Monday, December 8th, 2008

Shouldna Lef Ya…

…without a strong post to tempt you.

Sorry for this folks. Let me explain a little bit where I’ve been hiding and let you know what’s in store with this blog, website and me for the new year and beyond.

First off, thanks to all of you readers, longtime and new, for all the love you’ve showered on ya boy this year in the form of emails and comments and shouts. I’ve been one gratified dude, let me tell you. If you see me in the street, I might buy you a drink on GP.

Also I’ve been a little burnt out. Other than in a few moments of inspiration–thank you UCLA APC, Ferentz, Sin Yen, and the hip-hop generation!–I’ve been taking a bit of a break this past month from the daily hourly grind of reporting and blogging.

For now, I’ve stepped back too from the Vibe blog. That was an amazing experience, and a great outlet to push out the stories you don’t get on the front pages of your newspaper or news-aggregator or your favorite comedian’s fake news show. I’m very proud of what me and the Vibe fam accomplished this year.

But now it’s time to regroup for the next few years.

I’m in the midst of starting on a number of other projects, two of which I can talk about now.

Soon–very soon–we’ll be launching a revamp of this website. Yes, it’s finally time. Cantstopwontstop.com Version 2.0. We want to give you much more access to many of the pieces I’ve been writing over the years–in music, culture, politics, hip-hop history, and much more. The CSWS supercr3w is hard at work. Look for our efforts early in 2009.

The other big thing I can say is that I’ve begun working on a new book entitled Who We Be: The Colorization of America. It’s about how we got from the end of civil rights to Obama’s election.

The Colorization of America is a story about how visionaries–many you may not have ever heard of–forged a new vision for the U.S. against the context of rapidly shifting demographic change. It’s a story about the last three decades in America–and the world–and about how diversity became so mainstream that people could begin to use a strange term, “post-racial”, in a thousand different ways and mean a thousand different things, usually contradictory things.

Working on this book means that I get to think and talk about the visual arts, comics and cartoons, literature, politics, and a million other things that will be fun to think and talk about for the next few years. I’m not going to give away much more than that for now, only that it’s possible the book may be more relevant now than when I began pitching it over year or two ago, and for that reason I want to get it exactly right.

Finally, I was beginning to tell friends in the waning days of the election season that I was done with blogging for good. Good thing I didn’t go Jay-Z or Jordan on myself and announce a retirement. Life will go back to different, slower rhythms and so will this blog. But it won’t go away. There’s too much to be said.

So here’s to the next time the words won’t wait. Hope to see you back here…

Thanks for reading!

posted by Jeff Chang @ 5:15 pm | 5 Comments

5 Responses to “Shouldna Lef Ya…”

Casey says:

December 10, 2008 at 1:31 am

Big news!

Forgiven!
abf says:

December 12, 2008 at 4:27 pm

The new book sounds amazing, Jeff. I just read your interview on The Assimilated Negro and it left me wanting to hear more from you. Apparently, I will be fulfilled. Good luck and take care of yourself. — Alison Byrne Fields
Leigh C. says:

December 18, 2008 at 8:18 pm

Hey, at least keep the archives open in your neck of the blogging woods. Otherwise, keep on keepin’ on. The book sounds like it’s gonna be another good one from you. Rejuvenate, regroup, and don’t worry ’bout the interwebs.

Happy Holidays!
The Nightshift Chronicler says:

December 23, 2008 at 7:38 am

Congratulations on taking a well-deserved breather and for moving forward on some visions. Best in 09 and beyond.
Prometheus Brown says:

December 28, 2008 at 1:16 pm

Good crossing paths with you twice this year brah. Heading to Hawaii tomorrow, got a NYE show to rock bwoy!

Looking forward to the new project. 09!

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