BJ Dennis

view of city of Charleston from the air

By Beverly Stephen Supposedly “I can’t wait for spring” is the most popular phrase on the web.  Why wait? Hop a plane and spend a weekend in Charleston where peak blooming season is mid-March through April and early May when temperatures average in the ‘70s. From window boxes in private homes

The Rise final cover scaled

  By Beverly Stephen “Black food matters,” so declares Marcus Samuelsson in his new book The Rise: Black Cooks and the Soul of American Food.  Note that the title is not “soul food” but rather the “soul of American food.” Samuelsson laments that “many readers may still think that Black