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ARTS & SOUL

Posted inARTS & SOUL

A Grief of Our Own

by Alysia Nicole Harris August 4, 2023September 29, 2023
Posted inARTS & SOUL

Schistostega pennata: grief & the luminous land

by Alysia Nicole Harris August 1, 2023August 4, 2023
Review: The Barbie movie punts meaningful concepts into the void and leaves us with nothing. But maybe that’s the point.
Posted inARTS & SOUL

Come on Barbie, give us nothing!

by Virginia Walcott July 27, 2023July 27, 2023
An abolitionist review of the Barbie movie's imaginative universe serves as a reminder that systemic oppression can indeed be destroyed.
Posted inRACE & PLACE

Barbie: Pretty Police

by Eteng Ettah July 27, 2023July 27, 2023
Dark Matter, a sestina poem by Kelsey Smoot, is a complicating and uncompromising ode to Black womxn, exploring reflexes and returns of gender.
Posted inARTS & SOUL

"Dark Matter": A poem for grief & other loves

by Kelsey Smoot July 25, 2023July 25, 2023
Posted inRACE & PLACE

Mausoleums: The Art of Necromancy

by Jaiden Butler July 25, 2023November 13, 2023
"What Things Cost: An anthology for the people." Edited by Rebecca Gayle Howell, Ashley M. Jones and Emily J. Jalloul. Published by The University Press of Kentucky.
Posted inARTS & SOUL

An anthology for people over capitalism

by Katherine Webb-Hehn July 19, 2023July 19, 2023
A lifelong musician on the unbearable silence of prison.
Posted inARTS & SOUL

Out of my hands: A musician in prison pines for his bass

by David Annarelli June 22, 2023September 27, 2023
Rapper Alim Braxton, aka Rrome Alone, released his music video 'Prisoner of War' from Death Row.
Posted inARTS & SOUL

Prisoner of War

by Alim Braxton June 22, 2023September 27, 2023
An artist's tribute to painter Duniyana Al-Amoor, killed in her room in Gaza at age 22.
Posted inARTS & SOUL

Art Under Aggression

by Malak Mattar June 22, 2023November 14, 2023
Palestinian prison arts and crafts reflect the realities of life and love under Israeli occupation
Posted inARTS & SOUL

Diaries of Blood: The secret artists within Israeli detention facilities

by Eman Al-Astal June 22, 2023November 14, 2023
Solitary confinement in maximum security prison
Posted inARTS & SOUL

Nightmares & Daydreams: Welcome to maximum security

by Zakaria Amara June 20, 2023September 27, 2023
Scalawag's 2023 Abolition Week theme: The Bars We Can't See.
Posted inSCALAWAG UPDATES

Introducing Abolition Week 2023: The Bars We Can't See

by Scalawag Editors June 19, 2023November 14, 2023
Kelsey Smoot poetry
Posted inARTS & SOUL

'Some girlhoods end in manhood'

by Kelsey Smoot June 14, 2023June 14, 2023
Producing music from prison.
Posted inARTS & SOUL

Young Tali is making music by any means necessary

by Zeb Larson June 13, 2023June 12, 2023
How prisons shaped the South's music history
Posted inARTS & SOUL

The Blues Behind Bars: How Southern prisons shaped American music

by Zeb Larson June 8, 2023June 7, 2023
The headquarters of New Orleans Musicians Assistance Foundation, the nonprofit that operates the Musicians' Clinic. Every month, the Foundation pays Bethany Bultman and her husband Johann $4,094 in rent for its use of the building for its offices. Photo by Trenity Thomas for Scalawag.
Posted inPOLITICS & THE PEOPLE

Plantation Politics: The New Orleans Musicians' Clinic's crisis of credibility

by Drew Hawkins June 1, 2023September 27, 2023
Tina Turner performs onstage at the United Center, October 1, 2000. (Photo by Paul Natkin/Getty Images) How Tina Turner's abuse and trauma remains a hip-hop trope.
Posted inARTS & SOUL

How Tina Turner's trauma remains a hip-hop trope—and why we need to abolish it

by Justin A. Davis May 25, 2023November 13, 2023
The cover of Destiny Hemphill's latest poetry collection, "motherworld: a devotional for the alter-life."
Posted inARTS & SOUL

Altars for the alter-life

by mónica teresa ortiz May 16, 2023November 13, 2023
Posted inARTS & SOUL

'We apologize for the inconvenience': The unsightliness of labor at the Blanton's 'Day Jobs'

by Julie Poole May 11, 2023May 16, 2023
Is abolition a love language? On Black love as a form of resistance in the case of the first Black Bachelor Matt James. Revolutionary Love challenges the erotic logic of racial fetishism. An examination of romance and the politics of Black masculinity.
Posted inRACE & PLACE

Oshun's Suicide, Part II: Eros, Repetition, and Reprieve in Black Popular Culture 

by Jordan Mulkey April 21, 2023November 21, 2023
Is abolition a love language? On Black love as a form of resistance in the case of the first Black Bachelor Matt James. Revolutionary Love challenges the erotic logic of racial fetishism. An examination of romance and the politics of Black masculinity.
Posted inRACE & PLACE

Oshun's Suicide: Eros, Repetition, and Reprieve in Black Popular Culture 

by Jordan Mulkey April 19, 2023November 21, 2023
Black Poetics and the Captive Maternal: Joy James asks poets to confront Black violence, using poetry as a means of survival and liberation.
Posted inRACE & PLACE

On the Tensions and (Im)Possibilities of Black Poetics: No Shame, No Devil

by Jon Jon Moore Palacios April 14, 2023November 21, 2023
Posted inRACE & PLACE

Five Black Southerners you should know this Women's History Month

by Scalawag Editors March 21, 2023November 21, 2023
Posted inARTS & SOUL

grief & other loves: National Poetry Month workshop series

by Scalawag Team March 16, 2023December 1, 2023
Rom-coms don’t need to promote the police state; in fact, cop romance movies detract from what makes rom-coms so, well, lovable.
Posted inRACE & PLACE

The romantic comedies convincing you to fall in love with the police

by Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg February 14, 2023December 1, 2023
Posted inARTS & SOUL

Grief and Love, Outside the Changes

by Julian Reid February 10, 2023December 1, 2023
Posted inRACE & PLACE

Why your new diet is antiblack

by Ko Bragg and Da'Shaun Harrison January 3, 2023December 1, 2023
Posted inARTS & SOUL

In the soil, in the sound: Houston's Jamal Cyrus gets to the root of Southern Black aesthetics

by Alysia Nicole Harris November 17, 2022December 1, 2023
Posted inARTS & SOUL

Bookmobiles to the rescue

by Leticia Urieta September 20, 2022December 4, 2023

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WE'RE DREAMING UP ABOLITIONIST FUTURES. Help us share our vision.

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