Jeffrey Kelly

I’m an early-career journalist and poet from Birmingham, Alabama.

Articles

Mother Jones •

A New Film Explores the Not-So-Distant History of Gay Cruising Arrests

Last June, as David was returning from visiting friends in New Jersey, he stopped to use a restroom in New York City’s Penn Station. He told Out Magazine that as he approached a urinal, he noticed one man watching him, while two others traded glances over the urinals’ dividers. David didn’t engage with any of them. However, before he knew it, the first man he noticed pulled out a badge and said, “All three of you are under arrest.” They were quickly escorted out of the bathroom in handcuffs and...
Mother Jones •

Trump wants you to forget that George Washington owned slaves

On Thursday just before noon, bundled up couples and small groups of people wandered through the President’s House on Independence Hall, some snapping photos and others inquiring what was happening as four National Park employees worked in tandem, behind a barricade, to reattach panel after panel of the President’s House slavery exhibits. They worked in the cold, lifting the massive glass squares up onto the brick wall and then screwing them into place. Philadelphia’s mayor Cherelle L. Parker ap...
Mother Jones •

Hero of 2025: Rosalía

The staff of Mother Jones is, once again, rounding up the heroes and monsters of the past year. This is a non-exhaustive and totally subjective list, giving our reporters a chance to write about something that brought joy, discontent, or curiosity. Happy holidays.

Whether it’s AI-generated music artists debuting on the Billboard charts, music labels courting TikTok virality, Grammy-nominated artists using AI to help write lyrics, or streaming services making it increasingly difficult to listen...
Mother Jones •

Alabama's poet laureate reckons with personal and political grief

In 2023, while on a group hike through the Sipsey River, Ashley M. Jones, Alabama’s youngest and first Black poet laureate, sat in a clearing and wrote the titular poem of her new book, Lullaby for the Grieving. Just before she was named poet laureate in 2021, Jones’ father, Donald Lewis Jones, died without warning. He was Midfield’s fire chief, a man who, Jones says, inspired her to always want to leave a place better than she found it. As she wrote, she thought about how similar the hike was t...
BostonGlobe.com •

Black History in Action works to bring Cambridge church back to life amid gentrification - The Boston Globe

However, when Kris Manjapra first entered the church in 2012, its siding was gray wooden shingles, and daylight peeked through the wooden ceiling slats. It served a small congregation of 20. Manjapra said he could sense the church’s grandeur, but even then he could see it beginning to crumble. In 2019, when Manjapra, Stearns Trustee professor of history at Northeastern University, finally became a member of the church, he worked with the Cambridgeport Neighborhood Association as a grant writer o...
BostonGlobe.com •

MIT’s Student Lending Art Program encourages students to get up close and personal with art - The Boston Globe

“It’s very rewarding to be able to engage with photography in a totally different context,” Ravi said. “It’s been nice to also understand and transform, in my mind, how something that’s maybe taken for scientific merit is also something that can live as a piece of artwork.” She selected an arresting black-and-white framed photo of “The River Ouse, East Sussex, England” by Patti Smith. The next year, she got “Cornus Nuttallii” by Karl Blossfeldt. Ravi soon realized the photos were having an impac...
BostonGlobe.com •

A queer Black photographer’s journey to acceptance inspires an art exhibition about liberation - The Boston Globe

The exhibition challenges stereotypes of race, queerness, gender, and sexuality, while also pondering what it means to be what Lemons calls a “radical f-----.”With a provocative title, “American F----- Party,” the show intentionally invokes a slur against gay men to defuse the word’s hatefulness and recast it in a positive light. Viewers can see the exhibition until Sept. 28 at a new Provincetown gallery, Stanley, named after the Massachusetts poet Stanley Kunitz and run by art nonprofit Twenty...
BostonGlobe.com •

‘Feel the sweat’: Red Bull’s Dance Your Style East qualifier turns Roadrunner into a battleground - The Boston Globe

For the first round — dancers are told their bracket assignments the night before — competitors are given 30 seconds to win the crowd’s votes with their fully improvised routines. They’ll keep battling, one-on-one, until there are only two dancers left standing. That pair will then go on to the Red Bull Dance Your Style national final in San Francisco in late August. At Roadrunner Boston, 16 dancers from across the country will go head to head to wow crowds with their moves ranging from popping...
BostonGlobe.com •

In ‘The Broken King’ Michael Thomas chronicles his experiences with fatherhood, being Black in Boston, and mental health - The Boston Globe

“My legacy is of broken men, each of whom, at one time, had to transform their own legacy and in doing so transform themselves and the inheritance of those to come,” he writes. Michael Thomas’s new memoir, “The Broken King,” tackles race, trauma, sexual violence, suicidal ideation, alcoholism, parenting, and neurodivergence. He grapples with his past and with his relationships with his father, brother, and two sons.The memoir also emphasizes place. While he currently lives in Brooklyn, Thomas wa...
BostonGlobe.com •

The New England Poetry Club’s new summer series is reframing Americana - The Boston Globe

Consisting of eight bi-monthly Sunday readings — four this summer and four next summer — We (too) The People celebrates the diversity of contemporary poets’ voices and visions, leading up to the United States’ Semiquincentennial in July 2026. Each reading opens with a 30-minute musical performance followed by a 30-minute reading of verse from a contemporary poet. In addition to their own work, each musical guest performs a piece by another artist; a selection they believe reinterprets Americana....
BostonGlobe.com •

I’m new to Boston. Here’s how I’ve turned every weekend into a staycation. - The Boston Globe

A staycation can take many forms. For some, it’s staying in a luxury hotel nearby and eating at a fancy restaurant, while others might enjoy taking in rural landscapes and spending time camping or in a cabin. Others spend as much time as possible in community pools or by other bodies of water. And then there are those who seek to explore New England’s many historic locations.In its summer trends report, Airbnb noted an increase in staycations, with more travelers searching for trips within 300 m...
BostonGlobe.com •

‘Project Runway’ is back with two New England hopefuls - The Boston Globe

What should viewers expect from the returning fashion competition? Malenfant said this season is “bigger, better, and crazier than any other season.”This season, two of the 12 contestants competing for the crown hail from New England: Nantucket native Madeline Malenfant and Rhode Island-born Angelo Rosa. If either wins, it would mark only the second time a designer representing New England had won the show, following the victory of Massachusetts College of Art and Design alumna Erin Robertson in...
BostonGlobe.com •

In Boston, soul line dancing goes beyond ‘boots on the ground’ - The Boston Globe

Floyd, 30, guided the 10 students through two-steps and turns around the room; they gained more confidence in their movements as the song went on.The scene was from one of three free weekly classes that Boston Rhythm Riders offers for community members to learn line dances. Popular choices include Cupid’s “Flex,” Frankie Beverly and Maze’s “Before I Let Go,” and the recent viral hit, 803Fresh’s “Boots on the Ground” — all songs that have helped line dancing garner its recent social media visibil...
BostonGlobe.com •

Director Sandi DuBowski used 1,800 hours of footage to make ‘Sabbath Queen’ - The Boston Globe

By 2003, the two had built a level of trust and friendship, and DuBowski started filming a documentary with Lau-Lavie at its center. “Sabbath Queen,” which debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2024, chronicles over 21 years of the now-New Yorker’s life as he reckons with being a descendant of 38 generations of Orthodox rabbis while embracing his drag performer persona Rebbetzin Hadassah Gross, becoming a father of three, and founding Lab/Shul, an “everybody-friendly, God-optional” experimenta...
BostonGlobe.com •

Anderson Yezerski’s new exhibition invites viewers to ‘fall apart’ - The Boston Globe

“I think we all have these moments in our life where we stop and say, ‘Wait, what just happened? Did I just see what I think I saw?’ and maybe no one else is around to corroborate with. This is more about an ambiguity with our perception of the world,” Anderson said. “We may be sitting through the same variation of headlines, social media feeds, group interaction, etc., but of course our perceptions create a completely different lived experience from person to person. Much of this exhibition is...
BostonGlobe.com •

At BAMS Festival, the full spectrum of Black culture takes the stage - The Boston Globe

The rest of the festival was an equally full plate of Black music, dance, food, and art from around the world. The large crowd that filled Franklin Park’s Playstead Field demonstrated an appetite for such a vibrant and joyful community celebration.She said North Carolina underground rappers Little Brother, who are on their farewell tour, were the greens and cornbread. She likened Durand Bernarr, whose dazzling performance was a nod to the long tradition of queer R&B artists who draw on deep gosp...
BostonGlobe.com •

Is it time for matcha to stop being considered a trend and start being honored as a classic? - The Boston Globe

Magno got into matcha in 2019, when it was gaining popularity in her college community. She said that while it was popular then, it’s everywhere now.“I definitely think there’s such a big community of matcha lovers out there, especially in Boston,” said Leah Magno, a Boston native and social media influencer. “I think it’s booming more than ever.” Every few months, a coffee shop or influencer goes viral for a trendy take on matcha that sends people into a frenzy to get their hands on the finely...
BostonGlobe.com •

Nantucket Film Festival celebrates its 30th anniversary

This year’s festival, from June 25-30, is no different in that mission. But this year is the festival’s 30th anniversary. And that has imbued all the planning with a certain thrill.Since 1996, the Nantucket Film Festival has been a place for filmmakers, film lovers, and the Cape Cod community to come together in celebration of cinema. Brabbée said this year’s festival feels like both a celebration and reunion as past festivalgoers, talent, staff members, filmmakers, and community members prepare...
BostonGlobe.com •

BAMS Festival expands through new events and continued ‘Momentum’

The series will fold film, fashion, and poetry into this year’s festivities via daily events from Wednesday, June 25, through Monday, June 30.The annual event, which showcases and uplifts a variety of Black and brown artists, returns to Franklin Park this Saturday with a lineup of national and area performers from the realms of hip-hop, soul, rock, and R&B. This year, a new event series called Momentum bookends the festival with additional avenues for the community to connect with the city’s cul...
BostonGlobe.com •

The Black Response asks ‘Where Do Black Men Live?’

Guirand, a founding member of The Black Response, was able to conduct her field work and complete her Ph.D. in 2024, by conducting interviews with men from the community. Those interviews inspired the eight characters in the feature film “Where Do Black Men Live?” co-directed by Corinne Spencer, Joy Wrolson, and Gift Tapiwa.Guirand headed back to the United States, where the Black Lives Matter movement had inspired discussions among people in her community about public safety alternatives to tra...
BostonGlobe.com •

PIFF brings the silver screen back to the Cape

The festival opens with the documentary, “Strange Journey: The Story of Rocky Horror,” a look behind the curtain of the 1975 cult classic that is directed by Linus O’Brien, son of Richard O’Brien, who wrote the original screenplay and appeared as Riff Raff. Lisa Viola, PIFF’s artistic director, called it a “beautifully crafted film” that celebrates the “The Rocky Horror Picture Show”’s message of celebrating individuality. From June 11-15, cinephiles can join the Cape Cod community in watching o...
NBC News •

These teacher-exclusive discounts can help you save on supplies, tech and more

If you’re a teacher, back-to-school season likely means you’re stocking up on supplies for your students, decorations for your classroom or wardrobe essentials for cooler weather. Fortunately, there are several teacher-exclusive programs and discounts to consider that can help you save money across tech, self care,  classroom essentials and more.  SKIP AHEAD Best teacher discount programs | Discounts on school supplies | Discounts on tech | Discounts on apparel, shoes and accessories | Discounts...
NBC News •

21 tech gadgets we love that are under $50 on Amazon

Technology has come a long way over the past decade, and today, there are a wide range of affordable gadgets to help make your life easier. Whether you’re looking for a pair of wireless Bluetooth speakers for a party or a light bulb that automatically turns on when you enter the house, there are a seemingly endless number of electronics and other devices at your disposal — and many of them are more affordable than you might think. Amazon has become a hub for all types of gadgets across every sho...
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