(Pixabay/nnguyen) Southernness and queerness are often constructed in antagonism to one another. In fact, 21st century novelist Brandon Taylor describes this in relation to his own identity by writing, “I thought that there was nothing worse than being gay and southern, that no two parts of a person could be more in conflict.” Yet within [...]
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American classical music has a staggering diversity issue. In 2014, Black musicians represented 1.8% of major American orchestra players. The New York Philharmonic has had three Black musicians throughout its history. In 2007, Morris Robinson, an Atlanta native and renowned bass opera singer, became the first African American artist to sign with a major classical [...]
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Like me, Evan Amaral (21C) grew up in a small, rural town in South Georgia. Fascinated with avant garde and non-Western cinema, Amaral hoped moving to Atlanta would allow him to see movies outside of the local AMC blockbusters and Western film canon with which he was familiar. “Short answer,” he said, “it didn’t.” Amaral’s [...]
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The saying has been on teacher’s walls, waiting rooms and my childhood refrigerator: “Life is a lot like jazz. It is best when you improvise.” However cliche George Gershwin’s quote may be, it speaks to jazz’s applicability to life as an art form grounded in spontaneity, conversation and connection. Each of these communal processes were [...]
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