Retha Powers is the editor of Bartlett's Familiar Black Quotations: 5,000 Years of Literature, Lyrics, Poems, Passages, Phrases, and Proverbs from Voices Around the World. Her journalism and essays have appeared in publications such asEssence, Ms., the New York Times Magazine, and Glamour. A publishing professional for more than twenty years, she is currently the assistant director of the Publishing Certificate Program at City College of New York.
“Oh, she’s double-handed,” the jumping girl said. “I knew it.” It was akin to the Sandman tap-dancing to abort a stinker of a performance at the Apollo Theater. I was done.