In the past three decades the music and culture of hip-hop have come to dominate the contemporary black American experience in ways that are both worrisome and profound. What does it mean that for a generation–or now two–of young blacks, the primary reflection they see of themselves in the world-at-large comes filtered through an often anti-intellectual, misogynistic and money-obsessed lens? Thomas Chatterton Williams will read a selection of passages from his new memoir, Losing My Cool: How a Father’s Love and 15,000 Books Beat Hip-Hop Culture, and discuss with the audience his own personal journey away from a vision of blackness that he argues leaves those who live it diminished.
Thomas Chatterton Williams is the author of the memoir, Losing My Cool: How a Father’s Love and 15,000 Books Beat Hip-Hop Culture. He holds a B.A in philosophy from Georgetown University and a master’s degree from the Cultural Reporting and Criticism program at New York University. His writing has appeared in the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, the American Scholar, the Root and n+1. He lives in New York City.
IF YOU WANT TO GO:
March 17, 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Costs: Free and open to the public, RSVP required (limited seating)
http://www.ganttcenter.org/web/page.asp?urh=CalendarViewer&ref=n&id=97
