The recent demise of such magazines as  Savoy and  Heart and
Soul continue a dangerous trend in African-American publications. 
It's
become extremely tough for all publications to survive in a marketplace
where advertisers continue decreasing their support, and specialty 
magazines
have an even harder time. That's why it is quite encouraging that 
Black
Issues Book Review celebrates its fifth anniversary with the recent
release of its January/February issue. Black Issues Book
Review spotlights independent African-American bookstores, and 
focuses on
numerous timely and vital books that are ignored by more 
celebrity-oriented
publications like  Entertainment Weekly.
While the current issue does include a cover story about actor Blair
Underwood, Susan McHenry's article doesn't venture into gossip or 
trivia,
but instead profiles the six-year struggle of Underwood and novelist
Tananarive Due to develop a film based on her book My Soul To 
Keep.
Due's previously had other books optioned, but they never made it to 
the
development stage, let alone became films. But Underwood is not only
starring the movie, he's one of the producers and has spent much of his 
time
finding the necessary financing. Underwood's brother and partner Frank 
wrote
the script, and they've tentatively tabbed Rick Famuyiwa (who 
previously
directed Brown Sugar and The Wood to handle the directorial 
duties.
    Cinema seems the magazine's theme, as there's another article by 
Michael
E. Ross detailing the still formidable problems faced by 
African-American
directors and actors in Hollywood. However, the issue's most compelling
portrait is Earni Young's combination examination/evaluation and 
celebration
of pioneering science fiction author Octavia E. Butler, who was the
publication's first cover subject in 1999. While there's not 
information in
the story, it includes a good cross-section of material about Butler's
books, importance and contributions to both writing and science 
fiction.
    The February issue of Black Enterprise focuses on a critical 
21st
century political issue, relationships (or the lack thereof) between 
Blacks
and Latinos. The cover subjects Cid Wilson and actress Gina Torres are 
among
more than four million Latinos of African descent, a group frequently
overlooked in articles about Latinos now being the nation's largest
minority. The story includes interviews with Wilson, Torres and several
others among Afro-Latinos, people often not fully accepted in either 
camp.
It's certainly a major story, and one of the better non-business 
stories
ever published in   Black Enterprise.
Author and critic Hilton Als profiles Nobel Prize winning poet Derek 
Walcott
in the Feb. 9th issue of the New Yorker. Walcott has also written
eloquently about tensions between American Blacks and those from the
Caribbean, which Als discusses somewhat in the article. But he spends 
most
of his time analyzing Walcott's writing, particularly his poetry. Those 
who
enjoy dissections of style, text, and inspiration will love this piece, 
but
it's written in typical New Yorker style, which means it is 
lengthy,
detailed and sometimes difficult to follow.
    After multiple delays for numerous unexplained reasons, Meg Ryan's 
film
Against The Ropes finally opens later this month. Charles S. 
Dutton not
only co-stars, he directed the film, and there's a short profile of 
Dutton
in the February issue of Premiere. Interestingly, Dutton says 
Spike
Lee, who directed him in Get On The Bus, isn't an actor's 
director,
though he adds he's a huge fan of Lee's. The article also explains 
where
Dutton got the nickname "Roc," which was also the title of his show on 
Fox.
He earned it during rock fights as a kid in Baltimore. "I would get my 
head
busted once a month," said Dutton. "So people just started calling me 
"Rock
Head" and then dropped the "Head" part."

(Ron Wynn is editor of Everything Underground).

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