featured article

The Bitter Pill

By Monte J. Wolfe

Sometimes I wonder what I'm thinking when some of these topics come to me in terms of writing. I say this primarily because a lot of the things I've chosen to tackle as of late, while VERY relevant and timely are rarely if ever easy to talk about. I'm always up for a challenge, so in that respect I guess maybe I'm just staying true to form...or it could just be that I'm profusely committed to doing the work of healing some things within myself in order to experience more joy, freedom, abundance, and PEACE in my life on a...

additional articles

Brave Soul Artist: Columbia Nights

By Monte J. Wolfe

Our Brave Soul featured artists for May 2012 are a pair of talented young men whose music speaks for itself. Comprised of musician/producers Hayling Price and John E Daise, Columbia Nights' work is an organic blend of analog and digital elements- a hybrid that looks to the past while taking a giant leap forward. As a classically trained pianist and producer with a few beat tapes to his name, Hayling was interested in expanding...

Brave Soul Artist: Red Summer

By Monte J. Wolfe

Our Brave Soul featured artist for April, Red Summer, is a self proclaimed "Jane-of-all-trades". Her background in Musical Theater, Interdisciplinary Art, Song-Writing, Spoken Word Poetry, Film Production and both Secondary and Post-Secondary Education, makes her a force to be reckoned with. She is a performance artist, activist, educator, motivational speaker and published writer, originally from Chicago, and currently residing in the Atlanta area. She has a B.A. degree in Speech, Theatre and Communications Education...

Brave Soul Artist: Deborah Bond

By Monte J. Wolfe

This month's BSC artist feature is an artist with one of the most distinctive, powerful voices I've ever heard. Her lyrics & music pay homage to a long line of soul & jazz musicians that have come before her & it's clear from experiencing both her studio & live vocal performances how much time, thought, & energy she puts into her artistic offerings. A self-proclaimed "people watcher, dreamer and lover of philosophy", Deborah Bond...

Brave Soul Artist: Tracy Cruz

By Monte J. Wolfe

Our Brave Soul Featured Artist for September [to end the summer & kick off the fall season] is a musical virtuoso whose work is steeped in sincerity, compassion, & love. It is demonstrated through her stirring vocal delivery, as well as through her self-penned poignant & honest lyrics. Her music hinges on heartless dissonance and jolting hope. Tracy Cruz's music represents a vast, magnificent blend of polarities. We never get just one side of...

Brave Soul Artist: Darian Aaron

By Monte J. Wolfe

Our BSC Artist feature to kickoff the summer of 2011 is a trailblazer & courageous brother who embodies all the traits of a 'Brave Soul'. Darian Aaron is an American journalist and editor of Living Out Loud with Darian, a 2008 Black Weblog Award winner for Best LGBT Blog where he provides commentary on social, political, and religious issues that impact the African-American LGBT community. He is a contributing writer for Project Q Atlanta...

Brave Soul Artist: L. Michael Gipson

By Monte J. Wolfe

Our Brave Soul Artist Feature for February 2011 is a maverick, as well as an inspiration for all those who aspire to greatness. Award-winning writer, public health and youth advocate, L. Michael Gipson has worked on HIV/AIDS, youth and community development programming on the local, state and national level for 17 years. As an author, his short stories, speeches, public health and socio-political essays have also been published in three recent anthologies: Poverty &...

Brave Soul Artist: The Foreign Exchange

By Monte J. Wolfe

Our Brave Soul Artist feature for this month are a pair of brilliant musicians/artists whose musical union has yielded some seriously powerful, memorable, soulful music. Consisting of rapper/singer/songwriter Phonte and producer Nicolay, The Foreign Exchange came together via the online hip-hop community Okayplayer.com in 2002. After trading files through Instant Messenger for over a year, Nicolay (living in his native Holland at the time) and Phonte (a Raleigh, NC resident) completed their debut album...