Native in a Strange Land

by Coleman, Wanda

• ISBN13: 9781574230239
• ISBN10: 1574230239
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1996-09-01
• Publisher: Black Sparrow Pr

Summary

In this substantial selection of her occasional journalism, poet Wanda Coleman has judiciously reshaped articles, essays, interviews and columns written over three decades (for, among other places, the Los Angeles Times. L.A. Weekly and The Free Press) into a nearly-seamless personal narrative: "a tour through the restless emotional topography of Los Angeles as glimpsed through the scattered fragments of my living memory".

Table of Contents

Introduction: A Career in Brief	p. 11
L.A. Love Cry	p. 19
Napoleon Ice Cream Fog	p. 23
Off the Same Boat	p. 25
Native in a Strange Land	p. 28
Central Avenue	p. 31
Voices from the Curfew Zone	p. 33
Dear Mama: Words Having Failed	p. 38
Saturday's Child	p. 43
Paying for Santa	p. 46
Starvation Stew	p. 48
A Militant Look Backwards	p. 50
Interview with Nikki Giovanni	p. 54
Devaluation Blues	p. 69
Reflections on a Riot - 1985	p. 77
No Way Up	p. 81
Sweet Susannah, Strange Susannah	p. 84
Revisiting Welfare	p. 103
California Running	p. 106
Parlor Politics	p. 109
Remembering Lee	p. 113
Jazz Blues	p. 118
Laughs for Sale	p. 121
Starcrossed Encounters	p. 124
Say It Ain't Cool, Joe	p. 127
Trouble in Paradise	p. 130
School for Thugstas	p. 132
Under the Weather	p. 135
Beneath the Milky Way	p. 138
Astrology to Go	p. 141
Afro-American like Me	p. 144
On Hold for Dear Life	p. 147
The Evil Eye	p. 150
Polia Stories	p. 153
Thrown for a Loop	p. 156
Guys, Dolls and Bit Players	p. 159
Gatherings	p. 162
Slow Rap for Brandon	p. 165
Library Time	p. 168
Violence, Art and Hustle	p. 171
The Healing Walls	p. 179
City in Denial: L.A. Diary, 1993	p. 182
Apartheid Local	p. 189
Saving Our Youth	p. 192
Letter to Jamal	p. 195
Angels with Rap Sheets	p. 202
Days of Lang Syne	p. 205
Classified Scam	p. 208
Sistuhs in Arms	p. 211
Committed to Memory	p. 213
Catalina Reverie	p. 216
The Saga of Darren Stroh	p. 218
Jah in Packaging	p. 221
An Interview with Bob Marley	p. 232
Imagining Disaster	p. 239
Day of the Bargains Mall	p. 242
The Ultimate L.A. Litmus Test	p. 245
Of Fatness and Fitness	p. 248
Jungle of City	p. 251
Death off Barham	p. 254
When Jury Duty Calls	p. 256
Night of the Living Verdict	p. 258
After the Fallout	p. 261
Where the Heart Is	p. 263
Sorry, Wrong Wanda	p. 266
Rides of Spring	p. 269
The Short Goodbye	p. 271
Future Perfect	p. 274
Nails Nails Nails	p. 277
Exit Hollywood	p. 280
Late Night Callers	p. 282
Dollar and a Dime	p. 285
Sleepless in L.A.	p. 288
A Valentine	p. 291
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.