Comments on: Remembering Joe Wood: 10 Years Later

By: carola

carola — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 21:10:55 +0000

i met joe wood very short before he dissapeared. i met him quite often and we always had great talks about books and art and also he always had some books for me, to read. now back in europe i often look into some of these books and think about joe. it was to strange when joe dissapeared,even though coming from the mountains in europe myself i do know how fast one can dissapear…
thnak you for your nice remembering joe wood : 10 Years later.

By: Nicole

Nicole — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 19:05:57 +0000

Thanks Martha for sharing this wonderful piece of your memory of a wonderful man. Knew him from interning at The Voice. He was a quiet man who handled a pen and paper boldly. While attending his memorial I was surprised as all heck to see my mom there. Little did I know she was good friends with his parents who attended my home church. Small world. Just not small enough to find him. *sigh*

By: Karl

Karl — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 16:15:02 +0000

“Particularly painful for those of us who knew and loved Joe in the days after his disappearance was the possibility that he was the victim of a racially motivated attack (though there has never been any evidence to support this suspicion).”

If there is no evidence, why bring it up? Because African-Americans are taught, FROM BIRTH, that any bad thing is the white mans’ fault. And you wish it was true.

It’s also possible that he wanted to die, and he killed himself in a way that his body would be very hard to find. And it is far more likely. Put that in your next article on Joe Wood.

By: Jeff Winbush

Jeff Winbush — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 06:39:59 +0000

I met Joe Wood in 1995 at the National Association of Black Journalists convention in Philadelphia. I was a hardcore fan of The Village Voice and it’s impressive array of talented Black writers including Joe who wrote the “Local Color” column. He kindly listened to me when I cornered him trying badly to be cool, but babbling on about how much I dug his writing. He gave me his card and invited me to pitch him a story. I did and Joe ran it up to the higher ups before it got shot down. But he encourged me to try again and I never forgot it. Joe would move on to other pursuits. I still remember an excellent story he wrote for Esquire about director John Singleton. I had planned to attend the 1999 UNITY convention, but couldn’t swing it. I was stunned to hear about Joe’s disappearance. I wrote a letter to the Voice about his death. To this day I feel he helped shape me as a writer. The other day I was throwing out a box of old issues of the Voice that was in my garage. In a very late bit of spring cleaning, I didn’t feel the need to hold on to 15 year old issues of the paper. Now I hope I can dig those issues back out of the trash. I very much want to read some Joe Wood once agin.

By: tajamika

tajamika — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 23:55:26 +0000

i didn’t know him at all but now am encouraged to learn more of him. so your piece inspires even those previously ignorant to his work. thank you.

By: Alan Bradshaw

Alan Bradshaw — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 02:04:00 +0000

You are so right. It would be great to hear Joe on Obama and Michael. Never shy of talking over the tough stuff, the stuff that makes us uncomfortable. Take it head on with humanity. From his Intro to Malcolm X: In Our Own Image: “Our lives–they are about choosing our communities, and making new ones. Growth. Our lives are about naming ourselves–we are electricians, poor people, Ellingtonians, entymologists, spelunkers, candy-store owners. Woods.”

By: Adrienne Neff

Adrienne Neff — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 00:05:58 +0000

A beautiful tribute to a wonderful writer and friend. Thank you for reminding all of us to keep him with us. We were blessed to have had him among us, though not for nearly long enough.

By: eisa

eisa — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 18:34:58 +0000

how beautiful. joe was so great. always encouraging of younger writers. he supported future voices even as he honored the elders. your tribute is important. he is, still, missed.