The Fire Next Timeby James Baldwin
Ive been rereading it in this moment for inspiration.
Im writing my memoir as a black queer man.
I didn’t grow up with any examples.
Credit: Shavonne Wong
They don’t teach James Baldwin in school.
They didn’t teach James Baldwin in my church.
I didn’t know who James Baldwin was until I was in my mid to late 20s.
Vintage
Everything that is on-page is what I feel in my heart and in my soul.
Step into this season and really show up in the way that I need to.
#BlackAF(Netflix)
Kenya Barrisis a f—ing genius.
Gabriel Delerme/Netflix
Whenblack-ishcame on television, I couldnt believe it.
Its likeNorman Lears—, what hes done.
This is like the blackCurb Your Enthusiasmto me.
© 2020 Lin-Manuel Miranda and Nevis Productions, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
I need to reach out so that I can be on it.
I need to be his gay brother or something.
I also have gone back, all the way back toNip/Tuck.
Everett Collection
When it was on, I was sort of in my down period.
I didn’t have any place to live.
I wasn’t really watching a lot of television.
Stephen Verona/Getty Images
I definitely didn’t have cable so I literally missed all ofNip/Tuck.
[Series creator andPoseexecutive producer Ryan Murphy] is the boss man!
My husband and I have been gagging the whole time because it’s like this was 2003?
Getty Images
What he’s doing on this television show, it is major!
Hamilton(Broadway)
Im a fan in the sense that it has just changed the game.
The most brilliant part of that show is the fact that were talking about immigration.
Its this old story through this new way of music for Broadway.
Romeo + Juliet(1996)
One of my all-time favorites.
I love that [directorBaz Luhrmann] was able to truly contemporize the telling of that story.
And I just love his filmmaking style.
It still resonates with me today.The Color Purple,too.
Donny Hathaway
“For All We Know.”
And I’m also partial to “I Love You More Than You’ll Ever Know.”
I started singing in church and then I was introduced to theater.
I went from gospel music to theater music.
Pop music, I knew it, but I didn’t own it in my house.
I knew it because pop music is ubiquitous, but I didn’t own anything.
As I started singing outside of church, people kept saying to me, You sound like Donny Hathaway.
I didnt know [him].
Finally, at 17, I was in the store, and here was Donny Hathaways greatest hits.
I bought it and cried, thinking, Wow.
Everybody thinks Im that good?
Because thats one of the greatest voices of all time.
I was like, “Oh my God!
That’s Donny Hathaway singing that!”
Literally, I had no idea.
[Laughs]
BONUS: The Beach
Any beach.
Its very calming for me.
It just takes my breath away.
As told to Sarah Rodman
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