Changing the Narrative

One of the things that needs to be discussed daily in the media is the issue of poverty in America.
Right now the focus is on the Middle Class. We also need to talk more about prison reform. What is happening behind the bars? I'm a strong advocate that President Obama should visit a few US prisons and sit down with inmates - discuss such topics as unemployment, education, family values and issues of race and culture.


Why haven't we seen this discussion and exchange of views?

Confronting the Contradictions of America’s Past Bill opens this weekend’s Moyers & Company with thoughts about the origins and lessons of Independence Day. We should remember, he says, that behind this July 4th holiday are human beings, like Thomas Jefferson, who were as flawed and conflicted as they were inspired, men who espoused great humanistic ideals while behaving with reprehensible racial discrimination. No stranger to the contradictions of history and their racial touchpoints is Bill’s studio guest Khalil Muhammad. Head of The New York Public Library’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Muhammad discusses with Bill the importance of confronting the contradictions of America’s racial past. WATCH NOW       Analyzing the SCOTUS Decision Read some of the best analysis of this week's Supreme Court Affordable Care Act ruling.   Messing With Texas Textbooks A look at recent changes to Texas textbooks that reveal a clear conservative agenda.   Climate Change: The Latest Inconvenient Truth A new report serves as a reminder that denying climate change doesn't make it go away.   VIDEO ESSAY How Citizen Power Can Save a Library Bill addresses a public library funding crisis, calling attention to a controversial community effort in Michigan to save its own library. MORE     Image Credit: Peter Krogh © 2012 Moyers Media. All rights reserved.

THE PERMANENT FILES OF P.S. 39

When I was in the 5th grade
Ms. Fontana told Eric Graham
she was going to place a note
about his "acting out" in his permanent
file. Three years from retirement I wonder
what's in those files. Employment applications?
Job attendance records? Membership cards to radical
and secret organizations? Unpaid bills?
Test and Quiz papers with gold stars? Pornographic
doodles? Pictures taken at Coney Island in front
of Nathan's? Who is interested in all this knowing?
I think of pencil erasers, old bottles of white out
correction fluid. I think about locating the permanent
delete button. I want the past to vanish, to evaporate,
to turn to steam. I don't want to remember anything
but you Ms. Fontana. The first teacher I fell in love with.
The first woman to teach me the nightmares of memory.


 - E. Ethelbert Miller

THE STATE OF THINGS

Maryland Declares State of Emergency

Maryland has followed the lead of Virginia and the District by declaring a state of emergency to deal with the aftermath of Friday night's severe storms.

AFTER ONE STORM AND WAITING FOR THE NEXT

All across the city one can see the horror.  Trees down. Large limbs and branches piled near the curbs. I have a day's work tomorrow just dealing with my yard. See below:

TREE DOWN- BLACK MAN STANDING. Photo by Ethelbert

STARS AND FULL MOON

It was nice to join spend the afternoon with a group of poets today.  Thanks to Kim Roberts we gathered at the Corcoran Gallery of Art to read from the anthology FULL MOON ON K STREET.
I've been taking pictures of poets and artists thanks to my phone upgrade. Looking for shots that will be as memorable as a line of poetry. What follows is a tercet:

BRANDON D. JOHNSON. Photo by Ethelbert

CHRISTINA DAUB. Photo by Ethelbert

ALAN SPEARS. Photo by Ethelbert

POETRY TODAY

Saturday, June 30 at 2:00 pm
"The Poetics of Place": a reading from the anthology Full Moon on K Street: Poems About Washington, DC. Poets introduced by editor Kim Roberts and publisher stevenallenmay. Featured poets: Derrick Weston Brown, Christina Daub, Brandon Johnson, E. Ethelbert Miller, Yvette Neisser Moreno, Elizabeth Poliner, Myra Sklarew, and Alan Spears. Presented in conjunction with the opening of the exhibition, "Richard Diebenkorn: The Ocean Park Series"
Free admission to reading and to the museum. Corcoran Gallery of Art, 500 17th St. NW, DC.

HOW WE CAME TO THIS DAY

            (for JC)

At the end of this day or even history,
we will return to hotel rooms.
The idea of home missing from our files.
There are ghosts who already know these things.
To be reckless is to be free from privacy and the future.
The last God invented man because he was tired of fiction.

-  E. Ethelbert Miller

You are cordially invited to a special preview of Lakes, Rivers and Seas,

New Works by Elana Gutmann at Perimeter Gallery.

Thursday, July 12, 2012

5-8pm

The Artist will be present

Perimeter Gallery

210 West Superior Street

Chicago, IL 60610

We look forward to seeing you there!

Please RSVP (312) 266.9473 

WORDS FROM MAYO

http://www.cmmayo.com/workshops/resources-MANUSCRIPT.html

C.M. MAYO

Larry Neal Sessions gives listeners the opportunity to experience the literary works of some of the best writers in Washington, DC. The works are from the winners of the Larry Neal Writers' Competition - read by the authors or cast of actors. Each week, a new writer, a new performance, and a great new work. All of the performances were recorded live in the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities office.

Since 1981, the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities has recognized and celebrated the literary accomplishments of the District's resident writers though the Larry Neal Writer's Awards. The honor commemorates the artistic legacy and vision of cultural understanding of Larry Neal (1937-1981), a renowned author, academic and former DCCAH Executive Director.

INSTITUTE FOR POLICY STUDIES

We are thrilled to announce the winners of the 2012 Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Awards and to invite you to a ceremony to honor them on October 24 here in Washington. Please mark your calendars for a reception that night at 5:30 pm and the ceremony at 7 pm.

This year, our awards selection committee honored an outstanding movement and a bold 99% organization. They are:

- The Chilean Students Movement (Confederación de Estudiantes Chilenos): For over a year, the Chilean students movement has turned that country upside down, demanding the right to free universal education. They have rallied hundreds of thousands into the streets and breathed life into that democracy. Let us know if you'd like one of the leaders to visit your campus in the week after the awards ceremony.

- City Life/Vida Urbana: This Boston-based bilingual community organization has fought for racial, social, and economic justice and gender equality for 28 years. In response to the devastating impact of the foreclosure crisis on communities in Boston, they launched the Post-Foreclosure Eviction Defense campaign to help keep people facing foreclosure in their homes. Victories won by hundreds of organized families are building public and political pressure, which in turn is driving legislative reform and sparking similar campaigns across the region.

We hope you can join us in Washington on October 24.

John Cavanagh, Director
Joy Zarembka, Associate Director

AFTER THE SUPREMES

So the Supreme court hands Obama a victory. Now watch how folks decide to just "ignore" the court ruling and make their own laws.

THE MILLER CLASSIC

For the last seven years I've been sponsoring The Miller Classic softball game at the Bennington Writing Seminars. It's a gathering of literary all-stars. Poets against Fiction writers. Below is a note from Eli Burrell.

Eli Burrell 12:45pm Jun 28 The game was a blast. The poets came very close to breaking the losing streak. I'd hoped to get a win before my time at Bennington was over, but alas. I will say that the new crop of poets hold some athletic promise, though perhaps not enough to overcome the problematic prosers. The Classic is/was one of my favorite things about residencies at Bennington. Yours, Eli

NEWS ALERT

Supreme Court upholds individual mandate

Justices say health care law's key provision requiring Americans to have insurance passes constitutional test.

THE SUPREMES RULE TODAY

WILL THERE BE A SPILL IN THE FUTURE? You Betcha!

Shell will begin drilling exploratory wells off the North Slope of Alaska as early as next month.
There goes the neighborhood.

MISSING THE LIGHT IN OUR LIVES

ON JUNE 27, 1936 the LIGHT came to us.  Her name was Lucille Clifton.

	Inspirational Quote of the Day (Wed, 27 Jun 2012) Champions aren't made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them a desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have the skill and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill. Muhammad Ali

HOODOO: WHO DAT?

http://afrosurrealsanfrancisco.tumblr.com/post/25119212153/the-united-states-of-hoodoo-a-film-by-oliver-hardt

The 7th MILLER CLASSIC SOFTBALL GAME AT BENNINGTON

BEAUTIFUL PLAYERS AND LITERARY ALL STARS

THE BENNINGTON WRITING SEMINARS

RETURNING TO BLOOM

This is such an important essay. Be sure to read it along with the Adrienne Rich introduction to The Best American Poetry 1996.
http://bostonreview.net/BR23.2/bloom.html

HAROLD BLOOM

I was looking for poetry that could rouse me from fatigue, stir me from grief, poetry that was redemptive in the sense of offering a kind of deliverance or rescue of the imagination, and poetry that awoke delight - lip-to-lip, spark-to-spark, pleasure in recognition, pleasure in strangeness.

    - Adrienne Rich

from The Best American Poetry 1996

FAREWELL TO MY BELOVED REBBE

Yesterday I had to put Rebbe to sleep. He was very ill and could no longer walk.

REBBE. Photo taken by Ethelbert

Saturday, June 30, 2:00 pm
"The Poetics of Place": A reading from the anthology, Full Moon on K Street: Poems About Washington, DC, hosted by editor Kim Roberts and Plan B Press publisher stevenallenmay, featuring Derrick Weston Brown, Christina Daub, Brandon Johnson, E. Ethelbert Miller, Yvette Neisser Moreno, Elizabeth Poliner, Myra Sklarew, and Alan Spears. Presented in conjunction with the opening of the exhibition, "Richard Diebenkorn: The Ocean Park Series."
Corcoran Gallery of Art, 500 17th St. NW, DC. Free admission to reading and exhibit.

http://getinvolved.corcoran.org/poetics_of_place_reading

THE DIANE REHM SHOW

Readers' Review: "The Awakening" by Kate Chopin (Rebroadcast ...

http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2012-06-24/readers-review-awakening-kate- chopin-rebroadcast. Comments (0); Share. Sunday, June 24, 2012 - 2:06 p.m. ...

thedianerehmshow.org/.../2012.../readers-review-awakening-kate-chopin- rebroadcast

MANDELA, MANDELA

Celebrate Nelson Mandela’s 94^th birthday in a program with Mandela’s biographer Charlene Smith and  Johnny Moloto, Deputy Chief of Mission at the South African Embassy.  The program starts at 2:00 p.m. Sunday, July 15, here at The Writer’s Center.  We’ll have a reception and book signing after the formal program.  Free admission.  For more information people can call 301-654-8664 or visit www.writer.or.g

An Erotic Politics: What's the Future of the LGBTQ Movement?
Laura Flanders, Truthout: "June is LGBT Pride month in the US and there has been a lot to celebrate. From marriage to the military, LGBT people have won acceptance, but that doesn't mean we've banished poverty, terror and shame. The unacceptable pervades our profit-mad society - and that's nothing of which to be proud. So, what's next for the LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer) movement? I asked longtime activist and organizer Amber Hollibaugh."
Read the Article

Jaipur Literary Festival; Literary Ireland; Academic Travel Abroad

Jaipur Literary Festival - The Greatest Literary Festival on Earth January 21-31, 2013 Expanding on our list of book-related travel offerings to France and Ireland, Politics & Prose is pleased to announce a trip next January to India that will be centered around the Jaipur Literary Festival. Set on the grounds of the Hotel Diggi Palace, the festival is spectacular in its splendor, hospitality and intellectual stimulation. Now in its eighth year, it has grown from its humble inception with 15 authors into an international media event that this year drew 260 speakers and a crowd of over 120,000. Join journalist and screenwriter Alexandra Viets on this unique journey to India that will include stops at a number of major tourist sites while also serving as a roving literary seminar. Along the way the P&P group will immerse itself in the riches of South Asian literature with informal conversations about art, film, and contemporary books, including Aravind Adiga’s Booker Prize-winning novel of modern New Delhi, The White Tiger, Rohinton Mistry’s classic epic, A Fine Balance, and other fiction and non-fiction selections. The trip will offer rare access to local journalists and writers and will include a private meeting with festival organizer and prize-winning author William Dalrymple. The ten-day journey will begin January 21 flying to New Delhi, a vibrant, chaotic, glorious city that fuses the ancient and modern worlds. Here participants will explore the labyrinthine streets of both Old and New Delhi, visit mosques, monuments and forts, and shop at the lively and colorful bazaars. The visit will be enhanced by a guided walking tour with author, broadcaster, and longtime Indiophile Sam Miller, and will also include a picnic in Lodhi Gardens with Rama Lakshmi who has worked as the Washington Post correspondent in New Delhi for more than 20 years. In Jaipur, there’ll be meetings with featured authors and ample opportunity to explore the stunning landscape of Jaipur itself, including the Amber Fort, City Palace, and small independent bookshops. Politics & Prose will be working with partners in Jaipur to help secure good seating at events and readings once the 2013 schedule is finalized. Past authors have included Vikram Seth, Tom Stoppard, Michael Ondaatje, JM Coetzee, Orhan Pamuk, Ian McEwan, and Roddy Doyle. Click here for more information about this trip to Jaipur. And for those of you eager to go somewhere sooner, remember there are still spaces available on P&P literary trips this October to Ireland and France. You can check out the itineraries and register at www.politicsandprosetravel.com.

AFTER THE STORM YOU CAN'T KEEP A GOOD FLOWER DOWN

ETHELBERT'S BACKYARD. Photo by Ethelbert

I WAS WAITING FOR YOU

KFAR MACCABIAH in ISRAEL. Photo by Ethelbert

Quote of the Day:

As drones have fast become the weapon of choice- 7.000 are already in use by the U.S. military, and 45 other countries are developing their own drone programs - the technology of warfare has vastly outpaced the laws governing its use.

 - Rebecca Burns, In These Times, July 2012.

NYERE NEWS

http://www.region19.org/article/374.php

Breaking News Alert
The New York Times
Monday, June 25, 2012 -- 10:42 AM EDT
-----

Supreme Court Issues Rulings on Immigration, Campaign Finance and Juvenile 
Sentencing

The Supreme Court on Monday struck down provisions of Arizona’s immigration law; 
struck down a Montana law limiting corporate campaign spending, affirming the 
Citizens United case; and ruled that it is unconstitutional to sentence 
juveniles to life in prison without parole for murder.

THE DISAPPEARING FACE OF HISTORY

Yesterday The New York Times published the above picture with Natalie Hopkinson's article "Farewell to Chocolate City."  This photograph by Stephen Crowley is fascinating. The DC block is almost empty except for three figures. The black woman appears about to be erased. She doesn't even have a reflection like the two young white women. The black woman has cornrows and is wearing African garb. Is this a repeat of history?  Are we seeing colonialism again? The two white women are carrying bags. If they were male they would remind one of the many Mormon missionaries that are present around the city -moving in twos. These two women to some degree are missionaries and one can only imagine what is going to be coming after them. The new signs or pennants on the street resemble flags. It took me a moment to see if they were in English instead of Dutch or Portuguese.
Claim the land and remove the people. Notice the plot of land next to the white woman on the right.
Is a new tree about to be planted or is the old one gone? Your answer is waiting.

Oh, Nigeria...

Small news:
Keep an eye on Nigeria and the Boko Haram situation.
These Muslim and Christian conflicts come with disaster and a trapdoor to the Middle Ages.
How can people love God so much and have a problem with Man?
Faith should be a private matter. If you can't worship with kindness and love in your heart for others who are different then who are you kneeling down to?
Just the other day I was listening to music and someone was upset with what I was listening to.
Suddenly I felt so Nigerian.

PREPARE FOR THE NEW, PREPARE FOR THE UNKNOWN

There are a number of ideas, concepts and words that will change as we move "deeper" into the 21st Century.

Here is the shortlist:

-Home
-Privacy
-Work
-War
-Borders
-Democracy
-Assassination

Today is going to be another day of fiction.

THE LITERARY DIVIDE?

Here is a study someone needs to undertake -

Collect interviews by well known contemporary authors (black and white) and take note of what they might be reading or who they claim as an influence on their work. What I'm certain one will find is that many white authors don't read too many black books, unless they know the author or the book was given to them as a gift. Is this true or did Ethelbert just make this up?

THE COMING LANGUAGE OF LAW

It all starts with language. You can't hide your politics behind words.  Let's take a word like brotherhood. When I was growing up I remember "National Brotherhood Week." I also remember organizations like the National Conference of Christians and Jews. One could talk about brotherhood and you knew it also included women. In 2012 with a word like sisterhood now part of our vocabulary, we become suspicious of anyone bringing people together and just talking about -the brothers.

Place the word Muslim in front of Brotherhood and we immediately have a PR problem. Let's not even talk about Egypt yet...

What happens when we use words together (Muslim, Brotherhood) in an atmosphere that is vocabulary fragile? How might the politics of language create its own bars and prisons? With a new government coming into view in Egypt all one has to do is monitor the visibility of women in leadership roles. If they are absent then the word "brotherhood" will simply have its old meaning.
For some, this will make everything right in the world. Women will be given a role in society that some man will insist was God's divine recommendation. Of course it will be a God that spoke to the man first...

In the future every woman might need a lawyer. Will God lose his privacy if we start taping his conversations?  What if God is a woman?

NEWS ALERT

Muslim Brotherhood candidate wins Egyptian presidential election, commission says

Egypt's electoral commission announces that the Muslim Brotherhood's candidate, Mohamed Morsi, won last weekend's presidential election.


Read more at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/

STILL LIFE IN BLACK

outside the museums black
homeless men sleep on benches

black plastic bags their only
possessions

 - E. Ethelbert Miller

A NICE WAY TO COOL OFF...

ANOTHER BLACK MAN BEHIND BARS

Photo by Ethelbert

MILLER GOES MIRO

Photo by Ethelbert

Don't miss "The Ladder of Escape" exhibit of Miro's work at the National Gallery of Art (East Building). That's where I was this morning,being seduced by color and shapes. The ladder speaks to me. Rung after rung. Escape is either upwards or downwards. How many of us have no choice?

Photo by Ethelbert

Back at home yesterday's storm crushed the flowers in my backyard. After such "beautiful" why is there always destruction and loss?  Faith is often how we mourn.

Photo by Ethelbert

Tricycle Daily Dharma June 23, 2012

Creating Better Karma Your thoughts, your words, and your deeds all create karma. And so through practice, you learn how to create better karma, and then everything about your life changes. - Myokei Caine-Barrett, Shonin, "A Right to the Dharma"

WHY CRY WHEN YOU CAN SLAY ME WITH A SCREEN

ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER
When I saw the trailer for this movie I thought -"this is dumb."
What's next?  Frederick Douglass as Sherlock Holmes?

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter Ultimate Hunter Trailer (2012 ...
► 2:13► 2:13

THE GIFT OF POETRY

http://www.eethelbertmiller.com/TheEarIsAnOrgan.html

AMAZING GRACE

Dpvn Station

‎Kim LaRué attends the fundraising event for "Of Note Magazine" and speaks with some of the supports and the Founder and Editorial Director, Grace Aneiza Ali.

Grace Ali on The Everyday SuperWoman

link.brightcove.com

Kim LaRue attends and fundraising event for Of Note Magazine. Of Note is an online magazine that features artists using their work for social change locally and globally.

ME AND DAVID WILK

http://www.writerscast.com/e-ethelbert-miller-the-fifth-inning/

DAVID WILK