Urban Book Source: Interview
Anthony Whyte: Blackout pre-release book signing at Hue-Man Bookstore in Harlem

A Rockwell Illustrating a Street-Lit World
By COREY KILGANNON

When Jason Claiborne was a third grader at Public School 187 in Washington Heights, the teacher scolded him for drawing a picture of a naked woman.

“Jason stood up and told the teacher, ‘I come from a family of artists and we have nude paintings on the wall,’ ” recalled his mother, Jane Jaffe, 65, whose father was Richard Rockwell, an artist and a nephew of the famous illustrator Norman Rockwell.

That would make Norman Rockwell — who was born 116 years ago on this date, Feb. 3 — a great-great-uncle to Jason Claiborne, a 33-year-old artist living in Inwood, Manhattan.

If one were to have preconceptions about what a relative of Norman Rockwell would be like, Mr. Claiborne might not match them.

A Conversation with Author Erick S. Gray Part. I of II
Interview by Joey Pinkney

Where did you get the idea to write Crave All Lose All?

Erick S. Gray: Actually, I got that from my moms. She has a lot of wisdom. One day she told me, "Crave all lose all." That sounded like an ill story line to write about. She always preached that to me. I thought it was an ill title for a book, so I sat down and wrote it. You crave everything, you end up losing it all eventually.

And that's the exact path Vincent ended up going down, too.