Portfolio
Source: Jamaica Kalika
Journalism:
We Are Unstoppable: The Task Force Hosts Creating Change in DC
“There is a palpable call for courage in DC…where we will continue to blueprint our liberation at a time when our very existence is being legislated out of classrooms, clinics, and courtrooms,” said Fernando Lopez, director of Creating Change.
“Ballroom Found Me:” Dominique Jackson Discusses Trans Empowerment As Be You Ball Host
Hosting the Be You Ball Gala, Jackson says, is an honor but also a strategy to combat her fear of visibility. As attacks against trans people rise, and continuous harm against Black trans women steadies, Jackson recently reckoned with her agoraphobia, a fear commonly characterized as anxiety-filled paranoia of danger, violence, and hostility.
Meet Lonnie Spruill Jr., the last living founder Iota Phi Theta Fraternity, Inc.
When asked about the message he wants to leave every Iota with, near and far, present and future, Spruill pauses in deep reflection. His pupils widened as he sighs deeply, and shakes his head with disbelief that the shining legacy of Iota will go on–even without him– as he and the 11 other founders planned.
“Thank you for believing in something we created,” Spruill said, as a tear slips his eye. “That’s pretty much it.”
Northwest D.C.’s newest attraction: Gold Clover Bar
“This is a great place for people on their way in and out of the city, before they go out and turn all the way up or before they go home and fully decompress,” said Antoine Lyers, 34, the general manager of Gold Clover Bar. “This is a great in-between. We’re here to serve.”
Giant’s BBQ Battle: The Connection Between Summer’s Favorite Food and Slavery
During the Giant BBQ battle, Sydnor and other Black barbecue gurus sat down with the AFRO to talk about the Black history behind the beloved summer staple, and how slavery began the American tradition known as barbecue today. “It’s my ancestors that give me inspiration,” Sydnor said. “I didn’t see many people of color in these competitions yet, historically, we are the backbone of what started barbecue.”
Rayceen Pendarvis, a DC Icon, Partners with the Task Force as Creating Change Ambassador
Whether you know her as Queen as the Shameless Plug, Queen Mutha, or just Mutha, Rayceen Pendarvis is a legend in her own rite. Lifelong work within art communities in Washington D.C. and beyond have fortified a distinctive identity of activism, celebrity, and whimsy for Pendarvis.
Bisexual Health Awareness Month: Bisexuals Talk Agency, Existence, and Inclusion
“We have these unique experiences of not being accepted, not seeing ourselves out there in the world,” said Mimi Hoang. “These things keep people foggy, sad, or blue, because there isn’t that [room for] self-recognition of who you are and you’re not being reflected anywhere.”
Howard University Homecoming: Elders of The Mecca reflect on homecoming traditions
Elder alums spoke to the AFRO about the magic of Homecoming and how reconnecting with old friends, supporting their community and returning to Howard reignites their spirits. Saturday morning, tailgaters and members of the Beta chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha set up their tents in the parking lot across from Starbucks and food as they chatted after the homecoming parade. 2023 marks 47 years in the Alpha fold for Jonathan Johnson of Mt. Vernon, N.Y., 70, who graduated with a political science degree in 1974. “Because of Howard, I was prepared for the world,” he said.
Celebrating LGBTQ+ Life at Howard
The existence and celebration of queer life is one that has taken place in all forms of Howard’s legacy. As Howard continues to lead institutions, just like their no. 1 rating by the Campus Pride Index, the University showcases the reasons that thriving Black queer life is also a signature of Howard’s commitment to truth and service. “I didn’t come out to my mom as bisexual until my sophomore, junior year,” says Henry. “Being at Howard and being aware of the queer community definitely pushed me in that direction of being open and honest about who I was and the life I wanted to live.”
100 Years of Bison Pride: Inside The 2024 Homecoming Experience
A cultural vanguard of the HBCU Homecoming experience, the University welcomed thousands of Bison back to campus to celebrate their personal and institutional legacies created at The Mecca, a moment 100 years in the making.
Beyoncé's Act II and Country's Black Roots: Theater Arts Professor Discusses The Genre's History
In a Q&A segment, Pat Parks, a professor in the Howard University College of Fine Arts, discusses Beyoncé's pivot to country, Black country artists, and the genre's ties to other Black American music genres.
A Centennial of Writers: The Hilltop Celebrates 100 Years of Storytelling
The Hilltop, the oldest Black collegiate paper in America, will celebrate 100 years of publication on January 22, 2024. The entity, founded by Zora Neale Hurston and Louis E. King, continues to serve as the voice and record keeper of Howard University.
“If you go and look at The Hilltop at that time, you just get a taste of what’s going on on campus,” said Tamara Holmes, a writer and editor of The Hilltop. “It has a different spirit with whatever time it is because the people are different, but it’s something that just captures what Howard is about in any given decade. You can just imagine and put yourself there.”
Adrian Development Hosts Second ‘NY Meets DC Fashion’ Weekend
To close the summer, NY Fashion Meets DC geared up for their second fashion show, highlighting local designers and their ability to display creativity and artistic tastes. This is their first show since 2019. “It was a lot of work, but with everyone that came and helped to assist us, it was pretty good and I appreciate that,” said Adrian Kennedy, the founder of NY Fashion Meets DC. “When you think about people, creativity and what they have to add and distribute, this is for people to show a different perspective of how they can connect with their community and show their creativity.”
A Tacoma native, Williams always had a love for hair, which started with school. She showed signs of loving the craft as early as 6 years old. Her mother worked nights and sometimes overslept and missed a chance to do Williams’ hair before school. “My mom would say, ‘Oh, your teacher did your hair? It looks so good!’ And I was like, ‘Girl, I was not leaving the house like that,’ ” Williams said. “That’s when I knew that Little Miss Kameishi was going to step, regardless.”
Chicken-n-Mo, the oldest Black restaurant in downtown Spokane, celebrates 30 years of business
On the corner of Stevens and Sprague, something is cooking to a crisp. It could be either fried chicken or catfish, but it is certainly from Chicken-N-Mo, the Southern-style restaurant that’s fed Spokane and beyond since Robert Hemphill opened shop in 1992.
Award-Winning Stories of the Indigenous Tribes of the Pacific Northwest
For many artists, the art-making process is spiritual. One must mentally and firmly grasp onto sparks of creativity and deliver it into the physical with care and precision, a meticulous intentionality. Some ideas blossom quickly and take decades. For other people, like architect and artist Shawn Brigman, creating art is an early, swift concept.
Native tribes run, bike in honor of murdered, missing Indigenous women
For Coeur d’Alene Tribe member Marlene Sproul, who stood nearby as the rain fell, an overwhelming wave of pain and grief lingered. Her younger sister, Tina Marie Finley, went missing on March 7, 1988. “We still haven’t located her and it still hurts,” Sproul said. “They said this stuff is healing, but the pain never goes away. It’s a hole in your heart that can never be filled.” The run was a reminder, shedding light to individual plight, but a puzzle piece of the generational violence and trauma that permeates the Native population.
7 tribes break ground on wellness center in eastern WA
Nez Perce member Liz Arthur-Attao woke up Friday to a regular spring afternoon: 48 degrees and spotty sunlight. Wind brought a chill. The ground was soft and fertile. It was the perfect weather for The Healing Lodge of the Seven Nations to host its groundbreaking ceremony on a wellness center in Spokane Valley, Washington, extending a mission of healing youth through practices grounded in Indigenous values.
Essays:
Hip-Hop’s Return to Center: The Regional House(s) GNX Built
A year after its release, Kendrick has proven that hip-hop isn’t in a new era, but returning to its roots of regional sound and niche cultural presentation.
Leave Angel Reese Alone: A(n Opinionated) Case Study on Digital Misogynoir
Misogynoir, especially its digital footprint, has truly steepened itself into Angel Reese's bright, early career.
Is happiness tucked in the books of Amber’s love for Latin? Is it in the ratchet streets of Atlanta and unashamed Blackness? Maybe it’s on the lips of a past lover whose familiarness is tempting.
Nonfiction:
Judge Cameron Dezen Hammon on Party Favors as a 2022 Best of the Land Contest Winner:
“Party Favors” is a voice-thick coming-of-self story about a young Black college student negotiating her identity between cliques and subcultures. A party (not a kick back) she doesn’t want to be at erupts in near-violence and the narrator is forced to face the disintegration of freshman-year friendships past their sell-by date, as well her own growing sexual and emotional maturity. At times, “Party Favors” leans toward the psychic force of Kiese Laymon’s "Heavy," and the musicality of Junot Diaz’s "This Is How You Lose Her." This writer is one to watch."
Instagram is nonfiction. Electronic, perhaps. Think subconscious bookscraping. Thumbing backward jumpstarts time machines to pre-epiphany moments, rearranging wool exactly how it covered your eyes during photos. Reminisce on moments you’ve enjoyed. Even moments you pretended existed. Maybe moments that never did.