If you want to know what IPS does and why it's important just go to The Washington Post today. On page A19 there is an excellent article about Judge Juan Guzman Tapia (of Chile). He received the IPS Letelier/Moffitt Human Rights Award this week at the National Press Club. I presented him with a copy of my book -WHERE ARE THE LOVE POEMS FOR DICTATORS?
For more information:
www.Ips-dc.org

So should I start wearing a tie and jacket to work? New NBA dress codes. Where did this come from? Hmmm. NY Times reports that last season Stern (NBA) hired Matthew Dowd, the business strategist who helped shape Bush's re-election campaign. I guess they decided not to count Iverson's vote too.
I wonder what women in the WNBA will be wearing next season? No braids? No pants? No fancy underwear?
Does anyone demand that Bill Gates wear a tie?

A long day. I just finished watching Chris Rock's television show. I think it's funny and good. It's amazing how little tv I watch.

In the morning I met with Pete and Brain, two cool guys who want to put the issue of personal income inequality on the local and national agenda. We had a good conversation. More about this later...

In the afternoon I joined Sandra Shannon's HU committee that is organizing a tribute to the late August Wilson on November 17th. It will be held in Ira Aldridge Theater at 4PM.

I had a 4:30 meeting over at Busboys with Bill Fletcher (TransAfrica). It was good to get to know him better. It would be nice for IPS and TransAfrica Forum to do some projects together in 2006. After talking with Bill, I had dinner with Anu. I'm nominating her for one of those Mayor's Arts Awards. As she was putting her paperwork in order, I noticed how long ago it was when I won the Mayor's Arts Award for Excelllence in Literature - 1982. Whew!

Tomorrow is my Buddy Bev's birthday. Wishing her many more happy ones.

Houston Astros in the World Series - first time for Texas. Look for the White House
to plug into this. Bush loves baseball. Images of politicians around winners always looks good in the media. You can't lose. Look for Bush and guys like Nolan Ryan to be in the spotlight. Look for a lot of military involvement in the opening ceremonies. Oh...and I know some black folks from New Orleans are going to be given some tickets even if they don't have real homes yet.

Wilma the next storm; another indication that we are moving backwards. Think Flintstones. Folks walking around like Fred and Barney. No shoes and living in...

Talking with Daphne (IPS) last night, I think she is correct about folks not talking more about better environmental policies. Where are the black leaders who might not want black people to move back into New Orleans because of the health risks? Everyone talks about racism, etc. Let's focus on how we can save the earth first.
Get those Nationalist flags out and look not just at the red and black....There is a green part too. Who wants land that is going to make us sick - or kill us like the Klan on Dark Night. Where are the poets who will write about the Mississippi gulf like Neruda staring out at the sea?

The 29th Annual Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Award ceremony was a huge success.
Awards were given to Barrios Unidos and Judge Juan Guzman Tapia. So many people you just wanted to talk with all evening long. Just being next to Harry Belafonte is a reminder that the struggle continues. Giving out the awards were Joyce Horman and Constance L. Rice. Horman lost her husband in the aftermath of the 1973 Chilean coup.
The 1982 Academy Award-winning movie "Missing" starring Sisy Spacek and Jack Lemmon was based on her life story. Rice is Condi's cousin and boy is she eloquent and dynamic. A graduate of Harvard and NYU, she is a Civil Rights lawyer in California.She has received more than 50 major awards for her work in expanding opportunity and advancing multi-racial democracy.

It was good to see Isabel Letelier again. Also good to hug Saul Landau and so many others. And there was Andy outside of Busboys for an evening with his beautiful wife.
He should get an award next year just for what he has created on the corner of 14th and V Streets. Oh, and there was Lady Otero who is profiled in the latest issue of Newsweek. Yes the one with Oprah on the cover. You know I'm going out to get my magazine as soon as I can. Maria was the inspiration for a short story I wrote several years ago.

So it was a nice evening. James Early gave me a ride home and there was Rebbe waiting for me.

I completed work on my Langston Hughes lecture. It looks good. Now, I'll work on the Zu-Bolton speech and maybe read the submission packets for Poet Lore magazine.

A surprise call from my old friend Roberto Vargas today. Funny guy. I remember when we did a number of programs in DC in support of Nicaragua. I remember when all the poets were flying to that country...
Roberto was the cultural attache back then. Ernesto Cardinal was in town in those days. I wonder if Roberto is trying to get the old band together again. What movie is this?

Tonight is the 29th Annual Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Award. International award being given to Judge Juan Guzman Tapia.
Place: National Press Club Ballroom
529 14th Street
5:30 reception
7PM program.

Floods, earthquakes,and now Kwame Brown dropping 19pts on the Wizards. What's next?

God -I'm Bert and not Noah- please give me the rainbow sign.

The Split Rock Arts Program at the University of Minnesota is now accepting Workshop Proposals for Summer 2006

Full information available at:
www.cce.umn.edu/splitrockarts/proposals.html

Job Announcement:
The Department of Creative Writing at San Francisco State University seeks candidates for two approved tenure-track positions in Creative Writing, poetry, at the Assistant, Associate or Full level to begin Fall 2006
Normal teaching load three courses per semester
To apply: Submit a letter of application, vitae, 3 letters of recommendation, a ten page writing sample and evidence of teaching effectiveness. Only semi-finalists will be asked to send copies of their books. Send all materials to:

Chair, Search Committee
Creative Writing Department
San Francisco State University
1600 Holloway Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94132

Review of applications will begin November 1, 2005

OK. I'm ready for the Saturday Fitzgerald Conference at Montgomery College in Rockville. I'll be moderating a panel on African American Writing in the 21st Century at 10:15AM. On the panel are Kenneth Carroll, Patricia Elam and Merle Collins. I'll conduct a workshop memoir from 1:30 - 4:30 PM.
Yesterday I purchased a copy of FOR GOD AND COUNTRY: FAITH AND PATRIOTISM UNDER FIRE by James Yee. He is the former U.S. Army Chaplain who was at Guantanamo Bay.I plan to talk about the first chapter of this book in my workshop. Yee gave me a nice acknowledgement in his book.


Now to put my Langston Hughes notes in order.

I just got a note from Afaa Michael Weaver...he had a line that just started a poem in my head. He wrote about eating "fried porgies as big as whales." I can still smell those babies cooking in my mother's kitchen.

I've done a good amount of work on my November talk on Ahmos Zu-Bolton. I'm running out of days before I leave for California on Sunday. The next three days I'm just going to read and breathe Langston Hughes.

I'm trying to make time for my talks. So much to prepare for...

Yesterday a reporter called from Iran wanting help and explanation on something that was said at the Million March. I laughed with the guy and told him he didn't have a Brooklyn accent. I gave him a few people to call...the guy was on a deadline. Does everyone in the world now have my cell number?

The good thing about U Street now is that you can bump into folks in the cafes.
Yesterday I had a wonderful conversation with film maker Halie Gerima. I love the guy and I only see him every three or four years. He is working on a film about slavery (Maroons.) The guy is always working - the James Brown of independent films.

Haircut today. Gotta look good for the road.

Interesting article on Bill Gates in the Howard Hilltop. Gates was on campus last Friday. According to the newspaper story, Gates talked about the next 10 years changing the world more than the last 30. New innovations will inclued a computer device that will be able to understand signs written in another language. Gates also talked about the development of the tablet computer, which will revolutionize the field of education.

Good to see Gates wearing a plain white button down shirt and brown slacks. Dress code? Hmmm.
Just another indication of what we should be paying attention to. Substance above style is my mantra. So is work before play. Humility is you want to be a hero.

Good to know Al Colon was in town and survived Katrina. Good to count him among the Million and not the many thousands gone.

2 Bennington packets shipped out this morning. Just one more on my desk.

I just received the Library of Congress Literary Series. Don't miss the following:

Brenda-Marie Osbey - November 3rd Montpelier Room at 6:45 P.M.
George Garrett - November 10th, Mumford Room, at 6:45 P.M.
John Haines - December 8th, Mumford Room, at 6:45 P.M.

Good to see Chicago going to the World Series. Ozzie G - Manager of the Year?

Oh..it's crying time again for Washington Redskin fans. The season is over if they can't beat SF next Sunday. No locker room excuses. The team is still weak on kickoff and punt returns. Thrash is just a nice guy helping out. Look for the defense to start getting beat as teams have more film and they face better competition. Can this team beat NY and Philadelphia? If they can't - no playoffs this year. Not letting A-man play is another reason why I can't root for these guys. Putting people in the doghouse and not expecting folks to bark. This is why butts get bit in the long run and why old folks say every dog will have his day. What's up dog?

Excerpt from my memoir THE FIFTH INNING:

You know you’re getting old when you don’t listen to “black leaders” anymore. When did I become one of those black men you see playing checkers outside a corner store? If I had more faith I would be a deacon by now. I could be a pallbearer wearing white gloves and standing by the side of a coffin. Is The Movement dead? Would Jackson and Farrakhan have better luck if they played Vegas?

Call my name. I want to believe. I want to walk with angels. I continue to write poetry believing in the goodness of man. I have no desire to march.
I want to fly. No one talks about love anymore.

There are millions of old black men. Count them. Survivors and lovers.
What survives is love. What loves to survive?

Call my name- it has only been fifty years or more.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yesterday I spent much of day talking with poet Anne Becker. She read a few of her poems and we talked about many of the people we've known over the years. Look for Anne to be out and about more in 2006. Anne is a gem of a person. In the old days she was working with the Watershed Foundation and taping many of the best American poets. Do you remember those old BlackBox days?

Thanks to Bennington buddy Molly, I'm in touch with poet Nimah Nawwab in Saudi Arabia. Yesterday we started exchanging emails. There was a nice profile of Nimah in Newsweek magazine earlier this year. She is the first Saudi poet writing in English to be published by an American Press. Her book is THE UNFURLING (Selwa Press).

Charles Simic has a review of Anne Carson's book DECREATIONS in the latest issue of The New York Review of Books.

OK...so what's in the Cards? Whatever happened to Bob Gibson? Ken Boyer? Stan the Man? The Cards keep folding - where are the playing cards??? Losing to Boston last year. Shame. That's as bad as the Democrats losing. Now Cards are losing to Houston...Oh my God. Houston in the World Series? A rebound for George Bush? Clemens pitching once again into the Hall of Fame. Andy P sticking it to the other George in New York. Ex-Yankees playing in the World Series. Oh...and the White Sox. Did you notice how better these guys started playing once they changed their uniforms? White Sox hats are cool. Don't you love how good the black looks on these guy? What a plus for race relations.
Oh...and you know Shoeless Joe will be back...say it's so.

No Nobel for Adonis. What's happening in that game? What about OZ?
August Wilson should have been given the Nobel before Pinter. Yes - I said that.
Quote me.

The world would be a better place if we all had tasty treats. Right?

Some final stats:

Ichiro - 206 hits (Second in the AL)
- 12 triples (Second in the AL)

No bean pies for me today. :-)

The whole world renewed! I want to offer water to all who thirst for a new world. I want to light a fire so they can warm themselves on a cold evening.
- Ko Un

I had a wonderful time on the campus of Montgomery College (Germantown campus) today.
This was made possible because of the kindness of Sally McClean who teaches English at the school. I met her department chair and dean. I gave a reading in her class; poems and a short excerpt from FATHERING WORDS.

Before heading home I dropped by Provisions Library.

This evening I also came home with some new music:
Genius & Friends - Ray Charles
Without A Song - Sonny Rollins
Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall
(The store owner gave me a poster from the concert - sweet!)

Had a good/long telephone conversation with Anu about art and culture. Tonight I'll either rest or do Bennington packets and Poet Lore stuff.

So many things I just want to read.
Find time to make time. Oh...the daily grind of being a free person of color.

Charles Johnson just sent me a copy of his essay on the Million Man March that appears in the Wall Street Journal today. I sent back several comments. His editor should have caught some things. I'm certain there will be comments and maybe attacks on CJ. Without dialogue we cannot advance the intellectual tradition so vital to the development of the African American community.

Sweet Honey In The Rock annual concert is Friday, October 28th at 7:30 PM
The Warner Theatre
For tickets, call (202) 397-SEAT or visit Ticketmaster.com


His Holiness the Dalai Lama will be in town on Sunday, November 13th at 3PM
MCI Center, Washington, DC
His talk - GLOBAL PEACE THROUGH COMPASSION
Tickets are $25, $40, $60 and $100
That's mucho Dalai(s).


So Ashbery and Merwin are finalists for the National Book Awards. That's like Multinational corporations still dominating our lives.
And STAR DUST by Bidart? I'm still recovering from his Bennington reading. I like the guy but who are the judges for these literary awards? How come we don't see more poets represented by smaller book companies making it to the finals? Even the Yankees don't win every year. I want to see a year when the finalists for poetry are not published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux, Copper Canyon and some of the other suspects...
If this continues we will need new poetry awards. I'm so happy Marita Golden started giving out awards for black writers with her Hurston/Wright Awards. Too bad it's just for fiction.

Talkin'Poetry - new book by Deborah Brown, Annie Finch and Maxine Kumin is out.
LOFTY DOGMAS: Poets on Poetics.
It looks like a good text/workshop book.
The publisher is The University of Arkansas Press.

OK...off to Montgomery College today.

Tuesday, October 18, 2005, 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM
TransAfrica Forum’s Arthur R. Ashe, Jr. Foreign Policy
Library and the
Afro-Colombian Working Group present

"Invisibility, Discrimination and the Territorial
Collective Rights of
Colombians of African Descent"
Featuring Afro-Colombian Activist Zulia Mena
TransAfrica Forum, 1426 21st Street, NW, Second Floor,
Washington, DC 20036

Metro: Dupont Circle (Red Line, Use Q
Street—North—Exit)

Morning meeting at Kramers with Susan R. I put a Bennington packet in the mail. I should be finished with everything by Sunday. Afaa's correspondence ready for shipment. Attention needs to be given to Poet Lore. Rick dropped off two more packets to read.

I started pulling Zu-Bolton material so that I can work on my keynote speech at the University of Missouri in November. The title of my talk is "In Search of the Hoo-Doo Man: Reconstructing Ahmos Zu-Bolton. Much of the work we did together was between 1975 -1980. That includes Hoo-Doo magazines 2- 7.
Dr. Julius Thompson is pulling the program together. He is head of the Black Studies Program at the University of MO in Columbia, Missouri.

I missed the opening of Sam Gilliam's exhibit at the Corcoran. I'll have to get down to see it later this month. Sam Gilliam will discuss his art and have a dialogue with Lowery Stokes Sims on November 3rd at 7PM. Admission is $25.

Bill Gates is on Howard's campus tomorrow. 6th Annual Student Leadership Institute.
The program is by invitation only. Hmmmm.
Must be for the Talented 10th.

I'll be speaking tomorrow at Montgomery College (Germantown Campus). Sally McClean is using my memoir in her class. I'll also talk about the second memoir that I'm presently working on.

I walked around the HU campus today. That's something I seldom do because of my schedule. I visited the artist Kebedech Tekleab in the Fine Arts Building. She is a wonderful painter who migrated from Ethiopia in 1989. I knew her mentor Skunder Boghossian.Some of Kebedech's work embraces the themes of displacement, exile and loss.

I ran into Michael Nelson (HU Press). I love the guy. He is the sales and marketing manager at HU Press. He told me about the new HU PRESS release of NO BOUNDARIES: A CANCER SURGEON'S ODYSSEY by Dr. LaSalle D. Leffall.
Leffall is a renowed surgeon, professor and medical spokeman. Nelson and I walked over to his office so I could obtain a copy of the new book.
Here is the press website: www.hupress.howard.edu

Down the hall from the HU Press are many offices filled with people I sometime see having lunch. I have no idea what they do, or even who they are. Anyway, I discovered one woman is responsible for compiling the list of names that are submitted for honorary degrees from Howard University. I gave her two names, which she placed into her computer file ( I felt like I was voting in Florida) for consideration. I suggested Hank Aaron and Rachel Robinson.
Who knows where it will go, but I did the do.

Lori Tsang will be giving a poetry reading on October 20th, 6:30 PM at the Chinatown Starbucks.

The latest issue of The Nation (10/24/05) has a good article by Michael T. Klare. Try and read "Revving Up The China Threat."

Excerpt:
The intensifying US-Chinese struggle for oil is seen, for instance, in China's aggressive pursuit of supplies in such countries as Angola, Canada, Indonesia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Venezuela. Until recently China derived very little of its petroleum from these countries; now it has struck deals with all of them for new supplies. That China is competing so vigorously with the United States for access to foreign oil is worrisome enough to American business leaders and government officials, given the likelihood that this will result in higher energy costs and a slowing economy...

Read the latest issue of THE FINAL CALL. Check Farrakhan's speech on Hurricane Katrina. It's the type of speech where you get to first base and then you take a lead off first and someone will just pick you off because you went too far out.
African American leaders need to be more responsible. Farrakhan repeats all the levee levee stuff. Have you heard the one about the member of the Army Corp of Engineers who saw burn makes on the concrete of the levee, took some of the concrete and spirited it away in his vest and sent it to his friends in the Armed Forensic Laboratory...
Oh, let me stop. Where do folks get this information from?
But turn the page and there's a good interview in the Final Call with New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin. I guess my mother was right about how to shop. You have to pick and look for the good stuff.

The Million Man March which is now the Millions More Movement is taking place on Saturday, October 15th at 9AM on the National Mall.
www.millionsmoremovement.com

One day posterity will remember these strange times, when ordinary common honesty was called courage.
- Yevgeny Yevtushenko

Tomorrow (October 12th) is the last class in the Barnet series at IPS. We will be talking about Richard Barnet's THE LEAN YEARS. IPS Senior Scholar Bob Alvarez will lead the discussion starting at 6:45 PM at the IPS office located at 733 15th Street, NW, Suite 1020. It's free, so try to attend.

Look for Black/Jewish discussions to be back in the news after the release of Marc Levin's documentary "Protocols of Zion." Release date is October 21st. The title of the movie comes from THE PROTOCOLS OF THE ELDERS OF ZION. It's a publication that claims there is a Jewish plot for world domination.

Are we moving backwards or forwards?

Look for everyone in San Francisco to be looking over their shoulders next year.
1906 was the big earthquake and fire.What will the anniversary bring? Are we ready?

A couple of positive things to think about and do:

With daily newspapers having money problems, I suggest they begin publishing short fiction and poetry on a regular basis. Pull in ads from the publishing industry.

It was nice to see that Sunday, NY Times article about the writers workspace in Manhattan. This is what DC needs. I had the idea in the back of my head for years. It would be nice to find a progressive developer to create a space in NE Washington. Maybe off of New York Avenue...Metro access too.
I'll bring the idea to the Arts Commission (again) this week. Writers in the area that might support the project - send me an email.

So you wonder what's going to happen next? After floods and earthquakes, what's the next page in the Bible? Well let's go with plague. A disease we can't see...a virus sending thousands to hospitals and doctors racing against time looking for a cure. Folks jumping back every time someone coughs. Stores selling special gloves for public transportation and cute face masks to cover one's mouth and nose. A shortage of doctors and nurses...
Since the government has no answers they begin to focus again on how to overthrow Fidel.Months pass and we watch the entire crisis on television. We hate the acting but the plot seems real.

"My riches can't buy everything..."
- As Tears Go By - Rolling Stones

More music moved from the basement. Willie Colon playing this afternoon. The only thing missing are tasty treats, laughter and the Bronx.

One of the best photos of the year is in today's paper. Checkout Eric Gay's picture of Chris Burke "floating" home after hitting a home run in the 18th inning of the Atlanta/Houston game. Priceless.

Today's NY Times has a review of John Coltrane Quartet's ONE DOWN, ONE UP.
Gotta get, Gotta Buy.

Oh...and what would Pat Robertson think of the "Alison Lapper Pregnant" sculpture in Trafalgar Square?

Well I was waiting, just waiting for this:


"Robertson Accuses Chavez of Seeking Nuclear Material from Iran."
A12 Washington Post, October 10th.

I knew it was just a matter of time before someone in the basement of the State Department or at a nearby Starbucks decided to link something like this to Chavez.
Oh, and of course he has been giving money to bin Laden after 9/11. Whew...the government must be hiring MFA students to write this stuff. It's so predictable. Oh, and watch for Nicaragua to be back on our "worry" list. With Danny O bringing back the Sandinista band, look for the old cold war music to play again.
Soon we will be back in the hemisphere fighting the spread of Communism. This is the easy war to fight. Look for folks to forget what's going on in Afghanistan and Iraq.
With a Civil War taking place in Iraq, US soldiers will not be the main targets. This might result in a weekly slowing down of combat deaths. Push the war off the front pages and folks will just think it's another earthquake in Asia or somewhere.
So many terrible things happening in the world at once, it's hard to cry for someone without saving a tear for someone else. Either God or Mother Nature is trying to tell us something. Maybe this is the first day of science fiction.


Octavia Butler will be at Busboys & Poets (2021 14th ST, NW) on October 27th at 6:30 PM.

HERE IS A LINK TO A STORY ABOUT AUGUST WILSON'S FUNERAL:

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05282/585349.stm

El Duque. El Duque.
How many years will the Red Sox fans weep now? I watched some of the game down at Busboys. Tony Medina was there - I didn't know the guy was a ballhawk from the Bronx like myself. Busboys was jumping yesterday with a poetry PoW Wow meeting. Charlotte, Derrick, Bomani, Sarah B, et al. The question: How best to present poetry in the new space? Around 6 PM the Boston sisters arrived. Michon and Sister T. They are two royal madames. Michon was showing her Che film. I stayed around long enough to give her a hug. I found a table by the window and waiting for Wendy to arrive. We spent the early evening laughing, talking about books, politics and life stuff. After food we went over to the book space. I sat in the window area talking with Mark Cimino. Mark writes and serves as an editor for THE WASHINGTON SPARK. It's a good alternative newspaper with more politics and information than the CITY PAPER.

Hard raining falling. A large tree down the street fell. :-( I keep looking up at the trees around my house. They are leaning just enough for me to purchase a cross and a prayer rug.

I need 2 days to do Bennington work. Upstairs desk need cleaning again.

Kwame Alexander sent me a copy of his new book - DANCING NAKED ON THE FLOOR
For order information go to: www.writerslairbooks.com

Marty Newman in Jerusalem also sent me a copy of his new book - the title is EXCEPTIONAL THRESHOLDS. I need to send him a note. Thanks Marty.

POEM FOR SARAH B.

Sarah is a sweet noodle
A stir fry against the war


- E. Ethelbert Miller

CONGRATS to the International Atomic Energy Agency for receiving the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize.

I don't know where my hands begin
and my heart ends.
- Naomi Ayala

The first issue of SARANAC REVIEW is out. The journal has a cool look and a good list of writers: Wesley Brown, Naomi Ayala, Honoree Jeffers, and Amy Gerstler et al. Oh and me. :-) SARANAC is published by the Department of English, SUNY Plattsburgh.
Visit their site: http://research.plattsburgh.edu/saranacreview

I just received Walt Harrington's new book in the mail. The title is THE BEHOLDER'S EYE: A COLLECTION OF AMERICA'S FINEST PERSONAL JOURNALISM (Grove Press). In the good old days Walt wrote for the Washington Post. I always thought he was the best writer at the paper. What a great guy. He is now teaching literary journalism at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is also the author of CROSSINGS: A WHITE MAN'S JOURNEY INTO BLACK AMERICA.

"Bert Day" is just a reminder that we all grow old and must accept more responsibility. We also must try and correct the motion of history. I just read a piece by Baraka calling for a United Front. Hmmm. I heard that before. That really isn't going to solve anything. 125 black people in colorful clothes quoting DuBois, Malcolm, Fanon, Robeson, etc...just is not going to make it anymore. Do we really need another conference? Agenda paper? The question is a simple one - Bambara raised it in the begining of her novel THE SALT EATERS. Minnie Ransom, asks Velma Henry - "Are you sure, sweetheart, that you want to be well?"
This is the question every black person living in America should ask themselves. All the "doctors" have told us what is wrong. We don't need any description of our sickness anymore. We know what the problems are - don't we??? Didn't we know there was poverty in America before Katrina? Why the surprise in how our government responded? Do the police come when you call them? Can a black man catch a cab? Do we have quality health care? Folks want to talk about stuff again like we just finished looking at THE COLOR PURPLE. Mr. Mr. Mr. what can I say?

"Bert Day" is November 20th. I'll be 55. On that day I'll be hosting a Muse2Muse program at Busboys and Poets with Kenneth Carroll. He will be reading from his work. I'll be conducting a craft interview with him too. It will all take place starting at 2PM. After the program, I'll be hanging around holding a glass of cold wine and trying to stay young. Come join the fun. It's a Sunday- it's gonna all be good.

On Wednesday, 7 December 2005, 7 pm, Mel Belin, E. Ethelbert Miller, Miles Moore, Christa Watters and others will remember Hilary Tham, and read from her new book, TIN MINES AND CONCUBINES: MALAYSIAN FICTIONS at Kensington Row Bookshop, 3786 Howard Avenue, Kensington MD 301 9499416. Come early to browse and chat. Refreshments provided. Members of the audience will be invited to add their remembrances. Free.


Vladimir Levchev came by the African American Resource Center. He gave me a copy of his book THE RAINBOW MASON.
Published by Cornerstone Book Publishers: www.cornerstonepublishers.com
Vladimir is from Bulgaria and is a graduate of the M.F.A. program at American University. If you want to invite him for readings here is a contact address:
VLevchev@aol.com

I'll be shipping my August Wilson material out to the University of Minnesota today.
I have a morning meeting with Sarah B.
Will try and make it down to the Arena Stage and catch their new production of BORN YESTERDAY by Garson Kanin.

The Barnet class at IPS was excellent last night. We had a wonderful discussion of GLOBAL REACH. Next week will be the last class. Our topic will be an examination of Barnet's THE LEAN YEARS:POLITICS IN THE AGE OF SCARCITY.

Bennington packets coming in..
I need to have a productive weekend. Thank God for Columbus. I just "discovered" how much work I have to do.

George Will's comments in the Washington Post yesterday is an indication of how the Right is very divided over the Bush Administration. However, it means nothing without alternatives and leadership coming from somewhere else. If conservative folks in Congress rejected Bush's nomination to the Supreme Court and demanded someone more conservative it would mean the end of the Bush Administration as we know it. It would mean he is a lame duck. When high officials start resigning to look for new jobs or spend more time with the kids, then it's already 2008. I still feel the key politician will have to emerge from the Republican Party. That individual will have to be a moderate on many issues. Key is a plan to end the war(s). He would have to win the nomination against the conservatives and maybe build a cabinet that includes Democrats. This is no different than the Demos moving to the center the last several years. If we wanted to put together strange coalitions - think Jeb Bush and Jesse Jackson. The failure to think outside the box is going to prevent us from dealing with the future. A good new model to explore is the Newt/Hilary one. Let's tackle the issues and try to reshape our society so that it works. Better healthcare is a good place to start. Poverty can't be touched unless we support the redistribution of wealth. Oh, Oh.
Meanwhile, in the African American community I know something is happening but I just don't know what it is. Do you Mr. Jones?

Quick trip to the Dentist...so now I'm smiling and looking for Tasty Treats.


I received a note from my son this afternoon. Widener's Basketball schedule is online. I'll get to see my son play November 25-26 at the Gallaudet Holiday Tournament. I'll also checkout his game at Goucher on January 5th.

I'm in the middle of getting ready to ship my August Wilson files to the Givens Collection at the University of Minnesota. I have a good amount of material collected over the years.

Wednesday, October 5th. We will discuss Dick Barnet's GLOBAL REACH at IPS with John Cavanagh and Sarah Anderson. The class will be held at 733 15th Street, NW, Suite 1020. Time is 6:45PM to 8:45PM.
GLOBAL REACH was the first detailed book to look into the power and reach of global corporations. Don't miss.

James J. Yee's memoir will be published this week. The title is FOR GOD AND COUNTRY: FAITH AND PATRIOTISM. Mr. Yee was the former Muslim chaplain at Guantanamo Bay.

Excerpt from my comments made at Wilson H.S. last Saturday:

" When people ask about what we must do to guarantee peace in the world, my response is that we must believe in the Beloved Community. We must love first. Only then can we build a place where tolerance and kindness is practiced. A place where there is unity and not uniformity. A place where sharing and humility are not abstract principles or concepts but things we practice on a daily basis."

I received the following information from IPS fellow Daphnne Wysham:

Scientists who have been exceedingly accurate in the past say:

"The 2005 Atlantic basin hurricane season has already been one of
the most active and is already the most destructive season on
record. We project that October will continue the trend of
above-average activity that we have witnessed in the preceding
four months of the hurricane season."

http://hurricane.atmos.colostate.edu/forecasts/2005/oct2005/



Alice Matttison's new book arrived in the mail today. Congrats Alice!
The title is IN CASE WE'RE SEPARATED. William Morrow is the publisher.

A TRIBUTE TO LANGSTON HUGHES
Sponsored by Beltway Poetry Quarterly and Busboys and Poets

Wednesday, October 26
6:30 pm
Free Admission
Full restaurant and bar service available

Featuring readings by
KWAME ALEXANDER
NAOMI AYALA
BRIAN GILMORE
Three acclaimed DC poets influenced by Hughes's considerable legacy.
The poets will read works by Hughes as well as their own original poetry.

With a slide show presentation by KIM ROBERTS on where Hughes lived, worked, and hung out in Washington, DC during the time he lived in the city (1924-1926) at the beginning of his career.

Busboys & Poets, 14th and V Streets NW (202) 387-POET.
http://www.busboysandpoets.com
http://www.washingtonart.com/beltway/html



I spent the day down at NEA reading and discussing grant proposals. I have a pile of things to read this evening:
NY Review of Books
Writer's Chronicle
The Nation

No Monday Night Football for me. Tomorrow I'll watch the baseball playoffs. Ichiro finished hitting over .300.

I've been listening to Dylan...The Shot of Love album; also Blood On The Tracks.

The first October week. The fun things I have to do:
Monday: NEA panel.
Tuesday:Visit to Provision Library to see art exhibit.
Wednesday: Barnet Class: The 4th Session. We will discuss Barnet's book GLOBAL REACH.
Thursday: Breakfast with Sarah B. Afternoon meeting with Sasha. Arena Stage -play.
Friday - I need to check on Conference at U. MD. Dinner with Wendy R.
Saturday- Bennington packets due.
Sunday-Monday - Holiday Weekend - Work on Langston Hughes lecture.

Books to complete reading: Father Joe. More poems by Anne Sexton...

August Wilson - gone- dead at 60.
I will miss him very much.
In my office a picture of August, Charles Johnson and myself laughing in Seattle.
Wilson's work changed the world. He gave brightness to blackness. He changed the American stage. Amen. Peace go with you brother.

My son in town for 2 days drove me to Vertigo Bookstore (College Park, MD) in the morning. I purchased a copy of Arnold Rampersad's new anthology - THE OXFORD ANTHOLOGY OF AFRICAN -AMERICAN POETRY. It has that IN SEARCH OF COLOR... feel to it; it even opens with "Today's News" by Elizabeth Alexander. This is an easy to read collection and might become very popular for the general reader. I have 4 poems in the book.

In the afternoon I went to Wilson Senior High School and participated in their Humanities, Arts and Media Academy. I was on the "Humanities and International Peace" panel with John Dinges, Peter Perl, and Corey Oser. Katherine Ferrey from the World Bank was the moderator. We spoke to about 100 kids. I read my poem "There Are Oceans Left To Kill."

Nancy Arbuthnot was in the audience. After the program she gave me a copy of her book WILD WASHINGTON: Animal Scuptures A to Z. It's a book which highlights all the animal sculpture around DC. I wrote a short forward for it. The book was published by the Annapolis Publishing Company.

Saturday and I'm listening to Fela on the turntable. I've been moving many of my old albums up from the basement. The old sounds are still good: WAR -what is it good for?

Words spoken by an old Buffalo Soldier
on U Street:

So where
have all the black
people gone?

- E. Ethelbert Miller
9/30/05

New book from Richard Blanco:
DIRECTIONS TO THE BEACH OF THE DEAD
Publication date is October 20, 2005
ISBN 08165-2479-3
$15.95

She's a rich girl
She don't try to hide it
Diamonds on the soles of her shoes
- Paul Simon

I'm listening to Graceland tonight. When I started out writing it was just Simon and Dylan.

I was reading Edwidge Danticat's essay in The Nation (September 26, 2005) and it made me weep. So many things are invisible in our country; especially our laws.
Danticat's article is adapted from the foreword she wrote to WE ARE ALL SUSPECTS NOW: UNTOLD STORIES FROM IMMIGRANT COMMUNITIES AFTER 9/11 by Tram Nguyen.

I received a surprise phone call from old time friend G. Brown. He was responsible for the making of the movie Juice with E. Dickerson. I guess the rest is Tupac history.

Bill Fletcher (Transafrica) has a good article in the Muslim Journal about Katrina.
He makes reference to Cuba's willingness to help the US. This would have been a good opportunity for both nations to put the Cold War politics on the shelf.

Andy Warhol exhibit in DC:
Corcoran Gallery of Art
Selections from the Andy Warhol Museum on display from September 24, 2005 to February 20,2006.

I received mail today from Eve Grubin. Her book MORNING PRAYER will be published by Sheep Meadow Press in December. Congrats Eve!

The new Writer's Chronicle is out.
Elizabeth Alexander has an interview with Rita Dove.
Mark Doty has an essay on the memoir.

Good to see Donna Britt writing about those New Orlean rumors. I majored in African American Studies and I've seen enough nonsense come out of the mouths of folks who should know better. How did their parents raise them? For many years I just video taped black leaders, public intellectuals - oh and those poets. What's the metaphor for being a fool? OK...here are the rumors we didn't hear:
- Black people being taken to those old concentrations camps that we held the Japanese in.
- The New Orlean levees being constructed by an Israeli company.
- White people stealing black bodies out of coffins floating in the water for DNA experiments.
- Nothing but a political distracton to "fix" the Supreme Court while folks are not looking.
- The fact that the N O zoo saved many of its animals is an indication that Noah had first hand information again. Hmmm
- A chance for Lil Kim to write some new music while in jail and return like Ma Rainy singing Backwater Blues.

OK...let me stop before someone quotes this blog and circulates this *!*.

Shoud I go on?

I have a pile of magazines and newspapers to read today:
The Bloomsbury Review
The New Yorker
The Progressive
The Nation
American Writer
Muslim Journal

I donate many of the publications to the African American Resource Center at Howard.

Last night I did some work on the FIFTH INNING. I need to push myself more so that I complete this book.

Elana Gutmann (visual artist and beloved friend) has a new website:
www.elanagutmann.com
Look for us to do some work together in the future.

I just received this information from Sarah Browning, one of the editors of the anthology, D.C. Poets Against The War:



Peace goes into the making of a poet as flour goes into the making of bread.

--Pablo Neruda

The poets would have made the Statesman Poet proud on September 24, literally carrying his words through the streets of Washington, D.C., in the largest peace demonstration since the start of the U.S. war in Iraq. D.C. Poets Against the War hosted a contingent of about 25 poets and friends, including E. Ethelbert Miller, Rei Berroa, Esther Iverem, Jane Shore, and many others from D.C., as well as Marilyn Hacker, Marie Ponsot, and Elizabeth Macklin from New York.

Our Sunday afternoon open mic drew poets from all over the country, including WA state, Montana, and Indiana, and as far away as South Africa and South Korea.

Read the full report, see pictures, read the poetry signs at:

http://www.dcpaw.org/ReportfromSeptember05Demo.html

I'll work on my Wilson High School presentation today. I'm drafting some comments on the topic of "Poetry and Peace."

We had a good discussion at IPS around Dick Barnet's book ROOTS OF WAR. Next Wednesday we will be discussing GLOBAL REACH. Leading the discussion will be John Cavanagh and Sarah Anderson. Class time is 6:45 PM at 733 15th Street, NW. Suite 1020.

There is an interview with Randall Robinson in the latest issue of THE PROGRESSIVE (October 2005). Robinson was head of TRANSAFRICA which was started in 1977. He is the author of THE DEBT: WHAT AMERICA OWES TO BLACKS. A good introduction to the issue of reparations. Robinson is also the author of QUITTING AMERICA: THE DEPARTURE OF A BLACK MAN FROM HIS NATIVE LAND.

OBITS.
Sad to hear about the death of Mary Lee Settle. She was the founder of PEN/Faulkner.
She was always very warm to me, and we had good conversations at literary affairs. I was a member of the board of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation for many years.

Constance Batker Motley dead at 84. She was the first African American woman appointed to the federal judiciary. I also remember my Mom talking about her with pride. Baker was also borough president of Manhattan.

It looks like Ichiro might not even hit .300 this year. :-( This might be his worst year in baseball as far as stats go.
Will the Nationals avoid last place? I hope so.
Look for Seattle to pluck the Redskins on Sunday. Oh - and how many games will the Wizards win this year?

The last days of baseball...
I'm Bucky Dent heading to the ballpark. Nothing but a green wall between me and heaven.


I'd rather be alone and alone, than alone and with someone.
- Joan Baez

Big show coming up for the big man Sam Gilliam. A retrospective at the Corcoran Gallery of Art. I'm not going to miss this. I have my tickets for the private preview on October 11th.
The exhibition will be on view from October 15th to January 22, 2006.

The Phillie Groove: Art Sanctuary in Philadephia is presenting a FULL YEAR OF SONIA.
A year long tribute to poet Sonia Sanchez.
The Art Sanctuary is located at the Church of the Advocate, 1801 West Diamond Street in Philadelphia. I first heard about this organization from Lorene Cary. She is the founder and Executive director. I remember her talking to me about her dream place many years ago when we were doing a program together in Indianapolis. Good to see things up and running. Congrats to Sonia.
If you want info about all the upcoming Sonia programs here is info:
215 232-4485
email" info@artsanctuary.org
www.artsanctuary.org

Love? Be it man. Be it woman.
It must be a wave you want to glide in on,
give your body to it, give your laugh to it,
give, when the gravelly sand takes you,
your tears to the land. To love another is something
like prayer and can't be planned, you just fall
into its arms because your belief undoes your disbelief.

- Anne Sexton

Diva Toni Blackman came by the African American Resource Center this afternoon. It's always fun to find out what she's doing. We laughed and walked down to the Metro together. She gave me 2 CDs.I'll isten to them tomorrow:
toniblackmanevents@yahoo.com

I met my friend Fran at the Savory (Takoma Park) for a 1hr chat. So...tonight I'll read some Anne Sexton poems. I'll send some comments back to Afaa M. Weaver regarding a book project he's working on. Charles Johnson sent me a nice praise note on my most recent poem. He also sent me an interview of August Wilson that our mutual friend Nibir K. Ghosh published in India. I think about August everyday.

Oh, the PBS doc on Dylan was excellent. Part II is tomorrow. Be sure to go and pick-up IS IT ROLLING BOB? A Reggae Tribute To Bob Dylan.
www.rasrecords.com

Reminder - Come to the the third class on Dick Barnet at IPS on Wednesday, September 28th. 7PM at 733 15th Street, NW, Suite 1020. We will be talking about Barnet's book
THE ROOTS OF WAR. A good thing to do following the recent protest march on Saturday.
Leading the discussion will be IPS Research Associate Miriam Pemberton and IPS Associate Fellow Steve Cobble.

Additional reminder - 2 day Walter Rodney program at Howard University, September 29-30. Contact info: Dr. Grace Virtue at 202 238-2335. Things begin on September 29th at 5PM in Ira Aldridge Theater.

Suggested reading -Try and obtain copies of The Nation magazine. Very good essays on the Katrina Diaspora. The October 10th issue is out.

I spoke with Brenda- Marie Osbey (poet laureate of LA). Hopefully, she will be moving back into her New Orleans home in a few days. She will also be coming to Washington DC in November (4th) to give a reading at the Library of Congress. I'll be in Kansas on that date. :-( So go see her and give her a shoutout.

October coming in a few days. Leaves turning colors and I'm still black. What a joy to be part of nature. :-) Celebrate!

Another new release - The Oxford Anthology of African American Poetry by Arnold Rampersad. $32.50, Pub date is October 2005.

New book by June Jordan coming out soon from Copper Canyon Press. The title is DIRECTED BY DESIRE: THE COLLECTED POEMS OF JUNE JORDAN. The foreward is by Adrienne Rich.

I had a morning meeting with a Jonathan Hopkins, a nice brother getting his book together. I also received in the mail two lovely pictures from my friend Julia in Indiana. Thanks J.

A packet came in the mail with promotional goodies for Richard Blanco's DIRECTIONS TO THE BEACH OF THE DEAD (University of Arizona Press, 2005).

PBS is the place to be this week. Martin Scorsese examines the career of Bob Dylan.
American Masters Series: Bob Dylan - No Direction Home. 9PM. Monday & Tuesday.

Dylan is the major influence on my early work - those high school poems back in 1966 and 1967.

Ramadan begins on October 4th and lasts until November 2nd.
This is a good opportunity to read a chapter of the Holy Quran each day while fasting. By the end of Ramadan one would have completed the entire book.

When you don't drive, Sunday can feel like a week just to get across town. I had to bus/train/bus just to get to Politics and Prose bookstore today. They celebrated their 21st Anniversary. I was part of the poetry program with Linda Pastan, Stanley Plumly, Jane Shore and Myra Sklarew. Joe Harrison read work by Anthony Hecht. The store was filled with lovers of poetry. I sold several books, including two to a woman who was a friend of Arthur Ashe's wife. She said she would give her one. After the 12:30 PM reading I went across the street and had lunch with Nicole. We met about week ago at Busboys. It was nice to see her taking in a poetry event. I gave her a brochure for upcoming readings at the Folger. Nicole has a bike so she can get to places quicker than me.

I'm home for a few hours, resting until I leave for WPFW. I'll be on the air at 9PM.

Yes, that's Junior Walker and the All Stars playing in the back....Shotgun! Put on your high heel shoes...do the jerk now.

Yesterday I went to the PROTEST MARCH against the war. I went with my friends Sarah Browning and Becky Thompson. Becky came down from Boston. Sarah is the editor of D.C. Poets Against The War. She made (with the help of Melissa Tuckey and Esther Iverum) all these cool protest signs that had excerpts from poems that had been published in the anthology. It was a big hit at the march. Many people wanted to take pictures of the poets. It's obvious folks look to us for leadership. :-)
We had a nice band of poets who met near the White House to pick-up our signs. I walked around holding up the words of Melissa and Sarah. Other poets in our group included Jane Shore, Judith McCombs, and Marilyn Hacker (who came down from New York). I hadn't seen Marilyn since she read three years ago at Chapters Bookstore with Reetika Vazirani. I remember the three of us having dinner afterwards, and then walking over to Marilyn's hotel. Reetika and I caught a cab from downtown to our homes; we sat in the back seat laughing and holding hands. Little did I know I would lose one of my best friends in a few months. One never knows...
Which brings me back to the march and the desire of so many Americans to bring the soldiers home and out of harm's way. I don't know how many people were there yesterday. Numbers are not important. It's the principle. It's so important to always have a dialogue around war. And this is where one will discover the weakness of the progressive left. There was no "speaker" I really went down to the march to hear. Years ago I remember going to a protest march against the Vietnam war and waiting to hear King and Stokely Carmichael speak.
So the responsiblity rests with each individual citizen to organize, vote and hold our representatives responsible for their actions. I don't see the problem being simply the Bush Administration. The larger and more important issue is American foreign policy in a post-cold war era. It's important that our foreign policy not be "hijacked" by the war against terrorism. There are so many issues that will help restore the US image abroad and protect global peace. We need to make some big leaps and changes...here are a few things we need to do:

1. New policy towards Cuba. We need to just turn this around,being respectful of the Cuban American perspective. We should try to find ways to work with Cuba, open economic doors. I think we missed it when they offered to help us with Katrina. I would start playing major league basketball and baseball games between the US and Cuba. Open a cultural door with writers and musicians.
We should also work with Cuba and find joint ways to help other Latin American countries as well as small nations in the Caribbean. The US and Cuba need to be on the same page.

2. A new Monroe Doctrine. Latin America is moving Left. We need to help the region deal with the issues of poverty.

3. Solve the Palestinian issue by giving economic support to building their nation.
Protecting Israel's right to exist.

4. Major focus on economic development of Africa. Have US media begin to talk about the positive things happening in Africa on a regular basis. Make the continent as important as Europe in the eyes of a new generation of Americans. Young African Americans should take the lead on this one.

5. Focus on arm reduction around the world. Reduce the making of guns and the black market trade. Why do so many places have more bullets than food?

6. Looking for new sources of alternative energy. Are we still trying to do this?

7. Free health care for every human being in the world. Let's begin first in the US.


8. Finally a book of poetry in every home. :-)

After the march, Sarah, Becky and I went to Busboys and Poets. Oh man...so many people came through the place: Suheir Hammad, Alexis DeVeaux, Kathy Engel, Damu Smith, Ken Carroll, D. J. Renegade, Jelani Cobb, and Anu (who is funny, talented and wise). Oh, and I ordered the catfish on the menu. A must treat for the hungry poets.
I departed before the open mic program started, walked to the bus stop with Anu. She reminds me of a young Suheir...which takes me back to June Jordan. If we are to change the world we live in then it will require a dedicated struggle for human rights, and a willingness to love against the odds.

Good to see the Oprah Book Club returning to do current authors. Now if Oprah would only start reading American poetry. Her producers should consider doing this during the month of April (National Poetry Month). Oprah could pick 5 books of poems that she likes...a "handful" of poets. I'm certain it would help the field. Look at the influence Bill Moyers had on the genre. So write a letter to O.

Everybody Hates Chris was not bad. Chris Rock looks like he has a winner here. I like how love is treated in the new television show.

"Viva Baseball" is the new documentary about the history and struggles of Latino players. Growing up in the Bronx...those names, those names...Clemente,Vic Power, Orlando Cepada (the baby bull), Juan Marichal... I remember kicking my leg high in the air before throwing a fastball. Oh...and where has Hector Lopez gone?

Joe Bauman recently died at the age of 83. He played for a minor league team in Roswell, N.M. In 1954 he hit 72 homers, batted. 400, drove in 224 runs and drew 154 walks. Whew...

In yesterday's Washington Post, Michelle Singletary had some good advice in her "The Color of Money" column. She warned folks about not buying used cars that might be flood-damaged vehicles. Often many cars from floods show up in the used car market months later. Many people will be buying cars to replace old ones.
Estimated 250,000 to 500,000 cars may have been damaged by Katrina.
Be careful not to buy a car that might be rotting in the inside. Check the car's title history. Look for rusty bolts and screws, water rings, etc.
Cars damaged by Katrina should be scapped and not sold.


Tony Hoagland's reading is this evening (7:30 PM) at the Folger Shakespeare Library.
His latest book is WHAT NARCISSISM MEANS TO ME.
Congrats to Teri Cross Davis for being selected the new poetry coordinator at the Folger. She replaces Libbie Rifkin. Libbie did stellar work during her tenure at the Folger. She is now teaching at Georgetown University.

I'll be on Angelique Shofar's "Africa Meets Africa" radio show (WPFW, 89.3FM) on Sunday evening. Tune in...

National Museum of Women in the Arts have a couple of good writers coming in this season:
Joyce Carol Oates on January 27th
Naomi Shihab Nye on February 10th
Programs start at 7PM
General Admission is $10
Students are $5
The museum is located at 1250 New York Avenue, NW

The IPS Barnet classes are going very well. The next one is Wednesday. We will be looking at Barnet's book THE ROOTS OF WAR. Come join us. I have extra handouts.

I met the poet Head-Roc at Busboys yesterday. He gave me a copy of his CD - Negrophobia!
noys25@head-roc.com

While in Busboys & Poets I purchased a copy of Anne Sexton's THE COMPLETE POEMS. I read Maxine Kumin's foreword while riding the bus home.

Today is a marathon DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities meeting. I'm coming home tonight and going right to bed.

TGIF tomorrow. TGIF.

I just read the letter Sharon Olds wrote explaining why she is not attending the National Book Festival. I respect her decision. I've been invited to Laura Bush's book festival twice. In 2001 and 2003. I attended because I have respect for what the First Lady has done for public libraries and the promotion of reading in our society. I know who she is married to. I also know that my wife dislikes being introduced as Mrs. Ethelbert. She has her own life and profession. We have many different interests, and we often do our own thing. At the first Book Festival I remember the President standing in the back, it was obvious that this was his wife's affair. It was something important to her. She had final say on the writers being invited. The writer's opinions and political viewpoints were not factors. I know this because I was invited a few times to help with some of the planning. During my life I have always worked at bringing people together. I have been committed to working for peace and justice with different organizations. I have tried to open doors for others. There are a number of issues that are very important to me. There are also principles that I live by and rights that I feel we must protect. There are many ways to protest. We just need to acknowledge that. During the Civil Rights Movement there were a number of African Americans who were in the Kennedy and Johnson Administrations and trying to change things. Everyone was not marching with Dr. King or being members of SNCC. I think one can still go to the White House and break bread with the first Lady and still be in opposition to the war. I don't see the first Lady as the devil. I see her as a married woman who cares about some of the same things I care about. I'm certain we disagree on many other things too. But if for a moment I can't sit across the table from someone and talk about poetry or the novel, then something is going to be missing in my life. If Laura Bush was censoring or preventing an American writer from attending one of her book festivals because of their politics, then I would be the first to protest. I would not attend.
But this is not the case. The umbrella of democracy is open and it still protects us from the hard rain that is falling.

The American Medical Student Association (AMSA), Howard University Chapter, presents, "How Cuban Physicians Can Save Lives In New Orleans And Throughout The United States!"

Time: Thursday September 22, 2005 6:30pm


Location: Howard University College of Medicine Seely G. Mudd Building, Room V14, 520 W St, NW Washington DC
(At the corner of 6th and W St, NW)

The program is co-sponsored by the Pan-African Liberation Organization & Physicians for Human Rights "Howard University
Chapter." Invited Panelists Include:

* Obi Egbuna of the Pan-African Liberation Organization
* Ronald Issac of the National Conference of Black Lawyers
* Skipper Baley from Pastors for Peace
* Alim Muhammad the Nation of Islam Health Minister
* Sonia Umanzor for FMLN of El Salvador 'Mary's Place for Maternal and Child Care'

For more information, please call 202-635-5099.

You are invited to be part of a live studio audience for NPR’s News-Talk Show:


TALK OF THE NATION

Hosted by Neal Conan

on Thursday, September 22



HOUR ONE

2-3 pm

RACE, CLASS, AND KATRINA: WHAT DID WE SEE, WHAT DID WE LEARN



If you can attend, please RSVP to TOTN@npr.org. The NPR studios are located at 635 Massachusetts Avenue, NW; the Metro Stop is Chinatown/MCI Center on the Yellow, Green, and Red Lines. Please come to the NPR lobby one half hour before the show you plan to attend, where you will be greeted and taken to Studio 4A. Please call me with any concerns or questions; we’re looking forward to great shows.



Our panel discussion will include:



Douglas Besharov, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute’s, and director of AEI’s Social and Individual Responsibility Project.



John McWhorter, Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute, Associate Professor of Linguistics at UC Berkeley, author of Losing the Race, and Authentically Black.



Tricia Rose, Professor of American Studies at the University of California at Santa Cruz.



David Shipler, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and author of The Working Poor: Invisible in America.



Juan Williams, Senior NPR Correspondent.



HOUR TWO

3-4 pm

New Orleans Jazz: live performances and interviews

Performers will include:

David Mooney, jazz guitarist, born and raised in New Orleans.


Derek Douget, saxophonist and Louisiana native, director of the Ellis Marsalis Quintet.



George Brumat, owner of the Snug Harbor Jazz Bistro, one of New Orleans’ most famous jazz clubs.



Alain Toussaint (live from the studios of WNYC), New Orleans pianist, producer, songwriter.



Neal and our guests will take your questions and comments during the show, and we look forward to your attendance and participation!



Sue Goodwin

Executive Producer, Talk of the Nation

NPR

635 Massachusetts Avenue, NW

Washington D.C. 20001

Tel: 202.513.2340

October 6, 2005
A Tribute to the work of June Jordan, with Cave Canem co-founder Cornelius Eady, Joy Harjo, Bob Holman, Yusef Komunyakaa, Jan Heller Levi, Donna Masini, Adrienne Rich, and others. Co-sponsored by Cave Canem, Copper Canyon Press and The Hunter College Graduate Writing Program. The Sylvia and Danny Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College, 695 Park Avenue, New York, NY. 7:30 pm. Admission $12, $7 for students and Poetry Society of America Members. Call the theater box office, 212-772-4448, to reserve a ticket.


I find it funny that I'm never invited to any of these June Jordan events. It's a good thing I gave the letters she wrote me to the University of Minnesota. The E in my name must stand for Ellison - or some other invisiblE- man.

I'm playing some Arthur Blythe.Alto Sax. In The Tradition. So much to do. Yesterday I chaired an IPS executive meeting. Our organization will be moving to a new location in December. We will be located at 1112 16th Street, NW (16th & L ). Serious attention is being given to fundraising. Some of you have probably received letters from me. I hope you can support our programs. IPS is the leading progressive think tank in the US.
www.ips-dc.org

Tonight is the second class on Richard J. Barnet at IPS. 6:45PM at 733 15th Street, NW, Suite 1020. Peter Kornbluh will be leading the discussion of Barnet's INTERVENTION AND REVOLUTION. This is the book Barnet wrote back in 1972. Kornbluh worked with Barnet. He now works at the National Security Archives.

I've been in contact the last few days with a number of writers I admire: Ai, Afaa Michael Weaver, Jerry Ward...

The Walter Rodney Conference is at Howard University on September 29th and 30th. Speakers include: Rex Nettleford, Asha Rodney, Rupert Lewis, Ron Walters, Horace Campbell, Sulayman Nyang and others. for additional information contact Dr. Grace Virtue:
202 238-2335.

The National March on Washington to End the War in Iraq is September 24th.
People will gather at the Washington Monument at 11AM
http://www.unitedforpeace.org/dc or call 202 299-1055

Who said the postman always rings twice?

Responsibility of Blacks in Cyberspace

An Open Letter to E. Ethelbert Miller



"things that sound too horrible to be true did happen." -- David Carr



http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/19/business/media/19carr.html



E, peace and blessings,



I have discovered as a student of literature that numerous persons can read a document and that each reader has a different interpretation on what is the truth contained therein. If your point is that there is such a thing as rumor and that rumors can be "worse than what actually happened," we sing the same tune and there is no gap in our understanding of how the world works. I suspect where we diverge is the larger interpretation of Carr's sentiments and perspective.



From my view, our folks--black people--suffered the most from the rumors propagated by corporate media and sustained by numerous persons of their ilk. That we suffered the most by this insidious activity can be sustained by this quote from Carr's editorial:

"I think that citizens of New Orleans have been stigmatized in a way that is going to make it difficult to be accepted wherever they go," said Jonathan Simon, who teaches criminal law at the University of California, Berkeley.



These "citizens of New Orleans" are black folk. So our folks (all over America) are the primary victims of rumor -- as looters, rapists, murderers. These "urban myths" are the stuff of 6 o'clock news and black weeklies. The criminal image is usually that of young black males. So much so that everyone now fear "black boys." And these our brothers, uncles, fathers, sons have been the victim object of "political spin," ritualistic murder, and "responsible governance." This situation has been propagated not only by corporate media, but also by persons in the highest seats of government and society.



Wasn't it our 3rd President TJ who wrote "scientifically" of our kinship to the orangutan: matter of fact there was an entire "science" that rose in the 19th century from the best minds of America that sustained Negro inferiority in every sphere of human existence. And at this hour we still have a difficulty instituting "black history" courses in our public schools to counter the damage of these "urban myths" and "rumors."



On another point we might also agree, "accurate information [is still at a] premium." We see it in the indecisiveness and ineptness of Mayor Nagin in trying to repopulate the city. In a small matter like whether there was a fire on Dillard's campus, we are unable to sustain what is indeed the case, whether the Arts & Science building burned. A friend as close as Baton Rouge does not know the truth of the rumor We black folks all still suffer from the lack of information and a distrust of those in high places.



And there is good cause for this lack of trust, especially after the horror of the superdome and the convention center and the numerous survivor stories that are being collected by corporate media, web sites, and blogs. All of this has been seared into our consciousness and that it will be sometime before we get over this trauma, this wakeup call.

Government failed us. The wise guys caused of great distress, insecurity and terror.

So with this "brave new world" we face I do not see it as my primary task to dispel rumor as rumor. That is not the problem we face. From the time we left the shores of Africa to the present hour, our problem is one of power, more precisely, the lack of it. The quote from Carr's which probably caught your eye and to which you really want me to direct my attention is: "Web and talk radio fueled these rumors." But these outlets ("web" and "talk radio") are dominated, not bys us (you and me), but rather by persons from white middle-class America, that is, not from Black America. We are anthills up against great mountains of power and power that do not have our interest first and foremost.



That is, I'm not against rumor as rumor. My force will be directed against rumor that does harm to humanity, especially and particularly black humanity, which is under severe humiliating attacks. The question before us, then, is how do we counter these rumors that undermine and debilitate us and how do we counter those individuals who now sustain them, who do not have your humanistic sensibilities.



For me, those of us who have education, training, skills, and instruments of power, we must speak the truth as we know it and as forcefully as we can and consider every rumor that is a potential threat against us and that might have some truth of how we have been undermined and dispersed. If we have the power to discover the truth or falsity of such rumors, we should indeed dispel them. But if you suggest rather that we who are in cyberspace should act as censors of information, then you ask us to wage war with windmills. What good is such a romantic venture?



Well, I suppose wearing the mask of a "non-partisan" is one way to go. But that's not for me. I have no faith in "media objectivity." For media serves power--its impetus is commercial. And he who pays the piper calls the tune.



If you wish, however, to place on the table--confer--what is the proper role of blacks in cyberspace, I am open for that discussion. I encourage you to organize such a talk and conference or make it part of some larger conference. Academics love this sort of thing and there are probably businesses and foundations willing to finance such an academic undertaking. I have no problem with that and would probably be willing to attend it.



As ever and always, Rudy

Dead at 70 - Donn Clendenon, the MVP for the 1969, New York Mets.

A special Issue of National Geographic magazine will go on sale this Friday. It's a special issue on Katrina. $4.95 450,000 copies for distribution. Profits go to the hurricane relief.

Quotes of the Day?

The president is Lucy, and he's holding a football. We're Charlie Brown.
- Bob Herbert NY Times 9/19/05

Today, states that had slavery in 1860 are much more likely to vote Republican than states that didn't.
- Paul Krugman NY Times 9/19/05

Lil'Kim goes to jail today.

I found this thought by Robert Pinsky to be very interesting:

"What if victims and thugs, large numbers of the bereft and the violent, are who they are because in some deep way they are not part of our society? This question doesn't exculpate people or pity them because of poverty or age or race. It is a cultural question, with political and historical implications."
Book World, Washington Post 9/11/05

Today is my Mom's birthday. She's 86. Happy Birthday to Madame Enid.

I was in the Howard University post-office and purchased several of the new Arthur Ashe stamps. They are really nice. Ask your local post-office to sell them.

So what's going on in Belfast? Are the riots still going on?

Look for Michael Jackson to jump in with a Katrina Diaspora recording similar to "We Are The World." Everyone who needs good PR is going to try and do something; what were people doing before the flood? What were they doing with all their money? I think of my brother before he died giving almost all his possessions to his friends who were poor. Once a monk, always a monk.

The Final Call newspaper had a good article in their September 13th issue. It was an interview with Vanessa Williams (another one?) who is the executive director of the National Conference of Black Mayors (NCBM). Her organization is trying to help the smaller towns and cities hit by Katrina. The NCBM consists of 562 Black mayors.
31 cities headed by Black mayors were hit by the storm. Another 54 are affected by the influx of populations seeking refuge in neighboring cities.

It might be a good idea for organizations and other cities to "adopt" a small black city in the south. This type of sisterhood might make it easier to coordinate relief efforts. We could target things, as well as invite people from specific areas to report back on the relief effort taking place in the area. Leave no small city behind.


Tomorrow author Damali Ayo will be at Borders (600 14th Street, NW) at 6PM.
She is the author of "How To Rent A Negro."

Today we had the 29th Letelier-Moffitt Sheridan Circle Memorial tribute at 10AM.

This information is taken from the program:

Until September 11, the most infamous act of international terrorism ever to take place in Washington, D.C. was the 1976 car bombing that killed Chilean diplomat Orlando Letelier and 25-year old American Ronni Karpen Moffitt. Letelier and Moffitt were collegues at the Institute for Policy Studies, where Letelier, former ambassador to the United States and Defense Minister under Salvador Allende, had become one of the most outspoken critics of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. A massive FBI investigation traced the crime to the highest leves of Pinochet's regime.

At today's program Andres Bianchi, Ambassador of Chile to the U.S. spoke. So did Cristian Letelier, Orlando's son.

I read the following poem that I wrote:

AFTER THE WAR AND AFTER THE RAIN

(for Daniela Ponce)

It is always raining somewhere -
And widows stand in front of windows watching it fall.
They wait for husbands and sons and lovers to return.
They hold rosaries and flowers, and they wait for love to bloom (again).
But it is raining and the earth is wet and the politicians and soldiers
walk across the earth turning everything to mud, and there is mud on
everyone's shoes and boots and the world is dirty and in need of a kiss.

The widows talk to the rain with tears on their tongues.
The widows speak the language of memory.
When they turn away from the windows they walk across the room and
undress. They place their garments of mourning on their beds. The widows
hope their black clothes will go to sleep and maybe dream (again). In dreams
the sun is always walking down the street, laughing and playing a flute of
light. The light strikes shoes and sandals and everything starts to glow
(again). In dreams the widows are young girls who have just discovered their
smiles. The terror of death has not been born. There is no sound of war
marching. There is only dancing everywhere on the earth. It is raining
somewhere else. It is raining outside our dreams.


E. Ethelbert Miller, 9/16/05


On Wednesday,October 19th, IPS invites you to the 29th Annual Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Awards. The program will be held at the National Press Club Ballroom, 529 14th Street, NW.
Reception at 5:30 PM
Program at 7P.M.

Domestic Award to Barrios Unidos
International Award to Judge Juan Guzman Tapia.

I had a good day. Many things accomplished. I completed some Bennington work...packets going out on Monday. I was down at Busboys & Poets for a couple of hours. I had a wonderful time, making new friends and talking with old ones. The place is jumping. The poet Carolyne Wright has a reading there on Sunday at 4:00 PM.
I'm reading over at Sheridan Circle at 10AM at the IPS, L-M Tribute. Bring flowers.


The best thing I've read about the Katrina Diaspora is in the latest issue of THE Nation magazine. It's by Adolph Reed Jr. Many years ago the guy taught at Howard.
I don't think anyone comes close to making as much sense as this guy. Whew. Everyone should read it. Excerpt:

Race is too blunt an analytical tool even when inequality is expressed in glaring racial disparities. Its meanings are too vague. We can see already that the charges of racial insensitivity and neglect threaten to divert the focus of the Katrina outrage to a secondary debate about how Bush feels about blacks and whether the sources of the travesty visited upon poor New Orleanians were "color blind" or racist. Beyond that, a racial critique can lead nowhere except to demands for black participation in decision making around reconstruction. But which black people? What plans? Reconstruction on what terms?


I think right here is the slogan that should be coined for the next few months:
RECONSTRUCTION ON WHAT TERMS?

Can we avoid creating the type of temporary shelters that now exist in Florida?


Sport News:
Ichiro finally had 3 hits in a game raising his average to .303
Guzman is hitting for the Nationals. I told folks this would happen. If the Nationals can just keep getting those Vs...look for them to win the wild card.
Take Dallas on Monday. The Redskin season can end very quickly if they get beat bad on national television. They are weak at QB but you never know about Mark B. He might just have another tank of gas in him. I always liked the guy - class act on and off the field.

I finally got around to reading that long interview with Octavia Butler in Black Arts Quarterly (Vol. 10.2/Summer 2005) coming out of Stanford University.

Politics & Prose Bookstore will be celebrating its 21st Anniversary on Sunday, September 25th. I'll be on a poetry panel with Linda Pastan, Myra Sklarew, Stanley Plumley and Jane Shore. We will be reading and talking about poetry starting at 12 NOON.


So as we are trying to get help to the folks of the Katrina diaspora - check this small news story that was in the NY Times yesterday:
Somalia: Relief Ship Released. Gunman who had held a ship with United Nations food relief for nearly three months released the vessel and 940 metric tons of rice donated for the country's 28,000 tsunami victims. Piracy is common along Somalia's coastline but this was the first instance of a hijacking of a ship working for the World Food Program.

Three months!!!!
This type of stuff makes me very angry. It's why folks will vote for fascism in a minute. Organized crime are folks without an ideology who don't care about anything but themselves. They have no moral compass. 28,000 people - how many died because they couldn't get the food that was being shipped to THEM???

Now let's turn to our country. How many people are going to think only about themselves...get money...steal...offer people false hope and split? The Katrina hustle. Greed is just something I'll never understand. How can people be so cruel? Especially during a crisis and a time of need.

Speaking of crime...now folks want to reduce those jail terms for the white-collar crimnals in the US. I say let them join a Somalian gang outreach program. Which is worst raping one person or stealing from one bank against destroying the lives of so many by billions of dollars of fraud and thousand of lost jobs - each with a family??? Measure that and you don't have to be Moses asking God for another commandment. The American public is still being "Milken."
Reimbursements are good if you're still alive to collect.

So the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation decided to scale back their actitivies out of respect for the Hurricane Katrina survivors. Can you explain to me why people want to always party so much?
Here is another example of class within the race. We need to look into this too.
Once again you don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows. Many of our black organizations are middle class. When will we truly "ground" with our brothers and sisters?

If overalls come back it will be more a fashion statement and not out of memory of people active in SNCC in the early 1960s. We can only correct some of the ills we now see if we do grassroots work. Simple medical care should be provided (free of charge)by black doctors, dentists and nurses. We also need to make connections between the poverty in New Orleans with that of Haiti and Africa. We should be undertaking a global response to things in 2005. That's why it would have been cool to accept support from Cuba after the Katrina hit. Immediately black folks would be receiving care and kindness from folks who looked like them and spoke Spanish.
We would have been able to push some old Cold War politics off the shelf. The same way with the UN - must we quote Malcolm again? We should be asking for UN assistance. It's not about American's losing pride and not being powerful to care for one's own...it's about opening new doors of friendship and agreements between nations. New relationships and partnerships can be created. Mother Nature is not Republican or Democrat. Now if greed is going to take advantage of the Katrina diaspora then one might as well look for the fire next time.

During the first Richard Barnet class held at the IPS office this week, IPS Co-Founder Marc Raskin recommended that folks read GENIUS IN THE SHADOWS: A BIOGRAPHY OF LEO SZILARD, MAN BEHIND THE BOMB by William Lanouette.
Szilard initiated the letter to President Roosevelt that got the Manhattan Project started. Szilard would later warn people about the dangers of nuclear weapons.

Last night my friend Melissa gave me a copy of Janet Burroway's WRITING FICTION.
This is a good text (5th Edition) for teaching the narrative craft. Thanks Melissa.

I'm reading FATHER JOE by Tony Hendra and having a good time with it. A funny book in many places.

There is an IPS Book Party this evening at Busboys & Poets (14th & V Street) 6:30 PM. That's where I'll be. Yes, I can be treated to a glass of wine. :-)

Why Computerize Your Medical Records?
There is a good discussion of this in the latest issue of AARP/Bulletin, September 2005. Read the remarks made by David J. Brailer, National Coordinator for health information technology at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

"Right now somewhere between 10 and 15 percent of health care consumers have personal electronic medical records."

Sherman Alexie will be at Howard Community College at 12:30 and 7:30 PM on October 6th. The first event is a free reading. The second is a showing of his film Smoke Signals followed with a discussion.

RAP (Regional Addiction Prevention Foundation is celebrating its 35th Anniversary on September 24th with a festival at Langdon Park in Northeast Washington, D.C., from Noon to 7PM. The park is located at Franklin & 20th Streets SE (Red Line, Rhode Island Station).
Congrats to founder Ron Clark.

6 Part film and discussion series on The World War I Years at Howard University (Founders Library, Browsing Room) 2PM-4PM on Thursday, September 22 to November 3rd.

IPS Book Party for the Field Guide to the Global Economy is Friday at Busboys&Poets at 6:30 PM. Busboys is located at 14th & V Streets.

Yesterday the first session of THE RETURN TO R&B: READING BARNET IN THE 21ST CENTURY
was held at the IPS office. It was excellent. Ann Barnet and Marc Raskin provided so many wonderful stories about Barnet. So much history filled up the room that one had to find an extra chair for it. I strongly encourage everyone to pick-up some of Barnet's books. Here are some titles:
Intervention & Revolution
Roots of War
Global Reach
The Lean Years

The second session of the Barnet classes will be held at 6:45 PM on September 21st.
A discussion of Intervention and Revolution with be directed by Peter Kornbluh.
Classes will be held at the IPS office:733 15th Street, NW, Suite 1020.

Talking about history. I was Xeroxing a chapter out of Suzaane Juhasz's NAKED AND FIERY FORMS, MODERN AMERICAN POETRY BY WOMEN:A NEW TRADITION and a slip of paper dropped out - it was a note for Dr. Claudia Tate.
Wow...miss her. So many African American intellectuals gone...


Hey now...I'm doing some fundraising for my son's basketball team at Widener University. I have some raffle tickets (great prizes). You can get 6 tickets for $5.00. Give me a call if you want to obtain some. I have to collect all the money by the end of next week. Widener will play a few games in the DC area this fall. Nyere will be wearing # 13.

So there it was on page A24 of yesterday's Washington Post:
"Health Records of Evacuees Go Online."

This is huge!

"The federal government is making medical information on Hurricane Katrina evacuees available online to doctors, the first time private records from various pharmacies and other health care providers have been compiled into centralized databases.


Electonic health records are controversial among many privacy advocates, who fear the data could be exploited by hackers, companies or the government.


Sue A. Blevins, founder of the Institute for Health Freedom opposes national electronic health records for individuals.

Here is a quote by Blevins - "many things are done during a crisis that society normally would not accept."


Katrina baby - why did you open up the door?
Now folks who have nothin, have nothin more.

Information for folks:

Subject: Texas Library Association is accepting book donations


The Texas Library Association is accepting book donations (can be from anywhere) to help the Gulf libraries prepare to re-open for business. The Association is accepting book collections to help libraries fill their shelves.

TLA will ship the donated materials to Gulf Coast states as soon as libraries are ready to receive the materials. To make a book donation, you can ship materials to Braker Self Storage, ATTN: Katrina Book Drive, 2607 West Braker Lane, Austin, Texas 78758.

State library officials in the Gulf Coast report that many libraries have been completely demolished. Those facilities will have to be completely rebuilt and re-equipped. The items most needed include new or very lightly used children's books, adult fiction and nonfiction, reference materials (e.g., dictionaries, almanacs), and Gulf Coast-area collections. They ask that materials have recent publication dates.

Since it will likely be several months-perhaps even a year or two-before libraries are able to take these collections, the Association has partnered with the Texas Mini Storage Association (TMSA) to collect the books and store them in climate-controlled facilities until area libraries are able to receive collections.

Ginny Sutton, executive director of the TMSA, said "We are thrilled to help in any way we can. We want to let our Gulf Coast neighbors know that we are here for them over the long term. We want library officials to know that our member facilities, led by Braker Self Storage in Austin, are very happy to help in this noble effort to replenish the libraries in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama."

Additional information, including information about local relief programs in the affected states, can be found at www.txla.org.

-- Robert P. Doyle
Illinois Library Association
33 W. Grand Ave., Suite 301
Chicago, IL 60610-4306
phone: 312-644-1896
fax: 312-644-1899
www.ila.org

Yesterday I had to attend a Humanities Council Board Meeting. We outlined a number of programs for the next couple of months. We also need to hire a new Director of Programs. So let me know if someone is out there looking for a job. The person in this position will also be the producer of my television show HUMANITIES PROFILED.

I can see where going to Busboys & Poets too much might be dangerous. I met my friend Sally (she was in my workshop at P-Town) who was in town for a business meeting. We had a wonderful chat - and then IPSers came in and things became fun and when I got home it was about 8:30 PM. Wine was in the head and work was in the bag.
Be careful dear Bert. Busboys is such a cool place. We are having an IPS book party there on Friday at 6:30. Come party and meet folks.

Today is the first of the IPS programs that will examine the life and work of co-founder Richard Barnet:
THE RETUNR TO R&B: READING BARNET IN THE 21ST CENTURY. 5 weeks.
Things will begin around 7PM.
Address: 733 15th Street, NW, Suite 1020
The Institute for Policy Studies office.

IPS will also have its Sheridan Circle Memorial Ceremony on Sunday, September 18th at 10AM. A tribute to Orlando Letelier and Ronni Moffitt.
Bring flowers.

My television interview with Roger Wilkins is running this month on Comcast 5, and Starpower 10. Check your television schedules.
I know the program will air on 9/17,22,24,29 and 10/01.

Suheir Hammad sent me postcards for her new work.
ZaatarDiva - book and CD for $12
cypherbooks.com
I think Suheir is one of the best political writers out there today. She is one of my best poetry friends.

I have one Bennington packet going into the mail. I have 4 more to do. Target date is Saturday for all the work to be done.

I completed the judging of the Fitzgerald Conference short stories. NEA proposals I better get to late tonight.

I still want to finish three books this week - Work by Mark Doty, Becky Thompson and Tony Hendra.
Like Ichiro I'm trying to keep my average above .300. My man is having a poor year and is hitting .300. Go figure...so much more to do.

Politics and Spirituality: Seeking A Public Integrity
January 14-16, 2006
Hyatt Capitol Hill
Washington, D.C.
Speakers: Jim Wallis, Anne Lamott and Richard Rohn
Sponsored by The Center for Action and Contemplation and Sojourners
www.cacradicalgrace.org
register@cacradicalgrace.org

Tonight my friend Robyn is putting together the Under the Influence Film Series.
Features, documentaries and shorts in which addiction and recovery play a leading role. 6:30 PM until 9:30 PM
Admission is Free.
The film tonight is DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES
For more info: www.undertheinfluencethefilmseries.com

New book coming out from England:
DANCE THE GUNS TO SILENCE: 100 Poems for Ken Saro-Wiwa
Book will commemorate the life and achievements of Ken Saro-Wiwa
The book was commissioned and produced by African Writers Abroad (PEN) and published by Flipped Eye Publishing. Price: $12
Email: africanwritersabroad@yahoo.com
www.africanwritersabroad.org.uk
One of my poems was accepted for the anthology. Other poets included are Kamau Brathwaite, Merle Collins, Martin Espada, Mutabaruka, Veronique Tadjo and Linton Kwesi Johnson.


The Nation magazine has good articles about the Gulf Coast and Hurricane Katrina.
September 26, 2005. $2.95. It's the 9/11 Anniversary: A Special Section.

I suggest one keep reading the business sections of the major newspapers: NY Times, Wall St.Journal, Washington Post,to follow the economic development for the Gulf States. Look for "restoration" to take place and not rebuilding. The best piece I've read so far was by Joel Garreau in the Washington Post on Sunday in the Outlook section (9/11/05). The title of his article was "A Sad Truth: Cities Aren't Forever."

Key quote:
"Sentiment, however, won't guide the insurance industry. When it looks at the devastation here, it will evaluate the risk from toxicity that has leached into the soil, and has penetrated the frames of the buildings, before it decides to write new insurance - without which nothing can be built."

New money is going to be made in the Big Easy. There will probably be "historical signs" where black folks once lived. Folks will be given tours of where Katrina hit...the buses will have good A/C...and folks will take pictures. No one pays to look at poverty unless its behind glass or in a book. That's why it's always invisible until it strikes out and upsets the status quo. What often follows are conferences, reports, books, and bandaids. Look for someone to step forward and want to build low incoming housing for 10 or 20 families. Now is that really going to help the thousands who need affordable housing? No, but it will look and sound good in the media. Look for the New New Orleans to become maybe a high tech area. Which political party will be the first to have their Presidential Convention there?
Oh - and what a story if the New Orleans Saints made it to the SuperBowl in Detroit. How many people will still be homeless and watching the game? How many survivors of Katrina would be paraded out during halftime? Coin toss? Call it.



Look for a number of high profile blacks to help Bush with his image. Is that you Papa Jakes? How long can the war stay on the second page? We also need to redefine homeland security. Where is all our money going?
Oh - buy sweaters and watch your heating bills this winter.

You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.
- Bob Dylan


Out of all of this,love endures, and we must continue to love our neighbor as well as the stranger, who knocks on the door asking for shelter from the storm.

Information from IPS (Institute for Policy Studies):

We have sifted through many of the hundreds of aerial shots posted recently
by NOAA, matching leading suspect facility (leaking oil refineries and
storage facilities, devastated chemical plants) addresses with maps and
landmarks, and have posted the most significant on our SEEN Gallery. The
best way to enter is through our newly-updated pollution page, at:
http://www.seen.org/pages/Katrina/pollution.shtml . The thumbnail photos
lead to much more detailed photographs, a virtual toxics tour from the air.

The most horrific from air:
By far the worst: The DuPont chemical/Chevron oil refinery complex in
Pascagoula, Mississippi. Lots of bad history just got worse.
(Another DuPont facility further west, on the Bay St. Louis, reportedly went
six feet under and flushed a bunch of poisons into the surrounding
neighborhood of DeLisle, but there are no aerial NOAA photos available.)
#2: All of Meraux, in St. Bernard Parish, home to leaking Murphy Oil
refinery. A sharp eye can follow the flow of poisons from the industrial
site, through neighborhoods, to Lake Ponchartrain.
#3: An oil spill in the Mississippi River from the Moss storage terminal in
Venice, La.

Daphne Wysham
Director, Sustainable Energy & Economy Network