If you were like The Corsair, you may have watched that significant cultural artifact "Reading Rainbow," an untaxing early-80s PBS children's educational program. That's where you might know Levar Burton, the show's genial host. Or, you might know him as the alien with the ill-visors on "Star Trek Generations." If yuou are a superTV gek, like The Corsair, you may even remember Mr. Burton's role in "Dummy," and extraordinarily gritty urban drama about a deaf and dumb youg man accused of murder. Levar was also, we cannot fail to note, formerly Kuta Kinte on "Roots," the best miniseries of all time (sorry, I, Claudius). You probably know Mr. Burton from there.
Well, we just added him to our Twitter friends. Why? Because, as Levar says on his Twitter bio, he is an "Actor, Director, Educator." He is stately. Cosbyish. Wholesome. Unsweetened dark chocolate, if you will. Mr. Burton is a part of the previous generation of African-Americans operating in popular culture and politics that made a Barack Obama not just possible but inevitable.
He also, we were kind of surprised to note, is not a little bit profane. Saucy in language. On today's Tweet, Mr. levar Burton writes, "I just bought a quesadilla maker. I'm going to go make quesadillas like a motherfucker!"
Well (A raising of the brow). We suppose that he can. After all, Levar played perhaps the most culturally pathbreaking role ever in the 1970s, bringing to the small screen the tragic Kuta Kinte, claustrophobically trapped in an era where he could not be free. So, you cook that quesadilla, Levar; shake that quesadilla maker, if that's where your bliss takes you. Do your thing, Levar Burton, joyously profane "Actor, Director, Educator," you. Do. Your. Thing.
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