Category Archives: Uncategorized

Jim Crow’s Grandkids

Posted on November 1, 2022 by Eugene Jones Baldwin

Jim Crow’s Grandkids The right wing posits affirmative action as a Communist plot, subtext the privileges Whitey and his/her children get . . . constantly. The most egregious example of affirmative action goes all the way back to the end … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Bikers

Posted on July 31, 2022 by Eugene Jones Baldwin

Bikers In 1897, twenty Black U.S. cavalrymen, dubbed “buffalo soldiers” by Native American tribes in the West, mounted their bicycles—yes, bicycles (no gears)—and rode nineteen hundred miles to St. Louis, where their arrival in Forest Park was roundly cheered. The … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Brave

Posted on July 23, 2022 by Eugene Jones Baldwin

The Brave At the top of LaVista hill, Mulligan the dog (sixty pounds of part Pitbull, part Shepherd, full handsome) pulling his leash, was tugging his mistress along a row of newly planted trees. He stopped at each tree, raised … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Rapture

Posted on July 18, 2022 by Eugene Jones Baldwin

Rapture  Black lives do not matter, which explains why its opposite has become a rallying cry. All lives matter, obvious as that statement may be is not pertinent to what’s going on in this rapidly insane country of ours. To … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Fakely I’m Amazed

Posted on July 10, 2022 by Eugene Jones Baldwin

Fakely I’m Amazed A few years ago, a friend of mine’s new, pushy wife came with him to a summer camp where he and I worked. She happened to be walking on the road when a newspaper reporter, coming to … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Black Boys

Posted on July 6, 2022 by Eugene Jones Baldwin

Black Boys I was artist-in-residence at Washington Irving School for over a decade. At a school assembly circa 1990, my friend Roy Chappell, one of the first Tuskegee Airmen in history, sat on the stage and talked to my kids. … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Shirley You Jest

Posted on July 6, 2022 by Eugene Jones Baldwin

Shirley You Jest I recall the thrill when I first read Shirley Jackson’s masterful 1948 story “The Lottery,” and the shock (I was a kid) of the story’s end. I’ve reread it several times and I’ve come to appreciate the … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Cycles

Posted on June 26, 2022 by Eugene Jones Baldwin

Cycles I once sat next to Illinois House speaker Mike Madigan, at an Illinois Arts Council retreat in Galena. He was sitting on a park bench, clad in a madras shirt and Bermuda shorts. I had just finished a run. … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Bloomsday

Posted on June 16, 2022 by Eugene Jones Baldwin

Bloomsday Leo Bloom, a nondescript, middle-aged man, wanders his city of Dublin on June 16, 1904. He confronts friends, enemies, shopkeepers and bartenders, vendors and grifters. He journeys from eight a.m. to two a.m. the next morning. Hard on his … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Dr. Gene

Posted on June 1, 2022 by Eugene Jones Baldwin

Dr. Gene Moliere’s wonderful play, The Doctor in Spite of Himself, is a comedy about a conman who poses as a doctor in a small village. He is called in to examine an ailing, comely lass, the family watching as … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment