Naomi Jackson

Jan 11, 2024 | shepherd.com | Brit Bennett |Naomi Jackson |Tayari Jones |Heidi W. Durrow

Brit Bennett writes with a steady hand as she immerses us into the minds and lives of three people. Nadia and Aubrey are haunted to womanhood by maternal abandonment. They are friends as well as rivals for the affection of the same man. Luke would have made a mother out of Nadia had they chosen to parent, and he eventually makes a wife and mother of Aubrey. His mother is the first lady of the church that plays a prominent role in their lives.

Dec 15, 2023 | bombmagazine.org | Naomi Jackson |Coco Fusco

I stepped down the two stairs that led into Makeda’s record shop, Vinyl, and took in the riot of color that gave more Barbados than Baltimore. The dizzying colors contrasted with the neat arrangement of sections from go-go to soca to ska. Apparently, Makeda had found somewhere to channel her Virgo precision. I spied the cashier, a young person whose Manic Panic hair dye matched the shop and whose multiple piercings indicated the body modification stage of their youthful rebellion.