Video of the Week:

Alicia Keys is ‘Empowered’

To End HIV

Written by emPower EditorsinShare0

In “Empowered,” Alicia Keys talks with five HIV positive women who are redefining their status by helping other women.

Cristina, a graduate student from the San Francisco Bay Area who was born with HIV; Eva, a home health care worker living in Atlanta with her family; Kym, a young professional living in Texas who learned she was positive after her new husband became sick and died as a result of HIV; Jen, a wife and mother in Portland (OR) who has been living with HIV for over 20 years; and Stephanie, a recent college graduate from North Carolina who appeared in an MTV special on youth and HIV.  They share their stories in the hopes of reaching other women and showing how, whether positive or negative, we are all empowered in this fight. Keys also explains what inspires her to take up the issue of women and HIV in America.

As a force in the global fight against AIDS, Keys has dedicated her work in philanthropy to help bring awareness to the urgency of HIV/AIDS.  Now with the launch of Empowered, she is once again highlighting the power of women – as mothers, daughters, sisters, friends, partners and people living with HIV – to change the course of this disease through every day actions.

“When I became aware that women accounted for one in five new HIV infections occurring in the U.S. each year, it shook me to the core and I realized this is an issue we ALL need to pay attention to,” said Alicia Keys.  “Whether HIV positive or negative, we all have the opportunity to educate ourselves and make a difference.”

Approximately 280,000 people living with HIV in the U.S. – or about one in four – are women.  Women of color have been especially hard-hit, accounting for the large majority of new infections occurring among women in the U.S.

Learn more about what YOU can do in your everyday life today. From who it affects to what a life with HIV can look like to how we can all make a difference. Visit: greaterthan.org/empowered to take action.

Courtesy of Greater Than AIDS

Research:

Less Access to Guns

Does Reduce Suicide

 

—By Stephanie Mencimer

| Wed Mar. 13, 2013

 

Gun enthusiasts haven't taken kindly to our story and map this week showing that gun suicides outpace traffic fatalities in many states. They've responded in droves with a common NRA talking point, which is that people who want to kill themselves will do it with or without guns. In fact, however, research shows that that assumption doesn't hold water.

US military brass have been spending a lot of time and money looking at how best to reduce the suicide rate among US troops, which has skyrocketed in recent years. They have concluded that it's false to assume that people intent on killing themselves will find a way to do it even if they can't get a gun. In a report to Congress in July, the Military Suicide Research Consortium noted that "Studies demonstrate that method substitution is rare."  

That's why simple things that can delay access to a gun, like mandatory background checks for all handgun purchases—including private sales—like those that would be required by a new bill recently passed by a Senate committee, can make a big difference in preventing suicide. States with such a requirement have a gun suicide rate 50 percent lower than states that don't, even when their non-gun suicide rates are about the same. 

One reason this hold true is that, research shows, suicide is often an impulsive act, and one that people haven't given much thought. That's especially true in gun suicides, where the majority of victims don't have a documented serious mental illness. If some in a crisis simply can't access a gun quickly, they may not try suicide at all, or they may try a less-lethal means that offers more chance that they'll be saved. And most people who survive a suicide attempt don't go on to take their own lives at a later time.

 

It's no coincidence that as American armed forces are plagued with high rates of suicide, Ft. Drum, in upstate New York, stands out with a lower rate of suicide among military personnel than most military bases across the country. New York State has some of the nation's tightest gun laws, and Col. (Ret.) Elspeth Cameron Ritchie, a psychiatrist and former adviser to the Army surgeon general, explained to Stars and Stripes last year that in New York, "it’s not so easy to get drunk, get a gun and shoot yourself." 

 

Ritchie's isn't just idle speculation, either. The Israeli Defense Forces, much like American troops, was seeing a disturbing number of suicides in the ranks in 2006. In an effort to bring down the numbers, the IDF banned soldiers from bringing their rifles home with them on the weekends. Suicides fell by 40 percent, according to a study by Israeli psychiatrists.

 

As injury-prevention researchers at Harvard have said, "means matter." 

Note: All suicidal thoughts, behaviors, and attempts should be taken seriously. Get help 24/7 by calling the National Suicide Prevention LifeLine at 1-800-273-TALK. Help is also available online at www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org. Trained consultants will provide free and confidential crisis counseling to anyone in need.

JUMP

A film for anyone that's looked suicide in the face and lived to tell the story. A mind-bending, spiritual experience on a bridge.

 Launched: Feb 12, 2013

  Funding ends: Mar 14, 2013

The Jump Film: Shooting March 2013

An artistic response to the events of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, the Colorado shootings, the Christopher Dorner shootings and all the tragic events that surround around people with unmet mental health needs. On the other hand, this is a voice for all people that just need to talk but won't because of the stigma or lack of access.

 

WWW.THEJUMPFILM.COM

Revolutionary Hope:

A Conversation Between

James Baldwin

and Audre Lorde

elektrokardiogrammatology:

JB: One of the dangers of being a Black American is being schizophrenic, and I mean ‘schizophrenic’ in the most literal sense. To be a Black American is in some ways to be born with the desire to be white. It’s a part of the price you pay for being born here, and it affects every Black person. We can go back to Vietnam, we can go back to Korea. We can go back for that matter to the First World War. We can go back to W.E.B. Du Bois – an honorable and beautiful man – who campaigned to persuade Black people to fight in the First World War, saying that if we fight in this war to save this country, our right to citizenship can never, never again be questioned – and who can blame him? He really meant it, and if I’d been there at that moment I would have said so too perhaps. Du Bois believed in the American dream. So did Martin. So did Malcolm. So do I. So do you. That’s why we’re sitting here.

AL: I don’t, honey. I’m sorry, I just can’t let that go past. Deep, deep, deep down I know that dream was never mine. And I wept and I cried and I fought and I stormed, but I just knew it. I was Black. I was female. And I was out – out – by any construct wherever the power lay. So if I had to claw myself insane, if I lived I was going to have to do it alone. Nobody was dreaming about me. Nobody was even studying me except as something to wipe out.

JB: You are saying you do not exist in the American dream except as a nightmare.

AL: That’s right. And I knew it every time I opened Jet, too. I knew that every time I opened a Kotex box. I knew that every time I went to school. I knew that every time I opened a prayer book. I knew it, I just knew it.

JB: It is difficult to be born in a place where you are despised and also promised that with endeavor – with this, with that, you know – you can accomplish the impossible. You’re trying to deal with the man, the woman, the child – the child of whichever sex – and he or she and your man or your woman has got to deal with the 24-hour-a-day facts of life in this country. We’re not going to fly off someplace else, you know, we’d better get through whatever that day is and still have each other and still raise children – somehow manage all of that. And this is 24 hours of every day, and you’re surrounded by all of the paraphernalia of safety: If you can strike this bargain here. If you can make sure your armpits are odorless. Curl your hair. Be impeccable. Be all the things that the American public says you should do, right? And you do all those things – and nothing happens really. And what is much worse than that, nothing happens to your child either.

AL: Even worse than the nightmare is the blank. And Black women are the blank. I don’t want to break all this down, then have to stop at the wall of male/female division. When we admit and deal with difference; when we deal with the deep bitterness; when we deal with the horror of even our different nightmares; when we turn them and look at them, it’s like looking at death: hard but possible. If you look at it directly without embracing it, then there is much less that you can ever be made to fear.

JB: I agree.

AL: Well, in the same way when we look at our differences and not allow ourselves to be divided, when we own them and are not divided by them, that is when we will be able to move on. But we haven’t reached square one yet.

JB: I’m not sure of that. I think the Black sense of male and female is much more sophisticated than the western idea. I think that Black men and women are much less easily thrown by the question of gender or sexual preference – all that jazz. At least that is true of my experience.

AL: Yea, but let’s remove ourselves from merely a reactive position – i.e., Black men and women reacting to what’s out there. While we are reacting to what’s out there, we’re also dealing between ourselves – and between ourselves there are power differences that come down…

JB: Oh, yes…

AL: Truly dealing with how we live, recognizing each other’s differences, is something that hasn’t happened…

JB: Differences and samenesses.

AL: Differences and samenesses. But in a crunch, when all our asses are in the sling, it looks like it is easier to deal with the samenesses. When we deal with sameness only, we develop weapons that we use against each other when the differences become apparent. And we wipe each other out – Black men and women can wipe each other out – far more effectively than outsiders do.

JB: That’s true enough.

AL: And our blood is high, our furies are up. I mean, it’s what Black women do to each other, Black men do to each other, and Black people do to each other. We are in the business of wiping each other out in one way or the other – and essentially doing our enemy’s work.

JB: That’s quite true.

AL: We need to acknowledge those power differences between us and see where they lead us. An enormous amount of energy is being taken up with either denying the power differences between Black men and women or fighting over power differences between Black men and women or killing each other off behind them. I’m talking about Black women’s blood flowing in the streets – and how do we get a 14-year-old boy to know I am not the legitimate target of his fury? The boot is on both of our necks. Let’s talk about getting it off. My blood will not wash out your horror. That’s what I’m interested in getting across to adolescent Black boys.

There are little Black girl children having babies. But this is not an immaculate conception, so we’ve got little Black boys who are making babies, too. We have little Black children making little Black children. I want to deal with that so our kids will not have to repeat that waste of themselves.

JB: I hear you – but let me backtrack, for better or worse. You know, for whatever reason and whether it’s wrong or right, for generations men have come into the world, either instinctively knowing or believing or being taught that since they were men they in one way or another had to be responsible for the women and children, which means the universe.

AL: Mm-hm.

JB: I don’t think there’s any way around that.

AL: Any way around that now?

JB: I don’t think there’s any way around that fact.

AL: If we can put people on the moon and we can blow this whole planet up, if we can consider digging 18 inches of radioactive dirt off of the Bikini atolls and somehow finding something to do with it – if we can do that, we as Black cultural workers can somehow begin to turn that stuff around – because there’s nobody anymore buying ‘cave politics’ – ‘Kill the mammoth or else the species is extinct.’ We have moved beyond that. Those little scrubby-ass kids in the sixth grade – I want those Black kids to know that brute force is not a legitimate way of dealing across sex difference. I want to set up some different paradigms.

JB: Yea, but there’s a real difference between the way a man looks at the world…

AL: Yes, yes…

JB: And the way a woman looks at the world. A woman does know much more than a man.

AL: And why? For the same reason Black people know what white people are thinking: because we had to do it for our survival…

JB: All right, all right…

AL: We’re finished being bridges. Don’t you see? It’s not Black women who are shedding Black men’s blood on the street – yet. We’re not cleaving your head open with axes. We’re not shooting you down. We’re saying, “Listen, what’s going on between us is related to what’s going on between us and other people,” but we have to solve our own shit at the same time as we’re protecting our Black asses, because if we don’t, we are wasting energy that we need for joint survival.

JB: I’m not even disagreeing – but if you put the argument in that way, you see, a man has a certain story to tell, too, just because he is a man…

AL: Yes, yes, and it’s vital that I be alive and able to listen to it.

JB: Yes. Because we are the only hope we have. A family quarrel is one thing; a public quarrel is another. And you and I, you know – in the kitchen, with the kids, with each other or in bed – we have a lot to deal with, with each other, but we’ve got to know what we’re dealing with. And there is no way around it. There is no way around it. I’m a man. I am not a woman.

AL: That’s right, that’s right.

JB: No one will turn me into a woman. You’re a woman and you’re not a man. No one will turn you into a man. And we are indispensable for each other, and the children depend on us both.

AL: It’s vital for me to be able to listen to you, to hear what is it that defines you and for you to listen to me, to hear what is it that defines me – because so long as we are operating in that old pattern, it doesn’t serve anybody, and it certainly hasn’t served us.

JB: I know that. What I really think is that neither of us has anything to prove, at least not in the same way, if we weren’t in the North American wilderness. And the inevitable dissension between brother and sister, between man and woman – let’s face it, all those relations which are rooted in love also are involved in this quarrel. Because our real responsibility is to endlessly redefine each other. I cannot live without you, and you cannot live without me – and the children can’t live without us.

AL: But we have to define ourselves for each other. We have to redefine ourselves for each other because no matter what the underpinnings of the distortion are, the fact remains that we have absorbed it. We have all absorbed this sickness and ideas in the same way we absorbed racism. It’s vital that we deal constantly with racism, and with white racism among Black people – that we recognize this as a legitimate area of inquiry. We must also examine the ways that we have absorbed sexism and heterosexism. These are the norms in this dragon we have been born into – and we need to examine these distortions with the same kind of openness and dedication that we examine racism…

JB: You use the word ‘racism’…

AL: The hatred of Black, or color…

JB: - but beneath the word ‘racism’ sleeps the word ‘safety.’ Why is it important to be white or Black?

AL: Why is it important to be a man rather than a woman?

JB: In both cases, it is assumed that it is safer to be white than to be Black. And it’s assumed that it is safer to be a man than to be a woman. These are both masculine assumptions. But those are the assumptions that we’re trying to overcome or to confront…

AL: To confront, yeah. The vulnerability that lies behind those masculine assumptions is different for me and you, and we must begin to look at that…

JB: Yes, yes…

AL: And the fury that is engendered in the denial of that vulnerability – we have to break through it because there are children growing up believe that it is legitimate to shed female blood, right? I have to break through it because those boys really think that the sign of their masculinity is impregnating a sixth grader. I have to break through it because of that little sixth-grade girl who believes that the only thing in life she has is what lies between her legs…

JB: Yeah, but we’re not talking now about men and women. We’re talking about a particular society. We’re talking about a particular time and place. You were talking about the shedding of Black blood in the streets, but I don’t understand –

AL: Okay, the cops are killing the men and the men are killing the women. I’m talking about rape. I’m talking about murder.

JB: I’m not disagreeing with you, but I do think you’re barking up the wrong tree. I’m not trying to get the Black man off the hook – or Black women, for that matter – but I am talking about the kingdom in which we live.

AL: Yes, I absolutely agree; the kingdom in which these distortions occur has to be changed.

JB: Something happens to the man who beats up a lady. Something happens to the man who beats up his grandmother. Something happens to the junkie. I know that very well. I walked the streets of Harlem; I grew up there, right? Now you know it is not the Black cat’s fault who sees me and tries to mug me. I got to know that. It’s his responsibility but it’s not his fault. That’s a nuance. UI got to know that it’s not him who is my enemy even when he beats up his grandmother. His grandmother has got to know. I’m trying to say one’s got to see what drove both of us into those streets. We be both from the same track. Do you see what I mean? I’ve come home myself, you know, wanting to beat up anything in sight- but Audre, Audre…

AL: I’m here, I’m here…

JB: I agree with you. I see exactly what you mean and it hurts me at least as much as it hurts you. But how to maneuver oneself past this point – how not to lose him or her who may be in what is in effect occupied territory. That is really what the Black situation is in this country. For the ghetto, all that is lacking is barbed wire, and when you pen people up like animals, the intention is to debase them and you have debased them.

AL: Jimmy, we don’t have an argument

JB: I know we don’t.

AL: But what we do have is a real disagreement about your responsibility not just to me but to my son and to our boys. Your responsibility to him is to get across to him in a way that I never will be able to because he did not come out of my body and has another relationship to me. Your relationship to him as his farther is to tell him I’m not a fit target for his fury.

JB: Okay, okay…

AL: It’s so entrenched in him that it’s part of him as much as his Blackness is.

JB: All right, all right…

AL: I can’t do it. You have to.

JB: All right, I accept – the challenge is there in any case. It never occurred to me that it would be otherwise. That’s absolutely true. I simply want to locate where the danger is…

AL: Yeah, we’re at war…

JB: We are behind the gates of a kingdom which is determined to destroy us.

AL: Yes, exactly so. And I’m interested in seeing that we do not accept terms that will help us destroy each other. And I think one of the ways in which we destroy each other is by being programmed to knee-jerk on our differences. Knee-jerk on sex. Knee-jerk on sexuality…

JB: I don’t quite know what to do about it, but I agree with you. And I understand exactly what you mean. You’re quite right. We get confused with genders – you know, what the western notion of woman is, which is not necessarily what a woman is at all. It’s certainly not the African notion of what a woman is. Or even the European notion of what a woman is. And there’s certainly not standard of masculinity in this country which anybody can respect. Part of the horror of being a Black American is being trapped into being an imitation of an imitation.

AL: I can’t tell you what I wished you would be doing. I can’t redefine masculinity. I can’t redefine Black masculinity certainly. I am in the business of redefining Black womanness. You are in the business of redefining Black masculinity. And I’m saying, ‘Hey, please go on doing it,’ because I don’t know how much longer I can hold this fort, and I really feel that Black women are holding it and we’re beginning to hold it in ways that are making this dialogue less possible.

JB: Really? Why do you say that? I don’t feel that at all. It seems to me you’re blaming the Black man for the trap he’s in.

AL: I’m not blaming the Black man; I’m saying don’t shed my blood. I’m not blaming the Black man. I’m saying if my blood is being shed, at some point I’m gonna have a legitimate reason to take up a knife and cut your damn head off, and I’m not trying to do it.

JB: If you drive a man mad, you’ll turn him into a beast – it has nothing to do with his color.

AL: If you drive a woman insane, she will react like a beast too. There is a larger structure, a society with which we are in total and absolute war. We live in the mouth of a dragon, and we must be able to use each other’s forces to fight it together, because we need each other. I am saying that in our joint battle we have also developed some very real weapons, and when we turn them against each other they are even more bloody, because we know each other in a particular way. When we turn those weapons against each other, the bloodshed is terrible. Even worse, we are doing this in a structure where we are already embattled. I am not denying that. It is a family discussion I’m having now. I’m not laying blame. I do not blame Black men for what they are. I’m asking them to move beyond. I do not blame Black men; what I’m saying is, we have to take a new look at the ways in which we fight our joint oppression because if we don’t, we’re gonna be blowing each other up. We have to begin to redefine the terms of what woman is, what man is, how we relate to each other.

JB: But that demands redefining the terms of the western world…

AL: And both of us have to do it; both of us have to do it…

JB: But you don’t realize that in this republic the only real crime is to be a Black man?

AL: No, I don’t realize that. I realize the only crime is to be Black. I realize the only crime is to be Black, and that includes me too.

JB: A Black man has a prick, they hack it off. A Black man is a ****** when he tries to be a model for his children and he tries to protect his women. That is a principal crime in this republic. And every Black man knows it. And every Black woman pays for it. And every Black child. How can you be so sentimental as to blame the Black man for a situation which has nothing to do with him?

AL: You still haven’t come past blame. I’m not interested in blame, I’m interested in changing…

JB: May I tell you something? May I tell you something? I might be wrong or right.

AL: I don’t know – tell me.

JB: Do you know what happens to a man-?

AL: How can I know what happens to a man?

JB: Do you know what happens to a man when he’s ashamed of himself when he can’t find a job? When his socks stink? When he can’t protect anybody? When he can’t do anything? Do you know what happens to a man when he can’t face his children because he’s ashamed of himself? It’s not like being a woman…

AL: No, that’s right. Do you know what happens to a woman who gives birth, who puts that child out there and has to go out and hook to feed it? Do you know what happens to a woman who goes crazy and beats her kids across the room because she’s so full of frustration and anger? Do you know what that is? Do you know what happens to a lesbian who sees her woman and her child beaten on the street while six other guys are holding her? Do you know what that feels like?

JB: Mm-hm.

AL: Well then, in the same way you know how a woman feels, I know how a man feels, because it comes down to human beings being frustrated and distorted because we can’t protect the people we love. So now let’s start –

JB: All right, okay…

AL: - let’s start with that and deal.

Essence Magazine, 1984

I saw that people were quoting from this, and I couldn’t find the full interview, so I decided to go to my library to find the original. Then, I typed it up. Let me know if anyone wants copies of the original PDF.

(via blackraincloud)

The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade

A review of the triangular trade with reference to maps and statistics.

 

By Alistair Boddy-Evans, About.com Guide

The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade began around the mid-fifteenth century when Portuguese interests in Africa moved away from the fabled deposits of gold to a much more readily available commodity -- slaves. By the seventeenth century the trade was in full swing, reaching a peak towards the end of the eighteenth century. It was a trade which was especially fruitful, since every stage of the journey could be profitable for merchants -- the infamous triangular trade.

Why did the Trade Begin?

Expanding European empires in the New World lacked one major resource -- a work force. In most cases the indigenous peoples had proved unreliable (most of them were dying from diseases brought over from Europe), and Europeans were unsuited to the climate and suffered under tropical diseases. Africans, on the other hand, were excellent workers: they often had experience of agriculture and keeping cattle, they were used to a tropical climate, resistant to tropical diseases, and they could be "worked very hard" on plantations or in mines.

Was Slavery New to Africa?

Africans had been traded as slaves for centuries -- reaching Europe via the Islamic-run, trans-Saharan, trade routes. Slaves obtained from the Muslim dominated North African coast however proved to be too well educated to be trusted and had a tendency to rebellion.

See The Role of Islam in African Slavery for more about Slavery in Africa before the Trans-Atlantic Trade began.

Slavery was also a traditional part of African society -- various states and kingdoms in Africa operated one or more of the following: chattel slavery, debt bondage, forced labor, and serfdom. See Types of Slavery in Africa for more on this topic.

What was the Triangular Trade?

Image: © Alistair Boddy-Evans. Licensed to About.com, Inc.

All three stages of the Triangular Trade (named for the rough shape it makes on a map) proved lucrative for merchants.

The first stage of the Triangular Trade involved taking manufactured goods from Europe to Africa: cloth, spirit, tobacco, beads, cowrie shells, metal goods, and guns. The guns were used to help expand empires and obtain more slaves (until they were finally used against European colonizers). These goods were exchanged for African slaves.

The second stage of the Triangular Trade (the middle passage) involved shipping the slaves to the Americas.

The third, and final, stage of the Triangular Trade involved the return to Europe with the produce from the slave-labor plantations: cotton, sugar, tobacco, molasses and rum.

Origin of African Slaves Sold in the Triangular Trade

Image: © Alistair Boddy-Evans. Licensed to About.com, Inc.

Slaves for the Trans-Atlantic slave trade were initially sourced in Senegambia and the Windward Coast. Around 1650 the trade moved to west-central Africa (the Kingdom of the Kongo and neighboring Angola).

The transport of slaves from Africa to the Americas forms the middle passage of the triangular trade. Several distinct regions can be identified along the west African coast, these are distinguished by the particular European countries who visited the slave ports, the peoples who were enslaved, and the dominant African society(s) who provided the slaves.

For more on the regions where slaves were sourced see this map.

Who Started the Triangular Trade?

For two hundred years, 1440-1640, Portugal had a monopoly on the export of slaves from Africa. It is notable that they were also the last European country to abolish the institution - although, like France, it still continued to work former slaves as contract laborers, which they called libertos or engagés à temps. It is estimated that during the 4 1/2 centuries of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, Portugal was responsible for transporting over 4.5 million Africans (roughly 40% of the total).

How Did the Europeans Obtain the Slaves?

Between 1450 and the end of the nineteenth century, slaves were obtained from along the west coast of Africa with the full and active co-operation of African kings and merchants. (There were occasional military campaigns organized by Europeans to capture slaves, especially by the Portuguese in what is now Angola, but this accounts for only a small percentage of the total.)

A Multitude of Ethnic Groups

Image: © Alistair Boddy-Evans. Licensed to About.com, Inc.

Senegambia includes the Wolof, Mandinka, Sereer and Fula; Upper Gambia has the Temne, Mende, and Kissi; the Windward Coast has the Vai, De, Bassa, and Grebo.

For more how many slaves were sourced from each region see this table.

Who Has the Worst Record for Trading Slaves?

During the eighteenth century, when the slave trade accounted for the transport of a staggering 6 million Africans, Britain was the worst transgressor - responsible for almost 2.5 million. This is a fact often forgotten by those who regularly cite Britain's prime role in the abolition of the slave trade.

Conditions for the Slaves

Source: "Le commerce de l'Amerique par Marseille", engraving by Serge Daget, Paris 1725

Slaves were introduced to new diseases and suffered from malnutrition long before they reached the new world. It is suggested that the majority of deaths on the voyage across the Atlantic - the middle passage - occurred during the first couple of weeks and were a result of malnutrition and disease encountered during the forced marches and subsequent interment at slave camps on the coast.

Survival Rate for the Middle Passage

Conditions on the slave ships were terrible, but the estimated death rate of around 13% is lower than the mortality rate for seamen, officers and passengers on the same voyages.

Arrival in the Americas

Image: © Alistair Boddy-Evans. Licensed to About.com, Inc.

Documentary:

Different Drummer: Elvin Jones

Before we delve into Elvin Jones’ life and career from a musicologist’s standpoint, it is important (when available) to hear from these musicians themselves and those they worked with. Luckily in the case of prolific drummer Elvin Jones, film producer and director Ed Gray decided to make a documentary entitled Different Drummer: Elvin Jones in 1979 for PBS.

Though Jones is most well known for his work with innovators like Charles Mingus, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, and countless others, he also had quite an interesting youth both serving in the US Army and developing his musical chops in the Detroit music scene afterwards. The documentary in part looks at his earlier work that helped him develop a music sense in the church and in postwar Detroit. The documentary is only 30 minutes total, so we won’t tell anyone if you break away for a quick lunchtime viewing!

Okayfuture Audio:

King Britt’s Sonic Journey

Into Afrofuturism

March 11, 2013 Posted by: killakam

The family over at Okayfuture point towards this podcast + mix on the origins and current mutations of “Afrofuturism” from veteran producer and heavyweight remixer King Britt.  The man himself wrote some enlightening words on the subject for OKF:

I was asked a few months ago to curate a show on Afrofuturism and its influences on me and my compositional work. Afrofuturism is a term originated by Mark Dery who did an essay in the New York Times in 1995 called “Black To The Future.” It became a very famous term among Afro American musicians who embrace Science Fiction, realities of space and time, and who tend to look at other worlds, comic books, and that sort of thing, as a way of escape. You have authors like Octavia Butler who wrote Kindred and other amazing books, Kodwo Eshun who wrote More Brilliant Than the Sun: Adventures in Sonic Fiction, which really go into breaking down what Afrofuturism is. But basically it is the African American sound that embraces Science Fiction pioneered by artists Herbie Hancock, Miles Davis, Sun-Ra, Parliament Funkadelic, DJ Spooky, just to name a few.

The mix is part of the Noise From The 18th Floor series, presented by the Pew Center for Arts and Heritage. Listen to my interview with Tracy Tanenbaum as well as musical selections, listed and streamed below.

Stream A Sonic Journey Into AfroFuturism below, music starts around the 8:40 mark. For more from King Britt check out our recent interview with him and Tendai Maraire on their Zimbabwe project.

Part 1:
“Kawaida” -Kawaida

“Gamla Stan” – Don Cherry
plus: an interview with Alondra Nelson

“Ostinato” – Herbie Hancock (as Mwandishi)

“John McLaughlin” – Miles Davis

“Space Is the Place (Live)”- Sun Ra
plus: an interview with Pearl Britt

“Feel”- George Duke

“Rien Neva Plus” – Funk Factory

“Cabral” – Mtume feat. Dee Dee Bridgewater

“Radhe Shyam” – Alice Coltrane
plus: an interview with Sun Ra

 

Part 2:
“African Roots”- King Tubby

“Eyjafjallajokul” – Mad Professor

“Zodiac Shit” – Flying Lotus

“Ahoulaghuine Akaline (King Britt Remix)” – Bombino

“Teleport” – Headless Headhunters

“Nights Over Nantes” – Jneiro Jarel

“Castles” – HouseShoes feat. Jimetta Rose

“Brgundy” – MndDsgn

“Connect” – Some Other Ship

“All in Forms (Leatherette Remix)” – Bonobo

“Light Odyssey” – Union

“Planetary Analysis” – King Britt feat. Rich Media

“Discipline 3” – Ras G
plus: an interview with Sun Ra

“Heritage Ship” – Madlib

“Emotional Quotient Deringer of Chiek Anta Diop” -King Britt feat. Rilners Jouegck

“New Wave” -Common feat. Stereolab

“The Stars Are Singing Too” – Build an Ark

“Bug in the Bassbin” – Innerzone Orchestra

“Raven” – Actress

“Voodoo Ray” – A Guy Called Gerald

“Dem Young Scones” – Moodymann

“Flower (King Britt’s Underwater Garden Dub Remix)” – Soul Dhamma

“Planet Rock” – Afrika Bambaataa

“Mozaik” – Zomby

“Endgame” – Antipop Consortium

“Loveless” – 4Hero feat. Ursula

 

Part 3: Tomorrow
“Beyond the Sun (Live)” – Fhloston Paradigm

“Endeavors for Never (The Last Time We Spoke You Said You Were Not

Here. I Saw You Though.)” – Shabazz Palaces

Call for Entries - Energy of Words Prize:

an Annual International Media Award

Deadline: 1 April 2013

The Energy of Words Prize is an annual international media award established by the Global Energy non-profit partnership in 2004. Each year it recognizes journalists from around the world who through their work have made a significant contribution to the awareness and understanding of global energy issues, trends and solutions.

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS:

Nominations are accepted on the basis of the submission of a single piece of work from the journalist concerned. Articles, opinion pieces and interviews published in journals, magazines and newspapers, including those published online, are accepted for consideration; submissions should include a maximum 400 word abstract of the article submitted (in English).

The submitted article must have been published between 1 March 2012 and 28 February 2013. Articles are accepted in any language provided that an abstract of the article is submitted in English.

All entries for the Energy of Word Prize must be received by 1 April 2013. Any entries submitted after this date will not be considered for the award.

NOMINATIONS:

Nomination for the award can be made by:

• Authors;

• The publication in which the piece was originally published;

• Publishers;

• Journalistic societies or groups;

PRIZE: The winner will receive a week long, all-expenses paid trip to St Petersburg, Russia, and will participate as a special guest in the international Global Energy Prize Laureate’s Week. The winner will also be given an exclusive interview with the 2013 Global Energy Prize Laureate.

AWARDS CEREMONY: The winner will be heralded at the annual international Global Energy Awards ceremony. This year, the awards ceremony will take place at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum during the Global Energy Prize Laureates’ Week in June 2013.

PAST WINNERS:

Winners of the Energy of Word Prize include:

• Mr. Martin Fackler, the Tokyo bureau chief of The New York Times, for his exceptional contributions to the coverage of international energy issues with his series of articles on Fukushima.

• Mr. Terry Macalister, Energy Editor of The Guardian, for coverage of the exploration and production of oil in the Article circle.

EVALUATION:

Submissions are judged on the basis of the following criteria:

• Subject – All submissions must be related to a contemporary energy issue.

• Insight – Submissions must provide innovative views and/or research into the subject.

• Objectivity – Features must provide unbiased analysis of the subject.

• Quality of research – Submissions are expected to uphold a rigorous level of research.

• Quality of writing – Submissions are expected to have a high standard of writing.

Submissions are judged by the Global Energy Prize International Award Committee. The Committee chooses up to two winners each year. The decision of the panel is final.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

For submissions: via the online entry form

Website: http://www.globalenergyprize.org

 

2014 Great American Fiction Contest

Enter Now!

 

 

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In its nearly three centuries of existence, The Saturday Evening Post has published short fiction by a who’s who of American authors including F. Scott Fitzgerald; William Faulkner; Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.; Ray Bradbury; Louis L’Amour; Sinclair Lewis; Jack London; and Edgar Allan Poe. Now you have the opportunity to join that illustrious line-up by taking part in The Saturday Evening Post’s Second Annual Great American Fiction Contest.

The winning story will be published in the Jan/Feb 2014 edition of the magazine and on our website. The winning writer will receive a payment of $500. Five runners-up will be published on our website and receive payment of $100 each.

Helpful Hints:

* We like a good story! Entries should be character- or plot-driven pieces in any genre of fiction, but keep it readable, please! “We are looking for stories with universal appeal touching on shared experiences and themes that will resonate with readers from diverse backgrounds and experience,” says Joan SerVaas, publisher of The Saturday Evening Post.

 
* Think local. The Post has historically played a role in defining what it means to be an American. Your story should in some way touch upon the publication’s mission: Celebrating America, Past, Present, and Future.

Submission Guidelines:

Stories must be submitted by the author, previously unpublished (excluding personal websites and blogs), and 1,500-5,000 words in length. No extreme profanity or graphic sex scenes, please. All stories must be submitted online and should be in Microsoft Word format with the author’s name, address, telephone number, and email address on the first page. There is a $10 entry fee, which helps defray a portion of the cost of operating the contest.

Click on the “Fiction Contest Entry Form” link below to upload your story and make a secure payment. Deadline for entry is 11:59 p.m. (EST), July 1, 2013.

Fiction Contest Entry Form

Thanks in advance for participating!
The Editors

We’re pleased to announce “Wolf” by Lucy Jane Bledsoe the winner of our 2013 Great American Fiction Contest! Click here to read the prize-winning fiction from our winner and six runners-up.

 

 

Entries Open:

IHDP Secretariat's Writing Contest 2013

($500 top prize | worldwide)

Posted 12 March 2013 | Deadline: 15 April 2013

The IHDP Secretariat's Writing Contest is open again! Young scholars are invited to take part and write an article for the third issue of the Dimensions magazine, to be published mid 2013. The issue will focus on the human dimensions of the Sustainable Development Goals that have been widely discussed in the context of the Rio+20 summit. The magazine is directed towards a wider audience, including non-scientists interested in the topic. Upon expiry of the submission deadline, the Secretariat will select up to three winners to be awarded cash prizes - and will publish their work in the magazine (print and online).

CASH PRIZES WILL BE AWARDED AS FOLLOWS:

• 1st Place - US$ 500
• 2nd Place - US$ 200
• 3rd Place - US$ 100

TOPIC:

At the UN conference on sustainable development “Rio+20” in June last year, world leaders agreed to create a set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a means to embed sustainability into economic development. As part of the post-2015 development agenda, the SDGs are to reflect the lessons learned from the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that are set to end in 2015. The new goals aim to address issues such as poverty eradication, energy access and renewable energies, food and water security, biodiversity, sustainable consumption, production and urbanization, as well as social exclusion and equity. An intergovernmental Open Working Group, consisting of 30 UN member country representatives will starts its work in September 2013 with support from the UN Secretary General, other UN entities and consultation with additional governments.

WHO IS ELIGIBLE?

The contest is open to young scholars from all over the world (graduate students, PhD students or postdocs). Scholars from developing countries are particularly encouraged to take part.

GUIDELINES:

Articles must address a significant issue relating to the human dimensions of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). While the subject matter may cover political, technological, economic or social aspects, contestants should seek to write an article that is understandable to a non-scientific audience, offering a narrative and avoiding the use of too many technical terms. Winning articles will be written in engaging, non-scientific language, and will provide for an interesting and easy read. Contributions in the style of an academic paper will not be accepted. Submissions must be exclusive to this Writing Contest and not be published by any other outlet before the release of the magazine.

Entries are not to exceed 2,500 words and must be submitted via e-mail to secretariat@ihdp.unu.edu by 15 April 2013, including “Writing Contest” in the subject line. Contestants are asked to provide a short paragraph about themselves stating their date of birth and field of research. All submissions will be reviewed carefully. Cash prizes will be awarded to up to three winners whose work will be published in both the print and online version of the magazine (1st Place: $ 500; 2nd Place: $ 200; 3rd Place: $ 100).

Winners will be announced on the IHDP Web site and social media channels and informed via email toward the end of April.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

For queries/ submissions: secretariat@ihdp.unu.edu

Website: http://www.ihdp.unu.edu