A wise person said that when you don’t know what to say the place to start is “thank you.” Sitting here trying to put this challenging, painful, and profoundly illuminating year into perspective, I know I have a lot to be thankful for —
Read More
I have often wondered what it must have taken for my forebears in the civil rights movement to place their children in the eye of the storm. Even knowing the power of symbols to shape our historical narratives. Even after committing oneself to the struggle, how could a mother or a father look at their child and say, "She will be the one. We will go."
Read More
I’m honored and grateful to be receiving this award. I never could have imagined when I first arrived here from New York in 1997 – a young jazz pianist, starting my first University teaching job, and looking for a place to build community, – that I would be standing here more than 2 1/2 decades later, so bountifully surrounded by what I hoped to discover.
Read More