NEW BLACK BRITISH
WEB SERIES:
SPIN (EPISODES 1 – 3)
December 13, 2012
I have just discovered this new black British web series called Spin. The first episode debuted online in June of this year and some how passed me by.
Anyway check out Spin. I really enjoyed watching the episodes so far and can’t’ wait to see how the story develops in episode 4.
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Angola’s Dance Pioneers:
OS Kuduristas
Born of Angola’s burgeoning cultural revival in the Information Age, Kuduro is the cultural expression of a new international and post-war generation. It is a highly energized, innovative movement that incorporates dance, music, fashion, lifestyle, and attitude. Kuduro is filled with palpable optimism, opportunity, and excitement. Culturally savvy, cheeky, colorful, and bold, Kuduro is a unique and provocative genre that bridges the gap between Angolan and global cosmopolitan identity.
“There is definitely a sense of re-birth and renewal happening in Angola right now,” reflects CoréonDú, Os Kuduristas executive producer and respected Angolan musician. “It’s also a time of discovery and of people trying to find their own medium of expressing the moment of history we are living. The time is ripe with opportunity and openness to the world that allows for new creative perspectives and horizons.”
Kuduro moves burst with this vibrant discovery process and desire to capture life’s intensity. While Kuduro dance shares some common ground with other international street forms like breaking, popping, locking, dancehall and voguing, it is authentically Angolan, marked by references to recent events and moments in everyday life, as well as bold breeches of gender barriers.
“Dance is, quite obviously, one of Kuduro’s most paradigmatic features and, although similar in structure to the North American breakdance, it was mostly inspired in a choreographic plasticity that is typically Angolan,” explains Angolan cultural critic Jomo Fortunato. “Melody and harmony are professedly demoted and rhythm and improvisation are key elements.”
“It’s not like you develop a tolerance for watching people move their bodies like that. It’s going to brighten your life every time.” –MTV Iggy
Os Kuduristas: A global initiative to introduce Angolan Kuduro dance and music internationally through interactive events and programs
This December some of the best Kuduro dancers from Angola will arrive in New York City and Washington DC, showcasing the highly energetic dance and electronic music style that has captured the hearts of M.IA., Björk, and Diplo.
Following up on strong response to this Fall’s European dance battles and events, the East Coast presentations of Os Kuduristas will bring Kuduro’s energy to club sets, in collaboration with global bass icons like Chief Boima, DJ KS*360, and DC’s Sol Power All Star DJ’s. With quicksilver, on-the-spot choreography and a feel for beat and movement uniquely their own, Os Kuduristas performers embody the spirit of the new Angolan scene, showing Americans what Kuduro is.
Os Kuduristas is also engaged in an interactive cultural exchange educational component at New York City high schools and youth centers involving aspiring young beat-makers, filmmakers, and dancers. The Os Kuduristas performers will participate in a cultural exchange with students at Achievement First High School in Brooklyn and conduct lecture-demonstrations for the student body, while being filmed by filmmaking students from Frank Sinatra High School of the Arts in Queens and presenting tracks made by music production students participating in a special, Kuduro-inspired workshop. In addition to the school-based activities, the Angolan crew will present Kuduro’s history and moves to youth at two dance-centered programs: The Door and KR3TS, in a moving exchange between N.Y.C.’s street styles and Kuduro’s unique expressiveness.
Exclusive Washington, D.C. Os Kuduristas Events Open to the Public
December 21, 2012: Tropicalia Club “Shrine” party with special guest performances by MC Fogo de Deus and the Kuduro dancers and featuring DC’s Sol Power All Stars (http://solpowerdc.tumblr.com/)(2001 14th Street NW; enter on U Street down stairs). 9:00 pm + 11:00 pm sets
via media release.
__________________________
Following the strong response to this fall’s European dance battles and events, Os Kuduristas will bring Kuduro’s energy to club sets in the States in collaboration with global bass icons like Chief Boima, DJ KS*360, and DC’s Sol Power All Star DJs.
This is the first American tour for Os Kuduristas (oskuduristas.com). It starts today and features some of the best Kuduro dancers from Angola, showcasing the highly energetic dance and electronic music style that has captured the hearts of M.IA.,Björk, and Diplo.
N.Y.C. Os Kuduristas Events Open to the Public
December 16, 2012: Gonzalez y Gonzalez.”Hangtime” Special performance (192
Mercer Street). 9:30 PM
Exclusive Washington, D.C. Os Kuduristas Events Open to the Public
December 21, 2012: Tropicalia Club “Shrine” party with special guest performances by MC Fogo de Deus and the Kuduro dancers and featuring DC’s Sol Power All Stars
(http://solpowerdc.tumblr.com/)
(2001 14th Street NW; enter on U Street down stairs).
9:00 pm + 11:00 pm sets
>via: http://afripopmag.com/2012/12/afripop-exclusive-os-kuduristos-hit-the-us-date...
Sikivu Hutchinson’s book Moral Combat: Black Atheists, Gender Politics, and the Values Wars (Infidel Books, 2011) is a brave examination of African American religious perspectives vis a vis progressive racial politics, gender relations, and cultural values. She tackles uncomfortable questions about the possibly excessive role of religiosity among African Americans, especially woman. And she wonders even as she offers a critique about the abundance of storefront churches in communities that need essential resources. Why so many churches? Why so few activist cultural institutions?
A prolific cultural critic and writer, Hutchinson received a Ph.D. in Performance Studies from New York University and has taught women’s studies, cultural studies, urban studies and education at UCLA, the California Institute of the Arts and Western Washington University. She is also the author of Imagining Transit: Race, Gender, and Transportation Politics in Los Angeles (Lang, 2003) and has published fiction, essays and critical theory in Social Text, California English, Black Agenda Report, Free Inquiry and American Atheist Magazine. She is the editor of blackfemlens.org and a senior fellow for the Institute for Humanist Studies. Readers can also look forward to the publication of her latest project, Godless Americana: Race and Religious Rebels. But for now, enjoy our conversation about Moral Combat.
Interview with Sikivu Hutchinson
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Sikivu Hutchinson received a Ph.D. in Performance Studies from New York University and has taught women's studies, cultural studies, urban studies and education at UCLA, the California Institute of the Arts and Western Washington University. She is the author ofMoral Combat: Black Atheists, Gender Politics and Secular America (2011) and Imagining Transit: Race, Gender, and Transportation Politics in Los Angeles (Lang, 2003). She has published fiction, essays and critical theory in Social Text, California English, Black Agenda Report and American Atheist Magazine and is a Senior Fellow with the Institute for Humanist Studies.
What inspired you to write Moral Combat?
As an African American feminist atheist I found that there were virtually no books that explicitly addressed the intersection of gender, race, sexual orientation, and humanist ideology from the lens of progressive politics. The most visible, widely-touted representatives of the atheist movement are white and generally male. This disparity is reflected in the leadership of most prominent secular institutions and organizations. The book deconstructs these issues and situates black humanism within a culturally relevant tradition of critically conscious scholarship and political analysis.
Further, over the past few years there has been greater interest in atheism and humanism in black and Latino communities. Black atheists/humanists struggle to make their voices heard amidst a values backlash. This backlash has had both internal and external consequences. Non-conformist African Americans are policed inside their communities by black institutions like the Black Church — they are also policed externally in a conservative reactionary climate in which public morality is based on rolling back human rights and civil rights for oppressed peoples. Religious conservatives in black and brown communities have embraced the fascistic tendencies of the Religious Right; demonizing LGBT folk, women of color and non-believers. This has occurred against the backdrop of deepening racial inequality, segregation, and economic disenfranchisement.
So the book not only attempts to contextualize African American religious fervor vis-à-vis institutional racism and white supremacy but also in relation to patriarchy, heterosexism, and capitalism.
What is the most important take-home message for readers?
An understanding of the ideological complexity of African American communities and the connections between secular belief and social justice.
Sadly, there is still a fair amount of ignorance and bigotry toward black non-believers in African American communities due to the stereotype that atheists are immoral, rudderless, and not authentically black. This belief is especially insidious for black women. Mainstream African American culture places a high premium on black female caregiving, piety, and sacrifice. The patriarchal traditions of the Black Church, with their emphasis on charismatic black male leadership and biblical literalism, play a key role in socializing black women to be subservient and self-sacrificing.
Black female churchgoing and religious belief are the highest in the nation — making African American communities the most unwaveringly religious in the U.S. At the same time, African American communities are among the most economically and racially disenfranchised; in the U.S., African Americans are still disproportionately poor, under-educated and over-incarcerated. Black incarceration rates and black homelessness parallel each other. And for all of the sound and fury of black religiosity, black women experience the highest rates of sexual assault, intimate partner violence, and HIV/AIDS contraction.
So the book tries to make sense of these relationships vis-à-vis the paradox of black downward mobility in the so-called post-racial post-affirmative action era. It also attempts to show the immense benefits of radical/progressive humanism for African American women given the religious underpinnings of patriarchy and sexism. Finally, the book makes practical connections between racial justice, gender justice, humanism and the myriad health and educational challenges that African Americans face.
Are there some things you had to leave out?
I would have liked to have done more analysis of other atheists/humanists of color.
What are some of the biggest misconceptions about your topic?
One of the biggest is that atheists of color are an oxymoron and that they live on the “margins” of their communities. The numbers of “out” or publicly self-identified atheists of color are increasing. African American women are a vocal and visible part of this population.
In the book I devote a considerable amount of time contrasting the cultural, social, and political concerns of African American atheists/humanists with that of white atheists allied with the New Atheist movement. I argue that New Atheism’s dominance by elite white males from the scientific community does not serve the broader interests of non-theist people of color. In order to make atheism and secular humanism relevant to people of color, our communities’ specific needs in a racist, sexist, heterosexist global context must be assessed.
For example, in the book I address the glut of storefront churches in urban communities of color. Storefront churches crop up with such alarming frequency because there is not enough commercial/retail enterprise in urban communities of color. This is due to the absence of sustained support for minority-owned businesses in both the government and in the financial lending industry. African American businesses constitute a mere 2% of all small-owned businesses with paid employees in the U.S. Because churches are tax-exempt they can more easily afford to lease or buy property in blighted neighborhoods. As a result, storefront churches are often the most visible social institutions in poor urban communities. Storefront churches and more traditional churches also provide social welfare and “support” services to residents and parishioners that may not be available elsewhere in poor communities. Consequently, religious practice becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Did you have a specific audience in mind when writing?
I think the book will have both niche appeal and broad appeal. Non-believers of color hunger to see themselves represented in secular political discourse. Many have begun raising their voices against the rhetoric of the Religious Right and so-called secular white nationalist movements like the Tea Party. Some believe that we’re in a neo-McCarthyist period where "secular" is once again a dirty subversive word, and public figures must be chest thumpingly “Christian” to be validated as true Americans and patriots.
Moreover, as we have seen with the birthers’ vilification of President Obama, these questions about public morality and loyalty are inextricably linked in the mainstream white mind with race and cultural otherness. At the end of the day, these reactionary forces would like nothing better than to have women barefoot and pregnant, undocumented people deported en masse, gays and lesbians muzzled, ethnic studies vanquished, and black people placed under the yoke of a new-Confederacy.
Are you hoping to inform readers? Give them pleasure? Piss them off?
All of the above. Again, I think the book is timely given the depth of the right wing backlash against progressive policy. The book might increase visibility for secular humanist/atheist critics of color on national social and political issues. I examine representations of black religiosity in popular culture and deplore the mainstream fixation with the caricature of the bible-thumping Jesus-besotted eyes-cast-heavenward sacrificial black woman.
Unfortunately, this tired retrograde caricature has been resuscitated by the huge popularity of Tyler Perry, T.D. Jakes and other hyper-religious black male impresarios who shackle authentic black femininity to faith. So I also look at how media representations reinforce public morality. And I’m specifically interested in the way Judeo Christian cultural ideology (masquerading as secularism) shapes the racist sexist Aunt Jemima-to-Jezebel continuum of black femininity that still predominates in TV, film, and video. It’s the 21st century and black women are still being cast as nymphos or “bff” caregivers to hapless white women who just wouldn’t know what to do in life without their daily dose of homespun Beulah.
To my knowledge, there has never been a book-length analysis by an African American female writer that explores cultural and political issues of this nature through an atheist/humanist lens. Many critiques of organized religion by feminist African American scholars assume that faith automatically has an affirming moral role to play in black peoples’ lives. In my view, organized religion is a capitalist enterprise with specific geopolitical and ideological purposes. So, given that I reject the premise of organized religion’s moral authority, from the standpoint of a black feminist non-believer, it’s bound to piss people off.
What alternative title would you give the book?
“Godless and Bible Black” (with apologies to King Crimson).
How do you feel about the cover?
I took the picture myself, driving around South Los Angeles. Because LA’s built landscape is so auto-dominated there are many mysteriously compelling bits of architecture and roadside curiosities that one routinely misses. Storefront churches have a there-but-not-there kind of quality, a kind of elusiveness that makes them viscerally interesting. Unlike traditional stand-alone churches you rarely see congregants lingering or spilling out into the streets from the storefronts. Sometimes you’ll get a snippet of a service in drive-by; groups of testifying women and bored children scattered desultorily through pews festooned with plastic flowers. Even though they’re ubiquitous, it’s easy to miss the incredible density and stylistic diversity of storefront churches because they’re such a seamless part of the urban “mise-en-scene.” I think the picture captures the hope and desolation that many of these churches evoke.
Is there a book out there you wish you had written?
Not really. As far as recent work that I appreciate, I just finished Max Blumenthal’sRepublican Gomorrah and found it both frightening and hilarious. Blumenthal rips into the Religious Right’s corrupt political Jesus train with alacrity and wit.
I also recently read a biography of civil rights activist and intellectual A. Philip Randolph. The account made me appreciate how bold and unabashedly rigorous Randolph was in marrying free thought to social justice. As editor of the influential Messenger magazine he once sponsored a writing contest with the theme “Is Christianity a Menace to the Negro?”—a topic that is all but unthinkable today given the craven toadyism of much contemporary media.
What’s your next book?
A novel on a disreputable physicist’s drive to establish an all-black suburban development in Southern California in the era before the mortgage lending debacle.
The Seven African Powers
A syncretized depiction of the Seven African Powers as seven of the chief Orishas of the Lucumi faith
The Seven African Powers are a common spiritual force that people petition within Santeria but there is a common misconception around who they are and how they function. If you visit any botanica (spiritual shop) you’ll find candles with something akin to the image on the right claiming to be 7 African Powers Candles. You’ll also find spiritual supplies like baths, oils and powders that claim to work for the Seven African Powers. Who are these powers in reality?
The image to the right shows a collection of seven different saints: Our Lady of Mercy, The Virgin of Regla, Our Lady of Charity of Cobre, Saint Barbara, Saint Joseph of Arimathea, Saint John the Baptist, Saint Martin of Porres, and Jesus on the Cross in the center. Under each saint image is the name of one of the Orishas. The name Olofi is under the image of Jesus. The vignettes of saint images are linked together with a metal chain with 7 of Ogun’s tools hanging from the bottom. Because of the image to the right, most people mistakenly think that the Seven African Powers are the orishas: Elegua, Ogun, Orula, Chango, Oshun, Yemaya and Obatala. But how did this syncretization come about? Who are the Seven African Powers if they aren’t the Orishas? Can anyone work with the Seven African Powers or is it limited to initiates of Santeria only?
The Influence of Syncretization and Santerismo
A Yoruba descendant initiated to Obatala
The syncretization of the Orishas with the individual Catholic saints isn’t that unusual but the grouping of these particular Orishas together is what makes it unique. In order to understand how this portrayal of the Seven African Powers came about, we need to explore another spiritualist tradition called Santerismo. Santerismo developed out of Puerto Rican Espiritismo (Spiritualism) blended with Orisha worship outside of a Lucumí ritual framework. In Santerismo it is common for spiritualist mediums to become possessed by Catholic saints referring to themselves by the names of the Orishas. Santerismo really began to take root in the Puerto Rican community in New York City in the 1950′s shortly after Celina Gonzalez’s song “¡Que Viva Changó!” came out in 1948. The song’s lyrics really display a close syncretization between Saint Barbara and Chango, and the spiritualist community ran with it. Santerismo is NOT Santeria (Lucumí/Lukumi). Santerismo is a spiritualist tradition open to personal revelation while Santeria is an initiatory religion with strict rules. The term “Seven African Powers” is something that exists in Santeria, but they are not the Orishas, they are spirits of the dead – guides – that we’ll discuss a bit later. But the spiritualists in Santerismo didn’t understand the difference and they assumed they were the Orishas themselves.
It is also interesting to note that the image of the seven Catholic saints put together in that manner, along with the proliferation of magical supplies dedicated to the Seven African Powers didn’t really come about until the 1970′s and 80′s corresponding with an influx of Latinos into the United States especially from Puerto Rico after a referendum in 1951 officially made Puerto Rico a commonwealth of the U.S. The second generation of Puerto Rican kids was born in the 70′s and 80′s and many of them were born and raised in New York amid the Espiritismo tradition’s influences.
The Seven African Powers Are Spirit Guides Not Orishas
A historical drawing of an Abakuá Ñáñigo
The Seven African Powers are actually spirits of the dead from the seven different African tribes that were brought to Cuba and forced into slavery. Within a Santeria (Lucumi/Lukumi) cosmological understanding, the Seven African Powers are araorún (citizens of heaven – dead spirits) – they are not usually Egun (ancestors of blood or initiatory lineage). When a person speaks of the Seven African Powers they refer to a group of 7 different spirits, one from each of the following tribes: Yoruba, Congo, Takua, Kissi, Calabari, Arará, and Mandika. A person who has a connection with the Seven African Powers will have one spirit guide from each of these tribes unique to him, and one of the seven will dominate the group and orchestrate their efforts. This is an interesting cultural reflection of the history of Cuba where these seven formerly hostile tribes were forced to live and work together to survive.
Within the diloggun oracle’s corpus of information, the Seven African Powers are heavily referenced in the odu Edigbere (7-8). Interestingly, this odu also speaks about the importance of the drum as a tool to call down the Orishas and it also speaks about the power of Congolese magic within the religion of Palo Monte. If a person were to receive the odu 7-8 in a diloggun reading it would indicate that they have the Seven African Powers in their court of spirit guides and it would be up to them to use Spiritualism (Espiritismo) to determine who they are, what their names are and who is the primary one that heads the seven. A strong relationship with that one leading spirit guide allows that person to call upon the support of all seven spirits in any endeavor. The Seven African Powers are called upon for help with spiritual evolution, overcoming obstacles, and cultivation of personal power. Anyone can petition the Seven African Powers as they are spirit guides and everyone, initiated or not, have access to spirits of the dead for their guidance. Typically they are petitioned by lighting vigil candles that are of 7 colors, or using 7 different candles of different colors. It is also traditional to tie strips of cloth or handkerchiefs of seven different colors in a bundle. By whirling this bundle of loose multicolored cloth in the air over your head, as you call the Seven African Powers and petition them for help, you’ll be calling upon the ancestral spirits of these seven tribes to work.
ROBERT SMALLS
Robert Smalls was born on April 5, 1839, in a small cottage behind the McKee house at Prince and New Streets in Beaufort, SC. He was the son of Lydia Polite, a house servant who had been working for the McKees since she was taken from her family as a young child on the Ashdale Plantation on Lady’s Island. Robert’s father was very likely to have been Henry McKee, the son of the plantation owner where Lydia’s family lived and worked all of their lives.
Robert’s early life was rather easy as compared with that of other enslaved children. He was taken around town by Henry McKee and had opportunities to play with children in the neighborhood, both black and white. The ease of Robert’s life was disturbing to his mother, as she knew that Robert did not really understand the horrors of slavery. So Lydia made arrangements for Robert to spend time with her family on the plantation where he could see just how slavery could be. On the plantation Robert didn’t sleep on a little cot in the small cottage behind the McKee’s house but slept with the other enslaved family members on the earthen floor. He didn’t play with neighboring children but worked on the plantation picking cotton, rice, and tobacco in the fields from sun up to sun down. He didn’t wear nice clothes but wore the tattered clothing of the other enslaved men, women and children. Robert was being taught the lessons of slavery first hand. When he returned to Beaufort, Lydia took him down to the whipping post so he could see how enslaved people were beaten when they broke the rules. Robert learned the lessons well. He learned that life of enslaved Africans was not the relatively easy life that had been his during the first ten years of his life. The result of this lesson led Robert to defiance, and he began to challenge the local slave laws of the town. Robert frequently found himself in the Beaufort jail, and Henry McKee had to come down to bail him out. Now Lydia began to fear for her son’s safety, so she asked McKee to allow Smalls to go to Charleston to be rented out to work.
At age 12, small Robert Smalls moved to Charleston and began to perform a number of jobs: at first waiting tables in a hotel, then lamp lighting, working on the waterfront, and finally working on the Planter. He had to give all of his money except for $1.00 a week to the McKees. But Robert was industrious, and he saved his money and did other small jobs to make more. On the Planter Robert learned all of the skills needed to become an excellent pilot, and he conducted all of the jobs that should have been done by the ship’s Captain. There were three other enslaved men working on the Planter as well, and together they were capable of maneuvering the Planter without the white crew.
At the age of 19, Robert met and married Hannah Jones. Shortly after their marriage they had two children: Elizabeth Lydia and Robert Smalls, Jr. Robert was aware that white couples who were married lived together in the same accommodations, and he asked permission of the McKees and the Kingmans, with whom Robert and Hannah were enslaved, to allow them to live together. Permission was granted and they moved into a small apartment in Charleston. Robert was still dissatisfied, however, because he realized that although he and Hannah were married and living together with their family, they were not free. The Kingmans could take Hannah and the children away from him at any time. He had to find a way to purchase freedom for his wife and children. But how? Robert approached the Kingmans and requested that they allow him to purchase his wife, Hannah, and their two children. The Kingmans finally agreed to the request. The purchase fee was $800, and Robert only had $100. How long would it take to save up another $700? He needed to come up with another plan. He must find a way to gain freedom for all of them.
On the early morning of May 13, 1862, Robert Smalls put his plan into action. By this time the Civil War had broken out, and the Confederates had commandeered the Planter into service. Robert still worked as an enslaved man on the CSS Planter in Charleston along with three other enslaved men. The Union Navy had blockaded Ft. Sumter, and Smalls and the three other enslaved men could see the Union ships from the Charleston Harbor. Sumter. They knew that freedom was not far away. That night all of the white crew had gone ashore for the evening, and Smalls and the other three enslaved men gathered their families on the Planter for a daring voyage. Robert Smalls eased the ship into the current and headed out of Charleston harbor. He was familiar with the waters and rebel routines and steamed the Planter past five Confederate gun batteries, giving the correct signals for safe passage at each. By dawn on May 13, 1862, 23-year-old Robert Smalls surrendered the CSS Planter to the Union forces, and freedom was theirs!
Smalls’ exploits both won freedom for himself and for his family. As a result of the fame that came from his daring deed, he was awarded an audience with President Abraham Lincoln where he led the effort to enlist Black men to fight for the Union forces in the Civil War. He helped recruit nearly 5,000 African-American men for the Union army, and these former enslaved men fought valiantly during the Civil War. Smalls fought as a pilot on both the CSS Planter, the ship that he had commandeered to freedom, and the ironclad gunship, the USS Keokuk. He led the Union ships to deactivate mines that he had helped plant while enslaved by the Confederacy and guided the Union forces to Confederate outposts. He also assisted in the destruction of railroad bridges in the harbor area.
Robert Smalls was the first African-American hero of the Civil War. He was later appointed to the rank of Major General in the South Carolina Militia during the Reconstruction period.
After the Civil War was over, Smalls returned to Beaufort to live and purchased the McKee house at 511 Prince Street where he and his mother had been enslaved. He lived in this house until his death in 1915.
And get this, after the war, he built upon his fame, doing many things, such as helping establish the first school for African-Americans in his town. He became so famous that he entered politics, and is apart of the slew of Black politicians that were voted into office Post-Civil War, during Reconstruction.
Then what happens? THE SOUTHERN REDEMPTION …. yes, that time when Republicans abandoned Black people and let Southern racist Democrats have there way so that Rutherford B Hayes could be President. This is when segregation laws, lynching, and disenfranchisement became the law of the South. And many of the Black politicians that had been voted into office were chased out, some literally beaten and chased out of town. The South Carolina Democrats got Smalls kicked out of office on false charges of bribery, but Smalls, unlike other Black politicians, fought back. He eventually gained his seat back, but he was under constant opposition.
photo by Alex Lear
Stephanie:
Post-Katrina New Orleans
“Kalamu.”
I was headed into the Subway's on Gen. DeGaulle, about two or three miles from home, stopping to get a tuna salad-stuffed with all available vegetables—the same Subway where one of the sandwich artists knows me as “that man on New Orleans Exposed” (which is a pre-Katrina video done by a group of young Black men that focuses on the poverty and crime in New Orleans that under-girds the party reputation of Big Easy). I'm used to being recognized by the young, the poor and the black of New Orleans. I usually just respond, “yeah, that's me.”
At the reception for a life's work retrospective of visual artist and MacArthur genius John Scott held at the New Orleans Museum of Art, summer of 2005, Mayor Nagin came up to me and wanted to know how he could get five or six copies of the video so he could share it with “some people” who really needed to understand aspects of the New Orleans reality that don't usually get aired in the visceral way New Orleans Exposed presents its case.
Young negroes proudly displaying an armory to rival a gun show in Dallas, Texas, plus enough raw dope to look like somebody got a direct Columbia connection. Tragically, pre-teen boys rap about being gangstas and two barely-teenage boys smoke blunts like they been doing it all their young lives. I'm shown sitting on the stoop outside my former office in Treme talking about how much easier it is in the ghetto to cop a gun than to purchase a book.
“Kalamu.”
I look over toward an SUV parked a short distance away. A young woman is behind the wheel, waving my way. “Hey nah. How you doing?” I holler back as I keep moving toward the front door of the food establishment. I don't recognize her.
”It's Stephanie,” she replies.
Stephanie? My mind-computer hard drive is whirling. No quick hits, I'm unable to place the name or recognize her from the sound of her voice. I move toward the vehicle to get a closer view, thirty feet is too far away for my myopic eyes to be of any help in recognizing her face. Up closer I still don't recognize her. The driver's door opens and she steps out just as I get within arm's distance.
”Stephanie from Douglass.”
She's one of my former students. We hug. Tall, slim, copper-toned skin, straight hair, bright eyes, a direct way of talking to people. As we disengage, I stand in the open doorway of the SUV and she climbs back into the driver's seat. We conversate for about five minutes.
She was at Delgado Junior College when Katrina hit. Now she's working. I notice a beautiful tattoo on her right instep. I'm not a fan of tattoos. This is one of the few that seems attractive to me. I can't remember her last name or even how to spell her first name. She was only in our class for one semester. Not a special student, did just enough work to get by. But she's obviously glad to see me.
Indeed, in New Orleans today, everyone is glad to see anyone they knew before Katrina; embracing former friends and acquaintances is a flesh and blood affirmation. It feels good to touch people, feels real good, damn good. It makes you smile, even if you barely knew the person. I guess you can call it the after-the-battle syndrome when you wander about in a slight daze looking for fellow survivors.
Chance meetings and the inevitable vigorous handshakes or full body hugs that accompany such meetings are poignant moments, especially since we got our asses kicked in last year's battle and are now trying by the hardest to get it together to survive the aftermath.
Stephanie says she waiting for someone, to loan them some money. In her right hand is a wad a money. They were supposed to already have arrived but they are late, very late. I tell her not to leave them. Wait for them. She says she will.
These impromptu meetings in parking lots are the kinds of meetings I don't mind. Generally, I have come to hate meetings, especially those three hour wish-listing sessions full of bitter bitching and fantasy-planning that happen at least three or four times a day in Post-Katrina New Orleans. Every day. Meetings about this, that and the other. Neighborhood development is the buzz phrase. The cynic in me can't stomach spending so many valuable hours pursuing phantom solutions.
I feel myself about to go off on a tangent of bad-mouthing meetings. It's so easy to go off now. Going off doesn't take much. Sometimes somebody simply says “good morning” and, particularly if I know the person, I will acidly respond “can you prove that.”
”Prove what?”
”Prove that it's a good morning.”
If they smile, I acknowledge the smile and say, yes, that makes for a good morning. But a lot of times, I don't get a smile back.
I'm smiling at Stephanie as she tells me she always runs into people who think they know her, or who remember her from school but she doesn't remember them. She played sports, went to class, went home. Didn't hang out. “I don't remember most of them.” She looks me in the eye. “I just remember the people who tried to help me.”
A warmness filled me. Often we have no idea how much of what we do affects people. Stephanie never joined in any of our outside-of-class activities. She didn't do any deep writing. Seemed to be blissfully unaffected by taking an SAC writing class, yet now close to two years later here she was shouting out to someone who helped her.
”Good luck, Steph. See you later.” I turned to go get a tuna salad. The sun felt warm. Today I feel good.
—kalamu ya salaam — post 7 July 2006
The Music of Sidney Bechet
- Wynton Marsalis Sextet
at Jazz in Marciac 2009
Jazz in Marciac 2009. Wynton and his Sextet (with Bob Wilber and Olivier Franc) performed the Music of Sidney Bechet.
Personnel:
Wynton Marsalis (trumpet)
Wycliffe Gordon (trombone)
Dan Nimmer (piano)
Carlos Enriquez (bass)
Ali Jackson (drums)
Bob Wilber (clarinet)
Olivier Franc (saxophone)
Weekend Bonus Music Break
November 4, 2012 By Sean Jacobs
“Halleluja.” Ghanaian-Swiss OY breaks down hair politics over some church loop. Next: Ghanaian-Canadian singer-songwriter Kae Sun’s ‘Ship and The Globe’, the debut single off his forthcoming LP “Afriyie”:
Chicago has its very own Shrine. Yasiin Bey + Hypnotic Brass Ensemble = Fela Kuti’s ‘Water No Get Enemy’ (H/T Okayafrica):
Shot in Arusha, Tanzania: Joh Makini and Dunga’s ‘Sijutii’:
From Senegal, a new video for Pape & Cheikh’s ‘Lonkotina’:
Sudan-born multi-instrumentalist Ahmed Gallab aka Sinkane (he has worked with groups like Yeasayer and Caribou; I blogged about him a long time ago). Is this first video off his new record “Mars” a Steve Miller tribute?
From Soweto, The Federation’s smart self-marketing halfway through their new video:
South Africans Spoek Mathambo, Okmalumkoolkat and braSolomon get the Ravi Govender-video-remix-treatment — CUSS TV-style:
This was the second of two Spoek music videos released in the space of a week. Here’s the second, earlier one:
Copenhagen-based duo Okapii say they’re trying to explore West African vibes “and other nice things” in ‘Don’t Mind the Rain’. Kinda see what they’re getting at. No video yet:
…not unlike Brussels-based Débruit (we’ve mentioned him before) who released another far-out but quite beautiful video to go with one of his tracks off “From the Horizon”–no prizes for recognising the samples:
* Tom did some of the bookmarking of music videos for this week.
Tartts Fiction Award, rules:
1. Winning short story collection will be published by Livingston Press at the University of West Alabama, in simultaneous library binding and trade paper editions. Winning entry will receive $1000, plus our standard royalty contract, which includes 100 copies of the book.
2. Author must not have book of short fiction published at time of entry, though novels are okay. In keeping with Tartt’s biography, we are looking for an author who has yet to publish a fiction collection.
3. Stories may have been previously published by magazines or in anthologies, though the author should have all rights. Magazines will be acknowledged. Include a list of publications, if so desired.
4. Manuscripts must be typewritten, and we will ask for a computer file in Windows/Mac Word from the winning author and from the finalists for our anthology.
5. Manuscript length: 160-275 pages.
6. Deadline for postmark: December 31 of every year.
7. Entry fee: fifteen dollars. Our apology for the fee, but handling makes it necessary.
8. No manuscripts will be returned. Please send only a copy. You may include an SASE for acknowledgement of receipt, or simply use your cancelled check to indicate such. We notify contestants of receipt as soon as the contest entry date has passed. We also notify all entrants of the winner and those picked for the anthology.
9. Winner announced in late spring, with publication in next spring.
10. Winner must be an American citizen; work must be in English.
11. Style and content of manuscripts are completely open.
12. Finalists will be considered for our regular publication schedule and for our Tartt Anthology.
13. Send manuscripts and check to :
Livingston Press
The University of West Alabama
Station 22
Livingston, Alabama 35470
Call for Submissions (Extended):
Caribbean Studies Association
Conference in Grenada
If you have not yet submitted your abstract or panel proposal for the 38th Annual Conference of the Caribbean Studies Association (CSA), there is still time. CSA Conference Program Chair Maggie Shrimpton (Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán, México) writes that the Call for Submissions deadline for the conference has been extended to January 6, 2013. The conference will take place at the Grenada Grand Beach Resort in Grand Anse, Grenada on June 3-7, 2013.
Description: Organized around the theme ‘Caribbean Spaces and Institutions: Contesting Paradigms of “Development” in the 21st Century,’ the 38th Annual Conference of the CSA invites scholars, activists, practitioners, allied professionals and commentators to interrogate the notion of “development” in as holistic a manner as possible. The CSA prides itself as a premier community of scholars, activists and practitioners whose experiential knowledge and critical social engagements offer novel insights in shaping and re-shaping the evolution of “development” as a concept and its value as a manifestation of well-being. The setting of Grenada provides a worthy Caribbean space for the CSA to seriously confront the pathways and processes that have shaped the “development” agenda.
For further information, go to http://www.caribbeanstudiesassociation.org
