ALIENS, IMMIGRANTS & OTHER EVILDOERS

 

 

April 7, 2010
Ashé Cultural Arts Center
1712 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd., New Orleans
FREE

José Torres-Tama Receives 2010 NPN Creation Fund Award
for the Commission of a New Performance Called
ALIENS, IMMIGRANTS & OTHER EVILDOERS

WHAT: 2010 NPN Creation Fund Award of $12,000 for ALIENS

WHEN & WHERE: Research & Performances begin March – April in the three Commissioning Theatres: MECA in Houston, the Ashé Cultural Arts Center in New Orleans (1712 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd.) and GALA Hispanic Theatre in Washington, D.C.

New Orleans multidisciplinary visual and performance artist José Torres-Tama has received a National Performance Network Creation Fund Award for the commissioning of a new performance theater piece called ALIENS, IMMIGRANTS & OTHER EVILDOERS, which explores the rise in hate crimes against Latinos and the criminalization of immigrants across the country. The $12,000.00 award will fund the development of ALIENS at the three cities of the commissioning partners.

The commissioning theatres are MECA in Houston, GALA Hispanic Theatre in Washington, D.C., and the Ashé Cultural Arts Center in New Orleans. From March 22 through April 30, Torres-Tama will begin the creation process, and he will visit each city to research how the immigration debate is perceived. Working with a local filmmaker in all three cities, he will interview members of the general public on the streets and ask the questions: "Since the Pilgrims arrived without papers, why were they not immediately deported, and where were was immigration then?” Some responses will be inventively fused into short film excerpts that drive the performance narrative. Also, he will perform a work-in-progress version of ALIENS in each city during the creation process to serve as a catalyst for community input on the immigration issue.

ALIENS will be performed with a sci-fi Latino noir aesthetic, bilingual texts, and multimedia staging strategies. Appropriating the sci-fi look of the film The Matrix, Torres-Tama transforms and shape-shifts into numerous Latino "aliens" who challenge the flaws of a country built by immigrants that vilifies the same people whose labor it exploits. One exaggerated character is “El Bravo”, an immigrant superhero who battles bilingually challenged minutemen at the border and outs hypocritical politicians who stump against undocumented immigrants while hiring “illegal aliens” to literally do their dirty laundry, watch their kids, and clean their houses.

“Receiving the NPN Creation Fund Award is the highest honor I have received to for my performance work, and it marks the first time I have commissioning funds to assist with the creation of a new piece,” states Torres-Tama.

Ashé Cultural Arts Center in New Orleans:
ALIENS unplugged performance Wednesday, April 7, 2010 @ 7PM FREE
Creation process residency & filming interviews around New Orleans from April 5-9

GALA Hispanic Theatre in Washington, D.C.:
ALIENS unplugged performance Monday, April 26, 2010 @ 7PM
Creation process residency & filming interviews around D.C. from April 24-28

ALIENS WORK-IN-PROGRESS PERFORMANCES
at Ashé from May 13-15, 2010 @ 8PM
ALIENS FULL DEBUT PERFORMANCES:
ALIENS performances in New Orleans September 16- 18 & 23-25
ALIENS performances in Houston October 15-16
ALIENS performances in Washington, D.C. April 2011 TBA

About the artist: José Torres-Tama is an award-winning interdisciplinary artist working in poetry/fiction, visual art, and performance art. For twenty years, he has worked in the New Orleans arts community, and since 1995, he has toured nationally and internationally with his multimedia performances. A Louisiana Theater Fellow and NEA award recipient, his critically acclaimed post-Katrina solo, The Cone of Uncertainty, documented his dramatic escape on a stolen school bus after the levees breached. After four years of touring The Cone nationally, he received a 2008/09 Louisiana Division of the Arts Grant to debut the piece in London, Liverpool, and Aberystwyth, Wales, as part of his 2009 international tour profiled in American Theatre’s March ’09 issue. Also, he is the recipient of a 2008 Joan Mitchell Foundation Award for the publication of his first art book titled New Orleans Free People of Color & Their Legacy, which documents his pastel portraits of 19th century Creoles recently exhibited by the Ogden Museum of Southern Art in New Orleans. www.torrestama.com

Torres-Tama is both a versatile writer who can be lyrically evocative as well as bitingly humorous, and an impressive performer. ---The Philadelphia Inquirer

About the National Performance Network (NPN): The NPN is a group of diverse cultural organizations, including artists, working to create meaningful partnerships and to provide leadership that enables the practice and public experience of the arts in the United States. NPN annually leverages $3,000,000 in financial support for the creation and touring of contemporary performance work. The NPN is supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Trust Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts (a federal agency), the Ford Foundation, the MetLife Foundation, the Nathan Cummings Foundation, the Lambert Foundation, and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The NPN offices are located in New Orleans at 866 Camp Street. www.npnweb.org

Torres-Tama Receives Additional Alternate ROOTS C/APP Award for
ALIENS, IMMIGRANTS & OTHER EVILDORERS
September 2010 Production
at the Ashé Cultural Arts Center in New Orleans

In addition to the NPN Creation Fund, José Torres-Tama has received a grant award from the Atlanta-based arts organization Alternate ROOTS (www.alternateroots.org) for the community outreach portion and production of ALIENS, IMMIGRANTS & OTHER EVILDOERS at the Ashé Cultural Arts Center in New Orleans.

The Community Arts Partnership Project (C/APP) grant award adds $2,500 for the New Orleans debut of ALIENS at the Ashé Cultural Arts Center in September 2010. These funds will be used to reach out to the Latino immigrant community in New Orleans that has been part of the post-Katrina reconstruction. As part of the project, Torres-Tama will document stories concerning the various experiences immigrants have had since the storm.

“The greatest dirty little secret of the reconstruction of New Orleans is that it owes a huge debt to the Latino immigrant labor force brought in to rebuild after the storm, but ‘the city that care forgot’ has never officially cared to acknowledge the contributions made by the thousands of Latino immigrants who have been invaluable to our recovery,” states Torres-Tama.

The New Orleans ALIENS research calls for the artist to interview and film immigrants who have remained and were part of the reconstruction. Some of these stories will be used to inform the ALIENS performance script. In July of 2009, the Southern Poverty Law Center released the analysis of a study that stated that up to 80% of immigrant laborers in post-Katrina New Orleans were cheated out of their pay by ruthless contractors and local businesses.

Torres-Tama has contributed commentaries to NPR’s Latino USA that explore these issues, and he hopes that ALIENS can explore the personal stories of immigrant laborers further.

The national debut of ALIENS at the Ashé Cultural Arts Center takes place in September of 2010, and workshop performances are scheduled for May 13-15. The Ashé Cultural Arts Center is located at 1712 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd in the Central City neighborhood of New Orleans. www.ashecac.org

 

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APRIL 2010 EVENTS AT ASHÉ

SISTAH'S MAKING A CHANGE
Mondays and Thursdays | 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.
Ashé Cultural Arts Center, 1712 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd. - FREE
Get fit with the “sistahs” as you exercise and dance your way to wellness. A nutritious meal is served after each class. Free classes are held every Monday and Thursday. Donations are welcomed. Call (504) 569-9070.

HOME New Orleans? Focus Group
April 7, 2010
Ashé Cultural Arts Center at 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
The purpose of this focus group is to evaluate Ashé’s audiences. The group will consist of seniors from the Central City Senior Center. For more information call Karel Sloane-Boekbinder at (504) 569-9070.

Theater: Aliens, Immigrants, & Other Evildoers
A Sci-Fi Latino Noir Multidisciplinary Bilingual Performance by Jose Torres-Tama
April 7, 2010
Ashé Cultural Arts Center at 7:00 p.m. - FREE
With a sci-fi Latino noir aesthetic, Torres-Tama transforms into numerous ALIENS who challenge the flaws of a country built by immigrants that vilifies the same people whose labor it exploits. He inventively fuses film interviews from a variety of people in the three commissioning cities of Houston, New Orleans and D.C., who respond to the questions: “Since the Pilgrims arrived without papers, why were they not immediately deported, and where was immigration then?”
__________________________________________________________

This is a V-Day 2010 Campaign Event to Stop Violence Against Women and Girls.
V-Day New Orleans/Ashé Cultural Arts Center
joins global effort to stop violence
against women and girls. Art Opening - Visual Remedies for V-DAY

Art Exhibit
April 8, 2010
Ashé Cultural Arts Center at 7:00 p.m. - FREE
Artwork inspired by V-DAY’s I Am An Emotional Creature, written by Eve Ensler (The Vagina Monologues); and A Memory, A Monologue, A Rant, and A Prayer, edited by Eve Ensler and Mollie Doyle. The art show will feature the work of Rukiya Brown, Danielle Miles, Jessica Strahan, Christine (cfreedom) Brown, Shelia Phipps, Aisha Patrice, Sarah Dearie; and artists/actresses Valentine Pierce and Karel Sloane-Boekbinder who appear in A Memory, A Monologue, A Rant, and A Prayer, and Pamela Galeano from I Am An Emotional Creature. Call (504) 569-9070.

Theater: Benefit Production of I Am An Emotional Creature
April 9, 10, and 11, 2010
Ashé Cultural Arts Center at 6:30 p.m. - $15
Based on the best-selling book by author and internationally acclaimed playwright Eve Ensler (author of The Vagina Monologues), these fictional monologues and stories are based on topics garnered from girls around the world. The young actors--all female--are between the ages of 14 and 19, and will perform selected monologues written by Ensler. The production is directed by Asali N. DeVan. For more information about the book and V-Girls, visit www.v-girls.org/book.php. Proceeds benefit Crescent House and Liberty House. For more information, call (504) 569-9070.
April Continued

Theater:
Benefit Production of A Memory, A Monologue, A Rant and A Prayer: Writings to Stop Violence Against Women and Girls
April 9, 10, and 11, 2010
Ashé Cultural Arts Center at 8:30 p.m. - $15
This is “a groundbreaking collection of monologues by world-renowned authors and playwrights, edited by Eve Ensler (author of The Vagina Monologues) and Mollie Doyle. These diverse voices rise up in a collective roar to break open, expose, and examine the insidiousness of violence at all levels: brutality, neglect, a punch, even a put-down.” Selected monologues feature the writing of: Elizabeth Lesser, Mollie Doyle, Nicholas D. Kristof, Christine House, Winter Miller, Edwidge Danticat, Tariq Ali, Betty Gale Tyson (with Jerry Capers,) Robin Morgan, Alice Walker, Dave Eggers, Anna Deavere Smith, Maya Angelou, Susan Miller and Dr. Michael Eric Dyson. Performers include Tuere Burns-Jones, Keshia “Peaches” Caldwell, Frederick “Hollywood” Delahoussaye, Kesha McKey, Anette McGee, Valerie McMillian, Star Moffett, Giselle Nakhid, Valentine Pierce, Asia Rainey, Annie Bell Robertson, Aneela Shuja, Sha’Condria “Icon” Sibley and Karel Sloane-Boekbinder. The production is directed by Asali N. Devan. Michaela Harrison is the assistant and musical director. Proceeds benefit Crescent House and Liberty House. For more information call Karel Sloane-Boekbinder at (504) 569-9070. Further information about V-Day can be found at www.vday.org.

Side-By-Side Membership Meeting
April 21, 2010
Ashé Cultural Arts Center - 6:00-8:00 p.m.
Side-by-Side members and potential members are invited to this important meeting of musicians, culture bearers, museum workers, visual artists, actors, Mardi Gras Indians, art gallery heads, writers, poets, social aid & pleasure clubs, night club owners, digital media developers, photographers, cultural center directors, and community activists.

 

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Wednesday, March 24

 

N'Kafu Traditional African Dance Company Presents its Annual Concert

N’Kafu Traditional African Dance Company presents N’Tarra - “The Story of Brothers”

Acknowledging the Hardships and Celebrating the Strengths of our Black Men

Saturday, March 27, 2010 at 8:00 p.m.
Ashé Cultural Arts Center at 1712 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd. – New Orleans

Featuring Master Artists:
Uche Ominiyi
Mamady Sano
Fodé Camara
Mouminatou Camara
Ishmael Bangoura
Musa Sutton
Theo Jameson

Admission is only $15.

Tickets are available from N’Kafu members,
Community Book Center, and at the door.

This event is a part of N’Kafu Traditional African Dance Company’s Annual Concert and Workshop Series which will be held March 26-28, 2010. Dance, drum and history classes are $10 each, and will take place at 1520 North Claiborne Avenue in New Orleans.

The company’s name, N’Kafu, means “come together.” The group is under the leadership of Mariama Curry, founder/artistic director of the company, and an accomplished dancer, choreographer and performer from New Orleans. N’Kafu offers dance classes to the community at the dance studio located at 1520 North Claiborne Avenue every Friday from 6:30 – 8:00 p.m.

For more information, call (504) 284-2901 or (504) 430-0894.

 

# posted by Ashe Messenger @ 4:45 PM 0 comments

Monday, March 22

 

V-DAY NEW ORLEANS/ASHÉ CULTURAL ARTS CENTER JOINS GLOBAL EFFORT TO STOP VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS

This is a V-Day 2010 Campaign Event to Stop Violence Against Women and Girls.

Join us as we unite to fight violence against women and girls. Eve Ensler (author of the Vagina Monologues) brings to the stage inspirational words from the experiences of young girls and women around the world. Ashé Cultural Arts Center is proud to partner with VDAY to present these theatrical works of art.

BENEFIT PRODUCTION OF "I AM AN EMOTIONAL CREATURE"
April 9, 10, and 11, 2010
Ashé Cultural Arts Center at 6:30 p.m. - $15
Based on the best-selling book by author and internationally acclaimed playwright Eve Ensler, these fictional monologues and stories are based on topics garnered from girls around the world. The young actors--all female--are between the ages of 14 and 19, and will perform selected monologues written by Ensler. The production is directed by Asali N. DeVan. For more information about the book and V-Girls, visit www.v-girls.org/book.php. Proceeds benefit Crescent House and Liberty House. For more information, call (504) 569-9070.

BENEFIT PRODUCTION OF A MEMORY, A MONOLOGUE, A RANT, AND A PRAYER: Writings to Stop Violence Against Women and Girls
April 9, 10, and 11, 2010
Ashé Cultural Arts Center at 8:30 p.m. - $15
This is “a groundbreaking collection of monologues by world-renowned authors and playwrights, edited by Eve Ensler and Mollie Doyle. These diverse voices rise up in a collective roar to break open, expose, and examine the insidiousness of violence at all levels: brutality, neglect, a punch, even a put-down.” Selected monologues feature the writing of: Elizabeth Lesser, Mollie Doyle, Nicholas D. Kristof, Christine House, Winter Miller, Edwidge Danticat, Tariq Ali, Betty Gale Tyson (with Jerry Capers,) Robin Morgan, Alice Walker, Dave Eggers, Anna Deavere Smith, Maya Angelou, Susan Miller and Dr. Michael Eric Dyson. Performers include Tuere Burns-Jones, Keshia “Peaches” Caldwell, Frederick “Hollywood” Delahoussaye, Kesha McKey, Anette McGee, Valerie McMillian, Star Moffett, Giselle Nakhid, Valentine Pierce, Asia Rainey, Annie Bell Robertson, Aneela Shuja, Sha’Condria “Icon” Sibley and Karel Sloane-Boekbinder. The production is directed by Asali N. Devan. Michaela Harrison is the assistant and musical director. Proceeds benefit Crescent House and Liberty House. For more information call Karel Sloane-Boekbinder at (504) 569-9070.

Further information about V-Day can be found at www.vday.org.

 

 

Free Download — UCBerkeleyEvents — March 19, 2010 — A Symposium on the First Anthology of Nature Writing by African-American Poets

A several-day event at the UC Berkeley campus will celebrate the publication of the first-ever anthology of nature writing by African-American poets. The volume, entitled Black Nature, was published by the University of Georgia Press in December 2009. The editor of the anthology is the poet, Prof. Camille Dungy, of San Francisco State University. 

This publication of Black Nature is a significant event in American letters. The natural world has a long history as a topic in American literature, but all previous discussion of nature writing has focused on the work of white authors. Nature writing, as a literary category, has continued to exist as a white category; the tables of contents of national and regional anthologies bear this out. Black Nature, which includes the work of 93 writers, reaches back as far as Phillis Wheatley, and it extends through the modernist examples of Gwendolyn Brooks and Robert Hayden to the contemporary avant-garde work of Clarence Major and Harryette Mullen. Panelists are contributors to Black Nature, including the writers Harryette Mullen, Ed Roberson, Evie Shockley, Natasha Tretheway, and Al Young, will read from their work and participate in public discussions on the literary and environmental issues raised by the new anthology.

Hosts:

Prof. C.S. Giscombe, UC Berkeley
Prof. Robert Hass, UC Berkeley
Prof. Camille Dungy, SFSU

Discussion Panelists:

Prof. Carolyn Finney, UC Berkeley
Prof. Harryette Mullen, UCLA
Mr. Ed Roberson, poet
Prof. Carl Phillips, Washington University
Prof. Evie Shockley, Rutgers University
Prof. Al Young, Stanford University (retired)

This event was sponsored by Berkeley Institute of the Environment http://bie.berkeley.edu/

 

Download this video for offline viewing.

LICENSE: Creative Commons (Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works).

For more information about this license, please read: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/.

Download High Quality MP4 

 

National Black Writer’s Conference: A Literary Feast

Posted By The Editors | March 31st, 2010 | Category: Feature | 1 Comment »  Print This Post

By Grace Aneiza Ali

Photos by Brook Stephenson

Perhaps it was the sight of Sonia Sanchez, Toni Morrison, Cornel West, Kamau Brathwaite, and Amiri Baraka huddled together around a table at the conference’s awards reception and chatting it up like old pals out on the town for a Saturday night dinner, that was the most memorable. Theirs was a moment of legends.

Or, perhaps it was when Indian author Meena Alexander put the dialogue in the “East Meets West” panel on hold to recite Audre Lorde. Hers was a moment of the beauty of literary encounters and cultural intersections.

Or, perhaps it was when the young poet and photographer Thomas Sayers Ellis paid tribute to his mentor and fellow poet, Kamau Brathwaite, who he admitted he’d never met until that Thursday night at the conference’s opening ceremony. Loyal to his craft, Ellis’ gift to Brathwaite was a poem itself, in which he said, “I am on this stage (this page) because I owe him.”

This past weekend, I had the honor of being both a speaker and an attendee at the 10th National Black Writers Conference (NBWC) at Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn, New York City, spearheaded by Dr. Brenda Greene, Executive Director of the Center for Black Literature. It felt more like a reunion than anything else. Four days of forums, readings, workshops, and special tributes that showcased the breadth and dimension of the 21st century black literary landscape—a literary feast.

The Conference was not without a bit of controversy, however. No conference worth its salt is. Just days before its opening, a New York Times article, “Black Writers Ponder Role and Seek Wider Attention,” questioned if a conference such as this is needed in a post-racial America?

“In the age of President Obama, when successful black writers can be found across genres and a Nobel Prize winner, Toni Morrison, can be tapped to be the honorary chairwoman of the event, do black writers still need a conference to call their own?”

Underscoring the question was the notion, or criticism, that as writers at black writers’ conferences, we are speaking only to ourselves. Martha Southgate, author of Third Girl from the Left, was quoted in the article saying that the dialogue among authors should be extended “beyond our community.”

The New York Times article and the online comments it elicited about the value of a black writers conference in 2010 was certainly a topic of debate throughout the Conference’s weekend. Kevin Powell, the Brooklyn-based writer and activist and a featured speaker, dedicated his entire speech in response to the question of why a black writers conference is needed.

I asked Shani Jamila, radio host and blogger at shanijamila.com, who made the trip from Washington, DC to attend the Conference, to weigh in on the debate. For her, the value lies in the “sacred space” the Conference fosters. “Sacred spaces like the one created by the NBWC are critically important for nurturing the deep community creativity that allows our collective imagination to flourish,” she says.

Politics, controversies and post-racial America debates aside, what I found most powerful about the National Black Writers Conference was the very thing that was most easily missed or at best, overshadowed. The Conference served as a place, a moment in time, that bridged the gap between generations of writers and literary change makers. It was space of intersection—cultural and generational—that for me was its most sacred quality.

Years ago, when I read Meena Alexander’s Nampally Road for the first time I knew that I wanted to see the city of Hyderabad, India she described as it reminded me of the city of Georgetown, Guyana where I was born and grew up. It was that book that served as the inspiration for my Fulbright Fellowship to India. Later, I would write to Ms. Alexander, a Fulbright Fellow herself, thanking her for penning that novel. And so to hear the Indian-born Alexander reading Audre Lorde at the National Black Writers Conference, a poet who she has found a deep connection to in her own life and work, it was clear to me, that we are not, and never have been, speaking to ourselves—that our work is always making connections and intersections with other communities and cultures beyond our own, and vice versa.

As young writers, the Conference was a pivotal moment for us to honor and thank the writers who fashioned and formed the blueprint for us. So often we say how important it is that the dialogue between generations be nourished and supported—but more often than not, I wonder how much that is actually put into practice. I didn’t question that this time with the National Black Writers Conference. In fact, Dr. Brenda Greene’s leadership and vision to create a space where those exchanges can flourish are to be commended.

My friend Thomas Sayers Ellis captured this culture of gratitude best. He represented our generation of writers well. And he did so with candor and humility in his tribute to Kamau Brathwaite (who I was once privileged to be a student of) at the Conference’s opening ceremony. I’ve borrowed his words below as I found them poignant as they are universal. They mimic a conversation any of us from the younger generation of writers would offer to our literary light posts.

“I am on this stage because I have tried my hand at writing poems and because he has more than tried his hand at writing poems. I am on this stage because his hand, his trying, has managed mine. Because his management has kept my path well-paved and well-lit. Because there’s a difference between accomplished-trying, and in-search-of-trying; and I am on this stage (this page) because I owe him. Thus I am grateful to all that has come through him.”

For the younger generation of writers present at the 10th National Black Writers Conference to stand in the same room, to share the same space, to join in on the same stage as the men and women who’ve inspired, challenged , enlightened, frustrated, pushed, and motivated us as writers and scholars—the moment was invaluable.

Grace Aneiza Ali is the founder and editor of Of Note Magazine, which celebrates people of color in the arts. She is also an Adjunct Professor of Literature at Medgar Evers College.

CURRENT ISSUE

Volume 3 • Number 7 • 2010

 

● MJ: The Man in the Mirror Analyzed
by Itibari M. Zulu
[ view PDF ]

 

● Love: The Human Family's Most Precious Legacy
by Michael J. Jackson
[ view PDF ]

Michael Jackson’s first public lecture presented in March 2001 at Oxford University (Oxford, U.K.) whereupon he says “Human knowledge consists not only of libraries of parchment and ink - it is also comprised of the volumes of knowledge that are written on the human heart, chiseled on the human soul, and engraved on the human psyche”, and other insightful statements relevant to his concern for the planet and all living things.

 

● “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’: MJ in the Scholarly Literature: A Selected Bibliographic Guide”
by Susan Hidalgo and Robert G. Weiner
[ view PDF ]

A non-sensational bibliographic guide to scholarly literature on the breadth of Michael Jackson’s life, work and influence.

 

● Metaphor of Hybridity: The Body of Michael Jackson
by Julian Vigo
[ view PDF ]

Here, the author suggests that in reading Michael Jackson's body goes far beyond dance to approach the realm of somatic change which blurs the lines between male and female, between black and white and between human and animal. Hence, Michael Jackson was sexless as he interpreted the roles of both man and women wherein his sexuality was represented as either non-existent or hyper-active.

 

● Michael Jackson Motivated
by Firpo W. Carr
[ view PDF ]

An acknowledgement that Michael Jackson was tapped in an endless stream of apolitical consciousness with love as the main stream, and that he was also a proud Black man with an appreciation for African culture that was woven into the fabric of his soul.

 

● The Semiosis of Soul: Michael Jackson's Use of Popular Music Conventions
by Konrad Sidney Bayer
[ view PDF ]

An examination of the popular music conventions that Michael Jackson drew from to appeal to diverse groups to express a variety of musical tastes.

 

● Michael Jackson & Television Before Thriller
by Matthew Delmont
[ view PDF ]

A look at the first phase of Michael Jackson’s television career via the Jackson Five’s television debut in 1969 at the Miss Black America pageant, and their first nationally broadcast performances on Hollywood Palace and The Ed Sullivan Show.

 

● “I’m a Cartoon!” The Jackson 5ive Cartoon as Comodified Civil Rights & Black Power Ideologies, 1971-1973
by Richard M. Breaux
[ view PDF ]

An assessment of Motown Productions and Rankin/Bass Productions Incorporated collaboration to bring the Jackson 5ive cartoon to the American Broadcasting Company’s Saturday morning line-up, and the place of the Jackson 5ive cartoon in the history of Black characters in animated television and film.

 

● Michael Jackson & The Psycho/Biology of Race
by Darryl Scriven
[ view PDF ]

Affirming that race in America functions largely as a fictive political narrative with psychological and sociological implications, this work argues that this phenomena surfaced in Michael Jackson’s pathology of appearance and in America’s bipolar obsession with his racially ambiguous expression.

 

● Michael Jackson: Color Complex and the Politics of White Supremacy
by Professor Gershom Williams
[ view PDF ]

This paper suggests that Michael Jackson's compassionate and loving spirit fell victim to the ever present and dangerous, subliminal forces of White racial superiority, although he had an abundance of positive role models and pro-Black examples of success and greatness.

 

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Red Tape Idles Aid Trucks at Haiti’s Border

0 Comments 02 April 2010

By EZEQUIEL ABIU LOPEZ (AP)

JIMANI, Dominican Republic — After six days of waiting at Haiti’s border, Mario Polanco was losing patience with the red tape holding up his truck full of earthquake relief supplies.

Polanco drove the equipment for the International Committee of the Red Cross 11 hours from a port in the Dominican Republic, only to have the Haitian customs agent find one problem after another with his paperwork. As he waited in the shade of his truck’s cab in this dusty border town, dozens of others were lined up behind him.

“I don’t know why they are making it so difficult on people,” Polanco said.

For more than six weeks following the Jan. 12 earthquake, Haiti left its border with the Dominican Republic open to speed the delivery of aid. As the government now reasserts control, the return of bureaucracy is leading to delays as trucks idle for days.

One day this week at the customs office at Malpasse, the Haitian town across from Jimani, a single agent was processing a caravan of trucks, including Polanco’s, that stretched for two miles (three kilometers). In the line were rice, beans, canned food, construction materials and ambulances — all desperately needed in Haiti.

“We haven’t been able to distribute food for two weeks,” said Paloma Rivera, an official with Quisqueya in Action, a nonprofit Dominican organization that is feeding some of Haiti’s homeless quake victims.

Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive says border controls are necessary to intercept contraband, and also raise revenues from commercial drivers’ import fees.

“Some kind of control is needed,” said Bellerive, who added that delays were to be expected. “There is a lot of traffic across a border that was not prepared for that.”

The main southern road between the two countries that share the Caribbean island of Hispaniola became a major thruway for humanitarian aid following the magnitude-7 quake, which killed a government-estimated 230,000 people and left more than 1 million people homeless.

The road was particularly important in the first weeks of the crisis as the Port-au-Prince airport, which has only one runway, diverted aid flights to Santo Domingo amid a crush of emergency traffic. The U.N.’s World Food Program is also now rushing to build up Haiti’s sea ports ahead of hurricane season, when heavy rains often wash out mountain roads.

Some say an alternative route cannot come soon enough.

Polanco, who works for a Dominican company contracted by the Red Cross, was transporting heavy-lifting equipment. Other trucks in the convoy carried portable toilets and wood and cement for reconstruction. He said a Red Cross representative was coming to the border each day to help, but the customs agent kept finding new problems.

“Everyday it’s something different,” he said. “Now the number on the truck doesn’t match with the papers.”

The overwhelmed agent ignored a reporter’s questions as he fielded demands from drivers packed inside his office.

Haiti’s bureaucracy was famously sluggish even before the earthquake shattered government agencies. Businesses could wait months for supplies from the U.S. to clear customs at seaports.

Corruption was also a problem. Haiti regularly ranks among the worst in Transparency International’s annual ranking of perceived corruption. Haiti ranked 168th out of 180 countries in 2009 on a scale where low scores mean most corruption.

Aid delivery by the U.S. Agency for International Development has not been affected by the recent backups at the border, according to Kimberly Flowers, an agency spokeswoman in Port-au-Prince. She said most of its supplies arrive by sea, and USAID has its own customs and leasing agents to expedite material coming over land.

But the checks that Haiti put back in place on March 3 have affected agencies as large as the World Food Program, which has agents stationed on both sides of the border and has sent more than 800 trucks through Jimani.

Several WFP trucks have been delayed by a requirement imposed this week for all paperwork to be scanned and sent via e-mail from Santo Domingo to Port-au-Prince, according to Elder Reyes, a WFP logistics specialist.

The adjustment to the back-to-normal restrictions has been hardest on some of the smaller aid groups. Some groups stalled at the border have distributed aid meant for the capital to the poor in Jimani, said Roselio Diaz, who works for a local food pantry.

Despite the headaches, some groups say it is not as efficient to send humanitarian aid by sea.

“Trucking is more effective since we can ship to various locations,” Save the Children spokeswoman Kate Conradt said.

At the border, drivers without other options have had luck with bribery.

Customs agents have been arbitrarily charging trucks $40 for entry, Reyes said. He said agents threaten to demand passports or visas that many drivers do not have.

One driver, Jose Lorenzo, was held up for four days before he was allowed to cross the border with a load of canned tuna for the SOS Children’s Villages organization.

When the Haitian agent demanded that he present a passport, Lorenzo said: “Here is my visa,” and handed over 150 Dominican pesos — about $5. He said the agent let him pass without further hassle.

Associated Press writer Mike Melia contributed to this report from Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

official promo clip from DJ Mitsu the Beats 2nd album " A WORD TO THE WISE "
Directed by Simon Taylor (TOMATO UK ) April 09

September 01, 2009 — KSWISS online advert that uses Jose James' BLACKMAGIC. Our single will be released in October. Album has gone back to January.

CONTEST: 

FLASH FICTION RULES

The Writers' Circle will accept submission starting January 2010.  To confirm arrival, include a self-addressed stamped postcard.  Deadline: June 10, 2010. Final Judge: Randall Albers, Chair of Fiction Writing Department, Columbia College, Chicago, Illinois.  Dr. Albers has a long and distinguished career as an educator and author.

1. Cover page should include: title of work, author's name, address, zip code, phone, e-mail, as well as permission for judges to read work(s) submitted. Cover page must be signed by the author.
2. Mail entries to: The Writers' Circle, 1087 Warwick Ave., Warwick, RI 02888
3. Original unpublished work, only.
4. Maximum words: up to 1000.
5. Standard size white paper, stapled together.
6. Title of work must appear on each page.
7. Typed or word processed.
8. Up to 2 entries allowed.  Send copy only.
9. Double spaced, not double sided.
10. Entries returned with correct SASE only.
11. Administrative charge: $10 each entry.
12. First place:  $500 and publication of story.
13. First place winner and artistic merit nominees notified August 2010. Names will appear in a national press release.

2010 Doris Gooderson

10th Anniversary of the Doris Gooderson Short Story Competition Increased Prize Money - Same Entry Fees First Prize = £150, Second Prize = £70, Third Prize = £40 Entry Fee = £3 per story or 2 for £5 Closing Date = 12th July 2010 Rules of the Competition 1.     Entries must not exceed 1200 words, must be in the form of a Short Story and written in English. Prizes: 1st = £150, 2nd = £70 and 3rd = £40. Further prizes may be awarded at the discretion of the judge. 2.     An entry fee of £3 is required for each entry or £5 for 2 entries. Entries from overseas can only be accepted with an entry fee in sterling. 3.     The attached entry form (at the bottom of this page) can be photocopied if required. 4.     The Closing Date is 12th July 2010. 5.     Each story must have a title page containing title, word count and author’s name and address. 6.     Subsequent pages should not have the author’s name or identifying marks but may have the story title. 7.     All entries must be on A4 paper (or foreign equivalent), and be double-spaced, typed, and on one side of paper only. 8.     No entries should be submitted into any other competition, whilst this competition is running, but may be entered elsewhere after 30th September 2010. No entries should be published elsewhere (including on the internet) where it has been involved in an editorial process. 9.     Entries failing to meet all of these rules will be disqualified. Fees from disqualified entries will not be returned. 10.  Copyright remains with the author, although winning entries will be published in the Wrekin Writers 2010 Anthology and may also be published on the Wrekin Writer website. 11.  The judge’s decision is final. No correspondence will be entered into. 12.  Winners will be notified by 30th September 2010. 13.  This competition is open to any one, of any age, from anywhere in the world. 14.  No entries will be returned unless a stamped addressed envelope is enclosed. 15.  No entries will be acknowledged unless a stamped addressed post card is enclosed. 16.  Entries with insufficient postage will NOT be collected from the Post Office, but returned to sender. 17.  Entry indicates an acceptance of these rules. Royal Mail Price Rises - postal prices increase on 6th April 2010 - check your entry is correctly priced. We don't collect entries from the post office with insufficent postage on them. (So your entry fee cheque will not be cashed.) Send entries to arrive by 12th July 2010 to: The Competition Secretary, 29 Christine Avenue, Wellington, Telford, TF1 2DX. The rules are quite straightforward, but if you have any queries contact wrekinwriters@googlemail.com Please Note: We can only accept entry fees in Sterling. As rule 7 states that all entries must be on A4 paper (or foreign equivalent), we cannot accept emailed submissions. (We are currently establishing systems to be able to accept Paypal payments, which we hope to be able to offer in 2011.) Entry forms (in Microsoft Word format and PDF format) can be downloaded from the 'Attachment' section at the foot of this page. Good luck!

2009
Midnight Hour
Halloween Fiction
Contest

2009 Midnight Hour Halloween Fiction Contest

Do you have a really great ghost tale to tell? Are horror stories your specialty? Maybe you've written a Halloween story that you can't wait to share with the world? Perhaps midnight is just a time of reflection for you and your characters.

Scare us, depress us, inspire us, we don't care, but tell us a great story about what happens in The Midnight Hour. We aren't too strict about word counts, but use 3,500 words as a loose guideline.

Details

Prizes

   First Prize: $500 and publication

   Runner Up: $100 and publication

Deadline

   August 31, 2009

Reading Fee

   Daily Writing Sparks Subscribers: $10

   General Public: $15

Word/Line/Page Limit

   3,500 words

Notification

   October 15, 2009

Email
Submissions

Step 1

Complete the Entry Form below

Step 2

Make your payment of $15 by Pay Pal.

If the corresponding reading fee is not received (either by PayPal or by mail, your story will not be considered.)

Step 3

Please email your contest entry to: '); document.write(EmailName); document.write(' "at sign" oncewritten.comowcontests "at sign" oncewritten.com.

Residency Requirements

No residency requirements apply; although all winning entries will be paid in U.S. currency. Winning writers MUST be able to accept checks drawn on an American bank OR Pay Pal.

Author Rights

OnceWritten.com does reserve the right to feature winning entries on the website and in publications promoting the website for the lifetime of OnceWritten.com. In the case that the author chooses to later re-print a winning entry in another publication, OnceWritten.com requests that written credit be given. Authors retain all other rights.

March 31, 2010

Joint report issued on conditions in Haiti’s displaced persons camps

[Translate]

Authors describe urgency of unmet needs, press for better aid distribution

This picture was taken in Port au Prince on Jan. 28, but two months later, many Haitians made homeless and destitute by the Jan. 12 earthquake still have received little or no aid. – Photo: Ben Gurr, The Times

Washington, D.C. – A coalition of lawyers, researchers and statisticians has issued a joint report detailing the dire living conditions in six internally displaced persons (IDP) camps in and around Port au Prince, Haiti. Representatives from prominent organizations committed to a rights-based approach to earthquake recovery in Haiti – the Lamp for Haiti Foundation (LAMP), the Haiti Justice Project at the Earle Mack School of Law at Drexel University (EMSoL), the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux (BAI), the Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti (IJDH) and the Lawyers’ Earthquake Response Network (LERN) – conducted two different surveys to assess relief efforts from the perspective of survivors.

More than 4,600 displaced persons were interviewed to determine whether their basic needs were being met two months after the earthquake. Both surveys found an enormous disconnect between the aid promised and the aid received. The results are summarized in the joint report, “Neglect in the Encampments: Haiti’s Second-Wave Humanitarian Disaster.”

Despite the massive international mobilization of aid, an alarming number of Haitians continue to lack shelter, water, food and medical care. At least one in 10 families surveyed have no tents or tarps; at the Bouzi camp in Croix des Bouquets, nearly half of all families live fully exposed to the elements. When a resident of the Acra camp in Delmas was asked what she would do when it rained, she stated that she would “stand up all night.”

Children peer out of their tent at the rain. Thousands of families don’t have even this much protection. – Photo: AFP-Getty Images

Access to clean water remains a critical issue. Nearly four in 10 families purchase drinking water because the water provided by relief agencies is unfit for consumption. Similarly, while latrines are available in some camps, they are frequently so dirty that many prefer to relieve themselves in the street. For example, at Place St. Pierre in Pétionville, 70 percent of those surveyed report no access to sanitary facilities.

Additionally, half of all families have never received any food aid and a third have no access to medical care. In sum, the overwhelming majority of the respondents have not received the basic support necessary to sustain human life and dignity in the camps.

The joint report – presented to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in a hearing on economic and social rights post-earthquake on March 23 – precedes the much-anticipated March 31 Donors’ Conference at the United Nations headquarters in New York, where decisions about future aid to Haiti will be made. The report indicates that unless aid is distributed more rationally, there will be a second humanitarian crisis as the impending rainy season combines with poor sanitation, overcrowding and disease to further devastate displaced Haitians.

The authors therefore urge governments, donors and international organizations to adopt a rights-based approach to earthquake recovery and to promote Haitian participation in aid distribution. The report is the first step in a longitudinal study which will continue to follow affected families and to issue recommendations based on living conditions and aid provision in the camps.

For more information, Brian Concannon Jr., director of the Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti, www.IJDH.org, can be reached at Brian@IJDH.org. Also visit www.lampforhaiti.org.