NEWS FROM SWEET HOLLY BASS:

Are you a writer who hasn't actually written in some time? Are you looking to re-ignite your creative passions or branch in a new direction? Then this is the workshop series for you. Ethelbert Miller kicked off the series with a workshop on Memoir. Now we continue with workshop #2 led by Smithsonian jazz expert and noted poet Reuben Jackson.

Lyrical City #2Reuben Jackson, author of Fingering the Keys, continues the Lyrical City writing workshop series with a class titled Ghosts...City as Memory. The workshop will take place on Sunday May 24 from 4-6:30pm at Busboys & Poets, 5th & K, in the Cullen Room. The cost is $25 and pre-registration is required.

Additional workshops take place 6/14 (Thomas Sayers Ellis) 7/5 (Toni Asante Lightfoot), 8/23 (Sharan Strange), /9/6 (Holly Bass). For full workshop descriptions and faculty bios see attachment.

About Lyrical CityLyrical City is a six-part writing workshop series facilitated by outstanding writers with a strong DC connection. The workshops focus on the African-American poetry tradition in DC and various cultural aspects of the city. The workshops are open to all. Participation is limited to 12 people. The cost of each workshop is $25. Some partial scholarships are available. You may apply for any workshop in the series, but you may attend no more than two. This series is funded by the DC Arts Commission with public monies and as such we are committed to bringing in a wide spectrum of the community. Feel free to forward this message to friends. Registrations are accepted on a rolling basis, so the earlier you apply, the better your chances.

To apply for any of the workshops, please send an email to langstondays@gmail.com with:1. your name2. a brief statement (50-150 words) explaining what you hope to get out of the workshop 3. writing sample (one poem or short prose piece)Applicants may attend up to two workshops. If applying for more than one workshop, please list three choices in order of preference.

Accepted applicants will be notified on how to make advance payment.

This workshop is funded in part by the DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities, an agency supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts

MIRACLE at EATONVILLE.

Andy Shallal's new restaurant is open and jumpin'. How many people will rediscover their southern roots? Or maybe just a taste for them. Blues people are hungry people. Eatonville is sweet, sharp and looking at being special. This is going to be a hangout for dates, after church Lawd Today folks, and those Zora queens. You know- those sisters whose eyes have been watching God. I saw Dean Richardson from the HU chapel there the other day. I teased him about the place being secular and for folks who loved the blues. He was having none of that - and neither would have Zora Neale Hurston. Eatonville is where we all can gather. 14th and V Street now belongs to Langston (Busboys and Poets) and Zora. Andy Shallal seems to be turning the Alain Locke key and starting a new Renaissance. If you see me eating the gumbo (or those Po Boys) you'll know that I'm just acting like a New Negro in public. Someone should text Ginger G and tell her it's time to leave Harlem. Eatonville is the place. See it and believe. Watch the goober dust...

Eatonville Restaurant 2121 14th Street Washington, DC 20009

The Drifting Nomad on 314 Carroll Street, NW is where I've started spending more time. It's in the same location where the old Savory once was - near the Takoma Metro Station. This place makes some good sandwiches. I had a fun morning there (yesterday) talking with my friend James Robinson. He is working on the 2009 Folklife Festival. His project is the GIVING VOICE: THE POWER OF WORDS IN AFRICAN AMERICAN CULTURE. The Upcoming dates are June 24-June 28 and July 1 - July 5, 2009. For more information visit: http://www.festival.si.edu/

Whenever James and I get together our conversations are filled with laughter and deep thoughts. I shared with him the following paragraph that was in The New York Times:

Shirtless and smirking, LeBron James whipped a looping, two-handed shot from the corner baseline seats - behind the court, at least 25 feet away - and watched it sail, over the backboard and through the net.

I asked James where were our black intellectuals that could do the equivalent?

Can anyone tell me who the point guard is for the black community? Obama put together his own Dream team. DuBois in the old days had a nice squad at the NAACP. Are we suddenly out of our league? Whose ball is it anyway? What's the score? Do we need a new bible - the King James version?

HAITI 101:

Good to see former president Bill Clinton appointed U.N. special envoy for Haiti. He will try to attract private and government investment and aid for this nation. Might it be possible for him to establish a nice Harlem to Haiti connection? Maybe all those Black people who love Bill will help give support to Haitians. No reason why schools like Howard University can't be mobilized to help too. Money needs to go to improve the infrastructure of this nation. A serious tree planting project should be undertaken. It will be important to move a "lost generation" of Haitians out of gangs and into positive productive activities. Focus on housing, roads , energy and education is on my short list. Bill should do a commercial with Wyclef Jean and Edwidge Danticat. Help Haiti.

I'm feeling so Dessalines right now.

I spent the day in Annapolis teaching a memoir workshop at a home for seniors. It was a workshop run by the writer Janice Gary. I think we met several years ago when I was giving a talk at Goucher. The workshop went well; a number of good writers in the group. They shared things they had read. I provided them with some useful tips on how to construct a memoir. I sold several copies of THE 5TH INNING.

THE E MAG

Treve de blues.
- Leon Damas

Compassion is my art.
- Grace A. Ali

God makes stars. It's up to producers to find them.
- Samuel Goldwyn


WELCOME TO THE E MAG. AN INVITATION INTO THE WORDS OF OTHERS.

MY SPECIAL GUEST IS THE POET NORMAN JORDAN. His work was a major

influence on my writing when I was a student at Howard University. What follows is my recent interview with him.

MILLER:
Black poets now seem to be very proud to be associated with states like West Virginia and Kentucky. How has geography (place) influenced your work?

JORDAN;
I believe this phenomenon is part of the New South Movement, which is a reconnection with past Black struggles and achievements in rural America. A lot of young artists see the many unwritten stories that are lying around in the homesteads of their families. Stories of migration and starting a new life in a new time. New South artists are looking back with pride instead of shame. For instance in West Virginia, African Americans were the majority workers of the early industrialization of this country. We toiled in the salt mines, built the railroads by hand through rugged mountains and mined the coal for steam engines and for the manufacturing of steel during World War I & II. During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries Blacks in Appalachia were the backbone and driving wheel for this country’s industrial growth, which allowed America to rule the world. So young writers and poets are going back and writing about those men and women who have been overlooked by historians.

I am active in several arts organizations who focus on the life and times of African Americans in West Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee. Lately the subjects of my poems are influenced by my life history and the environment. One of my recent poems entitled Appalachian Ghost will be published in the 2009 summer issue of Appalachian Heritage: A Literary Quarterly of the Southern Appalachians.

MILLER:
What is your assessment of the Black Arts Movement? How important was
this period in American history?

JORDAN:
A person does not have too look to far into the past to realize the profound impact that the Black Arts Movement has had on modern American literature. Using poetry as an example, before the Black Arts Movement that cannon was dominated by white poets, with the exception of Langston Hughes and Gwendolyn Brooks. European poets got all of the press and funding, especially money from public funding. Black art was left out of school books and school curriculum. Third world poets and gay and lesbian poetry was so far back in the closet you had to pump air to them. The Black Arts Movement was a light on the path for literary diversity in American literature, freeing all of those beautiful voices, what a magnificent gift to the world.

The ramification of the Black Arts Movement are still being felt today. In my opinion, Rap, the Spoken Word Movement and Open Mics are phoenixes that rose out of the ashes of the Black Arts Movement.


MILLER:
When you review your early work, what do you like about it? What revisions or changes would you make today?

JORDAN:
I appreciate the innocence of my early works because it was more creative than my present writing. When I first started writing I did not understand as much as I do now the complexity of the human condition, my writing skills and world-view were very limited. In my senior years (I’m 71 years old) I have taken all violent themes out of my work and I have eliminated religious references plus I stay away from absolutes.

MILLER:
Talk about some of the important Black poets that came out of Cleveland,
whose work and careers should be wider known today.

JORDAN:
Of course Langston Hughes was the most important poet to come out of Cleveland, Ohio. Langston was not born in Cleveland however he attend high school in that city. While living in Cleveland I was active with a group of poets who in 1964 became the Muntu Poetry Workshop. Russell Atkins served as our facilitator, some of the poets were Bill Russell, Marti Freeman, Margaret Christen, Amir Rashidd and Sababa Akil. I moved from Cleveland in 1972. Over the years I have been in touch with the following Cleveland poets Anthony (H’zal) Fudge, Robert Fleming, SIAM (Shaikh Ibrahim Al-jahizz M’Backe), Mittie Jordan and Annetta Jefferson. All of these poets deserve a larger audience than they have gotten up to this point in time.

MILLER:
What do you consider to be the state of black arts today?

JORDAN:
African American art organizations and artists are still under served, underfunded and underrepresented by state and federal programs. Black arts organizations and black artists should not hold their breath waiting for Obamas stimulus money, especially those of us in Appalachia. Many of the people who voted against him will get more funds for the arts than we will. Most likely we will get the same crumbs that we have received in the past. Despite those negatives today’s black artists are producing some of the world’s greatest beauty. We are writing, publishing and performing more than ever because we intuitively know that the arts are our number one trump card..


BIO NOTE:

Poet and playwright Norman Jordan was born in Ansted, West Virginia.
His first volume of poetry, DESTINATION ASHES was published in 1969 by Vibration Press in Cleveland and later reprinted by Third World Press.

JAZZ TIME:
Congrats to Jasmine-Simone Miller who received the Richard C. Lewis Jr. Memorial Award at graduation on May 16th. The award is given to a graduating George Washington University Law School student who exhibited extraordinary dedication to his or her work in the Jacob Burns Community Legal Clinics and unusual compassion and humanity toward clients and colleagues.

Graduation Time with the Millers.

Nyere-Gibran. Widener University (Chester, PA) Class 2009.

Jasmine-Simone. The George Washington University Law School,

Washington, D.C. Class of 2009

You can get a whole lot more done with a kind word and a gun than with a kind word alone.
- Al Capone

MALCOLM X: The Man & His Times. Today is his birthday. Read. Study. Learn.

MalcolmX.com

Malcolm X : A Research Site

Name: The Memorial Day Writers' Project
Date: May 25
Place: Washington, DC, adjacent to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial
Time: 11:30- 5:00
Activity: Poetry, prose, and song
Contact: Richard Epstein (301) 681-3085


Come join us and raise your voices for your brothers and sisters who cannot be with us. The Memorial Day Writers' Project (MDWP) will hold its 16th annual reading on the Mall, adjacent to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, from 11:30 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. May 25. The public is invited to participate by sharing prose, poetry, song or a humorous story as we honor those who served our country. For more information, contact Richard Epstein (301) 681-3085. If you would like to read, give me a call or send me an email and Il list you on our sign up sheet. If you have a CD, book, or chapbook, bring copies to sell.

In the beginning there was sadness, anger and a thought. The thought needed other souls, minds, and bodies to grow. And they came. They came because of a shared experience; they came with their own unique talents and shared them with other wounded souls. And now they still come a little less wounded, perhaps grayer and more portly. The years have flown by and still they come to the Wall! They still come to remember and we the artist of every persuasion still come to the Tent and the Wall to remember in our unique ways; but remember we do.

A donation to help defray the cost of the Tent Rental is most welcomed.

ETHELBERT ON THE BOB EDWARDS SHOW:

http://www.bobedwards.info/ftopic893.html&sid=b8671f8ee236c727e5

THE O REPORT:

Another major speech:http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/30795290#30795290

Tricycle's Daily Dharma

Trust Friends Over Illusions

When those we’re closest to see through our illusions and point out our self-centered mistakes, we quickly get defensive, and if they don’t stop we may become quite angry or enraged. If we look at those arguments in which tempers flare and voices are raised, we’ll find that most are sparked by our feeling that someone else has injured the narcissistic image we cherish in our hearts. In those moments when a loved one’s words run contrary to our illusions, we must choose which we cherish more—the loved one or the illusions.

–Lorne Ladner, from The Lost Art of Compassion.

Congrats once again to my son and daughter for graduating from college and law school. Today begins a new chapter in their lives. Now is the time for me to move into new things too. I plan to implement major changes in my life. A departure into new possibilities...

The 5th Inning marks the completion of an official game. I claim the extra innings as my own.

IPS- Phyllis Bennis on Israel

Below Phyllis Bennis comments on the upcoming meeting with Obama and Netanyahu. Notice how she raises the question about Obama's seriousness. One would suspect that if he is president, he would be serious about all his undertakings.

But what do we expect from the meeting? There is isn't going to be any radical change in policy. Let's be serious about that. We are returning to square 1 with folks just talking again. A two state agreement also depends on what Palestinian leadership is going to do. They have yet to speak as one voice. Of course one can expect some type of prison exchange before the year is over. That's easy.

Everyone has an opinion on Jerusalem. I don't see any movement here...
The best thing to do is increase economic aid to the Palestinians without any conditions. We also need everyone to acknowledge that attempts will be made to upset all talks. Expect bombs to fall in Israel -countries get mugged just like people. There isn't going to be an end to all crime. Let's be serious - right? Everyone has to keep working for peace even while the bombs fall.

Bennis link:
http://www.alternet.org/audits/140065/change_we_can_believe_in_for_u.s.-israeli_relations/

My Poetry Days are Numbered:

I spent the morning reading editorial comments made by two reviewers of my last poetry manuscript. The folks didn't even understand the title of my book, so the rest of the pages consisted of nothing more than crackerjack surprises. So many places I found comments that were simply bizarre. I did find a few suggestions I guess were appetizers. What can I say?
If I don't know what I'm doing by now I should just stop. No more poems. No blog. Just stop.
Right in the middle of

POLITICS AND MEDITATIONS:

When people have difficulty moving forward they tend to move backwards. This is where the Democratic Party is right now. The weakness is on the Hill. Pelosi is coming across like a shortstop who can't hit and has a tendency to make errors in the field. Should she be placed on the historical bench? It's not that her ideas are left of center but she appears to be a politician with an ego and a love for the camera. There appears to be nothing humble about this woman. She's meat for the media. The outcome of all this is that it will excite the Republicans to make some Congressional gains in the next election. Polosi and not Obama will be the Democratic image the Republicans will attack. A defeat of Democrats or any increase in Congressional seats could result in Obama having difficulty on the Hill and serving only one term in office. The Obama Administration might need to distance themselves from the Democratic leadership as the months pass. By the end of 2010 look for the "new" image of the Republican Party to emerge. It will have to be someone the media can fall in love with. Does anyone have an extra pair of Palin glasses? This means the new candidate will either have to be a woman or a person of color. Look for that person to be on the ticket as VP in 2012. Since the Republican Party is conservative they will have to remake and retool any Republican candidate who ran for president during the last primaries. It was not a strong or attractive group. If VP Cheney can remain visible the next few years he will emerge as the bulldog factor. Bow Wow. Anyone who wishes to be on the Republican presidential ticket will have to secure his blessing. Of course the election of 2012 will depend on nothing going on right now. It will be the events of 2011 that will determine the true direction of this nation. The Obama 4 years might just be a political yawn or belch. A time of "color" in the White House. 2012 might be cast as the return to "normalcy." Remember when everyone wanted to return to the 1950s because the Sixties seemed so crazy? A black man in the White House is just as scary as a pelvis Elvis shaking his hips. Our nation might secretly want to return to those old days before rock and roll.

And all this time you thought Obama was dressing like Ellington or at best ushering in the birth of the cool with a Miles Davis look. Right about now, I need to sit down (this morning) like John Coltrane and write "Meditations."

Tricycle's Daily Dharma

Just Do It

All success, great and small, whether in spiritual or temporal affairs, derives from your stock of merit. So never neglect even the slightest positive deed. Just do it.

–Dudjom Rinpoche, from Counsels from My Heart.

One hundred percent instead of 44% of humanity, should enjoy not only a high standard of living, but freedom of intellectual and physical initiative as well as educational advantage and travel embracing the whole Earth.

- R. Buckminster Fuller