Can we Trump the dumb stuff? Neither Donald Trump or Ben Carson is going to be sitting in the White House after Obama. Politics as entertainment is peeing in our water right now. Every four years we listen to the same music. At the end of the day it gets down to a slug match on the ground. It's about delegates and votes. It's about political organizing and fundraising. It's not about saying something outrageous or even smart. It's about the long distance runner breaking the tape. Did you ever think Herman Cain was going to be our next president? Sarah Palin? Has anyone voted for president yet? The sad thing about all this is that business as usual continues behind the curtain and closed doors. Many of us are not even going to vote Republican. Do we care? Of course we do - the media will "Cruz" everyone into a panic and tell you hell is coming as well as high water. Drown or burn baby - drown or burn.
E-NOTES: WHEN THE NEWS IS NOT ENOUGH. THE BLOG OF E. ETHELBERT MILLER
Monday, August 31, 2015
Sunday, August 30, 2015
IS THAT LETTER IN YOUR POCKET FROM BEVERLY AXELROD?
So it's around 8AM in the morning. I'm having breakfast at the Parkway Deli on Grubb Road in Silver Spring with Miyuki. It's a few hours before she will be on the air doing her "Sunday Kind of Love" show on WPFW. We are talking more about movies and music than eating our food. Miyuki wants to know if I've seen "Straight Outta Compton." Before I can say -no, two female police officers walk in and sit down in the booth next to ours. Why are we so aware of police these days?
Remember when you felt safe the moment you saw an officer? Now you turn around and in your head the lyrics "F- the police" are playing. I'm afraid something has just slipped off my fork and it has nothing to do with eggs. Reality is cracked these days. It's sad to see police on the front lines all across this country. What are they doing?
They seem to be guarding borders and boundaries these days. Holes in our economy has resulted in many falling into unemployment and despair. It's going to get worse. Certain kinds of jobs are disappearing as I write this. These jobs are not coming back. Gone are manufacturing jobs that could provide a ticket into upward mobility and perhaps even the middle class. Today many people are just being paid bubblegum money. Chew, blow a bubble and it's gone. A smack in the face. It's just a matter of time before the service industry turns to a robotic work force. Walk into a fast food place and you'll touch a tablet before you talk to anyone.
The future is going to require a smaller workforce. The smaller workforce will be a highly skilled one. People who have a limited amount of education will have to hustle for most of their lives, buy lottery tickets or try to sing and spin a basketball into a paycheck. The future looks dark for black people. Meanwhile the rage factor is on the increase and so is protesting. After Selma on the screen it's was just a matter of time the movie camera would smile LA and test our Watts. I recall several years ago when a few people started reading scripts about a New Black Panther Party. Too much leather can be misleading and a beret without the French seems more like a posture than a political position. Is that letter in your pocket from Beverly Axelrod?
Remember when you felt safe the moment you saw an officer? Now you turn around and in your head the lyrics "F- the police" are playing. I'm afraid something has just slipped off my fork and it has nothing to do with eggs. Reality is cracked these days. It's sad to see police on the front lines all across this country. What are they doing?
They seem to be guarding borders and boundaries these days. Holes in our economy has resulted in many falling into unemployment and despair. It's going to get worse. Certain kinds of jobs are disappearing as I write this. These jobs are not coming back. Gone are manufacturing jobs that could provide a ticket into upward mobility and perhaps even the middle class. Today many people are just being paid bubblegum money. Chew, blow a bubble and it's gone. A smack in the face. It's just a matter of time before the service industry turns to a robotic work force. Walk into a fast food place and you'll touch a tablet before you talk to anyone.
The future is going to require a smaller workforce. The smaller workforce will be a highly skilled one. People who have a limited amount of education will have to hustle for most of their lives, buy lottery tickets or try to sing and spin a basketball into a paycheck. The future looks dark for black people. Meanwhile the rage factor is on the increase and so is protesting. After Selma on the screen it's was just a matter of time the movie camera would smile LA and test our Watts. I recall several years ago when a few people started reading scripts about a New Black Panther Party. Too much leather can be misleading and a beret without the French seems more like a posture than a political position. Is that letter in your pocket from Beverly Axelrod?
A SERVICE OF THANKSGIVING
A CELEBRATION OF LIFE
JAMES ARTHUR MILLER
August 27, 1944-June 19, 2015
National City Christian Church
Washington, DC
REMARKS MADE BY E. ETHELBERT MILLER
I believe it was in a recorded speech by Sekou Toure
presented at the, 6th Pan African Congress, in Dar Es Salam,
Tanzania, in 1974 that addressed the issue of brothers and comrades. If my
memory is correct Toure spoke about how being brothers is simply an accident of
birth; being a comrade means that one shares a common vision and purpose in
life. One see’s the world the way it is and is motivated to change it. One recalls words by Margaret Walker
reminding us that we have been believers, and what we do should be for our
people. The term comrade in 2015 might
seem somewhat outdated but I think it’s one that I can use when remembering James
Miller. By coincidence we shared the same last name, as if we had emerged from
a common womb or simply the same plantation.
I first met James Miller in Chinatown. Maybe we needed an
Eastern backdrop for that meeting the same way John Coltrane once realized he
needed two drummers in order to play the music in his head. It must have been
during James early days teaching at George Washington University. The scholar
Howard Gillette contacted me by phone
and said there was someone he wanted me to meet. So I took the #70 bus down
Georgia Avenue from Howard. If you’ve
ever taken a ride on the # 70 bus you know it could probably take you to Oz or
someplace not even Samuel Delaney or Octavia Butler could imagine.
When Gillette introduced me to James it was instant
friendship, stirred with laughter; it was like the opening of a fortune cookie
after a good afternoon meal. He reminded
me of a jazz musician. A man that might have played with Miles, Mingus or Monk.
James Miller was cool as if he had just returned from Europe and people had
finally learned how to play his music.
The problem with being black is that we too often mistake
blackness for darkness. We embrace the
blues as if we had never hummed a spiritual. There was always a sparkle and a
glitter in the eyes of James Miller. He
was the man across town I could discuss African American culture with. He was the professor who invited me into his classroom to talk
about the Black Arts Movement.
It was the Black Arts Movement that connected us more than
our last names. A cultural period that
continues to be as misunderstood as Warren G. Harding’s race or continually
distracted by someone saying – “get your hand out of my pocket” in a Harlem
ballroom. James Miller was a scholar who
could inspire a young person to read a book or write a paper. When I met his
graduate students they were always asking questions, learning to swim in a Big
Sea.
If today we look around our country and see the new Biggers
of the world, struggling to find their voice before the next Chicago snowfall,
we will fully understand the numbness within our hearts. James Miller was right as in Richard Wright.
If our Native Sons are filled with rage, how do we explain our black classics
to them. Miller once edited the Richard
Wright newsletter. In 2008, when many
were celebrating the 100th year of Wright’s birth, I invited him to
speak on Howard’s campus. On the September 25th program with him was friend and colleague Michelle Simms-Burton.
Recently I came across the remarks I made on that day
introducing James. The way we came
together to honor Richard Wright several years ago is similar to how and why we
gather today. There is much work to be
done in the field of African American Studies.
New scholars must do the heavy lifting and learn to live the
legacy. James Miller was a scholar and
teacher, he knew for example that a term like Black Power was an elastic
one.
It is important that we mentor scholars who will follow in
the footsteps of James Miller.
A man’s life is nothing but a sign or symbol at times. A
gift from God. A reminder that God’s
fingerprints are everywhere. The love we
now return on this day is as essential as air.
May we continue to breath memories ,knowing in our hearts
that when one departs by way of death,
each departure is a beginning. It’s the telling once again
of this glorious story call life.
It was Richard Wright who gave us a blue print for black
literature. James Miller was aware of
this.
It was Wright who wrote:
“Negro writers should not hesitate to tell the truth about
their people for fear of harming them or for fear that these truths may be used
by belligerent whites against them. The problem of judgement for Negro writers
is bound up with the problem of their
becoming whole men, human beings.”
In the arts, as well as in every act of our lives, the task
is always about truth telling. It’s about giving testimony wherever we are.
Today our words shed their clothes and naked they say this:
James A. Miller once walked among us. His shadow is gone but
his light remains behind.
Shining bright. A morning star. A bright shining morning star. To this we all bear witness and may our eyes
be given back their sight.
Thursday, August 27, 2015
August ends with me putting the home office in order. I packed 4 boxes of material for my archives at George Washington University. Pick-up is next week. Still much to file or discard in the basement. This fall begins the serious downsizing of my personal collection. That could mean more E-Boxes for selected writers.
E-UPDATE
Well, school started this week. I joined the faculty at the University of Houston -Victoria. So far I have 6 interesting students in my online memoir class. I hope the next 8 weeks will be a good experience for all of us.
Stories from Our Classrooms
A writing course for DC area social justice teachers.
http://www.teachingforchange.org/writing-course-for-teachers
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More than half of all suspects shot and killed by police were suffering from mental illness - this is crazy.
And over 300,000 Americans in prison today have a mental illness diagnosis. That’s why today we are releasing part one of our new series, This is Crazy: Criminalizing Mental Illness. This three part series calls on the critical and immediate need for the treatment of mental health through a public health system, not the barbaric criminalization of it. 
You see it almost everyday in the media now: confrontations with people that have mental illness and the police—and far too many times these encounters end with death. Or, mentally ill people find themselves in a totally abusive and dysfunctional prison system, instead of getting the appropriate care they so desperately need.
Part one of this series shows what happens when police are not properly trained to deal with people with mental illness. And shows that there is a totally doable and cost effective solution - Crisis Intervention Training - that the majority of police departments still don’t use! This is crazy. Mental health needs to be treated, not criminalized.
And post this video to all 2016 presidential candidates’ Facebook pages, so together we can call on them to come out for humane police trainings, not more tasers and abuse for mentally ill people!
Onward,
Robert Greenwald, President
BRAVE NEW FILMS |
Tuesday, August 25, 2015
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FAULT LINES
My mother asks for my hand
before we cross the street.
It is a green light of closeness
and tenderness.
The night before she entered
my room and pulled the blanket
up to my neck and for a moment
I thought I was a bad cowboy
caught and ready for the rope.
My mother's hands are warm
when she’s cooking in the kitchen.
But there are burns along
her arms from hot grease
leaping and escaping from pots
and pans.
My father is a volcano asleep
in front of the television.
In our house there were
earthquakes – the fault lines
hidden beneath each room.
There is a way a door
opens like another day of depression.
What collapses is family and the
realization there is no fleeing from
earth or blood.
The ground opens like a hand.
- E. Ethelbert Miller
Sunday, August 23, 2015
WHEN THE WORD IS SPOKEN
"In solidarity with #BlackAugustResistance TRAIN THE MOVEMENT: A Trainers of Color Collaborative is hosting a "READ & FEED" at the United Black Front on August 29th in Anacostia in the spirit of The Black Panther Party's Breakfast Program & Hands Up United's Books and Breakfast. We want to provide DC natives with FREE books and breakfast.
We are reaching out to poets and authors of color to share their work at this event! We will have 3 readings every half hour from 12-3. The agenda is flexible if more authors would like to participate!
Presenters can read an excerpt of past or current projects, recite poems, or promote upcoming projects!
Train the Movement will create a radical space where knowledge is free and where economic or physical barriers do not prevent people from learning and growing together!
While we can not offer monetary compensation for this event, food and transportation stipends will be provided.
Please email Khadijah (kmccaskill05@gmail.com) or Kaajal (mskshah@gmail.com) ASAP if you are interested in participating!"
Best,
Joshua Serrano
Research Intern
PLAYING THE HAND GOD GAVE YOU
What's in the cards? September is almost here. The best baseball race might just be between the Cards, Pirates and Cubs. The St.Louis lead reminds me of the leaves falling in my backyard right now. Oh, and my Nats? You know the season is over when fans begin to cheer for individual players more than team wins. The Nats have to stay within striking distance of the Mets. If they are not careful they might be fighting the Braves for third place. The key is to play better than .500 ball.
If the Nats can reach 10-12 games over .500 - well - hit me in the head with the truth and call it a concussion. The Nats have to look (play) at the Cards the last day of August. It's sad that we might be able to read them now.
If the Nats can reach 10-12 games over .500 - well - hit me in the head with the truth and call it a concussion. The Nats have to look (play) at the Cards the last day of August. It's sad that we might be able to read them now.
Saturday, August 22, 2015
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I picked up a copy of Words Without Music by Philip Glass yesterday while in DuPont Circle.
While in the area I noticed that the Books A Million store is gone. So many things keep disappearing each day that I'm afraid to turn around and look for my shadow.
This is my last free weekend before I turn much of my attention to teaching. I still need to develop a working routine. The first thing I need to do is spend more time in my home office. A better system of order is in order.
A purchased a new wireless printer - so now I just need to upgrade my computer.
This summer I became too involved in projects that didn't go anywhere. Better agenda setting and use of time and resources are needed.
While in the area I noticed that the Books A Million store is gone. So many things keep disappearing each day that I'm afraid to turn around and look for my shadow.
This is my last free weekend before I turn much of my attention to teaching. I still need to develop a working routine. The first thing I need to do is spend more time in my home office. A better system of order is in order.
A purchased a new wireless printer - so now I just need to upgrade my computer.
This summer I became too involved in projects that didn't go anywhere. Better agenda setting and use of time and resources are needed.
Friday, August 21, 2015
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People Around The World Come Together
To Remember Julian Bond
We are saddened with the passing of Julian Bond, who inspired Aviva Kempner to make the film when he talked about Julius Rosenwald at a lecture at the Hebrew Center 12 years ago on the Vineyard. The family is spreading his ashes in Florida on Saturday and asks that people go by a body of water and throw flowers into the water at 3:00pm EST. Please post photos of your ceremony to social media with the hashtag #HonorJulianBond. Aviva will be in Philadelphia on Saturday opening Rosenwald and will do it there.
For those who live in DC, below is what is organized by DC VOTE to honor Julian Bond. Bond was a student of MLK and Kempner had filmed Julian Bond for a promo for voting rights for DC residents. He was always a fighter for justice. And Julian Bond is just wonderful in Rosenwald.
FROM DC VOTE:
Those wishing to honor Bond's memory in the DC area are asked to gather at the Tidal Basin by the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on the 22nd.
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Thursday, August 20, 2015
THE CLARITY OF YES
There are many lessons one learns when one becomes old. The first is that there were never good old days. The good old days were often hidden somewhere in the future. It's why one tries to practice mindfulness as much as possible. When good things happen cherish the moment. It will soon be gone and your life will follow. If there is one thing that has declined it has been the rules, guidelines and blueprints for parenting. Find a switch to discipline a child and you might no longer be running in the NFL.Curse at your child and he or she will soon curse back at you. There was one word I often associated with my mother and father. That word was No. It shaped the boundaries and borders of my childhood. No was the land I never reached because it was No. My father was like the Supreme Court.
Many cases never reached him. I never talked back to my mother or father. I was the baby of the family and once witnessed what happened when my sister stepped over the line. It was Hiroshima in the house. It was the dropping of a bomb of anger and rage I never knew my father was capable of. From that moment I grew up in what was a Cold War - the distance between father and sons. The fallout of silence and stillness bringing with it the comfort of security. During my father's last years there was a tenderness like ballads played by Coltrane. It was as if Alice came into his life after Niama. My father kept his Bible open on his bedroom dresser to the Psalms. Each day began with a prayer of thanks to an invisible God. One day I followed my father out the front door into a world of faith. When he was outside the house my father introduced me to the word - Yes. The quiet way of helping others and living one day of grace, one day of love, one day at a time.
Many cases never reached him. I never talked back to my mother or father. I was the baby of the family and once witnessed what happened when my sister stepped over the line. It was Hiroshima in the house. It was the dropping of a bomb of anger and rage I never knew my father was capable of. From that moment I grew up in what was a Cold War - the distance between father and sons. The fallout of silence and stillness bringing with it the comfort of security. During my father's last years there was a tenderness like ballads played by Coltrane. It was as if Alice came into his life after Niama. My father kept his Bible open on his bedroom dresser to the Psalms. Each day began with a prayer of thanks to an invisible God. One day I followed my father out the front door into a world of faith. When he was outside the house my father introduced me to the word - Yes. The quiet way of helping others and living one day of grace, one day of love, one day at a time.
Quote of the Day
I don't believe you change hearts. I believe you change laws, you change allocation of resources, you change the way systems operate.
- Hillary Clinton
- Hillary Clinton
Sunday, August 16, 2015
A YEAR OF MERRY AT MARYMOUNT AND BEYOND
I will be Marymount University's Fall Visiting Author and their Spring Visiting Poet.
The kickoff celebration for my Collected Poems edited by Kirsten Porter will take place on the Marymount campus in early April 2016.
A number of area events have already been confirmed. I will be doing readings and signings at Upshur Bookstore, Hill Center, King Library, Politics & Prose, George Washington University and a number of other sites. It will mark the beginning of a year long National Tour.
The kickoff celebration for my Collected Poems edited by Kirsten Porter will take place on the Marymount campus in early April 2016.
BOND
-for Julian
We follow the souls of the dead to the river.
We plant our farewells near the banks of our hearts
There is nothing to return home to except memories.
What we carry is the past - heavy with days.
Tomorrow the future will also depart.
We pray its journey will be a safe one.
We believe in love and the final destination of freedom.
- E. Ethelbert Miller
-for Julian
We follow the souls of the dead to the river.
We plant our farewells near the banks of our hearts
There is nothing to return home to except memories.
What we carry is the past - heavy with days.
Tomorrow the future will also depart.
We pray its journey will be a safe one.
We believe in love and the final destination of freedom.
- E. Ethelbert Miller
DO YOU BELIEVE IN MAGIC OR MIRACLES?
OK. So let's say we are soon going to witness a little baseball history. The Nats are going to suddenly turn it all around and become the best team in baseball going into September and October.Right?? When might it begin? Circle September 7th. This is when the Nats next play the Mets again. How many games behind the Mets will the Nats be when they play? Can they take three games from the Mets and perhaps jump back into the race? What if the Nats won 25 games in a row? Baseball history or just a miracle? That would mean big wins in September and October. Things could also become bright for the Nats if they could sweep the Cardinals (August 31-September 2). There has to be some emotional wins ahead for the Nats if they want to avoid being this year's baseball bust.
But it's going to take some aggressive managing. Oh, cover my eyes, maybe this is where the failure has been all year long. When was the last time the Nats played hit and run? How come they don't attempt to steal more bases? Who decides on the batting order? Whew...there was some tinkering yesterday. It was like following the conversation between the iceberg and the Titanic. I'm not sold on Taylor batting first. Speed means nothing if you can't get on base. This guy just isn't a contact hitter. Hey- but I love him. What was Escobar doing in the clean-up position yesterday? At times the Nats seem like the guy who can't find a dance partner at the prom.
Anyway, it's going to all come down to numbers. 10 guys hitting below .240 just won't get it done.
The pitching has to get better. I would start pulling pitchers after they give up 3 runs. After the 1st walk I go to the mound and tell Gio to stop talking to himself. It's a baseball game not a spoken word competition. Does anyone know the pitching rotation for the bullpen? What's wrong with Storen? I think this guy needs some mental love. Things always seem to fall apart after two outs. Where is the horseshoe? Or maybe we need a bunny and a hat.
But it's going to take some aggressive managing. Oh, cover my eyes, maybe this is where the failure has been all year long. When was the last time the Nats played hit and run? How come they don't attempt to steal more bases? Who decides on the batting order? Whew...there was some tinkering yesterday. It was like following the conversation between the iceberg and the Titanic. I'm not sold on Taylor batting first. Speed means nothing if you can't get on base. This guy just isn't a contact hitter. Hey- but I love him. What was Escobar doing in the clean-up position yesterday? At times the Nats seem like the guy who can't find a dance partner at the prom.
Anyway, it's going to all come down to numbers. 10 guys hitting below .240 just won't get it done.
The pitching has to get better. I would start pulling pitchers after they give up 3 runs. After the 1st walk I go to the mound and tell Gio to stop talking to himself. It's a baseball game not a spoken word competition. Does anyone know the pitching rotation for the bullpen? What's wrong with Storen? I think this guy needs some mental love. Things always seem to fall apart after two outs. Where is the horseshoe? Or maybe we need a bunny and a hat.
Saturday, August 15, 2015
Below is a link to my Aldon Nielsen Project 2015.
It's a year long interview project with the noted literary scholar Aldon Nielsen.
The project is similar to the E-Channel I created back in 2013 with novelist Charles Johnson.
The E-Channel was published back in January 2015 as The Words and Wisdom of Charles Johnson.
Link to the Aldon Nielsen Project 2015
http://emiller698.blog.com/2015/08/15/literary-iron-man-tells-all/
Friday, August 14, 2015
IS ERIC DOLPHY COMING OR GOING?
It's 12:08 and Frank O'Hara
is late for lunch. He often gets
lost outside New York. I'm in Starbucks
near DuPont Circle sitting with Billy Strayhorn.
Our conversation turns to Pittsburgh and for
a moment I want to be August Wilson
or Roberto Clemente. Billy asks to see
my Washington Post. He wants to know
what the police are doing these days.
Frank arrives and he looks like
Mona Lisa with a smile. Maybe it's
the danger that comes with museum work.
Eric Dolphy is eating next door, he whispers.
At times Frank can be as difficult as Ashbery.
Have they ever met? Imagine all
the New York poets moving to New Jersey
and never taking the Amtrak to DC.
Billy hands the newspaper back. It's 12:30
and everyone is in a sentimental mood.
We rise and go next door. Dolphy
looks up from his plate and says the
food sucks but it's better than the music
people are playing these days. He laughs
and tells Frank to keep his day job.
Billy tries to be as gracious as Duke.
He nods at Dolphy and the two of them
walk outside for a smoke. I think of
Dolphy's Out to Lunch album. The
clock tells me this man is never coming
back.
- E. Ethelbert Miller
It's 12:08 and Frank O'Hara
is late for lunch. He often gets
lost outside New York. I'm in Starbucks
near DuPont Circle sitting with Billy Strayhorn.
Our conversation turns to Pittsburgh and for
a moment I want to be August Wilson
or Roberto Clemente. Billy asks to see
my Washington Post. He wants to know
what the police are doing these days.
Frank arrives and he looks like
Mona Lisa with a smile. Maybe it's
the danger that comes with museum work.
Eric Dolphy is eating next door, he whispers.
At times Frank can be as difficult as Ashbery.
Have they ever met? Imagine all
the New York poets moving to New Jersey
and never taking the Amtrak to DC.
Billy hands the newspaper back. It's 12:30
and everyone is in a sentimental mood.
We rise and go next door. Dolphy
looks up from his plate and says the
food sucks but it's better than the music
people are playing these days. He laughs
and tells Frank to keep his day job.
Billy tries to be as gracious as Duke.
He nods at Dolphy and the two of them
walk outside for a smoke. I think of
Dolphy's Out to Lunch album. The
clock tells me this man is never coming
back.
- E. Ethelbert Miller
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