San Diego, CA
Nikki Giovanni, poet and literary celebrity, has died at 81
Nikki Giovanni, the poet, author, educator and public speaker who rose from borrowing money to release her first book to decades as a literary celebrity sharing her blunt and conversational takes on everything from racism and love to space travel and mortality, has died. She was 81.
Giovanni, subject of the prize-winning 2023 documentary “Going to Mars,” died Monday with her life-long partner, Virginia (Ginney) Fowler, by her side, according to a statement from friend and author Renée Watson
“We will forever feel blessed to have shared a legacy and love with our dear cousin,” Allison (Pat) Ragan, Giovanni’s cousin, said in a statement on behalf of the family.
Author of more than 25 books, Giovanni was a born confessor and performer whom fans came to know well from her work, her readings and other live appearances and her years on the faculty of Virginia Tech among other schools. Poetry collections such as “Black Judgement” and “Black Feeling Black Talk” sold thousands of copies, led to invitations from “The Tonight Show” and other television programs and made her popular enough to fill a 3,000-seat concert hall at Lincoln Center for a celebration of her 30th birthday.
In poetry, prose and the spoken word, she told her story. She looked back on her childhood in Tennessee and Ohio, championed the Black Power movement, addressed her battles with lung cancer, paid tribute to heroes from Nina Simone to Angela Davis and reflected on such personal passions as food, romance, family and rocketing into space, a journey she believed Black women uniquely qualified for, if only because of how much they had already survived. She also edited a groundbreaking anthology of Black women poets, “Night Comes Softly,” and helped found a publishing cooperative that promoted works by Gwendolyn Brooks and Margaret Walker among others.
For a time, she was called “The Princess of Black Poetry.”
“All I know is the she is the most cowardly, bravest, least understanding, most sensitive, slowest to anger, most quixotic, lyingest, most honest woman I know,” her friend Barbara Crosby wrote in the introduction to “The Prosaic Soul of Nikki Giovanni,” an anthology of nonfiction prose published in 2003. “To love her is to love contradiction and conflict. To know her is to never understand but to be sure that all is life.”
Giovanni’s admirers ranged from James Baldwin to Teena Marie, who name-checked her on the dance hit “Square Biz,” to Oprah Winfrey, who invited the poet to her “Living Legends” summit in 2005, when other guests of honor included Rosa Parks and Toni Morrison. Giovanni was a National Book Award finalist in 1973 for a prose work about her life, “Gemini.” She also received a Grammy nomination for the spoken word album “The Nikki Giovanni Poetry Collection.”
In January 2009, at the request of NPR, she wrote a poem about the incoming president, Barack Obama:
“I’ll walk the streets
And knock on doors
Share with the folks:
Not my dreams but yours
I’ll talk with the people
I’ll listen and learn
I’ll make the butter
Then clean the churn”
____
Giovanni had a son, Thomas Watson Giovanni, in 1969. She never married the father, because, she told Ebony magazine, “I didn’t want to get married, and I could afford not to get married.” Over the latter part of her life she lived with her partner, Virginia Fowler, a fellow faculty member at Virginia Tech.
She was born Yolande Cornelia Giovanni Jr. in Knoxville, Tennessee, and was soon called “Nikki” by her older sister. She was 4 when her family moved to Ohio and eventually settled in the Black community of Lincoln Heights, outside of Cincinnati. She would travel often between Tennessee and Ohio, bound to her parents and to her maternal grandparents in her “spiritual home” in Knoxville.
As a girl, she read everything from history books to Ayn Rand and was accepted to Fisk University, the historically Black school in Nashville, after her junior year of high school. College was a time for achievement, and for trouble. Her grades were strong, she edited the Fisk literary magazine and helped start the campus branch of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee. But she rebelled against school curfews and other rules and was kicked out for a time because her “attitudes did not fit those of a Fisk woman,” she later wrote. After the school changed the dean of women, Giovanni returned and graduated with honors in history in 1967.
Giovanni relied on support from friends to publish her debut collection, “Black Poetry Black Talk,” which came out in 1968, and in the same year she self-published “Black Judgement.” The radical Black Arts Movement was at its height and early Giovanni poems such as “A Short Essay of Affirmation Explaining Why,” “Of Liberation” and “A Litany for Peppe” were militant calls to overthrow white power. (“The worst junkie or black businessman is more humane/than the best honkie”).
“I have been considered a writer who writes from rage and it confuses me. What else do writers write from?” she wrote in a biographical sketch for Contemporary Writers. “A poem has to say something. It has to make some sort of sense; be lyrical; to the point; and still able to be read by whatever reader is kind enough to pick up the book.”
Her opposition to the political system moderated over time, although she never stopped advocating for change and self-empowerment, or remembering martyrs of the past. In 2020, she was featured in an ad for presidential candidate Joe Biden, in which she urged young people to “vote because someone died for you to have the right to vote.”
Her best known work came early in her career; the 1968 poem “Nikki-Rosa.” It was a declaration of her right to define herself, a warning to others (including obituary writers) against telling her story and a brief meditation on her poverty as a girl and the blessings, from holiday gatherings to bathing in “one of those big tubs that folk in chicago barbecue in,” which transcended it.
“and I really hope no white person ever has cause
to write about me
because they never understand
Black love is Black wealth and they’ll
probably talk about my hard childhood
and never understand that
all the while I was quite happy”
County leaders are keeping their options open for a future county-backed tax hike as a citizens coalition pushes a November sales tax measure.
Officials in late April quietly extended a contract with consultants tasked with researching and poll-testing potential county revenue options for a Board of Supervisors subcommittee led by Chair Terra Lawson-Remer and Vice Chair Monica Montgomery Steppe. The extension is for up to two years and the price tag remains up to $320,000.
Other county supervisors’ offices told Voice of San Diego they weren’t notified of the change – and one is now working on a policy proposal to force public updates on subcommittee-directed contracts.
County spokesperson Tammy Glenn said staff directed the contract extension “in consultation with the subcommittee” and based on prior board approval last September to create the Sustainable Fiscal Planning Subcommittee. The item allowed the subcommittee to hire and pay consultants up to $500,000 to explore multiple options to increase county revenues and taxes.
An initial January 2026 contract called for Chula Vista-based Ironwood Public Affairs and four subcontractors including a prominent local Democratic campaign consultant to survey county residents, prepare revenue estimates for potential tax hike options, conduct focus groups and outreach and submit a report by May 1.
On April 30, county staff amended the contract with Ironwood to “deliver any requested ballot measure language, report, and presentations no later than June 30, 2028.”
Five days later, a coalition that includes labor groups and advocates submitted signatures to the county registrar’s office for a proposed countywide sales tax hike projected to raise $360 million annually to fund healthcare, child care, solutions to the Tijuana River sewage crisis and public safety. The registrar’s office has since confirmed the measure qualified for the November ballot.
Lawson-Remer has rallied behind the sales tax proposal and argued that a “local revenue measure” could shield the county from Trump administration-backed cuts. The county has projected that the One Big Beautiful Bill Act could cost the county $300 million annually.
In a statement, Lawson-Remer’s office noted that a board majority voted last September to create the subcommittee and hire a consultant.
“With the Trump Administration threatening healthcare, food assistance, behavioral health, and other core services — and federal decisions being announced, reversed, paused, challenged, and revived in real time — the county and Fiscal Subcommittee has a responsibility to plan for multiple scenarios, including federal cuts, state shortfalls, taxpayer savings, state advocacy, and whether any local funding option does or does not materialize,” Lawson-Remer’s office wrote.
In a separate statement, Montgomery Steppe also pointed to board approval of the subcommittee and its work “evaluating fiscal risks and options to help inform future Board decisions.”
A few months after the September vote to approve the subcommittee, the county hired Ironwood Public Affairs led by former county staffer Victor Aviña. Aviña’s company subcontracted with prominent Democratic campaign consultant Dan Rottenstreich’s company Amplify Campaigns, polling firm FM3 Research, Los Angeles revenue forecasting firm Economic & Planning Systems and Los Angeles-based law firm Kaufman Legal Group.
Glenn said the county has thus far paid Ironwood $96,000 for planning tasks that the initial contract said should be completed by early this year.
The county has yet to provide documents to Voice that the contractor submitted to the county about its work a month after a public-records request.
Spokespeople for the county’s three other elected supervisors said this week they weren’t notified about the changes to the contract.
Supervisors Joel Anderson and Jim Desmond, the two Republicans on the board, have criticized the lack of transparency surrounding the subcommittees and consultants at least two of them have hired.
At an April board meeting, Desmond argued that subcommittees shouldn’t be allowed to spend county money or secure contracts without a review by the full board.
And Anderson has pushed for reforms to increase transparency for subcommittees that have met behind closed doors. The board on Thursday unanimously approved changes to make more of those meetings more public.
Anderson’s office said he is now working on a board proposal that, among other changes, would also require updates to the full board on work that outside consultants are doing for subcommittees. He expects to bring the proposal to the board in August.
“There’s no possibility of secrecy when a vendor/contractor reports to the entire board,” Anderson wrote in a statement.
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San Diego, CA
Streetsblog San Diego Launches July 27 — Help Us Build the Future of Transportation Journalism – Streetsblog California
For years, Streetsblog readers in Southern California have asked us the same question: “When are you coming to San Diego?”
Friends…we’re excited to announce that we have an answer: Streetsblog San Diego will officially launch on July 27. Excited? Consider making a donation to help us lift off…
The new site will cover transportation, housing, climate, public space, safe streets, transit, and active transportation issues across San Diego County, and some of its neighbors. From bike lane projects and transit expansions to housing near transit and climate policy, Streetsblog San Diego will provide the kind of accountability journalism and solutions-focused reporting that has made Streetsblog a trusted voice across California.
What’s especially exciting about this launch is how it is coming together. You may have noticed over the last couple of months, increased local coverage in San Diego (collated here) as we’ve been getting ready for the launch.
We’ve been able to do that because Streetsblog San Diego is being built as a collaboration between leaders and volunteers from Streetsblog California, Bike SD, Ride SD, San Diego 350, and other community organizations and advocates who share a vision for safer, more sustainable transportation and land-use policies. At launch, much of our content will be produced by a growing team of volunteers and freelance contributors who care deeply about the future of San Diego’s streets, transit systems, and neighborhoods.
This community-powered model allows us to begin covering a region that desperately needs more transportation journalism while we work to build a sustainable long-term funding base.
But that’s where we need your help.
Launching a new newsroom takes resources. We launched a pre-fundraiser for “friends and family” of the core group that has been working on making Streetsblog SD a reality, and raised enough funding to cover the fees associated with the launch of the website, and put aside a couple hundred dollars towards our next goal: raising $18,000 for a freelance fund and short video fund that will ensure regular written and video coverage.
Even with volunteer writers and editors donating countless hours, there are still costs for freelance reporting, editing, website maintenance, photography, public records requests, event coverage, video production, and the many other expenses that go into producing quality journalism. There’s a lot of ways you can donate, if you’re interested in helping, you can get started here. If you’re one of those donors who gives through a DAF, the non profit that publishes Streetsblog is called the Southern California Streets Initiative and our EIN is 27-3421838. We are a federally recognized 501c(3) non-profit.
Your donation today will help us:
- Pay local freelance reporters, photographers, and videographers
- Expand coverage across San Diego County
- Cover transit, housing, and climate issues that often go underreported
- Train and support volunteer contributors
- Build Streetsblog San Diego into a permanent part of the region’s media landscape
In the long run, we will be seeking funds for a part-time or full-time editor. Every donation, no matter how large or small, will help us attract major donors, foundations, and advertisers so Streetsblog SD will be staffed similarly to the ones in Los Angeles and the Bay Area.
The challenges facing San Diego are too important to ignore. The region is making critical decisions about transit investments, housing production, street safety, climate resilience, and public space. Residents deserve independent journalism that explains those decisions, holds decision-makers accountable, and highlights solutions that can improve people’s daily lives.
That’s what Streetsblog has done for two decades and what will do in San Diego
Here is some of the dining news from across San Diego County, as well as some upcoming events for foodies.
Cala café opens in La Jolla: From 6 to 9:30 p.m. Saturday, Amy de Leon will host the grand opening of her new restaurant Cala La Jolla Café in La Jolla’s historic Arcade building. Cala will offer what she calls an “omakase” coffee and matcha experience, breakfast and lunch menus and fresh-made pastries. De Leon, a real estate agent, also owns a coffee shop on the UC San Diego campus. 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily. 7910 Girard Ave., La Jolla. 858-333-8610, calalajolla.com.
Board & Brew opens in Midway District: This sandwich-and-draft beer quick-service restaurant chain has opened a new location near the USS Midway Museum. Founded in 1979, the company now dozens of locations in California, Arizona and Texas. Shop hours are 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. 825 N. Harbor St., Suite 109, San Diego. boardandbrew.com.
Vincenzo debuts pasta program: Vicenzo Cucina & Lounge in Little Italy has introduced an in-house pasta program powered by its new artisan pasta-making machine that guests can see churning out different varieties of pasta in the restaurants’ front window. The handmade pasta wil be served with lunch and dinner entrées. 550 W. Date St., Suite A, San Diego. vincenzosd.com
Urban Plates new summer menu: Urban Plates, with 22 locations statewide including Carlsbad, Del Mar and La Jolla, has unveiled new drinks and dishes this month for its summer menu. New dishes include a BBQ jalapeño cheesebuger, Southwest grilled chicken salad and a superfood grilled chicken salad. There’s also a new lineup of refreshing fruit-based “cooloer” drinks priced at $4.50. They include strawberry basil lemonade, pineapple coconut lime, organic lemonade and dragon fruit and strawberry. urbanplates.com
Del Mar festival lineup announced: This year’s Del Mar Wine & Food Festival, returning with seven events Sept. 30 through Oct. 3, has unveiled some of the culinary headliners who will be cooking at the event. They are Michelin-starred chef Drew Deckman; cookbook author and TV food show judge Aarti Sequeira; Camelback Mountain executive chef Beau MacMillan; “Top Chef” victor and now chef/co-owner of Huson in Manhattan’s Tribeca neighborhood, Buddha Lo; cookbook author and Weelicious.com media platform founder Catherine McCord; L.A.-based chef Jackson Kalb; Pei Wei culinary executive, Food Network host and contestant and cookbook author Jet Tila; Clutch Chicken restaurang group founder and TV cooking show contestant Kelsey Murphy; chef, author TV personality and Morph Hospitality Group co-founder Maneet Chauhan; and James Beard-nominated chef of the Colorado restaurant Mawa’s Kitchen, Mawa McQueen. Tickets are now on sale at delmar.wine
Lion’s Share + Animae family-style collab: On July 9, two downtown restaurants will collaborate on ANIMAENIACS, a family-style dinner for parties of six. The Lion’s Share chef Dante Romero and Animae chef Tara Monsod will create a multicourse meal that draws on Romero’s Mexican heritage and Monsod’s Filipino heritage. The all-inclusive meal will include three beverages per person including cocktails, beer or non-alcoholic, and an after-party. Seatings are available at 5 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. July 9. $1,080 for a party of six. The Lion’s Share, 629 Kettner Blvd., San Diego. Reservations at exploretock.com/the-lions-share-san-diego.
Tiki Oasis returns: The annual Tiki Oasis convention, which takes place each summer at the Town & Country Resort in Mission Valley, has announced its 2026 dates and theme. This year’s 26th convention, titled “Psychadelic Tiki,” will run Aug. 5-9. This year’s convention will include an art exhibition, more than 40 seminars, a 150-vendor marketplace, live entertainment and more. There will also be a sunset luau dinner at The Catamaran Resort. Details at tikioasis.com.
Pam Kragen, Union-Tribune
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