A fan of Wonder Woman and librarians
By Amy Sutherland Globe Correspondent,Updated January 20, 2021, 7:21 p.m.
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Robert Jones Jr.AVARGAS
Robert Jones Jr.âs much anticipated debut novel, âThe Prophets,â tells the story of two Black enslaved men who fall in love on a cotton plantation in Antebellum Mississippi. Jones earned an M.F.A. in creative writing from Brooklyn College, and is the founder of the blog Son of Baldwin, which discusses race, sexuality, and gender. He lives in Brooklyn with his husband.
BOOKS: What are you reading currently?
JONES: âThe Secret Lives of Church Ladiesâ by Deesha Philyaw, a 2020 National Book Award finalist. Her short stories are about Black women and their relationship to the church. This is the kind of book I needed at this moment, when everything seems to be coming undone. This feels like a grandmaâs hug.
By Damon Young
Dec. 30, 2020
Credit.Igor Bastidas
It’s funny how, in the 10th month of Covid, some of the things I miss most are things I hadn’t thought were missable. I miss the barbershop, for instance, for reasons that would be obvious if you saw me. I used to make weekly trips, but I haven’t been since March. I feel as if I look like a mashup of Frederick Douglass and Chewbacca’s neck. I’m pining for the pomp and circumstance in the process of the cut, the ceremony of the barber raising and snapping the cape before smoothing it on me and fastening it around my neck, the sting and lovely stank of peroxide applied to my fresh hairline and newly speck-free neck. And then the big reveal the moment when the artisan has finished and spins me in the chair to face the wall of mirrors and witness the masterwork.