IN THE BEGINNING THERE WAS A LAUGH, Make way for a satirical African-American publication, And now we present Toure Muhammad
Before the laugh, first comes the smile. It sprawls and grows and then becomes the laugh, throaty and deep, and then the laugh settles back into a smile.
Toure Muhammad is laying out his vision for the nation’s one and only black satirical publication. Something that will be funny and critical, something hip and on the edge, an entertainment guide to black Chicago, and a place where, when people go online or when they pick up the paper edition, they will feel at home and at ease.
It will be like sitting around with friends or family over some bean soup, and that’s what he calls it, his Bean Soup Times. But as he explains this all, he also slips in a joke so fast you didn’t know it was coming. Like, “Did you hear about all the young Kenyans who are headed for Kansas?”
Back to his dream which he actually has been working on for some time.
Eight years ago he sent an e-mail to friends and that became a website and that became a printed publication too. The Bean Soup Times made people laugh but then he had other work to do. So, it took a snooze. But now he is back at it with a head full of plans.
If you know anything about him you might wonder where the humor fits in with all of his work and sometimes people do ask him that.
Afterall, he did start out as a reporter for The Final Call, and then worked for the Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice here in Chicago and then worked for Service Employees International Union (SEIU) in Chicago and until very recently was a spokesman for U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush.
“I’ve always been a little silly,” he explains.
Comments
No Comments