“BLKS” by Aziza Barnes centers on the lives of June, Octavia, and Imani, three Black women in their 20s trying to find their way in the world. The story starts when Octavia learns she has a health problem. To cope, she and her friends plan a wild night out. Their rendezvous includes Octavia’s scout for a one-night stand, a strange brand of bandit, and lessons on love and vulnerability amid life’s other joys and complications: intimacy, yearning to belong, police brutality, infidelity, grief, and relationship-defining conversations. Read more
For artist Cicely Carew, process and presence might be just as meaningful as the remarkable artwork she creates. The visual artist, mom and yoga practitioner paints, works in mixed media and monotype printmaking and talks of loving, forgiving and healing as though living is art itself. She spends much of her time developing her work, cultivating happiness and making space to forgive herself and others for mistakes.
Need a little break from your partner or kids? Tired of eating the same food week after week? After more than a month of sheltering in place, many of us are. To help, local illustrator and entrepreneur Cagen Luse provides comic relief by tackling daily life during the pandemic with his LunchTime ComiX “The New Normal” comic strip series. Read more.
There’s more to Mariel, a new Cuban-inspired restaurant, than food and drinks. The chic eatery in Post Office Square is quickly carving out a scene where friends, partners, and co-workers gather to eat, laugh, and converse in a stunningly curated environment.
This vibrant social experience is what Mariel’s owners, COJE Management Group — the same team behind Lolita Cocina & Tequila Bar, Ruka Restobar, and Yvonne’s — hope for. Read more
In the stark white spaces of the Emerson Contemporary Media Art Gallery—lined on one side with large glass windows—moving projections climb walls, a robot shimmies across a gray polished floor, and a sculpture spins in a surveilled room to the sound of a babbling brook. These works and more make up the “Spacetime (x,y,z + t)” exhibition featuring experimental pieces that explore time and space through technology. Read more
“What does home taste like?” Tamika Francis, chef and founder of Food & Folklore, asked the crowd. More than two dozen diners at her Islamic diaspora pop-up dinner in February mulled over the question and stitched together the memories, tastes and smells that make up their personal food origin stories. Some offered up a word, or a place and others shared at their tables. Read more
In neighborhood salons, transformations occur. Clients whose tresses beg for sprucing — sometimes their spirits need lifting too — aim to come out better than they came in. And at the fictional Shear Madness Unisex Hairstyling Salon, which is the setting of “Shear Madness," there’s a lot more going on than pin curls and dye jobs. Read more.
“People don’t sing, because they don’t think they can, but wouldn’t it be a great world if everyone sang? If everyone could feel the power of their voice? Everyone should sing, everyone should dance and everyone should beatbox,” beatboxer, poet and Broadway actor Chesney Snow says. Read more.
Dudley Cafe in Roxbury is quaking with laughter and conversation. More than 40 people of various ages have come to the cozy eatery inside the Bruce C. Bolling Municipal Building for Hella Black Trivia, which occurs every third Tuesday night of each month. The bright white space with light wood, colorful art and exposed brick feels like a living room and lounge space with its mix of white iron chairs, high-back seating and couches. Read more
While dining at Tanám, a worker-owned restaurant tucked inside of Bow Market in Somerville, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Inside the bright austere space there’s a gleaming white table for 10, evoking an exclusive dinner party atmosphere. As we gather around the table, bar director Kyisha Davenport offers us beverages with ingredients like ampalaya (bitter melon) and purple yam, and a yellow booklet, “Island Woman,” by visual artist Jeanne F. Jalandoni arrives at each setting. Read more.