- Playing
- Quilting the Black-eyed Pea
- From
- With Good Reason
Poet Nikki Giovanni is a big, big fan of space. She is urging NASA to adopt a provocative new approach to recruit black Americans on a mission to Mars…and she would like to go there herself. “Quilting the Black-eyed Pea” is her ode to space travel. Also featured: novelist, poet Lucinda Roy has added “painter” to her resume. She is illustrating her new children’s book “Sailing Home on an Elephant,” a story that she hopes will help children deal with loss.
Show for broadcast on NPR stations in Virginia and Washington, DC the week of April 9-15, 2005.
More from With Good Reason
The legacy of Harry Crews
(00:02:26)
From: With Good Reason
Southern Gothic writer Harry Crews died in March of this year. Although many people have never heard of him, Crews’ stories about outcasts inspired an enormous cult ...
Butterfly in the Typewriter
(00:29:00)
From: With Good Reason
The stories behind two giants of Southern Gothic literature.
Saint Death
(00:02:28)
From: With Good Reason
For the past ten years, drug cartels in Mexico have been worshiping a sort of grim repress, a robed skeleton lady known as Santa Muerte, or Saint Death. Now, her popularity ...
The Rise of Santa Muerte
(00:29:00)
From: With Good Reason
Over the past decade, Mexican drug traffickers trying to get their products to the U.S. have had a spiritual “protector.” Her name is Santa Muerte—the Mexican folk saint of ...
Dead Zones
(00:02:39)
From: With Good Reason
A renowned marine biologist is studying a silent killer in oceans and bays. Allison Quantz has the story.
Dead Zones and Fly-Fishing
(00:28:59)
From: With Good Reason
You can’t see them on the surface. But at the bottom of some of the world’s largest bodies of water are areas called dead zones where fish and other life can’t survive.
Young Women Leaders Program
(00:02:25)
From: With Good Reason
Middle school girls have a lot to deal with. One psychologist says that a way to help them is by pairing the preteen girls with college-aged mentors. Allison Quantz reports.
Women and Leadership
(00:28:58)
From: With Good Reason
From preteen girls to college women to female faculty at the highest ranks of academia—a show about how women are learning to become leaders through supporting each other.
The Faiths of the Postwar Presidents
(00:29:00)
From: With Good Reason
A look at the religious lives of the twelve U.S. presidents who have served since the end of World War Two.
A New Western
(00:02:32)
From: With Good Reason
A playwright’s new web-Western is part of television’s jump to the internet. Allison Quantz has details.
Piece Description
Poet Nikki Giovanni is a big, big fan of space. She is urging NASA to adopt a provocative new approach to recruit black Americans on a mission to Mars…and she would like to go there herself. “Quilting the Black-eyed Pea” is her ode to space travel. Also featured: novelist, poet Lucinda Roy has added “painter” to her resume. She is illustrating her new children’s book “Sailing Home on an Elephant,” a story that she hopes will help children deal with loss. Show for broadcast on NPR stations in Virginia and Washington, DC the week of April 9-15, 2005.
Broadcast History
Broadcast the week of 4/9-4/15/2005 on NPR stations in Virginia and Washington, DC.
Transcript
Timing and Cues
IN CUE: (Music)
OUTCUE: “. . . I’m Sarah McConnell. Thanks for listening.”
FOLLOWED BY ___:26__ music bed out
Musical Works
"Three Little Birds"
Freddi McGregor
Raggae for Kids
RAS Records
40 seconds
"Moving On"
Sweet Honey in the Rock
The Other Side
Flying Fish
30 seconds
Additional Files
- photo of Nikki Giovanni (NikkiGiovanni.jpg)
- photo of Lucinda Roy (LucindaRoy.jpg)

Michael Johnson
Posted on August 31, 2005 at 11:36 AM | Permalink
Review of Quilting the Black-eyed Pea
Poets Nikki Giovanni & Lucinda Roy explore very different takes on African-Americaness in this lyrical discussion with host Sara McConnell. The featured poems by Roy & Giovanni give much food for thought on issues as seemingly incongruous as the Middle Passage and its lessons for a journey to Mars, to a tratise on curly hair and childhood taunts.
Host McConnell knows when to let the conversation flow and guides it well through this intelligent half hour . Listeners will enjoy this exploration in thoughts and dreams of two great poets.