I am a journalist, author, scholar and historic preservationist.
My latest book is Go-Go Live: The Musical Life and Death of a Chocolate City, out now on Duke University Press (June 2012), was named to SPIN magazine’s Top Ten Music Books of 2012.
I began my career as an arts writer and editor in the Washington Post’s Style and Outlook (Sunday Opinion) sections and later joined the founding team of editors of the web journal of politics and culture, The Root.
I graduated from Howard University, where I did my undergraduate work in political science and I later earned Master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Maryland-College Park’s Philip Merrill College of Journalism. My first book, co-authored with Natalie Y. Moore, was “Deconstructing Tyrone: A New Look at Black Masculinity in the Hip-Hop Generation” in 2006 by Cleis Press. Fun fact: one of the DT cultural essays was anthologized in Best Sex Writing 2006.
My parents are from Guyana and I was born in Edmonton, Alberta (Canada). I moved to Indiana and then Florida as a kid. Currently I am a contributing editor to The Root.com, and do public policy discussion projects for the nonprofit Interactivity Foundation. I also lecture at Georgetown University’s master’s journalism program and do some speaking and consulting on culture and policy.
I’m married to my college sweetheart and we live with our two children in Washington D.C.
More resume stuff here on Linkedin
