WestSide Press

01/25/2025

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

Tavis Smiley interview with Roosevelt University Prof. John W. Fountain

Award-winning columnist, Fulbright scholar and professor, Fountain, reflects on "Reporting While Black" and shares what he teaches his students about truth in journalism.

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11/06/2024

https://johnwfountain.substack.com/p/on-elections-eve-i-cannot-vote-for

11/05/2024

"We have only been a multiracial democracy since 1965. The first time somebody went in and voted in a multiracial democracy was 1968. This is a young fragile experiment and we should treat it that way." -Jon Meacham, presidential historian.

10/10/2024

At my most deeply spiritual moment, I stood in the swirling waters of Assin Manso slave river, where I was suddenly flooded with a strange and palpable sense of connectedness to my ancestors.

John W. Fountain will present his stirring interactive multimedia exhibit on his Fulbright year in Ghana at the Fulbright Association's Annual 47 conference in Washington, D.C., Oct. 25-26.

https://johnwfountain.substack.com/p/wash-over-me-slave-river-portraits

At my most deeply spiritual moment, I stood in the swirling waters of Assin Manso slave river, where I was suddenly flooded with a strange and palpable sense of connectedness to my ancestors.

10/07/2024

ACCRA, Ghana—My heart has crossed this ocean, but there is no Vibranium here. No mythical supernatural people of coal to caramel skin.

I find here no sign of the fictional Hollywood African nation of Wakanda that spoke to that longing in the hearts of African Americans in the movie, “Black Panther” with visions of hope and serendipity. No utopia. Ghana. No grandiose illusions. Pure Ghana, population 31.98 million.

And yet, there is something here...

A peek inside a forthcoming stirring interactive multimedia exhibit that John W. Fountain will present at the Fulbright Association's Annual 47 conference in Washington, D.C., Oct. 25-26.

10/06/2024

Dear Friend,

I’m back. Actually, I never left. I have simply revamped. Swapped spaces as a writer. Traded places for what I predict will be an exciting journey that I hope we will take together.

Welcome to my digital home.

John W. Fountain

Same Pen, Same Passion, Same Purpose. Only The Address Has Changed.

10/04/2024

In an age of Reverend Ike-ism and Facebook “like-ism,” of Black souls fields, where the harvest lies, where peace ain’t still, chaos reigns, bullets fly, mothers cry and children die, I ask, why?

https://open.substack.com/pub/johnwfountain/p/dear-preacher-man-will-you-hear-my

10/04/2024

I trusted Reid. My trust and respect were earned by the way he always spoke to me: respectfully, eye to eye, without animus, gruffness or rudeness, or as if I was the “Black student” in class who didn’t deserve to be at the University in the first place. Reid had a way of making unfavored sons feel at home.

  Inside the hushed archives of the University of Illinois on a sleepy end-of-fall-semester Friday afternoon, a librarian escorts me to a black cart topped with seven boxes that contain the pa…

10/04/2024

Sometimes I need to clean my own shirts, with my own hands. Need to iron. Need to feel the fabric between my fingers. Hear Grandmother’s voice and recall those times when I had materially so much less than I do now...

https://open.substack.com/pub/johnwfountain/p/ironing-my-white-shirts-a-ritual

10/04/2024

Sometimes I need to clean my own shirts, with my own hands. Need to feel the fabric between my fingers. Hear Grandmother’s voice and recall those times when I had materially so much less than I do now

Sometimes I need to clean my own shirts, with my own hands. Need to feel the fabric between my fingers. Hear Grandmother’s voice and recall those times when I had materially so much less than I do now

10/02/2024

"AFRICA CALLING: PORTRAITS OF GHANA"

An interactive multimedia exhibit featuring photos, video, and abridged narratives of life in the first West African nation to gain independence from colonialism. “Africa Calling” is an immersive window into John W. Fountain’s year as a 2021-22 as scholar to Ghana.

"Portraits of Ghana" exhibit showcases a gallery of stand-alone (some life-size) photographs for silent viewing. Each photo is embedded with a QR code that enables Fountain’s portraits of historic places, people and scenes in Ghana to come to life in the cradle of an individual’s hand through their mobile device and headphones.

The Fulbright Program Conference 2024
Washington D.C.
Oct. 5-6
Roosevelt University Professor John W. Fountain

AFRICA CALLING: PORTRAITS OF GHANA A Fulbright Scholar's Journey by Professor John W. FountainWhat: Poster presentation at The Fulbright Association’s 47th A...

10/02/2024

AFRICA CALLING: PORTRAITS OF GHANA
A Fulbright Scholar's Journey
by Professor John W. Fountain

Get the Best of Both Worlds:
IN-PERSON AND VIRTUAL
We look forward to welcoming you in Washington, DC, and online as we host the Fulbright Association’s 47th Annual Conference!

The Association Team and our Programs Advisory Committee are diligently crafting a memorable occasion infused with joyful camaraderie and meaningful exchanges. We invite you to reconnect with fellow Fulbrighters and engage with professionals from across the globe.
The Fulbright Program

Roosevelt University

09/30/2024

Percy Seldom Seen

Dear brother, thank you for your moving and kind words that leave me almost speechless.

You capture well my journey as a journalist compelled to call it as I see it, despite the critics, and potential fallout and blowback sometimes even from our own people. And yet, my earnest endeavor remains: To try and be a voice for the voiceless. For our people, despite my faults and flaws.

Being true to myself as a writer has had its share of costs. But it has not cost my soul, even if it has at times been a lonely journey.

Thank you for your encouragement and acknowledgement. I have often said that the greatest compliment I can ever receive is from brothers who “get it” in terms of what I’m trying to do as a journalist and who say, “keep speaking, tell the truth, write on, ya dig.”

Thank you again, brother, truly.

Peace & Blessings,
JOHN

09/29/2024

Happy Birthday to this kid who never could have imagined the journey through which the Lord has been faithful, merciful and gracious, and my best friend. Across the world, He has carried me--a little West Side Chicago ghetto boy. Gwen's son.

Today I celebrate my birth, my mother for carrying me and bringing me into this world, and the God who embraced me.

"Happy Birthday, John" -- I hear you, Mama, all the way from heaven.