August Wilson’s Masterpiece Blesses African Ancestors by Barry David Horwitz In “Gem of the Ocean,” Aunt Ester (superb Greta Oglesby), a 285-year-old seer and healer, connects us to our history because Black history is American history. We must study it because our country was not founded on slaves but on enslaved Africans. We teach…
Yussef El Guindi Unveils Rampant Imperialism behind Tourism by Barry David Horwitz In a swank hotel in Cairo, a wealthy, anxious older couple from Wisconsin has hired a young Egyptian couple as their tour guides. “Hotter than Egypt” clips along at a witty pace as two couples try to figure each other out. Oh,…
Quiara Alegría Hudes Links Addiction to U.S. Anxieties by Barry David Horwitz The title “Water by the Spoonful” comes from a doctor’s advice on how to give a dehydrated child water—slowly, over many hours. Maybe we can tackle our national drug problem one spoonful at a time, too . . . But an addicted…
Trey Anthony Unfolds Tale of Absent Mom, Angry Sisters by Barry David Horwitz How can a Black mother say, “I love you” to two daughters who believed she abandoned them in her native Jamaica when they were small? She was lured to the U.S. for a better life, but she had to work three…