November 28, 2013

FULLJOY Thanksgiving

FULLJOY Thanksgiving

Since I've cut down on eating meat, I’ve been going to a vegetarian restaurant, Konata’s, in North Miami. The food is superb, but that’s not the only reason I go to Konata’s.

After eating a flavorful sip, I gathered my keys and said to Konata, “Enjoy your Thanksgiving.”

“I will FULLJOY my Thanksgiving,” said Konata.

In that brief moment, Konata reminded me of why I was attracted to RastafarI. 

“Enjoy” suggests the possibility of an “end” to joy, and for RastafarI, who live in an Iniverse of bounty, there is no end to joy. Life should be FULLJOYED.

FULLJOY Thanksgiving, my sisters and brothers.


***

November 26, 2013

Garvey Lectures: A Rastafari View of Marcus Mosiah Garvey & Marcus Garvey: The Vision of Black Grandeur

Exonerate Marcus Garvey

At 4:00 p.m. this afternoon, Jabulani Tafari, vice president of the Rootz Foundation, and I will be giving two lectures about Marcus Garvey to Dr. Donna Aza Weir-Soley’s graduate students at Miami Dade College, North Campus.

Using his seminal work, A Rastafari View of Marcus Mosiah Garvey: Patriarch, Prophet, Philosopher, as a catalyst for the discussion, Jabulani Tafari’s lecture will trace the historical roots of Garvey’s Pan-Africanism and the relationship with Rastafari.

My lecture, Marcus Garvey: The Vision of Black Grandeur will highlight the philosophical differences W.E.B. Du Bois and Marcus Garvey. The presentation will demonstrate how these differences have resulted in distinct worldviews within Black America about race and class, and their connection to the election of President Barack Obama and the death of Trayvon Martin.


It is hoped that these lectures will continue the conversation about Garvey’s relevance in the unfolding story of Africans in the Americas.

***

The Coalition for the Exoneration of Marcus Garvey is petitioning Representative Frederica Wilson, and the Congress of the United States of America for the exoneration of Marcus Garvey:

http://www.causes.com/actions/1722148-urge-congress-to-exonerate-civil-rights-leader-marcus-garvey

We are also petitioning President Barack Obama to exonerate Marcus Garvey:

http://signon.org/sign/exonerate-marcus-garvey?source=c.url&r_by=4631897

Thank you for your support.

November 25, 2013

Miami Dade College: Actress Sheryl Lee Ralph to Speak on World AIDS Day

World AIDS Day

Acclaimed veteran actress Sheryl Lee Ralph will help raise awareness of HIV/AIDS as the guest speaker at the Miami Dade College (MDC) Homestead Campus’ World AIDS Day event on Monday, November 25, where she will speak to attendees about her passion to combat HIV/AIDS through knowledge and prevention.

Most recently known for her role in the Nickelodeon TV sitcom, Instant Mom, and the TVone reality show R&B Divas, Ralph’s extensive history in the arts includes film, television, and Broadway. She is widely known for her breakthrough role as the main character, Deena Jones, in the legendary Broadway musical, Dreamgirls, and a starring role in the former UPN sitcom, Moesha.

In 1990, Ralph created the DIVA Foundation, a national not-for-profit charitable organization as a memorial to the many friends she lost to HIV/AIDS. The organization focuses on generating resources and coordinating activities to create awareness and fight HIV/AIDS. For the past 23 years, Ralph has staged DIVAS SIMPLY SINGING!, a benefit concert to continue the battle against HIV/AIDS.

“The commemoration of World AIDS Day is a time for our students to stand with people worldwide in the fight against HIV/AIDS,” said Dr. Jeanne Jacobs, Homestead Campus president. “We are honored to have Sheryl Lee Ralph at the Homestead Campus, using her voice to encourage compassion for our fellow man.”

The event is free and open to the public.  

MDC Homestead Campus Commemorates World AIDS Day with Sheryl Lee Ralph

WHEN: Monday, Nov. 25, 9:00 AM - 10:15 AM
WHERE: MDC Homestead Campus (Room F222)
COST: Free

Other Homestead Campus World AIDS Day activities on Nov. 25 will include a blood drive from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. at the CafĂ© Patio, HIV Testing (Sponsored by Sembrando Flores Compassionate Care Ministries) from 10:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. at the Student Life Patio, and the Bandana Project from 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m., also at the Student Life Patio, where students will decorate white bandanas to raise awareness of violence against women. 

For more information, please contact Dr. Nicole Bryant at 305-237-5223.

November 22, 2013

"Teaching J to Read" by Ashley Jones

Poet



I don’t know how to begin,
how to explain that A means A,
that B isn’t Beaver
but simply B,
the second drawing
in a series of twenty-six.

He is in the fifth grade
and he can’t read about Dick or Jane.
He spends his days
finding new places to hide—
in between book chapters, scraping ink;
at the end of a punchline;
on the lip of a carton of milk.

I am useless, like an after-school special—
here, there is no purple dinosaur,
no sparkle in our smiles,
no bell-toned music to montage this away.

He finds pig in big
and the way a fist can solve these things.

He loses his name
in the sprawling alphabet—
the surest letter is the first: J.
This is the dark curve
that marks him,
and, even now,
I can’t remember the letters
that follow.



Ashley M. Jones is now in her second year at FIU, where she is a John S. and James L. Knight Foundation Fellow in Poetry. She is originally from Birmingham, Alabama, and her poetry has been published in Aura Literary Arts Review, Sanctuary Literary Magazine, and the Harvard Journal of African American Public Policy.

***








November 21, 2013

Special 10th Anniversary Issue of Anthurium: "Intellectual Formations: Locating a Caribbean Critical Tradition."


Anthurium: A Caribbean Studies Journal | University of Miami

Anthurium, a peer reviewed Caribbean Studies Journal, publishes original works and critical studies of Caribbean literature, theater, film, art, and culture by writers and scholars worldwide exclusively in electronic form. Founded by Sandra Pouchet Paquet in 2003, Anthurium promotes a lively exchange among writers and scholars in the arts, humanities, and social sciences and other disciplines who hold diverse perspectives on Caribbean literature and culture and offers a mixture of fiction, poetry, plays, critical essays, cultural studies, interviews, and visual art. Book reviews and bibliographies, special thematic issues and original art and photography are some of the features of this international journal of Caribbean arts and letters.


Current Issue: Volume 10, Issue 2 (2013) "Intellectual Formations: Locating a Caribbean Critical Tradition."


http://scholarlyrepository.miami.edu/anthurium/


***

sx salon 14: Now Online


Our fall issue of sx salon exhibits the variety of Caribbean cultural production. Our discussion section features an essay by poet and author Kei Miller on dub poetry and the “sort of life” it may continue to have in the diasporas. With an eye toward the element of home in the Caribbean diaspora, choreographer Chris Walker and poet Danez Smith blend word and dance as they ask what it means when home is no longer a safe place. Our third essay continues with the question of diaspora as Bernard James examines the tenuous and often fraught connections between Caribbean Americans and African Americans.
Our reviews in this issue are split between fiction and what we may sometimes wish to be fiction. Sandy Alenxandre introduces us to the first novel from Haitian American author Elsie Augustave, while Maja Horn reviews Junot DĂ­az’s return to Yunior in This Is How You Lose Her. Garfield Ellis reflects on “master storyteller” Anthony Winkler’s turn to historical fiction, with his signature humor. We also consider nonfictional narratives of history with Suzanne Uzilla’s review of Sugar in the Blood, by Andrea Stuart, and Abolition and Plantation Management in Jamaica, 1807–1838, by Dave St. Aubyn Gosse. Bringing that narrative into the present, Taurean Webb discusses Britain’s Black Debt: Reparations for Caribbean Slavery and Native Genocide by Hilary Beckles, to whom Geoffrey Philp dedicates his poem in this issue, “Busha Day Done.” We also feature poetry from emerging poets Kevin Browne and Enzo Silon Surin, as well as from well-known poet, writer, and activist Patrick Sylvain.

In our Poetry & Prose section we also announce the short list and winners for each category of the 2013 Small Axe Literary Competition. The winners of the 2013 competition:
  • In the Short Fiction category, first prize goes to Ruel Johnson and second prize to Lesley-Ann Wanliss.
  • In the Poetry category, first prize goes to Vladimir Lucien and second prize to Ruel Johnson.
Please join us in congratulating the writers and poets on our short list as well as our winners. We wish you all the best for the coming holidays and hope you enjoy this fall issue of sx salon (table of contents below).

Kelly Baker Josephs





sx salon 14 (November 2013)


Reviews

Discussion articles

Poetry
Enzo Silon Surin        
***

November 20, 2013

Siri Loves Me



“Siri, what’s the meaning of life?”

“I Kant answer that. Ha, ha.”

After I heard that I wanted her. I plunked down my credit card and walked out of the store a happy man.

It wasn’t the first time that I’d had this feeling. My first computer was an Apple IIe with 256K. It had been a sacrifice, but I was having hard time finishing my thesis on George Berkeley's solipsism. With all the changes I had to make, my old Smith Corona just wasn’t keeping up. I wanted something new and my little Apple saw me through the crisis. I even turned in my thesis ahead of time.

Life was sweet. And then, it got sweeter. At twenty-five, the youngest member of the faculty, I married Barbara, my graduate assistant. By our fifth anniversary, we had a son, Jason. We were inseparable. Barbara called us Jason 1 and 2. I was number 1.

We became an Apple family. Jason grew up with every incarnation of Apple, and if was he who convinced me to upgrade to Siri.

“Tell me a joke, Siri”   

“Two iPhones walk into a bar. I forget the rest.”

I howled. Barbara shook her head. Ever since Jason had decided to work as a programmer in California, Barbara had withdrawn into the bedroom to read books like Fifty Shades of Grey.

I couldn’t do that. As the retirement date from the university approached, I wanted more. For the first time in my life I could navigate the maze of Miami streets--I had no sense of direction--and Siri helped me.

I went to weekend mixers at restaurants, and hung with the newest member of our faculty, Simone Gardner. Simone was everything Barbara had forgotten. Spontaneous and a great sense of humor, her only defect, if I could call it that, was she wasn’t an Apple fan.

I tried to convince her.

“Siri, what’s the best smartphone?”

“There are other smartphones?”

Despite all my efforts, Simone refused to concede.

“It’s like a cult. And sooner or later with cults, they start passing the Kool-Aid.”

QamuSHa',” I said.

Simone shook her head and kissed me.

Soon we were sexting each other and heading into an affair. I don’t know how it happened (maybe Barbara was going through my photos?) but all of Simone’s pictures ended up on Barbara’s laptop.

“Goodbye. I don’t want anything from you. I’m going to live with Jason.”

That was all that Barbara’s text said. I came home to an empty house. This was not how I’d expected my life to turn out. When you marry someone, you see a future with them. Now I had no future. And Siri was no help.

“Siri, what’s the meaning of life?”

“All evidence suggests chocolate.”

“No amount of chocolate is going to fix this one.”

“My apologies, Jason.”

I was going to reboot myself with Simone. I called her and asked her to meet me at a restaurant in Miami Lakes, close to where she lived. When she said yes,  I went out, got a haircut, and bought myself a new jacket.

I wanted Simone to see that I wasn’t like her deadbeat husband whom she had divorced a few years ago. Simone had lost her home in the financial crash and had to declare bankruptcy.

“It was so humiliating. I always had the feeling that the cashiers in department stores were watching me--as if they knew I hadn’t made my credit card payments.”

After I got dressed, I asked Siri for the directions to the restaurant. She printed them out and said, “What would you do without me?”

For some reason I that comment irked me. I decided that no matter what, I was going to ask Simone to marry me.

As a joke, I had once asked Siri to marry me.

“My end user agreement does not include marriage. My apologies, Jason.”

It was silly. I was expecting a different answer. But there it was. It would have to be Simone. Hell, I would even buy Androids if she wanted me to.
I met Simone at the restaurant and just to make sure we didn’t have any interruptions, I left alone Siri in the car.

Despite her snarky comment, I had to hand it to her. Siri had chosen a fine restaurant. Simone and I had a delicious meal. The steak was seared to perfection, and the vegetables, which had been sauteed in a buttery sauce, were still firm.

Everything was going well until the waiter brought me the check. I gave him my American Express card, but it was declined. I tried my Mastercard. It, too, was declined.I tried every credit card in my wallet, but they were all declined. Finally, I tried my debit card, but the receipt said, “No funds available.”

Simone paid for the dinner. At this point, I couldn’t say anything. As we were standing in the parking lot, I tried to kiss her, but she turned away. 

Everything was over.

I got back into the car and drove back home along the Palmetto Highway.
I pulled into the driveway. The lights still off in the house. I looked over at the lit face of Siri glowing in the dark. I picked her up and whispered.

“Siri, I’m so alone.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. You can always talk to me, Jason.”

“I know Siri, I know,” I said.

Walking up the driveway, I closed the door behind me. As I climbed the stairs, I wanted to hear her voice before I fell asleep.

“Siri, what’s the meaning of life?”

“Try and be nice to people. Avoid eating fat. Read a good book every now and then, get some walking in and try to live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”


Why hadn’t she told me this from the start?”




© Geoffrey Philp 2013
***



***




November 19, 2013

The Coalition for the Exoneration of Marcus Garvey Delivers More Than 10,000 Signatures for Marcus Garvey’s Exoneration.



Miami members of the Coalition for the Exoneration of Marcus Garvey.
(Pictured here [l. to r.] Miguel Murphy, Sister Africa, Jahi Africa, I. Jabulani Tafari, 
Geoffrey Philp, Priest Douglas Smith.)

After an historic response from supporters, members of the Coalition for the Exoneration of Marcus Garvey delivered more than 10,000 signatures  for the exoneration of the Right Honorable Marcus Garvey to Representative Frederica Wilson's office.

The petition states:

We, the undersigned, are requesting the assistance of our representatives in reintroducing the resolution with the following change in the wording: "Expressing the sense of the Congress that the President should exonerate Marcus Mosiah Garvey to clear his name and affirm his innocence of crimes for which he was unjustly prosecuted and convicted." We urge Congress to take action and reintroduce H.Con. Res. 24 to exonerate Marcus Mosiah Garvey.

Marcus Garvey, founder of the UNIA, was arrested On January 12, 1922, by the Bureau of Investigation and charged with mail fraud. In 1925, Marcus Garvey began serving a five-year sentence in the US penitentiary in Atlanta, Georgia. After several appeals, his sentence was eventually commuted by President Calvin Coolidge, and he was deported to Jamaica.

 

***

 

The Coalition for the Exoneration of Marcus Garvey is petitioning Representative Frederica Wilson, and the Congress of the United States of America for the exoneration of Marcus Garvey:

http://www.causes.com/actions/1722148-urge-congress-to-exonerate-civil-rights-leader-marcus-garvey

We are also petitioning President Barack Obama to exonerate Marcus Garvey:

http://signon.org/sign/exonerate-marcus-garvey?source=c.url&r_by=4631897

Thank you for your support.

November 18, 2013

My Ideal Schedule - Miami Book Fair International 2013

Saturday, November 23


Time
Event
10:00 a.m.
11:00 a.m.
11:30 a.m.
12:00 p.m.
1:00 p.m.
2:00 p.m.
3:00 p.m.
3:00 p.m.
3:30 p.m.
4:00 p.m.
4:00 p.m.
4:30 p.m.

 

Sunday, November 24


Time
Event
10:00 a.m.
11:30 a.m.
12:30 p.m.
12:30 p.m.
1:30 p.m.
2:00 p.m.
2:30 p.m.
3:00 p.m.
4:30 p.m.
4:30 p.m.
5:00 p.m.
5:00 p.m.


To build your own schedule, please follow this link: http://www.miamibookfair.com/myschedule.aspx

November 14, 2013

Remembering Bob Marley @History Miami





Don't miss this chance to learn more about Bob Marley, the man, the artist, the icon. Moderated by Pat McKay, Program Director for The Joint on Sirius XM, this panel discussion will feature speakers who were close to Marley. Panelists will include: Neville Garrick, Marley's album cover artist; James Malcolm, pianist, composer, and Marley's cousin; and, Lee Jaffe, harmonica player and personal friend.



Saturday, November 16, 2013

2:00 pm

HistoryMiami, 
101 West Flagler Street, 
Miami, FL 33130



***



November 13, 2013

10th Anniversary Issue of Anthurium

Oonya Kempadoo

Interview with Ashley M. Jones: Official Poet of the Sunrise Little Free Libraries Initiative


Official Poet of the Sunrise Little Free Libraries Initiative



By Ellene Glenn Moore

The Little Free Libraries initiative is a national project that brings free library boxes to cities with no libraries or libraries with limited selections. In early 2013, still in her first year as an MFA student at Florida International University, Ashley M. Jones responded to a call for a poet to read at the City of Sunrise’s Little Free Libraries Ribbon Cutting Ceremony. In the following months, she has continued to contribute to the poetry community of Sunrise. Last month, we spoke over email about Little Free Libraries, the poetry community of the City of Sunrise, and her upcoming workshop for high school poets.

Ms. Jones is now in her second year at FIU, where she is a John S. and James L. Knight Foundation Fellow in Poetry. She is originally from Birmingham, Alabama, and her poetry has been published in Aura Literary Arts Review, Sanctuary Literary Magazine, and the Harvard Journal of African American Public Policy.

Ellene Glenn Moore: How did you become the Official Poet of Sunrise, Florida? 

Last year, there was an email sent out to the [Florida International University] MFA listserv from the City of Sunrise—the City needed a reader for their Little Free Libraries Ribbon Cutting Ceremony. Little Free Libraries is a nationwide initiative which provides free library boxes (Ă  la newspaper distribution boxes) in areas in which there aren’t libraries, or in which there aren’t a lot of selections in the library.  The Sunrise Leadership Academy Class of 2013 initiated this project, and along with the help of Miami based artist GG, it all came together beautifully.  I responded to the call for a reader, and, after sending some of my work, I was chosen to read at the ceremony.  Not only did I get to read my poems alongside award-winning author Edwidge Danticat, but my work was put into a booklet that was distributed in each of the four Little Free Libraries in Sunrise. Since that ceremony, I’ve remained involved in the Sunrise community and, before my first free workshop, the lovely people in the Sunrise government office named me Official Poet of the program. 

EGM: What are the responsibilities of the position?

AMJ: Basically, as Official Poet, I’m involved in the City’s poetry initiatives. So, I provide free poetry workshops to local high schoolers every semester. My first workshop occurred in May 2013, and my upcoming workshop is scheduled for November 16th. Recently, I participated in the Word UP! Spoken Word Competition, co-sponsored by the Jason Taylor Foundation and the Omari Hardwick BluApple Poetry Network. I was originally a judge for this initiative, but ended up not being able to judge because I attended all of the workshops leading up to the slam to connect more with the students and witness the process of preparing for this event—I was just trying to have my cake and eat it, too, because I love being around the students so much

EGM: On a broader scale, what do you think are the responsibilities of poets to their communities? Why do we have Official Poets and Poet Laureates?

AMJ: I think it’s important for artists, not just poets, to stay grounded. It’s easy to get wrapped up in line breaks and word choice and just the right sprinkling of simile. Although the artiness of poetry is important, I think it's also important to do something with that talent and spread the joy of your art throughout the community. This not only shows the world what wonders are found in poetry (it’s more than stuffy wordplay to me, and I think if more people realized [this fact] the world might be more full of beautiful words than harmful ones), but it also provides an important outlet for people who don't know where to turn. This idea of writing as an outlet has manifested itself most frequently, in my life, through my work with high school students. Students find a way to channel their feelings and their passions into words, and that, I think, is a lot more helpful than channeling those feelings and passions into hurting themselves or others.

Taking poetry into the community can also be a useful tool for literacy training—showing students that they can play with language on the page makes them want to interact with words a lot more, which is great for their reading and writing lives. The task of an official poet or a Laureate is to reach people with poetry. However that might happen is up to the poet, but it must happen. Even if I never write a work of poetic genius or receive hundreds of prizes to stack on my CV, I will be perfectly happy—more than happy—to take poetry into my community and make a positive difference with words. Words!!

EGM: Is your role as Official Poet in dialogue with your own work as a poet and a student? Has the experience informed your work, or vice versa?

AMJ: That's an interesting question...I think my role in Sunrise is definitely in dialogue with my own work as a poet and student. Like I said before, it’s easy to get caught up in the brainiac world of poetry. When I read at the Sunrise Little Free Libraries ceremony, a lot of people came up to me afterward and told me how my poems made them happy, how they made them reminisce on their own childhoods, and even made them cry. They asked me—me, little old nobody Jones from Birmingham, to autograph my booklet of poems that was passed out to the audience. These and other real-life reactions I've received really give me the confirmation that what I'm writing means something to people. I write about my life and I communicate my emotions in the best way I can—through poems. It’s good to know that the communication I'm offering isn’t dropping off into the literary abyss—people are listening and they hear what I'm saying. I've been in the academic writing world for a while, and sometimes I get down on myself because I'm not always as “poemy” as other poets—I write about the way my hair curls and the way my mom taught me to make biscuits. I'm glad to know that real-life people respond to it well.

As far as learning from my Sunrise experience, my students teach me a lot about being fearless—just this weekend, a student wrote about what I think was her childhood rape experience. It took me 10 years to finally write about my own truth—and it’s not a gruesome truth. Seeing this 16-year-old get up on a stage and perform such a personal piece tells me that I should stop being so afraid of being me on the page. I've gotten a lot more honest in my writing, and I'm going to keep on doing it. 

EGM: How did you come to poetry?

AMJ: Well, I’ve always liked reading, writing, and inventing stories. When we weren’t reading books or watching public television, the siblings Jones would spend time playing make-believe or constructing complex, soap-opera style plots for our Barbies to act out. I bought composition notebooks and wrote notes on everything I saw—spy missions, a la Harriet the Spy. These missions sometimes engendered poems about my family—little, awful, rhyming things. I once got so angry about something that I wrote a poem about how everyone hated me, and I posted it in the hallway at my house. My mom was not pleased... […]

EGM: Who are you currently reading? Who do you keep coming back to, and why?

AMJ: Hmmm... a better question might be “who do you wish you were reading?” because I barely have time for recreational stuff anymore. I've got a huge stack of library books waiting, unread, and a few books I bought last semester that are waiting for my attention. The last non-required new book of poetry I've looked at was actually Denise Duhamel's Blowout. Denise is my professor, so I’m always excited to see what she’s writing. Blowout, like a lot of Denise’s books, is one about real life. She’s able to write in such an everyday tone while keeping her poetic muscle moving. It’s great—I’m glad to be learning from a professor whose writing style seems so close to my own.

As far as my old standards, Lucille Clifton and Kevin Young are in constant rotation—I’ve been reading them a lot lately as I prepare to guest teach in a friend’s creative writing class and as I prepare for my workshop in Sunrise. […] Lucille Clifton is my favorite poet of all time—I was first struck by her use of lowercase letters (cummings was a fave of mine in the early years for that reason, too—I used to write in only lowercase letters). Then, when I actually paid attention to her words, I was doubly struck.

Clifton’s ability to craft language into an effortless punch never ceases to amaze me. Her poem, “what the mirror said” is a constant mantra of mine—if you're in need of quick empowerment, check that out. Kevin Young is just the man. I loved him for Jelly Roll and the way he managed to make jazz on the page while still using poetic technique. His playful voice is one I always want in my ear. Terrance Hayes is a new addition to this rotation—I absolutely love his voice and the way he makes me swoon with his words. He’s basically in the Ashley canon now. But I return to these poets because they refresh me when I'm feeling lost—they remind me what good poems look like when I'm in a slump, and they speak to me when I need someone to spell out my pain/joy/confusion/anger.

EGM: If you weren't a writer, what would you be doing?

I used to want to be a counselor (in schools or otherwise), so maybe I’d do that. But I also have dreams of being a university president, so maybe I'd still be on that path, just minus the writing. I’d also love to be a personal shopper (the mall is my friend, and I love helping people express themselves—affordably—through clothes) or a restaurant owner (I love to cook). If I weren't doing the MFA right now, I would be in Birmingham, working in the Administration or Admissions department at my alma mater. I was a part of the Stewardship team and I was a tour guide as an undergraduate—both would have panned out into good careers if I hadn't hopped the crazy train and pursued my dreams to get an MFA. 

One interviewer at Redivider Journal likes to close interviews by asking the interviewee for a favorite recipe. I am happily aware that you are an excellent baker, so I will ask if there's a favorite recipe you'd like to share here—Biscuits? Cookies? Banana bread? The floor/ counter is yours.

Gosh, a favorite recipe! I’d LOVE to share my recipe for biscuits. Here it goes:

Ashley’s Biscuits

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour (If you're into it, you can substitute one of those cups of flour for whole wheat flour—it tastes just as good)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 stick of cold, unsalted butter cut into cubes (No getting around this, folks. Butter or nothing)
3/4 cups of lowfat greek yogurt (Or buttermilk, or whole milk, or whatever milk you’d like)

*you can add herbs and cheese if you want to make these for fancydinner

Instructions:
-Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F-
1. Measure the dry ingredients into a food processor (or a bowl if you've got the muscles for hand-cutting). Add the cubed butter and pulse until the mixture resembles cornmeal and the butter is incorporated. If you're using a regular bowl and biscuit cutter, work it until you can't work it anymore!
2. Add your greek yogurt/buttermilk/milk and mix until the dough becomes a ball.
3. Dump mix onto your floured counter and flatten it.
4. Fold the dough onto itself and flatten again. Repeat a few times. 
5. Flatten dough to your desired biscuit thickness (an inch, at most)
6. Cut the biscuits using a biscuit cutter or some circular object. Put the biscuits into a greased pan. 
7. Bake for 15-20 minutes (start checking at 15) until the biscuits are tall and lightly brown and beautiful!