Shanta Lee Gander
The long and winding road to recognition
July 11 marks the 200th anniversary of the death of Lucy Terry Prince. A group of dedicated individuals - public intellectuals, scholars, historians, and other key stakeholders - have been working to ensure that Lucy and her husband, Abijah Prince, are recognized and seen within a state that has not often recognized the depth of the diverse history within its landscape.
Abijah Prince (c.1706–1794) and Lucy Terry Prince (c.1730–1821), formerly enslaved in Deerfield, Mass., established a homestead in Guilford and acquired land in Sunderland, Vt.
Saying what feels unsayable
With ‘You Don’t Have to Be Everything,’ Diana Whitney creates an anthology of poetry — a ‘necessary genre’ — designed to resonate with girls making their way on their journey through adolescence
Editor, author, poet, and queer mother of two, Diana Whitney is making waves in the world of young adult poetry. Her anthology, You Don't Have to Be Everything (Workman Publishing), was released this spring and has gone through multiple printings. It reached No. 1 on Amazon's new release list...
Existential questions arise from a semi-abandoned desert town
Through unique storytelling, ‘Truth or Consequences’ explores our past, present, and future
Take the last 14 minutes of 2001: A Space Odyssey and National Geographic's dramatic docu-series Year Million, which tries to imagine the advanced future of humans post-Earth, and what would you get? Maybe, just maybe, these two projects, plus other elements, would become the visual manifestation of the 103-minute...
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Film bends time to explore themes that are all too timely
“On May 13, 1985, at 6221 Osage Avenue, an armed conflict occurred between the Phila. Police Dept. and MOVE members. A Pa. State Police helicopter dropped a bomb on MOVE's house. An uncontrolled fire killed eleven MOVE members, including five children, and destroyed 61 homes.” So reads a Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission 2017 historic marker. * * * What does it mean to awaken, and what sacrifice is required? And as we talk about decolonizing, what does it require?
Our boiling water
Story is one of the main ways I relate to the world, especially within the most difficult situations. One story that I encountered over 15 years ago relates to this moment, to the boiling water we find ourselves in now. It is the parable of the carrot, the egg, and the coffee bean. A young woman went to her mother and expressed how hard life had gotten. She was tired of fighting. Tired of struggling, and when one problem was...
Creating, making, and sharing during a pandemic
Samirah Evans Samirah Evans has been giving one-on-one voice instruction for 13 years with students ranging from 8 to 60 years of age and older. * * * I'm in the business of music as a performing artist and a teacher. I teach at both Williams College and my at-home studio. At Williams, COVID-19 abruptly put a halt on my ability to prepare my students for their recital. It was sad to part without seeing one another after years of...
For many of us, sacred space is a myth
On Harold Street, I was always told that I was being watched. It wasn't clear if “being watched” meant by people from the bushes, by strangers, or by neighbors from their windows. In Hartford, Conn. in the 1980s, television did no one any favors. It instilled the paranoia that someone was going to roll up in a van and kidnap us, using an offer of candy as a lure. Whenever I left for school, I was issued an edict: Don't...
Let’s talk and get uncomfortably comfortable, but I will include a recipe
Over the years, I've learned that cooking food and throwing a shindig can create a natural lubricant to make people come together with greater ease. As a method of creating mutual understanding, socializing over food isn't perfect. It doesn't solve any of America's many diseases - race, class, and so on. And sometimes, much like the process of cooking, things need to start with a lot of work before the labor can be enjoyed. We need to start in a...