Autobiography of a Face

Eracism ...Please

2006-11-06T13:04:00.000-05:00

jeremy Adam Smith presents Daddy Dialectic: Kindergarten racism posted at Daddy Dialectic.

Carnival ¤ erase racism carnival
Next scheduled ¤ Nov 20, 2006
Host blog ¤ Autobiography of a Face
Article to submit
Permalink URL ¤ http://daddy-dialectic.blogspot.com/2006/07/kindergarten-racism.html
Title ¤ Daddy Dialectic: Kindergarten racism
Article Blog
Blog URL ¤ http://daddy-dialectic.blogspot.com
Name ¤ Daddy Dialectic
Additional information
Submitter name ¤ jeremy Adam Smith
Submitter e-mail ¤ jeremyadamsmith@mac.com
Category ¤ Select a category...
Remarks ¤ none

bloviate -- intransitive verb: To speak or write at length in a pompous or boastful manner.

"For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others" --- Nelson Mandela

Eracism!!!!

2006-11-02T11:49:00.000-05:00

For the month of November, I'm hosting the Eracism Carnival this month on my blog and this month's topic is Defining Racism and whiteness, its connection to whiteness, White Supremacy, etc. Please feel free to submit. In the meantime, check out Ariella Drake's submission:

ariella drake presents On "Integration" and Language. posted at ariella drake.

Carnival ¤ erase racism carnival
Next scheduled ¤ Nov 20, 2006
Host blog ¤ Autobiography of a Face
Article to submit
Permalink URL ¤ http://arielladrake.livejournal.com/409756.html
Title ¤ On "Integration" and Language.
Article Blog
Blog URL ¤ http://arielladrake.livejournal.com/
Name ¤ ariella drake
Additional information
Submitter name ¤ ariella drake
Submitter e-mail ¤ ariella.drake@gmail.com
Category ¤ White Supremacy & Privilege
Remarks ¤ none

virtu -- noun:1. love of or taste for fine objects of art. 2. Productions of art (especially fine antiques). 3. Artistic quality.

"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world"
---Nelson Mandela

Should Race Trump Class?

2006-10-04T14:05:00.000-04:00

The Trouble with Diversity: How We Learned to Love Identity and Ignore Inequality by Walter Benn Michaels was released yesterday and offers very interesting theories about inequality in America. More specifically he posits that America has given diversity a problematic definition and writes with much chagrin that race has precluded class in terms of diversity. He further postulates that everytime we talk about race, we fail the poor. Why is it, he asserts, that discussions of race take precedence over discussions of class. In essence, the book talks about the problems Michaels sees with issues of race trumping issues of class in America.

Now, I already know that the book will be problematic for me because there is a good reason why issues of race dominate the need for diversity. Though class is an incredibly important topic, I wonder if Michaels speaks to the intersections of class and race. I wonder too if Michaels speaks to the discrimination, hurdles, and barriers to entry that many upwardly mobile people of color face. Needless to say in order to answer these questions, I need to read the book. In the meantime, what are your thoughts?

cant -- noun: 1. The idioms and peculiarities of speech in any sect, class, or occupation.2. The use of religious phraseology without understanding or sincerity. 3. Empty, solemn speech, implying what is not felt; insincere talk; hypocrisy. 4. A whining manner of speaking, especially of beggars.

"I never realized until lately that women were supposed to be the inferior sex"
--- Katherine Hepburn

Fractional Relations

2006-10-03T13:35:00.000-04:00

Much has been written in the past few years about the fractional relationships between Black and Hispanics. Currently, the New York Times is running a multi-part series on the rising hispanic population in the South. Beraged by anxieties and bigoted assumptions that plague both groups, Blacks and Hispanics are becoming more and more contentious towards one another personally and professionally. The following is a cursory list of articles, books and the like on the subject. After I've finished my current book project, I want to do one on race wars where this will be explored. If you have time, check out the following literature and post your thoughts:

Brown Like Me
Blacks and Latinos Clash
The Presumed Alliance
Black-Brown Relations and Stereotypes
Neither Enemies nor Friends:Latinos,Blacks,Afro-Latinos
Turning Out Blackness: Race and Nation in the History of Puerto Rican Television
Todd Boyd on NPR discussing Black-Latino Relations

Selected Biography of Black, Latino and Asian Relations

riparian -- adj: Of or pertaining to the bank of a river or stream.

"Plain women know more about men than beautiful women do" -- Katherine Hepburn

There's Something About Flav...

2006-10-02T13:14:00.000-04:00

Or is there. I must admit, I watch the show. I've watched both season 1 and will finish the current second season. I guess its that train wreck syndrome. The show is an uncut version of the worst possible stereotypes and assumptions about a host of people: women, people of color, working class individuals, etc. but according to recent reports that The Flavor of Love is Vh1's highest rated cable series in the history of the channel, bringing in almost six million viewers in the season 1 finale and at the start of season 2, three million people tuned in. A very sweet turnover for William Drayton aka Flava Flav, once member of the seminal rap group Public Enemy turned drug addict and eventual Rikers Island inmate to reality television star.

Lola Ogunnaike's article in Sunday's New York Times recounts the fame of reality television's latest star, the gripes that many people have with the replication of the myriad of stereotypes that the show employs, and even Flava Flav's appearance but I find it interesting that she did not propose the idea of the PIMP and its virtual embodiment in the figure of the Black man. The icon of the PIMP has ingrained itself in pop culture traversing music, comedy and film, almost always in the figure of the Black man. The PIMP culture is essential to the success of The Flavor of Love as Flav walks around the mansion with his cock strut, making the women perform various tasks for him (i.e. cleaning Warren G's nasty ass house, stripping for him, etc.) all the while proclaiming his sexual prowess. He has direct [sexual] access to all the women, demanding them to "crowd around your man" after each elimination period, pouring out champagne for the firls who were asked to leave.

The image of Black men as beacons of sexual dexterity, power, and stamina is nothing new. The PIMP image takes it a bit futher, intonating that Black men exert not only sexual but domestic control over women --- demanding power over the private AND public space. The PIMP image is inherently sexist and demeaning but is lauded in pop culture,and contributes largely to the success of the Flavor of Love. Black male virility is now equated with the PIMP with monetary results to back it up. Flav embodies the pimp to a T, both as a reality star and in his personal life. He shrouds himself with material things while the women flock to obey his every commands. The women fight each other and stab each other in the back to win his affections (Flav even has his own concierge/bodyguard in the figure of Big Rick). He has his friends come over (G-Unit, DJ Quik, 3 6 Mafia, etc.) in order to judge his women. He has six children and 2 grandchildren and frequently asserts his desire to have four more children (children often being a symbol of virility). All in all Flav is the latest rapper and Black male celebrity to associate himself with PIMPdom. Could this be the ultimate male fantasy? Perhaps, the stereotype of Black male virility and PIMPdom is a source of both fantasy and envy for men of other races, inspiring simultaneous congradulatory and disparaging remarks? Is as Chris Rock puts it, "a stereotype that Black men need to keep alive"? To take it further, do Black men have a problem with the Big Dick/PIMP stereotype, if not why? Its clear that Flav doesn't.

cataract -- noun:1. A great fall of water over a precipice; a large waterfall.2. A downpour; a flood. 3. A clouding or opacity of the lens or capsule of the eye, which obstructs the passage of light.

"Enemies are so stimulating" --- Katherine Hepburn

Anyone Interested?

2006-09-26T12:43:00.000-04:00

Hey all! I'm excited to know that I have a lot of smart readers who frequent my blog so I want to encourage anyone who's interested to send me an abstract for an edited collection that I'm putting out. (The call for papers is below). Please let me know if you have any questions!

Call for Papers: "Black People Don't Read": An Exploration into Black American Literacy, Reading , and Writing

Proposals are sought for a new edited collection on reading, writing and Black culture

"Black people don' t read" is a pervasive stereotype illuminating the fiction that American Black culture maintains an anti-intellectual, disinterested philosophy towards knowledge, exploration, and curiosity. Seeking to explore possibilities outside of this stereotype, this collection of essays will start a long overdue conversation by assembling an array of articulate, critical, and thoughtful papers about reading, writing, and the Black community. Contributions may seek to address (but are by no means limited) to the following topics:

-- Literacy and Black Stardom (i.e. what is the impact of stars such as Fantasia and R.Kelly's illiteracy, hip-hop and/or hip-hop stars and literacy)

-- Historical Analyses of Black Intellectualism, Writing, Reading and/or Literature

-- "Urban Fiction" (i.e. Zane, Eric Jerome Dickey, etc) and Black Publishers who solely focus on urban fiction. What is its place in Black literature if there is one? Is its widespread appeal and success a boon to the perception of the Black community in literary circles?

-- Contemporary authors of the African diaspora who have widespread appeal and their impact on Blackness and reading, etc. (i.e. Zadie Smith, Edward P. Jones, etc.)

-- Oprah Winfrey's impact on literacy and reading

-- Cultural analyses exploring the stereotype of "why Black people don't read". The role reading plays in Black communities, contemporary Black attitudes towards reading/writing, etc.

-- Black Literary Circles and Book Clubs

-- Analyses of the role class plays in literacy, reading, and/or writing in the Black community

-- LeVar Burton and "Reading Rainbow"

-- Contemporary Black attitudes to reading, writing, and/or literature

-- Libraries and their role in the Black community

-- Literacy and reading in Black popular culture – cinema, music, periodicals, etc.

While the vast preponderance of this collection will focus on analytical essays, I am also looking for a few personal narratives about Black people and their own experiences with reading, writing and/or literature. If interested in submitting something to the collection, please send me the following information to my e-mail: ccy215@nyu.edu or cocacy@gmail.com: a resume or one-page biography, an abstract of your essay topic of no more than 500 words and your complete contact information. I will be receiving abstracts until October 31 st as this project is moving forward quickly. Please contact me if you have any additional questions. Thanks so much! J

expropriate -- transitive verb: 1. To deprive of possession. 2. To transfer (the property of another) to oneself

"Violence is a calm that disturbs you" -- Jean Genet

It's All in a Name

2006-09-25T13:28:00.000-04:00

I've never really been in love with my name --- its quite unoriginal in my opinion --- Courtney. I've met tons of Courtneys and Courtneys who have my last name. Black, White Asian, etc. Courtney is a name that transgresses race, gender, and even generations. i've always longed for a name that was more unique and more feminine --- Courtney sounds too androgenous to me. As a teenager, I found this website that, when you put in your name, gave you stats on what people thought when they heard your name. For example, the name Courtney often rated average in attractiveness and slightly above average in intellect. Personality rated slightly above average as well. But names like Jasmine and Ashley rated much higher in terms of attractiveness.

In essence, names tell so much about a person, even without meeting or seeing that person. Earlier this year I read Freakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner and in there, they had a chapter on names which I found somewhat problematic. They spoke about African Americans and the names some of them gave their children and how names can set a child up for a pattern of success. My problem with the chapter was that they citing names such as "roshanda'. Aisha, Taneshia, Latoya, and Roshanda are names rooted in African American culture much like Shaynah and Henye are popular Yiddish names. When a name has ethnic roots,
assumptions can definitely be drawn that may or may not benefit that person. Did anyone see 20/20 Friday? They did a segment on names and talked specifically about how a person's name can reflect his or her life and/or occupation (Did you know that many George's become geologists and Dennis's become dentists?). Also in that segment, Blacks with distinctly African American names were less likely to get call backs when two candidadtes had the exact same resume but one has a name like Molly and the other has a name like Aisha.

My problem with names, however, is when they get ridiculous. A couple of years ago, I took a part time job working in the Bronx with second graders. The names of the Black kids astounded me ... a pair of twins named Deja Vu and Rendez-Vous, a Cristal and a Moet, and another little girl named Henessey Alaze. My friend Jamie works as a librarian at a predominately Black school in North Carolina and her first graders have names like ChrisDarius (one word), Qwandrayfus, Julyjuan, Aquinearfrita, Asshole (pronounced Ah-sho-lee) and the list goes on. On the 20/20 segment, one of the "experts" remarked that in California, 30% of little Black grils have names no one else has. We could also talk about a lot of celebrites who name their babies crazy things:

Shannyn Sossamon named her son Audio Science
Rachel Griffiths named her son Banjo
Jason Lee named his son Pilot Inspektor
robert Rodriquez named his sons Rogue, Rebel, Rocket and Racer
Jermaine Jackson named his daughter Jermajesty
Jamie Oliver named his daughters Poppy Honey and Daisy Boo
Ving Rhames named his daughter Reign Beau
Bob Geldof and paula Yates named their daughter Fifi Trixibell

In essence, I say, names are incredibly important. I reject prejudices that renounce names that are deemed too ethnic or relegate names rooted in African American culture like Taneshia as being too ghetto but at the same time, why do parents give their kids names that are ridiculous or offensive. Can a child live up to their name? Will Rebel be a rebel? will Asshole be a real asshole? To take it further, Will Asshole, if he is so inclined, ever be elected President of the U.S? Will Quandrayfus or Julyjuan? would I really want to marry a banjo or audio Science? Names reflect so much about us to other people and conjure up associations and judgements whether we like it or not. The Freakonomics guys did have a point though and did ask a good question about naming. Can we live up to or escape are own names? Your thoughts...

galumph -- intransitive verb: To move in a clumsy manner or with a heavy tread.

"I recognize in thieves, traitors , and murderers, in the ruthless and the cunning, a deep beauty -- a sunken beauty" --- Jean Genet

Hugo Chavez: The Portrait of a Leader

2006-09-20T14:26:00.000-04:00

"Yesterday, the devil came here. Right here. Right here. And it smells of sulfur still today, this table that I am now standing in front of. Yesterday, ladies and gentlemen, from this rostrum, the president of the United States, the gentleman to whom I refer as the devil, came here, talking as if he owned the world. Truly. As the owner of the world. I think we could call a psychiatrist to analyze yesterday’s statement by the president of the United States. As the spokesman of imperialism, he came to share his nostrums, to try to preserve the current pattern of domination, exploitation and pillage of the peoples of the world...An Alfred Hitchcock movie could use it as a scenario. I would even propose a title: ‘The Devil’s Recipe.’ ”
--- Hugo Chavez today at the UN

Chavez has never been afraid to bite his tongue. He, like many of the leaders of Latin America, is unabashedly leftist. As I was reading the New York Times today, I was more than pleased to see someone who calls the Bush Administration out. I'd be curious to hear your thoughts...

blackguard -- noun: 1. A rude or unscrupulous person; a scoundrel. 2. A person who uses foul or abusive language. adjective:1. Scurrilous; abusive; low; worthless; vicious; as, "blackguard language." transitive verb: 1. To revile or abuse in scurrilous language

"Man has to suffer. When he has no real afflictions, he invents some"
--- Jose Marti

Plan for Expansion of Black Studies Program at Princeton

2006-09-19T13:04:00.000-04:00

According to the New York Times today, Princeton has announced that it is expanding its Black studies program which includes the creation of a new center which will explore race, particularly racial identity and problems that surrounding racial politics in America, a doubling of the number of faculty members in the Black studies department, and a major in African American studies for undergraduates (the only Ivy League University to date that has not added a major for undergrads in Black studies). valerie Smith is slated to be the center's director.

Until quite recently, Harvard had the distinction of assembling the "dream team" when it came to Black studies and academics: Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Cornel West, Kwame Anthony Appiah, and William Julius Wilson. But over the past few years both Cornel West and Kwame Appiah have since deflected to Princeton. Its important to state that this is going to be a center, not an academic department which will have a certain level of autonomy aware from the mandates that academic departments have.

In other news please look at Fabulosa Mujer's most recent post. I look forward to implementing into my life a lot of the mantras that she lists.

Hobson's choice -- noun:A choice without an alternative; the thing offered or nothing

"He who does not see things in their depth should not call himself a radical"
--- Jose Marti

Money Management 101

2006-09-18T12:46:00.000-04:00

"A lot of people just don’t grow up...I mean, 65-year-old men. They just don’t grow up. They don’t understand that money does not grow on a tree and that you’ve got to respect every dollar. Like Rip Van Winkle — the guy who slept — they party, party, party, then they wake up. ‘Oh my God!’ And they do something desperate trying to recapture what they had. And it doesn’t work like that. You must stay awake.”
--- George Foreman

Credit Ratings, investment porfolios, credit cards, 401(k)s --- all of the aforementioned are especially important when solidifying a present and future life without the stresses that "broke-ness", horrid credit, and debt can bring. I for one have been consistently trying to be a better manager of my own money. I've read all the literature from David Bach to Jean Chatsky to Suze Orman. I've taken all the classes and talked to my parents who are quite financially astute. I've requested a copy of my credit report from all three of the primary credit bureaus, found mistakes and am currently in the process of correcting them (*Did you know that 79% of credit reports have at least one mistake -- CHECK YOURS OUT NOW*). Next month, I am happy to say that I will be officially out of my "small debt" -- credit cards and gym meberships. So now I only have the monstrous student loans to tackle. I want to get this money management thing down before I reach my thirties. I recognize that this is the time not only to make mistakes but figure out how to correct them and keep them from happening again because I know that one day I will be wealthy :) and want to adequately manage my funds so that I can not only be comfortable but establish generational wealth like my parents.

With that being said, yesterday the New York Times posted an article called "Why the Rich Go Broke". Do any of you remember when George Foreman went back to boxing in the mid 90s and at 45 defeated his 26 year old opponent? Well, that was largely because the millions that Foreman had made in the 70s and 80s was largely gone and he was dangerously close to filing bankruptcy and being homeless. He made a comeback with his win against Michael Moorer and his extremely lucrative but friendly entrepreneurial gimmick "The George Foreman Grill" (I know, I have one too). This begs me to ask the question, how do the rich, who have all the resources to stay wealthy, suddenly become not only broke, but stuck in the quagmire of monstrously oppressive debt (I'm talking millions of doallars in debt -- can you imagine). The stories of celebrities such as MC Hammer, Michael Jackson, Mike Tyson, and Toni Braxton come to mind (imagine having to give up your Grammies). But don't be fooled into thinking that financially irresponsible behavior is just a Black thing. Notables such as Thomas Jefferson, Jack Abramhoff, Mark Twain, Debbie Reynolds, Dorothy Hamill, and Ulysses S. Grant, not to mention the host of lottery winners that have met the same fate.

Is it simply lack of restraint for the material things in life? Or would it be a series of horrible business deals and/or investments? Or could it be a series of slippery, slimy, greedy family members, managers, personal assistants, and/or a number of other unscrupulous people that you let inside of your intimate circle? I think its a combination of all of the above. (I heard that Oprah informs everyone that if they are writing a check of over $20, they need her approval). Perhaps "Money Management" should be taught in the school system. Should it be a required class that individuals should have to take as part of their college core curriculum? The time to at least acquire financial knowledge is now as, as George Foreman stated above, its imperative to diavow the Rip van Winkle approach. You never know what's in store for you in this life so I say be prepared and make haste!

s
lapidary -- adjective:1. Of or pertaining to the art of cutting stones or engraving on them.2. Engraved in stone.3. Of or pertaining to the refined or terse style associated with inscriptions on monumental stone. noun 1. One who cuts, polishes, and engraves precious stones.2. A dealer in precious stones.

"The struggles waged by nations are weak only when they lack support in the hearts of their women" --- Jose Marti

Is There Such a Thing as a Brooklyn Aesthetic?

2006-09-15T12:59:00.000-04:00

If Brooklyn had a voice, what would it sound like? Is their such a thing as a Brooklyn aesthetic, albeit a literary one? Brooklyn Borough Preisdent Marty Markowitz asserts so with his first annual Brooklyn Book Festival Which will be highlighting a series of luminaries and unknowns who have a distinctly "Brookyn" voice tomorrow. I wouldn't know about Brooklyn, I'm a Manhattan dweller myself but read this article from the New York Times meanwhile and assert your own thoughts.

In the meantime, I am posting the information for it and schedule below. Hope to see many of you in New York there!

DIRECTIONS to BROOKLYN BOROUGH HALL

Subway:
2,3,4,5 to Borough Hall; A, C, F to Jay Street/Borough Hall; R to Court Street

By Car:
From Manhattan: Take the Brooklyn Bridge leading into Adams Street. Stay straight on Adams Street for about 1/4 mile. Turn right on Joralemon Street. Brooklyn Borough Hall is on your right.

From Staten Island: Take the Verrazano Bridge. Take exit for 278W. Take Atlantic Avenue exit. Bear right on Atlantic Avenue. Take a left onto Boerum Place. Take a left onto Joralemon Street. Brooklyn Borough Hall is on your right.

Metered parking and parking garages are available in the Downtown Brooklyn area.

Authors, programs, and times subject to change.
Readings will differ from books listed.

BROOKLYN BOROUGH HALL COURTROOM

11 a.m. – 12:00p.m.
Under One Brooklyn Roof: Carson McCullers, Gypsy Rose Lee, and W. H. Auden. Actors from Troupe Theater Company and author Sherill Tippins (February House) read from the work of authors who lived at the famed Middagh Street house in Brooklyn Heights.

12:00 – 1:00 p.m.
The Streets Are Talking. Jonathan Lethem (Fortress of Solitude), Emily Barton (Brookland), and Paula Fox (Desperate Characters) discuss the relationship between their writing and Brooklyn and read from their work set on the borough’s streets. Q & A. Introduced by Jay Kaplan, Brooklyn Public Library.

1:00 – 2:00 p.m.
The Soul of a Bestseller. Nationally best-selling authors Pete Hamill (The Gift), Colson Whitehead (The Intuitionist), and Jennifer Egan (The Keep) talk about a major literary figure who inspired their writing, then read passages from their work that reflect this inspiration. Q&A. Introduced by Johnny Temple, Akashic Books.

2:00 – 3:00 p.m.
City on the Edge. Readings by groundbreaking New York writers whose work reflects the quirky and unpredictable spirit of the city: Gary Shteyngart (Absurdistan), Jonathan Ames (I Pass Like Night), and Ben Greenman (Superworse). Q&A. Introduced by Charlotte Abbott (Publishers Weekly).

3:00–4:00 p.m.
Under Siege: The U.S. Constitution and American Democracy. Political dialogue and discussion. With Katha Pollitt (Virginity or Death) Patricia J. Williams (Open House) and US Representative Elizabeth Holtzman. Moderated by Laura Flanders, Air America. Organized by The Nation magazine. Q & A.

4:00 – 5:00 p.m.
Of Chaos and Fiction. In an era of war and global political trauma, how do writers maintain their artistic equilibrium and stay focused on their craft? Does reality intrude? A panel discussion with Nicole Krauss (The History of Love), Jhumpa Lahiri (Namesake), Jaime Manrique (Our Lives are the Rivers), and Elizabeth Nunez (Bruised Hibiscus). Moderated by WNYC’s Leonard Lopate.

5:00 – 6:00 p.m.
History Matters. New York City’s most insightful and adventurous literary historians discuss their work. Q&A. Phillip Lopate (Getting Personal), Edmund White (The Flaneur), Rich Cohen (Sweet and Low), Leonard Benardo and Jennifer Weiss (Brooklyn by Name).

MAIN STAGE (BOROUGH HALL PLAZA)

10:00 – 11:00 a.m.
Truth from Youth. New York City’s top teen poets from UrbanWord NYC, a free literary arts organization for youth, will inspire audiences of all ages in a program filled with poetry, spoken word, and hip-hop. Champions from the Annual UrbanWord NYC Teen Poetry slam will perform solo and group poems. Hosted by UrbanWord director Michael Cirelli.

11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
21st Century Poets: Rising Stars. Readings by four of the most promising poets of 2006: Willie Perdomo, Asha Bandele, Roger Bonair-Agard, and Rigoberto Gonzalez. Program introduced by Rob Casper of the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses (CLMP).

12:00 – 1:00 p.m.
Straight Outta Brooklyn. Can fiction writers rock the mic? You bet. Dramatic readings by Rick Moody (Demonology), Colin Channer (Waiting in Vain), Carl Hancock Rux (Asphalt), and Wesley Stace (Misfortune). Introduced by Danny Simmons, Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation.

1:00–2:00 p.m.
Power of the Word. Four acclaimed poets read their work and reveal the visceral power of the written word: Kimiko Hahn, Eileen Myles, Yusef Komunyakaa and Pulitzer-prize winning author, Phil Levine. Program introduced by Lynne Procope, founder of Louder Arts.

2:00–3:00 p.m.
New World Noir. Gritty suspense provided by mystery titan Lawrence Block, Brooklyn Noir editor Tim McLoughlin (Heart of the Old Country), and author Glenville Lovell (Too Beautiful to Die). Introduced by Rob Spillman, editor, Tin House.

3:00–4:00 p.m.
Only the Dead Know Brooklyn. Actors Ashlie Atkinson, Hazelle Goodman and Roger Guenveur Smith and members of the Troupe Theatre Company celebrate Brooklyn’s literary legacy with readings from poets, novelists and pulp fiction masters including Walt Whitman, June Jordan, W.H. Auden, Richard Wright, Truman Capote, Stanley Ellison and Mickey Spillane. Introduced by Suzanne Youngerman, BAM.

4:00 – 5:00 p.m.
Books to Film. A panel discussion exploring the process by which a book is turned into a major motion picture. Miguel Arteta (director, Chuck and Buck, Six Feet Under), essayist and film writer Phillip Lopate (American Movie Critics: An Anthology from the Silents Until Now) and Kaylie Jones (A Soldier’s Daughter Never Cries).

5:00 – 6:00 p.m.
Secrets of the Street. Readings from the winners of the Brooklyn Secrets of the Street Lit Match, a writing contest for students ages 14 – 19. Hosted by Jeanine Ramirez, NY 1, with a special reading by Ken Siegelman, Brooklyn Poet Laureate.

BROOKLYN BOROUGH HALL COMMUNITY ROOM

11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Heart and Soul and…: Fiction writers Yona Zeldis McDonough (Dahlia’s Wake) and Erica Simone Turnipseed (Hunger) read from their fiction tackling issues of loss and hope. Introduced by Marcela Landres, Latinidad.

12:00 – 1:00 p.m.
Superborough: Brooklyn’s Indelible Stamp on Comic Book History. A panel of five creators, publishers and critics discuss the borough’s crucial role in the past, present, and future of comic books. Panelists include Simcha Weinstein (Up, Up and Oy Vey!), Matt Madden (A Fine Mess), Chris Claremont (The Uncanny X-Men), and Floyd Hughes (Marvel Comics Presents). Moderated by Calvin Reid, co-editor, Publishers Weekly Comics.

1:00 – 2:00 p.m.
Concrete Dreams: Tales from the World Beneath the World. Stylized urban fiction read by Kenji Jasper(Dark) and Sofia Quintero (Explicit Content), accompanied by dramatization and recorded music and poetry performance. Introduced by Andrea Clarke.

2:00 – 3:00 p.m.
Notes from Underground. While the literary establishment laments the alleged dwindling of the reading public, Brooklyn’s literary magazines and independent publishers are flourishing. A panel discussion highlighting these home-grown visionaries. Featuring Sina Najafie (Cabinet magazine), Ted Hamm (Brooklyn Rail), and Betsy Sussler (Bomb magazine). Moderated by Eric Demby, Brooklyn Borough President’s Office.

3:00 – 4:00 p.m.
Historical Fiction for the New Millennium. Groundbreaking historical fiction by two revered Brooklyn-based authors: Myla Goldberg (Wickett’s Remedy), and Nelly Rosario (Song of the Water Saints). Q & A.

OUTDOOR NONFICTION STAGE

11:00 – 11:30 a.m.
The Flora of 718. Brooklyn Botanic Garden author, Steven Clemants, will discuss local wildflowers and gardening in the city. Introduced by Kate Travers, Sobol Awards.

11:30 a.m.–12:00 p.m.
Gleason’s Gym Presents: Million-Dollar Ladies. Boxing demonstration and book signing of Gleason's Gym Total Body Boxing Workout for Women. Introduced by Kate Travers, Sobol Awards.

12:00 – 1:00 p.m.
Brooklyn Cooks, the World Eats. A discussion/presentation by notable Brooklyn chef-authors. Panelists include Lyn Stallworth (The Brooklyn Cookbook), Ed Levine (Pizza: A Slice of Heaven: the Ultimate Pizza Guide and Companion), host and author Daisy Martinez (Daisy Cooks) and chef Alan Harding. Moderated by Gersh Kuntzman (The Brooklyn Papers).

1:00–1:30 p.m.
Brooklyn Philharmonic. Maurice Edwards will read from his recent book on the history of the Brooklyn Philharmonic, “How Music Grew in Brooklyn.” Philharmonic musicians will perform.

1:30 – 2:00 p.m.
Dirty Secrets: A Literary Investigation of Rats & Garbage. Featuring readings/presentations by Robert Sullivan (Rats: Observations on the History and Habitat of the City's Most Unwanted Inhabitants) and Elizabeth Royte (Garbageland). Introduced by author Sean Wilsey.

2:00 – 3:00 p.m.
Brooklyn Brews, the World Drinks. Brooklyn Brewery founder Steve Hindy (Beer School: Bottling Success at the Brooklyn Brewery), discusses the rise of one of America’s most celebrated beer institutions. Joined by brewmaster Garrett Oliver (The Brewmaster’s Table: Discovering the Pleasures of Real Beer with Real Food).

3:00–3:30 p.m.
A State of Mind. Aaron Naparstek reads from his book Honku: Zen and the Art of Road Rage.Michael Robbins reads from Brooklyn: A State of Mind.

INDEPENDENCE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION YOUTH PAVILLION

1:00 – 1:30 p.m.
Intrepid Girls
Readings by Holly Black (The Spiderwick Chronicles) and Kirsten Miller (Kiki Strike). Introduced by Patricia Mulcahy, Brooklyn-based writer/editor and owner of Tillie’s in Fort Greene.

1:30 – 2:00 p.m.
It’s the Brooklyn Book Festival, Charlie Brown: Cartooning Today
Patrick McDonnell (creator of Mutts) and Mo Willems (Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus) talk about the art of cartooning and the adventures of their characters. Introduced by Calvin Reid, co-editor, Publishers Weekly Comics.

2:00 – 3:00 p.m.
The World Beyond: Award Winning Sci-Fi and Fantasy for Teens. Readings by four of the most accomplished youth adult authors of 2006: Scott Westerfeld (The Last Days, Peeps), Justine Larbalestier (Magic Lessons), David Klass (Firestorm) and Maureen Johnson (Devilish). Q&A. Introduced by Patricia Mulcahy.

3:00 – 4:00 p.m.
Sass and the City: Hip Fiction for Teenage Girls. Acclaimed young adult authors Ann Brashares (Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants), Aimee Friedman (South Beach), and Libba Bray (A Great and Terrible Beauty) read from their work. Q&A. Introduced by author Daniel Ehrenhaft.

THE TARGET CHILDREN'S PAVILLION

10:00 a.m. – Andrea Fixell and Ted Stafford, Baby Signing, How to Talk with Your baby in American Sign Language

11:00 a.m. David and Mutiya Vision, My Very Breast Friend

12:00 p.m. Mo Willems, Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus

1:00 p.m. Devon Harris, Cool Runnings; Phil Bildner, The Shot Heard ‘round the World

2:00 p.m. Kevin Lewis, Dinosaur, Dinosaur

3:00 p.m. Valorie Fisher, How High Can a Dinosaur Count? and other math mysteries

4:00 p.m. Barbara Ensor, Cinderella (As if You Didn’t Already Know the Story)

5:00 p.m. Betsy Lewin, Duck for President, Ted Lewin, Lost City

megrim -- noun:1. A migraine 2. A fancy; a whim 3. In the plural: lowness of spirits -- often with 'the'

"I have a writer's memory which makes everything worse than maybe it actually was"
--- Amy Tan

Member of the Club

2006-09-14T14:46:00.000-04:00

Indeed is she? Condoleezza Rice has ascended to what Forbes Magazine calls the "most powerful woman in the world" and has unprecendented entry into one of the most exclusive and most powerful enclaves in the world -- the United States government. So is she a member of the club?

The above cartoon was created by a white, liberal political cartoonist by the name of Jeff Danziger in 2004. Richard Prince's Journalisms describes the climate from which this was created,

"The cartoon was drawn after the New York Times received considerable attention for an Oct. 3 piece noting that administration officials claimed in 2002 that the United States had ''irrefutable evidence'' of thousands of tubes made of high-strength aluminum "that the Bush administration said were destined for clandestine Iraqi uranium centrifuges." Yet "almost a year before, Ms. Rice's staff had been told that the government's foremost nuclear experts seriously doubted that the tubes were for nuclear weapons."

Danziger's cartoon, called, "Condoleezza Rice in the role of a lifetime," shows a barefoot national security adviser in a chair nursing an aluminum tube with a human face, saying, "I knows all about aluminum tubes. Correction. I don't know nuthin' about aluminum tubes."

"For liberals, Condi Rice's real crime is bucking Democratic orthodoxy and working for a conservative president," charged the Wall Street Journal Friday.

"This makes her fair game for race-based attacks even when the issue at hand has absolutely nothing to do with race. She is a black woman who, in Mr. Danziger's view, has wandered off the liberal plantation. And this is his way of putting Ms. Rice and other black conservatives in their place."

The cartoon places Condi in the context of Prissy in "Gone With the Wind" in a mammy role, nursing the aluminum tubes touted by the Bush administration as being fodder for Iraqi centrifuges. The cartoon was banned by liberal and conservative publications alike.

Fast forward to 2006 and I ask the question again. Is Condi Rice a true "member of the club" (in homage to Lawrence Otis Graham's book of the same name)? And if so what does that mean? How has she had to reconcile her race and her gender to gain access to this club?

My interest in Condi Rice for this post comes after seeing a video post on the cnn.com website today entitled: "Condi Rice's single status sparks lover talk". I've always been very interested in the persona of Condi Rice -- her ascendance to the "Club", her parentage and childhood background, her academic and intellectual prowess, her Republicanism, her social circle, etc. I realize that a woman of a certain level of success often has her personal life scrutinized -- whether she can balance the roles of motherhood and career successfully or if she isn't married and/or have a family, why? To go further in-depth as it relates to Condi Rice would take up pages and oodles of my time, therefore, I just wanted to posit some questions about a woman who has always remained somewhat of an enigma to me. Any thoughts? Also, I found an interesting article written by Slate Magazine where Condi's freudian slip i.e. her reference to Bush as her "husband" made a way into one of her talk.

termagant -- noun: 1. A scolding, nagging, bad-tempered woman; a shrew. adj: 1. Overbearing; shrewish; scolding

“If you can't change your fate, change your attitude” -- Amy Tan

Call For Papers: Reading While Black

2006-09-12T14:09:00.000-04:00

So, as you all know I am in the process of solidifying publishers for the four editied collections that I am currently putting together. I am in talks with one publisher about one. The following is a post for a call for papers about the edited collection that I will be putting together as it relates to Black people and reading. I hope many of you are interested in participated or know someone who would like to. Thanks!

“Black People Don’t Read”: An Exploration into Black American Literacy, Reading, and Writing

Proposals are sought for a new edited collection on reading, writing and Black culture

“Black people don’t read” is a pervasive stereotype illuminating the fiction that American Black culture maintains an anti-intellectual, disinterested philosophy towards knowledge, exploration, and curiosity. Seeking to explore possibilities outside of this stereotype, this collection of essays will start a long overdue conversation by assembling an array of articulate, critical, and thoughtful papers about reading, writing, and the Black community. Contributions may seek to address (but are by no means limited) to the following topics:

-- Literacy and Black Stardom (i.e. what is the impact of stars such as Fantasia and R.Kelly’s illiteracy)
-- Historical Analyses of Black Intellectualism, Writing, Reading and/or Literature
-- “Urban Fiction” (i.e. Zane, Eric Jerome Dickey) and Black Publishers who solely focus on urban fiction. What is its place in Black literature if there is one? Is its widespread appeal and success a boon to the perception of the Black community in literary circles?
-- Contemporary authors of the African diaspora who have widespread appeal and their impact on Blackness and reading, etc. (i.e. Zadie Smith, Edward P. Jones, etc.)
-- Oprah Winfrey’s impact on literacy and reading
-- Cultural analyses exploring the stereotype of “why Black people don’t read”. The role reading plays in Black communities, contemporary Black attitudes towards reading/writing, etc.
-- Black Literary Circles and Book Clubs
-- Analyses of the role class plays in literacy, reading, and/or writing in the Black community
-- LeVar Burton and “Reading Rainbow”
-- Contemporary Black attitudes to reading, writing, and/or literature
-- Libraries and their role in the Black community

While the vast preponderance of this collection will focus on analytical essays, I am also looking for a few personal narratives about Black people and their own experiences with reading, writing and/or literature. If interested in submitting something to the collection, please send me the following information to my e-mail (ccy215@nyu.edu or cocacy@gmail.com) : a resume or one-page biography, an abstract of your essay topic of no more than 500 words and your complete contact information. I will be receiving abstracts until October 31st as this project is moving forward quickly. Please contact me if you have any additional questions. Thanks so much!

puckish -- adjective: Whimsical; mischievous; impish

"It's both rebellion and conformity that attack you with success" --- Amy Tan

9/11

2006-09-11T12:07:00.000-04:00

On September 11, 2001, I remember that I was a senior at Spelman College. I woke up early because I had a meeting with my senior honors thesis advisor Dr. Tarshia Stanley. I remember seeing the first plane going into the World Trade Center on TV and didn't know exactly what to make of it. I remember telling Dr. Stanley about it as soon as we met up and we both had no idea what to make of it. We went on with our meeting and after it finished we both walked out of her office and noticed a mini chaos occurring in the English Department. Tvs were set up and we saw first one, then two planes hitting the world trade center. Doesn't seem like 5 years ago. In rememberence.

If you have some time today, pelase check out my posting on Mixed Media Watch

apothegm -- noun: A short, witty, and instructive saying.

"It's a luxury being a writer, because all you ever think about is life"
--- Amy Tan

Brief Breakdown of the Fall TV Season

2006-09-10T14:49:00.000-04:00

As you all know by now (if you are faithful television watchers), that the new fall television season is underway. Over the next few weeks, the rest of the new and recurring shows will be showcasing their premieres. I am particularly intrigued by pop culture, particularly film and television, and how it mirrors and replicates the nuances of contemporary American culture. Let's face it -- mass media --- particularly television and film impact perceptions, attitudes, and even public policy. If the images of people of color and women continue to be marginalized, depict excess (too loud, too "hot", too over-sexed, etc.), two dimensional, etc. then there is a space being created where erroneous imagery and stereotypes are being force-fed at astronomical rates. Media is the fastest way to reach the most amount of people and I feel safe in saying that most people are not problem posing watchers of cinema. So its important to monitor how our image is being replicated across the world. So for this post, I am pretty much going to only focus on the shows that feature people of color or women in interesting and/or prominent roles. With that being said, there is an interesting line up for this fall:

1. Grey's Anatomy -- The largely anticipated third Season of ABC's Grey's Anatomy premieres on September 21st and holds the title of being perhaps the most racially diverse cast on television. Though not without its problems, I am a fan of the show and will post a more in-depth, cultural analysis of it as the season begins. P.S. Diahann Carroll is going to be making a guest appearance this season!!

2. Prison Break -- Fox's second season of the acclaimed drama has already begun and I must say that this is one of my favorite shows currently on the air. The cast is buttressed by actors of color (Wentworth Miller, Amaury Nolasco, Rockmund Dunbar) and I love action/suspenseful stories (not to mention that Wentworth is indeed a hottie).

3. Everybody Hates Chris -- Premiering Oct. 1st at 7 pm on the re-named network "The CW", Chris Rock's hilarious show returns. I must say that while I am not as vigilant in watching in it, I am definitely a fan of it when I do. And somebody definitely has to talk about how wonderful the under-rated actress/singer Tichina Arnold is in it.

4. All of Us -- Premiers Oct 1st on "The CW" at 7:30 right after Everybody Hates Chris. I must give it to Will and Jada -- these are Black folks investing in creating opportunities for Black actors and making films that center around Black people. I have to give it to them for being Black people who create opportunities for other Black people and don't wait around for Hollywood to do the type of programming that they want to see in media. And by the way, its not a bad show.

5. The Game -- When does this permiere? You guessed it! Oct. 1st at 8:30 right after the premiere of Girlfriends. This show actually started as a spin-off of an episode of Girlfriends. It stars Tia Mowry, Wendy Raquel Robinson, Hosea Chanchez, and Pooch Hall. Mowry's character is a meidcal student whose boyfirend is a San Diego Sabers rookie. Its basically a half-hour comedy about the wives, mothers, and girlfriends of professional football players. I don't see too much promise with this one but we'll see.

5. Girlfriends -- Rounding Out the Oct. 1st line-up on "The CW" is Girlfriends, a show that I like (and watch religiously) because it is a show that features the trvails of four middle class Black women living in Los Angeles. (Though it is definitely not without its problems. Jill Marie Jones aka Ms. Toni Childs will be absent this season but I wonder if Mara Brock Akil will finally let Joan find a man?

6. Survivor -- What can I say? Separating tribes by race. This idea has nothing but fit for trouble. Premieres Sept. 14th at 8 p.m. on CBS. The ratings will definitely be high but I hope that voices of protest will be as well.

7. Cold Case -- Definitely a sleeper hit in my opinion, I really like the show. I like Kathryn Morris's character Lily Rush not to mention a solid representation of people of color (Daniel Pino, Thom Barry, Tracie Thoms -- an HBCU [Howard graduate] nonetheless :). Premieres Sept. 24th on CBS at 9:00

8. Desperate Housewives -- Eva Longoria is on the cover of this week's Entertainment Weekly and I must say that that she and Antonio Ricardo Chavira take the award for being complicit in currently the worst portrayal of Hispanics on TV today. They play complete and utter stereotypes to the core. Let's see what other foolishness they're up to this season. Premieres Sept. 24th on ABC at 9:00

9. Without a Trace -- Love this show. Anthony LaPaglia is great as the leader of his unit and is all around a terrific actor (has anyone seen Lantana?) Roselyn Sanchez, Marianne Jean-Baptiste (terrific in Secrets & Lies, a must see film for you all NETFLIX it now!), and Enrique Murciano.

10.Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip -- I netflixed the premiere of this one couple of weeks ago. While I wasn't entirely impressed with it, I am intrigued enough to stick with it for a few more episodes. Aaron Sorkins's highly anticipated drama centers around Bradley Whitford and Matthew Perry's characters as head writers hired by the newly appointed network exec Amanda Peet to work on the a stalemate sketch comedy show that they were fired from four years previously. I put this show on my "shows to watch list" because 1.)Its so highly anticipated, I just need to see what all the fuss is about 2)Amanda Peet's role as a major television exec -- should be interesting to see how her position as female power player in a world of men is cultivated 3) D.L. Hughley -- never been much a fan of his but he is the only recurrent face of color on the show. In the September 8th issue of Entertainment Weekly , Josh Wolk reports, "D.L. Hughley, a stand up and sitcom vet who plays another Studio 60 regular, has never faced acting demands like this, but he's ready. 'You ask any black person in the country, did he want this role? And I got it. So the cameras will break down before I do". Which brings me to the question, what is the responsibility of the Black actor (or does s/he have one)? While I understand his happiness to get the role, I'm a little concerned with his eagerness in the notoriously racially problematic landscape of Hollywood. We shall see.

11. Heroes -- I will definitely be watching heroes because it is one of only a handful of shows this season that features an Asian regular -- Masi Oka. Just as bad as being inundated with a pelthora of representation that verges on the two-dimensional stereotypes that are so easy to replicate (i.e. Black folks in TV) is the virtual absence of any representation on TV (i.e. Asians). When was the last time you saw a show on TV where Asians were the focal point (remember Margaret Cho?). Premieres Sept. 25th on NBC at 9 p.m.

12. CSI: Miami -- Premieres Sept. 18th at 10 p.m. on CBS See Adam Rodriquez and Khandi Alexander. Don't like it as much as the regular CSI but I do like David Caruso's quiet intensity...

13. Friday Night Lights -- Premieres Oct. 3rd on NBC at 8:00 Based on the 2004 feature film which was based on H.G. Bissinger's non-fiction book, the show portrays the football culture of a small Texas town , through the eyes of a high school team. The movie tocuhed on a lot of topics -- racism, education, parent-child (particularly father/son) relationships, etc. It will definitely be interesting to see how this show deals with these topics, particularly that of racism.

14. The Unit -- Premieres Sept. 19th on CBS at 9:00. This is its second season. I saw it last season, because its headed by Dennis Haybert aka the former President of the Unites States on my favorite show 24). Molly Blane co-stars as his wife. I don't know how long this one is going to last. I'm watching because of Haybert and Blane but its not one of my personal favs. I'm just not that interested.

15. Standoff -- Debuted Sept. 5th on FOX at 8 pm. Watch for Gina Torres

16. House -- Debuted Sept. 5th on FOX at 9pm. Omar Epps is in this one. Heard great things about it but never seen it. Its next in my Netflix queue.

17. Law & Order: Criminal Intent: Premieres Sept. 19th on NBC at 9 Courtney B. Vance is out and in comes Nona Gaye. Am I the only one that is questioning this decision? Also, look for Thera Randle in at least three episodes. In my opinion, the weakest by far of the Law & Order franchise.

18. Law & Order : SVU : Great show. Best of the Law & Order franchise in my opinion. Only problem: Ice-T. They can't find another Black man to play this role? Love B.D. Wong though! He is one of only five Asians who have prominent, recurring roles on Network TV (Sandra Oh, Naveen Andrews, Masi Oka, Parminder Nadra)

19. America's Next Top Model. Premieres Sept. 20th on the CW at 8:00 p.m. The show's addictive despite Tyra's annoying remarks and race issues.

20. 30 Rock -- Debuts October 11th on NBC at 8:30. I'm not a fan of Tracy Morgan or Tiny Fey but is getting a buzz and may check it out. We'll see...

21. Lost -- Premieres Oct. 4th on ABC at 9:00 p.m. Season 1 was excellent. Season 2 not so much. Will tune in for it though!

22. Justice -- Debuted August 30th on FOX at 9. Interesting show. Kind of like a Law & Order remake but you get to see what really happened at the end. Has Eamonn Walker aka Said from Oz.

23. DayBreak -- Debuts Nov. 15th at 9pm on NBC. Taye Diggs headlines this drama as a cop framed for a murder and must through a horrific 24 hours that repeats itself every morning. That's all I'm gonna say about it.

24. Criminal Minds -- Premieres Sept. 20th on CBS at 9 Shemar Moore co-stars. I had to briefly supress a giggle but he does try though ya'll...

25. Kidnapped -- Debuts Sept. 20th on NBC at 10 but you can Netflix the premiere episode now. I did. Its interesting. I don't know about Jeremy Sisto in the title role but I do like Mykelti Williamson and Delroy Lindo

26. CSI: NY -- Sept. 20th on CBS at 10 The CSI that I like the least but Hill Harper is on it!

27. The Nine -- Debuts Oct. 4th on ABC at 10. Chi McBride has a featured role.

28. Ugly Betty -- Sept. 28th Created by Selma Hayek and featuring America Ferrera, Ana Ortiz, and Vanessa Williams. The show intrigues me. I'm interested to see how it will play out. Based on a Columbian telenovela, the name bothers me for a little...But after I see the show, I will be able to talk more about it.

29. ER -- Premieres Sept. 21st on NBC at 10. I'm still hanging on to ER... Maybe this season will pick up. Look for Mekhi Pfeiffer and Parminder Nadra.

30. Law & Order -- Sept. 22nd on NBC at 10. Is Law & Order still viable? We'll see this season. Look for Jesse L. Martin.

31. Ghost Whisperer -- Debuts Sept. 22nd on CBS at 8. They killed Aisha Tyler last season but apparently she comes back as a ghost. Whatever...

32. The Wire -- Premieres tonight on HBO at 10. Trying to get into this show because it has tons of Black folks on it. I'll report on this a little later...

Shows To Watch:

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
Ugly Betty
Lost
Prison Break

I'm concerned with the lack of Asians on TV. Only five with recurrent roles??? And as for Black people, well I'll save that for another post!

surcease -- noun: Cessation; stop; end.

“I did not lose myself all at once. I rubbed out my face over the years washing away my pain, the same way carvings on stone are worn down by water”
--- Amy Tan

Learning to Listen

2006-09-08T19:07:00.000-04:00

The following is a posting that illustates a free jazz course being offered in New York:

The Jazz Museum in Harlem
104 East 126th Street
New York, NY 10035
212 348-8300
http://www.jazzmuseuminharlem.org/ THE JAZZ MUSEUM IN HARLEM ANNOUNCES FREE JAZZ COURSES:

JAZZ FOR CURIOUS LISTENERS

The Jazz Museum in Harlem proudly announces its new, free jazz course, JAZZ FOR CURIOUS LISTENERS. Classes will be held at the Museum’s offices (104 East 126th Street, accessible by the 2/3/4/5/6 trains, the M60, 101, Bx15 buses and Metro-North) TUESDAYS, 7 p.m. - 8:30 p.m., September 19th through December 12th, and will be led by the Museum’s Executive Director Loren Schoenberg and guest instructors.

Topics covered will include:

How to Listen to Jazz
Classic Jazz Albums
Harlem’s Jazz Legacy
Ellington and The Cotton Club
Louis Armstrong in New York
Living Jazz Musicians You Should Know About But Probably Don’t
Jazz Demystified
Classic and rare jazz films

Over the past four years, the JAZZ MUSEUM IN HARLEM has distinguished itself through its programming dedicated to celebrating Harlem’s legacy. Led by Co-Directors Loren Schoenberg and Christian McBride, the Museum’s concerts, educational programs in the public schools, the HARLEM SPEAKS interview series, and other initiatives, all presented free of charge, continue into the fall with a new addition: JAZZ FOR CURIOUS LISTENERS. Loren Schoenberg, currently on the faculty of The Juilliard Institute for Jazz Studies, has previously taught at The Manhattan School of Music, The New School, William Paterson College, SUNY/Purchase, and Long Island University. He has lectured at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Museum of The City Of New York, Columbia University, Leeds University, Brigham Young University, just to name a few. His book, THE NPR CURIOUS LISTENER’S GUIDE TO JAZZ will be used as the textbook for the course. As a musician, Mr. Schoenberg has worked with, among others, Wynton Marsalis, Benny Goodman, John Lewis, Benny Carter, Jimmy Heath, Jo Jones, Buck Clayton, James Williams, Christian McBride, Marian McPartland, Bobby Short, Sylvia Syms, Ella Fitzgerald, Dave Schildkraut and Eddie Durham. He has conducted the jazz orchestras at Lincoln Center, the Smithsonian and Juilliard, as well as the American Jazz Orchestra, The WDR band in Cologne, Germany, and for the past his 26 years, the Loren Schoenberg Jazz Orchestra.

To register, please call the Museum’s offices at 212-348-8300 or go to the Museum’s newly redesigned website.

I signed up already! I love jazz but I'm ashamed to say that up until this point, I have been a lazy jazz listener. I appreciate the improvisation, tonal switches and melodic mellifluousness that jazz affords but, as I said before, I'm a lazy listener. Which is surprising because I tend to be a pretty good one when I'm with others but when I'm with myself, my thoughts intervene with the music. Perhaps this class, along with jalylah's 52s club, will help me sophisticate my listeneing techniques. Next week, the Rose Theatre Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center ensemble will perform a show entitled "Coltrane", a tribute to the late master. I'm going to try to go. I myself don't boast a significant knowledge of jazz but I certainly do wield a voracity for it. Although, it seems kind of hard for me to find someone my age who has the same reverence and appreciation for it as I do. Which leads me to the questions: Are you a good listener? Do you know how to listen to jazz?

small beer, noun: 1. Weak beer. 2. Insignificant matters; something of little importance. adj:1. Unimportant; trivial.

"It may be that the satisfaction I need depends on my going away, so that when I've gone and come back, I'll find it at home"
--- Rumi

Romp-ing Around in the Dark

2006-09-07T17:05:00.000-04:00

As of recently, I have been reading a slew of books where Blackness is a major [albeit background] character in the novel, driving the protagonist's actions, informing the dialogue and prominent themes of the novel but is placed in the background of the text as the white protagonist's shift through angst and conflict. In other words Blackness informs the text in pretty much everyway possible but is relegated to the background. I recently re-read Toni Morrison's Playing in the Dark and became re-inspired. So, I just completed Sigrid Nunez's The Last of Her Kind and Tony D'Souza's Whiteman, both good books in their own right and I encourage you all to read them.

The Last of Her Kind is narrated by Georgette, i.e. George, a working class young woman, whose roommate Ann, directly influences the course of her life. Ann hails from an extremely wealthy, WASPy family, and detests the privilege and whiteness that she has been born with. When applying to Barnard, she specifically requests a roommate with a "background" [i.e. Black, working class] completely antithetical to her own. Ann despises anyone white, conservative, or not poor. She is indeed the last of her kind, spitting venom to her parents because of their whiteness and privilege, her life propelling her to a place of activism and anti-authority, eventually being convicted of murdering the cop who murdered her Black fiance. The book is narrated in the first person by Georgette.

Whiteman is the tale of Jack Diaz, told in the first person from his point of view. He's a relief worker working in the Ivory Coast and the novel basically recounts his experiences living among the Ivorians --- his frustrations at never seeming to "fit in" as a white man despite his perfection of the language and customs and his sexual encounters with the women there, all amidst the impending warfare between the Christians and the Muslims.

Both books are a good read but its interesting how important Black people are to both books --- in fact they are indispensible yet their stories are secondary. For example, The Last of Her Kind takes place in 1960s New York where the social and political climate was extremely tenuous at best for Blacks and Whiteman delves into a whiteman's experience as a relief worker in the politically mercurial Ivory Coast. Blackness is at once desired and feared. Its almost like both novels explore what its like for a certain kind of "noble" white person of a certain level of privilege to navigate through Blackness. Blackness is to be explored and studied but not the focal point of the novel. These are definitely books you should read if only to form your own opinion. I am going to read Norman Rush's Whites and Mating as well as Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness and Kipling's Kim as the next books in a series of white people who write about white people living among people of color.

robustious -- adj:1. Boisterous; vigorous. 2. Coarse; rough; crude.

"Don't grieve. Anything you lose comes round in another form"
--- Rumi

I've Been Meaning to...

2006-08-27T13:23:00.000-04:00

I've been meaning to read Edward P. Jones's The Known World for some time, particularly after it won the Pulitizer Prize three years ago. The plot, as well as the scope magnitude, and general prize by literary scholars alike pull me towards the novel. All Aunt Hagar's Children, his new book, is apparently a collection of short stories that takes place in the same time period as his The Known World. There are especially no excuses for me not having read The Known World as I actually purchased the book when it came out! Just put is aside one day and neever came back to it! Enjoy your Sunday!

provender -- noun: 1. Dry food for domestic animals, such as hay, straw, corn, oats, or a mixture of ground grain; feed. 2. Food or provisions.

"I am attracted to myths" -- Tina Turner

Call Me Ambitious

2006-08-25T16:54:00.000-04:00

So, in my relenting quest to find some sort of outlet for the ever incessant traffic of ideas and projects that run in and out of my mind, I have decided to (and have been actively working on) putting together a number of edited collections on a variety of topics (which I will go into in a minute) that would serve the following purposes:

1. Giving smart and intelligent writers an avenue (especially writers of color and women) in which they can publish their work.
2. Adding to the canon of intelligent thought with fresh ideas and voices, colorful prose, and critical debate, especially as it relates to the bigotry, ignorance, and stupidity that has a monopoly of the contemporary public space.
3. Bringing to the surface issues, specifically those in pop culture and politics, that while extremely important have barely made it to the surface of critical debate and public scrutiny.

With that said, I am in the works with a few publishers in securing edited collections of the following topics:
1. Race Wars -- An edited collection that will include essays that speak to the publicly contentious relationships between people of color i.e. Blacks/Hispanics, Blacks/Koreans, etc. This collections will probe the possible causes of such dissension as well as why these relationships need to and should be mended. For this collection, I want to especially want to hallmark contributions by people of color.

2. There is no title for this collection but I want to publish a collection of essays by people of African descent in their twenties, who speak about race, gender, and class post-Civil Rights America. How have things changed? Have things changed? As an African American, are you pessimistic or optimistic about the future of Black America. More on this later.

3. I want to publish a collection on Blacks speaking about the Black middle class. These could be your own experiences as well as essays. More on this as well.

For this particular post and for the time being, I have put the above ideas aside(would love to hear any comments on the above ideas) to work on the first edited collection. Below, I have written the unofficial Summary of the first edited collection that I am working on. Next week I will publish a more astute, well-thought out explanation of what I'm trying to do:

PRIMARY COLORS: HOW DO NOTIONS OF "COLOR" PREDICATE IDEAS, CULTURES, AND TRENDS IN CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN SOCIETY? (tentative title)

Color or colour plays an extremely important role in the landscape of American society. This important role is tied prominently to notions of race, gender, and in many instances class. For this collection, I am seeking essays that analyze the ways in which primary colors (i.e. Black, White, Green, Yellow, Orange, Purple, Brown, Red, and Blue) have been codefied amidst racist and sexist boundaries. For example, why is evil, particularly in cartoons, almost exclusively associated with Black i.e. Black clothing, Black Hair, Black eyes, etc. These entries can span the gamut of culture, language, media, politics etc. Essay can be non-fiction as well as personal experiences of "color". Entries can also look at two colors in opposition or in symmetry as well as mixed together and the color that both create. How is Black, White, Red, Yellow, Brown, etc. codefied in terms of race and sex in American culture. For instance for this collection, I will be looking at the intersection of Black and Blue -- the ways in which Blue has become an alternative version of Black in white culture(think of "the Blues, Blue Man Group, "Blue Dog" in the New Orleans art scene), a signifier of authenticity, depth, suffering, difference, the underdog, and essentially Blackness. I will further look at the ways, especially in pop culture, white culture has figured out a way in which skin can be earned redemptively, mostly by identifying with the colorful, more exotic side of difference -- Blackness and now Blueness. Franz Fanon talked about the "epidermalization of subjectivity" and this collection will do just that. How has "color" become associated with various racial and gender based themes? I also want people who will be looking at the words and/or concept of "color" or "colour" (and any variation of it..i.e. "coloured"). Entries should prioritize fresh, intelligent ideas while at the same time privileging smart and accessible language rather than obtuse, scholarly prose.

How does this sound? I'd like to see first how many people are intersted in collaborating and then by next week, I'll have any official call (that I will be publicizing shortly). I'd also appreciate any additions, questions and/or concerns that any of you may have with the topic.

In other news, I will be planning my first outing for my yahoo group Epicurean Delights (see sidebar) shortly. August Wilson's Seven Guitars is currently playing in New York at the Signature Theatre Company. Tickets are only $15 for all seats. The play is in production until Sept. 23rd so I will be planning a get together for all us New Yorkers soon!

robustious -- adj:1. Boisterous; vigorous 2. Coarse; rough; crude.

"Is it wrong for me to love my own? Is it wicked for me because my skin is red? Because I am Sioux? Because I was born where my father lived? Because I would die for my people and my country?" ---Sitting Bull

Life is Not a Fairy Tale

2006-08-23T20:16:00.000-04:00

Recently there were two made for television movies where Black people or Blackness was the focal point: Life Is Not a Fairy Tale: The Fantasia Barrino Story and The Ron Clark Story. Beginning with Fantasia, her story though contrived was interesting both for the omissions and what was featured. Fantasia's rape, low self-esteem, abusive relationships with men, and poverty were large parts of the story but her illiteracy, a large part of her story (and surprisingly not that uncommon in this country), was left out. Directed by Debbie Allen, Fantasia played herself, her acting not very polished or in many parts believable. Fantasia's father in a Hansberry-esque Raisin in the Sun moment, at the beginning of the show, signs a contract with a record company only to have his partner's writing contributions scratched from the final disc, he goes into a bout of rage breaking all the CDs and promising a showdown with the executives who produced the CD. The image of Fantasia's father is very interesting, characterized by anger, Fantasia's father is a bastion of frustrated dreams, figurative impotence as a provider, and privvy to extreme bouts of anger. In a radio broadcast shortly after Fantasi'a win as idol, Fantasia spoke about the horrific "whoopings" her brothers would receive at the hands of her father. This was of course not in the show but makes perfect since after watching it. Fantasia story of pain and low self-esteem while framed within poverty and a religious upbringing were very familiar.

Only a slightly different tangent, we have yet again another white teacher saves the Black students movie (i.e. Michelle Pfeiffer and Jami Gertz) with Matthew Perry's The Ron Clark Story. A small town kind-hearted North Carolina teacher (Perry) moves to New York and teaches at one of the worst schools in Harlem in order to make a difference. One thing I hate about these movies is the notion that Harlem is the same as Iraq, both battlefields where warfare can take place at any moment. Black malehood is coupled with violence in much the same way as it was in the Fantasia Barrino story. Black womanhood is associated with aggressiveness as well though verbal. I'm interested in the Blackness and class are interpreted via the popular media and next week will engage in a post each day that details my own musings about class and Blackness. Stay tuned... :) And I hope you all watched When the Levees Broke. More on that later this week...

expiate -- transitive verb: To make amends for; to atone for

“What treaty have the Sioux made with the white man that we have broken? Not one. What treaty have the white man ever made with us that they have kept? Not one. When I was a boy the Sioux owned the world; the sun rose and set on their land; they sent ten thousand men to battle. Where are the warriors today? Who slew them? Where are our lands? Who owns them?....What law have I broken? Is it wrong for me to love my own? Is it wicked for me because my skin is red? Because I am a Sioux; because I was born where my father lived; because I would die for my people and my country?” -- Sitting Bull

Africa is Now Officially in Style

2006-08-20T17:45:00.000-04:00

When I speak publicly about my speculation of Angelina Jolie and her rainbow tribe, I am mostly met with discontent from all people of all colors. But I can't help my suspicions. Africa has officially become "chic". Stars like Madonna, Bono, Lindsay Lohan, Gwenyth Paltrow, Jessica Simpson, Nicole Kidman and, perhaps, most famously Angelina Jolie have dedicated themselves to the continent, many picking specific countries, for which they pledge to alleviate one of more of the social ills that plague the area. Now, in order to refrain from being a complete party pooper, philanthropy is admirable. The root words phil (love) and anthro (human) meaning lover of humanity, philanthropy is indeed a beneficient enterprise, the haves creating opportunities and helping the have nots. But I contend that philanthropy is indeed, by definition, an oxymoron. Philanthropy implies a truly altruistic act, the giving of money, services, opportunities, etc. to those who don't have access. But are human beings truly capable of a completely altruistic act?

Let's take for example that giving aid to or spending time in Africa and kissing Black babies is good PR, a tax deduction, and self-fulfilling, in other words it makes YOU feel better about yourself. Philanthropy, by definition suggests that you GIVE, not receive but, at least in my opinion, that seems to be an impossible task. The giver is always receiving and in many cases receives more by giving than the recipient. I can't help but feel a sort of paternalistic overtone in many of the photos and videos that are splashed over the media of celebrities vowing to save Africa. Take Bono for instance. His work in Africa, especially with respect to AIDS, is admirable I can't help but take note that his celebrity has been a great part of his accolades with respect to his philanthropy. Stars like Bono and Angelina Jolie make millions a year based on their music and films then they go to visit Africa for awhile and then go back to their careers. To me, it feels like a hobby. Its also interesteing to note that while Bono is lauded for his philanthropic endeavors he is also has a significant stake in Forbes Magazine, a beacon of capitalism and consumption. Hmmmm????

This issue seems hard to debate. I'm sure the people in Africa aren't complaining. I mean, does it really matter in the long run why people give money to certain causes, people, etc. so long as the people ge the funds and resources to make significant changes to their quality of life? Seems like a question for New York Times and NPR's regular ethicist, Randy Cohen. Nevertheless, it matters to me. I contend that true altruism and indeed philanthropy, are oxymorons and cannot be achieved. To achieve either one of these concepts, a completely SELFLESS act must take place and I don't think that's possible. Just the idea of feeling good about it suggests that the individual has derived something from the act. Just an idea.

This is not to say that philanthropy is not a good idea. It is indeed wonderful but I feel it should be put into its proper context. I'm just afraid that Hollywood has picked its next chic enterprise and Africa may one day go out of style like Kabbalah.

supposititious -- adj: 1. Fraudulently substituted for something else; not being what it purports to be; not genuine; spurious; counterfeit.2. Hypothetical; supposed

"I wish it to be remembered that I was the last man of my tribe to surrender my rifle"
--- Sitting Bull

The Patchwork Family

2006-08-19T20:01:00.000-04:00

I've been accused of being a lot of things, mostly in excess: too militant, too radical, too left, too sensitive, too...basically too much on one side but I don't think I'm being too sensitive when I remark on a small article on msn. Recently interviewed and very pregnant, Heidi Klum made the statement,

"In Germany — and this started with a newspaper headline — they call us `the Patchwork Family...I was like, `Hmm, is this an insult or is this positive?' I talked to Seal about it, and we're, like, it's actually kind of great — we're all different shades and we came together and we all love each other."

The patchwork family. The idea that there had to be an official name to it is indeed troublesome. Positive, I declare would be remarks that state they are a beautiful or loving family. Again, race is a focal point. I'm sure Seal gave a pleasantly benign response to Heidi's question, refusing to dig deeper into why his hue or the hues of his son and soon to be born second child would play a role in the description of his family in his wife's native homeland. How will Heidi and Klum tackle race in their household? Unintelligently and uninformed I would imagine. How will they tackle the inevitable (if it hasn't happedned already, exoticism of their children by others? As compliments I suspect.

In other news, check out this article in the New York Times that discusses the, dare I say, trend in adoption --- white people adopting Black babies...

eremite -- n: A hermit, especially a religious recluse

"Since the 1960s, we have seen the failure of the melting pot ideology. This ideology suggested that different historical, cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds could be subordinated to a larger ideology or social amalgam which is America. This concept obviously did not work, because paradoxically America encourages a politics of contestation" --- Edward Said

This Black Girl Reads...and reads and reads and reads...

2006-08-18T13:58:00.000-04:00

So I have an idea -- nebulous, nascent at best but an idea. I've decided to apply for this grant that allows me to put together an art project that can benefit the greater New York and I've decided to organize a weekend literary fest. I want to solicit new and established writers, in all genres, who would be willing to share their work. I want to put together panels with established writers. I want this weekend to run the gamut of anything and everything that is related to writing. And I want the focus to be people of color. I want to showcase the literary talents of people of color in New York in the Spring. Eventually, I'd like this to branch out into a full out arts festival: music, film, dance, literature, etc. But I want to start small first. So, I want to start an informal call. If there are any writers: professional, wannabes, or otherwise, who want to participate, let me know. Also let me know what you'd like to see as it pertains to writing and reading. I think people like maryann have done a great job encouraging people to read and creating opportunities that bring readers together. I want to do the same. In the coming weeks, more on this idea will be explored, including an official call for artwork, more details on the program, etc. Any thoughts?

"I have been unable to live an uncommitted or suspended life. I have not hesitated to declare my affiliation with an extremely unpopular cause" --- Edward Said

adumbrate -- transitive verb: 1. To give a sketchy or slight representation of; to outline.2. To foreshadow in a vague way.3. To suggest, indicate, or disclose partially.4. To cast a shadow over; to shade; to obscure

Too Sleepy to Properly Rant About Why I Hate Technology

2006-08-15T18:04:00.000-04:00

So after only a year of service, my P.C. completely crashed. Sh*tDa*nMut*aFu*ka!! Needless to say, I'm embarrassingly late on a myriad or projects that I have in the works from contributons to anthologies, DVD reviews, my TV column, my own personal writing, and alas, my blog. I guess its time to get creative. So I have been hogging the computer at Chica Luna Productions where I do grant writing. To top things off, my body is in a chronic state of sleepiness, they way it feels when its preparing it self to go to bed. So much has gone on in the world in just a week. So while I write apology letters to my various editors and try to keep up the 18 billion things I have to do between now and 2:00 p.m. tomorrow, I have included this poem by Derek Walcott that I think is really beautiful. Enjoy! :)

"Love After Love"

The time will come
when, with elation,
you will greet yourself arriving
at your own door, in your own mirror,
and each will smile at the other's welcome,

and say, sit here. Eat.
You will love again the stranger who was yourself.
Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart to itself,
to itself, to the stranger who has loved you
all your life, whom you ignored
for another, who knows you by heart.
Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,

the photographs, the desperate notes,
peel your own image from the mirror.
Sit. Feast on your life.

---Derek Walcott

sough -- intransitive verb: 1. To make a soft, low sighing or rustling sound, as the wind. n:1 . a soft, low rustling or sighing sound

"Since the time of Homer every European, in what he could say about the Orient, was a racist, an imperialist, and almost totally ethnocentric"
---Edward Said

For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Jew Boys When the Negroes Ain't Enough

2006-08-05T11:39:00.000-04:00

Danzy Senna begins her 1998 essay "The Mulatto Millenium" as such: "Strange to wake up and realize you're in style". And indeed being bi-racial (or as Senna asserts, being "'fauxlatto': a person impersonating a mulatto. Can be of white, black or other heritage, but for inexplicable reasons claims to be of mixed heritage") is "hot" now, currently being the new exoticism that American pop culture has engendered itself. Its in fact, to a certain extent, advantageous to be biracial or multiracial (or at least appear to be) in Hollywood in the sense that your looks and/or ancestry don't pigeonhole you into one distinct racial category, i.e. Jessica Alba, Vin Diesel, Halle Berry, Alicia Keys, etc, allowing you to play role that other "colored" people may not be privy. Take Jennifer Lopez, a Puerto Rican (which is a category of mixed race in and of itself) has played a Mexican, Native American, and Italian among other things. In fact, in a 2002 study performed by UCLA's Jay Phelan, Phelan asserts that bi-racial people are "more attractive"than "uniracial" people across the board based on data that showed biracial people to have more symmetry in their faces. Indeed being bi or multiracial is becoming more and more politicized outside of pop culture, demanding the re-categorization of race in the American landscape. A number of memoirs and novels have made waves in the past decade, chronicling the lives of their biracial authors and/or characters, most notably: **The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother**, Caucasia, Black, White, and Jewish, The Skin Between Us: A Memoir of Race, Beauty, and Belonging, Fade: My Journeys in Multiracial America, On Beauty and The Professor's Daughter. In the fall of 1993 Time Magazine published a cover story entitled "The New Face of America"featuring a woman who is a composite of varying races. The racial categories of the census have also come under scrutiny for their limited racial categorizations. Prominent celebrities such as Kanye West (in a recent Rolling Stone cover story) have expressed their preference for women of mixed race. And the list goes on and on. It is indeed a multiracial millenium in America, a place where racial categorizations have been so stringently enforced for so long.

My youngest sister is always telling me that race doesn't exist; its a false category. And I know this is true but I argue that the false has become very much real, the fantastical has become reality when it comes to issues as broad as access to health care, incarceration rates, roles in Hollywood and ideals of beauty among other things. Perhaps what makes the multiracial movement so threatening to the power structures that be is its potential to disarm carefully crafted racial stratums. But then again, in places like Brazil where a multitude of racial categories exist, racism is extremely virulent and socially exclusive. Thus, is this a sign of inclusivity or another stratum for racial exclusion and preference? How is a person who is multiracial defined? Take for example, African Americans the majority of whom have European and/or Native American ancestry as well. Are we mixed or multiracial? Should we check that on a census? Or is multiracial only confined to first generation mixtures? If so, why? Blackness is, after all, especially in this country, a category of mixture.

I contend that the only progress that will be made in the name of race in this country is the elimination of race in and of itself. As new racial categories become apparent, new hierarchies of power, beauty, and acceptance are being constructed. As this society becomes more and more blended, questions of race will be called into question more and more. If and when people of mixed race become more recognized in society, racism will still exist. It just changes its form to accomodate the society at hand. Decades ago, it was burning crosses, grandfather clauses, and lynchings. Now its rearing its head in varying degrees: averse government policies to Hurricane Katrina. If we are ever to get to the bottom of racism, then intense dialogues and movements surrounding the intricacies of race are needed.

* Courtesy of Danzy Senna's "The Mulatto Millenium"
** Excellent book that I highly recommend, definitely the best in the list above.

prima facie -- adv: 1. At first view; on the first appearance adj:1. True, valid, or adequate at first sight; as it seems at first sight; ostensible.2. Self-evident; obvious.3. (Law) Sufficient to establish a fact or a case unless disproved.

"To me, the greatest pleasure of writing is not what it's about, but the inner music that words make" --- Truman Capote

Save the Date: Spelman College Reunion for c/o 2002

2006-08-04T21:04:00.000-04:00

I can't believe its been almost five years since I graduated from Spelman! May 9th-13th, 2007 is my fifth year reunion. So I guess I have some motivation to make something of my life before then. I have to have a book deal or a film project or a boyfriend or something if I want to show my face respectfully.

In other news Sanaa Lathan will have a substantial role on one of my favorite shows on TV, Nip/Tuck, when the season starts. Can't wait!

supercilious -- adj: Disdainfully arrogant; haughty

"Friendship is a pretty full-time occupation if you really are friendly with somebody. You can't have too many friends because then you're just not really friends"
--- Truman Capote

New Orleans, Kasi Lemmons, and Family Reunions

2006-08-03T19:26:00.000-04:00

“What happened in New Orleans was a criminal act,” he said, a tragic backhanded slap to poor, black or politically insignificant people. “The levees were a Band-Aid here and a Band-Aid there. In the famous statement of Malcolm X, the chickens came home to roost. Somebody needs to go to jail”
---Spike Lee as reported in the New York Times

My mother aclled me two weeks ago and said "Courtney, I just saw Spike Lee!" She and my ad were in New Orleans for a monthly Board meeting that my dad serves on that was around the time that Spike Lee was in New Orleans debuting his documentary, “When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts”. Being a native Louisianaian (at least five generations deep), Katrina was beyond personal. I'm just beginning to get to the point where I can talk/write about it freely without getting emotional. All four acts of the documentary airs on HBO at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 29, the first anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. I implore everyone to please watch. I'm curious to see how Spike handles this documentary. I've loved some of his works such as Malcolm X and Bamboozzled and had issues with others She Hate Me and She's Gotta Have It but he has always been a filmmaker that made me pay attention to him. He is frequently touted as "controversial" which I disagree with largely because it implies "untruth" or a fondness of created discord when there really isn't any there, none of which I think Spike does. In other Spike news, he's developing a drama for NBC. Details on this drama are hush hush (as is his roll with the drama) but I will definitely support.

I am also included a transcripted talk with Kasi Lemmons below. Will make interested reading if you have time. I am also going out of town (for a lot of things, most notably a family reunion) but hope to keep up with my bloggery while I'm away!

Movie Talk
Kasi LemmonsWriter-DirectorThursday, August 3, 2006; 1:00 PM
Kasi Lemmons made her feature film debut with 1997's well-received "Eve's Bayou." Now the writer-director is working on a biopic based on the life of Ralph Waldo "Petey" Greene, the former inmate who became a Washington, D.C. talk show host and activist. The film, "Talk to Me," is currently in production and stars Don Cheadle, Taraji P. Henson, Martin Sheen and Cedric the Entertainer.

Lemmons was online Thursday, Aug. 3 at 1 p.m. ET to discuss the movie and her career.
The filmmaker also directed "The Caveman's Valentine" (2001), and has a number of acting credits on her resume, including roles in Spike Lee's "School Daze," "The Silence of the Lambs" and "Fear of a Black Hat."
A transcript follows.
____________________
Washington, D.C.: I am from Georgetown/Foggy Bottom, and my family knew Petey Greene well. I know it has been 22 years since his death, but what made you do this film now? How did he come to your attention? Were you aware that the Old Georgetown/Foggy Bottom picnic was held on July 15, and T-shirts were made with his picture on the front?
Joyce May Brown

Kasi Lemmons: I wish I could have one of those T-shirt. I first became aware of Petey Greene through this project. The script was submitted for me to work on as a writer They were looking for a writer to do another draft. It was very familiar, even though I didn't know that I had heard of him when I read the script. I guess I'd heard of him someplace, but I wasn't really familiar with him as a person. I fell in love with his story, which really is not the Petey Greene story. It's a story in which Petey Greene is a character and deals with his friendship with Dewey Hughes between 1960 to 1972. It's a story about Dewey Hughes and Petey Greene and political activism through radio. But basically it's a story about friendship and that's why I was interested in it.
That being said, one of the things that really attracted me is Petey Greene's tell-it-like-it-is style. Because that's really missing today. People self-censor or are censored. That's why I related to him, he just told it like it was.
_______________________
Kasi Lemmons: The story takes place between 1966 all the way to Petey's death in 1984 but the bulk of the story takes place between 1968 and 1972.
_______________________
Chicago, Ill.: How did you get funding for the Petey Green film? Is it difficult finding money for films with a predominately black cast?

Kasi Lemmons: It's extremely difficult to get money for films with a predominantly black cast. We were independently financed by Sidney Kimmel Entertainment because a producer there, Bill Horberg, felt passionately about the story but we were extremely lucky.
_______________________
Dorchester, Mass.: I look forward to your film with the marvelous Don Cheadle. Good thoughts and best wishes on this project.
Now, for my question: How will folks outside of D.C. "get" your movie? I know that "Coach Carter" was a good movie but it was about someone most of the country was unfamiliar with and, it seemed, not very excited about. The movie had the kind of values folk drone on about but its staying power was weak. How will you combat this possibility?

Kasi Lemmons: As I've said, this is not the Petey Greene story; it's a story in which Petey Greene is a character. Basically it's a story about friendship so it's very universal. It's a story about investing your dreams in another person. It's a story about activism and politics and community and how those things intersect. And it's a story about a man who had a voice that inspired and that's very universal. It's a dynamic story because the character's (Petey Greene) is very dynamic and you don't have to be a Washingtonian to appreciate that. You don't even have to be black to appreciate. It's something that I think will reach a large audience.
_______________________
Bethesda, Md.: How did Mr. Greene's time in prison affect his later work? Did he make plans in prison and work towards them while in prison, or was what happened after prison mostly independent of all that?

Kasi Lemmons: No, what happened in prison is very important. It's in prison that he became a disk jockey. He started doing the broadcasts at Lorton and he became very good at it and he was a very popular prison DJ. So when he came out of prison he took that skill with him and expanded on it.
_______________________
Greenbelt, Md.: As a life-long Washington area resident, I'm concerned about the "look" of your film. Many of the structures and landmarks that were around during the '60s and '70s no longer exist. How will your film compensate for those losses?

Kasi Lemmons: We looked at a lot of documentary footage and matched it as best we could. It helped a lot that my production designer (Warren Allen Young) spends half of his time in D.C. and so he's very familiar with the city. He owns houses there and he's very detail-oriented, so he made sure that the places we photographed really resembled the places in D.C. in the '60s and '70s. So we filmmakers always face a challenge to make things feel authentic in movies and we try to rise to the challenge and get as much right as we can. Well because a lot of it takes place in communities that are not so monument-heavy, we chose locations that just had a community feel and reminded us of D.C. If we do our job right the audience should be completely comfortable in believing that they are actually seeing D.C. in the '60's and '70s.
_______________________
Washington, D.C.: This isn't a question but a comment. In 1975, my sister, brother-in-law and I went to a Richard Pryor, Kool and the Gang show at the Carter Baron Amphitheater in D.C. Petey Greene was in the audience and giving Richard some back talk. So, Richard put a chair on the stage and made Petey sit in it. Petey quieted down, Richard continued his show, and the audience had a big laugh, thanks to two unusual, outspoken, very crazy black men!!
Best of luck with this movie!!!

Kasi Lemmons: Thank you so much. That's a funny story.
_______________________
New York, N.Y.: "Eve's Bayou" is one of my favorite films. The cinematography and the way you captured cultural nuances was magical. Are you from Louisiana? I hope your new film can work the same magic with its story.

Kasi Lemmons: I'm not from Louisiana but I have family in Louisiana. Some of my father's family is from there. I spent a lot of time as a little kid in Tuskegee, Ala., where my grandmother lived so I'm very familiar with the Deep South. I also have spent a lot of time in New Orleans, a truly magical city that I hope and pray will recapture all of its former glory.
_______________________
Altadena, Calif.: How was the cast chosen for this movie?

Kasi Lemmons: I chose them. As a director, I chose the actors. Don Cheadle was my idea. Chiwetel Ejiofor came in and auditioned and he was spectacular. They were so great together; they had such great chemistry. We thought Martin Sheen would be a great idea to play the head of the radio station, E.G. Sonderling. He has that perfect balance of cool and conservative that we needed for the character and he's wonderful in the movie. Mike Epps and Cedric the Entertainer are also wonderful in the cast. Taraji Henson is the female lead and she's spectacular and also my husband is in the movie, Vondie Curtis Hall. It's a great cast and I am delighted to have had the opportunity to work with such fine actors.
_______________________
Oxon Hill, Md.: When will the movie be release to the public?

Kasi Lemmons: I really don't know yet. Focus Features is releasing the movie and they say they won't make a decision until after they see it edited. I'm thinking either spring or fall of '07.
_______________________
Chicago, Ill.: In the WP article you are quoted as saying as a black woman, you know black men better than they know themselves. What do you mean by that?

Kasi Lemmons: What I actually said was that was what I said in trying to get the job. It was one of the lines I used to promote myself as the director. I do believe that it's true. I think that men in general shy away from or are afraid of revealing their vulnerabilities and women who love men see them for the fabulous delicate creatures that they are and aren't so afraid of exposing their vulnerabilities.
I've often thought that good writers write more revealingly about the opposite sex, maybe because it's less personal.
_______________________
Washington, D.C.: I really enjoyed Terence Blanchard's music for "Eve's Bayou" -- will he be scoring this film as well?
Kasi Lemmons: Hopefully he will. I would like nothing better.
_______________________
Silver Spring, Md.: What role will your husband have in the movie? I must say that he never looked hotter (to me!) than he looked in "Eve's Bayou." Clearly, there's a lot of passion between you.

Kasi Lemmons: He plays Sunny Jim, one of the deejays at the station. I also think he looked hot in Eve's Bayou.
_______________________
Washington, D.C.: How was it to film in Washington? Easy or hard to do all the red tape? Were the police good to work with? How do you find old cars for a period movie? Can you see yourself shooting something else in DC in the future? I "googled" Petey Greene and came up with links to a clip from his TV show where he is talking about eating watermelon, I guess folks find that funny, without realizing his message was "be true to yourself." I look forward to your film.

Kasi Lemmons: I was very pleased to be shooting in D.C. Next time I would hope to be there longer. The police were great and I at least didn't experience any red tape. So I found it a very good place to shoot and I would hope to shoot an entire movie there one day as opposed to just coming in at the end.
The Petey Greene eating watermelon clip is one of the few surviving clips of the show which is why it always comes up when you google Petey Greene. I've heard that there are more shows in private possession but I've seen only one or two. Petey's message was always be true to yourself, keep it real.
_______________________
Southeast, Washington, D.C.: Although I'm a native Washingtonian, I was born in 1980 and was surely not listening to talk radio in the four years that transpired between my birth and "Petey"'s death. So I'm not really familiar with his story or his relationship with Dewey Hughes.
Can you share a bit about his role in or contribution to the formation of talk radio in Washington?! As an adult, I'm a huge fan of WOL now, as one of the truly uncensored and straight-up voices of the black experience, but knew nothing of the relationship between Dewey Hughes and Petey. (You're probably going to just tell me to see the movie - which I will - but pre-tell!!)

Kasi Lemmons: Petey was the cell mate of Dewey Hughes's brother and Dewey was a young programmer at WOL. His brother kept telling him about this guy that he was in prison with that would do these broadcasts at Lorton and when Petey got out Dewey brought him in to work at WOL as a deejay. Hughes eventually went on to manage Petey Greene.Dewey Hughes found that Petey Greene's in your face, tell it like it is style made him a radio sensation. He became the voice of the community.Hughes married Kathy Liggins and they bought WOL together. Then Dewey walked away from the business and Kathy Hughes turned WOL into the cornerstone for Radio One.Though this story deals with a specific time period between 1967 and 1972 primarily before the Hughes bought WOL it does touch on the birth of Radio One.
_______________________
Washington, D.C.: Ms. Lemmons, first, thank you so much for "Eve's Bayou." Truly a classic movie. Rarely have we seen movies that allowed black women to be so beautifully shot and complex. But here's an obvious question, why haven't we seen more movies from you?

Kasi Lemmons: I've spent a lot of the intervening time to get movies made. It's very difficult to get movies made, especially because I like to have at least worked on the script as a writer before I direct it; therefore, the process is often very long. I've had four or five films that I've tried to get made between the time of Eve's Bayou (1997) and this one. In 2000, I made a film called Caveman's Valentine with Samuel L. Jackson which was underappreciated -- more appreciate in DVD than it was when it was released.
Also, I have two young children so I don't necessarily have to be one of those directors that does a film a year. It has to be material that I feel passionately about. I have to be in love with the movie in order to direct it.
_______________________
Baltimore, Md.: Congratulation on your upcoming movie. I immensely enjoyed "Eve's Bayou." I'd like to know what advice you could give to someone interested in pursuing a career behind the camera. Did you study film and acting in college? Thanks, Jennifer-Baltimore

Kasi Lemmons: I went to film school after I was a professional actress. I highly recommend going to film school if you're serious about being a filmmaker. Film school often gives you the opportunity to make a short film and to experience the different positions on crew. I went to the New School of Special Research in New York City which has a great film program.
_______________________
Baltimore Md.: Ms. Lemmons: Can you please tell us what in particular drew Don Cheadle to this project? Have you all worked together before?
And on a side note, let me say that I am one of a number of people I know who would get home on Saturday night in time to watch Petey Greene's Washington on Channel 20. When one of us meets another, someone invariably says:
"Don't want no cryin,' don't want no lyin,' and most of all, don't want no signifyin'!"

Kasi Lemmons: Yep, that's a Petey Greene line. "No want laughin'. Don't want no cryin' and most of all, no signifyin'." I think Don Cheadle was attracted to role of Petey Greene and the opportunity to play this charismatic person who spoke the truth, sometimes shockingly but it's a very different kind of character for Don. Petey Greene's very raw and real and unpretentious and in your face. Wait till you see Don Cheadle in this film. He's so wonderful.
_______________________
Silver Spring, Md.: I loved "Caveman's Valentine" and I am very much looking forward to the Petey Greene film -- Cheadle is always worth watching and Chiwetel Ejiofor is one of my fave actors following "Dirty Pretty Things."But I am curious about "Fear of a Black Hat." My best friend and I have been quoting that movie for almost 10 years now much like we did earlier with "Spinal Tap" when we were a bit younger, and yet almost everyone I meet has never heard of it. Why wasn't it a bigger hit? Do you think the lesser "CB4" stole the whole rap parody angle?
Since you had a big role in "Fear," did you stay in touch with Rusty Cundieff? Why doesn't he do more?Thank you!

Kasi Lemmons: Rusty and I see each other occasionally, mostly at events. He's very talented and I'd like to see more work from him as well. Oddly, Fear of a Black Hat had a big following in the U.K. I went to London for a press tour for Eve's Bayou and all the press wanted to talk about was Fear of a Black Hat. It was funny. I liked that movie too. It's in my personal collection.
_______________________
Kasi Lemmons: Thank you and I hope that you all will enjoy the movie. I know you will.

myrmidon -- n: 1. (Capitalized) A member of a warlike Thessalian people who followed Achilles on the expedition against Troy 2. A loyal follower, especially one who executes orders without question, protest, or pity.

"Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor" -- Truman Capote

A Pop Star Leading the Pack

2006-08-02T19:21:00.000-04:00

“Just because I have this newfound love in my life, that doesn’t mean I’m going to play it any softer, or that I’m going to change my point of view on sexuality... I still got the nasty in me”
--- Xtina

I've never really been a fan of Christina Aguilera. In saying this, I mean that I have never really embraced the totality of her star image, i.e. her overbearing, gauche sense of fashion characterized by the changing texture and extremist color choices she chooses for her varying coiffures, her outrageously tight outfits of little fabric, and her 15-20 pound makeup requirement for each red carpet or concert appearance. Combine this with her too frequent use of melismas when she sings and her referring to herself as Boricua in her records (I thought Boricuas were Puerto Rican???, which she is not) and I was quickly disillusioned with her.

Now snap back into 2006 and while, I don't necessarily like her, I respect her and the musician that she has become. Her "Back to Basics", which is due out this month, is poised to be one of if not the most impressive and stellar albums by a musician this year. Christina's talent is undeniable. Back when she and another fellow alum of the Mouseketers, Britney Spears, first arrived on the music scene, Christina was unanimously voted the greater talent but Britney was the bigger star. Fast forward a few years and Christina has grown into a huge star in her own right. Her pipes are undeniable, she has new love, a new look (which I approve of, although I don't think she needs that much makeup) and a more evolved, mature sound. Making no bones about her adaptation of the sounds, styles, and appearances of her idols ---Billie Holliday, Ella Fitzgerald, Etta James and Eartha Kitt --- this new album is her homage (or appropriation depending on how you look at it) of the blues and jazz of Black female soul stars in the '20s, '30s, and '40s. In fact, for the making of this album she wore bright red lipstick and her hair in the style of '30s Blues artists at every recording session to stay in "character".

While I have always had a problem with white stars (which also includes white looking or stars packaged as white) appropriating Black music for monetary and celebratory fame, Christina's "Back to Basics" may turn out to be more like an homage or ode to rather than appropriation (we'll see when the album comes out).

Christina also seems like a woman who knows what she wants and has a clear vision and essence that she wants on her records, asserting a type of control over her image and sound that I see from few young female musicians today. In this week's New York Times, Lola Ogunnaike writes "DJ Premier was shocked to get her call, but Ms. Aguilera said she was drawn to him because of the jazzy sound he gave the rapper Gang Starr in the early 90’s. 'He searches through his vinyl, finds the obscure pieces and reinvents the old,' she said. 'You never know if you’re going to vibe with someone, but we immediately hit it off.' She said it helped that he maintains a much lower profile than many of today’s celebrity producers. 'Isn’t it enough to just make the beats anymore?' she asked, mildly annoyed. 'What are you, starved for attention?'
She likes that his sound is not ubiquitous. 'I have no interest in working with the Neptunes,' she said of the omnipresent producing team. 'A lot of what’s on the radio sounds the same because everyone is using the same producers. Music is suffering because nobody wants to step out on a limb and go for something different. Everyone wants to stay in their safety box,' which Ms. Aguilera said she has absolutely no interest in doing, even if it means upsetting her label.

Though other female pop stars are paving through their own spaces in the pop music realm i.e. Pink (vocally gifted and outspoken, but not a huge revenue builder), Beyonce (vocally skilled with incredible stage presence but extremely co-dependent with no real idenitity outside the men in her life) and many copies and look-alikes but Christina stands out. I have a feeling that she will come to develop what all the great pop musicians have --- longevity.

*If you would all be so kind, please vote for me on the Black Weblogs Awards site*.

malapropos -- adj: 1. Unseasonable; unsuitable; inappropriate; adv: 1. In an inappropriate or inopportune manner; unseasonably

"Life is a moderately good play with a badly written third act" --- Truman Capote

In the Name of Charlton Heston or

2006-08-01T18:28:00.000-04:00

And indeed, people are making asses of themselves. A slip of the tongue, a drunken moment, psychological breakdown --- there are a myriad of excuses. From Mel Gibson's anti-semitic rant to Gov. Mitt Romney "tar baby" reference to the incessant racial insensitivity (to put it lightly) on ABC's The View, the American public space is being inundated with racism. Now if the FCC, can dictate a fine for Janet Jackson's breast blaring episode at the Super Bowl, doesn't it make since for them to enact fines for prominent celebrities and notables who say offensive things about ethnic groups on air, in front of millions? Shouldn't shows like "Yo Momma" be fined for their glaring racial bias? Radio programs are. If behavior can be labeled as indecent and fined, couldn't speech be fined just as accordingly?

How should vile racist acts in a public space be policed? If you say something or do something that is racially out of line, then you should be held accountable for it. Now, just wait, I know its coming...just a matter of time before Barbara Walters calls somebody a nigger on Primetime, you just wait!

*More on this tomorrow, but please check out the following New York Times ad on overweight, loud Black women in popular media that is covered by the New York Times today*

camarilla -- n: A group of secret and often scheming advisers, as of a king; a cabal or clique

"Finishing a book is just like you took a child out in the back yard and shot it" -- Truman Capote

Separation of Church and State

2006-07-31T13:18:00.000-04:00

Have you ever heard of Reverend Gregory A. Boyd, pastor of Woodland Hills Church, a megachurch, in suburban St. Paul, Minnesota? If not, you should look him up for he is expressing many sentiments that I have been mulling over for quite some time. Reverend Boyd asserts that since the presidential election race of last year, conservative politicians and members of his congregation alike have been urging him to vocally support conservative politicians and causes (anti-abortion rallies, actively denounce homosexuality, support the war in Iraq, etc.). He refuses because he vehemently opposes the merging of the institutions of church and state. In today's New York Times article, the author, Laurie Goodstein, asserts,

"Before the last presidential election, he preached six sermons called “The Cross and the Sword” in which he said the church should steer clear of politics, give up moralizing on sexual issues, stop claiming the United States as a “Christian nation” and stop glorifying American military campaigns... Mr. Boyd said he never intended his sermons to be taken as merely a critique of the Republican Party or the religious right. He refuses to share his party affiliation, or whether he has one, for that reason. He said there were Christians on both the left and the right who had turned politics and patriotism into "idolatry"...He said he first became alarmed while visiting another megachurch’s worship service on a Fourth of July years ago. The service finished with the chorus singing “God Bless America” and a video of fighter jets flying over a hill silhouetted with crosses. 'I thought to myself, ‘What just happened? Fighter jets mixed up with the cross?’...In his six sermons, Mr. Boyd laid out a broad argument that the role of Christians was not to seek “power over” others — by controlling governments, passing legislation or fighting wars. Christians should instead seek to have “power under” others — “winning people’s hearts” by sacrificing for those in need, as Jesus did, Mr. Boyd said...'America wasn’t founded as a theocracy,' he said. 'America was founded by people trying to escape theocracies. Never in history have we had a Christian theocracy where it wasn’t bloody and barbaric. That’s why our Constitution wisely put in a separation of church and state'. 'I am sorry to tell you,' he continued, 'that America is not the light of the world and the hope of the world. The light of the world and the hope of the world is Jesus Christ.' Mr. Boyd lambasted the “hypocrisy and pettiness” of Christians who focus on “sexual issues” like homosexuality, abortion or Janet Jackson’s breast-revealing performance at the Super Bowl halftime show. He said Christians these days were constantly outraged about sex and perceived violations of their rights to display their faith in public".

After coming public with his views, he lost about 1/5 of his congregation, mostly middle class white suburbanites who are theologically and politically conservative. But has garnered more of another demographic ---African Americans, Hispanics and Hmong immigrants from Laos, all of which he welcomes stating that his ideal is to make his church as ethnically and economically diverse as possible.

Should Jesus be in the White House? Should government decisions, policies, wars be started in the name of Jesus, Christianity? I emphatically say no for the following reasons:

In today's society being Christian or associating yourself with 'Jesus' is now associated with a boatload of baggage, primarily because of its association with Bush, conservatism, American nationalism, and Republicanism. “There is a lot of discontent brewing,” said Brian D. McLaren, the founding pastor at Cedar Ridge Community Church in Gaithersburg, Md., andone of the leaders in the evangelical movement commonly known as the “emerging church,” that is at the forefront of challenging the more politicized evangelical establishment.
“More and more people are saying this has gone too far — the dominance of the evangelical identity by the religious right... You can’t say the word ‘Christian,’ and you certainly can’t say the word ‘evangelical’ without it now raising connotations and a certain cringe factor in people". Bush has made no mistake of vocally making political decisions that effect nations, lives and have impacted the global stratosphere in the name of God. What? How is this ever accepted and/or tolerated?
Historically, Christian theocracies have been increasingly violent and oppressive. Where is there a model of a Christian theocracy that has successfully succeeded? In fact, it was't too long ago that the Church used the Bible to defend slavery.
Goodness, decency, and respect are not just Christian values. Do Christians have a responsibility to be of service and ensure justice. Yes, I agree. But I don't believe that agnostics, Jews and Muslims couldn't espouse the same values and interests when enacting policies and implementing social justice.

There are several books being published right now that speak to this current dialogue about the place of religion in politics. Here are two:

The Myth of a Christian Nation: How the Quest for Political Power Is Destroying the Church by Gregory A. Boyd
Thy Kingdom Come: How the Religious Right Distorts the Faith and Threatens America — an Evangelical’s Lament by Randall Balmer

There needs to be a division between church and state or the teaching of Jesus and the values of Christianity will once again be tied to the torture and unnecessary deaths of many. History will repeat itself! And if you're so inclined, I have included a few of Pastor Boyd's podcats below:

slugabed -- n. : One who stays in bed until a late hour; a sluggard

"I can see every monster as they come in" -- Truman Capote

Mel Gibson is a Racist?

2006-07-30T18:21:00.000-04:00

Mel Gibson was arrested Friday after police stopped his 2006 Lexus LS 430 for speeding at 2:36 a.m. Sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said deputies clocked him doing 87 mph in a 45 mph zone. A breath test indicated Gibson's blood-alcohol level was 0.12 percent, Whitmore said. The legal limit in California is 0.08 percent. Gibson posted $5,000 bail and was released hours later.Apparently, Gibson asked on eof the policemen is he was a Jew and then proceeded to go on a harangue about Jews, part of his tirade apparently consisting of "The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world". Rabbi Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the anti-defamation league, “If it’s true what’s reported, frequently hatred, bigotry and prejudice, which is controlled, explodes at moments of stress and crisis...Liquor loosens the tongue of what’s in the mind and in the heart, and in his mind and in his heart is his conspiracy theory about Jews and hatred of Jews”.

Gibson stated his contriteness when he remarked, "I acted like a person completely out of control when I was arrested, and said things that I do not believe to be true and which are despicable. I am deeply ashamed of everything I said, and I apologize to anyone I may have offended". Additionally, Gibson stated that he has battled with alcoholism virtually all his life. But the damage is done. Allegations of his possibly anti-semitic behavior arose during the press surrounding his Passion of the Christ, which made him an extremely wealthy man seeing as he financing much of the film himself. During that time his father, Hubble Gibson, remarked that most of what is being said about the Holocaust is "fiction".

Apparently Gibson has been producing a six hour documentary on the Holocaust for television but this seems moot to reconstruct his image. The Lethal Weapon guy is an anti-semite! Its interesting how racism sprouts its ugly head. I wonder what kind of outrage will stir up as a result of this latest page in the bookof racism. Will the Jewish community (and others for that matter) be virulent in their quest to address this matter? Or will it be swept under the carpet? How will this incident effect Mel's box office revenue for his upcoming movie Apocalypto about the decline of the Mayan empire? Mel has surely made a lot of enemies as Hollywood is full of Jews but will the public respond to his to his hateful tirade or remain apathetic? I think this will be a good litmus test to see 1.) How Hollywood/public respond to stars and star systems that are publicly racist and 2.) How racism against certain groups is either rolerated more or virulently dealt with at a very public level. Time will most definitely tell.

chichi -- adj: Affectedly trendy

"More tears are shed over answered prayers than unanswered ones" -- Truman Capote

Be Succinct

2006-07-29T19:17:00.000-04:00

"If you want to write better, an old mentor of mine once said, write tighter. Pick the fewest possible words, he said, and rely on compression to make your ideas explode off the page".
Jack Schafer, Slate Magazine

For all you writers out there, I've heard time and time again that the key to good writing was to get your point across in as few words as possible. Be succinct! Big words aren't necessarily the best way to go either, they alienate audiences and more often than not muddle the text. I tend to use more words than necessary, so this will surely be an interesting test for me one I feel will be useful to implement. So, in the spirit of this text. I will be concise.

Oh, had a great time this weekend with Xenia and Chi Chi. I also met this Haitian guy who went to Princeton and works at the NYSE. Hmmmmm......

bon ton -- n: 1. Fashionable or elegant manner or style 2. The proper or fashionable thing to do 3. Fashionable society; a fashionable social set

"I am who I am, doing what I came to do, acting upon you like a drug or chisel or remind you of your me-ness as I discover you in myself" --- Audre Lorde

Bill Cosby has more to say

2006-07-28T07:00:00.000-04:00

Bill Cosby is upset again. This time at the Washington Post for a series they're doing entitled "Being a Black Man", which includes video clips from young Black men, saying that it paints too rosy a picture of young Black men in America. He asserts, "The Washington Post ran a clip and then they edited it and they had in what they wanted us to see these men saying... unless I missed it, I heard not one black man say anything about being a father. I heard not one black man say, 'my responsibility,' not one. The edited version of these people with a camera on a drive-by – I'm looking to media. I don't like people who see and can't tell the truth. . . . A man tells me, 'It's not as bad as it seems.' I don't want to hear that shit." Bill Cosby was the lead speaker on a recent panel entitled, "Paths to Success: A Forum on Young African American Men", and was speaking about several surveys and points that were given in the Washington Post series including their findings that eight in 10 black men surveyed said they were satisfied with their lives and six in 10 reported that it was a "good time" to be a black man in the United States. Bill Cosby prompted a lot of dialogue a year or so ago when he lambasted working class Blacks for their child rearing and values.

Now, I have always loved Bill Cosby. I think he is an important figure in American culture, American history and Black history. But I feel myself torn with his words. The "picture perfect" American dad is now replaced with a more human side, more imperfect side; something that is disconcerting when you hold someone, especially a celebrity, up on such a high pedestal. That's why making celebrities role models is such a dangerous proposition. The celebrity is a product of a larger star system that crafts that person into an ideal. That person will inevitably act out against or deviate from the ideal. Bill Cosby is an example of that. While I understand his frustration at the state of Black people in America, I do not condone his harangue against them, particularly working class Blacks. Cosby's comments are particularly interesting as they show the disconnect between working class and middle class Blacks.

So what is the answer? While I do agree with Cosby in his assertion that things aren't great for Black men in the United States (or Black people for that matter) what good will admonishing people do? What steps, programs, mentorships, allocations of Black money, representation in government, movements, etc. in Black communtities need to be made so that Black children and Black people will have a better quality of life in America? I am still a fan of Cosby, that will never change. But now I realize that he is human.

*If you have some time today, please check out the following articles from Slate and the New York Times . They are both fascinating reads and will definitely give you a lot to talk about*.

tmesis -- n: In grammar and rhetoric, the separation of the parts of a compound word, now generally done for humorous effect; for example, "what place soever" instead of "whatsoever place," or "abso-bloody-lutely."

"I realize that if I wait until I am no longer afraid to act, write, speak, be, I'll be sending messages on a Ouija board, cryptic complaints from the other side" -- Audre Lorde

DMX: The Soul of a [Tortured] Man

2006-07-27T10:25:00.000-04:00

As a voracious reader, I have recently tried to make some system to the type of books that I will read at any given point. Recently, I have decided to read books in clumps based on author (i.e. Stephen King), profession (politician, writer, etc.) or genre (fiction, self-help, etc.). This summer, I picked biographies and autobiographies of musicians, a subject that I was not well versed in. Sure, I knew the music but I didn't know the person. I read bios on Jimi Hendrix, Sam Cooke, Charlie Parker, Chaka Khan, Marvin Gaye, Miles Davis,. etc. and common themes began to develop --- drugs, sex, alcohol. In short, is the quintessential musician a tortured soul?

Enter DMX. He is perhaps one of the most unabashedly tortured souls in contemporary music today. Even in hip-hop, where lyrics resound with a motley of violence, women, drugs, bling, and sex, the musician elicits control, asserting that s/he is in charge. Even if the public and the private converge, there is an attempt to forge a separation. Not with DMX. His public and private is almost indistinguishable. When Eminem spits about his demons he does so with a mischevious sense of humor replete with puerile antics. As Tupac asserted his demons, he also wrapped them amidst a warm coat of braggadoccio and smooth, witty banter. DMX crafts his music amidst his tortured self, each track each album eliciting the suffering and self-destructiveness that makes DMX the lost soul that we all know. He has built a hugely successful career with his candor. In 1998, his blockbuster debut, It’s Dark and Hell Is Hot and follow-up, Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood went to number one (in fact, all five of his albums have made their debut at No. 1).

His new reality show, DMX: Soul of a Man, is full of X's virtually schizophrenic behavior and personality --- he's high and he's low, he's loquacious and he's reticent, he' excited and he's mellow, he's angry and he's at peace. A man whose troubles are not just internal, he's been arrested and done time for charges as varied as crack and cocaine possession, impersonating a federal agent, reckless driving and animal cruelty. So where does DMX fit in the larger scheme of pop culture. He's a renegade, not afraid to show that's he's not in control, he has at many a concert gone off on tangents full of his own personal suffering , immediately follwing that by going into prayer. X is a wild card. Perhaps the contemporary female equivalent of X would be Mary J. Blige, famous for her own poignant brand of suffering that she has so brilliantly performed on canonical albums such as My Life and Share My World. However, Mary has evolved -- she no longer tortured, she's happy. The last two albums have marked her ascent out of the demons that have plagued her for quite some time. But X doesn't seem like he is going to be happy --- at least not yet.

What would X be like (and he music for that matter) without his suffering? Is there a happy DMX? Can DMX be a well-adjusted, centered, mental stable person and still be a successful musician? It seems strange to imagine DMX minus the torture, they seem to be so inextricably linked. If you haven't already seen the show, I would suggest you look at at least one episode. Its interesting to see DMX on his own personal and spiritual journey towards peace, where God and the Devil can show up in one breath.

Jimi Hendrix died in bed at the age of 27, choking on his own vomit as a result of a drug overdose next to a white woman that he had just finished having sex with. Jim Morrison died at 27 of a heart attack due to his frequent drug use. Janis Joplin also OD'ed in her late twenties. Marvin Gaye died in his early forties when he was shot to death by his mentally disturbed father who abused him when he was growing up. Kirt Cobain committed suicde by shooting himself in the head when he was in his twenties. Charlie Parker died in his mid thirties and when the coroner got to his body, asserted that he had the body of a man in his late fifties. Miles Davis, though he lived to be in his sixties, was plagued with physical ailments and his own series of violent demons throughout his life. All brilliant musicians but all severely troubled. Though I wouldn't label DMX as brilliant, he is definitely a relevant artist and a singularly defiant figure in contemporary pop culture and hip - hop today. Can DMX find happiness? Or better yet, should he?

gimcrack -- n: 1. A showy but useless or worthless object; a gewgaw adj: 1. Tastelessly showy; cheap; gaudy

“If I didn't define myself for myself, I would be crunched into other people's fantasies for me and eaten alive” --- Audre Lorde

The Politics of Forgiveness

2006-07-26T18:00:00.000-04:00

One of the hardest acts I have ever tried to perform has to be forgiveness. My personality combined with my philosophical disagreement with the very essence of what forgiveness entails makes it very difficult for me to perform the action. For you see, to forgive, to ultimately forgive, is pardon the offender, irrespective of both the offender's acknowledgement of the crime/wrongdoing, etc. that they have committed against you and/or the offender's own (or lack thereof) remorse.

In the book that I'm reading, Bone to Pick: Of Forgiveness, Reconciliation, Reparation, and Revenge, Ellis Cose travels around the world (i.e. South Africa, New Zealand, Peru, etc.) to study how both individuals and societies who have been ruptured and dismantled by trauma (i.e. torture, World Trade Center, warfare, violent death of a loved one) trek along the path of forgiveness, or if they even do. Its a fascinating read to say the least. Take for example the case of Amy a young girl who was raised in a middle class family of devout Mormons, her father a leader in the church. For a number of years in her pre-pubescent up until her fourteenth or fifteenth year, her father repeatedly molested her. As she got older, she began to fight him off and he eventually stopped and moved on the her younger sister. Being somewhat of a loner, Amy never really had friends in school and married at sixteen. She had two children and was involved in an unsuccessful marriage when she discovered that her father had been doing the same thing to her sister for quite some time. Despite his 300 pound frame and his violent temper, Amy, filled with rage, confronted her father. He dropped to the floor and began to beg for her forgiveness. She later found out that he had grown up in an orphanage where he was severely mistreated and carried out his rage upon his children. What I found most intriguing about this story was that while Amy eventually came to forgive her father, she finds it increasingly difficult to forgive her mother who knew about the abuse (she walked in on her husband performing oral sex on her daughter) but did nothting to stop it.

Or take for instance, Thandi Shezi's story a woman who grew up in Soweto, South Africa and was quite vocal and active in the anti apartheid and post-apartheid movement which served to end the torment of Blacks at the hands of apartheid's many enforcers. In 1988, when she was in her teens, a group of cops illegally broke in on her and her friends claiming bogus charges. To get her to talk about their activist activities, they took her male friend and put his penis within an open drawer. As Thandi shouted that she knew nothing, they repeatedly slammed the desk drawer on her friend as he screamed in pain. When they finished with him, four different white policemen took her in the back room and beat and raped her repeatedly as her hands were in cuffs so tight her wrists still bear scars. Then they covered her head with a wet sack, a torture device that when she breathed in the wet sack clung to her nostrils and took her to the edge of suffocation. They then applied electric shocks to her body. Eventually, they took her to a physician; she could barely walk and was unable to talk. The cops told the doctor that she was a prostitute and because her tongue was so badly swollen, she couldn't talk to dispute the lies. She was then incarcerated for a year in solitary confinement and never tried for any crime. A decade later, she testified before a tribunal about what happened to her. There was a part of the tribunal where perpetrators came forward to describe their crimes for amnesty. One of her assailants was there but refused knowing her or acknowledging what he had done to her. She's still trying to move forward with the reconciliation process but finds it virtually impossible if her perpetrator does not admit to what he did to her.

Its stories like these that resound through the book along with a number of pivotal questions posed by both Cose and myself (after reading much of the book):

How effective are apologies?
Are some things so horrific that models of reconciliation and/or forgiveness are not possible? Furthermore, are their some individuals, groups of people, and/or nations that are beyond forgiveness?
Is there a space for revenge, the "settling of scores", or "restorative justice" in social justice movements or acts of reconciliation? If so, how do we determine what is sufficient revenge for what crime? What is the formula? If that is determined, who should carry it out? The individual or the state? If the state, is it possible for the state to carry out "torture" and be "civilized"?
How does a nation adequately atone for atrocities of the past? How do you compensate torture survivors, survivors and descendants of historical events such as the Holocaust and American slavery? Will America ever acknowledge and/ or dialogue about American slavery?
How large a role does religion play in a person's decision to forgive?
Can mercy be taught?
How is evil that is perpetrated against humanity best dealt with: through forgiveness, through retribution...?
Is total forgiveness truly possible? Is atonement a necessary component of true forgiveness?
Is forgiveness obligatory?
Can revenge be beneficially transformative?
Is it easier or harder to forgive when the perpetrator is someone you love?

South Africa is also known for its truth commissions, tribunals where the offended/victimized, etc. are expected to and coerced into forgiving the perpetrator in the spirit of removing animosity and forging bonds between former enemies. Should reconciliation be forced? Likewise, there are others who refuse to forgive and believe vengeance is the only true answer. Forgiveness, is indeed a very, very complicated issue for me, also because I am a Christian and my religious beliefs dictate that Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord (Romans 12:19) but they also contend "an eye for an eye" (Exodus 21:24). I take my religion seriously which is why I am trying to reconcile all of these feelings, thoughts and ideas that I have. Forgiveness plays a large role in Christian doctrine but the nature of who I am can't just accept something and move forward; I have the move through my thought processes and find a way to reconcile both. I know that I will have to both forgive and be forgiven in life --- but first I must learn how to do both.

exiguity -- n: Scantiness; smallness; thinness;the quality of being meager

"The master's tools will never dismantle the master's house” -- Audre Lorde

Current Reading List

2006-07-25T23:41:00.000-04:00

I'm always looking for good books, particularly good fiction, to read. As of yet, I really haven't found any good fiction or fiction writers who have captured my interest, therefore, the following list of what I'm reading now is largely made up of non-fiction.

Come Hell or High Water: Hurricane Katrina and the Color of Disaster by Michael Eric Dyson
Bone to Pick: Of Forgiveness, Reconciliation, Reparation and Revenge by Ellis Cose
Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert
An Ordinary Man: An Autobiography by Paul Rusesabagina
You Must Set Forth at Dawn: A Memoir by Wole Soyinka
Step Across This Line: Collected Nonfiction 1992-2002 by Salman Rushdie
The Skin Between Us: A Memoir of Race, Beauty and Belonging by Kym Ragusa
The Last of Her Kind by Sigrid Nunez
Whiteman by Tony D'Souza
Are Men Necessary: When Sexes Collide by Maureen Dowd
High Lonesome: Selected Stories 1966-2006 by Joyce Carol Oates
Black Cultural Traffic: Crossroads in Global Performance and Popular Culture Edited by Harry J. Elam, Jr. and Kennell Jackson
Middle Passages: African American Journeys to Africa 1787-2005 by James T. Campbell
Dark Bargain: Slavery, Profits and the Struggle for the Constitution by Lawrence Goldstone
Kingfish: The Reign of Huey P. Long by Richard D. White, Jr.
Pornography, Sex, and Feminism by Alan Soble
Before the Legend: The Rise of Bob Marley by Christopher John Farley
We Who Are Dark: The Philosophical Foundations of Black Solidarity by Tommie Shelby
Feminism and Pornography by Drucilla Cornell
Black Marxism by Cedric Robinson

farrago -- n: A confused mixture; an assortment; a medley

"The learning process is something you can incite, literally incite, like a riot" -- Audre Lorde

AIDS: A Colored Disease

2006-07-24T22:38:00.000-04:00

Its pretty common knowledge that AIDS affects people of African descent disproportionately around the world. In fact, when I did a google image search for photos for this post, I put in the word "AIDS" and on the first page were a myriad of images associated with Africa and Blackness: pictures of the continent, underweight African children staring despondently at the camera, varying colors of Brown arms and hands encircling each other amidst slogans calling for AIDS activism. Even the photos in this post make an explicit statement about Blackness. The venomous spider and scorpion are symbols of the infected partner, notice that Blackness and the the noxious insects that are emblematic of disease are one and the same. So, in essence, AIDS has become colored. In today's New York Times an op-ed appeared about the absence of condoms in the American prison system. Basically, the rationale for this is that sex behind bars is banned. But that doesn't mean that its not happening. Perhaps its the intense conservatism of the current Bush administration coupled with the ever pervasive discomfort that society has with men having sex with men. But as the article states, "The states need to take this advice seriously. Diseases that fester in prison spill over into society as a whole when the infected inmates return to the streets". And indeed, it does spill over. In a tangential 2004 New York Times article, the focus becomes the link between individuals who have gone to prison and transmittal of HIV/AIDS among the African American population. The author Lynette Clemetson writes,

"Many inmates enter prison already infected. The prevalence of confirmed AIDS cases in prisons is three times as high as it is in the general population, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. H.I.V. cases are harder to count, because only 19 states conduct mandatory H.I.V. testing of inmates. But many researchers believe the number of prisoners with H.I.V. to be far higher than the 1.9 percent most recently documented by the justice agency. Correctional health experts say the rampant sexual activity among prisoners depicted in television shows like the HBO prison series ''Oz'' is exaggerated. But sex in prison certainly occurs. And because the distribution of condoms is banned in most correctional facilities -- North Carolina's state prison system included -- any sex between inmates carries a high level of risk.

Add the element of drug addiction, which often goes untreated in prisons and is frequently accompanied by risky sexual activity, said Robert E. Fullilove, associate dean at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, and the risk of H.I.V. transmission both inside and outside prison increases exponentially...

Newly released prisoners often plunge immediately into dangerous sexual behavior. ''Many inmates who have been locked up for a while want two things when they come out,'' said Dr. Wohl, who regularly sees current and former inmates in his clinical practice. ''One of them is a Big Mac. The other is sex. If you're going to get to them with condoms or health messages, you have to be quick.'' Thomas Clodfelter, 44, a former felon with H.I.V. who now counsels other ex-convicts in Greensboro, said that for some men, the first weekend after release is consumed with sex -- with prostitutes, old flings, fresh one-night stands or a combination thereof. Condoms, he said, are often an afterthought. "

This year AIDS turned 25. AIDS and I are coevals; I myself not consciously remembering a time when AIDS was not part of the discourse --- whether it was the mystery disease that was killing gay white men to the focus of the 1993 Oscar winning film Philadelphia to the simultaneous global phenomenon and plague it is today. Newsweek's May 15, 2006 issue was solely devoted to AIDS's 25th birthday. Within the issue was a section specifically devoted to HIV/AIDS within the Black community. There is no need to write about the statistics here, share personal stories that this article or the New York Times articles reported on, nor is there any need reiterate how devastating this disease is to our community. Its insidious problems like this: AIDS, poverty, crime, etc. that seem so incredibly herculean a task that you don't even know where to start. This bevy of information that I have had assuredly succeeded in making me hyper-sensitized and paranoid at any mention of HIV/AIDS, knowing that its my demographic that are the most dramatically effected by it in this country. Unfortunately, its become necessary to be suspicious of men and their intentions. Is he positive? Does he know if he's positive? If he is, would he tell me? Due to the dramatic and devastating impact that HIV/AIDS has had on people of African descent, it has become characterized as a sort of "Black death". Disease has become colored and this color is adding another facet of igonominious characterization to Blackness. Are African Americans a dying breed? I hope not but it seems like HIV/AIDS aims to make us one.

afflatus -- n: A divine imparting of knowledge; inspiration

"I am deliberate and afraid of nothing" -- Audre Lorde

At my funeral, there will be a guest list...

2006-07-21T19:08:00.000-04:00

Yes, its depressing, surprising and a bit macabre --- but does anyone think about the intricacies of their own funeral? Often, people daydream about the details of life altering events such as weddings, the birth of a child, but funerals??? According to today's New York Times, baby boomers want control over pretty much ever aspect of their lives and well, death, proved to be rather tricky. Enter the funeral planner or concierge. Yes I said it -- funeral planner. There are services that are arising that let you plan down to the detail how you want your funeral to play out from venue, to writing obituaries to food. Mark Duffey, creator of Everest Funeral Package, has assisted hundreds of families with the planning of their last rites.

So I know this is morbid , and trust me, I don't think about my death regularly, in fact I never do. But, I think planning the ins and outs of my funeral (yikes I said it) is something I could see myself doing. I like to be in control. And I want to make a statement in this world so why not make one going out. Here are what some people have planned for their funerals:

Estée Lauder had waiters passing out chocolate-covered marshmallows on silver trays
Robert Tisch, who ran the Loews Corporation, had a marching band and a full house at Avery Fisher Hall, all coordinated by one of New York’s most prominent party planners
Nan Kempner’s memorial was held at Christie’s auction house and guests received a CD of Mozart’s Requiem. Ms. Kempner wanted a live performance of the Requiem, but the logistics — full orchestra, chorus and soloists — were too much.

Writer and entrepreneur Lynn Eisenberg, had a lot of emotions after attending the funerals of both her father and brother. So much so that she wrote a book called The Funeral Planner based on the idea of someone who plans funerals. She has just signed a contract to write two more books on this character and Lifetime TV is developing a sho wbased on her character. She has also created a business entitled Lights Out Enterprises with an emphasis on a "tribute video", that the guests make about themselves and is left to their loved ones when they pass on. The article further stipulates that, "Though most clients want simple services, she said, one asked her for “an all-out disco party on top of their favorite mountain, with 360-degree views,” in order to remind friends of a happy period in their lives together. “And they want everyone to come dressed up in disco outfits.” For a former auctioneer, she recommended printing select words from the eulogy on auction paddles, so people could hold them up during the service".

In the end, the world is your oyster. If you have the means, you can leave this world anyway you want to. Would you want a party or a quiet service? Would you have a guest list? Would the memorial service be held in a church or on the beach? Who knows, this conversation is a bit too morbid for me to continue any further but, in this age with the right amount of cash, you can do and plan for just about anything.

scuttlebutt -- n: 1. A drinking fountain on a ship 2. A cask on a ship that contains the day's supply of drinking water 3. Gossip; rumor.

"Properly, we should read for power. Man reading should be man intensely alive. The book should be a ball of light in one's hand" -- Ezra Pound

Brazil's Delusion About Race

2006-07-20T18:20:00.000-04:00

This past week's issue of The Economist ran a story entitled "No Black and White Matter" covering Brazil's new affirmative action policies. The Racial Quota Law and the Racial Equality Statute would create a system whereby universities, the private sector and civil service would be set aside vacancies for candidates of African ancestry. These policies would also effect those of Indian or indigenous descent, the poor and, in certain circumstances, people with physical disabilities. More than 500 prominent Brazilian citizens from artists to scholars to musicians such as Caetano Veloso are vehemently opposed to the quota system. Anthropolgist Peter Fry exclaims, "If you have a society that is based on sameness, you shouldn't throw that away. One defect Brazil doesn't have is outright racial strife, and a battle over who is Black or White could create that".

What! I exclaimed as I read this. I am consistently surprised when I read this sort of hypocrisy from other nations who look to America as the only country with a race problem. Brazil most certainly does have a race problem. A huge one and Black and White categories are most definitely present, though these categories are intermingled with others that reflect the racial mixtures and hues of Brazil. The Economist states that,

"Even 118 years after slavery, the racial divide still runs deep. Except on the football pitch and in music, or during the fleeting days of carnival, precious few of the 80 m black and brown Brazilians ever rise to commanding heights in business and public life. Negros and pardos spend a third less time in the classroom than whites, earn half the wages and are far more likely to be out of work".

Blacks are at the bottom rung of the social and political hierarchy in Brazil and institutional policies need to be set in place to at least give Blacks the opportunity to achieve. What other way is there? The Latin words on the Brazilian flag above state order and progress. The delusion starts with the word progress. There is not progress, only injustice and intolerance, in a country that dis-allows Blacks the right to be first class citizens.

Word on the street: In other news, Spike Lee has inked a deal with NBC to create a new drama for the Fall. Details of the project and Lee's exact role have not been made public as of yet. This should be interesting.

brummagem -- adj: Cheap and showy, tawdry; also, spurious, counterfeit

"Either move or be moved" --- Ezra Pound

Ignorance is Bliss

2006-07-19T18:46:00.000-04:00

Every morning as I wake, I pour myself a bowl of Raisin Bran cereal (or make some brown sugar oatmeal) with fat free milk, turn the TV to Good Morning America, turn on my computer, read over my favorite blogs, and read the New York Times that I get through e-mail. Each week I receive Time, Newsweek, The Economist , The New Yorker, and New York Magazine which I make the time to read cover to cover. This being said, I pride myself with being a literate human being, stimulating my intellect and being an informed American, knowing (and being able to engage in intelligent dialogue) about a number of different issues. But alas, there are times when I wish I could give all this up for --- ignorance is bliss. Not knowing about all the atrocities, injustice, and biases that occur daily would probably make me much more content to say the least. But there are pockets in between the atrocities and glaring injustices that I find hope.

With this being said, there were two stories in the New York Times today that caught my eye, one of hope and one of tragedy. In the first, the article relays postulates on what is being called a "ghetto tax" which is defined as the extra costs, when can be anywhere from several hundreds to into the thousands, incurred by low income people to purchase everyday goods, i.e. TVs, cares, etc. Take the following examples:

Drivers from low-income neighborhoods in New York, Hartford and Baltimore who insure identical cars and have identical driving records as those who hail from middle-class neighborhoods pay $400 more on average for a year’s worth of car insurance
The poor are the primary customers for appliances and furniture at “rent to own” stores where payments are stretched out at exhorbitant interest rates; for example, in Wisconsin, a $200 television can end up costing $700
4.5 million low-income customers, defined as families making with income of less than $30,000 a year, paid on average two more percentage points for car loans than middle-class buyers
The common use of storefront check-cashing services by poor people comes with a price which varies by state; in the 12 cities studied in the Brookings Institution Report, the fee for cashing a $500 check ranged from $5 to $50.

In essence, its expensive to be poor. The Brookings Institute, a private nonprofit institution in Washington D.C. designed to faciliate independent research and implement innovative policy solutions to many national and global social ills, has published a report entitled "From Poverty, Opportunity" that details policy ideas and innovative solutions to increasing the purchasing power of the poor and decreasing their financial burdens. The writer of the report, researcher Matt Fellowes remarks, “There’s a large and for the most part overlooked opportunity here to help low-income families get ahead... That is to reduce their costs...Measures that reduced the price of essential goods and services for low-income Americans by just 1 percent would put an additional $6.5 billion a year in their hands". The report is detailed and extensive, engaging and quite innovative though I've only read a few pages of it, I plan on finishing it this weekend. As per Jalylah's blog entry yesterday where she spoke of the Parable of the Weeds, whereby when we forcefully and obnoxiously weed out the evil, we inevitably will destroy good as well. This report is an excellent example of creating solutions to social inequities through strategic research and intellectual prowess not obnoxious browbeating and bullying. By carefully pulling together social responsibility, top-notch resources and minds, and financing with a dose of moral rectitude, much can be achieved. This, my dears, is my story of hope.

Now on to the tragedy: The second story that caught my eye this morning was of another report, recently made public, that the Chicago Police Department tortured about 150 Black men in the 1970s and 1980s in interrogation rooms through the use of electric probes, playing Russian roulette, physical violence, and in some cases, smothering. Robert D. Boyle and Edward J. Egan, the men who are bringing the report to light, say that in many of the cases there is enough evidence to arrest and bring about convictions but due to the statute of limitations of three years on such crimes, indictment and prosecution is not possible. Tres depressing indeed. The end of the article stipulates that the United Nations is calling for a deeper probe, denouncing the acts and saying that such acts of torture should not be so casually dismissed. It further asks the United States to take more stringent precautions in matters of police brutality. We'll see where this goes.

salmagundi -- n: 1. A salad plate usually consisting of chopped meat, anchovies, eggs, and onions, served with oil and vinegar.2. Any mixture or assortment; a medley; a potpourri; a miscellany.

"Genius... is the capacity to see ten things where the ordinary man sees one" --- Ezra Pound

The Ole Boys Club for the 21st Century

2006-07-18T18:50:00.000-04:00

The discourse surrounding the exclusion (both implicit and explicit) of women in the sciences is not an untouched subject. Its topical importance has vacillated over the past few decades, becoming a "hot topic" when former president of Harvard Lawrence Summers remarked that "there are issues of intrinsic aptitude" when probed as to why there were so few women receiving tenure in science. The topic is heating up again as Ben Barres, a 51 year old leading neurologist and tenured professor at Stanford, is publicly disavowing the glass ceiling that prohibits many women to getting to his position. Dr. Barres has accomplished much, for lack of a better word, in his life. He received a B.S. from M.I.T., an M.D. from Dartmouth and a Ph.D from Harvard and, about a decade ago, officially went from Barbara to Ben. Dr. Ben Barres is a female to male transgender who has become an outspoken proponent against discrimination and glass ceilings in science.

Today, the New York Times published a conversation it had with Dr. Barres and he recounts a particularly infuriating instance of sexism when he was at M.I.T.

"An M.I.T. professor accused me of cheating on this test. I was the only one in the class who solved a particular problem, and he said my boyfriend must have solved it for me. One, I did not have a boyfriend. And two, I solved it myself, goddamn it! But it did not occur to me to think of sexism. I was just indignant that I would be accused of cheating. Then later I was in a prestigious competition. I was doing my Ph.D. at Harvard, which would nominate one person. It came down to me and one other graduate student, and a dean pulled me aside and said, “I have read both applications, and it’s going to be you; your application is so much better.” Not only did I not win, the guy got it, but he dropped out of science a year later. But even then I did not think of sexism".

It struck me that Dr. Barres did not think of these instances at the time as sexist, given his obvious intelligence, and apparently it struck the interviewer as well. She asked him why and this is the answer he gave,

"Women who are really highly successful, they are just as bad as the men. They think if they can do it, anyone can do it. They don’t see that for every woman who makes it to the top there are 10 more who are passed over. And I am not making this up, that’s what the data show. And it may be that some women — and African-Americans, too — identify less strongly with their particular group. From the time I was a child, from the littlest, littlest age, I did not identify as a girl. It never occurred to me that I could not be a scientist because I was a woman. It just rolled off my back. Now I wonder, maybe I just didn’t take these stereotypes so seriously because I did not identify myself as a woman"

Class, issues of self-identitification, social responsibility to one's social group and individual vs. community are age old conflicts that Dr. Barres has spoken about. Does class advantage and/or personal success for individuals that belong to groups that have been historically oppressed systematically strip away social responsibility to those who have been left behind? Dr. Barres says the data illustrates this as fact. I have to find that data to see if this statement holds up. I suppose that what he's saying does have a ring of truth to it as disappointing as that may be. I've always had a soft spot for and given a bit of slack to Blacks, women, Latino/as, etc. that have ascended to positions of power because I know to do so inevitably means the lost of parts of one's self (i.e. "the shuck and jive dance) but only a little bit of slack.

Of course, to get into the White House, you can't proudly proclaim "Black Power" but at the same time you don't have to completely leave behind or institute policies against your own people. Its a double edged sword. In saying this, women (and Blacks, Latino/as, etc.) are in a precarious position. Ascending to the top positions in any field and/or institution that is notorious for its lack of diversity is challenging, excrutiatingly difficult, and painful. There are perhaps part of your selves that will not recuperate (or at least be permanently damaged) from the struggle. Nonetheless, becoming a co-consiprator is just as heinous. I believe what Dr. Barres is doing is important -- using his position and clout as a platform to advocate for those who don't have the same privilege. Not only is he advocating but he is also actively in the midst of instituting policies that benefit women, such as day-care facilities for graduate students in the sciences.

And what does all this talk about "intrinsic aptitude" and "natural ability" mean? Whenever I hear those phrases I cringe. Talent is only a small part of success. Access to resources and opportunities, hard work, and support systems are critical. Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan didn't just wake up one day and be brilliant athletes. Sure they have talent but their talent was cultivated over time amidst much hard work and support. So arguments using intrinsic ability as evidence should be promptly eviserated. Still, women and people of color have a long way to go when it comes to tenured positions in the sciences at universities around the country. But tis important to remember that when you reach the top you make the decision to take others with you.

otiose -- adj: 1. Ineffective; futile 2. Being at leisure; lazy; indolent; idle 3. Of no use

Music begins to atrophy when it departs too far from the dance... poetry begins to atrophy when it gets too far from music -- Ezra Pound

Oprah and Gayle Deny Gay Rumors

2006-07-17T15:57:00.000-04:00

So in this month's issue of O Magazine, Oprah and Gayle deny the rumors that they're involved in a lesbian relationship. I've actually heard that rumor for quite some time but I don't believe it. True, Gayle and Oprah have a phenomenally close friendship that even seems to surpass the usual dictates of friendship and trangress into something that looks and feels like intimacy but I think its possible for women to create that kind of spirtitual or platonic intimacy that does retreat into a sexual relationship. I can see some of you shaking your heads now but I will continue to contend that the rumors are fallacious.

However, Gayle is quoted as saying, "The truth is, if we were gay, we would tell you, because there's nothing wrong with being gay,". This, I don't believe. I believe that if Oprah were a lesbian, she'd be closeted. Would Oprah's legacy be the same if she were "out"? Would she still be touted as the spiritual guru and pop culture innovator she is today if she were a lesbian? In today's climate, I'm not sure if her celebrity status or cultural impact would be the same. As fabulous as Oprah is (and she's never looked better), I believe that her mostly white, female audience sees her as a mammy figure, an asexual caretaker that soothes them when they feel fat or ugly and solves their problems from a cheating husband to memories of child abuse. She is committed to her longtime partner Stedman who is probably the least threatening Black man her audience has ever seen, content to stay in the background and play an amalgam of roles, the most important being Oprah's mate.

If Oprah was a lesbian, howver, her sexual dynamics would change. She'd no longer be in the stereotypical role of asexual mammy but move into another stereotypical role -- the sexually aggressive lesbian. White women, especially white women of a certain socio-economic class, have historically had their bodies vigourously protected (albeit through enforced and reinforced dictates of sexism) from "colored" influences. If Oprah was a lesbian, white female sexuality would be threatened by virtue of Oprah's race and power. I contend her imagery wouldn't be the same and it may threaten her power base. Which is why if Oprah was a lesbian and Gayle was her partner, they'd keep it quiet. Think about Black celebrities whose sexuality has been questioned for quite some time (i.e. Tyler Perry, Alicia Keys, Queen Latifah). How would their stardom be effected if they were "out"? Moreover, I think Oprah's position as spiritual leader would be threatened. How many openly gay Black spiritual leaders can you think of? I can't think of any.

I feel like American society hasn't progressed far enough for a person's sexual preferences to not impact their stardom. Now, you may say what about Rosie O'Donnell or Ellen deGeneres. Well, both women are white (which implicitly means less threatening), comedians, and intentionally dull down their sexuality, creating an asexual appearance. They have amassed fame and fortune but that too is contained. Both women couldn't get a decent film role to save their lives and they specialize in making people laugh (while often making self-deprecating jokes in the process).

So are Oprah and Gayle gay lovers. I don't think so. If they were gay lovers, would they be out? I don't think so either.

gravid -- adj: Being with child; heavy with young or eggs; pregnant

"When you cannot make up your mind which of two evenly balanced courses of action you should take - choose the bolder" --- Ezra Pound

Don't Count Us Out

2006-07-16T22:00:00.000-04:00

This week's Time Magazine features an article that highlights Sujeet Desai and Carolyn Bergeron a couple that married this month and are eager to begin their lives together. Reverend James Paulson, who officiated their wedding, declared "Love can't be stopped by Down Syndrome". And they seek to prove him right. The article further stipulates that this generation of people who have trisomy 21 or Down Syndrome are shattering stereotypes about what society dictates they are capable of doing. Their life expectancy has more than doubled since 1983, a new range of services that cropped up to ensure their inclusion into the worksforce, and a number of early intervention programs are available now to help them cope with their disability early on. In other words, marriage is now a viable option. Note to self: Never let anyone put put prohibitions on your life.

contumely -- n: 1. Rudeness or rough treatment arising from haughtiness and contempt; scornful insolence 2. An instance of contemptuousness in act or speech.

"A slave is one who waits for someone to come and free him" -- Ezra Pound

Time Magazine's Shame

2006-07-13T23:32:00.000-04:00

In this week's issue of Time Magazine there is an article entitled "A Soldier's Shame" written by Julie Shaw and Aparisim Ghosh which details the rape and murder of a 15 year old Iraqi girl as well as the murder of her parents and 7 year old sister at the hands of a 21 year old U.S. soldier from Texas named Steven Green. The very beginning of the article reads as such,

"Family members describe Abeer Qasim Hamza al-Janabi as tall for her age, skinny, but not eye-catchingly beautiful. As one of her uncles put it, 'She was an ordinary girl.' So perhaps it was sheer proximity that made the 15 year old so tantalizing".

After I read this part, I paused in shock and anger. I couldn't understand why how she looked made a difference. Why begin the article with a statement that the young woman who was so tortuously brutalized was not beautiful!!! As if being beautiful made it more "understandable" for a woman to be raped. Or worse yet, as if not being beautiful, but available, offered a plausible explanation as to why a man would rape a woman that was deemed "not attractive."

In Helen Benedict's 1992 book Virgin or Vamp: How the Press Covers Sex Crimes she identifies 8 factors that lead the press and the public to blame victims for rape, thereby positioning her in the role of the vamp:

"7. If she is pretty. (Studies have found that although people tend to be biased against attractive rape victims, they are biased in favor of attractive assailants. The idea is that an attractive man does not need to rape because he can get all the women he wants, a reflection of the 'assailants are motivated by lust' myth. "

So the level of attractiveness (of both the victim and the assailant) has been shown to make a difference in the press and public's reponse to rape. I made the decision to read the rest of the article which discussed how Steve Green first ogled, stalked and then raped/murdered the young girl and her family while her brothers were at school. But the way the primary author (who was a woman) chose to begin the article, remained disturbing. Why is it that women are always being positioned in relation to men, particularly how men see them, rather than as separate individuals. Benedict further stipulates that,

" There are more words for men that women"
"There are more positive words for men than women"
"There are 220 words for a sexually promiscuous female and only twenty for a promiscuous male"

So with this being the state of how women who are raped are covered in the press, it would be logical to deduce that an article would begin this way. Still, I was disturbed at why this level of discourse was pertinent to the young girl being raped. The obnly discourse in the article about the young girl related to her attractiveness as descirbed by her surviving male relatives and her positioning as an object of the lust of Steve Green. I thought about writing Time with my ideas but then I wondered if it would do any good. What is the best way to protest this kind of press verbage in a way that reaches the most people, in the greatest amount of time? Maybe I'll write an article about it...

cap-a-pie -- adv: From head to foot; at all points

"America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between"
--- Oscar Wilde

The Future is Bright, Very Bright

2006-07-13T12:35:00.000-04:00

I love being young! Or maybe I disdain the aging process. I'm not sure yet which one takes precedence. But I love youth. I love being able to take risks, make choices, and follow dreams with the knowledge that (God willin') I have 40 or 50 years left to be serious and do "adult" things. I disagree with George Bernard Shaw when he says, "Youth is wasted on the young". I would rather say that "wisdom (or experience) is wasted on the venerable (a much better word than old people, seasoned folk, or the elderly)". I feel like the future for me is very bright, at least professionally. And I'd like to enjoy this facet of my life-- the twenties-- to the fullest extent possible. So, I have a list of things that I want to accomplish before I'm 30:

Write and publish a book
Travel to 25 countries
Learn to swim
Make a movie
Meet Oprah
Have two boyfriends at the same time
Learn to speak French and Spanish fluently
Become a member of MENSA
Own a home
Learn to make quilts
Get published in The Paris Review
Pay off all my student loans!!!
Be a millionaire
Be in a music video (not a risque one, but a nice R&B/rock/alternative one)
Write a song that somebody records and makes famous

These are just a few of my goals, some of them kinda simple, others outrageous but if I accomplished these. I'd be good. And why not. I'm young!

hobbledehoy-- n: An awkward, gawky young fellow

"Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative"
--- Oscar Wilde

Check out my new column

2006-07-12T13:23:00.000-04:00

This Popmatters thing is really working out. I really like writing for the website and I'm finally getting the kind of audience that I've wanted for some time -- varied, engaging, responsive. Check out my current article on popmatters that was published last week. Let me know what you think!

pleonasm -- n: 1. The use of more words than are necessary to express an idea; as, "I saw it with my own eyes."2. An instance or example of pleonasm.3. A superfluous word or expression.

"Illusion is the first of all pleasures" --- Oscar Wilde

What Ever Happened to Rae Dawn Chong?

2006-07-11T10:20:00.000-04:00

During one of my bouts with insomnia, I recently saw a 1994 movie Rae did called Boulevard where Rae plays a prostitute named Old living in Canada. She takes in a young woman whose running away from her abusive partner and the two become fast friends but things quickly go awry. I thought Rae was great. In fact, I've always really liked her as an actress because she seems to ruminate depth and she gives me the impression that she is a thinking woman. I'd love to have a conversation with her in a New York cafe on a rainy day. She just strikes me as a woman with something to say. From Beat Street to The Principal to The Color Purple, I've always found her performances convincing and full of depth. I feel like she is one of those celebrities I'd like to meet just once. I remember about three and a half years ago when I was a graduate student at New York University,I was walking along Washington Square I saw and walked right past Lynn Thigpen, star of such movies as Lean on Me, Novacaine, and Anger Management and the the TV shows The District and L.A. Law. I absolutely loved her and I looked at her in astoundment and awe as I passed her. She saw me looking at her and she smiled by I was too chicken to say anything to her. Alas, she died in 2003 from a cerebral hemorrhage. I had an oppoortunity to tell her how much I love her and I wasted it because I was too shy and insecure to do anything about it. And the worst thing about it is that I think she would have been receptive to me. So this year, I have been intent on breaking out of my shell and taking a risk every month. If I ever met Rae Dawn Chong, I would definitely take the opportunity to tell her how much I respect her work. Maybe she'll be receptive to me and maybe she won't but at least I will have taken the chance.

stormy petrel - noun: 1. Any of various small sea birds of the family Hydrobatidae, having dark plumage with paler underparts; also called storm petrel 2. One who brings discord or strife, or appears at the onset of trouble

"America had often been discovered before Columbus, but it had always been hushed up"
-- Oscar Wilde

What's Your Soundtrack?

2006-07-10T10:42:00.000-04:00

This past weekend I was thinking about my life --what i've done, what I want to do and what I'm doing now. I'm a little behind where I've wanted to be at 26 but I figure I'm not an old maid yet so why not live in the moment now and make up for lost time. So I asked myself, if I could create a soundtrack of my life right now, how I'm feeling, my moods, thoughts, dreams, and wishes, what would be on that soundtrack. Here's what I've come up with:

1. Mary J. Blige -- "Enough Cryin'"
2. Shelia E. -- "The Glamourous Life"
3. Sam Cooke -- "I was Born By the River"
4. Shawn Colvin -- "Sunny Come Home"
5. Jay-Z -- "Encore"
6. T.I. -- "You Don't Know Me"
7. Whitney Houston -- "I Wanna Dance With Somebody"
8. D'Angelo -- "Sh*t, Damn, Motherf*cker"
9. Janet Jackson -- "Control"
10. Lisa Stansfield -- "All Woman"
11. Sarah McLachlan -- "Fumbling Towards Ecstacy"
12. Madonna -- "Who's That Girl?"

What would I name this soundtrack, you ask. Most likely, "Looking for Happiness". Yeah, I know, not that original but its all I've got. What's your soundtrack?

apotheosis, noun; plural apotheoses: 1. Elevation to divine rank or stature; deification 2. An exalted or glorified example; a model of excellence or perfection of a kind

"Morality, like art, means drawing a line someplace".
-- Oscar Wilde

Happy Birthday Lynn

2006-07-04T18:22:00.000-04:00

Today is my sister's 25th birthday so I wanted to send her a shout out. Happy Birthday. I Love You.

emblazon -- verb: To deck in glaring colors; to set off conspicuously; to display pompously; to decorate

"Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much"
--- Oscar Wilde

Song of Myself

2006-07-03T17:07:00.000-04:00

I did one of these in a creative writing class that I help out with. Here are my answers. I'd love to know how some of you would answer...

1. If I was a season, I would be... the point when summer becomes fall

2. If I was a gemstone, I would be... a pink diamond

3. If I was an emotion, I would be... melancholy

4. If I was a musical instrument, I would be... the cello

5. If I was an animal, I would be... black panther

6. If I was a faitry tale character, I would be ... Snow White

7. If I was an historical period, I would be... the Renaissance

8. If I was a kind of water, I would be... waterfall

9. If I was a color, I would be... Black

10. If I was a time of day, I would be.. dusk

11. If I was a kind of weather, I would be ... rainstorm

12. If I was a sport, I would be... soccer

13. If I was a piece of clothing, I would be...an evening dress

14. If I was a mythical creature, I would be...centaur

15. If I was a tool, I would be... screwdriver.

16. If I was a physical sensation, I would be... a fever

17. If I was a kind of tree, I would be ... palm tree

18. If I was a scent, I would be...the smell of freshly baked bread

19. If I was a geographical feature, I would be ... a canyon

20. If I was a way of moving, I would be.. a strut

21. If I was a piece of furniture, I would be... an armoir

22. If I was an art form, I would be... Art Nouveau or Surrealist

23. If I was a body part, I would be... a long leg

24. If I was a flavor, I would be ... an understated spice

"Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination"
--- Oscar Wilde

billingsgate -- noun: Coarsely abusive, foul, or profane language.

Check out my new column

2006-05-10T16:59:00.000-04:00

Hey all!

I've been gone for awhile but I'm back now and have decided not to let such a long time go by without another post. Anyway, if you have time, check out my new column on www.popmatters.com Ciao!

Court

"I declare to you that woman must not depend upon the protection of man, but must be taught to protect herself, and there I take my stand"
Susan B. Anthony

agog -- adj:Full of excitement or interest; in eager desire; eager, keen

Happy Birthday Dad

2006-03-21T06:15:00.000-05:00

Todays's my dad's birthday so I want to send him a shout out. I love you dad!

toothsome -- adj: 1. Pleasing to the taste; delicious; as, "a toothsome pie." 2. Agreeable; attractive; as, "a toothsome offer." 3. Sexually attractive.

"Love is the history of a woman's life; it is an episode in man's"
~ Germaine De Stael

Happy Birthday to Me

2006-02-21T10:13:00.000-05:00

Well today is my birthday; I am 26 (but not officially until 12:18 p.m.). I feel good...I still feeel about 22 or 23 but I tend to embrace getting older. It just seems to be other people who continue to reminding me that I'm getting closer to 30 but that's still 4 years away....

desideratum -- n; plural desiderata: Something desired or considered necessary

"A woman has the age she deserves"
--- Coco Chanel

Happy Valentine's Day

2006-02-14T11:57:00.000-05:00

Happy Valentine's Day everyone. I hope you all have wonderful days today! And for all my single folk like me out there, hopefully next year will be a better year. Also, if you're so inclined, please check out my article on www.popmatters.com --- I'm on the front page "Remote Couture" by Courtney Young. I don't agree with the blurb they used to describe the article but let me know what you think about the article itself.

spoony -- adj: 1. Foolish; silly; excessively sentimental. 2. Foolishly or sentimentally in love.

"Before I can live with other folks I've got to live with myself. The one thing that doesn't abide by majority rule is a person's conscience"
--- Harper Lee

Chica Luna Showcase

2006-02-12T17:04:00.000-05:00

So last year I was a member of the Chica Luna's F-Word Program, a program dedicated to training women of color in various media forms, specifically film. So our official film showcase is March 13th. Though my film is not quite finished yet, I will be doing a staged reading of it. Happy Snow Day to all those in New York!

eleemosynary -- adj: 1. Of or for charity; charitable; as, "an eleemosynary institution."2. Given in charity or alms; having the nature of alms; as, "eleemosynary assistance."3. Supported by charity; as, "eleemosynary poor."

"Before I can live with other folks I've got to live with myself. The one thing that doesn't abide by majority rule is a person's conscience"
--- Harper Lee

Celebrity Foolishness

2006-02-11T20:43:00.000-05:00

So Britney Spears never really bothered me until this past week . She reached a new level of foolishness. How is driving with your 4 month old baby in your lap going to defend him from the paparazzi? Its a shame that celebrities are the role models now... Where is the common sense....?

labile -- adj: 1. Open to change; apt or likely to change; adaptable.2. Constantly or readily undergoing chemical, physical, or biological change or breakdown; unstable.

"For a woman to explore and express the fullness of her sexuality, her emotional and intellectual capacities, would enrail who knows what risks and who knows what truly revolutionary alteration of the social conditions that demean and constrain her. Or she may go on trying to fit herself into the order of the world and thereby constrain herself forever to the bondage of some stereotype of normal feminity --- a perversion, if you will".
----Louise J. Kaplan

I Need Your Honest Opinion...

2006-02-07T20:39:00.000-05:00

So I have an idea that may work. I am working on a a short story collection and trying to submit some of my short stories to journals for publication, thus...I'm going to include about 2 pages of my first story "Nutty Kisses" that I am submitting to various journals. If you have some time, could you give me your thoughts....

I haven’t had a single dream since the night my brother died. My head is empty and remains that way until morning, when mom throws the towel soaked with ice cold water on my face, claiming that’s the only way she can get me up in enough time to have some breakfast and get to school. I hate having an empty head. I like the motion and clutter of a head filled with boy mischief and this emptiness rates second only to the death of my brother. I thought that by sleeping in his room I could channel him through osmosis or something, filling my head with memories of us --- but nothing. My head is just as blank as the day he died. It’s that life sized poster of Pam Grier as Foxy Brown above his bed that I thought would most bring back my dreams. I’d stare at that picture for hours, almond butter colored Foxy in that green dress and get hot all over, remembering how my brother loved her and how I came to love her through him. I would fall asleep at the foot of Samson’s bed with the nightlight on just staring at Foxy, remembering every curve of her body in my head before I drifted off to sleep, hoping that she would stay with me through the night. But even Foxy escaped me and I was left with emptiness all night long.
I even included Foxy’s image in the documentary I’m making on my Samson’s life. I want to finish it in time for them to play it at what would have been his high school graduation. I spend most of my days after school and football practice editing the footage I have, mostly from his football games. And each day I edit I see more and more of Samson’s girlfriend Dee Dee, the Jezebel that murdered my brother. I was silently enraged when my mother let her attend the funeral saying that Dee Dee couldn’t be held responsible for what happened. “God called Samson home that night”, she told me over and over again. Yet I couldn’t shake Dee Dee’s involvement in it all. I guess I need someone to blame and since she caused his death, I feel like my anger is justified.
I was there the night Samson took his last breath. Dee Dee and I were in the stands amongst the thousands of onlookers as Samson played the best game of his high school career against the Cougars that night. When we were growing up I thought God used his best tools to make Samson and saved the leftovers for me. At 6”4, 230 lbs., he was huge and a great football talent, making Samson one of the best and most remembered quarterbacks at my school. He wore an afro all through school but shaved it off, ‘cause he said he wanted a new look for college. Me, I was tall for my age about 6ft. and only 14 but I was 160lbs. soaking wet. Samson used to call me JJ Evans, to get me mad and it always worked. “JJ hand me my helmet!” “JJ pass me the remote!”. I hated the reference but loved the attention from Samson. Everyone wanted a piece of him --- my parents, Dee Dee, the school, the team --- so I was happy when I got my chance.
That night the crowd pulsed with excitement as Samson scored touchdown after touchdown. Dee Dee and I were in the stands cheering him on; I was eating a hot dog and Dee Dee guzzling down some hot salted peanuts. After the game, they both ditched me to make out while I was stuck carrying his football equipment to the car. Later, according to Dee Dee, about three minutes into kissing, Samson began to have trouble breathing. At first, she said, he just laughed it off and said she took his breath away. She laughed too but when Samson’s breathing became more frantic and his throat and face began to swell, they both began to panic. Dee Dee ran to the parking lot and found me in the car. We raced back to behind the bleachers but Samson was already unconscious. Twenty minutes later he was dead.

quondam -- adj. :Having been formerly; former; sometime.

"For a woman to explore and express the fullness of her sexuality, her emotional and intellectual capacities, would enrail who knows what risks and who knows what truly revolutionary alteration of the social conditions that demean and constrain her. Or she may go on trying to fit herself into the order of the world and thereby constrain herself forever to the bondage of some stereotype of normal feminity --- a perversion, if you will".
----Louise J. Kaplan

Remembering Betty Friedan

2006-02-04T17:51:00.000-05:00

The first time I read The Feminine Mystique I was as a high schooler. I re-read the book as a college student. I completed my third revisioning of the book as a master's student. To this day I remain impressed with the astuteness of Friedan's articulation of the "feminine mystique" at a time when women's voices and bodies were so vehemently surpressed. Though I never completely related to this work, primarily because of its erasure of race in her feminine mystique critique, I nonetheless think its an important book and have it in my own personal canon. A brilliant student who graduated from Smith College summa cum laude with a BA in Psychology, Freidan wrote The Feminine Mystique as a suburban housewife and mother.

"Gradually, without seeing it clearly for quite a while, I came to realize that something is very wrong with the way American women are trying to live their lives today," Friedan wrote in the opening line of the preface. "I sensed it first as a question mark in my own life, as a wife and mother of three small children, half-guiltily, and therefore half-heartedly, almost in spite of myself, using my abilities and education in work that took me away from home." The next 400 pages of the book seemed like something from The Stepford Wives. Drawing on a motley of disciples from psychology to economics to history and sociology as well as personal interviews with middle class women from across the country, Friedan asserted that the myth of the fulfilled, contented suburban housewife was just that, a myth. She stated that women were quite the opposite, completely unfulfilled, stunted and trapped in monotony and oppression.

I am consistently in a state of sadness and shock when so many greats pass on. Who will continue the important work that people like Betty Friedan pioneered?

stertorous -- adj: characterized by a heavy snoring or gasping sound; hoarsely breathing

"A woman is handicapped by her sex, and handicaps society, either by slavishly copying the pattern of man's advance in the professions, or by refusing to compete with man at all"
--- Betty Friedan

Coretta Scott King

2006-01-31T20:25:00.000-05:00

Upon learning of her death, I had to set up a post. Its just too despressing to write anything further... Rest in Peace...

deus ex machina -- n: 1. In ancient Greek and Roman drama, a god introduced by means of a crane to unravel and resolve the plot. 2. Any active agent who appears unexpectedly to solve an apparently insoluble difficulty

"Hate is too great a burden to bear. It injures the hater more than it injures the hated"
---- Coretta Scott King

Fear of a Black Jesus??

2006-01-23T01:46:00.000-05:00

So last week, Sundance introduced a film entitled "Son of Man", a South African film that portrays Jesus as an African revolutionary and Mary as a virgin who argues with the angels. Director Mark Dornford-May asserts, ""We wanted to look at the gospels as if they were written by spin doctors and to strip that away and look at the truth...We have to accept that Christ has been hijacked a bit -- he's gone very blond-haired and blue-eyed". It slaways nice to see people interpreting and analyzing images that have been co-opted for so long. I'm definitely going to see this film and I suggest you all do the same!

comity -- n: A state of mutual harmony, friendship, and respect, especially between or among nations or people; civility.
comity of nations -- n: 1. The courteous recognition by one nation of the laws and institutions of another.2. The group of nations observing international comity.

"We must learn to be still in the midst of activity and vibrantly alive in repose"
----indira ghandi

R.I.P. Wilson Pickett

2006-01-20T15:42:00.000-05:00

Last night, my beloved Wilson Pickett passed away at 64 years young of a heart attack. "In the Midnight Hour" was one of the first soul songs that I can consciously remember pervading my household in my youth and on those three hour trips to visit my grandparents in Northern Louisiana. I grew up an 80s baby and soul and gospel music pervaded my house. The timbre of his voice and the depth of his soul reminds me of of my childhood. I will miss him...

confrere -- n: a fellow member of a fraternity or profession; a colleague; a comrade; an intimate associate

"The end of all education should surely be service to others. We cannot seek achievement for ourselves and forget about the progress and prosperity for our community. Our ambitions must be broad enough to include the aspirations and needs of others."
-Cesar Chavez

Books, Books and More Books

2006-01-19T22:53:00.000-05:00

So I was looking at Maryann's website last night and she had a great idea --- Book-itz 2006. The way I understand it, the people who participate have to create a list of books that they want to read for this year. So i have done just that. I have created a list of books that I have been wanting to read for the longest time. It sabout 50 or 51 titles. I just finished Danzy Senna's Caucasia which was really good and now I'm reading J.R. Moehringer's The Tender Bar. So far so good with The Tender Bar. Its so well written and its a poignant and engaging read. More on the book when I finish. I encourage all my fellow bibliophiles to go to here and create your own book list. It would be great to create a list of notable books that we could read and suggest to each other.

diktat -- n: 1. A harsh settlement unilaterally imposed on a defeated party 2. An authoritative decree or order

"The end of all education should surely be service to others. We cannot seek achievement for ourselves and forget about the progress and prosperity for our community. Our ambitions must be broad enough to include the aspirations and needs of others."
-Cesar Chavez

Battery's Not Included

2006-01-16T17:15:00.000-05:00

So I found this poem on this website and I really liked so I decided to make it the post of the day:

"Battery's Not Included"

I’ve taken a vow of poetic non-silence
To disavow and correct
a sense of domestic violence.
The Palm Pilot I write with guides this
as it strikes its latent surface.
So to stop hits, I’ll drop this.
When the cops miss, I’ll admonish…
Battery topics are catastrophic
when they break the circuit.

Somewhere along the Alpha line
Some primates crossed the alkaline.
Some men are satisfied
smacking and being rude to women.
I don’t care how much acid she spits,
NO woman EVER asks to be hit…
No woman wants to match bruises
of blackened blueness with hues of crimson.

To operate relationships,
the battery’s not included.
If he stomps you into disgracefulness
–such flattery’s abusive.
Let me gladly stop the foolishness –real men don’t bruise or hit their better halves.
And just so you know,
that pink bunny he gave you
Can’t excuse being a beating dummy
to channel his rage through…
As long as he tramples his way through
–such kinetics can never last.

Whether an internal bruise or verbal abuse,
You’d best believe it’s still hurtin’ you.
Certain brutes choose rudeness
to influence their ladies’ worth.
Undermining the treasure within women
Un-designs their measure suspended in gems…
As the extent of such men upends them
with hateful words.

Such emotional scars left
run deeper than the physical.
Such vocal alarms set
leave discreet residuals.T
hey’re completely pivotal
as they load interior bombs set.I
f this is his tune –
dislocate him from your hips.
If dude berates you like a b*tch
You ought to replace him by the pitch
of his inferior complex.

Even worse, there should be
no quicker way to draw a charge
Than when liquor plays a part
in battery – small or large.
Cell units should foster and guard
them if AA’s part of their past.
Alcohol only worsens the scenario
As amalgam brawls merge with barley flows…
Only sorry bros spar their souls’
match once they’ve left the bar smashed.

Whether abusive drunks or unruly punks,
These men should use a ‘rule of thumb.’
Though disproved by some
–its lore should be viable for some.
It states that women can’t
get hit by a blunter source
Than anything wider
than a thumb of force…
So whether she’s collided
with one punch or four
–she’s liable to shake, slide him and run.

Sadly though, when females’
strength is beaten out of them
With strategy blows detailed
by heathens that pound them,
There’s a power outage
expounded by cowards
who assault their worth.
As they’re allowed to devour
our brightest sparks,
They sour our women’s timeless marks…
It’s high time they’re tossed
– lest they trample afoot
the true salt of the earth.

--- Reggie Legend

outre -- adj:Unconventional; eccentric; bizarre

"The end of all education should surely be service to others. We cannot seek achievement for ourselves and forget about the progress and prosperity for our community. Our ambitions must be broad enough to include the aspirations and needs of others."
---Cesar Chavez

Its a Boy

2006-01-06T23:44:00.000-05:00

(This isn't a picture of our baby but isn't it the cutest little boy!!!)

Although its not the best situation in the world, my cousin Jay's baby mama ( I guess this is the appropriate word now) just gave birth to my second cousin Jayce Gerald Leonard a few hours ago. Despite the situation, I feel that a child is a reason to celebrate. I love babies so I'm excited. I think my sister and I are going to drive over there tomorrow! Welcome to the world Jayce!

buss -- n: a kiss; a playful kiss; a smack; transitive verb:to kiss; especially to kiss with a smack

"I always knew I was destined for greatness" --- Oprah Winfrey

I'm Back

2006-01-05T20:27:00.000-05:00

So I am back from a semi-long hiatus. Christmas break and New Year's were good. I am ready to make this year prosperous, successful and hopefully financially lucrative. I have some of my first work published on popmatters in the film, TV, and DVD segments so I'm glad to start the year off with my first official publishing...I hope the year will bring the same prosperity to you all!

carapace -- n: 1. The thick shell that covers the back of the turtle, the crab, and other animals 2. Something likened to a shell that serves to protect or isolate from external influence

"I always knew I was destined for greatness" --- Oprah Winfrey

New Year's Resolutions

2006-01-02T20:52:00.000-05:00

So I have decided to make my annual New Year's Resolution List. After eating the traditional greens and black-eyed peas, I make my list. Last year I got pretty far and this year I hope to complete it.

Take care of finances
Finish Book and find a publisher
Learn Spanish
Take up martial arts
Take on huge risk
Get fit
Go to Vegas
Go somewhere abroad
Take up yoga
Learn about another religion

sine qua non -- n. an essential condition or element; an indespensible thing

"I always knew I was destined for greatness" --- Oprah Winfrey

Happy Birthday Connie!

2005-12-29T18:31:00.000-05:00

This is a shout out to my sister Connie in the peace corps (Costa Rica) on her 23rd birthday. Wish you lots of love, happiness, health and success. Love, Court

vim - n. power; force; energy; spirit; activity; vigor.

"Everything is funny as long as it is happening to somebody else"
-------- Will Rogers

BeatBox Chronicles

2005-12-16T00:55:00.000-05:00

So today I wrote the debut entry for my second blog : www.beatboxchronicles.com. In this blog, I talk about things in the music world. As for life, I'm busy writing. I turned in my cinema studies application today to NYU. I hope I get in. Writing is such a draining process which is why I can't write much tonight but I'll be back tomorrow.

gamine -- n:1. A girl who wanders about the streets; an urchin.2. A playfully mischievous girl or young woman.

"i am caught up in the music of struggle and i can't stop dancing."
-assata shakur

What's your least favorite word?

2005-12-09T20:22:00.000-05:00

I'm a word person, always have been, probably always will be which is why I like to surround myself with them. My least favorite would have to be "pity", or any variation of the word. I think its very meaning is offensive. To pity someone, feel sorry for or to feel sorrow for someone seems quite condecending. I can understand being aware of and/ or sensitive to someone's troubles (or at least your perception of someone's troubles) but I believe pity to take that to the level of being patronizing, like you're looking above someone and shaking your head...it evokes a "poor them attitude" that I find pitiful, rarely casuing someone to spring into action. Besides I haven't met anyone who likes pity. I guess a close second for me would be "ugly" for obvious reasons. What's yours?

epigone -- n: An inferior imitator, especially of some distinguished writer, artist, musician, or philosopher.

"I believe in saying the truth, coming out with it cold, shocking if necessary, not disguising it. In other words, obscenity is a cleansing process..." --- Henry Miller

The Writing Process

2005-12-08T17:32:00.000-05:00

So, I am trying to write a book --- a collection of short stories that I plan to try and get published in 2006. In order to beef up my writing resume so that I look better for publishers, I have applied for several writing gigs and two have come through: in late December I will have first post published on Popmatters as their new Television Columnist and I am also going to be a Music Blogger on The Red Carpet Network. For my TV Popmatters column, I need a name. Somthing fresh and original and I am all out of ideas. Do you have any suggestions??

In other news, check out this foolishness.

palimpsest -- n :1. A manuscript, usually of papyrus or parchment, on which more than one text has been written with the earlier writing incompletely erased and still visible.2. An object or place whose older layers or aspects are apparent beneath its surface.

"I believe in saying the truth, coming out with it cold, shocking if necessary, not disguising it. In other words, obscenity is a cleansing process..." --- Henry Miller

Get Fit or Bust!!!

2005-12-07T23:49:00.000-05:00

So, I have made the decision to work out like a white woman...well, maybe not be that crunk upon it. In other works, I'm going to get toned and buff. Now, I'm a very slender person but I'm still soft and jiggly in certain places so I figger that I need the exercise. It'll also help me feel better about myself I suspect. So, every morning, I'm going to head to the gym and work my ass off. Let's see how this goes...

In other unrelated news, I found this report on yahoo.com. Its so ludicrous that it has to be true.The gist of the report states that an Italian court found that an instance of a a group of Italian men harassing and spewing insults at a group of Columbian women, calling them dirty negroes, is not racist because "an insult should be judged racist only if it is motivated by real hatred, or is likely to cause racial hatred in others or lead to discriminatory behaviour for reasons of race, ethnicity, nationality or religion". Furthermore, "the crime of racism is not constituted by expressions of generic dislike, intolerance or rejection based on race, ethnicity or religion".

abulia, also aboulia -- n: Loss or impairment of the ability to act or to make decisions.

“I believe in saying the truth, coming out with it cold, shocking if necessary, not disguising it. In other words, obscenity is a cleansing process...” --- Henry Miller

If you could be anyone for a week, who would it be?

2005-12-06T23:40:00.000-05:00

I think if I could, I'd pick Paris Hilton.

interlard -- transitive verb: To insert between; to mix or mingle; especially, to introduce something foreign or irrelevant into; as, "to interlard a conversation with oaths or allusions."

“I believe in saying the truth, coming out with it cold, shocking if necessary, not disguising it. In other words, obscenity is a cleansing process...” --- Henry Miller

On Beauty and Other Books

2005-12-05T12:08:00.000-05:00

Today I went to the library and picked up White Boy Shuffle upon Jalylah's suggestion. Last week I finished On Beauty and tonight I'm going to finish The Secret Life of Bees. Here's what's on my Reading List as of current:

On Beauty was definitely an interesting read. While I found Zadie Smith storytelling ability and use of multicultural, transcultural narrative themes compelling I regret her lack of understanding, depth and complexity with respect to African American culture and it will be felt so strongly by anyone who is deeply invested in Black life. Her lack of understanding about Black American culture is so evident in the novel that is makes much of the content and the book as a whole a commercially viable grotesquery. This book was the selection for a book club I held at my apartment on Saturday.

I actually glad I read it and I would suggest others to do the same. See for yourself and gather your own opinions. I was very curious about Zadie after hearing the international accolades of her debut novel White Teeth. After reading On Beauty, I am very curious to read White Teeth. This seems like back-tracking but I need to see what all the fuss is about for myself.

Though I find Mark Harris's flippant use of his appreciation of porn in this article quite disturbing, he does make some good points about Black women in film. Check it out:

http://www.popmatters.com/columns/harris/051205.shtml

gadabout -- n: Someone who roams about in search of amusement or social activity

“I believe in saying the truth, coming out with it cold, shocking if necessary, not disguising it. In other words, obscenity is a cleansing process...”
--- Henry Miller

Power to the People

2005-12-04T22:23:00.000-05:00

Tommie Smith and John Carlos, gold and bronze medalists in the 200-meter run at the 1968 Olympic Games, raised their fists in protest of the treatment of Blacks in the USA. With heads lowered and black-gloved fists raised in protest with the Black power salute, they refused to recognize the American flag and national anthem. Even though I wasn't born yet, each time I look at this picture, I have a sort of nostalgia for times past. Times when people actually made a bold stand against bullshit. I wish I could find this picture. I want to put it up in my apartment. I have an idea! I want to commission somebody like Kara Walker to take the essence of this photograph and shape it into something new. I want the men still there, but I want them to be in the Bush White House or something... I want to preserve this photo but put a different take on it. Now, the only thing I need to do now is pitch it to Kara...

patina -- n :1. The color or incrustation which age gives to works of art; especially, the green rust which covers ancient bronzes, coins, and medals. 2. The sheen on any surface, produced by age and use.3. An appearance or aura produced by habit, practice, or use.4. A superficial layer or exterior.

“I believe in saying the truth, coming out with it cold, shocking if necessary, not disguising it. In other words, obscenity is a cleansing process...” Henry Miller

The Case for Rape as a Hate Crime

2005-12-03T22:35:00.000-05:00

So tonight during my monthly book club meeting, I was called into the hospital to be an advocate to a rape victim who was at the hospital. Needless to say, it was a trying case (as they usually are). As I was walking home from the hospital, I asked myself why rape is not a hate crime. The way I understand it, a hate crime is a crime motivated by hatred and bigotry towards a specific group of people. Now, its basically common knowledge that rape is a crime of power and intense anger/hatred. Sex rarely is the primary motivation for the assault, its just the means to an end. So why wasn't a hate crime attached to Ted Bundy's long list of convictions? He clearly was a vehement misogynist in addiction to being a violent psychopathic madman.

Of course this may not apply to every instance of rape. But this just makes sense to me. I feel strongly that if a determination of criteria is met, a hate crime should be tacked on to an individual's sentence. I'd be interested to know what people think?

hebetude -- n. Dullness of mind; mental lethargy

"Illusion is the first of all pleasures"
--- Oscar Wilde

Ode to August Wilson: Icon #4

2005-12-02T18:00:00.000-05:00

"Blacks have traditionally had to operate in a situation where whites have set themselves up as the custodians of the black experience"
---August Wilson

"I'm trying to take culture and put it onstage, demonstrate it is capable of sustaining you. There is no idea that can't be contained by life: Asian life, European life, certainly black life. My plays are about love, honor, duty, betrayal - things humans have written about since the beginning of time"
---August Wilson

God bless August Wilson. He is the 4th icon who died this year whose legacy will far outlast his physical presence. Currently, I am writing an article on the films Todd Solondz and his portrayal of Black, white, and Latino sexualities. His indie cred and fame shot through the roof with his 1996 film Welcome to the Dollhouse. This weekend, I watched Happiness and Storytelling. After watching them both, Storytelling in particular, I was riddled with a boat load of mostly negative feelings and thoughts: the ludicrisy of the racialized narratives, horror, preidctable surprise, etc. And I remember thinking what a privilege it was to have had someone like August who took pride in documenting the lushness, beauty and complexity of African American life not making a mockery of it like so many others.

"When I saw his [Romare Bearden] work, it was the first time that I had seen black life presented in all its richness, and I said, 'I want to do that -- I want my plays to be the equal of his canvases". And he set about this task by vowing to complete a cycle of ten plays, each set in a different decade that depict the nuances and tragicomedy of Black life:

1900s - Gem of the Ocean (2003)
1910s - Joe Turner's Come and Gone (1984)
1920s - Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (1982)
1930s - The Piano Lesson (1986) - Pulitzer Prize
1940s - Seven Guitars (1995)
1950s - Fences (1985) - Pulitzer Prize
1960s - Two Trains Running (1990)
1970s - Jitney (1982)
1980s - King Hedley II (2001)
1990s - Radio Golf (2005)

So, in honor of August and his legacy, I have selected the following poem, "Black N' Blue Stylin" by Ntosake Shange:

(French sugar-beet farmers, overwhelmed by mulatto competitors, plastered Europe's cities with advertisements proclaiming: "Our sugar is not soiled with black blood." A popular Afro-Cuban saying is: "Sugar is made with blood," while in the South of the United States, cane growers processed natural sugar "to get the nigger out.")

Fragrant breezes in the South
melt to melodies round small fires
mount tree limbs
with bodies black
and swayin' black n croonin'
songs of sunsets
comin' from the fields bawdy
brazen
hard to put yr finger on
like the blues
like the strum of guitars on dark damp

southern nights
hard to put your finger on
like screams in the black bloody southern soil
sweet black blood echoin' thru the evenin' service
grindin' by the roadhouse door
sweet black blood
movin' with slow breath

outta breath
young negroes run to pick up a bale of cotton
run to flee southern knights
crosses bare blazin' signals black bloods
gone runnin'
for Chicago
for the hollow
for the C.C. Rider
for the new day sweet
blocked melodies ache in young girls' throats
rip thru their lips like the road to freedom was lit
all lit up with the grace of God and
Sears Tower
the Ford plane and Pontiac's vision
all lit up sleek fires
sheddin' the haunts of poll taxes and test questions like
where is America cost
a finger
a ear
a heart a teardrop fallin' from the saggin' front porch
to the project stairway
from the water fountain to the chain gang

the night train carried smuggled goods news
of struttin' signifyin' fellas with gold teeth
neath they feet and brawny sway for blocks and blocks
far as the eye cd see from Biloxi to Birmingham
the contraband of freedom seeped thru
the swamps the air hung heavy
with the cries of "ain't gonna let nobody turn me round"
and young boys in nice-cut suits
who was awready standin' with they heads up
awready prancin' with finesse and grand stature
like men wit eyes
don't never look down
men wit eyes burstin' wit glory
from the red sedans
and the seats in schools to the right
to set wherever they want
and when the sounds of the harmonica was slowed
by snarlin' dogs and hoses
when the washboards and bottleneck players
was skedattlin' out the bullets way
up came a roarin'
force a light blue controlled fire in un-mussed lame´
pleated silk and faces
bearin' no scars
to say "we ain't been touched"
we the sweet black fires of dreams
& of unobfuscated beauty

like the trails of freedom
the Good Lord himself lit up
we gonna take this
new city neon light
sound
volumes for milliom
to hear to love themselves
enough to turn back the pulse of a whippin' history
make it carry the modern black melody from L.A.
to downtown Newark City
freedom buses
freedom riders
freedom is the way we walk that walk
talk that talk
gotta take that charred black body out the ground
switch on the current
to a new sound to a new way of walkin' a new way of talkin'
blues

electrified
blues
boltin-the-lynchin-tree
n-tremblin-n-chirren-
blues
defyin the sound of gravity

for a people singin'
about the sashay of blood rhythms set free.

gaucherie -- n: 1. A socially awkward or tactless act.2. Lack of tact; boorishness; awkwardness

"Illusion is the first of all pleasures"
--- Oscar Wilde

Today I feel like the only face stuck in a mountain of rippled waves...

2005-12-01T21:29:00.000-05:00

Today the kind of day that is so common and encourages some of the same feelings that I feel so often, that its actually quite hard to explain. So I chose a poem:

"Paralytic"
It happens. Will it go on?---
My mind a rock,
No fingers to grip, no tongue,
My god the iron lung
That loves me, pumps
My two
Dust bags in and out,
Will not

Let me relapse
While the day outside glides by like ticker tape.
The night brings violets,
Tapestries of eyes,
Lights,
The soft anonymous
Talkers: 'You all right?'
The starched, inaccessible beast.

Dead egg, I lie
Whole
On a whole world I cannot touch,
At the white, tight

Drum of my sleeping couch
Photographs visit me---
My wife, dead and flat, in 1920 furs,
Mouth full of pearls,

Two girls
As flat as she, who whisper 'We're your daughters.'
The still waters
Wrap my lips,

Eyes, nose and ears,
A clear
Cellophane I cannot crack.
On my bare back

I smile, a buddha, all
Wants, desire
Falling from me like rings
Hugging their lights

The claw
Of the magnolia,
Drunk on its own scents,
Asks nothing of life.

---------- Sylvia Plath

I love Sylvia. I think she's a timeless poet.

alpenglow -- n. :A reddish glow seen near sunset or sunrise on the summits of mountains

"Illusion is the first of all pleasures"
--- Oscar Wilde

Pimpin' Jesus: Kirk Franklin is Addicted to Porn and the Functionality of Christianity for Profit

2005-11-30T21:22:00.000-05:00

Kirk Franklin: I been around all the church people who were super spiritual but you saw them doing dirt. I didn't want to be a hypocrite, a fake church doer. I didn't wanna be a fake church goer.

Oprah: I know exactly what you mean. I call those people pimpin' Jesus.

I had heard Kirk Franklin was addicted to porn before it was revealed that he was going to be Oprah. This, of course, was rumor so I didn't know whether or not to believe it. Little did I know that my suspicions would be confirmed very soon. Today, Oprah talked to Kirk Franklin about his addiction to pornography. I must say that I was surprised and I wasn't surprised. I don't remember where I heard it but I have always known that everyone is actually 3 people in one : the person you are, the person you want to be, and the person you show other people. Kirk Franklin the gospel singer is what he shows other people.

The interview initially started with Kirk's reminiscence on his life, specifically his formative years and how the addiction to porn started. He was abandoned by his mother and never knew his father. At the age of 4 he was adopted by his 64 year old Aunt Gertrude. By the age of 8, he stated, he became addicted to porn. He further discussed a sort of "rite of passage" for boys, stating that 'everyone' has that uncle or older brother who has a stash of porn under the bed or in the closet. Through his first interactions with porn, he became hooked. He further extrapolated, saying that his first sexual experiences began when he was 9 --- the shock waves through the audiences were palpable.

While he recounted these experiences, much of the time he prefaced them with "in the 'hood" or "you see in the 'hood". I find this significant because I have heard through conversations and my own reading and watching of interviews with mostly Black male hip-hop musicians who grew up in the 'hood that early sexual experiences aren't all that uncommon, probably because the adults in the household had to work and the children weren't heavily supervised and especially in big cities like New York, L.A. and D.C. the time a child spends in innocence is relatively short compared to when they reach experience. Big city life makes you grow up faster. In Kirk's case, his aunt was by any definition elderly and set in her strict Baptist ways. So Kirk was really left to his own devices when it came to sex. By 14, Kirk Franklin was a pro. At that time his aunt was 74.

He grew up in a strict Baptist household and this directly antagonized his obsession. He repeatedly talked about not wanting to be a hypocrite but not knowing what to do about his obsession. At 15, he went to his pastor saying that he wanted to be a true Christian and not live this duality. The pastor told him that he would grow out of it; it would go away. Kirk said that this was about the worst thing he could have said because it didn't go away, it got worse. Growing up, he said he had never seen a married man anywhere, including the Church, who was faithful to his wife.

Kirk admittedly said that he was a 'ho. He had mutliple relationships with multiple people. He would have a concert about Jesus and the Lord and then proceed to have sex with the first woman or women he could get his hands on. Then watch porn. There was a time, he said, when he couldn't go to NY or L.A. because porn was too readily available. When he got married, he thought the marriage would cure the addiction but by his own admittance, it made it worse. His wife Tammy is indeed a beautiful woman and this, Kirk said, played a role in his decision to make her his wife. He thought, I have a beautiful wife with a great body --- I don't need porn. But he almost immediately tried to bring porn into the marriage; he wanted to get his wife to watch the videos and look at the magazines; he wanted to turn her into a porn actress who would perform for him. But Tammy wasn't having it.

Kirk said he hit rock bottom when he tried to rid himself of the porn, driving to a dump and throwing it away. He went back home crying and depressed and at 3 in the morning he drove back to that dump site and searched through the rubbage until he found the porn. This is definitely rock bottom. During the interview, I was most interested to hear from Tammy. She said that Kirk told her face to face about his addiction while they were in L.A., away from their 4 children. Tammy said their sex life during their 9 year marriage began to get weird after Kirk started wanting her to do more and more adventurous things sexually or as Kirk terms it "Showtime at the Apollo". Kirk even said that he would bring the images of the porno actresses into the bedroom with his wife; how could he not. Tammy also expressed self-esteem issues when confronted with her husband's unusual sexual requests and addiction to porn.

Now enough of re-cap. Several things stuck out in my mind as a result of the interview.

If Jesus was a rap star , he'd be the Tupac of Christianity -- Jesus was many things --- he was a revolutionary, he was a preacher, he was doctor/healer, he was a man of the people. He dedicated his life to the fulfillment and bequeathal of unconditional love and service to humankind. Now this is in no way an attempt to compare Jesus and Tupac because trust me, Tupac is no Jesus but they are both being pimped in death. Tupac, like B.I.G., is an icon of hip-hop. Upon his murder, his music was used to promote the careers of other artists. Likewise, Jesus is the MAN in Christianity. Upon his death, his image has been pimped for the benefit of hoards of people -- leaders, priests, religious icons, colonizers, etc. In essence, I believe Kirk Franklin's use of gospel and in essence Jesus was pimpin'. Clearly the man was knee deep in demons, pornography literally consuming his life since he was eight. After concerts, he would engage in crazy sex with multiple people and then consume himself in more porn immediately after. Jesus was clearly not on his mind but maintaining his lifestyle was, so he continued to sing in the name of Jesus and do his dirt.
Black Male Heterosexual Politics (Briefly) -- Black men have always been portrayed as extremely sexual people with humongous sexual urgies and instincts and the equipment to back it up. But its my contention that this behavior is many times taught if not encouraged in the Black community. Specifically in the music industry, Black men are expected to be sexual. Music videos ARE porn, especially in hip-hop. Kirk Franklin is pretty much credited with bring gospel to the mainstream, often blending funk and hip-hop beats into his music. He grew up without a real male figure and being introduced to porn and sexuality at such a young age compounded with the horrendous example of overtly promiscuous married men in church, his resulting obsession with porn is not surprising. Men are expected to be sexual, especially Black men.
Performance as Performance, not Performance as Reality -- Kirk Franklin is a performer. Kirk Franklin is a man. These are facts. I think its important that people do not confuse celebrity, image and performance as virtual markers of reality. These are images promoted to sell a product, whether that product is music, fantasy, a movie, etc. Audiences often confuse the performance with the person. This confusion often leads to revelations of hypocrisy and disappointment. Pornography is a type of performance, a fantasy that's purpose is to fill a void or offer temporary fulfillment to certain needs. For Kirk, the hypocrisy is compounded more than let's say a revelation that Lloyd Banks's is addicted to pornography because of his supposed commitment to God and gospel music career. Performance is people just that ---- performance.
The Strong Black Woman Archetype -- I have a problem with this term. I admire and do respect the strength that Black women have timelessly exhibited but I feel this image has become essentialized. Compound this with the sexism too often found in most religions and I believe this causes women to develop silent psychoses. (Read Charlotte Perkins Gilman's brilliant The Yellow Wall Paper) Tammy was almost a little too calm and forgiving for my comfort. Even Oprah exclaimed, "Come on Tammy, you're not Jesus"! Kirk frequently repeated that Tammy was a strong woman, strong Black woman and Tammy sat there quietly and smiled, supporting her man. Now don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that Kirk shouldn't be supported but damn -- this man was addicted to porn during your entire marriage (before ya'll even met) and brought these women into their bedroom (figuratively of course). What I appreciated so much about Terry McMillian's interview is her unabashed honesty. She got upset! She felt and she let this man know how much he hurt her and how deceitful he was. I think Tammy was held back by her religion and the image of the strong Black woman.

nugatory -- adj: 1. Trifling; insignificant; inconsequential 2. Having no force; inoperative; ineffectual

"Illusion is the first of all pleasures"
--- Oscar Wilde

Review: Barbara Walters's 10 Most Fascinating People of 2005

2005-11-29T22:16:00.000-05:00

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Since 1993, Barbara Walters has been the host of her annual list of the most "fascinating" people of the respective year. This year, she shelled out some expected people and some not so expected ones. Lets go through the list shall we.

1. Dakota Fanning -- Her movies to date have grossed over $700 million dollars, she gets $3 million dollars per pictures and she's only 11 years old. Yes, this is the life of Dakota Fanning. The adult lives of former child stars are infamously tragic. Think Michael Jackson, Danny Bonaduce, Emmanuel Lewis, Macauley Culkin, Jackie Coogan, Gary Coleman, Todd Bridges, Dana Plato, Adam Rich, etc. Don't get me wrong --- there are plenty of child stars who have gone on to parlay their earlier successes into successful careers and relatively stable livelihoods (think Ron Howard, Jodie Foster, Christian Bale, Kurt Russell, Alyssa Milano, etc.). But the pattern is there. Dakota seems by all accounts to be on the right path. I hope that she doesn't fall into the trap many child actors have --- broke, psycholgically unstable, and prone to drug abuse. I like Dakota. I think she is talented and professional, having worked with a number of Hollywood A Listers like Denzel Washington, Tom Cruise, Kurt Russell, Robert de Niro, Britney Murphy, and Sean Penn. Right now, I'm reading The Secret Life of Bees for my book club meeting this Sunday and I found out that Dakota Fanning is going to be playing the title character, narrator Lily Melissa Owens.

2.
Kanye West -- He won three Grammys this year, produced another critically acclaimed CD and landed the cover of Time. Kanye is at the top of his game, which is why I am not surprised he was named one of the most fascinating people of 2005. A product of a middle class upbringing with college professors as parents, one of which is a Black Panther, one of the reasons that I like Kanye is that he is unabashedly as my friend Jalylah states, a RACE MAN. Towards the end of the interview tonight, Barbara asked Kanye to fill in the follwoing blank : Kanye West is _________. He responded by saying Black. In an era where most rappers refuse to publicly avow their Blackness or make any statements or music that reflect the specific political and race based discrimination that affects Black males in this country, it is refreshing to find one that will. "Sometimes I just say stuff to fuck with people", says Kanye. He is concerned with image but he's also concerned with Blackness. During the interview Kanye asserted that he is more offended whites whites speak in "incorrect English" to him, than when they use the word nigger. This I don't agree with, I don't think whites should use the word nigger but this isn't the time for that conversation. Kanye, in my opinion was a good pick.

3.
Tom Mesereau --- Lawyer most famously to Michael Jackson and also Robert Blake and Mike Tyson, Mesereau surprised me as he made the list at # 3. He termed the Michael Jackson trial a disgrace, stating that he had no doubt that he would win the case. He made the statement that he was personally akin to cases featuring people of color as he feels that they are constantly being devalued in our society. Let the church say Amen! This is definitely the truth but I have always been one to be skeptical of whites who align very strongly with Black causes. I know all to well of the fetish some have with Black talent, tragedy, or a combination of the two and the lucrative business it can be. Still. I appreciated his candor. The segment featured a glimpse of his girlfriend Minnie Foxx and her two children by a previous relationship. To round out Mesereau, the segment stated that Michael Jackson was now living in Bahrain, to get away from the media spotlight that had permeated his life for so long this year. Nuff said.

4.
Lance Armstrong --- Probably the most predictable choice of the night, this "superman" has won seven Tour de France's from 1999-2005, a race that takes 23 days and spans 2200 miles. Announcing his retirment this year, Lance plans on working more with his foundation for cancer research which has raised over 100 million dollars, spending more time with his three children from his previous marriage and planning his marriage to one of my favorite contemporary artists, Sheryl Crow. At only 34, this young man has accomplsihed more than most people twice his age. I think he deservedly made the list.

5.
Jamie Foxx -- This is definitely not a surprise either. Oscar winner, Hollywood A-List, Hip Hop Hook King (Akon being runner up) comedian, and now musician Jamie Foxx is at the top of his game. Today on Oprah he expressed his love for Oprah, his daughter, his commitment to bachelorhood (at least for now) and promoted his upcoming CD. He also presented Oprah with a stunning portrait of herself done by Artist Lane for missing her Legends Ball. It seems like for now, Jamie can do no wrong. Though I do think that Don Cheadle should have won the Oscar (and every other award out there for Best Actor) and I proud of Jamie's success. Though I'm not a fan of his, I respect his his achievements.

6.
Beth Holloway Twitty -- The mother of Natalie Holloway, who disappeared in Aruba earlier this year was listed as the 6th most fascinating person. What a tragedy! To go missing just like that with little to no clues -- it must be a special kind of terror and death for her family. This year also, a number of attention, deservedly so, was given to the fact that race was a prime factor (also gender and class) in the coverage given to missing persons. According the Federal Bureau of Investigation, National Crime Information Center (NCIC) there are 47,842 active missing adult cases, with 30,622 missing adults missing one year or more (as of 7/30/04). Given the numbe rof people who go missing every year, what makes Natalie so special? What makes this case publicity fodder and the disappearance of oh lets say a Honduran single mother of two less special?

7.
Teri Hatcher --- She had to be my second to least favorite on the list. Out of all the characters on Desperate Housewives, she is by far my least favorite. I personally find nothing fascinating about Teri Hatcher and her addition to this list is mind blowing. Any of the other housewives should have trumped her Marcia, Eva, Felicity, or even Nicolette.

8.
Condoleeza Rice -- Current Secretary of State, Condi Rice made the list at # 8. Well, at least I can agree that she's fascinating in the sense that a woman who grew up in Birmingham, Alabama (one of the most segregated and racially devisive cities for its time in America) and went to school with the 4 little girls could become one of the most powerful women in a regime based on ignorance, evil, and hate. Born into the oasis of the middle class, her parents seem to have raised her in a very insulated environment, allowing her to grow apart from the racial movements and nuances of Birmingham. A college graduate at 19, Condi Rice has an impressive level of academic success and career attainment but I find her dealing within the Bush regime fascinating along with a number of other words.

9.
Tom Cruise --- Tom Cruise has had an interesting year and his image has paid for it. From his sofa jumping on Oprah to his debacle with Matt Lauer to his quickie engagement to Katie and her even quicker pregnancy to his proselytizing of scientology, Tom has really thrown caution to the wind. He's definitely one of the most fascinating -- if not simply because he seems to have temporarily lost his mind.

10.

Camilla Parker Bowles --- This is perhaps my greatest upset of the night. She just recently married the Prince of Wales, Charles, but their affair lasted 3 decades. They met when she was 23 but a marriage between the two was not encouraged because Camilla was a "commoner" and Prince Charles was flighty, he wouldn't commit. Both started families with other people but they continued their affair together throughout. Charles even asked Camilla's opinion on Diana when he was considering marrying her. She approved her. I simply despise deception and affairs and she is being lauded as the most fascinating person of 2005?! What more can I say.

If I had made the list, these would be my contenders in no particular order:

10. Kanye West
9. Ayaan Hirsi Ali
8. Michelle Wie
7. Zadie Smith
6. Joan Didion
5. Martha Stewart
4. Oprah Winfrey
3. Jeffrey Sachs
2. Kim Jong-Il
1. Anderson Cooper

o·nei·ric -- adj. Of, relating to, or suggestive of dreams

"Illusion is the first of all pleasures"
--- Oscar Wilde

Review: Derailed

2005-11-28T17:00:00.000-05:00

Today, I went to see Derailed featuring Jennifer Aniston and Clive Owen. I was very curious seeing that I like to see actors break out of their usual niches and venture into something different. (Think Kate Hudson's The Skeleton Key ) So I was curious to see Jennifer Anniston in a suspense role. Likewise, I thought the best thing about last year's Closer was Clive Owen so I wanted to see him on screen again. In essence, I was curious about a lot of things and while I must say that I didn't hate the film, it left a lot to be desired in many ways.

As soon as I heard of the plot for Derailed , I thought of a 1987 movie entitled Hands of a Stranger starring Armand Assante and Beverly D'Angelo. The movie is essentially about a woman named Mary who is married to a cop (that's Assante's character) who doesn't pay enough attention to her and in many ways takes her for granted. D'Angelo then begins to gravitate to her son's basketball coach and the two decide to have an affair. They visit a cheap, seedy motel and are about to have sex when D'Angelo changes her mind. She feels guilty about cheating on her husband, especially since te man in question is her son's coach. She gets up to leave and as she opens the door, a man with a gun forces his way into the room. He robs them both, ties them both up and rapes Mary. Mary feels so guilty about what she was doing in the room in the first place but knows that she has to say something to her husband, especially since her wedding ring was stolen. So she concocts a story about being abducted on the street. Assante's character Joe doesn't buy the story and begins to tape his wife's conversations and follow her. Soon, the robber/rapist begins to blackmail the coach and Mary and this is when Joe begins to uncover the truth of what really happened. He becomes obsessed with finding his wife's rapist. When Joe finds him and is tormented between killing him or turning him in, the rapist says, "Sir. I mean no offense, but shouldn't it be your wife you shoot instead of me?...I can see, sir, that there is a part of you that is conflicted over killing me. It is that part of your character I would like to address".

Derailed is much like this though not exactly. Clive Owen is Charles Christopher Shyne, a married business executive who leads a pleasant albeit predictable life in the suburbs of Chicago. His wife Deanna (Melissa George) and he have lost the passion in their lives as their daughter Amy (Addison Timlin) remarks that they don't kiss in the mornings anymore. In fact their singular purpose is to qualify for an expensive piece of equipment for their Type 1 diabetic daughter, who seems to teeter on the cusp of death, her skin the color of plaster and her body seeming quite feeble.

Charles takes the train every morning, predictable and soon we see him meet the lovely Lucinda (Jennifer Aniston). She's perky, witty, and is a tad mysterious. She brightens up Charles's day and lightens the anxiety about his daughter's illness that burdens him. Little does he know that its this meeting that will begin his steady descent. Though he knows he shouldn't, he makes a lunch date with Lucinda and the attraction is definite. Charles is succumbed by his anxiety about his daughter and his vapid marriage and Lucinda is consumed by a vapid marriage as well. They decide to have sex and settle on a cheap motel ---$49 dollars for a room. They enter the room and begin to make out when an armed man, Philip LaRoche (played by the wonderful Vincent Cassel) forces his way in. He robs them, beats Charles, and rapes Lucinda.

The problems just keep coming as LaRoche begins to blackmail Charles for more and more money, hence conflict ensues. At the beginning of the film, it seems as if Charles is an intelligent man but clearly through the progression of this film, its not the case. He makes the most ludicrous decisions during the course of the film. RZA and Xzibit make appearances in the film as well. As actors, they were average --- not horrible but surely not a delight. The representation of Blackness was very stereotypical of Hollywood. You have Winston (RZA), the ex-con mailboy at Charles's job, Xzibit, one of LaRoche's cronies, and Giancarlo Esposito, the cop who espouses to find the truth. Its no shock that when Charles needs help with the gangsters, he turns to RZA, asking him about his prison days and seeking an education on brutality, something that Charles up until now has had no prior experience with. Winston asserts, "Prison's like walking a tightrope...When your back's up to the wall, you gotta do what you gotta do.", after admitting to killing a man.

Both RZA and Xzibit's roles in this film are to reinforce the brutality of their white counterparts either directly or indirectly through their own criminality. RZA educates Charles on brutality and even gives him a shank he made while in prison. Xzibit assists LaRoche in his brutal scheme, backing up LaRoche's own sadism. Giancarlo Esposito represents the Black male "goodness giver". A man of law and justice, Esposito is a moral center of the film. Thus, Blackness is categorized into two preidctable platforms that are not nearly nuanced enough: all three characters are violent (even though Espositio is a cop, cops have to get violent sometimes). Esposito is "good violent", RZA is "circumstantially violent" and Xzibit is "wickedly violent".

The film is entertainment. Its not a horrible film by far by its not excellent. The conflict and decisions of the main character, Charles, could have been explored more and Aniston's Lucinda could have been more fleshed out and more of a departure from her cutsy film/TV characters.

edacious -- adj. : Given to eating; voracious; devouring

"Illusion is the first of all pleasures"
--- Oscar Wilde

Have You Noticed...?

2005-11-27T23:18:00.000-05:00

Have you noticed that on Ashton Kutcher's Punk'd on MTV, pretty much each time that he has a Black man on the show, the police or some sort of sexual impropriety are are involved in his prank? Mike Jones, Mekhi Pfeiffer, Mario, Terrell Owens, Omarion, D12, Game, Carmelo Anthony, Ying Yang Twins, etc. The sexual and racial politics on that show are astounding! I guess Ashton and his crew figure that the best way to "punk" a Black man is to get the police involved or to make him the bait in some sort of sexual deviancy, i.e. peeping Tom, underage girls, etc. Its really starting to irritate me and it bothers me that there has been (or at least to my knowledge) no real analysis or criticism of it...

bivouac -- noun: An encampment for the night, usually under little or no shelter.
intransitive verb: To encamp for the night, usually under little or no shelter

"Illusion is the first of all pleasures"
--- Oscar Wilde

Happy Birthday Mom!!!

2005-11-25T11:25:00.000-05:00

Just wanting to wish my Mom and Grandma (she's 90 today) a happy happy birthday. I love you both!!!

quidnunc -- noun: One who is curious to know everything that passes; one who knows or pretends to know all that is going on; a gossip; a busybody.

"I have invented a mask that makes me look like anybody. People will not even turn around in the streets" ---Gaston Leroux, Phantom of the Opera

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

2005-11-24T10:00:00.000-05:00

I hope Everybody had a great Turkey Day and ate well. Many thanks to Jalylah who allowed my sister and I to come and celebrate with her family!

bouleversement-- noun: Complete overthrow; a reversal; a turning upside down

"I have invented a mask that makes me look like anybody. People will not even turn around in the streets" ---Gaston Leroux, Phantom of the Opera

Ode to Shirley Chisholm: Icon # 3

2005-11-23T23:28:00.000-05:00

"The emotional, sexual, and psychological stereotyping of females begins when the doctor says: It's a girl"
Shirley Chisholm

"There is little place in the political scheme of things for an independent, creative personality, for a fighter. Anyone who takes that role must pay a price"
Shirley Chisholm

What a simply phenomenal woman. January 1st of this year, the incredible Shirley Chisholm passed away. Each week, until the end of the year, I have decided to focus one of my blogs on a luminary, an icon wwhose presence has meant so much to America, that has passed. The incredible Shirley Chisholm is my pick for this week.

In 1968, she became the first African-American woman elected to Congress andin 1972 she became the first African-American and the first woman to make a serious bid to be President of the United States. Shiley was a woman who was fearless, shameless, and courageous. She believed in being a champion for those who could not or would not be a champion for themselves. For each "icon blog", I bring up the same theme --- who will be the champion after these luminaries pass --- what will our Black leadership and iconography look like after the passing of these icons.

My mother and paternal grandmother both have birthdays on Friday ---my grandmother will be 90 years old. The generation of the 40s, 50s, & 60s is steadily getting older and my generation (an 80s baby) is steadily becoming more complacent withjout a thought to a past that in reality is not was not too long ago. Again, what will our black iconography look like at the passing of all these greats? Can we afford to count on Al Sharpton, Barack Obama, or Julian Bond?

As a special tribute to Shirley, I have picked a poem entitled " i am not done yet" by Lucille Clifton from her book Good Woman: Poems and a Memoir 1969-1980:

as possible as yeast
as imminent as bread
a collection of safe habits
a collection of cares
less certain than i seem
more certain than i was
a changed changer
i continue to continue
where i have been
most of my lives is
where i'm going

"The liberals in the House strongly resemble liberals I have known through the last two decades in the civil rights conflict. When it comes time to show on which side they will be counted, they excuse themselves"
Shirley Chisholm

matutinal -- adj. :Relating to or occurring in the morning; early

"I have invented a mask that makes me look like anybody. People will not even turn around in the streets" ---Gaston Leroux, Phantom of the Opera

Flashback to Film Noir and the Original Bad Chick

2005-11-22T23:29:00.000-05:00

"The dark lady, the spider woman, the evil seductress who tempts man and brings about his destruction is among the oldest themes of art, literature, mythology, and religion in western culture...Film is a male fantasy as is most of our art...Film noir is hardly 'progressive' in these terms -- it does not present us with role models who defy their fate and triumph over it. But it does give us one of the few periods of film in which women are active, not static symbols, are intellient and powerful, if destructively so, and derive power, not weakness, from their sexuality"
Janey Place, "Women in Film Noir", Women in Film Noir

Cinema is one of my great passions. Ever since I was old enough to contemplate its artistic form and greater meaning, I have been studying them, critiquing them, and enjoying them. One of my favorite film eras happens to be film noir ("black film), a genre that surfaced in the 40s and 50s featuring a grim, urban setting in which the male protagonist dies, meets defeat, or achieves meaningless victory in the end. Low-key lighting and a somber ambience are two essential characteristics of film noir in addition to brooding characters, corruption, detectives, and the seedy side of the big city. (Think of the stylistic mood and feel of this year's Sin City). But the one most fascinating aspect of film noir, in my opinion, is the femme fatale (fatal woman).

The femme fatale is a fascinating figure conjured by the male imagination: a woman that oozes sensuality and sexuality amid devastating physical beauty that in some way or another leads to the downfall of the male protagonist. My first film noir was the 1946 The Killers with Ava Gardner. Gorgeous by any standard Ava Gardner's Kitty Collins added much of the drama to the Swede's already precarious situation. Double Indemnity, The Postman Always Rings Twice, Kiss Me Deadly, The Maltese Falcon and The Lady from Shanghai are some of the most popular film noirs from this period. I was always so fascinated by the femme fatale. Though I knew instinctively that there was underlying sexism and male privilege imbued in her representation, I appreciated the fact that she was independent, beautiful, intelligent, and active. She moves and changes the action in the course of the film --- she was no shrinking violet, she was the film.

Which is why I was always so angry that she was punished for this at the end of the film. She was always killed, imprisoned or severely disciplined in some way, shape or form. Its as if her deadly, original sin was the fact that she chose self-interest and self-expression, sensuality and independence (sexually and publically) over devotion to men and the domestic sphere. Its as if her ambition was out of character for a woman and for this, she needed to be chastized. In essence, the femme fatale was a symbol of the cultural anxities (male in nature) of the times.

As a master's degree candidate at NYU, I propelled my research into the femme fatale full force. My thesis became tracing the Black female femme fatale (or jezebel) through 20th century American film and how these representations impacted Black female sexuality. I looked at women such as Dorothy Dandridge in Carmen Jones, Lena Horn in A Cabin in the Sky, Robin Givens in Harlem Nights and Boomerang, and Tracy Camilia Johns in She's Gotta Have It. While femme fatales do have consistent characteristics, I found some differences when it came to Black women, primarily that even in contemporary film, she still has to be caughyt and punished at the end.

The femme fatale has gracefully traveled through American cinema, morphing and adapting to the mores of the time albeit some characteristics remaining consistent. Cinema such as Kathleen Turner in Body Heat, Madonna in Body of Evidence, and Linda Fiorentino in The Last Seduction, Liv Tyler in One Night at McCool's, Virginia Madsen inThird Degree Burn, represent neo-femme fatales apropos to the times. So the question becomes: what cultural anxieties are these women representing?

I believe this form of film is so important for a number of reasons:

I find film noir movies to be, stylistically, very impressive with the low lighting, use of shadows to create suspense and mystery, the grit and sheer rawness of it all leaves a palpable, salty quality with the audience
I find film noir to be a direct testment on the mores and changes of society.
The portrayal of women is very interesting and rich for discussion.

Femme fatales in essence are the original bad chicks: unfaltering, gorgeous, beautiful and ambitious, these women knew what they wanted and actively pursued it. Film noir is such an important part of film history and I believe these roots are steadily being forgotten. I just can't wait for the film that accurately portrays film noir at its roots and one where the femme fatale is not a singular representative of male fantasy and desire. Or maybe instead of waiting for the film, I should do it my damn self!

pukka (also pucka) -- adj. :1. Authentic; genuine. 2. Good of its kind; first-class.

"I have invented a mask that makes me look like anybody. People will not even turn around in the streets" ---Gaston Leroux, Phantom of the Opera

The Prison Children of Bolivia

2005-11-21T14:26:00.000-05:00

I absolutely love to watch BBCNews and peruse through the website when I have free time. Today, I was reading the website and came across a report that astounded, perplexed and worried me. Apparently in Bolivia, children can and many times do occupy the same prison cells as their parents, mainly because once the parent is arrested, the child(ren) have no one to take care of them. The prison system of San Pedro, the largest male prison of Bolivia, houses more than 200 children. By many accounts, on the outside looking in, many of these prisons resemble overcrowded towns --- the children are educated, fed, and play on the prison grounds.

But this arrangement seems increasingly problematic to me for a number of reasons:

Prisons are becoming increasingly more and more violent --these children must be witnesses to tons of violent behavior. In fact, psychologist Alejandra Canelas, who works at the day care center at San Sebastian, a woman's detention center, says that the youngsters are witnesses to violence and prostitution in prison cells
Psychologically, how are these children being socialized? I couldn't imagine what it would be like to grow up in a prison during one's formative years. Though some of the inmates in the prison have not been convicted of any crimes, there are many drug dealers, rapists, murderers, etc. living in close proximity to these children
I am also very wary about children, especially little girls, living in male detention centers --that just seems like the perfect opportunity for child abuse

The number of children living in these prisons has increased exponentially since the 1980s, after drug trafficking laws became more severe. Many claim that things would be worse for the children if they weren't living with their parents in jail because they would more than likely be street children. Then, wouldn't that call for measures to be taken by the Bolivian government to ensure that the children were being properly taken care of?

Currently, BBC News is doing a very interesting series on Latin American prisons. The prison children of Bolivia are on segment as well as features on:

Its a very interesting series and has prompted me to do more research and fact finding.

But again, I come back to my central question, what must it be like to grow up or at least spend your formative years behind prsion with your mother or father?

circumambient-- adj. Surrounding; being on all sides; encompassing

"I have invented a mask that makes me look like anybody. People will not even turn around in the streets" ---Gaston Leroux, Phantom of the Opera

Never too old to stop the hustle...

2005-11-20T10:26:00.000-05:00

This would make a great screenplay... My sister Lynn sent me this e-mail link from CNN.com. about a 75 year old woman who was reminiscing about her career as an international jewel thief. Simply amazing...Life is what you make of it. Though I am not condonming her lifestyle choice, I was none the less intrigued by her story. What do you think?

phantasmagorical-- adj : characterized by fantastic imagery and incongruous juxtapositions

"I have invented a mask that makes me look like anybody. People will not even turn around in the streets"
Gaston Leroux, Phantom of the Opera

What the F**k?!?!?!: Part of a Weekly Series

2005-11-19T23:43:00.000-05:00

The stupifying lunacy of people never ceases to amaze me. Why do people both random and familiar feel the liberty to make comments about your person with an air of nonchalance and egregious entitlement. I am a woman of slim frame (I also prefer svelte) , a black woman of slim to be more specific and this alone presents a host of problems for me. I cannot tell you the amount of times I have had people that I have just recently met or known for a long time who randomly make comments about my weight:

"Are you a vegetarian? Because you're really thin".
"You need to gain weight".
"Oh, I didn't realize how skinny you are".
"Oooohhhh! You're so thin...Is everything ok?"
"I hate skinny women".

And all of these comments are made with a look of utter distaste and indictment, piercing me with their eyes. Many even take the liberty of putting their hands on me, poking at my collar bone, wrapping their fingers around my wrist as if to feel for a pulse... Now don't get me wrong, I'm not anorexic looking. I'm 5"7 138lbs but I have a thin frame. This treatment comes from both men and women.

My anger has runneth over. Who ever has the right to make comments on people's bodies? It would be one thing if it was a one or two time event but my weight always seems to be an issue that comes up. What the F**k?!

a·pha·sia -- n. Partial or total loss of the ability to articulate ideas or comprehend spoken or written language, resulting from damage to the brain caused by injury or disease

"I have come to tell you you are beautiful. I believe you are beautiful, But that it not the issue. The issue is they want you dead"---Nicolas Guillen

Filmmaking 101

2005-11-18T23:29:00.000-05:00

Filmmaking is such an intricate process. Tomorrow morning I will begin producing my fourth short film. I was never formally trained in filmmaking --- I'm part of an organization, Chica Luna Productions, that teaches women of color how to make films/media that reflect our communities. There are six of us and we each create a script and film for a short. As our turns roll by the other members rotate various positions on set: DP, AD, Sound, EDitor, etc. Each film, I'm learning a bit more. The second film I did, I was the DP and made a colossal mistake. I was so concentrated on getting the shot that I wasn't looking for the boom and it appeared in most of the shots. I was and still am mortified. I practically wanted to quit! But I realized that this is a learning process and I know that that will NEVER happen again. So tomorrow morning I'm shooting in Harlem. I hope it all goes well. Sometimes I can be so self-conscious that this gets in the way of me doing a good job. Wish me luck!

ko·bold n. --An often mischievous household elf in German folklore; A gnome that haunts underground places in German folklore

"I have come to tell you you are beautiful. I believe you are beautiful, But that it not the issue. The issue is they want you dead"---Nicolas Guillen

Ode to Ossie: Icon # 2

2005-11-17T13:15:00.000-05:00

"Any form of art is a form of power, it has impact, it can affect change. It cannot only move us, it makes us move".
----Ossie Davis

"I find, in being black, a thing of beauty; a joy, a strength, a secret cup of gladness".
-----Ossie Davis

I remember February 4, 2005 when I heard that our beloved Ossie Davis had passed. I felt a deep wave of sadness, nostalgia, and want -- I wanted more, I felt Ossie had more to give, say, and do. I immediately began to re-educate myself on his accomplishments filmically, personally, professionally, and as an activist. I re-watched Do the Right Thing, Get on the Bus, No Way Out, Grumpy Old Men... I read the eulogy he gave at Malcolm X's funeral... I mulled over the replicas of his life that remained, trying to piece together the august life that Ossie had lived.

The life Ossie crafted for himself was majestic; he lived for the people and believed that art was political. I admire him so profusely because he was one of the few Black actors of his time to purposefully seek out and create spaces for roles that were not buttressed by a stereotype. Though his fame never reached the heights of say a Sidney Poiter, he nonetheless remained a key intellectual and artistic genius within both the Black American and American political and artistic spheres.

In remembrance of Ossie I chose a poem by Dr. Gloria Wade Gayles entitled "Black men":

Black Men
Black Men are
Stallions
kicking
bucking
biting

Stallions

refusing their backs
to those who comewith
maps
ropes
saddles
and
spurs
sharpened

They gallop
gallop
gallop away
fast fast fast fast
like wild Stallions
making winds of dust
leaving no hoofprints
galloping fast
to open fields of their dreams
where no one can break them in
tame them
train them
name the trails for them.
Black Men
are also
high-stepping
footprinting
dancing gentle

Stallions
who cushion their backs
for those
without spurs
who ride light with stroking hands.

kvetch - intransitive verb: To complain habitually.
noun:1. A complaint 2. A habitual complainer.

"I have come to tell you you are beautiful. I believe you are beautiful, But that it not the issue. The issue is they want you dead"---Nicolas Guillen

Ode to 80s Nostalgia

2005-11-16T22:06:00.000-05:00

This is a little something that I wrote in my Women's Writing Workshop class this evening:

I remember when Michael Jackson was Black or at least looked that way and Thriller was the album to beat

I remember Reaganomics and the beginning of the end

I remember bad yet endearing fashion trends --- what was it called when boys cut their hair and had that long piece of ponytail in the very back of their heads?

I remember Purple Rain, The Color Purple, Flashdance, Do The Right Thing, School Daze

I remember Double Dutch, Red Light/Green Light, Snaps and Breakdancing

I remember "Video Soul" and "Soul Train" back when Don Cornelius was still the host

I remember when MTV wouldn't play Black music or videos

I remember 25 cent stamps and tape decks

I remember he times when you could meet your party at the gate they were boarding out of at the airport

I remember when Black music videos had Black women in them

I remember when Janet was in "Control", Whitney was "So Emotional" and Anita had "Good Love"

I remember the 80s.

Argus-eyed - adj. Extremely observant; vigilant; having very keen vision; "quick-sighted as a cat"

"I have come to tell you you are beautiful. I believe you are beautiful, But that it not the issue. The issue is they want you dead"---Nicolas Guillen

Unhappy Spinsters: The Face of Contemporary Television

2005-11-15T22:52:00.000-05:00

Everyone who knows me knows that I am a television and cinema fanatic. I greatly enjoy watching various forms of cinema and television with a critical eye, dissecting the nuances and plot turns that course through the story. Recently, however, I have been quite disturbed by a phenomenon that I have noticed on primetime television --- what I like to term as the spinster syndrome.

The word spinster is specifically defined as:
A woman who has remained single beyond the conventional age for marrying.
A single woman.
A person whose occupation is spinning.

The word was derived out of the early 19th century practice of donning unmarried women with the undesirable task of spinning cloth in order to earn a living. The word later evolved to describe a woman beyond conventional marrying age who is usually protrayed as bitter, slightly depressed and inspiring discomfort in those around her.

The current television season is full of new and interesting television shows. I was pleased to see Black women in primary or recurring roles on many of the new shows of the season, mainly: The Ghost Whisperer, Night Stalker, Gray's Anatomy, Close to Home, and Everybody Hates Chris. But my joy quickly turned to distaste as I found that all of these women, were to some extent or another, variants of the spinster stereotype. I define the spinster stereotype (which is really just a re-working of the Sapphire) as a woman who has the following characteristics:

Inspires fear and/or discomfort in those around her.
Is a bitch. Always seems angered or annoyed about something
Is either not involved in a relationship or because she is involved in a relationship, inspires sympathy from the audience for her husband/boyfriend/partner because of her treatment of him.
Usually is in a leadership position

As Black women, we have always had to be strong and independent. But as of late, this seems to be working against us in the American mentality. March 3, 2005, Newsweek published a cover article specifically about Black women, written by Ellis Cose.

The first thing that I noticed about the article, was that in virtually every photograph, the Black women appeared to be very sad, as if to say sure we're making strides educationally, professionally, and financially but we can't get a man. More recently, a new phenomenon has sparked my interest as well, the fact that in Hollywood film and TV programs, Black women rarely play the partners of Black men. I think this all partly goes back to the spinster stereotype. Black women are seen as emasculators, too independent, too mean to be suitable partners and it shows on contemporary TV programs.

Let's begin with Chandra Wilson and her role as Dr. Miranda Bailey on the popular show Gray's Anatomy. Dr. Miranda Bailey, as of last week's show, was just offered a prestigious fellowship in surgery at Seattle Grace Hospital, as well as 4 others. She's capable, attractive, highly intelligent, and excellent at what she does. But she's a bitch. She yells, she tells people off left and right and for all intents and purposes was considered single. A couple of episodes ago, we, the audience, find out that she indeed is married. But the way we find out is suspect, very suspect. Dr. Bailey is leaving work one night, all dressed up and Dr. Derek Shephard [Patrick Dempsey], one of the lead characters on the show, sees her and inquires where she is going, asks if she has a date. She says yes, in fact, she's married. Dr. Shepard looks at her with a look of shock and sympathetic happiness, a smile crossing over his face. The frame then becomes a two shot as we see the silhouette of Miranda's husband entering the scene and lovingly hugging his wife, we don't actually see her husband, we only see his frame as he hugs her. The camera fades back to Dr. Shephard looking at them with a combination of awe and sympathetic content. Sunday, we find out that Dr. Bailey is pregnant with a son. As she relays this to her superior with annoyance and piturbance, she screams "From the start, men just suck the life out of ya!".

Kimberly Elise is a woman on the rise. Lauded by two of the most popular Black figures in media, Oprah and Denzel, as the best actress of her generation, she is one of the regulars on the new show Close to Home. Elise plays hard-edged District Attorney Maureen Scofield who has purposefully made the decision to forgo a husband and children for a career. The show's lead character Annabeth Chase [played by Jennifer Finnigan] chose to pursue both career and family, having just returned back to work from maternity leave. The first episode featured a conflict between Scofield and Chase. Elise's character resented the time that Annabeth took off of work for maternity leave. Maureen is Annabeth's foil. She, like Dr. Bailey, is attractive, intelligent, and in a leadership position on the show but she's also very bitter, mean, and judgmental, especially towards Annabeth and her decision to have a family and a career.

I was very excited to see the premiere of Everybody Hates Chris, based on the 1980s adolescence of "the funniest man in America" Chris Rock. Tichina Arnold, best known for her role as Pamela "Pam" James on the 90s sitcom Martin, plays Chris's mother. I was overjoyed to see "Pam" on TV again. I think Tichina is a good actress, often underrated but again she is a spinster. This time, she is married to Julius who plays Chris's father. Julius is a good man, he works several jobs to provide for his family, comes home at night like a good man should and is a wonderful role model to his kids. So why is Tichina's character Rochelle running around like a banshee screaming at this man every other episode??? The two episodes I am thinking of in particular include the one where Julius was laid off of his job because of a strike and took over household duties while Rochelle went to work. She becomes increasingly jealous of Julius when she realizes that he cleans the house better, cooks better and over all runs a better home than she does. She becomes very passive- aggressive and in an attempt to make her feel better, Julius orders the kids to mess up the house and show distaste for his cooking. In last week's episode, Julius and Rochelle go to buy a TV. Now Julius is infamous on the show for being cheap but with good reason; money is tight and he does not want to be bogged down by the trappings of credit. Rochelle, on the other hand, lives on credit and Julius is consistently trying to pay down the credit that she accumulates. The episode shows Rochelle trying to weasel Julius into buying an expensive TV on credit with a very high interest rate. Rochelle 's character is loud and abrasive with a screech in her yell and its obvious that seven year old Tonya is a seven year old spinster in training and the man she abuses is her older brother Chris. Tonya makes Chris's life even harder with her attitude, need to get him in trouble and overall annoyance. She's proabably my least favorite character on the show and one of Chris's most consistent nemeses.

Both Gabrielle Union and Aisha Tyler star in two new shows, Night Stalker and The Ghost Whisperer respectively. Both women are gorgeous, successful and play foils to the title characters. Both women are unattached and either involved in their work (Union) or involved in the life of the title star (Tyler).

This spinster image as it relays to Black women is just an extention of the Sapphire image. These images of Black women further articulate why Black women make undesirable partners: they're mean, bossy, bitter, too indepdendent, and emasculating. In contemporary cinema and TV, Black men are no longer partnering with Black women. The message of black women being single women in perpetuity is virtually articulated through every media venue imaginable: magazines, TV, advertisements, books, cinema, etc. We're single because we're bitter and when we do get men we turn into banshees who berate them, even when they are good to us. This "banshee spinster" is probably the most pervasive image of Black women in contemporary cinema. Its obvious that noticeable strides are being made for Black men in film and TV. Denzel, then Jamie and Morgan winning Oscars, with Don Cheadle having a nomination but these strides do not include Black women. Black women are often locked in roles where we are shown as unsympathetic and one/two dimensional. Strides need to be made where Black women can be portrayed in more three dimensional and all around better roles. Recently, I heard of a feud between Charlize Theron and Halle Berry. Charlize was apprarently quoted as saying "Note to self. Do not become Halle Berry", in reference to the fact that after Halle's Oscar win, she has not done any filmic projects of worth. Charlize could probably not even imagine in her white world that Black women in Hollywood are lucky if they get one good role much less a bevy of them. Who's responsibility is it to challenge the images that are being presented about us to the world? What should/ can we do about it?

Invidious: adj. Tending to rouse ill will, animosity, or resentment: invidious accusations;
Containing or implying a slight; discriminatory: invidious distinctions; Envious.

"I have come to tell you you are beautiful. I believe you are beautiful, But that it not the issue. The issue is they want you dead"---Nicolas Guillen

Its Official...I Detest the Black Eyed Peas

2005-11-14T22:37:00.000-05:00

"What you gon’ do with all that junk?/All that junk inside your trunk?/
I’ma get, get, get, get, you drunk,/Get you love drunk off my hump/ My hump, my hump, my hump, my hump, my hump/ My hump, my hump, my hump/ my lovely little lumps"
Black Eyed Peas, "My Humps"

BEP has to be one of if not the most ridiculous contemporary music band out today. From their dance moves to their lyrics to their member composition. I've always disliked them --- their flow, their music, etc. but my dislike finally boiled over into absolute abhorrence when I heard and saw their latest music video "My Humps". The absolute ludicrousness of BEP is so overabundant that I am at a loss for words! End of blog entry.

Word of the Day: gestalt n. A physical, biological, psychological, or symbolic configuration or pattern of elements so unified as a whole that its properties cannot be derived from a simple summation of its parts.

"I have come to tell you you are beautiful. I believe you are beautiful, But that it not the issue. The issue is they want you dead"---Nicolas Guillen

Autobiography of a Face

Eracism ...Please

Eracism!!!!

Should Race Trump Class?

Fractional Relations

There's Something About Flav...

Anyone Interested?

It's All in a Name

Hugo Chavez: The Portrait of a Leader

Plan for Expansion of Black Studies Program at Princeton

Money Management 101

Is There Such a Thing as a Brooklyn Aesthetic?

Member of the Club

Call For Papers: Reading While Black

9/11

Brief Breakdown of the Fall TV Season

Learning to Listen

Romp-ing Around in the Dark

I've Been Meaning to...

Call Me Ambitious

Life is Not a Fairy Tale

Africa is Now Officially in Style

The Patchwork Family

This Black Girl Reads...and reads and reads and reads...

Too Sleepy to Properly Rant About Why I Hate Technology

*For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Jew Boys When the Negroes Ain't Enough*

Save the Date: Spelman College Reunion for c/o 2002

New Orleans, Kasi Lemmons, and Family Reunions

A Pop Star Leading the Pack

In the Name of Charlton Heston or

Separation of Church and State

Mel Gibson is a Racist?

Be Succinct

Bill Cosby has more to say

DMX: The Soul of a [Tortured] Man

The Politics of Forgiveness

Current Reading List

AIDS: A Colored Disease

At my funeral, there will be a guest list...

Brazil's Delusion About Race

Ignorance is Bliss

The Ole Boys Club for the 21st Century

Oprah and Gayle Deny Gay Rumors

Don't Count Us Out

Time Magazine's Shame

The Future is Bright, Very Bright

Check out my new column

What Ever Happened to Rae Dawn Chong?

What's Your Soundtrack?

Happy Birthday Lynn

Song of Myself

Check out my new column

Happy Birthday Dad

Happy Birthday to Me

Happy Valentine's Day

Chica Luna Showcase

Celebrity Foolishness

I Need Your Honest Opinion...

Remembering Betty Friedan

Coretta Scott King

Fear of a Black Jesus??

R.I.P. Wilson Pickett

Books, Books and More Books

Battery's Not Included

Its a Boy

I'm Back

New Year's Resolutions

Happy Birthday Connie!

BeatBox Chronicles

What's your least favorite word?

The Writing Process

Get Fit or Bust!!!

If you could be anyone for a week, who would it be?

On Beauty and Other Books

Power to the People

The Case for Rape as a Hate Crime

Ode to August Wilson: Icon #4

Today I feel like the only face stuck in a mountain of rippled waves...

Pimpin' Jesus: Kirk Franklin is Addicted to Porn and the Functionality of Christianity for Profit

Review: Barbara Walters's 10 Most Fascinating People of 2005

For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Jew Boys When the Negroes Ain't Enough