Copy the narrative that comes out of Colorado.
The gunman will be described as a loner. What does this mean in the 21st century?
We are all alone. I think this label is just to get the public to stay calm and accept no "group" is organized and bent on creating havoc in our lives. The narrative would be complicated if the shooter was a Muslim or a person of color. Then we would get the pundits and posse ready to find a rope. But let me be the Racialist for a moment. Might this be the time to inject race into this incident and ponder if the white American family is in crisis? Can you imagine if James Holmes was a young black guy? You know - so many black boys are yada yada yada. You know you would be listening to Rev. Sharpton right now.So what's with this narrative that we keep clinging to? How long will we remain in denial?
There is a man with a gun over there...
E-NOTES: WHEN THE NEWS IS NOT ENOUGH. THE BLOG OF E. ETHELBERT MILLER
Saturday, July 21, 2012
THE AFTERMATH AND THE NEW NUMBERS
Hard to tell which is sadder, the news coming out of Colorado or the news that opens the door (again and again) to discussions of gun control in our society. We are not going to pass any tighter laws today or tomorrow.
What's an American without a gun?
We are all victims and survivors. The problem is that we also have our hands on the trigger.
How many of us are willing to do harm to another human being?
Why are demons always entering our heads and making us do wrong?
What is God doing when someone decides to shoot you?
Prayers come with a price. Faith comes with limitations.
How many fathers and mothers are looking into empty hands this morning?
Their love ones gone forever...
What's an American without a gun?
We are all victims and survivors. The problem is that we also have our hands on the trigger.
How many of us are willing to do harm to another human being?
Why are demons always entering our heads and making us do wrong?
What is God doing when someone decides to shoot you?
Prayers come with a price. Faith comes with limitations.
How many fathers and mothers are looking into empty hands this morning?
Their love ones gone forever...
AFAA MICHAEL WEAVER
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| AFAA MICHAEL WEAVER |
A few days ago Afaa Michael Weaver told me he had a new book coming out in 2013.
E-Notes wanted to know more. Below is what the Weaver weaved back.
The Government of Nature
poems by Afaa Michael Weaver
U of Pittsburgh Press due early 2013
In
The Government of Nature I offer the second book in a trilogy that began
with The Plum Flower Dance (U Pitt Press 2007), which was an arrangement
of poems from 1985- 2005.
Nearly a third of that book
consisted of new poems on various subjects, and the entire collection was
arranged according to the Chinese philosophy of the five elements, each element
corresponding to the effects of my abusive childhood on my writing. In April 2011, I presented a paper on the
subject at Beijing Normal University, and the university system issued a
statement explaining that it was the first time an American poet who is also a
practitioner of Daoist cultivation ever presented such a paper. The title is “Wu Xing 五行 and the Poetic Ordering of
Experience.”
The paper has been published at the
University of New Haven by Dr. Randall Horton.
The
Government of Nature deals directly with the abuse in the context of Daoist
renderings of nature as metaphor for the human body. The book had its genesis in poems I wrote
while living in He Nan Temple and Monastery in Hualien, Taiwan, in the spring
of 2005, during an eight month stay in the country in order to further my
studies of Mandarin. The book examines
the interface of my Christian upbringing with my Daoist studies as I examine
the abuse with an eye to recovery and forgiveness in a very eclectic spiritual
life.
For
National Poetry Month 2012, NPR’s
“Living
on Earth”
featured me reading and discussing two poems, both of which are included in
this forthcoming book. The link to the
show: http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.html?programID=12-P13-00016&segmentID=8
The
third part of the trilogy is City of Eternal Spring, a manuscript in
progress. Several of the poems are in
the Spring 2012 issue of Asian American Review.
For more info about The
Government of Nature or to order a review copy contact Maria Sticco at: mes5@pitt.edu
Friday, July 20, 2012
CANTOMUNDO 2012
LETRAS LATINAS BLOG: CantoMundo 2012: A Photo Gallery
latinopoetryreview.blogspot.com/.../cantomundo-2012-photo-...
3 days ago – CantoMundo welcoming circle. CantoMundo founding member Deborah Paredez. Fellows gathering to hear keynote speaker Ethelbert Miller.
ERIC BOHR
One Night at the Fridge
Monday
July 30, 2012
6-9 PM
The Fridge
516 1/2 8th Street, SE
Washington, D.C. 20003
www.ericbohr.com
www.thefridgedc.com
Monday
July 30, 2012
6-9 PM
The Fridge
516 1/2 8th Street, SE
Washington, D.C. 20003
www.ericbohr.com
www.thefridgedc.com
WILLIAM RASPBERRY 1935-2012
And because I know words matter, I wish my children, and kids younger than my children, would get back to innocent, hopeful lyrics. I wish their music was more about love and less graphically about intercourse. I wish their songs could be less angry and 'victimized' and more about building a better world.
- William Raspberry, Prizewinning Columnist for The Washington Post
AFRICAN AMERICAN RESOURCE CENTER ART BOX
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| SAM GILLIAM |
Today, I created the African American Resource Center (Howard University) Art Box. It contains articles, catalogs, flyers and clippings on African American visual arts. I will make this information available to other artists and scholars. Contact me at: emiller698@aol.com
I've started to expand my interest in this field. Here is a link to some of the work I've recently done:
Profiles: (Intersections) E. Ethelbert Miller interviews Sam Gilliam on ...
vimeo.com/39268839
A reissue of a classic interview with two of America's most accomplished artists and thinkers, E. Ethelbert Miller and Sam Gilliam. Beauty and Liberation - E. Ethelbert Miller | Sojourners Magazine ...
sojo.net/magazine/2012/07/beauty-and-liberation
A tribute to artist Elizabeth Catlett. ... E. Ethelbert Miller is editor of Poet Lore magazine, director of the African American Resource Center at Howard University.Ethiopia | Kebedech Tekleab: Creating an Ethiopian Narrative in ...
www.ofnotemagazine.org/?p=748
Aug 23, 2009 – Kebedech Tekleab is one of the foremost Ethiopian artists today. ... Tekleab first collaborated with E. Ethelbert Miller, literary activist and author ...Gina Lewis' Infinite Definitions of Blue : Of Note Magazine
www.ofnotemagazine.org/.../gina-lewis-infinite-definitions-of-...
Jul 13, 2012 – By E. Ethelbert Miller. I first met Gina Lewis (ginamarielewiscreates.com) in 2002. She was a student at Howard University working on her MFA.
JONATHAN COLEMAN
A fun breakfast morning with my good friend Jonathan Coleman. A chance to talk books, sports and politics. Jonathan's last book was WEST BY WEST which he wrote with the great basketball legend Jerry West.
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| JONATHAN COLEMAN at 6th & H Street, NW. Photo by Ethelbert |
Thursday, July 19, 2012
ON THE WRONG SIDE OF HISTORY AGAIN?
| NEWS ALERT | ||
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| ||
Russia, China veto U.N. Security Council resolution on Syria
Russia and China on Thursday vetoed a U.S.-backed U.N. Security Council resolution threatening the Syrian government with sanctions, upending four months of diplomacy aimed at stemming a crisis that has left more than 14,000 dead. The vote came a day after anti-government rebels bombed a meeting of top Syrian security officials, killing three key aides to President Bashar al-Assad, and as government shelling of neighborhoods in Damascus continued.
CLIMATE CHANGE
We live in a world in which so many of us could be living in shelters within the next 4-5 years.
Silly wars, natural disasters can quickly change the ground beneath your feet. Suddenly you have no job or money. You walk around talking to yourself- you're bitter and angry. God's is in the other locker room with the winners. Your game is over. After the box score comes the box. You check it- then you check out.
Silly wars, natural disasters can quickly change the ground beneath your feet. Suddenly you have no job or money. You walk around talking to yourself- you're bitter and angry. God's is in the other locker room with the winners. Your game is over. After the box score comes the box. You check it- then you check out.
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
"My hunger for the freedom of my own people became a hunger for the
freedom of all people, white and black. I knew as well as I knew
anything that the oppressor must be liberated just as surely as the
oppressed. A [person] who takes away another [person's] freedom is a
prisoner of hatred ... is locked behind bars of prejudice and
narrow-mindedness. I am not truly free if I am taking away someone
else's freedom, just as surely as I am not free when my freedom is taken
from me. The oppressed and the oppressor alike are robbed of their
humanity."
- Nelson Mandela
- Nelson Mandela
FINALLY TURNING A PAGE IN A GOOD BOOK
D.C. City Council is considering a bill that would require library branches remain open seven days a week. This change would cost $10 million.
We should all support this. No more rushing home during the week to get to a library before it closes.
We should all support this. No more rushing home during the week to get to a library before it closes.
THE SKY IS STILL GRAY
 | Wednesday, July 18, 2012 9:03:55 PM |
| LOCAL NEWS ALERT | ||
| ||
| ||
A majority of D.C. residents say Mayor Gray should step down, according to Post poll
Survey results suggest Gray cannot rely on a deep well of public support
from any particular group as he fends off questions about federal
investigations into his 2010 mayoral campaign.
Independence Day in Joplin, Missouri, saw fireworks of a different kind. On July 4, the Islamic Society of Joplin’s mosque was set on fire.[1] While the mosque has only been open since 2007, it has already been targeted twice by arsonists. These hateful attacks must stop.
Christians need to stand alongside our Muslim neighbors and demand that the Department of Justice investigate this fire as a potential hate crime.
The biblical call to love our neighbors as ourselves requires Christians to speak out against these attacks. By protecting the rights of American Muslims to worship in the United States, we provide a powerful witness to those countries where Christian minorities face attack and persecution, such as Nigeria, Egypt, Somalia, and Kenya. If we expect others to take our advocacy for global religious freedom seriously, then our efforts must begin in our own backyard.
Tell the Department of Justice to investigate the fire in Joplin, Mo., as a potential hate crime.
Thank you for loving your neighbor as yourself.
In faith,
The Sojourners team
[1] “FBI
investigating fire at Joplin mosque,” Associated Press, July 5, 2012: http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/fbi-investigating-fire-at-joplin-mosque/article_632239c0-c69f-11e1-ad21-0019bb30f31a.html
A MORNING WITH CHANNAPHA
There are a number of people I know who are changing the world.
One is my friend Channapha Khamvongsa.
Does activism matter? Yes, it does.
We met this morning at Paul (located near Connecticut Avenue and K Street).
Here is a link Channapha shared with me:
https://legaciesofwar.org/news/cnn-in-laos-clintons-chance-to-undo-lethal-legacy/
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| CHANNAPHA KHAMVONGSA. Photo by Ethelbert |