September 17, 2011.
Enriched with a tempering of the rich and dramatic reds, browns, and blacks with the bright and airy blues and yellows, a pinch of unbridled passion, a dollop of depth, and equal splashes of inspiration and an appreciation for realism, this latest sketch aggrandizes the subject, a beautiful young African-American woman, as she stretches her muscles and clears her mind, ready to commence training in her dojo. To me, this drawing of this young lady filling nearly every inch of space on that single page with her pulchritude (coupled with concentration and dedication to her art) affords a deep and lasting joy, considering that it is the kind of image...a positive example of African Americans...I always longed to see, a picture of another side of Black life I never saw as a child. That changed when I met Diane, my first and last homeroom teacher of color, a twentysomething woman already with a brown belt in Shotokan karate...and someone who looked like me.
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