the PRB: rewriting the narrative.
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Where is the Queen of Borscht?
On a particularly rainy (as in DELUGE) Saturday, a friend who used to live in NYC and I met for an early meal at John’s on 12th Street and then ran through the floods to the movie theater across the street to see the father:son documentary “Veselka: the Rainbow on the Corner at the Center…
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So many books, so little time…
This Saturday is the Autumnal Equinox (and yeah, I wish TV news people would learn how to say “Autumnal” – looking at you NY1). I’m still confused as to how it’s not August and I’m not on a beach looking for dolphins (that’s a NJ reference). Since I last posted, I’ve read a TON of…
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Summer Reading
I’m spending this summer mostly reading for a self-created Independent Study on Humanism, Eco-based Religion, and Atheo-Paganism so I’ve scaled back a bit on writing book/media reviews. That said, I have a couple of book reviews in the July/August issue of @TheBrooklynRail. Tessa Hadley’s “After the Funeral” and Shahd Alshammari’s “Head Above Water.” Both are…
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Dorothy Tse’s “Owlish”
Considering Colonialism & Oppression in Dorothy Tse’s “Owlish” [Graywolf Press] I’ve started reading advance review copies without any preparation – even ignoring the author’s name & bio – in hopes I can somehow read a text “as is” without any preconceived notions. I’m hoping this will allow me to enter into a text without a framework…
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Capitaine Marleau, Candice Renoir & les femmes détectives
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the way female characters appear in the many mystery/crime series I watch – particularly the French series. There are two series I watch with very different female leads, “Captain Marleau” and “Candice Renoir.” “Candice Renoir” is a French crime series created by Solen Roy-Pagenault, Robin Barataud, and Brigitee…
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SÍ, SE PUEDE or, a Latinx history of the U.S.
In Julio Anta‘s forthcoming graphic novel (October, Ten Speed Press) a museum guide/narrator takes a group of Latinx folx through a museum dedicated to “The Latino Heroes Who Changed the United States.” Featuring colorful art by Yasmín Flores Montañez, the book is split into seven chapters with an introduction by Julián Castro (MSNBC commentator, former…
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Washington State Rising
Marc Arsell Robinson’s “Washington State Rising:Black Power on Campus in the Pacific Northwest” (NYU Press August 2023) is an academic study of the rise of Black Student Union’s in the 1960s at two of Washington State’s public universities: the University of Washington (Seattle) and Washing State University (Pullman). As Robinson states, these institutions exist in…
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On Gentrification & White Slackers
Over some 200 pages of stark black & white graphic art in her new graphic novel “UTown,” CAB (a/k/a Caroline Breault) tells the story of a neighborhood losing the battle against gentrification. Originally released bi-weekly on CAB’s’ website from December 2019 to May 2022, the graphic novel is scheduled for release this July on Oni…
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started a Substack
I’m starting a Substack if you’re into that kind of thing. Here’s the link: https://theprb.substack.com/
Got any book recommendations?
yvonne C. garrett 