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“Woman in Red Dress” by James Brewer
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…..In recent days, I have posed this question via email to a handful of creative artists and citizens of note:
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…..“During this time of social distancing and isolation at home, what are examples of the music you are listening to, the books you are reading, and/or the television or films you are viewing?” (If you wish, please feel free to also share your thoughts on the effects this isolation is having on your creativity or on your world).
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…..Responses to this question will be published periodically as this era progresses.
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This edition features the email response of Spelman College president Mary Schmidt Campbell
(published with only minor stylistic editing)
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President of Spelman College; dean emeriti of the Tisch School of the Arts; associate provost for the arts at New York University; past commissioner of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (1987 – 1991); author of American Odyssey: The Life and Work of Romare Bearden
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This response was submitted on April 7
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…..Years ago I read Wolf Hall, the first volume of Hilary Mantel’s trilogy of the life of Thomas Cromwell. Cromwell and his rise to power felt very modern. Even more intriguing were the women, not only Henry’s series of wives, but the women who exercised power out of sight, but who exercised that power definitively, nonetheless.
….. Having read Wolf Hall, then Bring up the Bodies, I am now reading the final book of the trilogy, The Mirror and the Light, that takes us to the end of Cromwell’s life. After I complete Mantel’s novel, I am eagerly awaiting the release of a non-fiction book, Isabel Wilkerson’s new book on caste in America, The Origins of Our Discontents.
…..As for the multi episode shows that hook you mercilessly, On Netflix my husband and I are enjoying Outlander and on Acorn, the new show with David Tennent and Cush Jumbo, Deadwater Fell, has us hooked...On HBO, I await the return of Issa Rae’s Insecure.
…..Parasite has got to be one of the best films I have seen in a very long time.
…..When Bill Withers passed, I felt called to hear his voice and the simplicity and honesty of his lyrics. “Lean On Me” sounds like an anthem for our times.
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Listen to Bill Withers perform “Lean on Me”
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Click here to read our Jerry Jazz Musician interview with Mary Schmidt Campbell about her book, American Odyssey: The Life and Work of Romare Bearden
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Click here to read Volume 1 of this series, featuring recording artist Bruce Cockburn.
Click here to read Volume 2 of this series, featuring music writers/critics Howard Mandel and Joel Selvin
Click here to read Volume 3 of this series, featuring journalist Joe Hagan and photographer Tim Davis
Click here to read Volume 5 of this series, featuring Arizona State University historian Tracy Fessenden
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