Papa Doc Abraxas' Omnium Gatherum

  Howdy, folks! Welcome once again to the Omnium Gatherum. This one is going to be a blast from the past in the sense that I don’t have any kind of notes or mind map arranging how this column is going to go. For me, this is back to the old days of this column where I just wrote some hot take and let the chips fall where they may. And I resurrected the old banner title I used when I talked about issues of race in this space. I guess that means it’s time for old Papa Doc to put his Black Card on display (pay no attention to the demerits on the back of the card please!) and dive right into the latest mess happening in pop culture. Speaking of messes, look at how Marvel Studios dropped the trailer for the long awaited sequel to Black Panther during Comic-Con Weekend. All eyes were eagerly awaiting this trailer, to see how the studio and production moved on after the passing of Chadwick Boseman, the gentleman who brought T’Challa, king of Wakanda and the masked hero known as Black Panth

Scene: An old abandoned theater, roughly the size of the Orpheum in downtown Los Angeles, California. A stereotypical middle aged Black nerd stands on the stage, with a small script in his shaking hands. [Taps microphone while staring out at an empty auditorium.] Howdy, folks, and welcome once again to… [Looks up at a very, very dusty banner hanging over the stage.] … the Omnium Gatherum. [Checks name tag on red shirt, laughs at the irony.] I’m your host Vince Moore. What’s happening? [Pauses to allow for laughter.] Seriously, folks, and I will stop with the obvious and oblique stand up comedy and other performance references here, it’s interesting to give this column a starting up like an old car sitting in the driveway gathering dust and rust. It’s interesting and frightening and somewhat relaxing to put thoughts to keyboard once again, thoughts that are meant to go public that is. I don’t know if I’ll do more than one of these things. My personal life has taken center stage (there I