For February 2023 only).

A Poetic Trilogy of Bad Men

The first chapter of my book, "A Poetic Trilogy of Bad Men" primarily concentrates on key black historical figures in Kevin Young’s To Repel Ghosts, Tyehimba Jess’s leadbelly, and Adrian Matejka’s The Big Smoke. Those books focus on Jean-Michel Basquiat, Leadbelly, and Jack Johnson, respectively. 

Those three volumes have stayed with me for quite some time, always circulating in my mind as exemplars of artistic works inspired by bad men subjects. A rebellious visual artist, a tough, defiant folk singer, a audacious, legendary heavyweight boxer. 

Thinking and writing about the books gave me chances to highlight a range of issues pertaining to poets and creativity. 

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This entry is part of a series--28 Days & Ways of Thinking about Bad Men & Vulnerable Black Boys.

Note: For a 30% discount, use the promo code 10FEB23 when and if purchasing the book on the University of Virginia Press.  (For February 2023 only).

Discovering Creativity Research

Several years ago, I discovered the field of creativity research. Like many people, I had always been thinking about creativity, yet not necessarily in a formal way. I certainly hadn't thought enough about scholarly articles and journals and key books in the field.

In some ways, I guess it seems odd that scholars of African American literature don't focus as much on creativity as a field of knowledge. We acknowledge creative works, but I also realized that black literary scholars and scholars of creativity research hardly interact. Maybe they're unaware of each other. 

I had a good time and benefited reading works by several scholars in the field of creativity research such as Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Dean Keith Simonton, Keith Sawyer, Robert Sternberg, Sandra W. Russ, Emily C. Nusbaum, and Mark Runco. I also spent quite a bit of time reading journals like Journal of Creative Behavior and the Creativity Research Journal.

So some of those ideas were in my mind as I remained grounded in the scholarship on black literature. 

During the course of writing my book, I enjoyed thinking of myself as a scholar of African American literary studies and creativity research. 

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This entry is part of a series--28 Days & Ways of Thinking about Bad Men & Vulnerable Black Boys.

Note: For a 30% discount, use the promo code 10FEB23 when and if purchasing the book on the University of Virginia Press.  (For February 2023 only).

Frequently Featured Authors in the College Language Association Journal

Our newest episode of Remarkable Receptions focuses on six of the most frequently featured authors in the College Language Association Journal. Kenton Rambsy and I co-wrote the episode. It's read by Kassandra Timm.  

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Related:

• A Notebook on the College Language Association Journal

• Frequently Featured Authors in the  African American Review 

• Episodes of Remarkable Receptions

• The Black Literature Network

Vulnerable Black Boys

My book is entitled Bad Men, but two of the five chapters focus on black boys, especially vulnerable black boys. As I looked across multiple works, I realized that black boys were important inspirational forces for several black writers. 

I write about Aaron McGruder's The Boondocks, which focuses on Huey and Riley Freeman. Both are "bad" in their own ways, but they are also young and isolated and misunderstood and affected by a range of less than responsible adults. 

I also write about the responses to the killings of Trayvon Martin and Mike Brown. Martin's death set off extensive reporting by Trymaine Lee and relentless blogging by Ta-Nehisi Coates. 

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This entry is part of a series--28 Days & Ways of Thinking about Bad Men & Vulnerable Black Boys.

Note: For a 30% discount, use the promo code 10FEB23 when and if purchasing the book on the University of Virginia Press.  (For February 2023 only).

Frequently Featured Authors in African American Review

Our newest episode of Remarkable Receptions focuses on six of the most frequently featured authors in African American Review. Kenton Rambsy and I co-wrote the episode.  It's read by Kassandra Timm.  

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Related:

• Frequently Featured Authors in the College Language Association Journal 

• Episodes of Remarkable Receptions

• The Black Literature Network

Allen Iverson, Urban Legends, and Bad Men

The preface of my book Bad Men focuses on a quintessential, urban legend named Allen Iverson. Back in 2004, Iverson was very much on the minds of the first-year collegiate black men who took one of my African American literature courses. 

Iverson was small but tough. Imperfect in all kinds of captivating ways. And while my students found various assignments we covered disinteresting, they all leaned in, so to speak, to read and discuss an article on Iverson. 

The article and discussion led me to create an assignment where the guys in my classes wrote about bad men and urban legends. We all quickly discovered that everyone -- whether they were from Chicago or St. Louis, Belleville or East St. Louis, Springfield or Jackson, Tennessee -- had come across some urban legend or the story of someone who defied the odds, was unruly and yet admirable. 

I had been thinking about bad men before then, but that's one of the many origins or routes of my thinking on the subject. 

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This entry is part of a series--28 Days & Ways of Thinking about Bad Men & Vulnerable Black Boys.

Note: For a 30% discount, use the promo code 10FEB23 when and if purchasing the book on the University of Virginia Press.  (For February 2023 only).

28 Days & Ways of Thinking about Bad Men & Vulnerable Black Boys

In April 2020, my book Bad Men: Creative Touchstones of Black Writers was published by the University of Virginia Press. I was excited to have my second book out in the world. Ok, great. Unfortunately though, the world at that time was largely shutdown because of a global pandemic. I blogged a little about my book, but not nearly as much as I planned.

[Related: A notebook on Bad Men: Creative Touchstones of Black Writers]

 Well, in the spirit of "better late than never," this month, I'm producing several (at least 28) entries about my book, which highlights the ways bad men and vulnerable black boys served as creative touchstones for a range of African American writers.

Note: For a 30% discount, use the promo code 10FEB23 when and if purchasing the book on the University of Virginia Press site.  (For February 2023 only).   

The entries:

Day 1: Allen Iverson, Urban Legends, and Bad Men

Day 2: Vulnerable Black Boys 

Day 3: Discovering Creativity Research

Day 4: A Poetic Trilogy of Bad Men

Day 5: Rebellious Ex-Slaves as Poetic Muses

Day 6: Sellouts as Muses

Day 7: The Sagas of Huey and Riley Freeman

Day 8: Trayvon Martin, Mike Brown, and Creative Productivity

Day 9: A checklist of poets covered in Bad Men

Day 10: Amiri Baraka's Onslaught of Poetic Jokes and Insults

Day 11: Cultural Catalogs and Creativity 

Day 12: Rappers, Creativity, and Nat Turner

Day 13: Ta-Nehisi Coates, blogging, and creative output 

Day 14: Writing about Black Men Writers

Day 15: Bad Men: Creative Touchstones of Black Writers (whiteboard animation)

Day 16: A timeline of works related to Bad Men book

Day 17: Studying Black Writing through the lens of Creativity Research

Day 18: Collegiate Black Men and Creativity 

Day 19: Trymaine Lee and high productivity in the coverage of vulnerable black boys

Day 20: A Discography from Bad Men

Day 21: Writing about contemporary Black Writers 

Day 22: Problem finding and Black Writing

Day 23: Colson Whitehead and Creativity 

Day 24: Amiri Baraka's many references in "Jungle Jim Flunks His Screen Test"

Day 25: Paul Beatty's many people references in The Sellout 

Day 26: Riley Freeman as a vulnerable black boy

Day 27: Poetry and Bad Men

Day 28: Collegiate Black men and problem finding

Blogging about poetry in January 2023

[Related content: Blogging about Poetry]

• January 31: William J. Harris, the poet as sketch artist

• January 31: William J. Harris and Poetry magazine

• January 31: William J. Harris's Notebook sketches

• January 30: "The Beauty of Bareness" by William J. Harris

• January 21: Single-author Books on Black Poetry 

• January 17: John Keene as Jazz Poet

• January 10: From Fenton Johnson to William J. Harris: 100 Black Poets in Poetry 

• January 6: A Checklist of Anthologies featuring Black Writings, 1967 - 1976

• January 1: Blogging about poetry in December 2022