The Cape Verdean diaspora

 

There are many Cape Verdean communities in the world. Because Cape Verde was a colony of Portugal, the largest community is of course based in Portugal.

But there are also communities in France, the UK and in The Netherlands. And not only in Europe, also in the US and South America. (Photo Suzanna Lubrano in Ebony)

In a story on the blog 'The Great Cape Verde Adventure' the blogger writes about this Cape Verdean diaspora.

"How many Cape Verdeans actually live outside of Cape Verde? These individuals comprise the Cape Verdean diaspora.

The popular thinking is that more Cape Verdeans live outside Cape Verde than live within it. The poplation of Cape Verde is just over half-million residents in 2011 (based on the most recent census). I've heard estimates for the population of the diaspora that range from half-million to one million.

And it's a very interesting question to ask for several reasons.

First, it has significant implications for the country's economy because almost 10% of the GDP comes from remittances sent to Cape Verdean families from members who live in other lands, and provides support to families for the basics of living as well as to start small businesses. Remittances were actually an even higher percentage of the total economic output but have been surpassed by tourism and foreign direct investments."

Read the full story at http://greatcvadventure.blogspot.com

Cape Verde for absolute beginners

The Republic of Cape Verde is an island country, spanning an archipelago of 10 islands located in the central Atlantic Ocean, 570 kilometres off the coast of Western Africa.

The previously uninhabited islands were discovered and colonized by the Portuguese in the 15th Century, and became an important location in the Atlantic slave trade due to their geographically advantageous position.

Most of the population is of creole ethnicity, mixed from black African and European descent. The European men who colonized Cape Verde did not usually bring wives or families with them. As female African slaves were brought to the islands inter-marriages occurred (source wiki).

 

__________________________

The Cape Verdean diaspora

Horace Silver, jazz pianist

How many Cape Verdeans actually live outside of Cape Verde? These individuals comprise the Cape Verdean diaspora. The popular thinking is that more Cape Verdeans live outside Cape Verde than live within it. The population of Cape Verde is just over half-million residents in 2011 (based on the most recent census). I've heard estimates for the population of the diaspora that range from half-million to one million.

And it's a very interesting question to ask for several reasons.

First, it has significant implications for the country's economy because almost 10% of the GDP comes from remittances sent to Cape Verdean families from members who live in other lands, and provides support to families for the basics of living as well as to start small businesses. Remittances were actually an even higher percentage of the total economic output but have been surpassed by tourism and foreign direct investments.

Cape Verdeans emigrants often return home to work, start businesses themselves, or simply to retire. They often return with greater educational accomplishments, professional expertise, and assets. They thus can make invaluable contributions to Cape Verdean society.

Cape Verde Festival, RI, USA

And of course, many in the diaspora return periodically for vacations. In fact, it is estimated that Cape Verdeans returning for holidays and vacations comprise about 10% of the total tourism industry. But as you might imagine, they spend less nights per trip at hotels since many have relatives with whom they stay while on vacation. And I know many of you foreigners out there are thinking if you could only be so lucky to spend some time with a Cape Verdean family while here in Cape Verde. LOL! Listen, Cape Verdeans would love it if you would spend more of your dollars outside the hotels!

History of the Diaspora

Associacão Beneficiente Caboverdiana

Cape Verde has one of the highest historical rates of emigration. Starting in the mid 1800s, Cape Verdeans began a trend of heavy migration due to the droughts and severe poverty levels. They began migrating to the United States working aboard the whaling ships. The US currently has the oldest and largest of the Cape Verde expat emigrant communities.

When the US instituted extremely restrictive immigration policies starting around 1920, many Cape Verdeans began to emigrate to Senegal, a French colony at the time, because of its proximity. The Cape Verdeans in Senegal began to migrate to France after Senegal gained its independence. Senegal has the fifth largest Cape Verdean expat community.

There was also heavy migration to the Portuguese speaking countries in sub-Saharan Africa especially Angola, Guinea Bissau, Mozambique, Gabon, São Tomé e Príncipe because at one point those countries and South America were the only destinations the Portuguese authorities would approve for Cape Verdean emigrants. Today Angola has the third largest population of Cape Verdean expats. And Argentina at one tine had the sixth largest (Brazil probably has more Cape Verdeans today than Argentina).

Around the 1960s, Cape Verdeans joined the wave of immigrant labor movements to Western Europe especially Portugal, the colonial master at the time. Today, Portugal has the second highest and France the fourth highest population of Cape Verdean expats.

Then starting in the 1970s, the emigration levels were drastically reduced because of strict immigration policies in the US and Europe. In fact, the population growth rate in Cape Verde which had been negative for many years (more people emigrating that being born), turned quite positive and then tripled from the 1970s to around 2.5% per year in the 1990s.

The Number

Cape Verdeans, Southern California, USA

So how large is the diaspora? Well according to the World Bank, it's around 192,000 world wide. That's less than half the population of Cape Verde. Now the World bank gets its estimate from official figures plus they look at where remittances into Cape Verde come from and how many are sent. But I think this probably underestimates the number because "official" numbers probably do not count everyone, and remittance patterns vary from one expat community to the next.

Could it be one million? I think this is too high. One way to actually figure out the number is via simple math. The number of Cape Verdeans who've ever been born must be equal to those who are alive in Cape Verde plus those Cape verdeans who are alive outside of Cape Verde plus all who ever died. Ignoring deaths, then the diaspora would be one million only if there were 1.5 million Cape Verdeans ever born (and even higher when you add all of those who've ever died). For that to be true, Cape Verde must consistently have had an incredibly high birth rate per thousand for hundreds of years. I doubt that's been the case.

Who is the Diapora?

New Bedford, Cabo Verde Expo

What defines the diaspora? Is it only those who were born in Cape Verde and have emigrated? Or would the number include second, third or even fourth generations who were born in foreign lands of Cape Verdean parents? What about Cape Verdeans who emigrated and married non-Cape Verdeans? Are their kids, like famous Jazz pianist Horace Silver, part of the diaspora?

For an interesting scoop on the making of a new documentary by Claire Andrade, about the history of one on the oldest Cape Verdean communities in the USA, see the video below:

And what about all those foreigners who have no Cape Verdean ancestry but want to come live in Cape Verde? LOL. Maybe this is the clue to the answer. The number of people outside Cape Verde who consider themselves connected to it for one reason or another may far exceed its current population. Perhaps that includes you! If not, before you visit Cape Verde, get to know someone from there who lives in your community.

>via: http://greatcvadventure.blogspot.com/2011/06/cape-verdean-diaspora.html

 

Wind Me Up, Chuck:

A Tribute to the

Godfather of Go-Go

Thursday May 17, 2012 – by Stacia L. Brown

If you’re from the East Coast–particularly from the DMV (DC, Maryland, or Virginia)–you already know what an institution Chuck Brown is. But for those less familiar with the man called the Godfather of Go-Go, the  Washington Post  has a phenomenal obituary, exploring his life and career. Brown rose to fame in the ’70s, when he invented a kind of hard-driving, percussive music that wove through multiple songs without break or interruption. He is said to have coined the term “go-go” because the music just goes and goes.

His death yesterday, May 16, at the age of 75 came as a shock to DC locals, many of whom believed him to be the stuff of legend. With his frequent performances, boundless energy, and tireless work ethic, few considered that he’d eventually pass away. He shared a unique relationship with his fans, who always chanted “Wind me up, Chuck” when he hit the stage. He’d respond that he loved them, one of many calls and responses, he’d lend to each of his performances. Of his passing, DC native and DJ Rhome Anderson had this to say on his Facebook page, “If you’re not from DC, you might not know what it’s like to share the awesomest granddaddy ever with a few thousand extended family members.” He continued, “DC history will now forever be marked by pre- and post-Chuck eras. Our heart has literally stopped beating.”

The city has already held tributes, including a candlelight vigil last night at the recently reopened Howard Theatre.

Here are a few of the local icon’s most popular and enduring songs.

1. “Bustin’ Loose”

This was Brown’s biggest commercial hit. In 1978, it spent four weeks at the top of the R&B charts.Here’s a version of the song Brown performed at the 2011 Roots Jam Session during Grammy Weekend:

2. “Go-Go Swing”

Here’s live performance from last year, in which Brown performs this classic with his daughter, who frequently took the stage with him as a featured member of his band.

3. “Run Joe”

As this song aptly demonstrates, Chuck Brown has his finger on the pulse of the early rap/hip-hop game.

4. “Take the Go-Go Train”

A play on Duke Ellington’s famed, “Take the A Train,” this song is smooth and elegant while maintaining the steady percussion that characterizes the go-go sound. At the beginning, you can hear the audience chanting, “Wind me up, Chuck.”

Do you have a favorite Chuck Brown song or memory?

George Clinton,

The King Of Funk

(Re-Issue)

• Posted by Sound Check on February 3, 2012

What makes an artist part of the Afro-punk community should be pretty self-explanatory; it's right there in the portmanteau. But the complicated truth is that there as many different ways to define racial identity as there are ways to define genres of music. The roots of Afro-punk predate the first slave to sing in defiance and continue through modern artists who may not have ever heard a note of Bad Brains. That is to say; what makes an artist Afro-punk exists in how they look at the world, and their commitment to standing tall and declaring “fuck it, I'm going to make my art on my own terms.” In celebration of Black History Month, Afro-punk is spotlighting artists who may not be punk in the strictest definition but who posses that ineffable spirit of rebellion and artistic adventure.

Words by Nathan Leigh

It's possible in one light to view George Clinton and Funkadelic as the antithesis of punk. His songs are long and sprawling and put an emphasis on musical virtuosity generally absent in punk. Hell, his band's name is literally synonymous with an entire genre of music. But the fact remains that there are few artists who have achieved so much and influenced so many without ever compromising his need to make his art his way. The mastermind behind the supergroup Parliament-Funkadelic (now known as the P-Funk All Stars), Clinton released 19 albums from 1970 and 1981 that defined funk and kickstarted the Afrofuturist movement. In a career that's spanned over 50 years, he's influenced everything from NWA to the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, from Fishbone to the Big Boys, and been sampled by nearly every hip hop artist in the history of the genre.

The 70's were a hard time for most people. The US was mired in an endless conflict in a nation most Americans couldn't find on a map, while our government was embroiled in corruption scandals. Gas prices skyrocketed while unemployment did the same. Dance music and arena rock became homogenized monoliths making it nearly impossible for innovative musicians to compete. It was basically nothing like things are now. For the black communities in America especially it was a time of massive disenfranchisement. While the Civil Rights movement of the 60's had succeeded in ending legislative discrimination, it hadn't done anything to alleviate the ingrained institutionalized racism or the ghettoization of American cities.
The same way white kids in Manchester and New York were defiantly embracing and externalizing their feelings of otherness with dyed spiked hair and torn clothes, Clinton and company took it one step further. If they were to be treated as outsiders in American society, then they'd take it to the logical extreme. They weren't just outsiders in America, they were from another planet.

After nearly a decade of failing to find success with his doo-wop band The Parliaments, Clinton relocated to Detroit in the late 60's, finding work as a writer for Motown. The Parliaments had a minor hit with (I Wanna) Testify in 1967, but during contract negotiations with their label Revillot Records, Clinton lost the rights to the name The Parliaments. Clinton moved forward with the 5 piece backing band he had put together for The Parliaments in '64 and dubbed them Funkadelic.

 

The new group released their self debut in 1970, a mix of psychedelic blues, RnB, soul, and prototypical funk. It featured the backing band with the Parliaments singers on backing vocals. The album owes a heavy debt to Hendrix's more acid tinged experiments with bits of Sly and the Family Stone mixed in for good measure. With heavily effected vocals, an impossibly deep groove, and Clinton's meandering lyrics, the album might as well come with a few tabs of acid. Meanwhile the same personnel released the album Osmium in 1970 under the name Parliament.

 

Where Funkadelic explored the wide open spaces and surreal corners of funk, Parliament was a (comparatively) more straightforward pop band. The major difference was that Funkadelic was about the band, with the singers only there for ambiance, where Parliament was a more vocally driven band. The sonic experiments were minimized, and the songs had more traditional structures. Clinton envisioned the two bands as representing two different approaches to funk. Unfortunately contractual issues again forced Clinton to abandon the name Parliament after their first album.

 

For the first half of the decade Clinton toured with Funkadelic with the Parliament singers functioning as back-up singers, releasing a steady stream of acid-fried blues and funk. The epic guitar solo Maggot Brain in particular bears little in common with what most people think of as funk, but has remained one of Clinton's most enduring songs. During the Funkadelic period, Clinton was often associated with guitar driven fellow Detroit acts like the MC5, Ted Nugent, Alice Cooper, and Iggy Pop. Iggy's manager even went so far as to promote a mock marriage between Clinton and Iggy. (Sadly it never ended up happening. Try to imagine a party featuring the godfathers of funk, punk, and metal all hanging out in one room and tell me you don't go all fanboy for a second.)

 

In 1974 Clinton regained the rights to the name Parliament and released the album Up for the Downstroke. The album prominently featured Clinton's newest band member, bass player Bootsy Collins, and bore all the hallmarks of funk. A rubbery bass pushed up to the front of the mix, a simple danceable groove, wah guitar, slithering sexy horns, big group chants, and all the hand claps you could ever want. This wasn't party music, this was political music you could dance to. Clinton wanted to inspire positive social change with his music at the same time that he made you dance. With Up for the Downstroke and its' follow-up Chocolate City, Clinton and company created the sonic blueprint for funk, but it was Parliament's fourth album that defined Clinton's legacy.

 

Inspired by sci-fi and Sun Ra's “Black Noah,” Parliament and Funkadelic concocted an elaborate and bizarre mythology over the course of their next several albums telling the story of the Star Child (played on stage by Gary Shider), a servant to Dr. Funkenstein, the master of intergalactic outer space Funk (the source of all of life's energy). The two fight against Sir Nose d'Voidoffunk and his ally Rumpofsteelskin. The band members adopted stage names and wore increasingly silly costumes (the Star Child uniform was made from bed sheets and crayons) with a large stage prop of the Mothership that would fly in during their classic song “Mothership Connection.”

 

As an indisputable indication of Clinton's influence on the last 40 years of music, a replica of the original Mothership was recently acquired by the Smithsonian for inclusion in an exhibit on African American music. The mothership most definitely has landed.

 

In the late 70's, original members of both the Parliaments and Funkadelic began deserting the band citing complaints about Clinton's management. Meanwhile contractual difficulties again forced Clinton to abandon the name Parliament. He redubbed the band the P-Funk All Stars and continued to tour and record. His debut solo record Computer Games was released in 1982 spawning the hits “Atomic Dog” and “Loop Zilla.” Nearly every track on Computer Games has been sampled and recycled into hits for hip hop artists. Snoop Dogg's first single “What's My Name?” makes extensive use of “Atomic Dog's” chorus.

 

It's impossible to overstate George Clinton's legacy. Dr. Dre's entire 90's career consisted of sampling P-Funk riffs and adding an 808 beat to it. Hence the term G-Funk. Every single bass player and drummer since 1972 has at one point or another busted out their best Bootsy Collins impression. It might just be simpler to make a list of people George Clinton had no influence on. So here goes.

People George Clinton didn't influence in any way:

1. The dude from Nickelback
2. Karl Rove

In many ways Clinton's Afrofuturism is the opposite side of the same coin as punk rock. Both are reactions to hardship that seek to embrace otherness, while championing social change. The big difference is punk's nihilistic streak vs. funk's optimism. Where punk decrees “everything sucks, nothing matters, let's get fucked up and have some fun!”, George Clinton's funk believes that while things may be hard on this world, somewhere out in space there's an endless party. Somewhere in the infinite reaches of the galaxy, there's a black planet where things must be better than they are here. And through Clinton's ridiculous costumes and silly mythology is the desperate need for a world like that to exist. That relentless optimism in the face of everything else is what makes Clinton a beloved cultural icon. We don't just want the funk, we need the funk. Gotta have the funk.

via afropunk.com

Something Else! Featured Artist:

The Spinners

Posted by Something Else! Reviews

The Spinners, though finalists for the 2012 class of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, came up short. It was one of the only times something like that’s happened for the greatest soul group of the early 1970s.

After all, the Spinners once posted a staggering four No. 1 R&B hits in less than 18 months: “I’ll Be Around,” “Could It Be I’m Falling in Love,” “One Of A Kind (Love Affair)” and “Mighty Love” — all from 1972′s Spinners. The 1974 follow-up Mighty Love featured three Top 20 hits, and the Spinners would go on to hit the Top 10 two more times over the next two years before beginning to fade.

Since, they’ve been recognized as major influences by David Bowie, Elvis Costello and Elton John, and were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1999. Original members Henry Fambrough (who sang the famous “12:45″ line in “Games People Play”) and Robert “Bobby” Smith (“I’ll Be Around,” “Could It Be I’m Falling in Love,” “Then Came You” with Dionne Warwick) remain with the group, though singer Philippé Wynne (“One of a Kind,” “The Rubberband Man”) died of a heart attack while performing back in 1984. Original singer G.C. Cameron (“It’s a Shame”) also returned to the fold for a time in the 2000s, but he has since departed.

Throughout all the changes, their legacy has lived on. The hope, of course, is that they’ll be considered for the 2013 Rock Hall ballot. Here’s are at least five reasons why …

“THE RUBBERBAND MAN” (HAPPINESS IS BEING WITH THE SPINNERS, 1976): Formed in 1961, the Spinners went on to become one of the best and most successful singing outfits of 1970s. Brandishing a polished presence grafted of honey-kissed harmonies, classy grooves and melt-in-your mouth melodies, the Detroit, Michigan, group spawned catchy songs bleeding with heart and soul.

By the time “The Rubberband Man” swept the airwaves, reaching No. 2 on the national charts in the early fall of 1976, the Spinners had already racked up a dozen Top 40 hit singles to their name, with tunes like “It’s A Shame,” “I’ll Be Around,” “Could It Be I’m Falling In Love,” “One Of A Kind Love Affair,” “Ghetto Child” and “Then Came You” (featuring Dionne Warwick) being all but a brief list of such gold-studded achievements.

But returning to “The Rubberband Man”: Is it funk or disco? A little bit of both, that’s for sure, but no matter which way you slice it, it’s a super fun song. Crafted of bouncy rhythms, cheerful choruses, a boogie-based jam and a hook so sharp it pokes right through the record, “The Rubberband Man” actually produces a sound similar to that of a stretching rubberband.

Whenever I hear “The Rubberband Man,” it reminds me of my first semester of my sophomore year in high school. During lunch hour, seated in a grassy knoll located by the tennis courts, I would play my blinding yellow transistor radio and this tune was in constant rotation. Whenever it came on, a bunch of fellow students would start dancing and singing along with the bubblegummy type lyrics. Although I have few fond recollections of high school, “The Rubberband Man” produces pleasant memories, as it was a nice diversion to the boring and often hostile environment I was then subjected to. — Beverly Paterson

“I’LL BE AROUND” (SPINNERS, 1972): From the first chunky guitar chords, the Spinners’ “I’ll Be Around” is a different kind of a song about getting dumped, and still loving her anyway, and thinking to yourself — and then saying out loud — that you’ll wait for as long as it takes for her to return, since there’s always a chance, no matter how remote, that these things work out in the end. A lean bass signature enters next, then the soaring strings required of any soul effort of the period, and some sly conga work by Larry Washington. Bobby Smith cries then winks — “now it’s up to me, to bow out gracefully,” he sings, though you somehow know from the start that he won’t — in a performance as nuanced as the brilliant arrangement.

It’s Philly Soul, personified — even if the group started out as four high school students in Michigan. Thank producer Thom Bell, who fashioned a two-chord burst of mournful resolve on “I’ll Be Around” that neatly echoes the chorus’ vocal lines. The Spinners, who had named themselves after a hubcap on Smith’s 1951 Crown Victoria, were on their way. “I’ll Be Around” led to a run of subsequent hits — but Bell and the group hit a creative vista, to me ears, with 1972′s Spinners. Practically its own greatest hits package, this Atlantic recording is home to “I’ll Be Around,” as well as “Could It Be I’m Falling in Love,” “Ghetto Child,” “How Could I Let You Get Away” (actually, the flip side to “I’ll Be Around”) and “One of a Kind (Love Affair).”

Bell brings the same kind of lush sophistication to this project that marked celebrated earlier work with the Stylistics and Delfonics — think, “La La Means I Love You” and “Didn’t I (Blow Your Mind This Time)” — but with an updated street-level vibe. He then mixes in orchestral elements of the big band sound of the previous decade, making for a fluttering, hypnotic effect that was faster than a standard ballad but a beat slower than a dance song. The result: Three-minutes bursts of exquisite soul glory like “I’ll Be Around,” which eventually spent five weeks at No. 1 on the R&B chart, the Spinners’ first, and reaching No. 3 on the pop hit parade, as well. — Nick DeRiso

“WORKING MY WAY BACK TO YOU/FORGIVE ME GIRL” (DANCIN’ AND LOVIN,’ 1979): During the time that my little kid self grew into a rock fan, I learned about a lot of R&B music through listening osmosis: the radio was still generous enough to mix genres and then there we always those crazy K-Tel albums. Sure, I bought it for the hard rockin’ Thin Lizzy song, put up with “Disco Duck” and other smarm, but was showered with the gifts of Stevie Wonder, The Chi-Lites, and Tower of Power.

The funny thing is that I didn’t realize this at the time. Years later I’d hear a song like “Working My Way Back To You” and it seemed incredibly familiar, even if I wasn’t the biggest R&B fan in general, or fan of the Spinners in particular. There was even a tiny remembrance of hand-held transistor radio days with shadows of the original Four Seasons version, rattling out of that tinny, plastic-encased speaker.

Delivery methods aside, it’s obvious to me that this music embedded itself in my musical root systems. The harmonies are just glorious and still have the power to resonate even after all these years. — Mark Saleski

“IT’S A SHAME” (SECOND TIME AROUND, 1970): Today, the Spinners are considered one of the best 1970s soul groups, but “Spinners 1.0” began with 1970′s “It’s A Shame,” a Stevie Wonder-penned tune that kicked off their career. While Wonder’s composition brought the group early success, they didn’t hit their stride until they departed Motown and signed with Atlantic Records. However, this classic track, with G.C. Cameron on lead vocals, did create interest in the group and gave them their first crossover hit.

Originally formed in the late 1950s as a doo-wop act, the Spinners signed with Motown in 1965 and decided to move in an R&B direction. However, the label paid little attention to the singers. Their big break came in the form of labelmate Stevie Wonder, who co-wrote “It’s A Shame” with Syreeta Wright and Lee Garrett. The Spinners recorded the song for their debut LP Second Time Around, which was released on a short-lived Motown spinoff label V.I.P. Backed by Motown’s stellar backing band the Funk Brothers, the singers demonstrated their knack for tight harmonies, while Cameron displayed his extensive vocal range.

Wonder’s words concern a love affair gone wrong, with the narrator chastising his girlfriend for cheating on him. The song immediately begins with the memorable chorus: “It’s a shame, the way you mess around with your man.” While the other singers harmonize in the background (recalling their doo-wop roots), Cameron effortlessly handles the frequent chord changes, particularly in the lines “I’m sitting all alone, by the telephone, waiting for your call, when you don’t call at all.” But then he reaches his impressive falsetto range on the verses “Why do you use me, try to confuse me? How can you stand to be so cruel?” It’s an emotional performance, one that befits the song’s tale of heartbreak. Despite the lyrics’ pleading, desperate tone, the Funk Brothers provide an upbeat instrumental counterpart. The thumping beat pulsates throughout the track, as does the distinctively ringing guitar riff that emphasizes the catchy melody.

Wonder’s knack for writing memorable chord changes and meaningful lyrics gave the Spinners a bona fide hit, reaching No. 4 on the Billboard R&B Singles chart and No. 14 on the Hot 100. Despite this success, Motown still failed to invest in the band, and ultimately dropped the group from the label in 1972. In addition, Cameron chose to remain with Motown, so the Spinners recruited new lead singer Phillipe Wynne before signing with Atlantic. Thus began Spinners 2.0, when they recorded an impressive array of quality hit songs. But “It’s A Shame” remains one of their best tracks, their first crossover single, and the only hit featuring Cameron on lead vocals. — Kit O’Toole

“COULD IT BE I’M FALLING IN LOVE” (SPINNERS, 1972: An R&B chart topper in February, 1973 and No. 4 on the U.S. pop charts, “Could It Be I’m Falling In Love” made sure that this group wouldn’t be a one-hit wonder (from “I’ll Be Around”). Thom Bell’s usual hallmarks — especially the light string and horn arrangements, as well as additional, female background vocalists — are present, but there’s this guitar-bass-drums rhythm element to it that pulls it toward Al Green territory, too: Philadelphia meets Memphis. Phillippe Wynne was the dominant lead vocalist during the classic Spinners period, but it’s Bobby Smith who steps up and handles the chores this time, except when Wynne takes over during the fade out. Smith’s softy soulful croon is just right for this song.

The strong melody and timeless love song lyrics by the Steals brothers makes this an attractive tune no matter who handles it, but the Spinners’ original take on “Could It Be I’m Falling In Love” is a classic slice of early ’70s R&B. — S. Victor Aaron

Red Cross International

Day of the Disappeared

Creative Writing Competition

Deadline: 30 June 2012

The International Day of the Disappeared (30 August) commemorates people who have gone missing throughout the world in situations of violence and armed conflict. It’s a reminder that hundreds of thousands of families are unaware of the fate of their loved ones.

The Red Cross works every day to restore family contact between separated family members. And you can help give a voice to the thousands of missing people throughout the world by entering our creative writing competition.

RULES

1. The theme of the competition is ‘missing’.

2. All entries – whether stories, poems or personal accounts – should be no more than 500 words.

3. There are two categories:

- Adult
- Young (aged 18 or below on 30 August 2012)

4. Entries must be received by 30 June 2012.

PRIZES AND JUDGING

• The winning entries in each category will receive a £100 Amazon gift voucher.
• Two runners-up in each category will receive a £50 Amazon gift voucher.

Entries will be judged by a small panel of judges, including distinguished authors and a Red Cross representative.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

1. Entries must be original, unpublished and not accepted for publication. They should be written in English.

2. Receipt of entry will be given by email if a valid email address is supplied.

3. The winning entries will be featured on the British Red Cross website.

4. Copyright will remain with the author, but the British Red Cross reserves the right to publish any winning or commended entries after the end of the competition.

5. The winning entry will be announced on 30 August, 2011.

6. The judges' decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into regarding the results.

7. Neither the judges nor competition organisers are eligible to enter the competition.

8. Entries that contain the following will not be accepted: references to political or military information; insults or threats to actual people; discriminatory or abusive language.

9. The British Red Cross reserves the rights to anonymise entries and edit content before publication where it is felt the writer’s own security – or that of their families – might be compromised or put at risk.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

For inquiries: information@redcross.org.uk

For submissions: via the entry form here

Website: http://www.redcross.org.uk

 

For Expats in Africa

- Call For Submissions:

Foreign Encounters

Anthology 2012

Deadline: 31 July 2012

Writers Abroad will be publishing their third Anthology entitled ‘Foreign Encounters’.

We are seeking submissions of short stories and non-fiction pieces and poetry on the general theme of relationships around the world. The anthology will be print published and later available as an e-book.

This year Writers Abroad will be donating all profits made to charity, Books Abroad. Books Abroad believes that education is required to solve the world's problems and is therefore helping educate school children worldwide by providing free, carefully chosen school books. Books Abroad is currently working in 84 countries and serving 977 educational establishments. This includes Africa, Asia, Central & Southern America, the Middle East and Eastern Europe.

Author, Julia Gregson, whose best-selling novel 'East of the Sun' won the prestigious Prince Maurice Prize, will be writing the foreword.

FOREIGN ENCOUNTERS ANTHOLOGY 2012

​Title: Foreign Encounters (Genre: Short Stories and Non-Fiction and Poetry)

Theme: Relationships around the world. Your short story, non-fiction piece or poem can encompass people, animals and places. An encounter or alliance, a connection or kinship, love or liaison written from an ex-pat view point.

Contributions: Expat or former ex-pat writers, or those writers who are living outside the country of their birth.

Word Count: Fiction – up to 1700 words (flash fiction is welcome) Non-Fiction – up to 1000 words. Maximum of 30 lines for poetry.

SUBMISSION AND ENTRY RULES - please read carefully as submissions may be rejected if they don't comply

• All submissions must be previously unpublished either in print or on-line.

• Submissions from ex-pats or former ex-pats only.

• Submissions should be received by midnight July 31st 2012.

• Submissions must be in English

• References to pornography or racism will not be accepted

• Manuscripts must be submitted via the link below

• The approximate word count should be inserted at the end of the submission

• Author name and title of the story or non-fiction piece should be placed in the left header of the document and page numbers in the right footer

• Manuscripts should be presented with double spacing and Times New Roman Font size 12.

• Queries only can be made via the contact button on the Submissions page

• Entries are free, only one entry per author, plus a short bio of 30 words at the end of each submission would be appreciated.

• Successful authors will be informed within two weeks after the closing date

• It will not be possible to provide feedback on submissions but successful stories may be edited and authors may be required to undertake minor changes for publication purposes

• Copyright will remain with the author and the stories will be published in an anthology in a number of formats.

• All proceeds from publication will be donated to the chosen charity.

• All entrants must be over 18.

To submit please follow the link below to Submittable where you will need to select your category (fiction, non fiction or poetry) and upload your submission. Thank you for contributing to Foreign Encounters.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

For submissions: via submishmash

Website: http://www.writersabroad.com

 

Thomas A. Wilhelmus Editors' Award

2012 Nonfiction Award

 Submission Guidelines

Southern Indiana Review editors will award a prize of $1500 and publication in SIR for a work of creative nonfiction submitted under the following guidelines.

Download Printable Guidelines >>

Each submission must:

 

• Be available for exclusive publication in Vol. 19, No. 2 of SIR. Simultaneous submissions are acceptable, but if the entry is published/accepted by another publication while under consideration, the author must promptly notify SIR in writing to withdraw the entry. 

   

• Include an entry fee of $20 ($5 for each additional entry). This non-refundable fee includes a year's subscription to SIR. Make check or money order payable to Southern Indiana Review.

   

• List the author’s name, street address, email address (if applicable), phone number, and title of submission on a cover page.

   

• List only the title of submission on each page thereafter.

   

• Be fewer than 35 typed pages (12-point font) per each individual submission.

   

• Be addressed to Thomas A Wilhelmus Editors' Award, Southern Indiana Review, University of Southern Indiana, 8600 University Boulevard, Evansville, IN, 47712.

   

• Be postmarked by June 1, 2012.

   

• Include SAS postcard for receipt acknowledgement and/or SASE for contest results. All manuscripts will be recycled. Results will be posted on the SIR web site.

   

• Current and former students and employees of the University of Southern Indiana are not eligible for the Award.

   

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All submissions will be considered for publication. All themes and/or subject matters are eligible.

'This Is the Time for Poetry':

A Conversation With

Alice Walker

By Abdul Ali

Mar 20 2012

 

The Pulitzer-winning author discusses the role of literature in moments of upheaval, the importance of women's rights, and more.

AP Images

Poetry is a constant for Alice Walker. Her literary career, which spans over four decades, has been dominated by her novel The Color Purple,often at the expense of a robust body of work and literary activism that includes collections of essays and short stories, children's books, volumes of poetry, works of fiction and nonfiction, and most recently a Tony-nominated play based on her signature novel.

Of course, one would be hard-pressed to downplay The Color Purple, which catapulted her into international celebrity. Walker became the first African American woman to win the Pulitzer prize for fiction in 1983. The book also won the American Book award and was adapted for film by Steven Spielberg.

But before The Color Purple, Walker was a poet. Her first volume of poems, Once (1968), was followed by seven more volumes of poetry.

Later this month, she will join a long list of poets in the nation's capital for the 2012 Split This Rock Poetry Festival, a progressive literary festival whose mission is to advance the profile of politically engaged poetry in the U.S.

Over the course of numerous emails and a telephone conversation, a pensive yet jovial Alice Walker shared with me her thoughts on the enduring relevance of poetry to societies in upheaval, becoming an elder, and why Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet remains at the top of her list of all-time favorite books.

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Going back several books to The Way Forward is With a Broken Heart—you dedicate your book to the American race. What does it mean for a writer to gift her work to an entire nation?

That comes from the reality that we're in the making. America is not nearly done. We're only in the beginning. Who knows who we will be? Who knows... what color we will be? It is all something that, maybe, our descendants—if they survive that long—will see. We are a people in the making, so my book is dedicated to us in that sense.

In your more recent book, Overcoming Speechlessness: A Poet Encounters the Horror in Rwanda, Eastern Congo and Palestine/Israel, you self-identify in the subtitle as a poet. Why poet and not novelist or essayist or short-story writer or journalist?

I started out as a poet. I've always been a poet since I was 7 or 8. And so I feel myself to be fundamentally a poet who got into writing novels. If you look at my list of books, there are seven collections of poetry. The other thought is that this is the time for poetry: All the changes in life draw poetry from us, those of us who are in touch with it. It's direct even sometimes when you have to turn it upside down to understand it. There's still something embedded in it that directness [that leads] to the heart. Especially in times of revolution and times of great upheaval and change. And it just does that naturally. You don't have to play around wondering when it's going to come. It moves the people. It's just right there.

You're a writer and an activist. Did the two callings happen at the same time?

I think the writing started first because I come from a very large family and we were very poor and there was very little space for me. I was the last of eight children. And I think I turned to writing poetry for a room of my own. Solitude: a place I could express my thoughts and ideas that were not prevalent in my family. There was a quiet reserve in poetry.

I recall a moving essay you wrote where you talk about your mom giving you a suitcase and a typewriter, which gave you permission to do those things: to travel and to write.

Yes, I always forget one of them just as you did.

[Laughter]

So let me see: There was a typewriter, a suitcase, and a sewing machine so I could make my own clothing. So she saw to it very thoughtfully out of her meager earnings and provided those things she felt that I needed to get away from this town that was very racist, very backwards, where we had been living. So that is part of what infuses my poetry: this deep sense of gratitude to her and actually to my father as well. To start me out on my education in whatever way that they could.

Later this month you'll be reading at the poetry festival, Split This Rock. Do you have an expectation for what you want the audience to take away from your reading?

A clearer awareness of how useful poetry is in giving us direction. Part of what confuses people in times of upheaval is that you're getting so many different points of view and directions and so and so, how to do this and do that. And a lot of it is written in a language that honestly most people cannot understand.

That's true.

It's very cut and dry and doctrinaire ... about various systems of political thought. Poetry has a way of being all of that in a way but with subtlety and grace, if it's any good. And you can find your way with poetry that you can't find with political tracts.

For instance ... I think all college students, maybe before college even, but certainly by college, should read Letters to a Young Poet. It cuts through to the heart of what's of value in life. To really be true to your own spirit. To be awake and develop patience so that you truly understand what it is you're trying to do, desire, and who in fact you really are. That is not what you'd get from a polemical essay. Somebody trying to sway you on how many ears of corn you can grow if you collectivize. It's a wonderful gift to the planet.

Since we're discussing college students, do you have any advice to those endeavoring to break into the arts—especially persons of color—who often find themselves struggling to bring all of themselves through the door?

I'd say act from the heart and the poetry comes like any other gift, invited on a joy ride.

For me, I used to be shy towards journalism because it wasn't poetry. And then I realized that the events that I covered in essays that became journalism were actually great because they inspired me and they became my muse. So you don't have to sit -wherever you are—should I write this poem or should I go out and join this demonstration. It's from the heart. And poetry is happy to say take my arm.

You mention several times in your recent book—Overcoming Speechlessness—growing up in Georgia, in the Jim Crow South, and how that memory bonds you to this universal struggle for freedom of all people. What do you think of younger Americans who don't have a memory of Jim Crow and are cut off from what that American period was like?

It's all happening in our time. All you need to do is open your eyes. Someone right now is living my life 50 or 60 years ago in this country, today. If you are thinking you are separate in any way, just wander onto any reservation. Wander to any part of the ghetto or any streets on the back roads of Georgia. It's still there. And so I think we have to remind ourselves of this so we don't get caught in that path that we have to have had the exact experience of someone else. But frankly what poetry does is it shows us, it's a teacher that allows us to connect, emotionally, with people so profoundly that we don't have to have had their exact experience, we can just connect with them wherever they are and live today.

So there's really no need ever to feel that you can't understand something or other people. That you can't feel for other people just because you didn't grow up that way. You can and we must really keep our faith strong that we can empathize.

You also write in the same book about the need for women, elder women to be in more positions of power.

Clearly older women and especially older women who have led an active life or elder women who successfully maneuver through their own family life have so much to teach us about sharing, patience, and wisdom. I would like very much like to have older women in leadership, that one of the things that I love about 13 grandmothers who go about teaching. The voice of the grandmother has been silenced, deliberately. Since the time of the witch burnings, the grandmothers and the healers and the midwives have been systematically targeted. And burned at the stake for hundreds of years, decimating whole communities.

Until women can lift their voices, take their rightful place, I don't think we're going to shift very much. The wisdom that comes from African women, Arab women, Native women, Asian women, all of these women make up over half the planet. For the most part do they get asked if they need a pipelined drilled into their country? No. It takes five minutes to ask [those women] what do they think.

If you can stand up for the whales, the elephants, salmon—stand up for women! Give your grandmother a hand. It shouldn't be such a stretch.

You also write about aging. You describe yourself as an elder. What's that process like?

Part of my ancestry is Cherokee. And in that tradition you become an adult when you're 52.

Isn't that great?

It certainly changes things, perspective-wise.

How old are you now?

I'm 27.

See, you won't even be an adult for another half of your life. But then you'll be coming into the eldering stage. You spend some time as an adult. But when you get to be my age you accept being an elder. And there's great freedom in that. So much of your life is already lived. You feel empowered to say exactly what you think. And to share what you have gleaned whatever wisdom there is. And its actually quite beautiful, a wonderful place to be in.

Are you working on anything right now?

The World Will Follow Joy [a collection of poems]. I'll be reading from that for Split This Rock Poetry Festival. And I finished a new book of essays called The Cushion in the Road.

These are forthcoming. [The Cushion the Road] is about how as a meditator, as someone who is a contemplative and loves being on my meditation cushion, how the world still calls. You can be on the cushion and the phone rings. Hello! [laughter]. You can't really stay on the cushion.

Are there any young writers or artists whose work you're excited about?

Right now the artists who are making me feel so good about life and possibility is actually a musician whose name is Eric Bibb. He writes his own songs and is really terrific. As for poets, I'm reading and liking the works of Nathalie Handal and Dennis J. Bernstein.

What do you consider among your greatest accomplishments?

Surviving long enough to feel really happy. [laughter] It's such a delight to have lived this long and to have survived so many disasters and to still feel the beauty of the planet.

The Criminal Cost of Talking

to a Loved One Behind Bars

Hatty Lee

 

by Leticia Miranda

 

Washington, DC., she didn’t expect that a short 5-minute conversation with him could cost up to $18.

“You just have to get everything out in one line,” she laughs.

For Wright, phone calls and writing letters are the primary ways she can stay in touch with her grandson, Ulandis Forte, who has been in prison for nearly 20 years. Forte was 19-years old when he was charged with murder in a Washington, DC court. According to Wright, he was home from school on break when a birthday brawl took a turn for the worse and another boy wound up dead. “He did the time,” says Wright. “I told him he has to go forward and repent for that.”

Now 38-years old, Forte is set to be released on parole this August. In the two decades since he’s been imprisoned, Wright has been among the only constants in her grandson’s life. His mother died in 2006 and his father is paralyzed from a basketball accident. She’s 86-years old, retired, blind and has “all kinds of illness,” she says. When she was in better health, Wright would visit her grandson in prison. She traveled to see him after he was transferred from a DC-owned prison in Virginia to one in New Mexico, and then bounced around from Arizona to Ohio. He’s now housed at the Allenwood Correctional Facility in White Dear, Pennsylvania. 

She’s too fragile to make the four hour trip to visit her grandson in person, so she’s only able to manage the trip twice a year. Between visits, they talk for about five minutes twice a week. But that contact comes at a steep price.

“It’s terribly expensive,” she says. “It’s awful.” In 2000, Wright, along with other families of prisoners, filed a class-action lawsuit against Corrections Corporation of America seeking federal action to get relief from what they considered exorbitant phone call charges. In 2007, after the case failed to end in a settlement, the petitioners filed another proposal that would put a limit on how much companies could charge prisoners and their families for phone calls, and eliminate costly connection fees. The Federal Communications Commission has yet to make a ruling on the proposal.

On Mother’s Day, a campaign launched by a trio of media justice and prison reform groups aims to force the FCC’s hand in the matter. The Center for Media Justice, along with Prison Legal News and Working Narratives, are leading an effort to get prison phone rates onto the FCC’s legislative to-do list. Last week, the groups encouraged supporters to submit stories about their hardships communicating with loved ones in prison to then be turned over to the Commission in hopes that it will finally move toward regulating the private companies that oversee prison phone calls.

For the activists who are involved, it’s an issue that falls clearly along racial lines. About 35 percent of prisoners are Latino and 37 percent are Black, according to March statistics from the Bureau of Prisoners. And many of them are poor. About 88 percent of people awaiting trial or serving time in jail had no income or made less than $1,200 a month, according to Bureau of Justice. While incarcerated, prisoners make only cents an hour. Because Forte doesn’t have a livable income, Wright sends him $275 to help him out with basic expenses.

“Communities of color are most directly impacted by the high cost of prison phone calls,” says Steven Renderos, national organizer with the Center for Media Justice. “What’s at stake is not just the price of a phone call, it’s the health and well being of our families and loved ones struggling to stay connected.”

Prisoners can usually call home in two ways: they can call collect or use a debit card issued by the prison. Debit cards are usually the cheaper options, but they’re not available in all states and still costly. In March, Wright’s grandson didn’t have enough money on his card for their usual phone calls, so they only spoke about three minutes one week, she says. That call cost $18, including taxes.

“He buys so many minutes and when his minutes run out, they cut off on you,” says Wright.

The “they” in this case is Global Tel*Link, a private Alabama-based phone company contracted with Pennsylvania to provide prison phone services. Last year the company acquired three of its competitors and now contracts with over half of state prisons to provide phone services. In 2008, the company gave Pennsylvania over $7 million in additional state revenue. Over $82,000 of that revenue was generated by roughly 21,000 interstate calls like Forte’s to his grandmother in Washington, DC. The practice is known widely as a “kickback”, a percentage of the phone call profits collected by the state. The companies inflate the phone rates to cover the cost of the commission and still make a profit.

For years, states have contracted with private companies to provide telephone services through a typical bidding process administered through the state’s Department of Corrections or, like in Pennsylvania, the Governor’s Administration Office. In some states the public utilities commission approve of the final phone rates and commission. But in others like Maine, the Department of Corrections has no oversight from the commission, or any other agency on how it sets up the rates. Nationwide, only seven states and the District of Columbia have stopped accepting kickbacks - California, New Mexico, South Carolina, Nebraska, Michigan, Rhode Island and Missouri.

Because most state prisons are located far away from any metropolitan area, many prisoners pay long distance fees to stay in touch with family members and friends.

“Quite honestly I don’t know anyone, middle class or not, who could afford the cost of these calls,” says Nick Szuberla, a media artist with Working Narratives, a national multi-media social justice organization. “It’s not even just because people are low-income. I don’t think anyone could afford these calls.”

Pennsylvania’s Department of Corrections told Colorlines.com that the kickbacks are placed in their Inmate General Welfare Fund which is used to purchase items like weight lifting equipment, sports equipment, satellite radio, religious supplies and visiting room supplies. Before New York ended kickbacks in 2007, the Department of Corrections used the revenue to provide health services for prisoners living with HIV/AIDS. But health services are something that prisons are required to provide by law, and that fact was hammered home by activists in New York who led a successful campaign to end kickbacks and reduce prison phone rates back in 2007.

In order for inmates to successful re-integrate into society, it’s crucial for them to maintain ties to their families while incarcerated, say advocates. A 2005 report by the Anne E. Casey Foundation found that prisoners’ first and last resort for housing and support are their families. When prisoner’s maintain contact with family during their incarceration, they’re also less likely to return to prison, according to a report from the Urban Institute’s Justice Policy Center.

“A vast majority of those people are going to come back to the community,” said Deborah Golden, an attorney with the D.C. Prisoners’ Project at the Washington Lawyers’ Committee and counsel on the Wright case. “Every piece of research we have says that stronger family ties increase the odds that someone will have a successful reintegration.”

Now, the focus on the FCC to finally act. But that’s much easier said than done, according to some observers.

“Apparently, the biggest reason for the failure of the Commission to act in recent years is the lack of adequate interest and staffing,” said Lee Petro, a volunteer attorney on the Wright case, in an email to Colorlines. “With the resolution of the other long-pending matters, the recent additions of two new Commissioners, and new technologies developed by the service providers that has decreased their costs of service, prompt action now will give relief to struggling families in these tough economic times.”

Although the telecom industry is a strong influence in Washington, the campaign has already garnered the support of Commissioner Mignon Clyburn. In a recent speech at Catholic University, she asked the commission to review the languishing documents which “have significant implications for making phone service affordable for inmates and their families who are currently making unbelievable economic sacrifices in order to keep their families connected.”

For Wright and her grandson, that connection has proved pivotal for nearly two decades. 

“He wants to be a counselor [when he gets out],” Wright says of her grandson. “He wants to go around and help people in jail.”

Leticia Miranda is a writer and researcher at New America Foundation’s Open Technology Institute. 

 

Read this online at http://colorlines.com/archives/2012/05/prison_phone_rates.html

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10 Black Novels

Every Literate Person

Should Read

Written by: Joshua Bloodworth

 

Like music, the novel has been one of the primary ways through which the African Diaspora has captured and transmitted its cultural, spiritual and political history.  More than just stories of individuals, the works listed below capture the zeitgeist of the times chronicled, while elevating the lives of Black men and women all over the globe into works of art.

1. Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe — This novel follows Okonkwo and his people as they wrestle with, accommodate and resist the forces of British colonialism in West Africa during the 1880s.  It has been widely praised as one of the top 100 books of the twentieth century by many writers, academics and magazines including Newsweek and Time.

1. Another Country by James Baldwin –  In his most ambitious and difficult novel, James Baldwin tackles issues of race, gender, sexuality and class in the United States through the lens of an interracial group of friends living in postwar New York.  This novel, more than any other of his fiction works, places him in the company of Herman Melville, William Faulkner, Edith Wharton, Earnest Hemmingway and F. Scotts Fitzgerald as one ofAmerica’s greatest writers.

1. Segu by Maryse Conde -  This epic work tells the story of four families from a noble west African family caught between the invading forces of slavery and Islam in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.  The New York Times Book Review declared it a wonderful novel about a period of African history few other writers have addressed.”

1. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison — Often cast with Melville’s Moby Dick and Delany’s Dalghren as the greatest book ever written in the English language, Invisible Man explores the competing ideologies and tacticsAfrican-American employed to survive and sometimes thrive in Jim Crow America during the first half of the 20^th century.   When it was first published in 1952, it stayed on the bestsellers’ list for 16 weeks and won the National Book Award for Fiction.

1. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston –  Written by one of the greats of the Harlem Renaissance who also conducted anthropological studies in the American south and Haiti, Their Eyes Were Watching God depicts African-American life in the posr-Reconstruction American south through the eyes of Janin Crawford.  Since its rediscover in the late 1960s it has become a much appreciate part of the American canon of literature.

1. Home to Harlem by Claude Mckay –  This Jazz Age novel follows the exploit of a returning soldier and a disgruntled ex-student in 1920s Harlem, then in the midst of its renaissance.  Claude Mckay’s precise prose brings life to the characters, bars, gambling dens and brothels he describes.

1. Jazz byToni Morrison –  Quite possibly the greatest novel of the twentieth century, Jazz charts the move of southern African-Americans toNew York City during the Great Migration.  With skill rarely seen, she crafts sentences that play in the mind like musical riffs from the masters.

1. The Seven League Boots by Albert Murray — Another novel set in the 1920s written by one of America’s least known but most insightful intellectuals. In The Seven League Boots, the third book of a trilogy, Schoolboy travels throughout the country and Europe as a Jazz musician, highlighting the contradictions of ‘race’ in the twentieth century.

1. Matigari by Nugugi wa Thiong’o –  This satirical tale by the dean of east African letters exposes the corruption, suffering and broken promises of post-independence Africa through the eyes of a man looking for his family now that independence has come.

1. The Wedding by Dorothy West –  This novel depicts life in Martha’s Vinyard during the 1950s as the elite east coast African-American families grapple with changing mores.  The final book written by a surviving member of the Harlem Renaissance, it also has the distinction of being the last novel edited by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, and being the basis for a movie produced by Oprah Winfrey and starring Halle Berry.
   
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