Alexs Pate

Blues Vision: African American Writing from Minnesota Alexs Pate

Brief Description: "A rich Minnesota literary tradition is brought into the spotlight in this groundbreaking collection of incisive prose and powerful poetry by forty-three black writers who educate, inspire, and reveal the unabashed truth"--Brief Description: "Co-published with the Minnesota Humanities Center"Marc Notes: Co-published with the Minnesota Humanities Center; A rich Minnesota literary tradition is brought into the spotlight in this groundbreaking collection of incisive prose and powerful poetry by forty- three black writers who educate, inspire, and reveal the unabashed truth. Historically significant figures tell their stories, demonstrating how much and how little conditions have changed: Gordon Parks hitchhikes to Bemidji, Taylor Gordon describes his first day as a chauffeur in St. Paul, and Nellie Stone Johnson insists on escaping the farm for high school in Minneapolis. A profusionof modern voices-- poet Tish Jones, playwright Kim Hines, and memoirist Frank Wilderson-- reflect the dizzying, complex realities of the present. Showcasing the unique vision and reality of Minnesota's African American community from the Harlem renaissance through the civil rights movement, from the black power movement to the era of hip- hop and the time of America's first black president, this compelling anthology provides an explosion of artistic expression about what it means to be a Minnesotan. Alexs Pate, an award- winning novelist, playwright, and writing professor, is the president of Innocent Technologies, LLC. Pamela R. Fletcher is associate professor of English at St. Catherine University. J. Otis Powell!? is a poet, performance artist, and curator working in an aesthetic rooted in Afrocentric lore and culture--; Provided by publisher.; A rich Minnesota literary tradition is brought into the spotlight in this groundbreaking collection of incisive prose and powerful poetry by forty-three black writers who educate, inspire, and reveal the unabashed truth--; Provided by publisherPublisher Marketing: A rich Minnesota literary tradition is brought into the spotlight in this groundbreaking collection of incisive prose and powerful poetry by forty- three black writers who educate, inspire, and reveal the unabashed truth. Historically significant figures tell their stories, demonstrating how much and how little conditions have changed: Gordon Parks hitchhikes to Bemidji, Taylor Gordon describes his first day as a chauffeur in St. Paul, and Nellie Stone Johnson insists on escaping the farm for high school in Minneapolis. A profusionof modern voices-- poet Tish Jones, playwright Kim Hines, and memoirist Frank Wilderson-- reflect the dizzying, complex realities of the present. Showcasing the unique vision and reality of Minnesota's African American community from the Harlem renaissance through the civil rights movement, from the black power movement to the era of hip- hop and the time of America's first black president, this compelling anthology provides an explosion of artistic expression about what it means to be a Minnesotan. Alexs Pate, an award-winning novelist, playwright, and writing professor, is the president of Innocent Technologies, LLC. Pamela R. Fletcher, associate professor of English at St. Catherine University, has published works of fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry. J. Otis Powell! is a poet, performance artist, and curator working in an aesthetic rooted in Afrocentric lore and culture. Co-published with the Minnesota Humanities Center

Contributor Bio:  Fletcher, Pamela Pamela Fletcher teaches at several colleges in Minnesota. She lives in Minneapolis. Contributor Bio:  Bryant, Philip Philip Bryant, a native of Chicago, has taught at Gustavus Adolphus College since 1989 and is currently a professor of english. He has had poems published in The Iowa Review, The Indiana Review, The American Poetry Review, and Nimrod. Crossroads Press published Blue Island, a chapbook of his poetry in 1997. New Rivers Press released Sermon on a Perfect Spring Day in1998. It was nominated for a Minnesota Book Award and a Forward Award in 1999. He appeared in the Blueroad Reader published by Blueroad Press in July 2007. Blueroad Press published his collection of Jazz poems, Stompin' at the Grand Terrace along with accompanying CD in Spring 2009. A section of Stompin' at the Grand Terrace published in the August 2009 edition of the Utne Reader was selected to be included in the anthology, Best Music Writing 2010, edited by Ann Powers, published by De Capo Press. Contributor Bio:  Grant, David David Grant is the former president and CEO of the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation in Morristown, New Jersey, where he was responsible for development and evaluation of programs in the foundation s major areas of giving, as well as the foundation s major initiatives. Grant now consults with people and organizations around the world that have a social or educational mission, specializing in strategic planning, design of assessment systems, and board development. During his years at the Dodge Foundation, Grant delivered over a hundred keynote addresses on a range of topics, led workshops titled Measuring What Matters for over two hundred nonprofit organizations, and received numerous awards. Grant s career has centered on innovative teaching and learning. In 1983, he and his wife, Nancy Boyd Grant, cofounded The Mountain School of Milton Academy, a highly regarded, semester-long, interdisciplinary environmental studies program in Vermont for high school juniors from throughout the country. Previously, David was a national consultant to schools and leader of workshops on topics of curriculum and program design, professional development, assessment practices, and school climate. He has served as chair of the board of the Council of New Jersey Grantmakers and a member of the board of directors of the Surdna Foundation. He is currently a trustee of three social profit (formerly called nonprofit) organizations. He lives in Strafford, Vermont. Contributor Bio:  Knight, Etheridge Knight was born in rural Mississippi and received little formal education. He served as an army-trained medical technician during the Korean War and was badly wounded. Later he was convicted of armed robbery and spend six years in prison. He has been awarded fellowships by the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts, and in 1985 received the Shelley Memorial Award from the Poetry Society of America. Contributor Bio:  Parks, Gordon Gordon Parks, born into poverty and segregation on a farm in Kansas in 1912, was the youngest of 15 children. He worked at odd jobs before buying a camera at a pawnshop in 1938 and training himself to become a photographer. Parks was a photographer at the Farm Security Administration and later at the Office of War Information in Washington D. C. from 1941 to 1945. As a freelance photographer, his 1948 photo essay on the life of a Harlem gang leader won him widespread acclaim and a position from 1948 to 1972 as the first black staff photographer and writer for Life Magazine, the largest circulation picture publication of its day. He was also a noted composer and author, and in 1969, became the first African American to write and direct a Hollywood feature film, The Learning Tree, based on his bestselling novel of the same name. This was followed in 1971 by the hugely successful motion picture, Shaft. Parks was the recipient of numerous awards, including the National Medal of Arts in 1988 and over 50 honorary doctorates. Parks died in 2006 at the age of 93. Contributor Bio:  Patterson, G E A featured poet-performer in New York?'s Panasonic Village Jazz Fest and a decorated veteran of the slam-poetry scene, poet and translator G. E. Patterson is the author previously of "Tug" (Graywolf Press), winner of the Minnesota Book Award. He lives and teaches in the Minneapolis??-St. Paul area and holds degrees from Princeton and Stanford universities. Contributor Bio:  Preston, Rohan Rohan Preston was born in Jamaica, reared in New York and lives in Chicago. He won the 1997 Henry Blakely, Jr., Poetry Prize and was awarded an Artist Fellowship in Poetry from the Illinois Arts Council. His poems have appeared in "The Atlanta Review, Crab Orchard Review, Eyeball, Hammers, Jackleg" and "Ploughshares". His poetry collections include (Tia Chucha, 1992) and "Lovesong to My Father" (Tallawa, 1996). He co-edited "Soulfires: Young Black Men on Love and Violence" (Penguin, 1996). Contributor Bio:  Shannon, Angela Angela Shannon was born in Oklahoma and raised in Tampa, Florida. After a decade of living and writing in Chicago, she moved to Minneapolis with her husband, poet and theater critic Rohan Preston, where they live today with their children. Shannon's poetry has been published in "TriQuarterly, Ploughshares and other magazines, and her choreopoem, "Root Woman, premiered at the Fleetwood-Jourdain Theater in Evanston, Illinois, in 2001. She has won a poetry fellowship from the Illinois Arts Council and a Mentor Award from The Loft in Minneapolis, where she has also taught. She received an MFA in poetry from Warren Wilson College.