July tomorrow....
I need to learn how to fly this summer.
Anyone with an extra pair of training wings?
E-NOTES: WHEN THE NEWS IS NOT ENOUGH. THE BLOG OF E. ETHELBERT MILLER
Sunday, June 30, 2013
A GRACE NOTE
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| AMAZING GRACE |
Good friends are often difficult to find in life. Count your blessings if you have 1 or 2. Yesterday a guy who I thought was once a good friend didn't want to speak. It was a Godfather moment on a bus going up 16th Street. Some folks get whacked for having no manners. I decided to not focus on the negative. I came home and looked at the flowers growing in my backyard. Yes, consider how the lilies of the field grow. The last two days I've had long conversations with my friend Grace. It seems these days we are always on the phone discussing projects and thinking about how we can make the world a better place. Several months ago G was at the World Economic Forum. The picture of her above was taken in Ethiopia. It's one of my favorites. I like the biblical look that echoes her name -Grace. This week she passes another milestone - the way the earth moves as well as history. In this changing world a good friendship is like bread. It is what we share..it's a very special gift.
GOOD POET SAM
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| SAM HAMOD |
Yesterday poet Sam Hamod and his partner (Mary) dropped by the house. We laughed and talked for a couple of hours. I hadn't seen Sam in a number of years. The guy is looking and writing well. He left me a couple of his books of poetry:
Spring Will Come Soon: Selected Poems 2010-2013
Dying With The Wrong Name
Allow me to praise my old friend and colleague, Sam Hamod, for his brilliant poems that speak of his culture, his life and the lives of others in DYING WITH THE WRONG NAME. I was privileged to read his first edition of this book in 1980, when it first came out. At that time, I told him I felt it was in a class with my old friend, Pablo Neruda and in the league of Federico Garcia Lorca; with this new edition, he cements that praise in my mind even more than in the 1st edition.
- Carlos Fuentes
Sam can be contacted at: drsamhamod@gmail.com
NEW BOOK
JEWELRY BOX : A Collection of Histories by Aurelie Sheehan
To be published October 2013
Pre-order at: www.boaeditions.org/bookstore
To be published October 2013
Pre-order at: www.boaeditions.org/bookstore
Getting published and reaching first base.
Is it possible to apply something like sabermetrics to literary careers?
Sports: My Nationals, My Nationals, My Curly W
Rumor has it that the Nationals are going to be giving away Dan Haren Bobbleheads soon.
It must be a joke.
It's difficult to watch the Nats play everyday. It's like watching a kid learning to tie his shoes.You keep waiting for a lazy knot that might hold.The kid keeps looking up for help.
Glad Harper will be back this week. The Nats should only use Bernadina as a pinch runner or for defense. Keep this guy away from a bat. His average last year was a fluke.
No way this team can keep playing without making some trades or finding guys ready to move from minor to major.
Zimmerman is becoming a glove horror at third base. What can we do? Too many errors in a key position. Nothing worse than a fielding slump. It's difficult to hide the glove inside the ball.
REMEMBERING REETIKA
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| Reetika Vazirani |
July 16th ten years ago was a bleak day for us; but
August 9th will remain a day of joy as that was the day that Reetika
arrived in the world (two weeks late) with long black curls and long
fingernails! And we remember Jehan on December 19th in the same spirit
of joy that he gave to Reetika on the day of his birth. I am ever
thankful for these eternal gifts.
POEM FOR RV
when you leave
i realize how much
my life needs air
and how much loving
you would be a reason
for living why are
you so beautiful?
why do i desire you as
much as air?
- E. Ethelbert Miller
From FIRST LIGHT: New and Selected Poems by E. Ethelbert Miller
Black Classic Press, 1994.
Saturday, June 29, 2013
Friday, June 28, 2013
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eNews Delivers
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Breaking from Newsmax.com
Obama, African Host Clash Over Gay Rights
President Obama on Thursday praised the Supreme
Court's ruling on same-sex marriage as a "victory for American
democracy" but clashed with his African host over gay rights in a sign
of how far the movement has to go internationally.Obama said recognition of gay unions in the United States should cross state lines and that equal rights should be recognized universally. It was his first chance to expand on his thoughts about the ruling, which was issued Wednesday as he flew to Senegal, one of many African countries that outlaw homosexuality.
Senegalese President Macky Sall rebuffed Obama's call for Africans to give gays equal rights under the law.
"We are still not ready to decriminalize homosexuality," Sall said, while insisting that the country is "very tolerant" and needs more time to digest the issue without pressure. "This does not mean we are homophobic."
Read More Here
Editor's Notes:
THE MUSIC OF SUN RA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7iJrPf5LLc
Thursday, June 27, 2013
ME-K
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| ME-K photo by Ethelbert |
I'll be reading Me-K's manuscript over the weekend. I'll miss her summer visit this year.
Don't Trust Anyone Without Secrets is the title of her unpublished work. Me-K lives in South Korea where she teaches English. Some of her work can be found in my E-Gallery:
http://ethelbertgallery.blogspot.com/2012/01/who-is-me-k.html
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| PAUL NELSON photo by Ethelbert |
Giovanni's Room
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| NIKKI GIOVANNI |
I will be on the Rock Newman Show with Nikki Giovanni -Saturday, July 13th at 10AM.
It should be a morning of laughter...
http://rocknewmanshow.net/
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Wednesday, June 26, 2013
UDC-TV and other stuff.
TV time today. I'll be interviewing Thomas Stanley a professor at George Mason University on The Scholars. Our topic will be the music of Sun Ra. Yes, Space Is The Place. The program will air later this summer. Look for a link in E-Notes.
I just finished my "E ON DC" column. I compare King's March on Washington speech to the problems of moneyball and our failure to learn how to hit the curve.
I need to get the next E-box out to Lady Wisdom in Minneapolis. Sorry for the delay...
Glad Ginger G is back home safe.
A new collection of poems slowly coming together.
I just finished my "E ON DC" column. I compare King's March on Washington speech to the problems of moneyball and our failure to learn how to hit the curve.
I need to get the next E-box out to Lady Wisdom in Minneapolis. Sorry for the delay...
Glad Ginger G is back home safe.
A new collection of poems slowly coming together.
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
50th ANNIVERSARY - IPS
Institute for Policy Studies - Celebrating 50 Years of Turning Ideas into Action
TALKING BERT IN BUDAPEST
June 27, 2013 | Thursday
5:30 - 6:30 PM
:: KINDLE CLUB :: session four ::
Presenter | ZSÓFIA SUBA | AC Budapest, Assistant
Topic | Father`s Day Special
Registration | NOT required
Location | AC Budapest | Corvinus University | Salt House | Fovam ter 13-15.
“Real
reading is a lonely activity.” – said Harold Bloom. On one Thursday
evening each month, we would like to prove that reading can, indeed, be a
social event as well. Whether you are often startled after reading a
story and have a lot of questions or you tend to understand everything
and have a lot of answers, join us! Let’s connect this “lonely activity”
with creative and engaging exercises, let’s exchange viewpoints, and
twist stories around; let’s Kindle new ideas! How do people celebrate
Father`s Day in the U.S.? At the next session of Kindle Club we will
have a chance to learn about this holiday and also listen to some poetry
of E. Ethelbert Miller as well as read excerpts from his memoir entitled
Fathering Words. As a preparation for the Kindle Club, you may preview a
youtube link on Fathering Words on Farther`s Day, posted on June 16,
2013 at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzjng7SqVXk
| BREAKING NEWS | Tuesday, June 25, 2013 11:00 AM EDT |
| The Supreme Court struck down a central portion of the Voting Rights Act on Tuesday, effectively ending the practice in which some states with a history of racial discrimination must receive clearance from the federal government before changing voting laws. |
| The vote was 5 to 4, with the five conservative-leaning justices in the majority and the four liberal-leaning justices in the minority. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. wrote the decision. |
| The majority held that Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act, originally passed in 1965 and since updated by Congress, was unconstitutional. The section includes a formula that determines which states must receive pre-approval. |
READ MORE »http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/26/us/supreme-court-ruling.html?emc=edit_na_20130625 |
Monday, June 24, 2013
BLUES
BOBBY (BLUE) BLAND (1930-2013)
Gone...leaving us the blues (again).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5mFapKWF54
Gone...leaving us the blues (again).
POETS WIN 14-11 AT BENNINGTON WRITING SEMINARS
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For the first time in 8 years the Poets won the Miller Classic softball game at Bennington.
Don't they look like champions in their cool t-shirts designed by Cameron Jones?
Sunday, June 23, 2013
THE END OF THE WORLD
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| Photo by Ethelbert |
Sunday evening. I'm back from Bennington and the End of the World (see above). A good trip. A chance to see old friends and make new ones. Fun watching the Miller Classic yesterday. The Poets won 14-11! It ends an eight year whupping. Was my presence responsible for the change of fortune? Maybe it was the fact that the winners this year obtained cool t-shirts and not a book of poetry from the bookstore. How else can one inspire the poets? There are some fun pictures of the softball game on my Facebook page. Thanks Jia. Nice to see newlyweds Major Jackson and Didi out in the field. They are a hot couple with game.Didi played third base like an MVP.
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| SHIRTS FOR THE POETS. Photo by Ethelbert |
I thought my commencement speech was well received. It's posted in today's E-Notes.
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| Photo by Ethelbert |
BENNINGTON WRITING SEMINARS COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS
E. ETHELBERT MILLER
JUNE 22, 2013
Dr. Isabel Roche (Dean of the College)
Faculty of the Bennington Writing Seminars
Graduating Class of 2013
Family, friends and fellow writers.
It’s an honor to speak to you today. This is the third time
I’ve been invited to give the Commencement address at the Bennington Writing
Seminars. I’ve always felt there was something magical about this place. The
friendships you develop here at Bennington are just as important as the stories,
essays and poems you will publish in the future. I don’t know if one can workshop
friendship. I know that being good and truthful to just one person is
difficult. I know that if you are successful as a writer, sooner or later someone
will ask the question – who or what do you love?
For many of us the first seduction is language; with
seduction comes pleasure.
In one of my last
conversations with Liam Rector, he reminded me that the Bennington experience was not about teaching
a person how to write, but about helping people to become men and women of letters.
Your degree today places you on that path; it helps you begin that journey. May
you find success and pleasure. Once while talking about the Bennington
program at an AWP Conference in Chicago, I recall Liam openly chuckling about
how the Bennington Writing Seminars would stop short of nothing but world
domination. In the years since he said that I keep wondering if it’s true. It appears the beautiful fingerprints of Bennington graduates and
teachers are everywhere.
It is because of these fingerprints that I speak to you
today as a literary activist and not just a writer of poems and memoirs. I
speak to you as a person concerned with how the word moves the world; and how
the writer responds to the motion of history. A few months ago President Obama
agreed to set aside millions of dollars to study the brain. One could make a
strong and convincing case that the study begin here at Bennington. Why? Because so many talented writers keep
emerging from this program. Here one finds such a sweet smell of genius that
perhaps we should bottle it. During your lifetime there will be more studies
and attempts to better understand how the brain works; to better understand the
mysteries of creativity. Writers should be at the center of every discussion
and debate that seeks to determine how we think. How does the brain process metaphors? There are so many questions with answers waiting.
The Class of 2013 leaves here today and enters a world in
which the tools used for writing and reading are changing at a tremendous pace.
What will the publishing industry look like in the one or two years? What will
become of our bookstores and libraries?
How will they change? What will happen to booktours or how a book might
be promoted? What will you do with your own personal collection of books? Who will inherit them and what will they do
with all the bounded paper?
The challenge we face as writers is how to embrace the new
while protecting the old. We must be guardians of literary tradition, while
becoming literary pioneers willing to write a new American narrative. How do we walk the cultural tightrope without
nets? How many of us are afraid of
falling? So be old-fashioned but be new.
Hold fast to tradition but be willing to experiment. Live a comfortable life
but don’t always have a comfortable mind. Take risks! For 10 years I’ve been
editing Poet Lore magazine (with Jody Bolz), the oldest poetry magazine in the
United States; a journal founded in 1889 and one Walt Whitman promoted his work
in. I remind Jody all the time we are not simply editing a magazine – we are
upholding tradition. What I try to do every month is read submissions with an
open mind. To look for work that makes me work, to do heavy-lifting. I find joy
in discovering poems that are different from my own. It’s fun to learn to appreciate something
new. This is how one grows. This is how we should live.
You are also graduating into a world of wonder. When you sit
down to write try to always answer the big philosophical questions. The questions
all writers seem to ponder -who are you?
Why are you here? Are you alone
in the universe?
Be sure to study and embrace other art forms. Dance when you
are not writing. Paint as well as publish. Discover the many ways to mix music
and photography with what you do. Collaboration might well be the backbone to
civilization.
But forever remember all is not words and thunder. Find time
for silence. Find time to reflect. Find time to listen. The art of mindfulness
is a great art to master. Only then might you understand how stories begin…out
of what silence they emerge.
Let me remind you on this glorious day that the journey of
the writer at times is a lonely one. At times you will be surrounded by sadness
and grief. Although I found Bennington magical at times I also discovered it was
a place that could not be separated from the blues or darkness. It was while I
was teaching at Bennington that I received a phone call from Charles Johnson informing
me that August Wilson was dying and only had a few months to live. It was at Bennington that I
learned my beloved June Jordan had died. I sat in my small room unable to talk
to reporters who kept trying to reach me for comments. It was at Bennington
that I found myself,one residency, in front of the Commons rocking back and
forth with poet Reetika Vazirani – our heads touching and mine unaware of her growing
suicidal thoughts.
I mention these events because these are the stories we live
through but may never want to write about – but then we must because we are survivors
and writing is what we have been called to do. It is memory that heals often
reminding time not to forget. Across our country writers are trying to remember.
They are constantly exploring and searching for family and cultural roots.
Last year, I was the keynote speaker at Canto Mundo , an
organization founded by Celeste Mondoza, a Bennington graduate and one of my
former students. An organization created for Latino writers. But an
organization that is very welcoming to others. I spent my time in Austin, Texas
at Canto Mundo listening to new voices. I was introduced to writers whose names
I was not familiar with. Here was Celeste now teaching a former teacher a new
literature and another history. A history and literature that was essential to
her as air. The seeds for Canto Mundo began at Bennington. Celeste came away from this magical
campus wanting not only to write but to build something for other writers. One
is reminded of that line by Donald Hall that
Liam was often quoting ---
Work, love, build a
house, and die. But build a house.
Let me share with you some literary advice about building
and having a literary career.
It’s advice not about form or structure but about that thing
call money. I didn’t become a writer to make money, but as a literary activist
I’m very concerned with how writers live.
Many of us don’t live well because we lack - money. So here
are four practical things to remember:
- Writers who handle their own affairs often earn less money.
- Only now and then accept payment in meals and good times; remember you have bills waiting at home that need to be paid.
- Inquire as to when you’ll get paid; always carry a blank invoice with you.
- Don’t keep requesting the same amount as an honorarium year after year; give yourself an increase that reflects your growing success as a writer.
I hope this basic advice is useful. Other things I would
encourage you to do is to edit a magazine (at least once in life), run a
literary series (at least once in life), judge contests, visit prisons and
senior citizen homes, conduct workshops. Select a literary organization and
make an annual donation. As you know I enjoy sponsoring the annual soft ball
game here at Bennington.
In a small way it helps writers pay closer attention to their batting averages
instead of wondering about where to
publish.
Since you are writers I encourage you to see as much of the
world as possible. Travel – run the bases, follow your imagination beyond the
page - and write, write, write.
Think of writing as air – so essential to life.
Finally, always be aware of any distance between you and
your neighbor; especially when your neighbor doesn’t look like you. If you find
yourself in a crowded room, speak for the people not in the room. Speak for the
people who are different and have needs that are different from you own. This
is how we build community.
In Paul Auster’s memoir Winter
Journal there is a fascinating paragraph.
He writes:
Think of what happened
to you when you were fourteen. For two weeks at the end of the summer, you
worked for your father in Jersey City, joining one of the small crews that
repaired and maintained the apartment buildings he and his brothers owned and
managed: painting walls and ceilings, mending roofs, hammering nails into
two-by-fours, pulling up sheets of cracked linoleum. The two men you worked
with were black, every
Tenant in every
apartment was black, every person in the neighborhood was black, and after two
weeks of looking at nothing but black faces, you began to forget that your own
face wasn’t black. Since you couldn’t see your own face, you saw yourself in
the faces of the people around you, and bit by bit you stopped thinking of
yourself as different. In effect, you stopped thinking about yourself at all.
You leave Bennington
today to become writers in the World House. Martin Luther King, Jr. discussed
the World House in his last book – Where
Do We Go From Here? Chaos or Community.
For King the goal was the Beloved Community. For writers it
cannot be nothing less. Create goodness where you go. As writers we play a key
role in the building of community because we are storytellers. We must write
and construct the new American narrative, cautious of the warning issued by the
late Chinua Achebe. In his best selling
novel Things Fall Apart, Achebe
writes about how the elders warned the community that all the stories are true.
How can that be? How can all the stories be true? Should we
look to the scientist or the writer for an explanation? What does our brains tell us?
Amiri Baraka once wrote – “one man’s fast is another man’s slow. The great jazz musician Charlie Parker said – “ I can hear the new music. I just can’t play it yet.”
To graduate from Bennington
on this day is to know that the new music resides somewhere deep in your heart.
Your task is to bring it to light. Go forth and sing…Go forth and be blessed.
Continue to walk in beauty and embrace all that is Yes in the world.