...and then something grabbed a hold of me and it felt just like a ball and chain.
I was reading my friend Michele Simms-Burton's blog and came across an interesting statement.
Take a look:
I've been hiking and reading, if you are interested! I'm reading "White Cargo: The Forgotten History of Britain's White Slaves in America" wherein the authors, Don Jordan and Michael Walsh, argue that although the word "slave" was rarely used to define the legal and social status of the European indentured servants who were forced into or volunteered their labor in the Americas, they were, nonetheless, slaves.
The authors hope to add to the vision and history of slavery in British American the image of poor English children who were mostly kidnapped, English female prostitutes who were sold out of the country as brides to English settlers as a way to populate the colonies, English men who either volunteered their labor or were convicts given emigration to British America as an alternative to death, and the Irish who were in constant battle with the English for their sovereignty and humanity and of whom England wanted to exterminate.
I am wrestling with not the concept of Britain's white slaves, but the implication of this sort of discourse on U.S. Africans seeking reparations for being enslaved. I know how discourse can be twisted to accomplish political agendas; therefore, deracializing, or de-Africanizing slavery in British America as a social and economic phenomena that was not overwhelmingly African and based on racism will be very difficult for me to wrap my mind around.
Thus far, Jordan and Walsh argue that few white indentured servants survived indentured servitude, acquired land, or gained a social status above that of a slave, if they fulfilled their contract of indenture servitude. I haven't finished the book, and I'm curious how the authors will handle the shift in status of Europeans in the 18th century as they were increasingly defined as whites rather than by their national origins as a way to establish a racial hierarchy and race-based caste system in the United States that even free Africans in this country could not escape.
If you are curious, Toni Morrison states that reading "White Cargo..." was the basis for her novel "A Mercy."
Notice how Michele has problems with the implications of the research of Jordan and Walsh. One might see this as the "crisis" of the African American intellectual in the 21st Century.
The inability to reach a level of what I might define as "intellectual comfort" with certain ideas regarding race. If we have problems looking backwards we will definitely encounter a world without blueprints in the future. Mercy?
E-NOTES: WHEN THE NEWS IS NOT ENOUGH. THE BLOG OF E. ETHELBERT MILLER
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
MAYBE THE WRITING IS ON THE WALL
Wizard's coach Ed Tapscott made the following statement about his basketball team:
We're like a writer with writer's block. We can write those first two chapters writing fairly efficiently and fairly well but when it comes to the ending, we just can't seem to write a good ending. The only thing we can do is continue to write.
Don't you want to chuckle after reading this? It's obvious with a 7-30 record that the Wizards are in the wrong genre. Once again I'll go on record and say this team will not win 20 games this year.
Upcoming games to watch are against New York, Golden State, Sacramento and the L. A. Clippers. If you see the Wizards losing these games you know how bad they really are.
I have a feeling this team might not win another game during the month of January.
Wizard's coach Ed Tapscott made the following statement about his basketball team:
We're like a writer with writer's block. We can write those first two chapters writing fairly efficiently and fairly well but when it comes to the ending, we just can't seem to write a good ending. The only thing we can do is continue to write.
Don't you want to chuckle after reading this? It's obvious with a 7-30 record that the Wizards are in the wrong genre. Once again I'll go on record and say this team will not win 20 games this year.
Upcoming games to watch are against New York, Golden State, Sacramento and the L. A. Clippers. If you see the Wizards losing these games you know how bad they really are.
I have a feeling this team might not win another game during the month of January.
Unleash the Arts: One Percent for Arts Petition
by E. Ethelbert Miller and Melissa Tuckey
Our society is built not just by bone and flesh but also by imagination. We’re wealthy when we create. We’re poor when poetry is missing from our lives. But how do we sustain our creative lives during a time of economic crisis?
Clearly, our country is in trouble. We lost over one million jobs in 2008. Families are losing their homes. Young people are wondering whether there will be jobs for them when they graduate. We’re told this is the worst recession in 30 years and that it's probably going to get worse. President Barack Obama’s election was a call for change. It’s also a testament to what Americans can accomplish if we put our minds to it.
What will be the fate of the arts during this recession? Some states have cut funding for their arts commissions. Many schools have cut or abandoned arts and music programs in the past decade because of budget crunches and pressure from No Child Left Behind, which requires schools to regularly test math, English, and science,—but doesn’t address arts expertise, foreign languages, or other important subjects.
Obama aims to create three million jobs. Congress is poised to pass a $600 billion dollar stimulus package aimed at creating jobs to invigorate the economy. The package harkens back to Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Works Progress Administration (WPA) programs, which employed over 3.4 million Americans between 1935 and 1943. WPA workers built hundreds of thousands of miles of roads, streets, and highways. They repaired bridges, created public buildings, parks, and landing fields. They also worked in the arts.
The WPA funded over 40,000 artists, writers, musicians, theater workers, and performers. Public support made it possible for artists of modest means to dedicate themselves to their work. The WPA supported Jackson Pollock, Arshile Gorky, Saul Bellow, Zora Neale Hurston, John Steinbeck, Sterling Brown, Orson Welles, John Houseman, Burt Lancaster, and many other great talents, known and unknown. Our generation deserves no less.
The Institute for Policy Studies recently launched a petition calling for 1% of the stimulus package to be spent on the arts. This arts stimulus initiative wouldn’t just boost funding for public programs. The money could create workplace arts and reading programs, increase fellowship and scholarship support for artists, foster cultural exchange programs with other nations, and support artist- and writer-in-residence programs in schools and public libraries, and more. Proponents also are calling for the establishment of a cabinet-level post for culture and the arts in the Obama administration and beyond.
What if there were no art? How much is the world worth without color? What if we had jobs but no music during our breaks or when we returned home?
The arts enliven and build our communities, preserve our cultural heritage, and inspire us to be more thoughtful and engaged the world. Whatever we face in the coming months, let’s face it with creativity and courage.
E. Ethelbert Miller is the chair of the board of the Institute for Policy Studies and MelissaTuckey is the co-director of the Split This Rock poetry festival.
Sign the petition at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/artsstimulus/index.html
by E. Ethelbert Miller and Melissa Tuckey
Our society is built not just by bone and flesh but also by imagination. We’re wealthy when we create. We’re poor when poetry is missing from our lives. But how do we sustain our creative lives during a time of economic crisis?
Clearly, our country is in trouble. We lost over one million jobs in 2008. Families are losing their homes. Young people are wondering whether there will be jobs for them when they graduate. We’re told this is the worst recession in 30 years and that it's probably going to get worse. President Barack Obama’s election was a call for change. It’s also a testament to what Americans can accomplish if we put our minds to it.
What will be the fate of the arts during this recession? Some states have cut funding for their arts commissions. Many schools have cut or abandoned arts and music programs in the past decade because of budget crunches and pressure from No Child Left Behind, which requires schools to regularly test math, English, and science,—but doesn’t address arts expertise, foreign languages, or other important subjects.
Obama aims to create three million jobs. Congress is poised to pass a $600 billion dollar stimulus package aimed at creating jobs to invigorate the economy. The package harkens back to Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Works Progress Administration (WPA) programs, which employed over 3.4 million Americans between 1935 and 1943. WPA workers built hundreds of thousands of miles of roads, streets, and highways. They repaired bridges, created public buildings, parks, and landing fields. They also worked in the arts.
The WPA funded over 40,000 artists, writers, musicians, theater workers, and performers. Public support made it possible for artists of modest means to dedicate themselves to their work. The WPA supported Jackson Pollock, Arshile Gorky, Saul Bellow, Zora Neale Hurston, John Steinbeck, Sterling Brown, Orson Welles, John Houseman, Burt Lancaster, and many other great talents, known and unknown. Our generation deserves no less.
The Institute for Policy Studies recently launched a petition calling for 1% of the stimulus package to be spent on the arts. This arts stimulus initiative wouldn’t just boost funding for public programs. The money could create workplace arts and reading programs, increase fellowship and scholarship support for artists, foster cultural exchange programs with other nations, and support artist- and writer-in-residence programs in schools and public libraries, and more. Proponents also are calling for the establishment of a cabinet-level post for culture and the arts in the Obama administration and beyond.
What if there were no art? How much is the world worth without color? What if we had jobs but no music during our breaks or when we returned home?
The arts enliven and build our communities, preserve our cultural heritage, and inspire us to be more thoughtful and engaged the world. Whatever we face in the coming months, let’s face it with creativity and courage.
E. Ethelbert Miller is the chair of the board of the Institute for Policy Studies and MelissaTuckey is the co-director of the Split This Rock poetry festival.
Sign the petition at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/artsstimulus/index.html
Monday, January 12, 2009
Tricycle's Daily Dharma
Our Four Functions
With regard to the Four Noble Truths we have four functions to perform:
The First Noble Truth is Dukkha, the nature of life, its suffering, its sorrows and joys, its imperfection and unsatisfactoriness, its impermanence and insubstantiality. With regard to this, our function is to understand it as a fact, clearly and completely.
The Second Noble Truth is the Origin of Dukkha, which is desire, "thirst", accompanied by all other passions, defilements and impurities. A mere understanding of this fact is not sufficient. Here our function is to discard it, to eliminate, to destroy and eradicate it.
The Third Noble Truth is the Cessation of Dukkha, Nirvana, the Absolute Truth, the Ultimate Reality. Here our function is to realize it.
The Fourth Noble Truth is the Path leading to the realization of Nirvana. A mere knowledge of the Path, however complete, will not do. In this case, our function is to follow it and keep to it.
--Walpola Rahula, What the Buddha Taught
from Everyday Mind, edited by Jean Smith, a Tricycle book
Read this Daily Dharma on tricycle.com
DOG NEWS:
Obama Dog Choice Down to 2 Breeds
Of course everyone will be talking about the "color" of the dog.
Can a black man have a white dog in the White House? Talk radio help me out here.
Meanwhile there is war and poverty in the world. Hello America - time to bark about Gaza, Zimbabwe, Haiti, Iraq and Afghanistan. Can I even get a bow wow from the UN?
Obama Dog Choice Down to 2 Breeds
Of course everyone will be talking about the "color" of the dog.
Can a black man have a white dog in the White House? Talk radio help me out here.
Meanwhile there is war and poverty in the world. Hello America - time to bark about Gaza, Zimbabwe, Haiti, Iraq and Afghanistan. Can I even get a bow wow from the UN?
NYERE NEWS:
Amazing Rally Falls Short for Men's Basketball in Tough 60-53 Loss at Lycoming
1/11/2009
(boxscore)Widener rallied from a 12-point to tie the game, only to be dealt a heartbreaking 60-53 Commonwealth Conference loss at Lycoming in Williamsport, PA.
Trailing 53-41 with 3:35 left, the Pride (10-4, 1-1 CC) unbelievably came back to level the contest. Senior Matt Sosna (Stratford, NJ) and junior Bobby Edmunds (Linwood, NJ) nailed 3-pointers in that stretch, but none were bigger than the triple from senior NYERE MILLER (Washington, DC) with 1:02 to go for a 53-53 tie.
Widener looked to continue capitalizing on the momentum, but Lycoming (7-5, 1-1) grabbed it right back as Will Kelly hit a 3-pointer with 31 seconds left to give the home team a 56-53 cushion. Senior Charles Jones (Philadelphia, PA) missed a jumper and the rebound was grabbed by Jemayne Nowlin, who nailed two from the line with 16 seconds left for a 58-53 game.
Edmunds scored 14 points for Widener, which shot only 32 percent (18-of-56) from the floor and 8-of-24 from 3-point range in seeing its five-game winning streak snapped. Jones had eight points and seven rebounds with Sosna netting seven points.
Eric Anthony scored 14 points and Nowlin had 10 for the Warriors, who shot 44 percent (21-of-48) from the floor.
Widener in the first half shot 8-for-13 from the line, but was only 1-for-4 in the second half. Lycoming in contrast made 0-for-2 in the opening half, but was the beneficiary of hitting 12-for-14 after intermission.
Widener on Saturday visits Elizabethtown at 4:00 pm, which followed the women’s contest between the schools at 2:00 pm.
Amazing Rally Falls Short for Men's Basketball in Tough 60-53 Loss at Lycoming
1/11/2009
(boxscore)Widener rallied from a 12-point to tie the game, only to be dealt a heartbreaking 60-53 Commonwealth Conference loss at Lycoming in Williamsport, PA.
Trailing 53-41 with 3:35 left, the Pride (10-4, 1-1 CC) unbelievably came back to level the contest. Senior Matt Sosna (Stratford, NJ) and junior Bobby Edmunds (Linwood, NJ) nailed 3-pointers in that stretch, but none were bigger than the triple from senior NYERE MILLER (Washington, DC) with 1:02 to go for a 53-53 tie.
Widener looked to continue capitalizing on the momentum, but Lycoming (7-5, 1-1) grabbed it right back as Will Kelly hit a 3-pointer with 31 seconds left to give the home team a 56-53 cushion. Senior Charles Jones (Philadelphia, PA) missed a jumper and the rebound was grabbed by Jemayne Nowlin, who nailed two from the line with 16 seconds left for a 58-53 game.
Edmunds scored 14 points for Widener, which shot only 32 percent (18-of-56) from the floor and 8-of-24 from 3-point range in seeing its five-game winning streak snapped. Jones had eight points and seven rebounds with Sosna netting seven points.
Eric Anthony scored 14 points and Nowlin had 10 for the Warriors, who shot 44 percent (21-of-48) from the floor.
Widener in the first half shot 8-for-13 from the line, but was only 1-for-4 in the second half. Lycoming in contrast made 0-for-2 in the opening half, but was the beneficiary of hitting 12-for-14 after intermission.
Widener on Saturday visits Elizabethtown at 4:00 pm, which followed the women’s contest between the schools at 2:00 pm.
OUT OF BOUNDS OR JUST HAVING A FOOT ON THE LINE?
Back to those E'Bert Picks for the Super Bowl. Well I hit 500 this weekend. 2 for 4. Pittsburgh and Baltimore advance. I had Pittsburgh going to the Super Bowl (see old E-Notes). Baltimore is my heart - so I would rather be wrong than right next week when these teams play.
Arizona and Philadelphia - want an NFC media joke. Look for the media to praise praise Kurt.
Poor Donovan needs to win a Super Bowl as much as Eli did last year. If Donovan disappears into the Arizona desert next week he might not want to return to Philadelphia. Detroit might even look better. Play with the Lions, they have no bite and no wins.
Talking football - let's mix a little politics into it. Here is Obama as our QB trying to move our country down the field. Look at the Congressional leaders. Lady P and Tin Man Reid. Obama throws these guys things he wants passed. How many yards will these guys get after the catch?
So far not much. If Obama fails to get things done quickly in Washington it will be because of weak leadership in Congress. Obama needs a Lyndon Johnson type on the Hill. It's amazing how the entire Black Congressional Caucus is not the equivalent to Adam Clayton Powell on a bad day. CBC- another group of back-up receivers or folks who can only play on special teams.
Black Agenda? Let's punt again.
Back to those E'Bert Picks for the Super Bowl. Well I hit 500 this weekend. 2 for 4. Pittsburgh and Baltimore advance. I had Pittsburgh going to the Super Bowl (see old E-Notes). Baltimore is my heart - so I would rather be wrong than right next week when these teams play.
Arizona and Philadelphia - want an NFC media joke. Look for the media to praise praise Kurt.
Poor Donovan needs to win a Super Bowl as much as Eli did last year. If Donovan disappears into the Arizona desert next week he might not want to return to Philadelphia. Detroit might even look better. Play with the Lions, they have no bite and no wins.
Talking football - let's mix a little politics into it. Here is Obama as our QB trying to move our country down the field. Look at the Congressional leaders. Lady P and Tin Man Reid. Obama throws these guys things he wants passed. How many yards will these guys get after the catch?
So far not much. If Obama fails to get things done quickly in Washington it will be because of weak leadership in Congress. Obama needs a Lyndon Johnson type on the Hill. It's amazing how the entire Black Congressional Caucus is not the equivalent to Adam Clayton Powell on a bad day. CBC- another group of back-up receivers or folks who can only play on special teams.
Black Agenda? Let's punt again.
Sports:
Ricky Henderson is expected to be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame this week. I loved watching this guy play. Great career stats:
Games led off with home run: 81 (1)
Runs: 2,295 (1)
Stolen bases: 1,406 (1)
Walks: 2,190 (2)
Hits: 3,055 (21)
In my memoir The 5th Inning coming out in March, I make the following reference to Henderson in Chapter 2:
Everything comes down to balls and strikes. You don't need religion or God to understand this. One can keep a scorecard just like God. Now and then you try to slow things down by stepping out of the box. I like how good hitters step back, adjust their uniforms, stroke their bats, survey the field, spit, grab themselves between the legs, step back into the box, touch their caps, stare at the pitcher, swing the bat a few times, and maybe if you're Ricky Henderson, step back out of the box and do it all over again. Ball and strikes. You can swing or take them. You can stand in the batter's box waiting for your pitch and never getting it. Some people never learn how to hit. Anybody can get lucky if they can lay the bat on the ball. Political leaders try to be first ball hitters. Great jazz musicians can swing all the time. Rumor has it that the first slave in America got hit in the head with a pitch.
A curveball?
Morning exercise done. Listening to Julie Dexter the last few days (www.juliedexter.com). On the reading list this week is The Poet by Yi Mun-yol. My friend Don Mee gave me this book back in 2001. It was a New Year's gift. Well, it's a New Year again.
A busy day today. Morning meeting with Andy down at Busboys. Interview with AOL. Interview with the VOA. Folger Reading at 7:30 PM with Linda Pastan and Tracy K. Smith.
I'll be doing the introductions.
A busy day today. Morning meeting with Andy down at Busboys. Interview with AOL. Interview with the VOA. Folger Reading at 7:30 PM with Linda Pastan and Tracy K. Smith.
I'll be doing the introductions.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
NAACP:
I had a nice conversation last week with Lee Daniels at the NAACP Defense Fund. Here is a link you might be interested in: www.naacpldf.org
I had a nice conversation last week with Lee Daniels at the NAACP Defense Fund. Here is a link you might be interested in: www.naacpldf.org
32 and Growing:
Morning board meeting at The Writer's Center.
http://www.writer.org/
The Center will be having a birthday party on January 24th from 7 - 10 PM.
Morning board meeting at The Writer's Center.
http://www.writer.org/
The Center will be having a birthday party on January 24th from 7 - 10 PM.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
A DAY IN THE LIFE OF E'BERT:
Saturdays seem to just disappear into Sundays. I went down to Teaism this morning. Had a nice chat with Channapha. Always a joy to be in her presence. She is the project director for Legacies of War: www.legaciesofwar.org
While in the DuPont Circle part of town I went into Kramers and puchased Linda Pastan's Queen of a Rainy Country. I have to introduce her at the Folger on Monday evening. The last few weeks I've been reading Pastan's early work - now I'll just bring things up to date. After this evening my introduction should be complete.
I did pick up a copy of February's Ebony magazine. On page 68 there is a statement by E. Ethelbert Miller about Barack and Michelle.
I watched those Ravens win today. They can put a hurt on folks. Did you see that Ray Lewis hit?
Ouch!
Saturdays seem to just disappear into Sundays. I went down to Teaism this morning. Had a nice chat with Channapha. Always a joy to be in her presence. She is the project director for Legacies of War: www.legaciesofwar.org
While in the DuPont Circle part of town I went into Kramers and puchased Linda Pastan's Queen of a Rainy Country. I have to introduce her at the Folger on Monday evening. The last few weeks I've been reading Pastan's early work - now I'll just bring things up to date. After this evening my introduction should be complete.
I did pick up a copy of February's Ebony magazine. On page 68 there is a statement by E. Ethelbert Miller about Barack and Michelle.
I watched those Ravens win today. They can put a hurt on folks. Did you see that Ray Lewis hit?
Ouch!
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. TODAY MY GUEST IS KENT FIELDING:
FIELDING:
When we look around the world today we see wars in Middle East – Israel, Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, potentially others – we see terrorism and are taught to fear the face and skin of the terrorist. The face is Islam and the skin is brown. We see a world in an economic crisis, a world in an energy crisis, an overpopulated world, and the future problems of climate change and pollution.
We see a lack of political will to solve issues and politicians willing to bail out companies and stock markets without amending how we do things. We as a world need to come together and solve these issues. We need to understand the different viewpoints of different ethnic and cultural populations. We need to forget hostilities and the borders of countries in poverty or countries who are Islamic. How do we do this?
We must become teachers and students without borders. We must adopt International Education and we must travel and talk to those who are different. We must open up dialogues. I will state that I have no hope in the current generation in power to solve any of the above issues. We must look to the youth, but we must empower them with skills to make change: the ability to think critically and creatively, to weight options, to look at a variety of sources, to speak, to debate, to write, and to feel with both the mind and the heart. A good speech and a good poem are similar and the future leaders should be armed with the ability to produce both. The question is where do we send students to get international attention.
Recently, I’ve become involved with IDEA (International Debate Education Association) – see Idebate.org – and have attended and worked at two of their summer institutes. Last year I took four students to Idea’s Debate and Citizen Journalism Institute held in Dikili, Turkey. My debate team had just held a World Nuclear Awareness Conference at the University of Alaska Southeast and brought in speakers, survivors from Hiroshima and the Marshall Islands (see http://www.uas.alaska.edu/media/productions/?collection=Miscellaneous and scroll down for free MP3 streaming of the conference) in which we invited dialogue about the horrors of weapons and warfare discussion included not only Nuclear testing of the 1950s (and the current health problems of the Marshallese due to the testing) but also the war in Iraq and DU (depleted uranium).
After the conference I realize that most of my students had never left the country and to really understand the world they needed to encounter viewpoints of people from other countries – particularly Islamic countries. So, they started to fund raise. Taking students to Turkey is not easy. Parents were fearful, and two students backed out because parents worried about terrorists. One parent called and asked, “Are you crazy? That country is next it Iraq. None of you will come back.”
In Turkey we traveled for five weeks and found a very friendly population. People wanted to meet us, talk to us, and often we were invited to seat down and eat or drink tea with them. At the Idea Institute, my students encountered other students from 26 different countries – some countries that my students didn’t even know existed (such as Georgia)—but they also encountered great teachers, college instructors, professional photographers and artists, who taught them skills such as how to conduct interviews, how to write a journalistic story, how to photography a person or scene (a “good photo tells a story without words”), how to create a video advocating ideas.
The entire institute follows Noel Selegzi’s (who oversees the running of the institute and is the director for Open Society Institute, which funds the program) philosophy that youth need to be able to discuss ideas and that no idea has come to an acceptable conclusion until it has been debated, and to “promote mutual understanding and democracy globally by supporting discussion and active citizenship locally.”
I am indebted to Noel and IDEA. The outcome of the institute on my students are as follows: Forest Kvasnikoff with five other students –from different countries: China, Latvia, Uganda, Russia and the USA—initiated a program to teach youth in Uganda journalism skills and who has volunteered in Israel next year in order to understand the current situation between Israel and Palestine; Shelby Surdyk was invited to Polar Bears International after someone seeing her photography of Turkey (photography skills that were developed and enhanced under the direction of IDEA journalists Nat Towsen and Pasqual Gorriz); Sierra Moran is currently involved with Spanish speaking communities of the Caribbean and South America; Megan Waggoner is working with climate change solutions. My four students were completely charged and changed by the experience. They also have lasting friends in other countries with whom they bounce off ideas.
As far as myself, I directed the nighttime activities at last year’s institute but became good friends with an visual artist from Slovakia with whom I’ve worked on projects such as a film of one of my poems, and together with a drama instructor, Kate Hamm (from France) we developed a Performance and Creative Arts Track for the 2009 Institute.
The 2009 Institute will offer three tracks: Journalism, Debate, and Performance. The Performance track will teach students how to write – poetry, drama, monologues – and use research in their writing, as well as how to perform and incorporate humor, visual arts and movement into a performance. The track has four teachers – Creative Writing, Dramatic Arts, Comedic Arts and Visual Arts. The theme of this year’s institute is Climate Change (a world problem) and over the course of three weeks students will write and produce a dramatic piece on climate change, which they will then perform at the ancient amphitheater at Pergamum. They will also develop skills, which they can take home to use in advocating they own ideas and problems. As the Marshallese activist Darlene Keju once said, “Teach the youth to advocate ideas and they will reach the adults.”
We need our students to think beyond the walls of the United States and beyond the screens of CNN and FOX news. They need to encounter the world and they need to be able to talk and walk with people from different cultures and with different viewpoints. We need to change this world and find solutions for climate change, the economic crisis, and warfare, but we need to do this as a human group, not as corporations or nations out for their own greed.
If you are interested in Idea’s Advocacy Institute (a change in name from Idea’s Debate and Citizen Journalism Institute) please see http://www.idebate.org/institute/ or email me at fieldingkent@hotmail.com .
Bio Note:
Kent Fielding has taught college and high school courses in places like RMI (Republic of the Marshall Islands), UAS in Sitka, and Jefferson Community College in Louisville. Currently he coaches drama and debate in Alaska. A published poet, Kent's work has appeared in more than twenty magazines and his first book, Chief Iffucan, was published in 2002. Kent is currently co-organizing a Climate Change Conference at the University of Alaska Southeast in Juneau and in the Marshall Islands.
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. TODAY MY GUEST IS KENT FIELDING:
FIELDING:
When we look around the world today we see wars in Middle East – Israel, Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, potentially others – we see terrorism and are taught to fear the face and skin of the terrorist. The face is Islam and the skin is brown. We see a world in an economic crisis, a world in an energy crisis, an overpopulated world, and the future problems of climate change and pollution.
We see a lack of political will to solve issues and politicians willing to bail out companies and stock markets without amending how we do things. We as a world need to come together and solve these issues. We need to understand the different viewpoints of different ethnic and cultural populations. We need to forget hostilities and the borders of countries in poverty or countries who are Islamic. How do we do this?
We must become teachers and students without borders. We must adopt International Education and we must travel and talk to those who are different. We must open up dialogues. I will state that I have no hope in the current generation in power to solve any of the above issues. We must look to the youth, but we must empower them with skills to make change: the ability to think critically and creatively, to weight options, to look at a variety of sources, to speak, to debate, to write, and to feel with both the mind and the heart. A good speech and a good poem are similar and the future leaders should be armed with the ability to produce both. The question is where do we send students to get international attention.
Recently, I’ve become involved with IDEA (International Debate Education Association) – see Idebate.org – and have attended and worked at two of their summer institutes. Last year I took four students to Idea’s Debate and Citizen Journalism Institute held in Dikili, Turkey. My debate team had just held a World Nuclear Awareness Conference at the University of Alaska Southeast and brought in speakers, survivors from Hiroshima and the Marshall Islands (see http://www.uas.alaska.edu/media/productions/?collection=Miscellaneous and scroll down for free MP3 streaming of the conference) in which we invited dialogue about the horrors of weapons and warfare discussion included not only Nuclear testing of the 1950s (and the current health problems of the Marshallese due to the testing) but also the war in Iraq and DU (depleted uranium).
After the conference I realize that most of my students had never left the country and to really understand the world they needed to encounter viewpoints of people from other countries – particularly Islamic countries. So, they started to fund raise. Taking students to Turkey is not easy. Parents were fearful, and two students backed out because parents worried about terrorists. One parent called and asked, “Are you crazy? That country is next it Iraq. None of you will come back.”
In Turkey we traveled for five weeks and found a very friendly population. People wanted to meet us, talk to us, and often we were invited to seat down and eat or drink tea with them. At the Idea Institute, my students encountered other students from 26 different countries – some countries that my students didn’t even know existed (such as Georgia)—but they also encountered great teachers, college instructors, professional photographers and artists, who taught them skills such as how to conduct interviews, how to write a journalistic story, how to photography a person or scene (a “good photo tells a story without words”), how to create a video advocating ideas.
The entire institute follows Noel Selegzi’s (who oversees the running of the institute and is the director for Open Society Institute, which funds the program) philosophy that youth need to be able to discuss ideas and that no idea has come to an acceptable conclusion until it has been debated, and to “promote mutual understanding and democracy globally by supporting discussion and active citizenship locally.”
I am indebted to Noel and IDEA. The outcome of the institute on my students are as follows: Forest Kvasnikoff with five other students –from different countries: China, Latvia, Uganda, Russia and the USA—initiated a program to teach youth in Uganda journalism skills and who has volunteered in Israel next year in order to understand the current situation between Israel and Palestine; Shelby Surdyk was invited to Polar Bears International after someone seeing her photography of Turkey (photography skills that were developed and enhanced under the direction of IDEA journalists Nat Towsen and Pasqual Gorriz); Sierra Moran is currently involved with Spanish speaking communities of the Caribbean and South America; Megan Waggoner is working with climate change solutions. My four students were completely charged and changed by the experience. They also have lasting friends in other countries with whom they bounce off ideas.
As far as myself, I directed the nighttime activities at last year’s institute but became good friends with an visual artist from Slovakia with whom I’ve worked on projects such as a film of one of my poems, and together with a drama instructor, Kate Hamm (from France) we developed a Performance and Creative Arts Track for the 2009 Institute.
The 2009 Institute will offer three tracks: Journalism, Debate, and Performance. The Performance track will teach students how to write – poetry, drama, monologues – and use research in their writing, as well as how to perform and incorporate humor, visual arts and movement into a performance. The track has four teachers – Creative Writing, Dramatic Arts, Comedic Arts and Visual Arts. The theme of this year’s institute is Climate Change (a world problem) and over the course of three weeks students will write and produce a dramatic piece on climate change, which they will then perform at the ancient amphitheater at Pergamum. They will also develop skills, which they can take home to use in advocating they own ideas and problems. As the Marshallese activist Darlene Keju once said, “Teach the youth to advocate ideas and they will reach the adults.”
We need our students to think beyond the walls of the United States and beyond the screens of CNN and FOX news. They need to encounter the world and they need to be able to talk and walk with people from different cultures and with different viewpoints. We need to change this world and find solutions for climate change, the economic crisis, and warfare, but we need to do this as a human group, not as corporations or nations out for their own greed.
If you are interested in Idea’s Advocacy Institute (a change in name from Idea’s Debate and Citizen Journalism Institute) please see http://www.idebate.org/institute/ or email me at fieldingkent@hotmail.com .
Bio Note:
Kent Fielding has taught college and high school courses in places like RMI (Republic of the Marshall Islands), UAS in Sitka, and Jefferson Community College in Louisville. Currently he coaches drama and debate in Alaska. A published poet, Kent's work has appeared in more than twenty magazines and his first book, Chief Iffucan, was published in 2002. Kent is currently co-organizing a Climate Change Conference at the University of Alaska Southeast in Juneau and in the Marshall Islands.
Quilts for Obama: An Exhibit Celebrating the Inauguration of our 44th President.
Roland L. Freeman, Guest Curator
Opening Reception is 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Sunday, January 11, 2009
The Historical Society of Washington
801 K Street, NW ( at Mount Vernon Square)
Gallery Hours: 10AM-5PM, Tuesday-Sunday (Closed Inauguration Day)
The exhibit will be on view from January 11 - January 31, 2009
DON'T TELL OBAMA:
Bowling is also making a comeback among teenagers. The USBC reports that bowling is the fastest-growing high school sport, the 51,744 young bowlers in the 2007-08 season representing an annual increase of 17%. This year, 200 colleges offer bowling as a varsity or club sport; in 2007, women bowlers at Vanderbilt University won the school's first national championship in any sport.
- The Wall Street Journal, January 8, 2009
Bowling is also making a comeback among teenagers. The USBC reports that bowling is the fastest-growing high school sport, the 51,744 young bowlers in the 2007-08 season representing an annual increase of 17%. This year, 200 colleges offer bowling as a varsity or club sport; in 2007, women bowlers at Vanderbilt University won the school's first national championship in any sport.
- The Wall Street Journal, January 8, 2009
Friday, January 09, 2009
ARTS:
Sign this petition when you have a minute.
Quincy Jones has started a petition to ask President-Elect Obama to appoint a Secretary of the Arts. While many other countries have had Ministers of Art or Culture for centuries, The United States has never created such a position. We in the arts need this and the country needs the arts--now more than ever.
Please take a moment to sign this important petition and then pass it on to your friends and colleagues.
www.petitiononline.com/esnyc/petition.html
Sign this petition when you have a minute.
Quincy Jones has started a petition to ask President-Elect Obama to appoint a Secretary of the Arts. While many other countries have had Ministers of Art or Culture for centuries, The United States has never created such a position. We in the arts need this and the country needs the arts--now more than ever.
Please take a moment to sign this important petition and then pass it on to your friends and colleagues.
www.petitiononline.com/esnyc/petition.html
Retirement?
I've been seriously thinking about retiring from creative writing in about 2 years and managing a major league baseball team. One major reason is that I'm tired of the same discussions and debates. Here is David Yezzi in The Wall Street Journal today:
As soon as poetry espouses an interest group, it ceases to speak to the widest audience and fails in its bid for universality.
This is just nonsense and someone in a writing workshop somewhere is repeating it over and over again. So should I use the speakerphone on my cell? Please help me reach the widest audience possible. I love being an interest group - it's so there.
I've been seriously thinking about retiring from creative writing in about 2 years and managing a major league baseball team. One major reason is that I'm tired of the same discussions and debates. Here is David Yezzi in The Wall Street Journal today:
As soon as poetry espouses an interest group, it ceases to speak to the widest audience and fails in its bid for universality.
This is just nonsense and someone in a writing workshop somewhere is repeating it over and over again. So should I use the speakerphone on my cell? Please help me reach the widest audience possible. I love being an interest group - it's so there.
One thing that always disturbs me about foreign policy and the relationship between nations is the language they use. Too often one nation talks to another like it's a child. So we complain that North Korea isn't behaving itself. Geez. What does this mean? Go sit in a corner with no nuclear weapons? The child tone seems so colonial at times. The idea of not talking to certain countries really doesn't work. Are we going to take away their cell phones? How much of this is the fault of racial crumbs being left on the floor of the world? I remember when I was a child and white folks wanted to rub my head for good luck. What was that about? Hey -Cuba, come here. Let me touch your head. You too Zimbabwe. If you don't obey me...whoa watch those natural resources.
THE BOOKMARKS ARE IN:
I have bookmarks for The 5th Inning. Spread the news.
If you want a few, write to me at: emiller698@aol.com
I have bookmarks for The 5th Inning. Spread the news.
If you want a few, write to me at: emiller698@aol.com
Media Watch?
On the front page of The New York Times today is an article written by Taghreed El-Khodary.
I had to Google her to see if she was real. The article captures the condition in Gaza. As you know things are bad. This article however presents us with the problem. In the emergency room in Shifa Hospital people are bleeding and trying to be helped. El-Khodary describes a smiling militant with the Islamic Jihad who has shrapnel in his left leg but wants to be treated quickly so he can go back to fighting the Israelis. Of course the guy is talking about being a martyr.
Reading this article and then things about the UN problems with Israel - I just wanted to say - "OK -Game Over!" Civilians are suffering. Why? Why are we talking about humanitarian aid when no one is acting human? I'm tired of seeing pictures of rubble, and people beneath rubble. Jimmy Carter call this an unnecessary war. Most wars are unnecessary.
Good News: Baseball Countdowns.
Ken Burns is going to make another film about baseball. The Tenth Inning will be broadcast in the spring of 2010.
The special will coincide with a rebroadcast of "Baseball," the 1994 nine-part documentary series.
Well I'm glad my memoir The 5th inning is coming out in March 2009. I must remind myself to send KB a copy.
SITTING IN THE DARK AND LOVING MY BLACKNESS
On February 17th my televisions won't work. I don't have cable. I decided not to have it while my children were growing up. I wanted them to be around more books than channels. All the televisions in my house are old. I wouldn't buy a converter box from a vendor even if it came with a year supply of incense. Why? I discovered that I really don't watch television anymore. I have maybe two favorite shows. On Sundays I still watch football and basketball games. But with my children grown it's just not the same. Our feet are no longer dangling off the bed; nor are we laughing and slapping each other after baskets and touchdowns. Television I now associate with the days of early fatherhood. As my children have grown television programming has become awful. As I reach the bend in the road before my highway 60, I find myself around the computer more. This is the new "fire" that keeps me warm.
Thursday, January 08, 2009
CUBA:
With the US having economic problems it only makes sense to open the doors to trading with Cuba. How many people on the island would like a new car?
The embargo has been a failure. Why do "people" suffer and not leaders? How different would our hemisphere be if the US, Cuba and Venezuela were working together to reduce poverty in places like Haiti or Central America? What if Cuba sent doctors and we sent the medicine to needed areas? Remember when Fidel wanted to help after Katrina? Would it had made a difference? You betcha! I can see Cuba from my window.
With the US having economic problems it only makes sense to open the doors to trading with Cuba. How many people on the island would like a new car?
The embargo has been a failure. Why do "people" suffer and not leaders? How different would our hemisphere be if the US, Cuba and Venezuela were working together to reduce poverty in places like Haiti or Central America? What if Cuba sent doctors and we sent the medicine to needed areas? Remember when Fidel wanted to help after Katrina? Would it had made a difference? You betcha! I can see Cuba from my window.
Magazines: Obama is on the cover of this one too.
The new Callaloo is out. It's "The Politics Issue" guest edited by Michael Collins. I checked a few of the things I plan to read:
Poems by Derek Walcott
Fiction by Bernardine Evaristo
Drama by Jessica Hagedorn
Nonfiction prose by Amiri Baraka
Rumor has it that a few writers have started to boycott the publication since the removal of E. Ethelbert Miller as a contributing and advisory editor. I know nothing about this but will look into the matter. I will also pay close attention to the cease-fire talks in the Middle East.
The new Callaloo is out. It's "The Politics Issue" guest edited by Michael Collins. I checked a few of the things I plan to read:
Poems by Derek Walcott
Fiction by Bernardine Evaristo
Drama by Jessica Hagedorn
Nonfiction prose by Amiri Baraka
Rumor has it that a few writers have started to boycott the publication since the removal of E. Ethelbert Miller as a contributing and advisory editor. I know nothing about this but will look into the matter. I will also pay close attention to the cease-fire talks in the Middle East.
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. TODAY MY GUEST IS INDRAN AMIRTHANAYAGAM. Here is one of his recent poems:
INAUGURATION
I have no words
to compete
with rain
or sunlight,
or the brush
of your hair
on my brow.
I am humbled
before beauty
and this chance
to lead a nation
out of delusion
with self and others;
but I remain unelected,
acknowledged only
by a few readers
of psychosis,
the notion that word
becomes flesh,
we accept by rote,
at mass,
a divine mystery,
but ignore the man
on a soapbox
who reads his ya yahs
out at the Bowery
Poetry Café
on Sunday morning
at 9 am during
a marathon reading
to welcome the year,
to say, World,
you've still got poets
to kick around. Bring
on the go-go girls,
mountebanks, acrobats.
The show is everything.
Let's say hurrah for all
that jazz. The inauguration
will be like no other.
Time moves the chariot
up Pennsylvania Avenue.
Get your dreams on board,
children well strapped, save
room for seedlings in pots,
germs, a fish tank; 'though
this is no ark, here hope
will take root or expire.
Indran Amirthanayagam (c) 2009
Visit site: www.indranamirthanayagam.blogspot.com
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. TODAY MY GUEST IS INDRAN AMIRTHANAYAGAM. Here is one of his recent poems:
INAUGURATION
I have no words
to compete
with rain
or sunlight,
or the brush
of your hair
on my brow.
I am humbled
before beauty
and this chance
to lead a nation
out of delusion
with self and others;
but I remain unelected,
acknowledged only
by a few readers
of psychosis,
the notion that word
becomes flesh,
we accept by rote,
at mass,
a divine mystery,
but ignore the man
on a soapbox
who reads his ya yahs
out at the Bowery
Poetry Café
on Sunday morning
at 9 am during
a marathon reading
to welcome the year,
to say, World,
you've still got poets
to kick around. Bring
on the go-go girls,
mountebanks, acrobats.
The show is everything.
Let's say hurrah for all
that jazz. The inauguration
will be like no other.
Time moves the chariot
up Pennsylvania Avenue.
Get your dreams on board,
children well strapped, save
room for seedlings in pots,
germs, a fish tank; 'though
this is no ark, here hope
will take root or expire.
Indran Amirthanayagam (c) 2009
Visit site: www.indranamirthanayagam.blogspot.com
Upcoming programs at George Washington University:
Thursday, January 15, 10AM - 4PM
Martin Luther King Jr Birthday Celebration and Exhibition
Marvin Center Great Hall, Third Floor
800 21st Street, NW
Exhibition of Martin Luther King Jr memorabilia.
Free and open to the public.
Thursday, January 29, 5PM
Inaugural Reading: Edward P. Jones, author of The Known World
Jack Morton Auditorium
805 21st Street, NWP.
Jones is the first GW Wang Visiting Professor in Contemporary English Literature
Thursday, January 15, 10AM - 4PM
Martin Luther King Jr Birthday Celebration and Exhibition
Marvin Center Great Hall, Third Floor
800 21st Street, NW
Exhibition of Martin Luther King Jr memorabilia.
Free and open to the public.
Thursday, January 29, 5PM
Inaugural Reading: Edward P. Jones, author of The Known World
Jack Morton Auditorium
805 21st Street, NWP.
Jones is the first GW Wang Visiting Professor in Contemporary English Literature
The Velvet Foundation:
Timothy Scofied the founder and chief executive of the Velvet Foundation is trying to build a museum in DC which will celebrate the national history of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender culture. He is currently planning a traveling exhibit "The History of Marriage in America."
www.velvetfoundation.org
Timothy Scofied the founder and chief executive of the Velvet Foundation is trying to build a museum in DC which will celebrate the national history of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender culture. He is currently planning a traveling exhibit "The History of Marriage in America."
www.velvetfoundation.org
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
THE WAR:
On Sunday, APN called on you to write to Congress, to press them to urge the Bush administration to spare no effort to achieve a ceasefire.I know that many of you have written Congress already. Thank you.
If you have not yet done so, I hope that you will take this opportunity to take action. Click here to edit and send your letters now. Members of Congress are reportedly working on a resolution dealing with the ongoing violence as I write this email.
It's vital that they hear from their constituents who support Israel's right of self-defense and want to see the United States urgently engaged in efforts to secure a ceasefire.I also encourage you to visit APN's Gaza Crisis Resource Webpage for news and analysis about the violence.
Among the unique resources that APN provides are short audio interviews offering a variety of perspectives on the crisis.Sincerely,Noam ShelefDirector of Strategic CommunicationsAmericans for Peace Nowwww.peacenow.org
Support the work of Shalom Achshav and Americans for Peace Now.
On Sunday, APN called on you to write to Congress, to press them to urge the Bush administration to spare no effort to achieve a ceasefire.I know that many of you have written Congress already. Thank you.
If you have not yet done so, I hope that you will take this opportunity to take action. Click here to edit and send your letters now. Members of Congress are reportedly working on a resolution dealing with the ongoing violence as I write this email.
It's vital that they hear from their constituents who support Israel's right of self-defense and want to see the United States urgently engaged in efforts to secure a ceasefire.I also encourage you to visit APN's Gaza Crisis Resource Webpage for news and analysis about the violence.
Among the unique resources that APN provides are short audio interviews offering a variety of perspectives on the crisis.Sincerely,Noam ShelefDirector of Strategic CommunicationsAmericans for Peace Nowwww.peacenow.org
Support the work of Shalom Achshav and Americans for Peace Now.
NEWS FROM THE TEMPLE:
Dear Colleagues:
Please join the Consensus Group for a classic Victory Inauguration Gala on Sunday, January 18, 2009, as we celebrate the historic inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama and pay a fitting Tribute to the Civil Rights Movement.
Our special guest honoree will be an unsung hero, the Honorable Rev. Walter E. Fauntroy, former colleague of the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., former Delegate to the United States Congress from the District of Columbia, and former candidate for President of the United States.
This Gala will take place at the Four Points Sheraton, 1201 K St.N.W., from 8:00 p.m. until 3:00 a.m. and will feature food, a variety of live entertainment from Cuban drummers, Jazz, to Neo-soul singer, Angela Johnson, and an incredible program and salute to a movement that is largely responsible for the moment at hand.
Following the Tribute, the Gala will feature music from DJ Hollywood direct from New York City. The event promises to be a night full of history, commemoration, festive celebration and good people. Please visit our website: http://www.victoryinaugurationgala.com/.
For tickets please call 877-258-8177. Limited tickets are available. We are also paying a special tribute to activist and comedian Dick Gregory at an informal luncheon on Martin Luther King Jr.'s Birthday, Monday, January 19, 2009, at noon, at the Channel Inn on the Potomac.
Brother Gregory deserves the highest honor and credit for being the first African-American candidate to run for the presidency and shattering, by design, the myth that a black man could never be elected to that high office. Dick, now well into his seventies, remains a priceless voice and advocate for social justice.
There is limited seating for this event as well. You may also call 877-258-8177 to reserve and purchase tickets. Both locations are conveniently located near DC Metro stops.
Donald Temple
For Immediate Release
Media Contact:
Kyle Semmel
4508 Walsh Street
Bethesda, MD 20815
ksemmel@writer.org
www.writer.org
301.654.8664
The Writer’s Center Awarded Major Donation from Alpha/Tau Foundation
BETHESDA (Jan. 7, 2009)—The Writer’s Center is pleased to announce that it received a generous $30,000 donation from the Alpha/Tau Foundation during its annual fall fundraising campaign. The donation, to be distributed over the next year, will apply to general operating costs and is the largest single contribution ever made to The Writer’s Center.
On January 31, The Writer’s Center will celebrate its 32nd birthday with a reading by acclaimed writer Phillip Lopate, and donations such as this are a strong reminder of why The Writer’s Center remains an important institution locally and, increasingly, nationally.
“The Center is deeply gratified to know that the Alpha/Tau Foundation recognizes the important role that the creative writing process plays for both individuals and for the larger culture,” Writer’s Center Board Chair Charlotte Moser says. “The Writer's Center has been nurturing creative fiction, poetry, memoir, and screenwriting for 32 years in the Washington, D.C. area. We are grateful that, through this major gift, the Alpha/Tau Foundation is now helping us to continue cultivating creativity in literature.”
In 2008, The Writer’s Center underwent a number of significant changes, including the hiring of a new Director, the addition of new staff members, and the election of three new board members. The team that’s now in place seeks to expand The Writer’s Center’s reach by providing more offerings—readings, workshops, public events—for our community. And, as Director Charles Jensen says, “A gift of this size represents a vote of confidence in The Writer’s Center’s ability to serve our community. Because we’re at such a unique moment for the organization, this gift will have the kind of transformative effect we truly need.”
In addition to this major gift from the Alpha/Tau Foundation, The Writer’s Center’s 2008 fall fundraising efforts raised more than $64,000, proving that even in a sluggish economy the literary arts continue—and will continue—to play a significant role in the region’s cultural life. Former Town of Chevy Chase mayor and current Writer’s Center board member Mier Wolf sees the Center’s fundraising success as an “affirmation of the impressive quality of writing workshops The Writer’s Center provides to the public.”
About The Writer’s Center: The Writer’s Center was founded in 1976 and has since become one of the leading independent literary centers in the United States. Its goal is to promote the art of writing and to build a community of writers, workshop leaders, publishers, and audiences for contemporary writing. With a distinguished staff of over 100 instructors—a list that includes Stanley Plumly, Robert Bausch, and Nani Power—The Writer’s Center offers over 300 workshops annually in a variety of genres. Many of our members have gone on to publish critically acclaimed books, including Alex MacLennan (The Zookeeper), Leslie Pietrzyk (A Year and a Day), and James Mathews (Last Known Position, the 2008 winner of the Katherine Anne Porter Prize).
Media Contact:
Kyle Semmel
4508 Walsh Street
Bethesda, MD 20815
ksemmel@writer.org
www.writer.org
301.654.8664
The Writer’s Center Awarded Major Donation from Alpha/Tau Foundation
BETHESDA (Jan. 7, 2009)—The Writer’s Center is pleased to announce that it received a generous $30,000 donation from the Alpha/Tau Foundation during its annual fall fundraising campaign. The donation, to be distributed over the next year, will apply to general operating costs and is the largest single contribution ever made to The Writer’s Center.
On January 31, The Writer’s Center will celebrate its 32nd birthday with a reading by acclaimed writer Phillip Lopate, and donations such as this are a strong reminder of why The Writer’s Center remains an important institution locally and, increasingly, nationally.
“The Center is deeply gratified to know that the Alpha/Tau Foundation recognizes the important role that the creative writing process plays for both individuals and for the larger culture,” Writer’s Center Board Chair Charlotte Moser says. “The Writer's Center has been nurturing creative fiction, poetry, memoir, and screenwriting for 32 years in the Washington, D.C. area. We are grateful that, through this major gift, the Alpha/Tau Foundation is now helping us to continue cultivating creativity in literature.”
In 2008, The Writer’s Center underwent a number of significant changes, including the hiring of a new Director, the addition of new staff members, and the election of three new board members. The team that’s now in place seeks to expand The Writer’s Center’s reach by providing more offerings—readings, workshops, public events—for our community. And, as Director Charles Jensen says, “A gift of this size represents a vote of confidence in The Writer’s Center’s ability to serve our community. Because we’re at such a unique moment for the organization, this gift will have the kind of transformative effect we truly need.”
In addition to this major gift from the Alpha/Tau Foundation, The Writer’s Center’s 2008 fall fundraising efforts raised more than $64,000, proving that even in a sluggish economy the literary arts continue—and will continue—to play a significant role in the region’s cultural life. Former Town of Chevy Chase mayor and current Writer’s Center board member Mier Wolf sees the Center’s fundraising success as an “affirmation of the impressive quality of writing workshops The Writer’s Center provides to the public.”
About The Writer’s Center: The Writer’s Center was founded in 1976 and has since become one of the leading independent literary centers in the United States. Its goal is to promote the art of writing and to build a community of writers, workshop leaders, publishers, and audiences for contemporary writing. With a distinguished staff of over 100 instructors—a list that includes Stanley Plumly, Robert Bausch, and Nani Power—The Writer’s Center offers over 300 workshops annually in a variety of genres. Many of our members have gone on to publish critically acclaimed books, including Alex MacLennan (The Zookeeper), Leslie Pietrzyk (A Year and a Day), and James Mathews (Last Known Position, the 2008 winner of the Katherine Anne Porter Prize).
Media Teeth:
With newspapers going out of business and networks celebrating cuts look for the media to grow teeth. A big bite will be taken from the Obamaburger. Since it's obvious that the President-Elect is a stimulus for the economy why not continue to exploit it with news drama. Go negative on Obama and the media will tell itself that it's being fair, honest and critical. The bottom line is that the media needs the sales and the attention. Even Palestinians are getting more play in the news these days. Bash Israel and it's good for letters to the editor. Meanwhile one has to wonder where the media really stands. Is it helping to bring good into the world?
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
Being in the middle in the Middle East:
Over the years I've spent a considerable amount of time working with the Palestinian as well as the Jewish and Israeli communities. It has been a very educational experience and has shaped my world view and my desire for peace. I remember my dear friend June Jordan writing about being born Palestinian and being born black. She saw the connection between two people. But how long have African Americans been looking to the Old Testament for inspiration? We share many traditions with people of the Jewish faith. Many years ago I started my series "Windows and Mirrors" at the DCJCC. It was a way of bringing together Blacks and Jews. At the same time I've been fortunate to travel in the Middle East and visit countries like Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Iraq and Yemen. Recently I received an invitation to Abu Dhabi where friends have translated a book of my poems into Arabic.
A couple of years ago I had a Fulbright to Israel. I gave a number of talks at schools in Haifa as well as Tel Aviv. I still correspond with the friends I made during that trip. I've been staying in touch with them since the recent war started. It seems everyone desires peace in the region.
I've been a supporter of a two state solution. I'm very much aware of the history of the region and the plight of the Palestinians around the issue of land. I also know that Israel is not going to disappear from the map and that it has a right to exist. Maybe I sound like an African American trying to play jazz. How do we create a sound that's new and brings different chords together? Maybe we should play Ornette Coleman the next time there are peace talks. Is it possible to bring Hamas and Israel together for a free jazz session? Have them walk into a room not knowing what to play but eventually creating a new sound.
There is too much funeral fog in the air. Too many wounded weeping. Every bomb and every bullet seems to destroy a prayer. I keep waiting for a man with a horn to appear.
Over the years I've spent a considerable amount of time working with the Palestinian as well as the Jewish and Israeli communities. It has been a very educational experience and has shaped my world view and my desire for peace. I remember my dear friend June Jordan writing about being born Palestinian and being born black. She saw the connection between two people. But how long have African Americans been looking to the Old Testament for inspiration? We share many traditions with people of the Jewish faith. Many years ago I started my series "Windows and Mirrors" at the DCJCC. It was a way of bringing together Blacks and Jews. At the same time I've been fortunate to travel in the Middle East and visit countries like Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Iraq and Yemen. Recently I received an invitation to Abu Dhabi where friends have translated a book of my poems into Arabic.
A couple of years ago I had a Fulbright to Israel. I gave a number of talks at schools in Haifa as well as Tel Aviv. I still correspond with the friends I made during that trip. I've been staying in touch with them since the recent war started. It seems everyone desires peace in the region.
I've been a supporter of a two state solution. I'm very much aware of the history of the region and the plight of the Palestinians around the issue of land. I also know that Israel is not going to disappear from the map and that it has a right to exist. Maybe I sound like an African American trying to play jazz. How do we create a sound that's new and brings different chords together? Maybe we should play Ornette Coleman the next time there are peace talks. Is it possible to bring Hamas and Israel together for a free jazz session? Have them walk into a room not knowing what to play but eventually creating a new sound.
There is too much funeral fog in the air. Too many wounded weeping. Every bomb and every bullet seems to destroy a prayer. I keep waiting for a man with a horn to appear.
Quote of the Day:
Only a few troops, perhaps 1 percent, will actually direct aimed fire at the enemy with the intent to kill. These troops are treasured, and set apart, and called snipers.
Armed robots will all be snipers. Stone-cold killers, every one of them. They will aim with inhuman precision and fire without human hesitation. They will not need bonuses to enlist or housing for their families or expensive training ranges or retirement payments. Commanders will order them onto battlefields that would mean certain death for humans, knowing that the worst to come is a trip to the shop for repairs. The writing of condolence letters would become a lost art.
- John Pike, The Washington Post, January 4, 2009
Only a few troops, perhaps 1 percent, will actually direct aimed fire at the enemy with the intent to kill. These troops are treasured, and set apart, and called snipers.
Armed robots will all be snipers. Stone-cold killers, every one of them. They will aim with inhuman precision and fire without human hesitation. They will not need bonuses to enlist or housing for their families or expensive training ranges or retirement payments. Commanders will order them onto battlefields that would mean certain death for humans, knowing that the worst to come is a trip to the shop for repairs. The writing of condolence letters would become a lost art.
- John Pike, The Washington Post, January 4, 2009
Tracy Smith and Linda Pastan poetry reading at the Folger next week. I've almost finished my introductions. I was reading Pastan's An Early Afterlife and came across her poem "Baseball." It captures some of the things I try to say in my memoir The 5th Inning, which will be released in March.
Baseball
When you tried to tell me
baseball was metaphor
for life: the long, dusty travail
around the bases, for instance,
to try to go home again;
the Sacrifice for which you win
approval but not applause;
the way the light closes down
in the last days of the season -
I didn't believe you.
It's just a way of passing
the time, I said.
And you said: that's it.
Yes.
Baseball
When you tried to tell me
baseball was metaphor
for life: the long, dusty travail
around the bases, for instance,
to try to go home again;
the Sacrifice for which you win
approval but not applause;
the way the light closes down
in the last days of the season -
I didn't believe you.
It's just a way of passing
the time, I said.
And you said: that's it.
Yes.
Monday, January 05, 2009
Sunday, January 04, 2009
Books:
I enjoyed Michael Dirda's review of Diana Athill's Somewhere Towards The End in today's Book World (WPost). Time for me to write those books about aging too. Funny how you can see time catching you by the elbows. Athill writes about no longer being a sexual being. Sounds like the afterlife to me.
I enjoyed Michael Dirda's review of Diana Athill's Somewhere Towards The End in today's Book World (WPost). Time for me to write those books about aging too. Funny how you can see time catching you by the elbows. Athill writes about no longer being a sexual being. Sounds like the afterlife to me.
Economics:
The fallout from declining local TV ad revenue, weakening DVD sales and diminishing sources of film financing will continue to pound Los Angeles' signature industry, which employs more than 200,000 people and pumps an estimated $20 billion to $30 billion into the local economy.
Many people expect that will trigger further layoffs at the studios, networks, independent production outfits and other media companies on top of the thousands of job losses that have occurred in recent months. Industry executives contend that the steep downturn will force Hollywood to change the way it does business.
The Washington Post, January 3, 2009
The fallout from declining local TV ad revenue, weakening DVD sales and diminishing sources of film financing will continue to pound Los Angeles' signature industry, which employs more than 200,000 people and pumps an estimated $20 billion to $30 billion into the local economy.
Many people expect that will trigger further layoffs at the studios, networks, independent production outfits and other media companies on top of the thousands of job losses that have occurred in recent months. Industry executives contend that the steep downturn will force Hollywood to change the way it does business.
The Washington Post, January 3, 2009
Saturday, January 03, 2009
Sports:
NFL Playoffs begin today. Back on December 18th I picked 3 teams to win the big game in a few weeks. They were: New England, Indianapolis and Pittsburgh. Well NE is out. This club was playing good football down the stretch. I was pulling for them. Now I have to see what Indy and Pitt does. I'm not a real fan of either of these teams. I just see them playing good football right now. The only playoff team I have a deep love for are the Ravens. Can they put an end to the miracle in Miami?
NFL Playoffs begin today. Back on December 18th I picked 3 teams to win the big game in a few weeks. They were: New England, Indianapolis and Pittsburgh. Well NE is out. This club was playing good football down the stretch. I was pulling for them. Now I have to see what Indy and Pitt does. I'm not a real fan of either of these teams. I just see them playing good football right now. The only playoff team I have a deep love for are the Ravens. Can they put an end to the miracle in Miami?
New Year and New Things to Do. In 2008 I made it through the entire year without drinking any beer or wine. Yahoo. I also undertook a tremendous surge and almost had no ice cream for 12 months. Now comes 2009 and I must tackle cookies and sweets. I must be going green.
I just wrote down my New Year Resolutions in the margins of a page of The New York Times this morning. Is this what poets do when they are not writing poems?
Here are a few things the E will be doing in this year which promises to be Sonny Liston Mean:
1. Listen More and Listen Better.
2. Pay bills on time.
3. Save an additional $50 each month; rebuilding the E Fund (Emergency).
4. Read 1 book a week This week it's Paul Beatty's Slumberland. Next week it will be Red Diapers:Growing Up In The Communist Left edited by Judy Kaplan and Linn Shapiro.
5. Sweet Reduction: No cookies!
6. Continue to build literary archives at George Washington University:http://www.gwu.edu/gelman/spec/ead/ms2215.xml
7. Exercise in the evenings as well as the mornings
8. Promote my new books coming out in 2009 on a daily basis. Spend 1 hour each day.
9. Have a Zero Day once a week. A day when I will try to spend no money.
Friday, January 02, 2009
2009 and Beyond:
Was that our McKinney in the Middle East? The world is a stage and someone has to stand on it.
Notice how quickly she called for Obama to do something.
OH, boy. For the next four years every black person who gets stopped or attacked by someone is going to yell not for their Momma but Obama. Have a black problem - who do you call? Not the super but Obama. Having problems with your hair? Who do you call? Obama fix my kitchen. It's going to be crazy by June. Soul folks will want "Brother President" to do and solve everything. I bet there is a black guy on the southside of Chicago cussing cause his wine or beer is gone. Obama is in the White House and his black butt is still on the street. It's going to be difficult to change this world with just a prayer and a president.
Was that our McKinney in the Middle East? The world is a stage and someone has to stand on it.
Notice how quickly she called for Obama to do something.
OH, boy. For the next four years every black person who gets stopped or attacked by someone is going to yell not for their Momma but Obama. Have a black problem - who do you call? Not the super but Obama. Having problems with your hair? Who do you call? Obama fix my kitchen. It's going to be crazy by June. Soul folks will want "Brother President" to do and solve everything. I bet there is a black guy on the southside of Chicago cussing cause his wine or beer is gone. Obama is in the White House and his black butt is still on the street. It's going to be difficult to change this world with just a prayer and a president.
THE GOOD EARTH:
Advocates of natural, or "green," cemeteries say conventional burials pollute the earth with embalming chemicals, disturb the land and waste energy in the production and transport of coffins and vaults.
- The Wall Street Journal, January 2, 2009.
Maybe we should just stop the killings. Will living longer keep the ground clean?
Advocates of natural, or "green," cemeteries say conventional burials pollute the earth with embalming chemicals, disturb the land and waste energy in the production and transport of coffins and vaults.
- The Wall Street Journal, January 2, 2009.
Maybe we should just stop the killings. Will living longer keep the ground clean?
GET READYThe Cleveland Show will air on FOX soon. It's a spinoff from Family Guy.
Get the panel discussions ready.
Black pundits will examine every joke and throw it against a "race" screen to see what sticks and could be harmful to the little ones. Now, Obama is from Chicago. Hmmm. Cleveland, Chicago, they both begin with the letter C. Help me Cornell...is this part of a new media conspiracy?
Thursday, January 01, 2009
A note from my friend Eric:
Around ten years ago I got a Bible as a gift on my way to college. Inside, there was a daily reading schedule to read the whole Bible in a year (reading the new testament twice). So on this same day (Jan 1) I started reading and finished on Dec 31st.
It was the best thing I could've done with my time, and even helped me stay more focused throughout each day and also manage my time better.
For 2009, I've put a Bible reading schedule online and wanted to invite you to read it this year. My schedule will only have you read the New Testament once though (reading a little from the New and the Old Testament each day). I posted it up on one of my websites at http://www.offensedefense.org/oneyearbible.html
Would u like to do it?
MUSIC FOR A NEW YEAR:
GLOBAL RHYTHMS ~ The Best of All Possible World's Music ...Anytime ~ Online ~ Everywhere at www.WMNF.org/programs/show/351
GLOBAL RHYTHMS ~ The Best of All Possible World's Music ...Anytime ~ Online ~ Everywhere at www.WMNF.org/programs/show/351
It's January but why wait for February and Black History Month
African American Museums one can visit:
Anacostia Community Museum: http://www.anacostia.si.edu/
Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia: http://www.blackhistorymuseum.org/
The National Great Blacks in Wax Museum in Baltimore: http://www.ngblwm.com/
Museum of African American History in Boston: http://www.afroammuseum.org/
National Museum of African American History and Culture/The Museum on the Web
http://www.nmaahc.si.edu/
Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture
http://www.africanamericanculture.org/
Weeksville Heritage Center in Brooklyn: http://www.weeksvillesociety.org/
African American Museum in Philadelphia: http://www.aampmuseum.org/
Robert Russa Moton Museum in Farmville, Virginia: http://motonmuseum.org/
African American Museums one can visit:
Anacostia Community Museum: http://www.anacostia.si.edu/
Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia: http://www.blackhistorymuseum.org/
The National Great Blacks in Wax Museum in Baltimore: http://www.ngblwm.com/
Museum of African American History in Boston: http://www.afroammuseum.org/
National Museum of African American History and Culture/The Museum on the Web
http://www.nmaahc.si.edu/
Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture
http://www.africanamericanculture.org/
Weeksville Heritage Center in Brooklyn: http://www.weeksvillesociety.org/
African American Museum in Philadelphia: http://www.aampmuseum.org/
Robert Russa Moton Museum in Farmville, Virginia: http://motonmuseum.org/
FOCUS South African Activist Helen Suzman Dies at 91
"South African anti-apartheid activist Helen Suzman, who won international acclaim as one of the few white lawmakers to fight against the injustices of racist rule, died Thursday. She was 91. Suzman, who was twice nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, fought a long and lonely battle in the South African parliament against government repression of the country's black majority and the imprisonment of Nelson Mandela."
SPORTS:
Howard University's men's basketball team is 1-11 this season.
Hey, my son is moving back to DC in a few months. Is HU looking to hire a young assistant coach? Howard University needs to have a team that the nation looks to with pride. It's amazing looking at where Georgetown University is right now. How many of the guys playing on that team played against my son in high school? Howard could get some good players from right in the DC area. If not now - when?
OH, HOWARD - We love you madly. We just want you to dunk.
I'm thinking about doing an E-Note boycott of the war in the Middle East. This is a conflict going nowhere. I'm so upset, angry and tired. I'm a two-state guy. Israeli and Palestinians living in peace. Can't folks agree on this??? Let's be honest - this is not going to happen with Hamas in power. These guys don't even want to acknowledge the existence of Israel. Hardline politics is so outdated. Sooner or later one has to compromise - the cycle of war must be broken. I don't want to live in a world where everyman needs a gun and a penis. We have produced a "warrior" culture that can probably be linked to Rambo (what number are we at now) and many other bad movies. Civilians lose lives and limbs because a few leaders were not breast-fed or had no fathers or suffered in camps or prisons - and so we all suffer. Why? Hamas is not going to call for a serious cease fire. Israel is not going to stop bombing as long as missles keep falling on their cities. One can always blame things on the politics of the past. But what about the politics of the future? How many people in the Middle East will die in 2009? Must we count bodies before we count days?
Today News:
It's the silly stuff that kills. In The Washington Post today one can find The List of what's out and in for 2009. The newspaper does this every year. It really makes no sense. But it's chuckle reading right?
However look at this:
OUT: Gay Rights
IN: Vampire Rights
What is this about? It's not funny. It's like saying Free People of Color - OUT. Slavery - IN.
Why connect in any manner - Gays with Vampires?
OK. Where's the protest?
It's the silly stuff that kills. In The Washington Post today one can find The List of what's out and in for 2009. The newspaper does this every year. It really makes no sense. But it's chuckle reading right?
However look at this:
OUT: Gay Rights
IN: Vampire Rights
What is this about? It's not funny. It's like saying Free People of Color - OUT. Slavery - IN.
Why connect in any manner - Gays with Vampires?
OK. Where's the protest?
VERY COOL/VERY HOT:
http://www.poetsandartists.com/
Frank O'Hara would be proud of this journal. It's beautiful art.
http://www.poetsandartists.com/
Frank O'Hara would be proud of this journal. It's beautiful art.
Tricycle's Daily Dharma:
Have confidence in your own spiritual potentiality, your ability to find your own unique way. Learn from others certainly and use what you find useful, but also learn to trust your own inner wisdom. Have courage. Be awake and aware. Remember too that Buddhism is not about being a Buddhist; that is, obtaining a new identity tag. Nor is it about collecting head-knowledge, practices and techniques. It is ultimately about letting go of all forms and concepts and becoming free.
--John Snelling,
Elements of Buddhism from Everyday Mind, edited by Jean Smith.