Today’s lesson is by guest author Dominique James, daughter of Chicago and Southside sweetheart, graduated Summa Cum Laude from Howard University. She has completed research fellowships at the University of California-Riverside and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. After graduation, she was a TRIALS Fellow at Harvard Law School and a University of Chicago HBCU Bridge Scholar. She is a teaching artist at Young Chicago Authors and creates word-based multimedia projects, for which she received a 2018 Propeller Fund grant from the Andy Warhol Foundation. Whether as an event host, performer, or teaching artist, Dominique seeks to inspire celebration and share joy.  

(Photo by Reese Amaru) Visit Dominique’s blog here.

DAMN. 3 Years Anniversary Workshop Series

(originally posted on http://www.nikki-rosa.com/blog and shared here with permission)

For the project, I used the workshop contents to reimagine the physical album, designing my own versions of the album cover, liner notes, and tracklist. I am also posting an image that organizes the info into a single document. The images and the document are below and the downloadable PDF with hyperlinks can be found here. I’m also posting links to the pieces. Happy creating!

Game of Thrones by Fatimah Asghar

Ode to Fetty Wap (written after strip club) by Roya Marsh

Elegy by Aracelis Girmay

Ars Poetica by Jose Olivarez

sometimes i wish i felt the side effects by Danez Smith

Self-Portrait With No Flag by Safia Elhillo

The Book of Yeezus by Julian Randall

GIOVANNI by Jamila Woods

Prayer on Aladdin’s Lamp by Marcus Wicker

Ode to Dalya’s Bald Spot by Angel Nafis

The Etymology of “CHUUCH!” by E’Mon Lauren

Second Mouth by Franny Choi

Sorrow Is Not My Name by Ross Gay

Palindrome by Nate Marshall

Original photo of Kendrick by Peter Yang, photo of boys by Peter Simon, “album artwork” by Dominique James.

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