www.rainbowpush.org.
E-NOTES: WHEN THE NEWS IS NOT ENOUGH. THE BLOG OF E. ETHELBERT MILLER
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
YAHIA LABABIDI
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| Yahia Lababidi |
The writer Yahia Lababidi just sent me his new book THE ARTIST AS MYSTIC Conversations with Yahia Lababidi by Alex Stein. I started reading it on my IPhone ( a first for me). This looks like a gem of a book. Check out these links:
E ON D.C.
- Talking About Faith And The Wizards
- ... By E. Ethelbert Miller ...
- The Nationals, A Love Affair
- ... By E. Ethelbert Miller ...
- Touching third and heading home
- ... By E. Ethelbert Miller ...
ONE STORM WILL MAKE A SINNER BELIEVE IN GOD
NEW AT THENATION.COM
We Are All from New Orleans Now: Climate Change, Hurricanes and the Fate of America's Coastal CitiesMIKE TIDWELL | Without immediate action, cities like New York and Washington face a future of massive levees, floodgates and ecological catastrophe.
SANDY KICKING RAIN IN OUR EYES
I don't live in a coastal area so maybe Sandy decided not to trick or treat this year. My neighborhood was fortunate this time. Usually when a storm hits around where I live trees fall like a stack of cards.
This time only small branches fell and the trees decided to go topless again this winter. Their leaves remind me that you can be black and ski in DC. Be careful when walking around for the next few days. I took my books back to the Takoma Park Library. At the corner of 8th and Butternut St, NW, I saw what Sandy can do if you turn your back for just a moment. I took the picture below.
This time only small branches fell and the trees decided to go topless again this winter. Their leaves remind me that you can be black and ski in DC. Be careful when walking around for the next few days. I took my books back to the Takoma Park Library. At the corner of 8th and Butternut St, NW, I saw what Sandy can do if you turn your back for just a moment. I took the picture below.
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| 8th & Butternut Street, NW. Photo by Ethelbert |
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POVERTY
After the election who will talk about poverty in America? Here in D.C. we need to do something with these numbers:
6000 Homeless Adults
1100 Homeless Families
1800 Children
13% of the homeless suffer from mental illness.
15% suffer from addiction.
People can easily become homeless as a result of an accident, medical emergency or a lost job.
6000 Homeless Adults
1100 Homeless Families
1800 Children
13% of the homeless suffer from mental illness.
15% suffer from addiction.
People can easily become homeless as a result of an accident, medical emergency or a lost job.
JUST THE WEATHER NOT THE NEWS
I was watching the news yesterday - they stopped a guy in a van to ask him what he thought about a tree that the wind knocked down.
As soon as the guy started talking about global warming - the reporter stopped the interview and went back to the studio. Go figure.
As soon as the guy started talking about global warming - the reporter stopped the interview and went back to the studio. Go figure.
Monday, October 29, 2012
THE RETURN OF THE RACIALIST
I was reading about Lance Armstrong and came across this statement by David Carr:
To doubt Armstrong was to doubt the American dream, to effectively be "for cancer," as his legion of defenders would claim.
Carr's column in The New York Times today should be required reading for anyone trying to understand not Armstrong but Obama and how the media has treated him the last four years.
The media refuses to accept a black man as president because it goes against the "myth" of what many people see as being American. The Civil Rights Movement might change history but myths die hard. People can't live without their myths. Baldwin knew this. It's why he never accepted that he was a nigger. The white man created the nigger - he created this myth about black people being inferior and only good enough to be slaves or servants. You can teach black history every February but it won't change the fact that the myths white Americans cling to are not going to disappear without white people losing their identity. When someone begins to lose their identity there is a good chance they will become extremely violent in order to reclaim it. Just look at poor white people who suddenly see too much color is in the world; especially the color on top of them. Who wants to live under this heavy multicultural quilt? Equality will make you sweat.
So as the Racialist - my question is very basic and simple. What does the face of America look like?
The answer is that Romney looks more American than Obama. Can you imagine the NAACP demanding to see Romney's birth certificate? Of course not. Consider how race enters this election.
If one had to select a group of white people - who even with their whiteness - might be considered outsiders - at the top of the list would be Mormons. It's ironic that a person belonging to a group long considered to be outside the American mainstream would be embraced before a black American. Is this a racist statement or just a statement The Racialist can make?
The only way to explain this is to look race in the face. This is why The Racialist had to return. The truth has nothing to do with what Romney and Obama believes - and lately Romney sounds so much like Obama - the truth is that we might have voted and made history four years ago but next week we might see folks wanting to bring their myths back. A "white" president might make folks sleep better even if they wake-up and find themselves homeless.
To doubt Armstrong was to doubt the American dream, to effectively be "for cancer," as his legion of defenders would claim.
Carr's column in The New York Times today should be required reading for anyone trying to understand not Armstrong but Obama and how the media has treated him the last four years.
The media refuses to accept a black man as president because it goes against the "myth" of what many people see as being American. The Civil Rights Movement might change history but myths die hard. People can't live without their myths. Baldwin knew this. It's why he never accepted that he was a nigger. The white man created the nigger - he created this myth about black people being inferior and only good enough to be slaves or servants. You can teach black history every February but it won't change the fact that the myths white Americans cling to are not going to disappear without white people losing their identity. When someone begins to lose their identity there is a good chance they will become extremely violent in order to reclaim it. Just look at poor white people who suddenly see too much color is in the world; especially the color on top of them. Who wants to live under this heavy multicultural quilt? Equality will make you sweat.
So as the Racialist - my question is very basic and simple. What does the face of America look like?
The answer is that Romney looks more American than Obama. Can you imagine the NAACP demanding to see Romney's birth certificate? Of course not. Consider how race enters this election.
If one had to select a group of white people - who even with their whiteness - might be considered outsiders - at the top of the list would be Mormons. It's ironic that a person belonging to a group long considered to be outside the American mainstream would be embraced before a black American. Is this a racist statement or just a statement The Racialist can make?
The only way to explain this is to look race in the face. This is why The Racialist had to return. The truth has nothing to do with what Romney and Obama believes - and lately Romney sounds so much like Obama - the truth is that we might have voted and made history four years ago but next week we might see folks wanting to bring their myths back. A "white" president might make folks sleep better even if they wake-up and find themselves homeless.
DON'T LET THE WIND GRAB YOUR WEAVE
Rain falling. No strong winds yet. I pick-up the morning newspaper and I feel I'm in Iraq. Here is the headlines from The New York Times:
Northeast Braces For Deadly Surge and Lashing Wind
Do you recall when the word "surge" entered our vocabulary?
I like how the mainstream media is "packaging" the Sandy storm.
Folks in the media must be hiring creative writing students. So much alliteration these days.
Too much word play makes me suspicious. Is it news or entertainment?
So how bad is this storm going to be?
Is this the "big" news story before folks get to election day next week?
You betcha! How can you create suspense leading up to the election if so many folks are now voting early? Better to change the news story. So thanks Sandy.
As I told a friend this morning - I'm here waiting for this storm to show her powerful thighs.
I'm a sucker for beauty and recklessness.
Northeast Braces For Deadly Surge and Lashing Wind
Do you recall when the word "surge" entered our vocabulary?
I like how the mainstream media is "packaging" the Sandy storm.
Folks in the media must be hiring creative writing students. So much alliteration these days.
Too much word play makes me suspicious. Is it news or entertainment?
So how bad is this storm going to be?
Is this the "big" news story before folks get to election day next week?
You betcha! How can you create suspense leading up to the election if so many folks are now voting early? Better to change the news story. So thanks Sandy.
As I told a friend this morning - I'm here waiting for this storm to show her powerful thighs.
I'm a sucker for beauty and recklessness.
Sunday, October 28, 2012
PAUL BUHLE
Leslie Thatcher, Truthout: Retired
Madison University Professor, Truthout contributing author and producer
of nonfiction comics, Paul Buhle talked to Truthout by email recently
concerning his 2011 book, "Robin Hood: People's Outlaw and Forest Hero."
THE KHAN REVOLUTION
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| SALMAN KHAN |
Last week I attended a program at The Aspen Institute that featured Salman Khan. He is the founder of the Khan Academy and the author of The One World Schoolhouse: Education Reimagined. If you want to know how education is changing just listen to this guy. I like what I heard. Check out what's going on:www.khanacademy.org
Also access Khan's TED talk.
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| SALMAN KHAN and WALTER ISAACSON photo by Ethelbert |
NYERE NEWS
Yesterday it felt good being back in the gym again. My entire family sitting in the stands watching a basketball scrimmage between Ann Arundal Community College (MD) and Salem Community College(NJ). This was my son's second game as head coach. I wanted to see his Salem team. We had been talking basketball for weeks. I like what I saw. The tempo of the game - the ball movement - the defensive mindset. All good. There is still much work to do - but it looks like this team should have a good year. Go Salem! Go NY!.
Saturday, October 27, 2012
THE RETURN OF THE HOTTIE
Who is going to read this book?
http://www.eurweb.com/2012/10/herman-cains-mistress-reemerges-with-scathing-book/
http://www.eurweb.com/2012/10/herman-cains-mistress-reemerges-with-scathing-book/
VOTING NEAR THE EDGE OF THE WORLD
The media will make you dumb. Notice how everyday there is another group or state that's going to decide this election; or look at how the "good" economic news is pushed aside for a stage 1 storm.
Is it Sandy or just sand in our eyes? The media is just creating suspense. People see what they want to see. If you want Romney to win the election just find a poll that will support his victory. Meanwhile folks are voting early in record numbers. Do we have any idea what this means? No-because it was never done before. Go back and listen to the pundits who predicted Columbus was going to get to the Indies or fall off the edge of the world. I'm counting on the Natives in November.
Is it Sandy or just sand in our eyes? The media is just creating suspense. People see what they want to see. If you want Romney to win the election just find a poll that will support his victory. Meanwhile folks are voting early in record numbers. Do we have any idea what this means? No-because it was never done before. Go back and listen to the pundits who predicted Columbus was going to get to the Indies or fall off the edge of the world. I'm counting on the Natives in November.
Friday, October 26, 2012
EAR UP! WITH JOHN PARKS
The Bad Plus: Polyrhythmelody!
Among the various styles of jazz that now is least mentioned
is “free jazz,” alternatively called avant-garde jazz. Free jazz, having
nothing to do with its monetary value, emerged sometime between the late 1950s
and early 1960s. By the early to mid 1960s the free jazz movement coalesced
into what some expected to be the next direction for jazz just as ragtime,
swing, bebop, hard bop and cool had done. Free jazz represented another branch
of freedom expressed in time where musicians sought to achieve greater depth
without form. What free jazz lacked was the harmonic structure, and metric
symmetry that defined previous styles and what the jazz public came to expect.
The harmonic structure of Miles Davis’ 1959 Kind
of Blue album solidified that expectation as the next logical step in jazz.
Its influence was so great that it suckled succeeding generations of listeners
and musicians. Free jazz countered that direction by challenging the predictable
melodic and rhythmic patterns that defined jazz up to that point. To some
musicians it seemed that the possibilities of the syncopated patterns of the
jazz beat, namely 2/4 and 4/4, had been exhausted. Free jazz broke out of those
patterns and offered a new way of playing; free to play outside the “classical”
structure of jazz time.
Free jazz musicians created an open space for other possibilities
of time, tonality, rhythm, melody and harmony. The other possibilities were
drawn from a wider range of sources outside the realm of work songs, blues,
gospel, military marches, folk music, waltzes, Latin/Caribbean and of course
European concert music; elements that formed the mosaic character of jazz from
the 1890s to the end of the 1950s. Although it challenges the conventions of
those elements free jazz is very much rooted in them. On the jazz tree the
branches of free jazz may have begun forming around the end of the 1940s, but
it is safe say that alto sax player Ornette Coleman’s 1958 debut album, Something Else: The Music of Ornette Coleman,
signals the arrival of free jazz. Coleman’s music drew immediate divisions and
antagonisms among musicians, critics and listeners alike. His music philosophy
eliminated the predictable harmonic and melodic patterns that had become
familiar and expected in jazz which included solo improvisation; an important
innovation of Lewis “Pops” Armstrong. A subtle irony is that Coleman’s antithetical
album and Miles’ Kind of Blue hit the
scene at nearly the same time. The second irony is that where Coleman
challenged the centrality of the solo, Miles emphasized the time and space
between notes of the solo. What wasn’t played was just as important, sometimes
more, than what was played. This was antithetical to the bebop style he grew up
in. Nevertheless, both albums represented new and different branches of the
jazz tree, but in the coming decades they combined to form fusion or jazz
fusion; yet another jazz style of the late 1960s and 1970s. Fusion, though,
incorporated rock n’ roll and r&b two prominent music forms that grew out
of the jazz tree.
The concept of free jazz made possible the inclusion of non-European
music and elements from non-musical sources coinciding with the social
challenges to the Western world order particularly racism, racial segregation
and European colonialism. A self-realization emerged in the social unrest of
the 1950s and 1960s that non-European cultures contain valuable alternatives of
theology and spirituality. It manifested in some jazz musicians converting to
Islam or Buddhism. Jazz Messengers bandleader, drummer Art Blakey converted to
Islam and became known to his friends as Bu, short for Abdullah Ibn Buhania.
Pianist Herbie Hancock, part Miles Davis’s second great quintet, later became a
practicing Buddhist of Nichiren Buddhism. (see the EAR-UP! review Herbie
Hancock: Imagine The Possibilities). Other musicians who’ve converted to Islam
include flutist Herbie Mann, tenor/multi-instrumentalist Yusef Lateef, Ornette
Coleman, John Coltrane, trumpeter Don Cherry and tenor/multi-instrumentalist
Roland Kirk.
Although there was concerted effort to convince the music
listening public free jazz did not attract the twins of popularity and
commercial success. Ornette Coleman, still relatively obscure, has and had a
cadre of supporters and followers; pianist Cecil Taylor, tenor/multi-instrumentalist
Anthony Braxton, singer composer Albert Ayler, pianist John Lewis, drummer
Billy Higgins, bassist Charlie Haden, bassist/composer Charles Mingus, drummer
Max Roach, bassist Jimmy Garrison, tenor player Dewy Redman, alto player Arthur
Blythe and others. Some John Coltrane fans lost their way on his musical
journeys near the end of his life. A brave few hung in there as if it were
sacrilege not to listen, but his “Love Supreme,” “Elation” and “Ascension” as
well as Heliocentric Worlds by Sun Ra
and his Solar Arkestra embody the quest for a global spiritual unity.
Free jazz, as previous jazz styles, presented a new process
of liberation from “tradition” yet retained the tradition of dialogue, but
among a much broader group of cultural participants with the addition of
electronic technology. Slightly more than a decade after Ornette Coleman’s
debut album Miles Davis recorded Bitches
Brew in 1970; an album that simultaneously amalgamated the previous twelve
years and gave direction to the path jazz would take for at least the next fifteen
years paradoxically bringing free jazz back to the tradition it freed itself
from.
What do you get when you combine highly structured, but
imaginative rhythmic and melodic ideas that simulate an orchestrated sound and
possess the feeling of spontaneous improvisation? It’s the recipe for the
polyrhythmelody of The Bad Plus a trio, from all appearances, resembles any
other traditional acoustic jazz trio; piano, bass and drums. As far as
appearances go that is where the similarities end. This is not your father’s
Errol Garner, Ramsey Lewis, or Ahmad Jamal trio. (Clearing my throat), but the
elements of the jazz tradition are ever present.
The Bad Plus formed in 2000. Since 2003 they have recorded
six albums. Their music represents a mature form of free jazz with clear
experiences in rock, r&b, pop, fusion, the elements of traditional jazz and
electronics. It seems incredible that their sonic creations emanate from the
traditional acoustic jazz trio configuration. The result is a multitude of sounds,
harmonies, melodies, rhythms and tonalities, disparate, dissonant yet
coherently confluent. David King is a polyrhythmic drum monster, but often
displays a gentle melodic sensitivity when the occasion demands. To bassist
Reid Anderson goes the job of providing the group’s harmonic cohesion while the
left and right hands of pianist Ethan Iverson lend a silky orchestration of
their sound.
The Bad Plus has no leader as such. In other words neither
musician is represented or promoted as the group’s soloist. Instead they trade
the melodies of a tune or a song each playing a part or parts of it before
handing it off to each other. At other times the melody is harmonically
improvised by the entire group then it is broken up into various sections that
each musician plays as if it were an improvised solo. The elimination of the
improvised solo as a central element is a concept of Ornette Coleman. Likewise,
bassist/composer Charles Mingus pushed the concept of collective improvisation
while Miles Davis illustrated the importance of space between notes. The Bad
Plus blends all of these ideas by embedding the solo within the rhythmelodic
and harmonic structure of the music so you don’t always hear a single musician
composing a solo in front of the music you hear it within the music. The result
is polyrhythmelodic; a sound with various beats, measures and space that add
meaning to the time signatures.
On their debut album, These
Are The Vistas, The Bad Plus skillfully exhibit their fearless ability of
deconstructing other peoples music giving it their own sonic signature. Nirvana’s
hit “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” Blondie’s “Heart of Glass” and “Flim” by Aphex
Twin get unconventional, but highly engaging re-conceptualizations. The
remaining seven tunes are original compositions. Take a listen and enjoy.
From the 2003 The Bad Plus album These Are The Vistas
Reid Anderson, bass
Ethan Iverson, piano
David King, drums
Big Eater
Keep The Bugs Off Your Glass and The Bears Off Your Ass
Smells Like Teen Spirit
Everywhere You Turn
1972 Bronze Medalist
Guilty
Boo-Wah
Flim
Heart of Glass
Silence Is The Question
VIVA MOREJON!
I'm just back from an evening of listening to Cuban poet Nancy Morejon read and discuss her work.
The program was held at Busboys and Poets (5th and K). Nancy is a woman of amazing grace and intellect. It's always a joy to be in her presence. There are some things a blockade can't prevent and that's the love between poets.
The program was held at Busboys and Poets (5th and K). Nancy is a woman of amazing grace and intellect. It's always a joy to be in her presence. There are some things a blockade can't prevent and that's the love between poets.
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| NANCY MOREJON photo by Ethelbert |
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| BERT & NANCY photo by Karl Carter |
NEW BOOKS
I received 2 new books this week. You might want to place them on your reading list.
A LIE OF REINVENTION/ CORRECTING MANNING MARABLE'S MALCOLM X
by Jared A. Ball and Todd Steven Burroughs (Black Classic Press)
SO SPOKE THE EARTH/AINSI PARLA LA TERRE TE A PALE
edited by M.J. Fievre (A publication of Women Writers of Haitian Descent, Inc.)
www.wwohd.org
A LIE OF REINVENTION/ CORRECTING MANNING MARABLE'S MALCOLM X
by Jared A. Ball and Todd Steven Burroughs (Black Classic Press)
SO SPOKE THE EARTH/AINSI PARLA LA TERRE TE A PALE
edited by M.J. Fievre (A publication of Women Writers of Haitian Descent, Inc.)
www.wwohd.org
Thursday, October 25, 2012
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MFA FOR YOU?
Dear Ethelbert,
I hope all is well.
Application season for MFA programs is right around the corner and I'm
wondering if you know any students who might be interested in Adelphi.
The program is energetic this year with some terrific students. We've got increased financial aid and work opportunities to offer incoming students. And some new projects underway--a lit mag, a Creative Non Fiction track, an expanded "Practicum" for the real world.
We are hosting an informational Open House on Sunday November 4th.
If you have interested students who can't make the Open House, please ask them to contact me directly.
The program is energetic this year with some terrific students. We've got increased financial aid and work opportunities to offer incoming students. And some new projects underway--a lit mag, a Creative Non Fiction track, an expanded "Practicum" for the real world.
We are hosting an informational Open House on Sunday November 4th.
If you have interested students who can't make the Open House, please ask them to contact me directly.
Yours,
Judy--
Judith Baumel
Judith Baumel
Professor of English and Director of Creative Writing
Harvey Harvey Hall 218
Adelphi University
Garden City, NY 11530
516-877-4031
BASEBALL AND BOOKS
The 5th Inning (Busboys and Poets): E. Ethelbert Miller - Amazon.com
The
author's second memoir following Fathering Words: The Making of an
African American Writer.
So maybe you're a Detroit Tiger fan and your team lost last night. Your best pitcher didn't get the job done. What are you going to do now? I suggest you read The 5th Inning.
I got this note today from Lew Berry:
I'm also reading 5th Inning. Started it this afternoon. Wow, I knew
I wasn't the only one who had the same feelings, but you pinned it- the
thoughts about death, second marriages - marriage in general. I'm
reminded of the Simon and Garfunkel song: Bookends.
It's a fast read but I want to savor it as well as pick up more of the metaphors.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
The right to be heard does not automatically include the right to be taken seriously.
- Hubert Humphrey
- Hubert Humphrey
Charles Johnson sent me the lovely catalog from the Baldwin exhibit in Seattle at the Northwest African American Museum. So last night I was in my quiet room reading Bearing Witness from Another Place James Baldwin in Turkey. Photographs by Sedat Pakay.
I like this paragraph by Nancy Rawles:
The most intimate of photos - that of a sleeping Baldwin, black body tangled in white sheets, slim arm cradling soft pillow against cool wall - is strikingly harsh and delicate, like hills and valleys submerged in new snow, their restless beauty inviting and untouchable. In some ways, the Baldwin who wanted so much to be known and seen can never be other than a foreigner in his home country. His very body rendered him an object of fear and a subject of persecution. His celebrity accorded him a false suggestion of protection, while making him a target of surveillance and derision.
I like this paragraph by Nancy Rawles:
The most intimate of photos - that of a sleeping Baldwin, black body tangled in white sheets, slim arm cradling soft pillow against cool wall - is strikingly harsh and delicate, like hills and valleys submerged in new snow, their restless beauty inviting and untouchable. In some ways, the Baldwin who wanted so much to be known and seen can never be other than a foreigner in his home country. His very body rendered him an object of fear and a subject of persecution. His celebrity accorded him a false suggestion of protection, while making him a target of surveillance and derision.
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
NYERE NEWS
Tomorrow Nyere begins his first season as a head coach. E-Notes will be following him.
http://www.widenerpride.com/news/2012/6/19/MBB_0619121433.aspx
http://www.salemcc.edu/news/miller-named-scc-men%E2%80%99s-basketball-coach
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| NYERE MILLER |
http://www.widenerpride.com/news/2012/6/19/MBB_0619121433.aspx
http://www.salemcc.edu/news/miller-named-scc-men%E2%80%99s-basketball-coach
SPORTS AND POLITICS
Below is a link to a very interesting article. Replace the names Luck and Griffin with Romney and Obama. Imagine how one could view a debate, poll or even a campaign a certain way. Now ask yourself - who are you going to vote for in November?
Luck vs. Griffin, a Statistical Comparison - NYTimes.com
HOW RACISM WORKS
If Obama is defeated next month look for "erasure" to take place and for the word whitewash to return to our vocabulary with new meaning. Romney's decision to abolish Obamacare starting on the first day he is in the White House will set the tone for his administration. The same way Ronald Reagan was elevated to being viewed as one of the greatest American presidents - look for a systematic "academic" approach to paint the last four years under Obama as being the "black or dark" years in American history. Or look for Obama in future history books to be represented only as the first black person to become president. Nowhere will a child doing a school report find anything that he did or accomplish during his term. This is how the story might be told in the future if Romney wins. This is not attack on him but rather how his election will be viewed to many in this country. Obama will be erased which to me represents a level below invisibility. This is how racism works when there is no chemotherapy.
LOOKING INTO THE FUTURE
Yes J – my eyes are tired. Funny how you should be the first
to notice. I guess this is what happens when a man and woman
look at each other on computer screens. Eyes meet and hold
their own conversation. I hear rumors about how they share
poems and stories. There is too much jealousy in the world.
Words are a sad sight for tired eyes. It is difficult at
times to
hear or taste destruction. So much noise comes from torture.
Many are pushed into violence and cruelty. My eyes are tired
from viewing corpses, embracing widows and playing with
children with no arms . Should I close my eyes to genocide?
My heart will listen to only your confession. My faith waits
for you to undress. To be tired is to desire a great sleep
and
within desire is to love (again).
- E. Ethelbert
Miller
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
ARINMAYA
The singer ArinMaya dropped by my office this week. So wonderful seeing her again.
She gave me a copy of her new CD - Let The Love Come.
If you have Spotify also click on The Sound of ArinMaya.
She gave me a copy of her new CD - Let The Love Come.
If you have Spotify also click on The Sound of ArinMaya.
ArinMaya "I Want To Be Beautiful" EPK on Vimeo