We are in the business of writing and publishing
The Soviet Shadow
If Britain built the pipelines, the Soviets sought to shape the minds that would question who those pipelines served. After Nigeria’s independence in 1960, the Soviet Union moved quickly to establish ties—not through oil concessions, which Britain and other Western firms jealously guarded, but through ideas, education, and solidarity.
A Score in Four Movements
“You’re listening to a syncopated truth. Not the kind declared in headlines or carved into stone… But the kind that lives between beats in the silences, the suspensions, the moments they hope you overlook.
This week, the criminal referral of Barack Obama and other Obama-era officials was framed as justice by some, theater by others. But beneath it all, it’s a study in narrative—how rhythm gets remixed to distort memory, how power performs its own score.
When President Trump announced his plan to sell advanced U.S. weapons to NATO for distribution to Ukraine, the world felt the tension rise, like a drummer tightening the skins before a set. It’s a calculated move in the rhythm of proxy conflict—one beat closer, yet still not quite the clang of direct war.
Editor’s Note: John Oliver Killens, would have turned 100 years old this year. I could not let the year get away without a tribute to his legacy as a leading African American writer in the 20th century. What follows is my interview of Killens which was published in The Macon Courier in 1979. He transitioned 8 years later.