Tens of millions of Americans turned out to vote for a New New Deal in 2008. We turned out to vote against the nefarious budget-slashing of Mitt Romney in 2012. And what did we get?
The arguments against the Common Core State Standards grow ever more fierce -- as if kids' lives were already being wrecked, that useful experimentation were already being suppressed, and that schools were being forced to descend from their current level of excellence.
I think, for me, the true joy, was that I was able to realize the vision of a great poet and thinker. Langston Hughes had a multimedia vision that was 50 years ahead of its time. "Ask Your Mama" broke a mold for him, which is why I think it was not performed in his lifetime.
After the devastation of 9/11 a young woman decided to heed the call of her nation to protect and serve. She put her life on the line, so that we might all be a little safer at home. That soldier is my wife. Yes, we are two wives.
We're very excited to syndicate one of our favorite columns, 'What Is It? What Is It Worth?' from one of our favorite magazines, Country Living. All t...
Happy birthday Langston Hughes! Today would have been the legendary poet, author, and social activist's 111th birthday. What better way to kick of...
The bottom line is that children who have more arts education do better in school and in life. Significantly, the correlation happens to be strongest for low-income youth, the students most often failed by our schools.
There was the influence of the blues and of 20th century lyric poetry in those first poems, and his reading voice sounded a little bit (or maybe a lot) like Langston Hughes' -- the first poet I ever loved.
As election season winds to a close, candidates from all sides are still making their final promises about what they want America to be. Those of us who share Dr. Harding's vision -- for a just, compassionate, multiracial, joyful nation which cares for children and elders -- must work to make that reality.
This weekend will be a critical marker for the burgeoning independent Black film movement. Opening in theaters in select cities this Friday, Middle of Nowhere is a compelling drama about a young newlywed who puts her happiness on hold as she eagerly awaits for her husband's early release from a five-year prison sentence.
A society that really wants to celebrate the life of an important figure -- to keep his or her memory alive in our collective psyche -- must do so publicly and permanently.
The flag, as a symbol of the nation, is not owned by the administration in power, but by the people. We battle over what it means, but all Americans -- across the political spectrum -- have an equal right to claim the flag as their own.
I have long felt that our students have a somewhat different relationship to their city than children in other parts of the country, that they take Detroit as their muse and that the city actually becomes a character in their work.
The Gospel lesson last Sunday comes from John, Chapter 3 -- the ultimate passage from the Bible on the need to have a personal relationship with God t...
A Virginia high school English teacher is under investigation for allegedly asking the only black student in the class to read a poem in a "blacker" m...
Harlem is alive and thriving, more so now than ever before, and in many cases food is at the center of Harlem's new economic growth. Within the midst of great history and cultural diversity lies a food side of Harlem just waiting to be discovered by those foodies who seek it.
It's only a matter of time before the newspaper column takes its rightful place as a recognized and respected form of literature, every bit as vital as its more celebrated cousins, the short story and the novel.
Art museums are so often understood as sanctuaries in which to preserve the past, so it's rare to experience a museum show instead devoted to understa...
Ghosts and books go hand-in-hand. Be it William Shakespeare or Stephen King, writers have long been penning poltergeists. While most literary ghosts a...
Occupy means "to keep and hold, to fill, to employ." It is high time to occupy America again; not the America of partisan politics and corporate influence; but the America that can hold and keep alive the dreams of its young people.
For Santorum and Perry to invoke Langston Hughes in their bids for the Republican presidential nomination is a disheartening misuse of the poet.
If President Obama is right about the importance of education for improving national competitiveness, you would expect teaching to be a 21st century growth industry.
There’s something magical about catching a glimpse of one of your favorite authors at work – even a photo of the epic event can send an anxious th...
On April 4, 1968, a shot rang out in the Memphis sky and Martin Luther King Jr. fell silent. But King's message of one America, undivided by race, would not die.
This weekend is the Transgender Day of Remembrance, and many of us will be memorializing transgender Americans murdered because of their gender identities or gender expressions.
