Donnell Alexander
It was something I said.
Consumers probably know my work best through Dock Ellis and his telling of the LSD no-hitter. I also wrote "Cool Like Me" and the memoir Ghetto Celebrity (Crown, 2003) donnellellisalexander@gmail.com
PROJECTS
KCRW
Undrinkable water
The California Water Resources Control Board reports that 360,000 Californians don't have access to clean drinking water. A state senate bill would set aside money to deal with the problem, which mostly affects the rural poor living in the Central Valley. Reporter Donnell Alexander goes to Cutler, California in Tulare County to find out what it's like to live with dirty water and what's being done about it.
KCRW
New Edition’s Neighborhood Secret
Hearing the name New Edition is likely to conjure a lot of thoughts. Bobby Brown, those sweet dance moves, and the recent BET biopic to name but a few. Usually not too high on that list is the fact that they’re from Boston, but New Edition’s Boston roots run deep. So when they filmed a music video in Los Angeles with the Lakers during the height of the 1980s Celtics/Lakers rivalry, it was quite a shock to their hometown supporters. Find out how it happened, and how an assist...
capitalandmain.com
Restless Valley: Can Devin Nunes Hold His Seat in November?
The eight-term congressman could not be less visible to locals if he wore a magic cloak. Some visiting constituents have had to interact with Nunes’ people through an outdoor intercom.
The conversations swirling around at Pride Visalia blended in with feathery dance beats from a drag contest, here in Tulare County’s largest town. Southern Central Valley LGBT people and their allies had taken cars, trains and buses out of map dots from miles around to gather in fellowship at Visalia’s Old Lumb...
YouTube
An Oregon Canyon | Oregon Humanities
A short film on "how racism is literally inscribed on our geography." Directed with Sika Stanton.
Fast Company
How This African-American Pot Grower Is Mastering California’s Green Rush
After graduating from historically black Prairie View A&M University, just outside of Houston, the son of a cop, he received an MBA from the University of Chicago. Mitchell flew around the U.S. pointing out to corporate executives who to fire, telling his clients the time while using their own expensive wristwatches to do so.
Funny or Die
Dock Ellis and the LSD No-No: A Short Film
The animated doc has been hailed as one of the great baseball films. Neille Ilel produced the audio narrative with me.
Rolling Stone
The Darkness in Burns, Oregon
During the 45 minutes I spend inside the occupied refuge, I experience a calm and acceptance that is utterly unlike the vibe back in Burns. The occupiers ask me to stay, and invite me to eat. I talk to several other people in addition to Ehmer, and at no point do I feel racial animus.
Still, I ask Ehmer the question...
The Nation
How I Learned to Be Hungry
When you suffer from physical hunger there’s a terrible discomfort: dizziness, headaches, and an inability to focus. A hollowness echoes through the self.
timeline.com
Brought to Mexico in chains, Gaspar Yanga and his followers rebelled
The first and, arguably, only African Middle Passage rebel to win a fight against his captors and be granted land worked out of the palenques, renegade communities in the part of New Spain, that we now know as Mexico’s Gulf Coast.
KCRW
Green Goblins | UnFictional | Radio Documentary and Storytelling | KCRW
A story of baseball, fatherhood and what it's like to be the black team.
cratediggers.net
Crate Diggers — Ep. 36 – Donnell Alexander 2
We’re a music / interview podcast using vinyl records as a jumping off point for conversations between artists and other cool people! Crate Diggers is hosted by veteran Portland DJ, Verbz and is engineered by his brother, hip-hop producer, Steez.
Episode 36 is our first ever exclusive returning guest, Donnell Alexander. Donnell is an incredible writer with credits in Time, Rolling Stone, ESPN, an...
capitalandmain.com
Golden State Green Rush: Is Cannabis Equity Reparations for the War on Drugs?
No state has a relationship remotely like the one between California and marijuana. We annually consume 2.5 million pounds of the drug and produce more than 13 million pounds of it.
The summer mixers had not done the trick. Last year Oakland, California, which was launching the partnership component of its groundbreaking Cannabis Equity Assistance Program, found that City Hall meet-and-greets between the street-level victims of the war on drugs and those who had gotten rich by growing and sup...
taboomedia.com
Donnell Alexander's GHETTO CELEBRITY
Ghetto Celebrity named one of the San Francisco Chronicle's Best Books of 2003!
eephusmag.com
I Remember Mamba - Eephus
The Kobe I prefer to remember is a tender young buck, the pre-Mamba anomaly. Harold Miner 2.0. Understand when I say Harold Miner 2.0 that, as Kobe Bryant was ascendant, NBA progressives were on the prowl for an MJ update. The Next Jordan. Space Jam or nah, sport’s largest superstar was actually in early decline.
The Nation
When White People Say They Have My Back, What Does That ...
It was in a place of mourning that we Portlanders learned an all-star line-up of the worst White America has to offer would soon decamp in our mild-mannered city...