Rough Drafts
Rough Drafts is a Black digital salon hosted by Maurice Rippel and Luke McGowan-Arnold. Maurice and Luke, classmates from their time at a small liberal arts college in the 2010s, reconnected after their respective odyssey in the early 2020s. Through their work facilitating writing groups and public events at a bookstore in Philadelphia, the idea for this podcast emerged, and in fact, was requested. Rough Drafts is exactly what it sounds like: ideas in their nascent stages, first impressions, best foot forward. The concept of each episode is simple: we bring a topic, present a question, or a works-in-progress; we do some research, then have a conversation (often with a guest who commits to reading, research and hot takes). The goal is to start a conversation, and commit to learning, growing, and building for the next draft.
Listen on:
Episodes
6 days ago
6 days ago
What is the state of the Black Bourgeoisie? And who even is the Black Bourgeoisie? L gives M a preliminary entrance exam to see if he can make it (he fails). They reflect on common misconceptions of the Black bourgeoisie, with particular attention to the distinctions between “class” and “status”, and “wealth versus “income.” They swap examples from family and their dating lives, and pose questions about the future vitality of the Black bourgeoisie in relation to politics and literature.
Sources:
Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man
Margo Jefferson, Negroland
Franklin Frazier, Black Bourgeoisie
Lawrence Otis Graham, Our Kind of People
Mary Patillo, Black Picket Fences
Kenneth W. Warren, What was African American Literature?
Friday Nov 08, 2024
Friday Nov 08, 2024
What is the state of jazz in contemporary American culture? Maurice and Luke reconnect with their friend Seth, an independent jazz scholar and musician who shares his perspective cultivated by his reading and practice. Seth gives a historical overview of how the genre evolved through some of its most impactful contributors. In addition, he provides commentary on the relationship between jazz and white spectatorship and imitators (Jack Harlow maybe catches some strays).
Seth’s reflections urge us to think about the refined exploitation in the music industry and in black cultural expression more broadly.
**Disclaimer: Luke’s segregation take may make certain folks blush and offend others; in the spirit of Rough Drafts, he is unserious (though not uninformed). Despite what he says, he looks forward to seeing his mother come holiday season and is a strong supporter of a multicultural democracy :)
Sources:
Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original by Robin D.G. Kelley (2010)
https://www.harvard.com/book/9781439190463
As Serious As Your Life: Black Music and The Free Jazz Revolution By Val Wilmer (2018)
https://mastbooks.com/products/as-serious-as-your-life
Free Jazz/Black Power By Philppe Carles and Jean-Louis Comolli; translated by Gregory Pierrot https://www.upress.state.ms.us/Books/F/Free-Jazz-Black-Power
Jazz and Justice: Racism and the Political Economy of Music by Gerald Horne
References:
How it Feels To Be Colored Me, by Zora Neale Hurston (1929)
https://core-docs.s3.amazonaws.com/documents/asset/uploaded_file/619238/D12_How_it_Feels_to_be_Colored_ZNH_students__1___1___1_.pdf
Blues People: Negro Music in White America by Amiri Baraka
https://archive.org/details/bluespeoplenegroexp00bara
https://www.amherst.edu/media/view/91518/original/Baraka+-+The+Modern+Scene.pdf
Solar Myth
https://metrophiladelphia.com/solar-myth-john-coltrane-birthday/
screening director Shahkeem E. Williams’ new short film ‘Speakn’ Trane’ (written and produced by John Coltrane Symposium founder Anyabwile Love,
On the Road by Jack Kerouac Howl by Allan Ginsburg
Soul (Disney Pixar)
Fact Checks:
Sun Ra was definitely Black Arts Movement
Immanuel *Wilkins* (not wilkerson)
Monday Oct 21, 2024
Monday Oct 21, 2024
Maurice and Luke, old friends from college, reconnected after their respective odysseys of the early 2020s, through their work at a bookstore. They decided to finally start that podcast they always talked about. They prepared three questions each for this episode to (re)introduce themselves to listeners and give a personal meditation on what Rough Drafts is | can | and could be!
Friday Oct 18, 2024
Friday Oct 18, 2024
The podcasts’ Founding Fathers started with the questions: what does it mean to be a man in the 21st century American context? And, how are these different types of masculinities being formed?
Perhaps apropos, they started with bell hooks. They reflect on the legacies of brothers, friends, and formative men in their lives. Critiques were had of Andrew Tate, Fresh and Fit, Kevin Samuels, and the (Black) Manosphere.
Sources:
Fast Facts: Title IX NCES: https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=93
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/09/24/key-facts-about-public-school-teachers-in-the-u-s/
Understanding the (Black) Manosphere with https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upt_ks61_70
“Schooling Black Males”, in We real cool: Black men and Masculinity https://theindigenist.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/we-real-cool_black-men-masculinity-by-bell-hooks.pdf
A Man among Other Men by Jordanna Motlon https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501762932/a-man-among-other-men/
References:
Driving with O.J Simpson by Harmony Holiday https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2024/07/19/driving-with-o-j-simpson/
Men are Lonely. We Explore Some Reasons Why, and What Can Be Done About It https://laist.com/news/kpcc-archive/how-to-la/men-are-lonely-we-explore-some-reasons-why-and-what-can-be-done-about-itWhat’s the Left’s Response to Andrew Tate? https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mtFPwRR2kz1Z7Qe5ZgtZn44Dz-1eE08NnP2dGcvDKSk/edit?ouid=108479077797216976854&usp=docs_home&ths=true
Luke’s substack: https://substack.com/home/post/p-148583471
Ezra Klein, “The Men–and Boys–are not Alright” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zX2qQ2Smkbg
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