Heading home this morning.
Goodbye San Francisco - Hello Washington.
Talk at Goucher College on Friday.
E-NOTES: WHEN THE NEWS IS NOT ENOUGH. THE BLOG OF E. ETHELBERT MILLER
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Tricycle Daily Dharma
-Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche, “Old Relationships, New Possibilities”
When Obstacles Arise
When challenges or obstacles arise for us, we don’t have to get so intimidated; we can say, “Yes, it’s an obstacle, but it is not intrinsically bad; it’s not going to destroy me.” To create a relationship with the obstacle, learn about it, and finally overcome it is going to be a helpful thing to do. It gives us a chance to cultivate wisdom and skillful means. It gives us confidence.-Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche, “Old Relationships, New Possibilities”
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
What is this about? (See below) I've been curious as to why slavery in America lasted so long but Obama gets only a couple of years to change things. When black intellectuals talk should I listen? Going into 2012 I'm waiting for the creek of discontent to rise. If Obama is defeated in the next election and the Far Right becomes the Close Right - who should we blame? I can see folks getting honorariums to fly around the country talking about the return of racism. Black profits to be made while the poor get no more than a mention. Get ready for the year of fools and hustlers. I'm no more disappointed in Obama than I am in myself. We all have so much more work to do. It's heavy lifting. Did you really think things were going to get better in Haiti one year after the earthquake? How long did Nelson Mandela stay in prison? Freedom's timeline never fits a slave's mind. We tend to complain and find fault with everything except our own shadows that too often continue to beg for sun.
The role of Van Jones is that of gatekeeper, not activist. He’s part of the power ecosystem now.
San Francisco Symphony presents 'Favorite String Serenades'
San Francisco Examiner
[6 pm, Commonwealth Club, 595 Market St., SF] E. Ethelbert Miller: The writer and literary activist appears in an evening of poetry, prose and conversation. ...
San Francisco Examiner
[6 pm, Commonwealth Club, 595 Market St., SF] E. Ethelbert Miller: The writer and literary activist appears in an evening of poetry, prose and conversation. ...
Breaking News Alert The New York Times Wednesday, June 29, 2011 -- 9:32 AM EDT ----- Greek Parliament Votes in Favor of Austerity Plan, Staving Off Risk of Default Greece’s Parliament on Wednesday voted in favor of an austerity plan demanded by the country’s foreign lenders before they would provide it with a financial rescue package and avert a debt crisis that could have shaken its European neighbors and economies throughout the world. The austerity steps, which include wage cuts, tax increases and privatizations in a recession-starved country, were required to unlock the next installment of aid that the country needs to avoid default on its debts.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Tricycle Daily Dharma
-Zoketsu Norman Fischer, "Beyond Language"
How Language Conditions Spirituality
The first three practices of the eightfold path are right view, right intention, and right speech. These make right conduct possible, and when there is right conduct, there can be meditation practice and mindfulness, which lead to wisdom, thereby reinforcing right view. So from the first, the Buddha saw that our language conditions our spirituality through our views, intentions, and uttered words, and that training in an increased awareness of this process has to be the starting point for spiritual practice.-Zoketsu Norman Fischer, "Beyond Language"
EL CERRITO
(for Lauren)
I cannot name or identify
any of the plants and trees outside.
I no longer know the names of clouds.
Geography is distance more than map.
So many things I cannot understand
or do. There is a nakedness to my life.
On the table a jar filled with red and yellow
flowers. Petals fall as I write. The fragrance
of death is often slow and beautiful.
- E. Ethelbert Miller
(for Lauren)
I cannot name or identify
any of the plants and trees outside.
I no longer know the names of clouds.
Geography is distance more than map.
So many things I cannot understand
or do. There is a nakedness to my life.
On the table a jar filled with red and yellow
flowers. Petals fall as I write. The fragrance
of death is often slow and beautiful.
- E. Ethelbert Miller
Monday, June 27, 2011
Poetry & Music: An Interview with Paul Muldoon
"[The song lyric] needs something else. It may be recited as a poem, but for one reason or another, it's missing something. The poem conventionally brings its own music," says Paul Muldoon in a recent interview held at the Academy offices. Read what he has to say about the relationship between poetry and song.
On the web at: www.poets.org/pmuld
"[The song lyric] needs something else. It may be recited as a poem, but for one reason or another, it's missing something. The poem conventionally brings its own music," says Paul Muldoon in a recent interview held at the Academy offices. Read what he has to say about the relationship between poetry and song.
On the web at: www.poets.org/pmuld
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CHARLES JOHNSON TALKS ABOUT TEACHING IN BLACK AND WHITE ON
THE E-CHANNEL: http://ethelbert-miller.blogspot.com/
THE E-CHANNEL: http://ethelbert-miller.blogspot.com/
FOOD:
A good place to eat in Berkeley, CA is KIRIN. The service is very fast. Tea comes in tiny cups.
I had a duck dish. Kirin is located at 1767 Solano Avenue. www.thekirin.com
A good place to eat in Berkeley, CA is KIRIN. The service is very fast. Tea comes in tiny cups.
I had a duck dish. Kirin is located at 1767 Solano Avenue. www.thekirin.com
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Yesterday at the Warhol Initiative Convening I attended two good sessions. One was How Political Can We Be? I found it interesting to be in a room of visual artists and organizations addressing the issue that one can only defined as "Culture Wars II." Many of the comments and concerns I had heard before. How do we deal with censorship? What resources do we have to "fight" back and organize with? I made the comment to the group that more artists should run for public office. It amazes me that across the country we are not doing this. I'm not advocating that we start an Arts Party but instead that artists be in the room when political decisions about our society are being made. For example, I think a painter or a writer would be a strong advocate for protecting public libraries or pushing for arts education in our schools. That person would understand that these issues are as important as funding the police department or having good public transportation.
A second session I attended yesterday was Boards and Fundraising: How to Ask for Money. I need to participate in more forums like this. It's the only way to be a better board member to some of the organizations I represent and work with. I need to improve my business knowledge and skills. Too much poetry in my blood. One think I've started doing is reading more business books. At the end of the day it's learning how to raise money, read budgets better, and make decisions that will help an organization grow.
A second session I attended yesterday was Boards and Fundraising: How to Ask for Money. I need to participate in more forums like this. It's the only way to be a better board member to some of the organizations I represent and work with. I need to improve my business knowledge and skills. Too much poetry in my blood. One think I've started doing is reading more business books. At the end of the day it's learning how to raise money, read budgets better, and make decisions that will help an organization grow.
Friday, June 24, 2011
Say Hey - I'm in the Bay.
I'm attending the WARHOL INITIATIVE CONVENING:www.warholinitiative.org.
Representing Provisions Library: www.provisionslibrary.com
I'm attending the WARHOL INITIATIVE CONVENING:www.warholinitiative.org.
Representing Provisions Library: www.provisionslibrary.com
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
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Breaking News Alert: Obama announces that 'surge' troops will be withdrawn from Afghanistan by summer 2012
June 22, 2011 8:37:11 PM
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President Obama on Wednesday announced that 10,000 U.S. troops will come home from Afghanistan by the end of this year, and that 23,000 more will be withdrawn by next summer, a timeline that is more rapid than military commanders had wanted.
"America, it is time to focus on nation building here at home," Obama said, speaking from the White House East Room.
Complete text of the president's speech:
http://link.email.washingtonpost.com/r/LI37JS/M9PAN7/5VEJ3L/4FXOMM/NMGIQ/4O/h
Breaking News Alert: Obama announces that 'surge' troops will be withdrawn from Afghanistan by summer 2012
June 22, 2011 8:37:11 PM
----------------------------------------
President Obama on Wednesday announced that 10,000 U.S. troops will come home from Afghanistan by the end of this year, and that 23,000 more will be withdrawn by next summer, a timeline that is more rapid than military commanders had wanted.
"America, it is time to focus on nation building here at home," Obama said, speaking from the White House East Room.
Complete text of the president's speech:
http://link.email.washingtonpost.com/r/LI37JS/M9PAN7/5VEJ3L/4FXOMM/NMGIQ/4O/h
CALDONIA: http://bit.ly/m38oDe
Karen Dolan (IPS) sent me the above clip. It's amazing! Dolan writes:
This is a clip from a movie that featured my grandfather, Keenan Wynn, and my step-grandfather, Van Johnson the two army guys listening to the genius child. The clip is worthy of distributing because of SugarChile Robinson. This is a REAL child prodigy...listen all the way through to his singing too, he is astounding at both the piano and the singing.
Karen Dolan (IPS) sent me the above clip. It's amazing! Dolan writes:
This is a clip from a movie that featured my grandfather, Keenan Wynn, and my step-grandfather, Van Johnson the two army guys listening to the genius child. The clip is worthy of distributing because of SugarChile Robinson. This is a REAL child prodigy...listen all the way through to his singing too, he is astounding at both the piano and the singing.
Shaq Talks Business
Check out our interview with the NBA legend and his outlook on his entrepreneurial future
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Breaking News Alert: Obama to withdraw 10,000 troops from Afghanistan this year
June 22, 2011 3:53:08 PM
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President Obama will announce in his address at 8 p.m. Wednesday that he will order home 10,000 U.S. troops from Afghanistan this year and another 23,000 by the end of September 2012, according to administration officials speaking on condition of anonymity.
The plan, charting the U.S. military's exit from America's longest war, outlines the withdrawal of the 33,000 forces that Obama ordered to Afghanistan at the end of 2009, after a months-long strategy review meant to find ways of salvaging a flagging war.
Breaking News Alert: Obama to withdraw 10,000 troops from Afghanistan this year
June 22, 2011 3:53:08 PM
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President Obama will announce in his address at 8 p.m. Wednesday that he will order home 10,000 U.S. troops from Afghanistan this year and another 23,000 by the end of September 2012, according to administration officials speaking on condition of anonymity.
The plan, charting the U.S. military's exit from America's longest war, outlines the withdrawal of the 33,000 forces that Obama ordered to Afghanistan at the end of 2009, after a months-long strategy review meant to find ways of salvaging a flagging war.
 Women Write Now! Two:Blogs to Books to BestsellersA day-long seminar for women writers and women who want to write hosted/presented by Marita Golden |
Would you like to:
This day-long seminar, hosted by master teacher and award-winning author Marita Golden, is a continuation of the networking and idea-sharing that made Women Write Now! One such a success. In this workshop you'll meet and connect with women writers just like you and learn information and get ideas that will give a boost to your writing projects. What participants have said about Women Write Now! ~ The workshop was phenomenal with so much useful information and well informed speakers. ~ ~ Great energy. ~ ~ I am so happy I attended. ~ Where: Home of Marita Golden Prince Georges County, MD (upon registration you will be sent the complete address) subway accessible via Largo Town Center stop on the Metro Blue Line When: Saturday, August 13, 2011 from 10:00AM to 5:00PM (EDT) Registration Fee: Early Bird Special (until July 6) - $159 Regular Fee (after July 6) - $170 The first six registrants will be entered into a lottery to receive a free one-hour literary coaching session with Marita Golden to discuss an in-progress writing project or a writing project being considered (winner will be chosen at the seminar). |
| Register Now! |
| I can't make it |
| Seminar Schedule Authors will sell and sign books after each presentation10:00am - 11:00am From Blog to Book: How Blogging Can Launch Your Writing Career Blogger and author Ananda Leeke will discuss how creating and sustaining a blog can help you develop a consistent writing practice, overcome writer's block and build and engage an audience for your work.  Ananda Leeke is an author, artist and yoga teacher. Leeke has been actively blogging since 2005. In 2010 she established the Digital Sisterhood Network and Digital Sisterhood Month to give women in social media an opportunity to celebrate their connections, communities and collaborative partnerships. She is the author of That Which Awakens Me: A Creative Woman's Poetic Memoir of Self-Discovery and the novel Love's Troubadours-Karma: Book One. She is currently writing Digital Sisterhood a memoir that discusses her Internet adventures. 11:30am - 12:30pm Sister/Space This is a time devoted to group sharing of projects both creative and entrepreneurial. Attendees get the opportunity to both promote themselves and their work and seek advice from other participants. 12:30pm - 1:30pm Lunch (vegetarian option included) 1:30pm - 2:30pm Publish An E-book in a Day! Kyra E. Hicks will discuss how writers can use Amazon.com and its many free, author-friendly tools to successfully publish and promote their work in 24 hours as a Kindle eBook or 7 days as a paperback!  Kyra E. Hicks is a marketing professional, exhibiting quilter and author. She successfully self-published three books on African American quilt history. In 2009 she self-published her first paperback and generated $10,000 within a year. 3:00pm - 4:00pm Do I Need A Literary Agent? Tracy Sherrod will answer this question and more as she discusses the nuts and bolts of what a literary agent does and how an agent establishes and protects your literary rights and product.  Tracy Sherrod is the owner of Tracy Sherrod Literary Services. Tracy has been a publishing professional for nearly two decades. As a senior editor at Simon & Schuster she edited many New York Times bestsellers including blockbusters by Zane (Addicted), and Ellis Cose (Envy of the World).4:00pm - 5:00pm Final Networking Session Participants will have an opportunity to talk individually with all the presenters. |
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THE MILLER CLASSIC
Dispatch from Bennington, VT
June 21, 2011
Hello Ethelbert,
Perhaps word has reached you of the results of the Annual Miller Softball Classic. For the second straight year, the Poets were outmatched, and went down 19-6 in a 90-minute game played under sunny skies (about 82 degrees at game time, 4 p.m.) and before a crowd of about 60 onlookers.
For the second straight year, strong hitting and fielding lifted the fiction and nonfiction writers. The game seemed to go quickly, with runs scored in large clumps – mostly through doubles and triples. Indeed, this reporter slammed a line drive over the left fielder’s head that cleared the bases – and counted as a triple.
Perhaps the greatest stir surrounded a modest San-Diego native in his thirties who introduced himself as Jesper. He is a quiet man, who stands around 5 foot 6, 160 pounds, and who was barely noticed in the Prose outfield. Up at bat, though, he accomplished what few, if any, players in this Classic have been able to do. In his three at-bats, the right-handed hitter slugged three home runs, and none were cheap. The last one was a towering drive to left field that sailed over the dorm roof opposite Wooley House. I later found him alone, plucking a guitar behind the Jennings building. He said he is in his third term, and now lives in Los Angeles. When I asked him how much ball he had played, he kind of shrugged and told me he was a Little Leaguer up until 13.
And so, this year’s game is in the books. Thanks again for this marvelous gift. The game creates memories, and stirs the past, huh?
I hope you are well and enjoying this baseball season. As for me, it is about time I take my leave from this program – graduation sneaks up on you, as does the fourth of July.
All best,
Steve Rosenberg
ICHIRO AND ME:
So, I decide to leave the ball park after Ichiro's last at bat. What happens? The Nationals win the game in the bottom of the 9th and I miss everything. An amazing comeback. The first game I left (in my life) before the last out. Sports fans - never do what I did last night. Well, I did enjoy seeing Ichiro get 2 hits, score a run, a steal a base. The guy makes plays in the outfield look very easy. Average is around 280.
Could he be back over .300 by the end of the month?
So, I decide to leave the ball park after Ichiro's last at bat. What happens? The Nationals win the game in the bottom of the 9th and I miss everything. An amazing comeback. The first game I left (in my life) before the last out. Sports fans - never do what I did last night. Well, I did enjoy seeing Ichiro get 2 hits, score a run, a steal a base. The guy makes plays in the outfield look very easy. Average is around 280.
Could he be back over .300 by the end of the month?
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
MALCOLM AND ME
Maybe around late August I'll sit down and read Marable's biography of Malcolm X. No rush. I've been reading the reviews and simply monitoring what folks are talking about. It seems as if a 594 page book is being reduced down to a discussion of Malcolm's sex life and assassination. This is what reviewers would have us believe. So I'll have to read the book myself. I'll be disappointed if Manning Marable does not explore (in detail) Malcolm's spiritual growth and transformation. Will we ever know how Malcolm interpreted the Quran? How did he tackle those first days of learning how to perform salat. Did he fast or say his prayers five times a day? Who did he discuss Islam with? These are the questions I want to know about Malcolm X. The book costs $30. If you've read it and know that my questions are not addressed please send me an email. I might consider saving my money.
Maybe around late August I'll sit down and read Marable's biography of Malcolm X. No rush. I've been reading the reviews and simply monitoring what folks are talking about. It seems as if a 594 page book is being reduced down to a discussion of Malcolm's sex life and assassination. This is what reviewers would have us believe. So I'll have to read the book myself. I'll be disappointed if Manning Marable does not explore (in detail) Malcolm's spiritual growth and transformation. Will we ever know how Malcolm interpreted the Quran? How did he tackle those first days of learning how to perform salat. Did he fast or say his prayers five times a day? Who did he discuss Islam with? These are the questions I want to know about Malcolm X. The book costs $30. If you've read it and know that my questions are not addressed please send me an email. I might consider saving my money.
Job Opening at Cave Canem!
This paid Program Internship, funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies, is a 12-month, 21-hour-week position to begin in August 2011. Application deadline is July 15.
To learn more about this opportunity, visit our website at cavecanempoets.org/employment.
To learn more about this opportunity, visit our website at cavecanempoets.org/employment.
CAVE CANEM FOUNDATION, INC. � www.cavecanempoets.org � 718.858.0000
20 Jay Street, Suite 310-A, Brooklyn, NY 11201
The ANSWER Coalition (Act Now to Stop War & End Racism) sponsors a forum featuring former Congressional Representative Cynthia McKinney, who has been on a fact finding mission in Libya. She will give an eyewitness report on the massive damage NATO bombing has caused in Tripoli and elsewhere. She will be joined by Akbar Muhammad of the Nation of Islam, former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, and Brian Becker, National Coordinator of the ANSWER Coalition. The program takes place 7:00 p.m, Friday, June 24,. at The Festival Center, 1640 Columbia Road, NW, Washington DC. For more information call 202-265-1948.
THE RACIALIST
Time for another episode. Almost everyday the media tries to find someone to "run" against Obama. Our President another Jack Johnson? The "search" for a Great White Hope? When the Obama Administration ends after four years or eight there will be dancing in some streets in the United States.
For some a "black cloud" or blemish will be lifted from a tarnished American history. Historians will appear that might even overlook this era -"whitewashing" the Obama name from key political achievements. No credit given for anything. Impossible? Never under estimate the "sickness" of racism. When did black invisibility ever cease? Racism operates on many levels. It might even be a virus. I still maintain we could reduce it in our society by simply providing scientific evidence that shows white people live longer when they treat blacks better. Can't you see an entire "health" industry developing out of this belief? Whites moving into black neighborhoods just to be close to "blackness" and other tonics. But what if we reached a point in which white health no longer required black love? The death of the nanny stage? Oh, the horror. AFTER RACE WILL TRAVEL.
Time for another episode. Almost everyday the media tries to find someone to "run" against Obama. Our President another Jack Johnson? The "search" for a Great White Hope? When the Obama Administration ends after four years or eight there will be dancing in some streets in the United States.
For some a "black cloud" or blemish will be lifted from a tarnished American history. Historians will appear that might even overlook this era -"whitewashing" the Obama name from key political achievements. No credit given for anything. Impossible? Never under estimate the "sickness" of racism. When did black invisibility ever cease? Racism operates on many levels. It might even be a virus. I still maintain we could reduce it in our society by simply providing scientific evidence that shows white people live longer when they treat blacks better. Can't you see an entire "health" industry developing out of this belief? Whites moving into black neighborhoods just to be close to "blackness" and other tonics. But what if we reached a point in which white health no longer required black love? The death of the nanny stage? Oh, the horror. AFTER RACE WILL TRAVEL.
Contemporary philosophers state that we humans are striving to be god. Others more critical admonish us for arrogantly "playing god." They warn of dire consequences.
These critics are absurd. We humans do not want to be god or to play god.
We aspire to much more.
God was a crude concept - vengeful wrathful
destructive. We humans want to evolve beyond god.
- F. M. Esfandiary
These critics are absurd. We humans do not want to be god or to play god.
We aspire to much more.
God was a crude concept - vengeful wrathful
destructive. We humans want to evolve beyond god.
- F. M. Esfandiary
Monday, June 20, 2011
THE FUTURE IS NOW:
War Evolves With Drones, Some Tiny as Bugs
New York Times - Elisabeth Bumiller and Thom Shanker
From blimps to bugs, an explosion in aerial drones is transforming the way America fights and thinks about its wars.
NEW FROM KELLIE JONES
EyeMinded: Living and Writing Contemporary Art (Duke University Press 2011) http://www.dukeupress.edu/Catalog/ViewProduct.php?productid=19216&viewby=title
Transition 105 is teeming with thorny questions about being black in a global context. Even the “Black-Jewish Question,” traditionally an American obsession, gains complexity when it involves a half-Kenyan president, Israel, or Igbo Jews celebrating Hanukkah in Abuja. Three writers explore three different intersections of the tribe and the people. And the issue follows several more journeys through the Diaspora in search of black meaning. A review of the new biography of Marcus Garvey, transatlantic hero, celebrates ties between Africa and the Americas, just as Bayo Holsey questions Wole Soyinka’s reading of Africa’s role in the slave trade. And amid these abstract tides of history, pushing back and forth, individuals are caught in small eddies: an African American anthropologist visits Brazil and has trouble getting back home; an American daughter of South African parents floats like a ghost between different cultures of death; a black writer can’t quite find home in Harlem. With the idea of home in transition, at least all these ideas find a home in Transition.
Visit the Transition web page to learn more about the journal. http://dubois.fas.harvard.edu/transition-magazine.
Breaking News Alert
The New York Times
Monday, June 20, 2011 -- 10:42 AM EDT
-----
Supreme Court Blocks Sex Discrimination Class-Action Suit Against Wal-Mart
The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Monday that a huge class-action lawsuit
against Wal-Mart Stores alleging sex discrimination cannot proceed, reversing a
decision by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. The lawsuit could
have involved up to 1.6 million current and former Wal-Mart employees and
billions of dollars in damages.
The plaintiffs can still pursue their suit on their own, but not as a class
action, the court ruled, meaning that much less money would be at stake. The
court said the proposed class would be too unwieldy and diverse and that there
were other problems with the way the case was filed.
Sunday, June 19, 2011
KIM NOTES:
Some great news! Smartish Pace, a lovely journal out of Baltimore, just published a rave review by Wynn Yarbrough of Full Moon on K Street:
Some great news! Smartish Pace, a lovely journal out of Baltimore, just published a rave review by Wynn Yarbrough of Full Moon on K Street:
I thought you'd be interested in particular: You are mentioned in the review. (Or, in the case of Tree and Miller, your loved ones.)
Yarbrough states:
"One of the strengths of this collection is that local geography and life is always touched by national life and events...Since so much history has taken place in D.C. and continues into the present moment, this collection engenders much of its richness from the intersections that are available to a poet writing for and in this city...where national fame intersects with local preoccupation."
"...the poems encapsulate the 20th century in remarkable ways. Roberts organized the anthology based on the birth date of the poet...In many ways, you can read the changing aesthetics of the various decades as well as the changing cultural make up of the city due to Roberts' ear for different voices."
Yarbrough includes generous quotes from five poems: by Thomas Sayers Ellis, Brian Gilmore (unfortunately, though his work is highlighted, his name is not given), Richard Peabody, Daniel Gutstein, and Toni Asante Lightfoot.
He also mentions poems (by title) by William Claire, Jonetta Rose Barras, Kenneth Carroll, Esther Iverem, and E. Ethelbert Miller--and mentions a few additional writers by name: A.B. Spellman, Elizabeth Alexander, Liam Rector, May Miller, and Abdul Ali.
Overall a rave review--I couldn't be more pleased!
Kim Roberts
Women in Saudi Arabia are pushing for the right to drive a car. What year is this? Do we live in parallel worlds? Some women want to simply do their errands or go to work whenever they want. In defiance women are posting pictures on the internet of themselves driving. The backlash from men is sad. An anti-driving group in Saudi Arabia called on "real men" to beat up women who drive. What womb are these men from?
NO PROTEST?
Remember all the political chatter around building a mosque near Ground Zero in New York?
Well visitors to the museum at the national 9/11 memorial could be required to pay an entrance fee of about $20. The museum opens in 2012. $20 is ridiculous. The place should be free and open to all Americans. They say that 9/11 victims' relatives will always be able to enter for free. Well, isn't that all of us? Are we not all related? Where is the protest?
Remember all the political chatter around building a mosque near Ground Zero in New York?
Well visitors to the museum at the national 9/11 memorial could be required to pay an entrance fee of about $20. The museum opens in 2012. $20 is ridiculous. The place should be free and open to all Americans. They say that 9/11 victims' relatives will always be able to enter for free. Well, isn't that all of us? Are we not all related? Where is the protest?
N.B.A.
Be sure to follow the N.B.A. now that the Finals are over. Will there be a lockout? The stakes are high. Money/ money is involved. Some teams are already making cuts - trainers and scouts, equipment managers being the first to go. Check the layoffs already taking place with The Lakers. Owners will force the players to take pay cuts so they can make more money. Whose ball is it? Not yours. Not mine. Whose game is it? Ours if we want to own it.
Be sure to follow the N.B.A. now that the Finals are over. Will there be a lockout? The stakes are high. Money/ money is involved. Some teams are already making cuts - trainers and scouts, equipment managers being the first to go. Check the layoffs already taking place with The Lakers. Owners will force the players to take pay cuts so they can make more money. Whose ball is it? Not yours. Not mine. Whose game is it? Ours if we want to own it.
Are Saudi Women Next?
Mai Yamani, Project Syndicate: "The unexpected visibility and assertiveness of women in the revolutions unfolding across the Arab world – in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Bahrain, Syria, and elsewhere – has helped propel what has become variously known as the 'Arab awakening' or 'Arab Spring.' Major changes have occurred in the minds and lives of women, helping them to break through the shackles of the past, and to demand their freedom and dignity."
Read the Article
Mai Yamani, Project Syndicate: "The unexpected visibility and assertiveness of women in the revolutions unfolding across the Arab world – in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Bahrain, Syria, and elsewhere – has helped propel what has become variously known as the 'Arab awakening' or 'Arab Spring.' Major changes have occurred in the minds and lives of women, helping them to break through the shackles of the past, and to demand their freedom and dignity."
Read the Article
 |
| MY DAD (1915-1987) |
My father had no father. Instead he had an English name on a Spanish birth certificate. It was a document he could not read. He kept it among medical and financial records. A birth certificate mixed with old receipts, health and bank statements, contained in a metal box, the kind you associate with burglaries and semiprecious jewels.
#
No father, what does it mean? Is it just a theme in books, articles in newspapers, and conference topics? I have found it to be an ingredient in numerous conversations. Black boys need black fathers.
#
My father is sitting at the kitchen table. He props his head up with his hands. He is waiting for his meal. Years from now I will recognize this pose. It's the picture we get from the losers' locker room after the World Series, the Super Bowl or the NBA Finals. It's defeat after making an error, the ball going in and out of the rim. A foot touching the line in the end zone. Or worst, the referee or umpire missing the call. Yet there is something heroic about my father. It took many years for me to realize the simple beauty behind how he ate his food. The care that he gave to even the most mundane task.
Just before I went off to college, he printed my name on the inside of a new typewriter case, his block letters so beautifully even. I looked at my name each time I took the typewriter out. I was named by the women in the family. A great aunt gave me the middle name Ethelbert. My mother's mother was named Eugen without the E at the end. I write my name on a white sheet of paper, Eugene E. Miller. I hand it to my father so he can spell it correctly.
FATHERING WORDS: THE MAKING OF AN AFRICAN AMERICAN WRITER
by E. Ethelbert Miller, St. Martin's Press, 2000.
Saturday, June 18, 2011
WHEN WILL WE BEGAIN TO THINK NEW THOUGHTS AND IDEAS?
It's funny when you find a book that contains all your ideas (and it was published back in 1973). As I mentioned in a previous E-Note, I've been reading UP-WINGERS by F.M. Esfandiary. Here is an excerpt:
Socialism and capitalism are still fixated on eliminating unemployment. No economic measures no crash programs can any longer reverse the global trend toward unemployment. Nothing can any longer be done to replace the jobs which automation and cybernation are steadily taking over. It has become an economic imperative to decrease work. This is not only sound economics it is also a humanizing move.
This is a time to free people of work. Rather than rack their brains to create employment economists should now work out plans to create leisure.
It's funny when you find a book that contains all your ideas (and it was published back in 1973). As I mentioned in a previous E-Note, I've been reading UP-WINGERS by F.M. Esfandiary. Here is an excerpt:
Socialism and capitalism are still fixated on eliminating unemployment. No economic measures no crash programs can any longer reverse the global trend toward unemployment. Nothing can any longer be done to replace the jobs which automation and cybernation are steadily taking over. It has become an economic imperative to decrease work. This is not only sound economics it is also a humanizing move.
This is a time to free people of work. Rather than rack their brains to create employment economists should now work out plans to create leisure.
Friday, June 17, 2011
| Shelf Talk | Literary fathers and sons | ||
| Favorites: Fathering Words, poet E. Ethelbert Miller’s eloquent account... | ||
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I just received my copy of THE ILANOT REVIEW. This literary journal is affiliated with the Shaindy Rudoff Graduate Program in Creative Writing at Bar-Ilan University in Israel. My poem "Rosa Parks dreams" is included in it.
www.biu.ac.il/HU/en/cw/ilanot
www.biu.ac.il/HU/en/cw/ilanot
Instead, you must love the world as it is, because the world, for all its murder and madness, is worth loving. Nothing you write will matter unless it moves the human heart, said the poet A.D. Hope. And the heart that you must move is corrupt, depraved, and desperate for your love.
- Roger Rosenblatt from Unless It Moves the Human Heart
- Roger Rosenblatt from Unless It Moves the Human Heart
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Local Politics News Alert: Ehrlich aide, consultant indicted in Election Night robocalling case
June 16, 2011 2:39:26 PM
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A senior aide and a consultant hired by former Maryland governor Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) were indicted Thursday in a case stemming from tens of thousands of anonymous robocalls placed on Election Night last year that suggested voters could stay home even though the polls were still open. Watch PostLocal.com for more details.
June 16, 2011 2:39:26 PM
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A senior aide and a consultant hired by former Maryland governor Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) were indicted Thursday in a case stemming from tens of thousands of anonymous robocalls placed on Election Night last year that suggested voters could stay home even though the polls were still open. Watch PostLocal.com for more details.
Unrest Pushes Yemen to Brink of Humanitarian Disaster
Adam Baron, McClatchy Newspapers: "Even before demonstrators began demanding the resignation of President Ali Abdullah Saleh five months ago, Yemen's future looked bleak. A third of its people couldn't be certain when they'd next eat. The oilfields that provide 70 percent of government revenues and more than 30 percent of the country's economic activity were expected to go dry in 10 years. Experts even were betting that Sanaa would be the first world capital to run out of water. But now, with Saleh lying wounded in a hospital in Saudi Arabia after an assassination attempt, the political system paralyzed by armed conflict and disagreements about what should happen to his government, and economic activity grinding to a halt, the future may be now."
Read the Article
Adam Baron, McClatchy Newspapers: "Even before demonstrators began demanding the resignation of President Ali Abdullah Saleh five months ago, Yemen's future looked bleak. A third of its people couldn't be certain when they'd next eat. The oilfields that provide 70 percent of government revenues and more than 30 percent of the country's economic activity were expected to go dry in 10 years. Experts even were betting that Sanaa would be the first world capital to run out of water. But now, with Saleh lying wounded in a hospital in Saudi Arabia after an assassination attempt, the political system paralyzed by armed conflict and disagreements about what should happen to his government, and economic activity grinding to a halt, the future may be now."
Read the Article
Tricycle Daily Dharma
-Thich Nhat Hanh
Treat Anger with Tenderness
Treat your anger with the utmost respect and tenderness, for it is no other than yourself. Do not suppress it—simply be aware of it. Awareness is like the sun. When it shines on things, they are transformed. When you are aware that you are angry, your anger is transformed. If you destroy anger, you destroy the Buddha, for Buddha and Mara are of the same essence. Mindfully dealing with anger is like taking the hand of a little brother.-Thich Nhat Hanh
A convicted murderer, long suspected of involvement in the 1994 Quad Studios shooting of Tupac Shakur, has finally admitted to committing the crime, and has accused Game's manager, Jimmy "Henchmen" Rosemond -- founder of Czar Entertainment -- of masterminding the botched robbery, which left the legendary rapper shot five times.
"I want to apologize to his [Tupac's] family and for the mistake I did for that sucker [Rosemond]," Dexter Isaac told AllHipHop.com yesterday (June 15), on the eve of Tupac's 40th birthday.
In an explosive confession dedicated to his former friend, whom he helped to launch entertainment company Henchmen Entertainment in 1989, Isaac explained that he has "stayed silent in prison for the past 13 years, doing a life sentence like a real soldier should," but that he is "tired of listening to your [Rosemond's] lies."
"I want to apologize to his [Tupac's] family and for the mistake I did for that sucker [Rosemond]," Dexter Isaac told AllHipHop.com yesterday (June 15), on the eve of Tupac's 40th birthday.
In an explosive confession dedicated to his former friend, whom he helped to launch entertainment company Henchmen Entertainment in 1989, Isaac explained that he has "stayed silent in prison for the past 13 years, doing a life sentence like a real soldier should," but that he is "tired of listening to your [Rosemond's] lies."
