Technical Difficulties: African-American Notes on the State of the Union

by June Jordan

In a collection of essays, the poet, essayist, activist, and teacher discusses growing up in Brooklyn, the myths of race and class, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Jesse Jackson, the poverty of American education, and other topics. Reprint. 10,000 first printing.

Genres: Nonfiction, Race, Essays, Politics, Poetry, Feminism, History

234 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

June Millicent Jordan (July 9, 1936 – June 14, 2002) was a Caribbean-American poet and activist.

Jordan received numerous honors and awards, including a 1969-70 Rockefeller grant for creative writing, a Yaddo Fellowship in 1979, a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship in 1982, and the Achievement Award for International Reporting from the National Association of Black Journalists in 1984. Jordan also won the Lila Wallace Reader's Digest Writers Award from 1995 to 1998 as well as the Ground Breakers-Dream Makers Award from The Woman's Foundation in 1994.

She was included in Who's Who in America from 1984 until her death. She received the Chancellor's Distinguished Lectureship from UC Berkeley and the PEN Center USA West Freedom to Write Award (1991).

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Vaidehi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good. I really enjoyed June Jordan's writing style - it's similar to Arundhati Roy's. The book is basically a compilation of Jordan's essays over time, and there's a lot of anti-war writing. One of the first essays in the book even mentions the Kent State shootings and SDS members briefly which was cool.

[Amanda Masters · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this book for the "Black art/artists" box on Seattle Book Bingo for summer 2024. It is also listed on the list of 101 books GT Alums Should Read Before They Lay Dying.

A worthwhile read. Essays in general are not something I generally pick up, but these were well-written and thoughtful. The tone is sometimes very angry and the "current affairs" subject matter is a bit outdated since these were published in the early 90's, which I found a bit distracting.

[Bekah · Rating 5 out of 5]

A superb, still very relevant, & necessary read for Americans.

[Drew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading these essays was like having daily conversations with a passionate friend about seminal events from the late '80s and early '90s: Jesse Jackson's election campaign, Anita Hill's testimony against Clarence Thomas, the Rodney King debacle, all events that loomed large in my own life at the time. As such, "Technical Difficulties" brought back a lot of memories, made more powerful by June Jordan's sharp insights and articulation of larger implications. Plus, no one has argued more persuasively about the patriarchal white supremacy that informs "the canon" on college campuses.

[Sriram · Rating 4 out of 5]

essays, whose topic are out of date, but the way she thinks of them, and the way she writes, never is.

[Angie · Rating 4 out of 5]

re-reading Jan 2012