Last week, I spent several days at the @SchomburgCenter, going through photographs of James Baldwin as part of my work as a consultant for a forthcoming exhibition curated by the phenomenal Karen Van Godtsenhoven.
One of the highlights was this snapshot of Baldwin and Toni Morrison in Saint-Paul-de-Vence. Unlike the carefully staged portraits that helped construct Baldwin's public image, this photograph feels deeply personal. It wasn't made for publication. It looks like the kind of photograph that might have been processed at a local drugstore and tucked into a family album.
Here are two of the most important American writers of the twentieth century, not performing literary celebrity, but simply enjoying one another's company. There is something wonderfully ordinary about it.
As I think through Baldwin's self-fashioning, this photograph reminds me that public intellectuals are not made through ideas alone. Their lives are sustained by friendships, intellectual communities, chosen families, and private moments of joy. Sometimes a casual photo can reveal more than a professional headshot.
You are cordially invited to “the most thrilling party of the year.”
ONCE UPON A TIME IN HARLEM. Conceived and filmed by genre-defying filmmaker William Greaves. Directed by David Greaves. In select theaters October 16.
Anthony Bourdain died on this day eight years ago and him describing Waffle House is still the single-most important description of America that has ever been articulated.
I’m glad Widows Bay is bringing more people to watch The Americans, bc it is honestly AMAZING TV! I did a rewatch 2 years ago, and was still so good. That last season is perfection!
Rest in peace, Anthony Stewart Head 🕊️. Here’s a clip of him as Giles in Buffy the Vampire Slayer performing a cover of Behind Blue Eyes by The Who. A beautiful performance that fans will never forget. 💙
going to keep pushing this one for a while. my dispatch from the wild, weird, and wonderful @AMCsAnneRice world where #IWTV and now #TheVampireLestat are getting made, at @vulture: