Celebrate 30 years of the OA.
With original work from Imani Perry, Kristen Arnett, Diane Roberts, and so many others, our Spring Issue honors our past and looks into our expansive future.
Magazine
Issue 64, Spring 2009
The Race Issue
This issue is devoted to a deep exploration of the complicated landscape of race in the South, including critical essays, memoir, fiction, poetry, and a publisher’s forum on the subject.
“The Struggle is a literary calling to me, if not a religion. I came of age during the Black Arts Movement and will forever consider literature an act of cultural custodianship—the maintenance and monitoring of the culture through its products, trying to extract the weaknesses and illuminate the strengths.” — Arthur Rickydoc Flowers, “Raceman”
Essays by Arthur Rickydoc Flowers, ZZ Packer, Emily Bernard, Sarah M. Brown, Lolis Eric Elie, and others. Poetry by Rita Dove.
Columns & Departments
Editor’s Box
by Marc Smirnoff
Publisher’s Forum
A GREAT DEBATE
A discussion featuring Julian Bond, Morris Dees, Richard Thompson Ford, Vanessa Siddle Walker, and Juan Williams
by Warwick Sabin
Gone Off Up North
PREPOSTEROUS LENGTHS
by Roy Blount, Jr.
Local Fare
IN THROUGH THE BACK DOOR
by John T. Edge
Meditation
MY FEAR OF THE SOUTH
by Jerald Walker
Politics
A FINISHED REVOLUTION?
by ZZ Packer
Politics
OBAMA I: BLOOD DREAD AND HOPE
by Jesmyn Ward
Politics
OBAMA II: MILES TRAVELED, MILES TO GO
by Erin Aubrey Kaplan
Politics
OBAMA III: REDNECKS FOR OBAMA
by Emily Bernard
Politics
OBAMA IV: ON WAR AND ELECTION
by Ada Liana Bidiuc
Epistolary
AMERICA'S GREATEST HITS
by Lolis Eric Elie
Family
FINDING BLACK POWER
by Stephanie Powell Watts
Family
MISSING
by Sarah M. Brown
Education
A PERFECT TEST
by Mike Copperman
Education
THE FUTURE OF THROWBACKS
by Bill Maxwell
Travel
PROGRESS IN THE LAND OF THE CHEROKEES?
by Akiva Freidlin
Dealer’s Choice
ENCOUNTERS WITH ANGELS
by Hal Crowther
Features
RACEMAN
by Arthur Rickydoc Flowers
THE LIFE, LOVES, AND ADVENTURES OF ZELWA THE HALFIE
a story by Randa Jarrar
THE USUAL THINGS
a story by Solon Timothy Woodward
DREAM SEASON
a story by James Hatley
THE PROMISE OF LOVE
a story by John Holman
POEMS
by Rita Dove
ART GALLERY & POETRY
Featuring masterpieces of art and poems by
Thomas Sayers Ellis
Adrienne Su
Sean Hill
Michelle Courtney Berry
Jericho Brown
Kamilah Aisha Moon
POEM
by Ai
On the Cover: “Who Can Say No to a Gorgeous Brunette? 1970/2007” by Hank Willis Thomas