Sactown Magazine - December 2008-January 2009

Scholar Cornel West

Author, educator, actor, rapper—by any title, Dr. Cornel West ranks among the country’s leading intellectuals. And "Hope on a Tightrope," his new book of reflections on everything from leadership to love and faith, should keep him there. But, at heart, he’s still a Sacramento kid, returning here often to visit family, drop by Tower Café and go shopping with his mom. The prolific Princeton prof talks to Sactown about social justice, Barack Obama—and breaking track records at Kennedy High.