E-NOTES: WHEN THE NEWS IS NOT ENOUGH. THE BLOG OF E. ETHELBERT MILLER
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
| |||||||
| |||||||
| |||||||
|
A new season of
Poet and literary historian 
 Women Write Now! Two:Blogs to Books to BestsellersA day-long seminar for women writers and women who want to write hosted/presented by Marita Golden |
Would you like to:
This day-long seminar, hosted by master teacher and award-winning author Marita Golden, is a continuation of the networking and idea-sharing that made Women Write Now! One such a success. In this workshop you'll meet and connect with women writers just like you and learn information and get ideas that will give a boost to your writing projects. What participants have said about Women Write Now! ~ The workshop was phenomenal with so much useful information and well informed speakers. ~ ~ Great energy. ~ ~ I am so happy I attended. ~ Where: Home of Marita Golden Prince Georges County, MD (upon registration you will be sent the complete address) subway accessible via Largo Town Center stop on the Metro Blue Line When: Saturday, August 13, 2011 from 10:00AM to 5:00PM (EDT) Registration Fee: Early Bird Special (until July 6) - $159 Regular Fee (after July 6) - $170 The first six registrants will be entered into a lottery to receive a free one-hour literary coaching session with Marita Golden to discuss an in-progress writing project or a writing project being considered (winner will be chosen at the seminar). |
| Register Now! |
| I can't make it |
| Seminar Schedule Authors will sell and sign books after each presentation10:00am - 11:00am From Blog to Book: How Blogging Can Launch Your Writing Career Blogger and author Ananda Leeke will discuss how creating and sustaining a blog can help you develop a consistent writing practice, overcome writer's block and build and engage an audience for your work.  Ananda Leeke is an author, artist and yoga teacher. Leeke has been actively blogging since 2005. In 2010 she established the Digital Sisterhood Network and Digital Sisterhood Month to give women in social media an opportunity to celebrate their connections, communities and collaborative partnerships. She is the author of That Which Awakens Me: A Creative Woman's Poetic Memoir of Self-Discovery and the novel Love's Troubadours-Karma: Book One. She is currently writing Digital Sisterhood a memoir that discusses her Internet adventures. 11:30am - 12:30pm Sister/Space This is a time devoted to group sharing of projects both creative and entrepreneurial. Attendees get the opportunity to both promote themselves and their work and seek advice from other participants. 12:30pm - 1:30pm Lunch (vegetarian option included) 1:30pm - 2:30pm Publish An E-book in a Day! Kyra E. Hicks will discuss how writers can use Amazon.com and its many free, author-friendly tools to successfully publish and promote their work in 24 hours as a Kindle eBook or 7 days as a paperback!  Kyra E. Hicks is a marketing professional, exhibiting quilter and author. She successfully self-published three books on African American quilt history. In 2009 she self-published her first paperback and generated $10,000 within a year. 3:00pm - 4:00pm Do I Need A Literary Agent? Tracy Sherrod will answer this question and more as she discusses the nuts and bolts of what a literary agent does and how an agent establishes and protects your literary rights and product.  Tracy Sherrod is the owner of Tracy Sherrod Literary Services. Tracy has been a publishing professional for nearly two decades. As a senior editor at Simon & Schuster she edited many New York Times bestsellers including blockbusters by Zane (Addicted), and Ellis Cose (Envy of the World).4:00pm - 5:00pm Final Networking Session Participants will have an opportunity to talk individually with all the presenters. |
| | |
TIME TO SEND IN THE ROBOTS:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2009/11/11/the-sensitive-soldier.html
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2009/11/11/the-sensitive-soldier.html
POLITICS AND LOVE
It's often sad to see the people who decide to run for political office. Maybe many good people shy away from public office because they know they could never be vetted. Is there a relationship between politics and passion? Might all our best minds today have secret lovers? How many men and women decide (each year) they prefer their lovers to public service? Have we created a public sphere in which "fools" now rush in? I've always be suspicious of folks who want to regulate the love life of others. When did love ever become a sin? Why do we let sex scandals destroy our lives? Is it possible that some of us love too much? How do you explain broken vows to someone who just had Tommy John surgery?
It's often sad to see the people who decide to run for political office. Maybe many good people shy away from public office because they know they could never be vetted. Is there a relationship between politics and passion? Might all our best minds today have secret lovers? How many men and women decide (each year) they prefer their lovers to public service? Have we created a public sphere in which "fools" now rush in? I've always be suspicious of folks who want to regulate the love life of others. When did love ever become a sin? Why do we let sex scandals destroy our lives? Is it possible that some of us love too much? How do you explain broken vows to someone who just had Tommy John surgery?
TOP NEWS
Bipartisan Plan for Budget Deal Buoys President
By JACKIE CALMES and JENNIFER STEINHAUER
A group of senators made a new push to win backing for an ambitious deficit-reduction proposal that includes new revenues and deep spending cuts.
Murdochs Deny That They Knew of Illegal Acts
By SARAH LYALL
Rupert Murdoch insisted to British lawmakers that he had not ordered or hidden unethical practices.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Herman Cain says voters should be able to ban mosques in their communities. It always amazes me when a black person starts talking about curtailing someone's rights. Dare I look for one of those old adhesive "Negro" labels? This sounds like too much tea in someone's urine. The only person who seems to make Republican sense these days is Jon Huntsman Jr.
They believe that if they can remain pure in their faith then someday their party will win a total and permanent victory over its foes. They believe they are Gods of the New Dawn.
Fortunately, there are still practical conservatives in the G.O.P. who believe in results, who believe in intelligent compromise.
- David Brooks, The New York Times OP-ED Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Fortunately, there are still practical conservatives in the G.O.P. who believe in results, who believe in intelligent compromise.
- David Brooks, The New York Times OP-ED Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Quote of the Day:
Although I generally admire entrepreneurs who build giant companies, Rupert Murdoch, despite giving us Homer Simpson, generally has not been a force for good over the course of his long career. His Bill O'Reilly-ed, Glenn Beck-ed Fox News has done a great deal to coarsen the political discourse. His tabloids have lowered the standards of journalism on three continents - and routinely broken the law on at least one of them. He had dumbed down his prestige papers, like The Times of London. He has run roughshod over cross-ownership rules meant to prevent one man or company from having too much power- and then used his lobbying might to get those rules diluted. He has put kowtowing to China ahead of freedom of the press, even killing a book set to be published by his HarperCollins unit that the Chinese authorities objected to. He has consistently used his media properties to reward allies and punish enemies. It's a long list.
- Joe Nocera, The New York Times OP-ED Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Although I generally admire entrepreneurs who build giant companies, Rupert Murdoch, despite giving us Homer Simpson, generally has not been a force for good over the course of his long career. His Bill O'Reilly-ed, Glenn Beck-ed Fox News has done a great deal to coarsen the political discourse. His tabloids have lowered the standards of journalism on three continents - and routinely broken the law on at least one of them. He had dumbed down his prestige papers, like The Times of London. He has run roughshod over cross-ownership rules meant to prevent one man or company from having too much power- and then used his lobbying might to get those rules diluted. He has put kowtowing to China ahead of freedom of the press, even killing a book set to be published by his HarperCollins unit that the Chinese authorities objected to. He has consistently used his media properties to reward allies and punish enemies. It's a long list.
- Joe Nocera, The New York Times OP-ED Tuesday, July 19, 2011
 | Politics & Prose Bookstore welcomes Sandra Beasley for a discussion and signing of her new book Don’t Kill the Birthday Girl: Tales from an Allergic Life Saturday, July 23, 3 p.m. 5015 Connecticut Avenue, NW • Washington, DC www.politics-prose.com • (202) 364-1919 |
The weekend after the final installment of the Harry Potter films premiered, select theaters around the US debuted Sarah Palin's full length documentary 'The Undefeated' to a nearly empty audience, reports The Atlantic.
As the publication's Conor Friedersdorf found out, a viewing of the film in Orange County, CA included himself, two women (who lasted 20 minutes), and a brief visit from a couple with intentions not pertaining to Palin at all.
"Shortly before the end of the film, a young couple entered, walked to the back row, started making out, then interrupted their session and left (spoiler alert) as Andrew Breitbart, who made one of several guest appearances, started talking about eunuchs. Then I was alone again, working. Instead of researching civil liberties violations, or the war in Libya, or the contest to elect the next president of the United States, I was both a journalist and the only member of the public willfully paying attention to Sarah Palin, as if standing in for the pathologies of my profession."An article from TIME magazine summarizes the failure succinctly.
"The Undefeated is proving an ironic title choice."
Readers' Review: "Home" by Marilynne Robinson
"Home" by Marilynne Robinson is a companion piece to her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, "Gilead." Set in the same time and place, it also tackles questions of faith and family -- but from a different perspective: the youngest daughter of an old minister and her ne'er-do-well older brother.
Guests:
Susan Page
Washington bureau chief for USA Today.
E. Ethelbert Miller
poet; director of the African American Resource Center at Howard University, Board Chair of the Institute for Policy Study. And author of the forthcoming book "On Saturdays I Santana With You."
The Right Reverand Jane Holmes Dixon
retired Episcopal Bishop of Washington, Pro-tempore.
| Daily Buddhist Wisdom | |||
|
SPREADING THE GOOD NEWS: Karen Dolan, IPS Fellow.
Thank you for that tribute Ethelbert. I want to add that as a resident of Prince George's County, I speak for many of us who have longed for a space like BusBoys and Poets for decades. Well, actually we have simply longed for something better than KFC, Wendy's and McDonalds. We have a few small independent gems sprinkled throughout the County, most notably Franklins, virtually next door to the news BusBoys. But what Andy had brought to us is beyond our wildest dreams. We are strongly community-minded, political, diverse, proud and starved for good food and a nice place to sit and meet.
Last night's unadvertised, under-the-radar opening demonstrated our pent up needs and desires daring to spill out as we packed the new, gorgeous, giant BusBoys and Poets. For me it was a beautiful blending of my work-IPS-District life with my home, neighbors and community pride. I felt a special sense of pride to have two of my IPS board members, Andy and Ethelbert, enjoying themselves in my hood! I brought the President of our PTA and councilmember, Laila Riazi, who also keeps a community crisis center for homeless and youth running across the street from our new Busboys. I saw as well community leaders there from many of the other wonderful small Prince George's County towns, excited and mingling. One quiet, older woman, who is active in her church just stopped by on her way home from work "to meet people" and just sat down with Laila and me and struck up a new friendship.
I love that Ethelbert came and Denise. I am obviously inspired by Ethelbert's grand timing of tribute to Andy and the new place and Ethelbert's name of BusBoys on the Hyatt. For those of us in a long-neglected county, who have waited for what seems a lifetime for a dream like this, I wager though, that we will simply proudly call this "Our BusBoys"
Thank You Andy.
And we will promise to be "mindful of our children" ;-)
xo
Karen, Cheverly and my Prince George's County neighbors
LANGSTON CROSSING THE DISTRICT LINE. IS THIS THE STOP BEFORE HARLEM?
So there was Andy Shallal (wearing his trademark hat) weaving between tables greeting friends and folks into his new space. Yes, another Busboys and Poets is open. I call it "Busboys at the Hyatt." Andy's place is located at 5331 Baltimore Avenue, Suite 104 in Hyattsville, Maryland. This place is huge. Yesterday at the opening it was packed with people. Where did they all come from? Andy's magic again. With so much despair in the world it's good to go to a celebration or two. Oh, and how will this new Busboys be different from the others? Well yesterday I saw many more young couples with children. Is this why people move to suburbs? I can see this Busboys being a family attraction during the weekend. Good food for folks who can't get back into the city or find a sitter. On the political side it might be good for young people to surround themselves with peace images. Howard Zinn's spirit seems to bless this space. Busboys and people continue to make history. Thank you Andy. A tip of the hat to you.
So there was Andy Shallal (wearing his trademark hat) weaving between tables greeting friends and folks into his new space. Yes, another Busboys and Poets is open. I call it "Busboys at the Hyatt." Andy's place is located at 5331 Baltimore Avenue, Suite 104 in Hyattsville, Maryland. This place is huge. Yesterday at the opening it was packed with people. Where did they all come from? Andy's magic again. With so much despair in the world it's good to go to a celebration or two. Oh, and how will this new Busboys be different from the others? Well yesterday I saw many more young couples with children. Is this why people move to suburbs? I can see this Busboys being a family attraction during the weekend. Good food for folks who can't get back into the city or find a sitter. On the political side it might be good for young people to surround themselves with peace images. Howard Zinn's spirit seems to bless this space. Busboys and people continue to make history. Thank you Andy. A tip of the hat to you.
 |
| MR. AND MRS. ANDY SHALLAL |
BACHMANN? You decide.
http://news.yahoo.com/bachmann-criticizes-black-farmer-settlement-225727223.html
Monday, July 18, 2011
On the News With Thom Hartmann: New Allegations Fox News Also Into Illegal Phone Hacking in US, and More
In today's On the News segment: Allegations Fox News chief Roger Ailes constructed an underground bunker within the Fox News headquarters to perform 'counterintelligence' that may include illegally hacking phone calls, 5,000 stampede for housing vouchers, Moody's suggests getting rid of dept limit ceiling, working class are the real job creators, and more.
Watch the Video and Read the Transcript
In today's On the News segment: Allegations Fox News chief Roger Ailes constructed an underground bunker within the Fox News headquarters to perform 'counterintelligence' that may include illegally hacking phone calls, 5,000 stampede for housing vouchers, Moody's suggests getting rid of dept limit ceiling, working class are the real job creators, and more.
Watch the Video and Read the Transcript
Chris Hedges | America's Disappeared
Chris Hedges, Truthdig: "Tens of thousands of Americans are being held in super-maximum-security prisons where they are deprived of contact and psychologically destroyed. Undocumented workers are rounded up and vanish from their families for weeks or months. Militarized police units break down the doors of some 40,000 Americans a year and haul them away in the dead of night as if they were enemy combatants. Habeas corpus no longer exists. American citizens can 'legally' be assassinated."
Read the Article
Chris Hedges, Truthdig: "Tens of thousands of Americans are being held in super-maximum-security prisons where they are deprived of contact and psychologically destroyed. Undocumented workers are rounded up and vanish from their families for weeks or months. Militarized police units break down the doors of some 40,000 Americans a year and haul them away in the dead of night as if they were enemy combatants. Habeas corpus no longer exists. American citizens can 'legally' be assassinated."
Read the Article
From: TheSeeingBlack.com411
Protests Grow in Solidarity with California Prisoners as Hunger Strikes Enter Third Week
Thousands of inmates in at least 11 prisons across the state’s troubled prison system have been on hunger strike for more than two weeks. Many are protesting in solidarity with inmates held in Pelican Bay State Prison, California’s first super-maximum security prison.
The hunger strike began on July 1st in the Pelican Bay’s Security Housing Unit, when inmates began refusing meals to protest what they say is cruel and unusual conditions. Prisoners in the units are kept in total isolation for 22-and-a-half hours a day, a punishment some mental health experts say can lead to insanity and is tantamount to torture.
Democracy Now! obtained a recording of an audio statement that one of the Pelican Bay inmates, Ted Ashker sic, made to his legal team in the secure prison’s Secure Housing Unit, which is referred to as the SHU. You will need to listen closely as he explains his reasons for joining the hunger strike.
TODD ASHKER: The basis for this protest has come about after over 25 years—some of us, 30, some up to 40 years—of being subjected to these conditions the last 21 years in Pelican Bay SHU, where every single day you have staff and administrators who feel it’s their job to punish the worst of the worst, as they’ve put out propaganda for the last 21 years that we are the worst of the worst. And most of us have never been found guilty of ever committing an illegal gang-related act. But we’re in SHU because of a label. And all of our 602 appeals, numerous court challenges, have gotten nowhere. Therefore, our backs are up against the wall.
A lot of us are older now. We have serious medical issues coming on. And we believe that this is our only option of ever trying to make some kind of positive changes here, is through this peaceful protest of hunger strike. And there is a core group of us who are committed to taking this all the way to the death, if necessary. None of us want to do this, but we feel like we have no other option. And we’re just hoping for the best.
It's time for the Nationals to bench Jayson Werth. Forget how much this guy is getting paid. Place him on the bench for about a week. Yesterday in the 9th inning did you expect him to get a clutch hit? Of course not. This guy is good for four outs every game. Werth(less) right now? You betcha!
Like any other moral monster, there was contamination in it touch, poison in its breath, and death in its embrace. There was something more than a wild witty exaggeration in the saying of senator {William Gannaway} Brownlow when he remarked to a fellow passenger that he must be getting near Washington, for he began to feel as if he wanted to steal something.
-Frederick Douglass - From " Our National Capital: An Address Delivered in Baltimore, Maryland, on 8 May 1877.
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Breaking News Alert The New York Times Sunday, July 17, 2011 -- 5:25 PM EDT ----- Japan Wins Women’s World Cup Final Japan outshot the United States in penalty kicks to win the Women’s World Cup in Frankfurt, Germany. The Japanese twice rallied to tie the score before the shootout. It was Japan’s first title and its first time in the final. The United States had been hoping to win its third world title.
Tricycle Daily Dharma
There are ten actions that we must become completely aware of and completely abandon in our lives. They are divided into three unvirtuous actions of the body: killing, stealing, and sexual misconduct; four unvirtutous actions of speech: lying, slander, harsh speech, and idle chatter; and three unvirtuous actions of mind: covetousness, wishing harm on others, and wrong view.
-Khandro Rinpoche, "Complete Abandon"
The Ten Harmful Activities
-Khandro Rinpoche, "Complete Abandon"
 |
| POET REETIKA VAZIRANI |
8 years since her death. I spoke with Heea (Reetika's mom) this morning. I called her after doing yard work. I wanted to let her know I was thinking about her family. July can be a difficult month. We try to think of only the good thoughts -the memories that contain laughter and not grief. Heea requested that I say a prayer on August 9th. This I will do. That's the day of Reetika's birth.
Furious Flower: Sonia Sanchez
July 16th, 2011 - (0 Comments)
Saturday, July 16, 2011
 |
| AHMOS ZU-BOLTON |
Friday, July 15, 2011
Local Politics News Alert: D.C. Public Schools fire 227 teachers for poor performance
July 15, 2011 12:58:25 PM
----------------------------------------
The District fired 227 teachers for poor performance in the evaluation system known as IMPACT on Friday, the second year in a row it has dismissed significant numbers of educators for sub-par work in the classroom. Those fired amount to nearly 6 percent of the 4,100 teachers in the city school system. Watch PostLocal.com for more.
July 15, 2011 12:58:25 PM
----------------------------------------
The District fired 227 teachers for poor performance in the evaluation system known as IMPACT on Friday, the second year in a row it has dismissed significant numbers of educators for sub-par work in the classroom. Those fired amount to nearly 6 percent of the 4,100 teachers in the city school system. Watch PostLocal.com for more.
| Daily Buddhist Wisdom | |||
|
Last night I was reading DUSK OF DAWN by W.E.B. Du Bois. I'm still amazed at what this guy did after the age of 60. From 1935 to 1941 he worked on BLACK RECONSTRUCTION. Whew...
This is how I'm looking at my life now - just beginning. In DUSK OF DAWN one will find a tribute by Martin Luther King, Jr. It's a speech he gave on February 23, 1968 at Carnegie Hall in New York. The occasion was the International Cultural Evening sponsored by Freedomways magazine on the 100th birthday of W.E.B. Du Bois.
This is how I'm looking at my life now - just beginning. In DUSK OF DAWN one will find a tribute by Martin Luther King, Jr. It's a speech he gave on February 23, 1968 at Carnegie Hall in New York. The occasion was the International Cultural Evening sponsored by Freedomways magazine on the 100th birthday of W.E.B. Du Bois.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
IS THIS BALLS AND STRIKES OR JUST ANOTHER CASE OF BS?
Breaking News Alert: Mistrial declared in perjury trial of pitcher Roger Clemens
July 14, 2011 12:08:37 PM
----------------------------------------
The judge overseeing the perjury trial of famed former pitcher Roger Clemens declared a mistrial Thursday after prosecutors played a portion of a video that the judge deemed prejudicial.
U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton said prosecutors erred in playing video of congressional testimony referencing statements made by the wife of a "critical" witness in the case.
The declaration came on just the second day of testimony and after it took a week to pick a jury.
Breaking News Alert: Mistrial declared in perjury trial of pitcher Roger Clemens
July 14, 2011 12:08:37 PM
----------------------------------------
The judge overseeing the perjury trial of famed former pitcher Roger Clemens declared a mistrial Thursday after prosecutors played a portion of a video that the judge deemed prejudicial.
U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton said prosecutors erred in playing video of congressional testimony referencing statements made by the wife of a "critical" witness in the case.
The declaration came on just the second day of testimony and after it took a week to pick a jury.
- CONNECTING THE DOTS WE CALL LIFE
- I was looking this morning at what W.E.B. DuBois was able to accomplish after he turned 60.
- This is a good way to motivate myself to do more...
- Dark Princess: A Romance (1928)
- Africa, Its Geography, People and Products (1930)
- Africa: Its Place in Modern History (1930)
- Black Reconstruction: An Essay toward a History of the Part Which Black Folk Played in the Attempt to Reconstruct Democracy in America, 1860-1880 (1935)
- What the Negro Has Done for the United States and Texas (1936)
- Black Folk, Then and Now (1939)
- Dusk of Dawn: An Essay Toward an Autobiography of a Race Concept (1940)
- Color and Democracy: Colonies and Peace (1945)
- The Encyclopedia of the Negro (1946)
- The World and Africa (1946)
- Peace Is Dangerous (1951)
- I Take My Stand for Peace (1951)
- In Battle for Peace (1952)
- The Black Flame: A Trilogy
- The Ordeal of Mansart (1957)
- Mansart Builds a School (1959)
- Africa in Battle Against Colonialism, Racialism, Imperialism (1960)
- Worlds of Color (1961)
- An ABC of Color: Selections from Over a Half Century of the Writings of W. E. B. Du Bois (1963)
WOMAN OF THE YEAR -2011.
The year is half over and I'm going with KATE DAMON as my "Woman of the Year." Yesterday I spent the late afternoon talking with her at SPACE 9. My last time there was back in February. What Kate has done (in a few months) to this awesome place will leave you speechless. This woman has renovated a huge art space/home into something that would make Buckminster Fuller chuckle. I could have walked around exploring different levels until darkness descended. Kate gives glitter to the world. She collects art and various items that turn into art because of her glow. She is looking to rent some of the space out. Here is a description of what one would get:
I can be reached at: emiller698@aol.com
The year is half over and I'm going with KATE DAMON as my "Woman of the Year." Yesterday I spent the late afternoon talking with her at SPACE 9. My last time there was back in February. What Kate has done (in a few months) to this awesome place will leave you speechless. This woman has renovated a huge art space/home into something that would make Buckminster Fuller chuckle. I could have walked around exploring different levels until darkness descended. Kate gives glitter to the world. She collects art and various items that turn into art because of her glow. She is looking to rent some of the space out. Here is a description of what one would get:
Newly Renovated Loft Space! (Shaw/Logan Neighborhood):: newly renovated one bedroom, one bath, 1000+ sqft LOFT in the WASHINGTON, DC- SHAW/LOGAN neighborhood. top floor, open floor plan, high ceilings, exposed brick, modern kitchen with all NEW stainless appliances, (5 burner gas stove with convection oven), washer/dryer, EnergyStar and WaterSense appliances, large closets, central air, bike room in building (on ground floor)... 2 blocks to SHAW/HOWARD metro station (green line) + ZipCar access...walk to U St and Chinatown. across the street from the City Market at O development, and Watha T Daniel Library. LEASE TERMS Rent: $2500/month +electricity (includes gas and water) Security deposit: $2500 Credit/Security check fee: $50 Pet Deposit: $500 (if applicable)
Contact me if you're interested. I'll put you in touch with Kate.
I can be reached at: emiller698@aol.com