people s theologies. coates disagrees with jonathan chait and so do i. the blue period, an origin story. nerd alicious, good, wickedly smart people using enormous words, complex sentence structures, and thinly veiled intellectual shade to discuss consequential issues. and people were paying attention. writers at the nation, the american prospect, the new york times all jumped in to tap out coates or chait and get their own licks in. even gawker covered it. call that a win for the public. but as much as i eagerly anticipated each new entry in this thoroughly engrossing conversation, it was disappointing. many times, african-americans have entered these discussions only to discover that those who were supposed to be political allays are eager to argue there