Elections this Sunday in Venezuela. Hugo's party will win big since opposition groups are pulling out...
Hugo would be making a huge mistake if he decides to make Constitutional changes in Venezuela. If he can run as many times as he likes it's just going to harm the nation down the road. Can you image if we did the same thing in the US? Nixon or Reagan for 30 years? It's just impossible to rule a nation for a long time without corruption taking hold, etc. If Hugo wants to make a key contribution to Venezuela then make sure economic plans reach the poor. Maintain good ties with the business community. Cut down on all the Anti-U.S. rhetoric. Have excellent relations with nearby nations. Don't be a Mugabe.
E-NOTES: WHEN THE NEWS IS NOT ENOUGH. THE BLOG OF E. ETHELBERT MILLER
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
Well...there it is. Just like I thought. In the Wall Street Journal (today) there is mention of a Manning versus Manning SuperBowl. The media loves this type of stuff. Now, if you're a journalism student, watch how this story is different from all those tennis stories about Venus and Serena. Look for the Mannings to suddenly be America's family. QB genes - right? Please. Pittsburgh could have defeated the Colts on Monday night if they didn't have dumb coaching. First play TD? Please. I knew who to cover on the first play of the game and I'm watching from my bed. Offside kick to begin the half? That's just stupid. Why risk giving Peyton Manning half a field to work with??? It's only halftime. Oh...and you're never going to defeat Manning when the other QB is nothing but hype. Big Ben is really nothing but a small watch - if that. The guy just isn't one of the best QB's in the league. So who is going to beat the Colts?
Go with San Diego. A team with the best running back that will keep Peyton on the sidelines. Also they have a QB that can have a big game. You have to keep throwing the blitz at Manning...dirty the guy's uniform. Give him the hard hit. Notice how he was hurrying those passes after he had to run from that pocket? Manning reminds me of Marino. Good numbers but no rings. Oh, and we know if the Colts were to win the SuperBowl no one would even acknowledge Dungy's contribution. The guy is just on the sidelines wearing a headset. Right? Manning can throw all those TDs but everyone knows defense wins the game. Now...who should get that credit - Manning 2??
Go with San Diego. A team with the best running back that will keep Peyton on the sidelines. Also they have a QB that can have a big game. You have to keep throwing the blitz at Manning...dirty the guy's uniform. Give him the hard hit. Notice how he was hurrying those passes after he had to run from that pocket? Manning reminds me of Marino. Good numbers but no rings. Oh, and we know if the Colts were to win the SuperBowl no one would even acknowledge Dungy's contribution. The guy is just on the sidelines wearing a headset. Right? Manning can throw all those TDs but everyone knows defense wins the game. Now...who should get that credit - Manning 2??
Pay Attention. The Supreme Court is to hear its first abortion case in five years today. You make the call - should there be a law requiring that a parent or doctor be notified before a minor terminates a pregnancy? This is a difficult case. It's difficult because it involves a minor. As a parent I want to know what my children are doing. I think this case is also about privacy and not just abortion.
Saudi Poet Announces International Women’s Anthology
Molly Thomas-Hicks, Arab News
DHAHRAN, 30 November 2005 — Women of all nationalities are invited to submit their original creative writing for inclusion in an upcoming anthology of poetry, essays, and short fiction.
The book, tentatively entitled “Where Prayer Measures Time: The Women of Saudi Arabia Speak,” is the latest project of poet Nimah Ismail Nawwab. Her best-selling collection of poetry, “The Unfurling,” was published in 2004 to worldwide acclaim.
“The goal of this collection,” Nimah said, “is to provide a true representation of the variety of women living within the Kingdom by accepting submissions from both established and emerging writers. Women throughout the world are contributing to society in important ways. Saudi Arabia is no exception.”
The book will be published in English but work translated from Arabic is welcome. Any woman who has lived in Saudi Arabia is encouraged to submit.
Nimah sees literature as a way of building bridges between cultures. By creating a venue for women within the country to express their views on current issues she hopes to generate an opportunity for readers to gain insight and understanding of a part of Arab society which has often remained silent.
She conceived the idea for the anthology after noticing many false impressions about the lives of women in Saudi Arabia. “Misconception often leads to misunderstanding and intolerance,” she explained. “While giving poetry readings and presentations abroad I noticed a hunger for information about life in the Kingdom. It fit well with a long-held dream of mine to bring together writers in Saudi Arabia to work on a common project.”
Last summer she began assembling a group of professionals to serve as editors, readers, and translators. The team has members living abroad and in both the Eastern and Western Provinces of the country.
“I am a firm believer in the need for diversity,” said Nimah. “One of the most intriguing and exciting aspects of the anthology is that it embodies diversity on all levels. Our team, which consists of writers, academics, and poets living in Saudi Arabia and beyond, was chosen because each woman brought specific skills to the project. These skills, when combined, create a very strong body of knowledge. Our goal is for the anthology to serve as a mirror that accurately reflects the range of skill and experience of women within the Kingdom.”
Pit Menousek Pinegar, who will serve as the book’s poetry editor, commented, “An anthology of women’s voices — poems, stories, and essays — from Saudi Arabia can only deepen understanding in a world fraught with misunderstanding. Literature is international language. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that such a body of work has the potential to heal rifts between East and West.”
Pinegar lived in Saudi Arabia from 1982-1986. Her latest collection of poems, “The Physics of Transmigration,” was published in April 2005 and is nominated for a 2006 Pulitzer Prize.
Recent events underscore the need for understanding between vastly different cultures. Nimah has been called “the voice of Arab women” by media outlets such as Newsweek and The Washington Post. But it’s a title she seems uncomfortable accepting.
“I’m flattered that reviewers have found merit in my work but it’s wrong to think that one poet can represent or reflect the voices of an entire population,” she says. “I hope women throughout the Kingdom will be excited about the anthology project and support it by sending us their writing.”
She says many other well-known Saudi writers plan to submit work for inclusion in the anthology. “It’s important to have both established and emerging writers,” she explained. “Young people look up to pioneers willing to serve as mentors to a new generation of talent. I hope to continue the literary tradition of nurturing free expression and creativity.”
She believes readers will be impressed by the literary merit of the collection. “Our country is filled with bright, capable women. Many have been writing for years. I look forward to this anthology providing a home for their work.”
Submissions for the anthology are being accepted via Nimah’s website: www.theunfurling.com. Submissions should be copied and pasted into the form provided on the site.
Poems should be single spaced, one poem per page, with the author’s name and contact number on each page. Limit three poems per writer. Essays and fiction should be double spaced and formatted with one-inch margins. The author’s name and contact information should appear on the first page in the top left corner. Essays and stories of up to 3,000 words are accepted. Limit one prose submission per writer.
Submissions must be received no later than March 30, 2006. Complete guidelines can be found on the website. Further inquiries can be directed to womenofarabia@gmail.com.
Molly Thomas-Hicks, Arab News
DHAHRAN, 30 November 2005 — Women of all nationalities are invited to submit their original creative writing for inclusion in an upcoming anthology of poetry, essays, and short fiction.
The book, tentatively entitled “Where Prayer Measures Time: The Women of Saudi Arabia Speak,” is the latest project of poet Nimah Ismail Nawwab. Her best-selling collection of poetry, “The Unfurling,” was published in 2004 to worldwide acclaim.
“The goal of this collection,” Nimah said, “is to provide a true representation of the variety of women living within the Kingdom by accepting submissions from both established and emerging writers. Women throughout the world are contributing to society in important ways. Saudi Arabia is no exception.”
The book will be published in English but work translated from Arabic is welcome. Any woman who has lived in Saudi Arabia is encouraged to submit.
Nimah sees literature as a way of building bridges between cultures. By creating a venue for women within the country to express their views on current issues she hopes to generate an opportunity for readers to gain insight and understanding of a part of Arab society which has often remained silent.
She conceived the idea for the anthology after noticing many false impressions about the lives of women in Saudi Arabia. “Misconception often leads to misunderstanding and intolerance,” she explained. “While giving poetry readings and presentations abroad I noticed a hunger for information about life in the Kingdom. It fit well with a long-held dream of mine to bring together writers in Saudi Arabia to work on a common project.”
Last summer she began assembling a group of professionals to serve as editors, readers, and translators. The team has members living abroad and in both the Eastern and Western Provinces of the country.
“I am a firm believer in the need for diversity,” said Nimah. “One of the most intriguing and exciting aspects of the anthology is that it embodies diversity on all levels. Our team, which consists of writers, academics, and poets living in Saudi Arabia and beyond, was chosen because each woman brought specific skills to the project. These skills, when combined, create a very strong body of knowledge. Our goal is for the anthology to serve as a mirror that accurately reflects the range of skill and experience of women within the Kingdom.”
Pit Menousek Pinegar, who will serve as the book’s poetry editor, commented, “An anthology of women’s voices — poems, stories, and essays — from Saudi Arabia can only deepen understanding in a world fraught with misunderstanding. Literature is international language. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that such a body of work has the potential to heal rifts between East and West.”
Pinegar lived in Saudi Arabia from 1982-1986. Her latest collection of poems, “The Physics of Transmigration,” was published in April 2005 and is nominated for a 2006 Pulitzer Prize.
Recent events underscore the need for understanding between vastly different cultures. Nimah has been called “the voice of Arab women” by media outlets such as Newsweek and The Washington Post. But it’s a title she seems uncomfortable accepting.
“I’m flattered that reviewers have found merit in my work but it’s wrong to think that one poet can represent or reflect the voices of an entire population,” she says. “I hope women throughout the Kingdom will be excited about the anthology project and support it by sending us their writing.”
She says many other well-known Saudi writers plan to submit work for inclusion in the anthology. “It’s important to have both established and emerging writers,” she explained. “Young people look up to pioneers willing to serve as mentors to a new generation of talent. I hope to continue the literary tradition of nurturing free expression and creativity.”
She believes readers will be impressed by the literary merit of the collection. “Our country is filled with bright, capable women. Many have been writing for years. I look forward to this anthology providing a home for their work.”
Submissions for the anthology are being accepted via Nimah’s website: www.theunfurling.com. Submissions should be copied and pasted into the form provided on the site.
Poems should be single spaced, one poem per page, with the author’s name and contact number on each page. Limit three poems per writer. Essays and fiction should be double spaced and formatted with one-inch margins. The author’s name and contact information should appear on the first page in the top left corner. Essays and stories of up to 3,000 words are accepted. Limit one prose submission per writer.
Submissions must be received no later than March 30, 2006. Complete guidelines can be found on the website. Further inquiries can be directed to womenofarabia@gmail.com.
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Facts:
The UN has more troops deployed around the world than any other body except the U.S. military. They have 80,000 peacekeepers in 18 places. Cost- $5 Billion annually.
Harper magazine just named its new editor -Roger D. Hodge.
Comment by Hodge:
"This is a great time to be editing a magazine. There is a global war on terror, a war in Iraq and we have a presidential administration that is collapsing. And we don't seem to have any politicians that know what to do about it. It is a very interesting time for Harper's."
New book by Eve Grubin is out. The title is MORNING PRAYER
Eve will be reading on January 24th at the Folger Shakespeare Libary.
202 675-0374
The UN has more troops deployed around the world than any other body except the U.S. military. They have 80,000 peacekeepers in 18 places. Cost- $5 Billion annually.
Harper magazine just named its new editor -Roger D. Hodge.
Comment by Hodge:
"This is a great time to be editing a magazine. There is a global war on terror, a war in Iraq and we have a presidential administration that is collapsing. And we don't seem to have any politicians that know what to do about it. It is a very interesting time for Harper's."
New book by Eve Grubin is out. The title is MORNING PRAYER
Eve will be reading on January 24th at the Folger Shakespeare Libary.
202 675-0374
From the book WHISPERS, SECRETS AND PROMISES( Black Classic Press,1998) by E. Ethelbert Miller:
THE HANDS OF CHE GUEVARA
Outside Bolivia
the poor people of the world wait
for the ghost with no hands
In the hills and countryside
we continue to work for things
which remain invisible
Near Vallegrande
a door opens to a small church
revealing a wooden cross
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Che is back. His face on so many banners in Bolivia. Another prophet? One looks at Malcolm X many years later. His comments about the future importance of Islam seem so accurate. So much change in the air...
The task ahead is to find nonviolent solutions to our problems. The struggle is to balance right and left. Christianity and Islam. Men and women. Poor and rich. Whites and people of color. The Beloved Community can embrace all these things. Words like love and tolerance just need to embrace our lips and kisses. The world suffers from a shortage of hugs. A simple gesture. A smile is just as powerful as a hurricane when confronted with the darkness of hatred. Kindness can uproot trees of prejudice.
How do we organize this into movements of social change? So many revolutions begin when we look into a mirror and change more than our hairstyles.
THE HANDS OF CHE GUEVARA
Outside Bolivia
the poor people of the world wait
for the ghost with no hands
In the hills and countryside
we continue to work for things
which remain invisible
Near Vallegrande
a door opens to a small church
revealing a wooden cross
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Che is back. His face on so many banners in Bolivia. Another prophet? One looks at Malcolm X many years later. His comments about the future importance of Islam seem so accurate. So much change in the air...
The task ahead is to find nonviolent solutions to our problems. The struggle is to balance right and left. Christianity and Islam. Men and women. Poor and rich. Whites and people of color. The Beloved Community can embrace all these things. Words like love and tolerance just need to embrace our lips and kisses. The world suffers from a shortage of hugs. A simple gesture. A smile is just as powerful as a hurricane when confronted with the darkness of hatred. Kindness can uproot trees of prejudice.
How do we organize this into movements of social change? So many revolutions begin when we look into a mirror and change more than our hairstyles.
Urgent Note from The NAACP:
Dear Friends:
Last Friday, I met with Stan Tookie Williams, reformed gang leader, Nobel
Peace prize nominee, and acclaimed author, who is scheduled to be executed
in the state of California at 12:01AM on Tuesday, December 13, 2005. I left
our meeting with the certainty that Mr. Williams offers more in life than in
death and have committed the full support of the NAACP in his fight for
clemency.
Having exhausted his appeals, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is the only
person who can grant Mr. Williams clemency. At this critical time, I am
asking for your help by signing our petition in support of Stan Tookie
Williams. Every petition makes a difference and I promise each one will be
delivered to Governor Schwarzenegger.
Click here now and sign the petition today:
http://www.petitionthem.com/default.asp?sect=detail&pet=2240
It is important that we come together to save the life of Stan Tookie
Williams because he has saved the lives of over 150,000 youth, as reported
by them, their parents, teachers and law enforcement officials. While on
death row, Stan has written a highly acclaimed children¹s book series that
educates young people to avoid gangs, crime and incarceration. He has also
worked to end gang violence through his peace protocol and Internet Project
for Street Peace, an international peer-mentoring program.
Click here now and sign the petition today:
http://www.petitionthem.com/default.asp?sect=detail&pet=2240
Our goal is to generate 100,000 signatures and phone calls by Thursday,
December 8th, when Governor Schwarzenegger has scheduled a clemency hearing
in Sacramento, California. Together, we can save the life of Stan Tookie
Williams. I am counting on you to help make the difference.
Call Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger Today:
Phone: 916-445-2841
I also ask that you, your friends, and family participate this Wednesday,
November 30, 2005, in the National Day of Action for Stan coordinated by
Campaign to End the Death Penalty. Rallies and Press Conferences will be
held in front of City Halls and other locations across the State of
California, the country and across the world.
For list of locations and to get involved click here now:
http://www.nodeathpenalty.org/
We thank you in advance for your support in this noble effort.
God bless you,
Bruce S. Gordon
NAACP President and CEO
PS. For more information on the Stan Williams¹ case go to:
http://www.savetookie.org/
Dear Friends:
Last Friday, I met with Stan Tookie Williams, reformed gang leader, Nobel
Peace prize nominee, and acclaimed author, who is scheduled to be executed
in the state of California at 12:01AM on Tuesday, December 13, 2005. I left
our meeting with the certainty that Mr. Williams offers more in life than in
death and have committed the full support of the NAACP in his fight for
clemency.
Having exhausted his appeals, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is the only
person who can grant Mr. Williams clemency. At this critical time, I am
asking for your help by signing our petition in support of Stan Tookie
Williams. Every petition makes a difference and I promise each one will be
delivered to Governor Schwarzenegger.
Click here now and sign the petition today:
http://www.petitionthem.com/default.asp?sect=detail&pet=2240
It is important that we come together to save the life of Stan Tookie
Williams because he has saved the lives of over 150,000 youth, as reported
by them, their parents, teachers and law enforcement officials. While on
death row, Stan has written a highly acclaimed children¹s book series that
educates young people to avoid gangs, crime and incarceration. He has also
worked to end gang violence through his peace protocol and Internet Project
for Street Peace, an international peer-mentoring program.
Click here now and sign the petition today:
http://www.petitionthem.com/default.asp?sect=detail&pet=2240
Our goal is to generate 100,000 signatures and phone calls by Thursday,
December 8th, when Governor Schwarzenegger has scheduled a clemency hearing
in Sacramento, California. Together, we can save the life of Stan Tookie
Williams. I am counting on you to help make the difference.
Call Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger Today:
Phone: 916-445-2841
I also ask that you, your friends, and family participate this Wednesday,
November 30, 2005, in the National Day of Action for Stan coordinated by
Campaign to End the Death Penalty. Rallies and Press Conferences will be
held in front of City Halls and other locations across the State of
California, the country and across the world.
For list of locations and to get involved click here now:
http://www.nodeathpenalty.org/
We thank you in advance for your support in this noble effort.
God bless you,
Bruce S. Gordon
NAACP President and CEO
PS. For more information on the Stan Williams¹ case go to:
http://www.savetookie.org/
Folks are talking about having another American Writers Congress in 2007. More about this in future E-Notes.
I had a wonderful conversation with my friend Molly who called me from the Middle East. True friendships have no borders.
Many thanks to Nicole who gave me a birthday gift of lovely sounds:Bebo & Cigala, Maria de Barros, Femi Kuti, and the music from Amelie.
I had a wonderful conversation with my friend Molly who called me from the Middle East. True friendships have no borders.
Many thanks to Nicole who gave me a birthday gift of lovely sounds:Bebo & Cigala, Maria de Barros, Femi Kuti, and the music from Amelie.
I received this note today from my friend Monifa. Maybe someone is interested in this job opening.
Other than saying hello, I am writing to see if you know anyone with an MFA or PhD in English who might be interested in the Creative Writing position at Morgan State. We are looking for someone with strong publications and work in fiction, memoir, and drama. The course load is 4/4. If you know of anyone, please ask them to e-mail me at
mlovemorgan@yahoo.com
I am well.
Peace and Love,
Monifa
Dr. Monifa Love Asante, Associate Professor
Coordinator, Creative Writing Program
Department of English and Language Arts
1700 E. Coldspring Lane
202 Holmes Hall
Baltimore, MD 21251-0001
(443) 885-1163
Other than saying hello, I am writing to see if you know anyone with an MFA or PhD in English who might be interested in the Creative Writing position at Morgan State. We are looking for someone with strong publications and work in fiction, memoir, and drama. The course load is 4/4. If you know of anyone, please ask them to e-mail me at
mlovemorgan@yahoo.com
I am well.
Peace and Love,
Monifa
Dr. Monifa Love Asante, Associate Professor
Coordinator, Creative Writing Program
Department of English and Language Arts
1700 E. Coldspring Lane
202 Holmes Hall
Baltimore, MD 21251-0001
(443) 885-1163
Monday, November 28, 2005
There was an interesting little note in PARADE magazine yesterday. It was mentioned that Denzel Washington will direct and produce the film THE GREAT DEBATERS. It's about Melvin Tolson of Wiley College, whose debate team challenged and beat USC. I assume this must be the poet Melvin Tolson (1898-1966). Do you know what that means?
It means Tolson's poetry will get more attention. Yep, folks will be talking about Tolson and modern poetry. African American poets will start writing more poems with footnotes. He He
This could even be good for Liberia and their new woman leader. See the bio info below which is from the Modern American Poetry website:
Melvin B. Tolson: Biographical Note
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Melvin B. Tolson was born in Moberly, Missouri, on February 6, 1898, and he died at the age of 67 on August 29, 1966, in Dallas, Texas, a few days after undergoing surgery for cancer. In 1922 he married Ruth Southall, and in 1924 he graduated with honors from Lincoln University. From 1924 until 1947 he taught at Wiley College in Marshall, Texas, taking a year’s leave in 1930-31 to pursue work in a Master’s degree from Columbia University. His project for a thesis centered on interviewing members of the Harlem Renaissance. From 1947 onward he taught at Langston University in Langston, Oklahoma (where he also served three terms, from 1954 to 1960, as Mayor).
From his year in New York emerged his first poetry, a group of short narratives, loosely allied with the free verse of Edgar Lee Masters’s Spoon River Anthology. A few of the poems from that manuscript were published from 1937 to 1939, but the whole work would await printing until the late 1970s when Robert M. Farnsworth presented it as A Gallery of Harlem Portraits.
Some elements, a few character-types, and the urban setting in these early poems all reappear in Tolson’s final published work, Harlem Gallery (1965), a long poem in several sections (each with the letter of the Greek alphabet), subtitled The Curator, and the first of a projected series of long poems on African American life. But the distance Tolson traveled in his own career can be dramatically measured between these two texts. A Gallery of Harlem Portraits reads as versified prose: "The big-bellied man limped / Toward the door of The Zachary Eat Shop," is the way that the poem entitled "Dave Zachary" opens: "Breathing a sigh of relief, he entered his domain. / ‘Hello, Zachary,’ came a din of voices." Tolson’s interest, in the 1930s, lies in accurately capturing aspects of a black vernacular – excerpts from songs, usually in a black dialect, appear scattered through the texts – but also in presenting black experience with a normalized face. In this poetry, Harlem is a viable community, held together by individuals both good and bad, both self-destructive and willing to help others. In Harlem Gallery, by contrast, Tolson writes within the artificial and highly intellectualized discourse that he began to develop in the postwar years. Now his lines, to use a phrase from 1930s jazz, "jump" as if galvanized: they are a heady mix of colorful slang and intellectual allusions, with an uptown / downtown overlap that is just barely held together by the ravishing sound of the words and a syntax that rips along at breathtaking speed:
It was I who taught Black Diamond
his first lesson in the Art of Picasso’s Benin,
at Waycross, Georgia –
aeons before Africa uncorked an uppercut:
many a tour de force of his
executed in Harlem dives and dead ends
has greened the wide-awake eyes
of such masters as
Giglio and Gentile,
Bufalino and Profaci.
O schoolmasters,
living and half-alive and dead,
the Zulu Club
is not the fittest place to recall,
by fits and starts,
Seneca’s young Nero
… and …
Aristotle’s youthful Alexander!
"Black Diamond," now a powerful underworld leader, was once a student of the Curator, in this passage set within the Zulu Club. It is characteristic of Tolson’s late work to allude to this pupil-student relationship in cultural terms that integrate local black experience with well-known historical referents by recalling Seneca and Nero, Aristotle and Alexander. It is no less characteristic to find lines moving swiftly, pushed by elegant alliteration and strikingly odd slang-like metaphors ("aeons before Africa uncorked an uppercut"). If immense pleasure is to be taken in the voluptuous sound of Tolson’s lines, there is just as much to admire in an intellectual presentation that is designed to be impressive. The identity, for example, of "Giglio and Gentile / Bufalino and Profaci" was tracked down by Robert Huot, in his 1971 University of Utah PhD thesis that annotates many (though by no means all) of the references – one of the first, but certainly not the last, of literary scholars who have paid their homage to Tolson’s work through scrupulously annotating it.
Tolson’s 1944 collection, Rendezvous with America (his first published book), revealed a poet in need of annotation, a poet who would take exceptional interest in matters of history but with special attention paid to that history which had fallen into obscurity. Names and events that have been forgotten often become, for Tolson, an index to just where a ruling ideology has successfully exerted its pressure. But little in the fairly straightforward stanzas in Rendezvous with America prepares for the quantum leap that Tolson took in 1947 when, invited to compose a centennial ode for the African republic of Liberia, he embarked upon a symphonic epic as detailed, as organized, and as rhapsodic as any of the major experimental long poems of the twentieth century. Self-consciously deciding that the African American poet had to become a "modernist," that the idioms practiced by Sterling A. Brown (and that Tolson had imitated in his own Gallery of Harlem Portraits) had to be set aside for an experimental discourse that invited a dense blending of various voices, he completed an eight-part sequence that, by any standard, must count among the most successful achievements of modern poetry.
Libretto not only sketches with admirable intensity and vividness a history of the founding of Liberia, but it restores the narrative of a significant African civilization (the Songhai empire). What is more, it positions itself carefully at a distinctive moment in world culture, at the close of a second major war, as a preparation for looking ahead prophetically to a genuinely transformed future. It accomplishes this through a range of distinctive writing styles, often displaying a staggering erudition. In a set of nearly two hundred footnotes, Tolson not only further justifies his work on explicit intellectual and historical grounds but he extends the thematics of his text even further, undertaking brief guerrilla forays where he unearths forgotten events and overlooked narratives and where he creatively and subversively associates texts and movements and historical facts.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So will the Redskin's now stop talking about trying to make the playoffs? The Rams will beat these guys next week. So will Dallas and New York. Talking about NY...can I do the kicking next week. Eli looks as good as his brother now. Look for the media this year (or next) to push for a Manning/Manning SuperBowl soon. Oh, can we get some college guys to play in the New England secondary? It's not tag football. Poor Brady.Finally, please, give the Cin coach some bigtime credit...Lewis baby. I love the guy when he was doing the defense for the Ravens. Is Palmer really that good? I would love to see these guys in the Bowl.
It means Tolson's poetry will get more attention. Yep, folks will be talking about Tolson and modern poetry. African American poets will start writing more poems with footnotes. He He
This could even be good for Liberia and their new woman leader. See the bio info below which is from the Modern American Poetry website:
Melvin B. Tolson: Biographical Note
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Melvin B. Tolson was born in Moberly, Missouri, on February 6, 1898, and he died at the age of 67 on August 29, 1966, in Dallas, Texas, a few days after undergoing surgery for cancer. In 1922 he married Ruth Southall, and in 1924 he graduated with honors from Lincoln University. From 1924 until 1947 he taught at Wiley College in Marshall, Texas, taking a year’s leave in 1930-31 to pursue work in a Master’s degree from Columbia University. His project for a thesis centered on interviewing members of the Harlem Renaissance. From 1947 onward he taught at Langston University in Langston, Oklahoma (where he also served three terms, from 1954 to 1960, as Mayor).
From his year in New York emerged his first poetry, a group of short narratives, loosely allied with the free verse of Edgar Lee Masters’s Spoon River Anthology. A few of the poems from that manuscript were published from 1937 to 1939, but the whole work would await printing until the late 1970s when Robert M. Farnsworth presented it as A Gallery of Harlem Portraits.
Some elements, a few character-types, and the urban setting in these early poems all reappear in Tolson’s final published work, Harlem Gallery (1965), a long poem in several sections (each with the letter of the Greek alphabet), subtitled The Curator, and the first of a projected series of long poems on African American life. But the distance Tolson traveled in his own career can be dramatically measured between these two texts. A Gallery of Harlem Portraits reads as versified prose: "The big-bellied man limped / Toward the door of The Zachary Eat Shop," is the way that the poem entitled "Dave Zachary" opens: "Breathing a sigh of relief, he entered his domain. / ‘Hello, Zachary,’ came a din of voices." Tolson’s interest, in the 1930s, lies in accurately capturing aspects of a black vernacular – excerpts from songs, usually in a black dialect, appear scattered through the texts – but also in presenting black experience with a normalized face. In this poetry, Harlem is a viable community, held together by individuals both good and bad, both self-destructive and willing to help others. In Harlem Gallery, by contrast, Tolson writes within the artificial and highly intellectualized discourse that he began to develop in the postwar years. Now his lines, to use a phrase from 1930s jazz, "jump" as if galvanized: they are a heady mix of colorful slang and intellectual allusions, with an uptown / downtown overlap that is just barely held together by the ravishing sound of the words and a syntax that rips along at breathtaking speed:
It was I who taught Black Diamond
his first lesson in the Art of Picasso’s Benin,
at Waycross, Georgia –
aeons before Africa uncorked an uppercut:
many a tour de force of his
executed in Harlem dives and dead ends
has greened the wide-awake eyes
of such masters as
Giglio and Gentile,
Bufalino and Profaci.
O schoolmasters,
living and half-alive and dead,
the Zulu Club
is not the fittest place to recall,
by fits and starts,
Seneca’s young Nero
… and …
Aristotle’s youthful Alexander!
"Black Diamond," now a powerful underworld leader, was once a student of the Curator, in this passage set within the Zulu Club. It is characteristic of Tolson’s late work to allude to this pupil-student relationship in cultural terms that integrate local black experience with well-known historical referents by recalling Seneca and Nero, Aristotle and Alexander. It is no less characteristic to find lines moving swiftly, pushed by elegant alliteration and strikingly odd slang-like metaphors ("aeons before Africa uncorked an uppercut"). If immense pleasure is to be taken in the voluptuous sound of Tolson’s lines, there is just as much to admire in an intellectual presentation that is designed to be impressive. The identity, for example, of "Giglio and Gentile / Bufalino and Profaci" was tracked down by Robert Huot, in his 1971 University of Utah PhD thesis that annotates many (though by no means all) of the references – one of the first, but certainly not the last, of literary scholars who have paid their homage to Tolson’s work through scrupulously annotating it.
Tolson’s 1944 collection, Rendezvous with America (his first published book), revealed a poet in need of annotation, a poet who would take exceptional interest in matters of history but with special attention paid to that history which had fallen into obscurity. Names and events that have been forgotten often become, for Tolson, an index to just where a ruling ideology has successfully exerted its pressure. But little in the fairly straightforward stanzas in Rendezvous with America prepares for the quantum leap that Tolson took in 1947 when, invited to compose a centennial ode for the African republic of Liberia, he embarked upon a symphonic epic as detailed, as organized, and as rhapsodic as any of the major experimental long poems of the twentieth century. Self-consciously deciding that the African American poet had to become a "modernist," that the idioms practiced by Sterling A. Brown (and that Tolson had imitated in his own Gallery of Harlem Portraits) had to be set aside for an experimental discourse that invited a dense blending of various voices, he completed an eight-part sequence that, by any standard, must count among the most successful achievements of modern poetry.
Libretto not only sketches with admirable intensity and vividness a history of the founding of Liberia, but it restores the narrative of a significant African civilization (the Songhai empire). What is more, it positions itself carefully at a distinctive moment in world culture, at the close of a second major war, as a preparation for looking ahead prophetically to a genuinely transformed future. It accomplishes this through a range of distinctive writing styles, often displaying a staggering erudition. In a set of nearly two hundred footnotes, Tolson not only further justifies his work on explicit intellectual and historical grounds but he extends the thematics of his text even further, undertaking brief guerrilla forays where he unearths forgotten events and overlooked narratives and where he creatively and subversively associates texts and movements and historical facts.
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So will the Redskin's now stop talking about trying to make the playoffs? The Rams will beat these guys next week. So will Dallas and New York. Talking about NY...can I do the kicking next week. Eli looks as good as his brother now. Look for the media this year (or next) to push for a Manning/Manning SuperBowl soon. Oh, can we get some college guys to play in the New England secondary? It's not tag football. Poor Brady.Finally, please, give the Cin coach some bigtime credit...Lewis baby. I love the guy when he was doing the defense for the Ravens. Is Palmer really that good? I would love to see these guys in the Bowl.
Sunday, November 27, 2005
Haiti postponed their elections for the 4th time. The new date is January 8th.
This is one nation I pray will get itself together during my lifetime. Haiti should become a "sister" nation for every major African American community in the US. African American doctors and dentists should help develop clinics in Haiti. African American youngsters should "adopt" a friend in Haiti. African American writers should help develop libraries...
Programs should be started to plant trees, teach voting rights, put an end to armed violence; gangs should be trained to focus on prison reform, as well as working to protect communties and not destroy them. New roads and homes should be built...
This is one nation I pray will get itself together during my lifetime. Haiti should become a "sister" nation for every major African American community in the US. African American doctors and dentists should help develop clinics in Haiti. African American youngsters should "adopt" a friend in Haiti. African American writers should help develop libraries...
Programs should be started to plant trees, teach voting rights, put an end to armed violence; gangs should be trained to focus on prison reform, as well as working to protect communties and not destroy them. New roads and homes should be built...
Walter Reed Army Medical Center. In an old E-Note I mentioned this site should be turned into a complex for the Arts & Humanities. One could move NEA, and NEH into this Northwest location. Folks could also find room for the DC Arts Commission and the Humanities Council of Washington.Oh, and let's give the Poet Laureate of the US a home during their tenure. The complex could house visiting (international) artists and scholars. It would be a place of residency for anyone during work at the Library of Congress or area colleges. The grounds could be a place for small theater festivals, concerts and of course poetry readings. A literary museum could be housed on the grounds too. In fact, we could move Poets House from New York down to DC. :-)
113 acres. Give the place to scholars and artists. We won't even demand mules.
113 acres. Give the place to scholars and artists. We won't even demand mules.
Saturday, November 26, 2005
Sam Cooke on the record player.
Under construction is an Ahmos Zu-Bolton website: www.ahmoszubolton.com
His family is putting it together. Zu like Henry Dumas is one of those writers who one day will get his due. How many of us were listening to SunRa when he first played that space music? Zu was walking around doing stuff before some of these Southern Black writers were eating greens. Many would eventually leave the south and eat high on the hog. Me? I left the South Bronx long before HipHop... The Grandmaster wasn't even a flash and there were other last poets who names were only mentioned in funeral homes and maybe a cemetery or two. Ok...let me get back to writing and trying a little tenderness. Bless you Zu. I saw a couple of your old friends and many are still walking around angry like it was HooDoo between you and me. Zaki would perhaps call it Spell # 7. Time for me to get back to work...so much work to do. I'm fighting Swiss Cheese History...People jumping from the Civil Rights Movement to the HipHop Generation. It's like folks in the late 1960s forgetting writers like Gloria Oden, Robert Hayden, Margaret Danner, Ray Durem, and so many others. There was African American poetry long before Cave Canem, The Dark Room Collective and Callaloo. Mention Adesanya's name today and folks don't even know his last name. Anybody seen Joe Johnson? I loved his work.
Under construction is an Ahmos Zu-Bolton website: www.ahmoszubolton.com
His family is putting it together. Zu like Henry Dumas is one of those writers who one day will get his due. How many of us were listening to SunRa when he first played that space music? Zu was walking around doing stuff before some of these Southern Black writers were eating greens. Many would eventually leave the south and eat high on the hog. Me? I left the South Bronx long before HipHop... The Grandmaster wasn't even a flash and there were other last poets who names were only mentioned in funeral homes and maybe a cemetery or two. Ok...let me get back to writing and trying a little tenderness. Bless you Zu. I saw a couple of your old friends and many are still walking around angry like it was HooDoo between you and me. Zaki would perhaps call it Spell # 7. Time for me to get back to work...so much work to do. I'm fighting Swiss Cheese History...People jumping from the Civil Rights Movement to the HipHop Generation. It's like folks in the late 1960s forgetting writers like Gloria Oden, Robert Hayden, Margaret Danner, Ray Durem, and so many others. There was African American poetry long before Cave Canem, The Dark Room Collective and Callaloo. Mention Adesanya's name today and folks don't even know his last name. Anybody seen Joe Johnson? I loved his work.
A day of basketball...Widener won the Gallaudet University Holiday Tournament. They are now 5-0 with a game next Tuesday. My son started his second game and did well. He hit 2 key free throws in the closing minutes.
I've been reading THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE by C.S. Lewis. I'll start making my notes this week for the upcoming NPR broadcast on Wednesday, December 21st.
My daughter and I are going to see the film LIVE AND BECOME directed by Radu Mihaileanu at the DC Jewish Community Center on Wednesday. The film is about a young boy surviving the Ethiopian famine of the mid-1980s.This is the 16th year of the Washington Jewish Film Festival.
OK...in just a few hours San Diego should defeat the Washington Redskins and folks can forget about going to the playoffs for another year. Look for Gibbs to try and find a race car escape from another blue season. The team is a long way from being a contender. They need improvement on special teams...someone who can "fly" after catching a punt, or a kickoff. They need another wide receiver...oh..and a Brady/Palmer/Manning type of QB. Oh...and a new owner? Sooner of later folks are going to ask questions about what's going on at the top chart. Oh...and please don't even think about going after T.Owens. We have enough problems in Washington. Send T Owens out to the Raiders so he can play catch with R. Moss.
If Indy goes undefeated no one will place Dungy's name next to Shula. Look for Manning to get all the credit. On another note, I don't expect Indy to go anywhere in the playoffs.
I've been reading THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE by C.S. Lewis. I'll start making my notes this week for the upcoming NPR broadcast on Wednesday, December 21st.
My daughter and I are going to see the film LIVE AND BECOME directed by Radu Mihaileanu at the DC Jewish Community Center on Wednesday. The film is about a young boy surviving the Ethiopian famine of the mid-1980s.This is the 16th year of the Washington Jewish Film Festival.
OK...in just a few hours San Diego should defeat the Washington Redskins and folks can forget about going to the playoffs for another year. Look for Gibbs to try and find a race car escape from another blue season. The team is a long way from being a contender. They need improvement on special teams...someone who can "fly" after catching a punt, or a kickoff. They need another wide receiver...oh..and a Brady/Palmer/Manning type of QB. Oh...and a new owner? Sooner of later folks are going to ask questions about what's going on at the top chart. Oh...and please don't even think about going after T.Owens. We have enough problems in Washington. Send T Owens out to the Raiders so he can play catch with R. Moss.
If Indy goes undefeated no one will place Dungy's name next to Shula. Look for Manning to get all the credit. On another note, I don't expect Indy to go anywhere in the playoffs.