Hello everyone. Your Reader Advisor is back after a long hiatus. I wish I could be returning on a happier note but unfortunately that doesn’t really seem possible any more. After 49 people were simultaneously murdered last week for being themselves, myself like innumerable others, have been feeling a lot of feelings. In fact sometimes I get the impression that the only time our country really collectively “feels” or expresses emotions is after a mass shooting or a mass sporting event. But these outpouring of emotions have become so routine that even politicians are calling into question our sincerity. So this week I offer an examination of how our collective expressions of grief (and love) are coming under new and important scrutiny.
Read MoreWhen Daniel de Jesús performs he looks just like a painting of the Virgin Mary or a statue of a saint come to life. He wears a blue silk robe and his blue and purple eye make-up runs down his cheeks like tears. His voice resounds in unison with the cello between his knees; a drum machine may keep time or offer up haunting sounds.
Read MoreFletcher Williams III’s work demands that we confront uncomfortable facts about both our present and our past, reflected in these lost lives and blighted neighborhoods. The façades depicted in Beyond the Rainbow hint at the individuals who lived there and the community that struggles to survive against the twin challenges of poverty and racism. Jonathan Green’s site-specific Porgy Houses likewise ask us to reflect on black history in Charleston and the whitewashed present.
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