THE VIEWS OF RANDALL HORTON can be found here:
E-NOTES: WHEN THE NEWS IS NOT ENOUGH. THE BLOG OF E. ETHELBERT MILLER
Saturday, September 27, 2008
LAOS
My friend Channapha Khamvongsa sent me information about the film BOMB HARVEST.
Here is a link:
http://www.bombharvest.com/
Channapha is the project director of LEGACIES OF WAR: History, Healing, Hope.
My friend Channapha Khamvongsa sent me information about the film BOMB HARVEST.
Here is a link:
http://www.bombharvest.com/
Channapha is the project director of LEGACIES OF WAR: History, Healing, Hope.
JOB FOR YOU:
I received a letter from Ellis Hanson, chair of the Department of English at Cornell University. His department is searching for a tenure-track professor with a Ph.D in the field of African American Literature.
Candidates should send a letter of application, curriculum vitae, and writing sample of between 4,000 and 8,000 words to:
African-Americanist Search Committee
Department of English
Cornell University
Ithaca, New York 14853-3201
The deadline is October 15, 2008.
I received a letter from Ellis Hanson, chair of the Department of English at Cornell University. His department is searching for a tenure-track professor with a Ph.D in the field of African American Literature.
Candidates should send a letter of application, curriculum vitae, and writing sample of between 4,000 and 8,000 words to:
African-Americanist Search Committee
Department of English
Cornell University
Ithaca, New York 14853-3201
The deadline is October 15, 2008.
Boxer Jack Johnson who died in 1946 might receive a posthumous pardon. In 1913 the first black heavyweight champion was convicted of violating the Mann Act, which outlawed the transportation of women across state lines for immoral purposes. The House of Representatives has recommended the pardon. Johnson became champion in 1908, fled the country in 1913 and returned to the U.S. in 1920. He served nearly one year at the federal prison in Leavenworth, Kansas.
Quotes of the Day:
Mr. McCain wanted to be the true revolutionary in the room, but his is the Reagan revolution, and right now, at least, it's not morning in America anymore.
-Alessandra Stanley, The New York Times, September 27, 2008
To be fair, it had been a very long week for McCain, what with ruling out the debate, ruling in the debate and returning to a Senate from which he has been AWOL so long that it's believed his desk is now being used to store janitorial supplies.
- Gail Collins, The New York Times, September 27, 2008
WHO ARE YOU TALKING TO?
What John McCain did last night was very white. What's sad is that he might not even be aware of it. Maybe even his campaign people are clueless. You can disagree with a person but don't keep saying over and over that the person doesn't understand the problem or question. How often does this happen in a classroom or boardroom? A white person decides they have to explain something to a person of color. We just don't understand. McCain attempted to keep the old boys club white yesterday. Obama just doesn't understand. It's not that he might have a different view - it's just that he doesn't understand. Well what I understand and I hope the nation does is that it's this McCain type of arrogance that too often creeps into foreign affairs.
People of color (even if they have the bomb) are not ready and just don't understand how the world runs. The McCains of the world make mistake after mistake and then turn around and pretend they are experts. Didn't someone have to whisper the correct answer into McCain's ear during his visit to Iraq? What McCain doesn't understand is that too many of us understand what he was saying last night.
Now was I "reading" race into the debate? Yep! Some people just don't understand...
Friday, September 26, 2008
THE FRIDAY NIGHT DRAMA DANCE. ARE YOU GOING?
Did you ever think McCain was going to skip the debate? Of course not. Now the television ratings will be high on a Friday night. Maybe one bra strap will go unhooked because of this. One more condom saved for another rainy day. Will it determine how you vote in November? I doubt it. Everyone is working on their spin right now and the debate hasn't even aired. According to Palin we already won the war in Iraq. Did you know that Bush? This means McCain doesn't have to mention the word surge a thousand times tonight- right?
Nothing is really over until the black man dances.
GOT MOORE?
GET MOORE.
MICHAEL MOORE:
MichaelMoore.com : Join Me in Making History ...from Michael Moore
GET MOORE.
MICHAEL MOORE:
MichaelMoore.com : Join Me in Making History ...from Michael Moore
Charles Johnson just sent me a copy of his essay that's in the latest issue of Shambhala Sun (November 2008). "The Meaning of Barack Obama" is written from Johnson's Buddhist perspective. It provided me with an opportunity to develop more probes; ideas that scholars might need to examine under conditions of deep thought and reflection.
Johnson begins his essay by mentioning how the general election in November might be an opportunity to take the temperature of racial attitudes in American at the dawn of a new century.
I like Johnson's medical reference here. I've always felt the major question of the 21st Century is the one that appears in THE SALT EATERS by Toni Cade Bambara. "Do you want to be well?"
Thank you Minnie Ransom. Sorry Dr. DuBois - we are moving beyond the Color Line. Is America well? Do we have "race" fever? Back in 1877 we caught what was known as Liberia Fever. Obama Fever should make us all reach for the thermometer. But what is America's normal temperature? One man's hot is another man's cold.
Johnson writes in his essay that "race is our grandest lived delusion and grief-causing fiction."
I don't know about this. It seems we give race a bad name these days. We talk about race as if it was a bad hairstyle. Do we want everyone to have cornrows? I don't think so. Why don't we look at race as being one of the wonderful things to celebrate instead of something to shed? Why must we see Race as a cocoon and buy into the concept that only butterflies are free? What is this about? I think the struggle is against racism and prejudice and not race. The challenge is similar to the one Ellington faced. How do we keep this Big World Band playing together? Should only white people get to solo? Pass me some more Strayhorn and let's get this composition right.
I thought I heard Johnny Hodges say...
The focus on the belief that the upcoming election is about Obama and race misses the big picture. Obama is more representative of the technological transformation of our society. How his campaign is being run is what will determine the character and the content of our lives. Obama is opening the door to a new form of participatory democracy. His impact on local elections should help us better organize. What he has done is refined his skills as a community organizer and placed it on a national level. Let's bring in McLuhan here and see how Obama represents the new global village. His ancestry is very symbolic but too often we examine it without looking at all of the symbols. Mother from Kansas? How come we don't talk about the Kansas of John Brown? Kansas key to the making of America. Bleeding Kansas as important as throwing tea into the ocean around Boston. Father from Kenya? Where are we always tracing man's beginnings back to? Early footprints always seem to be around Kenya and Tanzania. Indonesia? The largest Muslim populated nation in the world. Obama is influenced by all of this.
America's biggest future challenge might not be race but instead religion. Even Obama seems reluctant to use his middle name. What will it mean if he is elected and sworn in and folks hear his middle name mentioned? What will it mean when he places his hand on the bible and takes the oath? A coming together of Islamic and Christian roots? Obama is not a Muslim but his grandfather was. This will only keep us divided if we are backwards looking. If we look forward we begin to see a new world attempting to move beyond the duality of things. We are moving beyond black and white because even television long ago moved beyond black and white. People are finally able to see color. Whew...didn't it take us a long time? Now we are talking about going digital. Are you ready? No place for racism in a digital world. Many of us will be left behind and might as well be pirates living off the coast of Somalia. Like Palin's Rapture many of us might get left behind if we can't even "imagine" where Alaska is. Which brings one back to Obama and the link to Hawaii. In a symbolic way America by moving further West has now come closer to the East. If you wanted to know who was coming after Reagan (and California), well it looks like Obama and Hawaii. The symbolism here shouldn't be lost and perhaps that's why we need to look to creative writers and poets to help usher in the new era. It's why I advocate that we need to pursue visionary literature and recognize at this historical moment we are the children of Whitman.
Back to a probe. Some scholar(s) need to examine Iowa and the issue of race. Why did so many white people in this state vote for Obama? Was it about Obama's race or was it how he ran his campaign? What really happened in Iowa? Remember how certain places were almost linked to whiteness? Iowa was one of them. Ironic or symbolic?
Obama is the face of our changing world. If we find him exotic it's only because we have always found the exotic in names, places and style. Obama brings it all together under the sphere of the cool. The man is Miles coming after the hot wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The question is whether the rebirth of the cool will coincide with the return of the Cold War. We only have to monitor Russia's actions the next few months. Is it just a matter of weeks before Russian boats return to the Caribbean?
Charles Johnson in his essay writes about how Obama and his wife Michelle are avatars of a new black America. The word avatar has begun to enter our vocabulary. Is it now possible to "dream" a world? Might we be capable of creating the Beloved Community - on line (at least)?
Something to ponder especially when we know that too often worlds collide. Which might bring us back to Johnson's Buddhist principles and beliefs. Maybe race is an illusion as much as this thing we now call life. Which brings me back to those early Obama speeches that came out of Iowa - Now's The Time. Sounds very much like Charlie Parker and Miles.
Obama represents the new music. Many of us can hear it - we just can't play it yet. November is either a major concert or just another dress rehearsal. We could all be stuck in our black and white costumes and going nowhere. Our horns broken by our own hands.
Johnson begins his essay by mentioning how the general election in November might be an opportunity to take the temperature of racial attitudes in American at the dawn of a new century.
I like Johnson's medical reference here. I've always felt the major question of the 21st Century is the one that appears in THE SALT EATERS by Toni Cade Bambara. "Do you want to be well?"
Thank you Minnie Ransom. Sorry Dr. DuBois - we are moving beyond the Color Line. Is America well? Do we have "race" fever? Back in 1877 we caught what was known as Liberia Fever. Obama Fever should make us all reach for the thermometer. But what is America's normal temperature? One man's hot is another man's cold.
Johnson writes in his essay that "race is our grandest lived delusion and grief-causing fiction."
I don't know about this. It seems we give race a bad name these days. We talk about race as if it was a bad hairstyle. Do we want everyone to have cornrows? I don't think so. Why don't we look at race as being one of the wonderful things to celebrate instead of something to shed? Why must we see Race as a cocoon and buy into the concept that only butterflies are free? What is this about? I think the struggle is against racism and prejudice and not race. The challenge is similar to the one Ellington faced. How do we keep this Big World Band playing together? Should only white people get to solo? Pass me some more Strayhorn and let's get this composition right.
I thought I heard Johnny Hodges say...
The focus on the belief that the upcoming election is about Obama and race misses the big picture. Obama is more representative of the technological transformation of our society. How his campaign is being run is what will determine the character and the content of our lives. Obama is opening the door to a new form of participatory democracy. His impact on local elections should help us better organize. What he has done is refined his skills as a community organizer and placed it on a national level. Let's bring in McLuhan here and see how Obama represents the new global village. His ancestry is very symbolic but too often we examine it without looking at all of the symbols. Mother from Kansas? How come we don't talk about the Kansas of John Brown? Kansas key to the making of America. Bleeding Kansas as important as throwing tea into the ocean around Boston. Father from Kenya? Where are we always tracing man's beginnings back to? Early footprints always seem to be around Kenya and Tanzania. Indonesia? The largest Muslim populated nation in the world. Obama is influenced by all of this.
America's biggest future challenge might not be race but instead religion. Even Obama seems reluctant to use his middle name. What will it mean if he is elected and sworn in and folks hear his middle name mentioned? What will it mean when he places his hand on the bible and takes the oath? A coming together of Islamic and Christian roots? Obama is not a Muslim but his grandfather was. This will only keep us divided if we are backwards looking. If we look forward we begin to see a new world attempting to move beyond the duality of things. We are moving beyond black and white because even television long ago moved beyond black and white. People are finally able to see color. Whew...didn't it take us a long time? Now we are talking about going digital. Are you ready? No place for racism in a digital world. Many of us will be left behind and might as well be pirates living off the coast of Somalia. Like Palin's Rapture many of us might get left behind if we can't even "imagine" where Alaska is. Which brings one back to Obama and the link to Hawaii. In a symbolic way America by moving further West has now come closer to the East. If you wanted to know who was coming after Reagan (and California), well it looks like Obama and Hawaii. The symbolism here shouldn't be lost and perhaps that's why we need to look to creative writers and poets to help usher in the new era. It's why I advocate that we need to pursue visionary literature and recognize at this historical moment we are the children of Whitman.
Back to a probe. Some scholar(s) need to examine Iowa and the issue of race. Why did so many white people in this state vote for Obama? Was it about Obama's race or was it how he ran his campaign? What really happened in Iowa? Remember how certain places were almost linked to whiteness? Iowa was one of them. Ironic or symbolic?
Obama is the face of our changing world. If we find him exotic it's only because we have always found the exotic in names, places and style. Obama brings it all together under the sphere of the cool. The man is Miles coming after the hot wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The question is whether the rebirth of the cool will coincide with the return of the Cold War. We only have to monitor Russia's actions the next few months. Is it just a matter of weeks before Russian boats return to the Caribbean?
Charles Johnson in his essay writes about how Obama and his wife Michelle are avatars of a new black America. The word avatar has begun to enter our vocabulary. Is it now possible to "dream" a world? Might we be capable of creating the Beloved Community - on line (at least)?
Something to ponder especially when we know that too often worlds collide. Which might bring us back to Johnson's Buddhist principles and beliefs. Maybe race is an illusion as much as this thing we now call life. Which brings me back to those early Obama speeches that came out of Iowa - Now's The Time. Sounds very much like Charlie Parker and Miles.
Obama represents the new music. Many of us can hear it - we just can't play it yet. November is either a major concert or just another dress rehearsal. We could all be stuck in our black and white costumes and going nowhere. Our horns broken by our own hands.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Quote of the Day:
I think this thing is ordained - it's providence. This is a sweeping movement. It's bigger than him, it's bigger than all of us. I think this is going to be such a pivotal moment in history that you can measure time by B.B., Before Barack, and A.B., After Barack. That's what I feel is going to happen.
- Spike Lee
I think this thing is ordained - it's providence. This is a sweeping movement. It's bigger than him, it's bigger than all of us. I think this is going to be such a pivotal moment in history that you can measure time by B.B., Before Barack, and A.B., After Barack. That's what I feel is going to happen.
- Spike Lee
THE ARTS IN DC:
Mayor Fenty recently appointed Ms. Gloria Nauden to become the new executive director of the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities. She replaces Tony Gittens. The media should interview and profile this woman. What is her vision for the arts in Washington? Why was she appointed? Who was on the short list and how short was the list?
Mayor Fenty recently appointed Ms. Gloria Nauden to become the new executive director of the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities. She replaces Tony Gittens. The media should interview and profile this woman. What is her vision for the arts in Washington? Why was she appointed? Who was on the short list and how short was the list?