Supporting Occupy Wall Street, Occupy The Hood seeks to recruit, educate blacks and Latinos
The racial makeup of the Occupy Wall Street protests has been a curious, if not ironic fact of the movement; on the whole, 'Occupy' encourages openness and inclusion -- but has been almost exclusively white.
If it’s up to a growing number volunteers calling themselves Occupy The Hood, that won’t be the case for much longer.
Founded by Malik Rhasaan, 39 of Queens, N.Y., and Ife Johari Uhuru, 35, based in Detroit, @OccupyTheHood has close to 3,500 followers on Twitter, the growing support of notable figures and a cadre of volunteers devoted to getting the word out about the cause of the protests to African Americans and Latinos.
Rhasaan told Loop 21, Occupy The Hood has six core volunteers, but he’s already seen "Occupy The Hood" carried by people he’s never met.
Like many others, he was initially just curious about the protests.
“It was a news story and I’ve always been interested in what’s going on in our country,” Rhassan said via phone from the protests, where a police officer had asked him to move along. “I was just going down and really, just being nosy to see how honest it was. I realized there was a solid movement but that there weren’t enough black and Latinos.”
He got on Facebook to ask his friends why they weren’t out getting involved.
“This really was about me and my friends starting a dialogue about what was going on, he said. “I really never thought this would happen.”
Then, having never used Twitter, he created @OccupyTheHood.
The buzz caught the attention of Ife Johari Uhuru, who was browsing the internet at 2 a.m from her home in Detroit. She reached out to Rhasaan on Twitter and they spoke on the phone minutes later. She offered her crack social media and internet skills to complement Rhassan’s aggressive street-organizing. A partnership was born.
Ife Johari Uhuru said the onus of awareness to new communities does not fall solely on the shoulders of Occupy The Hood. "They’re gonna have a problem with people of color [getting involved] if they don’t connect effects of capitalism to racism," she said.
In the meantime, Occupy The Hood says it need volunteers. It is also working on a website.
Rhasaan has spoken with Cornel West, who gave him some insight and lauded their efforts. Occupy The Hood also received a phone call from Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif), Ife Johari Uhuru said.
Though he does not want to take away from the core efforts of Occupy Wall Street, Rhasaan forsees, "using this as an springboard to address other things, whether it be crime or health issues in our communities. But we in the inner-city doesn't know how this pertains to us. We don’t tie our issues to Wall Street.
“Maybe if we did, we’d have less time to be beefing with each other.”
Just a Band is a self proclaimed house/funk/disco band who are on the brink of releasing their sophomore album 82. Their debut album Scratch to Reveal, released in 2008 received critical acclaim. Due to their spanking new sound and fusion of various digital elements Just A Band could be considered as pioneers of digital sound and animation in East Africa.In honor of their new upcoming album we posted this iinterview with our fellow Digital African, Afromusing. (We recommend that you check out her blog). Just a Band reveal their inspiration, creative process and future projects. Enjoy.
I was listless, down out depressed, with chicken, egg and crossing of roads questions weighing on my mind; when my fingers as if they had a series of self-cordinating nanobots, tipitty tapped their way onto a blog called Sukuma Kenya. There, I found a pebble shaped like a play button on a retro CD player encased in a rectangle of sorts with a cryptic ‘You Tube’ logo on the bottom right. I touched the pebble. Holyhaberdashery! I touched it!
My fellow Africans, that is how i came to make an interweb acquaintance with Just-A-Band. JAB is defining Kenyan animation and Kenyan techno music with aplomb, piercing wit and style…what follows is the result of smoke signals encoded with morse code and for some strange reason, un-encrypted. Enjoy it, or the chicken gets it. Wait, the egg gets it! oh what the hell…something will get it.
Just A Band is composed of? BLINKY: Jim, Dan and Blinky. JIM: There’s also our various alter egos – so that’s 2,303 of us in total.
Is the blog Kenya Animation also part of Just-a-Band? DAN: Kenyanimation isn’t actually a Just A Band project, but I work as an animator, and I put up my JAB animation projects there. That blog was set up to bring together animators and animation fans who are from/work in Kenya, just to show people that there actually is such a thing as Kenyan animation, and hopefully be a launching point for bigger local projects, which haven’t had a chance so far coz people don’t really know that a scene exists! The other guys on the list (filterene, Bint Ali, Achoko, Majiqmud) are my collaborators on that project.
The album cover for your CD has an arresting image…is there a story behind it? Did the idea pop into your mind or was it an organic, incremental idea that morphed from something? What is your creative process?
JIM: This is definitely a morph – the original blurry concept was to have angry, cathartic energy of some kind on the cover; and cables. Cables are always cool. The images I have in my head always morph into something else by the time they’re finished. The final image ended up being something rather calm and contained – whilst retaining that arresting vibe you’ve mentioned. Of course, Lenny (the model) helped a lot – I chose him because he’s like visual play-dough and he likes to know what we’re aiming for visually. I explained the general idea to him – and played loud drum and bass and clashy electro during the shoot. My creative process; I typically see the visual in my head – slightly foggy around the edges, but there nonetheless. Then I work to transform that foggy visual into something real. It feels like I’m cheating, sometimes, because all I’m doing is translating the sketch that’s already in my head. In the process of doing that translation, many things change (somewhat like a multi-branched sequence of little decisions on execution) and the final results usually surprise me just as much as anyone else.
I have only listened to one song from your newest album, is the music on Scratch To Reveal kind of in the vein of Iwinyo Piny or are there more varied sounds?
BLINKY: I’d describe the album as adventurous. We all bring different influences to the Just A Band table plus an unwillingness to stay within proscribed boundaries, I’m influenced by acoustic guitar stuff, funk, jazz, hip-hop and dance stuff, everyone else’s influences are evident all through the album. DAN: The first single, Fly, is up on YouTube and is pretty different, a bit more aggressive and obviously scifi as opposed to Iwinyo’s flirtation with spacey sounds. JIM: Somewhere towards the middle, the album reveals a softer core; comes back to earth, if you will. Some people have found this surprising because the overall look of the album says – electronic – so having pianos and strings in the middle could be a bit bewildering for some.
I see Daft Punk is an influence on your music; what are your thoughts on the Gorillaz? Would you work with Damon Albarn if he asked? What other types of music/musicians do you gravitate towards? Graphically speaking… which animators do you like? Cartoons? Which ones?? BLINKY: I know for a fact that [Albarn] did some stuff with Fela Kuti’s band mates on a trip to Nigeria, so we wouldn’t be the first African peeps he’s working with, but I’d be absolutely down for it! I’m currently jazzed by Citizen Cope, Raphael Saadiq, Lupe Fiasco, John Mayer, Jamiroquai, St. Germaine, Van Hunt, Foreign Exchange, Bob Sinclair and Asa. I’m abit out of my waters with the animation vibes, though I like Aaron McGruder of The Boondocks fame. DAN: DEFINITELY we’d collabo with Albarn (right after we regain consciousness)… Every project he does is SO DIFFERENT, from the Mali Music albums to Blur to Gorillaz…very much the kind of thing that we hope to do, as well. I have a HUGE crush (creatively, hehe) on Björk. She pushes boundaries both musically and visually, stretches your imagination… We are all influenced by Parliament Funkadelic and their many spinoffs – JIM: Are we? I just think that George Clinton guy had cool outfits. So, maybe visually. BLINKY: George Clinton is cool! DAN: I think they’re our spiritual ancestors in the genre of musical Black scifi! We like old funk bands, Jamiroquai, Basement Jaxx, Jaga Jazzist, acid jazz, French House, Van Hunt and a lot of neo-soul artists, rock dudes like RHCP and Incubus, Madlib, Timbaland and the Neptunes (N*E*R*D was one of those moments of WTF is this??), a lot of stuff. I like comical old ska, garage rock like the White Stripes and The Hives and these new dancey rock bands like Franz Ferdinand. But I think the best music is the stuff you can’t really describe… Graphically, I’m very much into manga and anime, in terms of the stories, culture, even the shortcuts they take to meet their crazy deadlines! A random list of favourites: Samurai Champloo, Mind Game, Triplets of Belleville, Studio Ghibli films, Satoshi Kon’s work, Genndy Tartakovsky, Jamie Hewlett’s Gorillaz work is really well designed and moves so fluidly, The Boondocks. Ralph Bakshi’s confrontational movies from the 70s are a huge creative inspiration for what I’d like to do in animation in future. There’s an animation director called Koji Morimoto (he did the Beyond segment in The Animatrix), he makes my eyes water. Also off The Animatrix, the World Record segment was done by another new fave, Takeshi Koike, who is actually a celeb in Japan! How interesting, celebrity animators… I would like to go study at the feet of Moebius, the French comic book artist. And a lot of movies and books (I may be a bit of a junkie). We also keep an eye on the graphic design and motion graphics scene, and that’s always a visual overload.
JIM: Daft Punk’s Discovery was one of those albums that really excited me (and it still does). Frankly, I like the visual detail of the Gorillaz more than their music. In fact, I really don’t think I like their music. But I like the way they work so hard on the supplementary material that helps you form an opinion about a band, the back story, the promos. I like people like Madonna and Björk for putting in extra effort and really being in control of their image and sound, and giving people some fantasy to believe in – however slightly.
When I was a kid, I loved the musicians who went beyond the music and created lush record covers, and placed their music in some kind of fantasy literary context. Or even the people who explored themes other than the usual “love, girls and sex”. I love the way the disco dudes touched the sky and went beyond to other planets. Why confine yourself to dull old Mother Earth? These days it’s “Hi. I’m X and I have a great body. You want to have sex with me. I also sing.” or the other equally drab approach: “Hi. I’m exceptionally gifted. I will numb you into submission with my technical wizardry. I will now play the Euclidian scale with my teeth.” I think Europeans are better at it than the Americans (with the exception of people like Madonna, as mentioned above). Americans are very literal about their music – Band X fits into this genre and you shouldn’t ask where they’re from or why they’re doing this. Europeans are very cool about alter egos and costumes and silly things like that.
Do you perform live shows? If so, where can we catch you guys? BLINKY: Coming soon to an area near you. DAN: We’re actually working on the live shows now, figuring out venues and instrumentalists, and all the cool fun stuff like projections, or not. We will be unveiling the whole shebang in August. Details will be on the site/YouTube/Facebook.
JIM: We’re working on making it something interesting – because I am skeptical that Kenyans would be OK with sitting around for several hours watching a bunch of geeks fiddling with guitars. So pom-pom’s, dancing, makeup, lights, psychedelic footage and action – on a shoestring budget, as always.
The chicken or the egg question: Which came first? The animation or the music?
BILL(Blinky): The music. We used to jam in campus. And that’s where everything else spun off from.
JIM: The music came first, definitely. As always, it was a random happenstance (our music usually is). Then Dan went, “We could do a cartoon…”, and here we are.
DAN: The music was there first, but I can remember some occasions when the animation influenced the song, especially the lyrics, coz there was supposed to be more words that would have made it clearly a song about a girl, but when we talked about the video concept allowing for a broader interpretation, the lyrics were trashed (after which one station told us they couldn’t play our song coz it didn’t have any lyrics! Haha!).
What is your animation history?
DAN: I did this one month crash course in animation right before starting Uni, and when I met Jim and Blinky I talked trash about how we could do these huge animated videos, even though I had never actually done anything… So we started Iwinyo, and I was thoroughly humbled. I guess it came out OK, though. It was a learning experience.
JIM: If there ever was a time that we had internal fights, it was during the Iwinyo phase. I think we’re over that now.
DAN: Or at least we’ve figured out some “Constructive Anger Management Techniques.”
JIM: I have absolutely no idea what he means…
DAN: *blink*
(Does rendering take forever?)
Rendering? That depends on what programs/methods you’re using… As the 2D guy, I lack the patience that the 3D guys develop whilst waiting for the goodies to iva[ripen].
I personally really like animation because of the freedom it allows you in terms of following your ideas. And I like 2D for its much more human feel, 3D can be kinda plastic. I really hate how long it takes to make, though. I see Jimmy dropping live action videos and photography projects like bunnies…
I taught animation and cartooning a bit and I work as a freelance animator to pay them bills, and so I’m all up on Kenyan animation, where it could go, what stories we could tell… but that’s a long story.
JIM: Photography and video are somewhat more immediate, which makes me look hard-working. It’s just that projects get finished real quick.
What kind of software do you use to create the animation? and is uploading videos onto YouTube (from Kenya) as torturous task as I experienced or do you have a secret high speed bunker where we can mooch off of justabandwidth?
JIM: Adobe Flash and Adobe AfterEffects.
DAN: Drawings for the 2D are done on paper, and scanned or redrawn on comp. For the next animated video we’re doing, for the track called FunkyFineBeautiful, we have a new collaborator who kicks butt at 3DS Max. As for the uploading, we mooch off our friends’ high speed connections…
Your YouTube tag is justabandwidth which is very cool. Could one presume that you are total geeks?
BILL: We seem to attract an intelligent crowd…I prefer to be on my computer than at a party…
DAN: Haha! Ms Interviewer, it’s like you know us! Yes, at least two of us are total geeks (the other one is in denial).
JIM: As in?
DAN: As in, whilst some of us spend all day turning pale indoors with computers and pencils as our only companions, others manage to maintain some kind of engagement with the outside world. Game recognize game, by the way, so should we assume that [Ms. Interviewer] is also the “bookish type”?
JIM: So all that nonsense about Bill preferring to be at the computer is a lie. He’s the most outgoing chap. I think it’s strange how it’s never been cool to be a geek (only for a brief moment, when Pharrell and company emerged, then he sold out and became cool)? I mean, everyone else has had their moment in the spotlight; the skaters, the punks, the thugs, the gay boys and girls (heady times, the 80s), the Goths…I feel disenfranchised.
I am a total geek. I did every geek thing a human being can possibly do; the braces, the spectacles, being bad at sports (except swimming, for some strange reason), being good at computers, going to cinemas to actually watch movies instead of making out at the back, actually using my library card, studying IT in college etc. If there are types of geeks, I guess I’m the finally-at-ease-with-it kind of geek.
BLINKY: You should see my primary school pictures… then you wouldn’t talk like that… I only go for parties because…
DAN: Geeks are so cool nowadays. The days of warrior kings and sportsmen politicians are gone! Now it’s like, “Bow Before My Fearsome Intellect!”
I found the use of pictures in the video quite interesting, what is the name of the street at [1:08] of Iwinyo Piny? (I have taken pics of that street but can’t remember the name for the life of me??! What of the one at [1:33] placemark?
JIM: That would be Kenyatta Avenue – one of the cuter streets in town. 1:33 is the street that connects City Market to Koinange Street, I have no idea what it’s called; but it’s very textured.
I found out about your band through the blog Sukuma Kenya. What are your thoughts on blogging? How do you feel about your own blogs so far? DAN: I had never heard of that blog before today, but I looked and I thought it was kind of surprising to see Iwinyo right in the middle of a lot of politics! Haha!
I think the Net in general has really helped get the word out, Facebook and YouTube and such. Blogging has really helped add a more personal vibe to everything (especially the band blog, I think the other blogs are more like manifestos of some sort but the band’s blog is just goofing around…). I think it really helps to have an online presence as it allows you to present your stuff the way you would want it done, not in a control freak kind of way, just in the sense that, for example, I doubt that we could find a media house that would indulge our fake bio.
JIM: Except for the very cool people at Kwani Trust who just slapped it onto their site as is. Sukuma Kenya? That’s so cool. I didn’t even know that exists. Say hi to them. Blogging feels a bit self-indulgent sometimes – I use my blog to provide alternative material about the process of making pictures, and the mental stuff that happens before and after. Sometimes people ask me tough questions, and I ask everyone what they think – then I plagiarize the answers I receive and generally look smarter.
We used to run an underground arts-and-culture type web magazine thing a few years ago, it was called LabelRevolution, and the thing we enjoyed the most was the community feel of the site. So we try to be very inclusive about everything we’re doing, because that’s how we make our music. The only reason we’ve come this far (admittedly, not THAT far but…) is because we make people feel like this is something anyone could do. Whether that’s true is another matter entirely.
BLINKY: I blog sparingly of late because I tend to expose myself a lot in my writing, I’m trying to find a method of detaching myself when I do. I don’t want to have the whole world know about me.
Do not forget to check out their blog and also the new release of their album 82.
About The Author
African Digital Art
African Digital Art is a source for digital enthusiasts inspired by Africa. From Film, Animation, Branding, Graphic Design, Visual FX, Photography, Typography and more. The best in African digital media.
An excerpt from this week’s ArtsBeat video captures the Malian singer and songwriter Boubacar Traoré playing a song during sound check for a recent show at the Bell House in Brooklyn. Born in Mali in 1942, Mr. Traoré first came to prominence in the early 1960s. His humble background made it difficult for him to make money as a musician. He dropped out of the music scene until he reemerged with a surprise appearance on Malian television in 1987. He has been recording and touring intermittently ever since.
“His music still has a rural acoustic flavor,” Jon Pareles, the chief pop music critic for The Times, says in the segment. “It invites you to come closer to it, it doesn’t thrust itself upon you. You have the feeling that he could be playing this music sitting on his porch somewhere under the stars.”
Watch the full ArtsBeat video, which also includes reports on the new television season and Indian stand-up comedy, here.
First publication: The 8 Prize winners will receive first publication in Sentinel Champions magazine #9, February 2012.
Entry Fee: £5.00 per poem (You may enter as many poems as you wish.)
Judge: Roger Elkin author of Fixing Things and No Laughing Matter (more info below)
Further information: This competition is for previously unpublished poems in English Language on any subject or style up to 50 lines long. Poems must also not have been posted on any publicly accessible website, blog or forum, and must not have been accepted for publication elsewhere. Entries must be type written on plain white A4 paper, with a standard black typeface, using one side of the paper only. Authors names or any other identifying marks must not appear on entries, but only on the entry form or covering letter.
1. Select the number of poems you wish to enter from the drop-down PayPal button below and press on 'Pay Now'
2. After you have paid, PayPal will issue you a Transaction ID or a Receipt Number. Make a note of this.
3. Create a Covering Letter titled SENTINEL ANNUAL POETRY COMPETITION 2011, stating your Name, E-mail Address, Postal Address, Telephone Number, and Titles of your poems. If the payment name is different from the author's name, please state the author's name clearly.
4. Send your poems and your Covering Letter as a Microsoft Word or rtf attachment to competitions@sentinelpoetry.org.uk"> competitions@sentinelpoetry.org.uk in the subject line type SAPC2011 followed by your Transaction ID or Receipt Number. Please Note: It is very important to enter SAPC2011 in your e-mail subject line to ensure your entry is picked up and filed correctly.
or make up a Covering Letter titled SENTINEL ANNUAL POETRY COMPETITION 2011, stating your Name, E-mail Address, Postal Address, Telephone Number, and Titles of your poems. If the payment name is different from the author's name, please state the author's name clearly.
2. Send completed Entry Form or Covering Letter together with your poems and cheque or Postal Order in favour of
SENTINEL POETRY MOVEMENT
to:
Sentinel Poetry Movement
Unit 136
113-115 George Lane
London
E18 1AB
United Kingdom
About The Judge: Roger Elkin
Roger has won over 150 prizes and places, including 35 firsts, in international poetry competitions. Author of Fixing Things and No Laughing Matter, he was shortlisted for the Bloodaxe New Blood Book-length competition (1987). He was one of 10 shortlisted (out of 4,000 entries) for the Strokestown International Poetry Competition (2003), and one of 6 shortlisted for the Keele University Poetry Prize (2007). His poetry has received the Lake Aske Memorial Award (1982 & 1987), the Douglas Gibson Memorial Award (1986), the Sylvia Plath Award for Poems about Women (1986), the Hugh MacDiarmid Trophy (2003) and the first recipient of the Howard Sergeant Memorial Award for Services to Poetry in 1987. He was literary advisor to the Leek Arts Festival, for whom he organized an International Poetry Competition (1982-1992); the co-Editor (1985-1988) of Prospice, the international literary quarterly, issues 17-25 inclusive; and sole Editor of Envoi 1991-2006, (issues 101-145). He was also judge of the Sentinel Annual Poetry Competition 2010 which was won by Christian Ward.
Terms & Conditions + Privacy Policy
(1) You may enter as many stories as you wish with the appropriate entry fees. (2) The judge reads the poems without any indication of the identity of the authors. If the same poet wins more than one prize, in the interest of fairness we WILL award it. (3) The decision of the judge is final, and no communication will be entered into. (4) If on the advice of the judge, the quality of entries is too low to produce worthy prize winners, or any other legitimate reason beyond our control arises which may affect a fair completion or conduct of the competition, we reserve the right to cancel the competition and refund all entry fees immediately by the same method we have been paid. (5) We reserve the right to reapportion the prize money if necessary in the interest of continuity as an alternative to cancellation of the competition. (6) If you would like an acknowledgement of postal entries, please enclose an SAE marked “acknowledgement”. (7) The Judge’s Report will be published on 30-11-2011 at www.sentinelpoetry.org.uk. if you would like to receive the Judges’ Report in the post, please enclose an SAE marked “Judges’ Report SAPC 2011”. (8) All prizewinners will be notified by post or e-mail within 7 days of the announcement of the results. These notifications will be accompanied with a prize claim invoice. (9) By entering this competition you provide some information such as your address and e-mail address which may be deemed personal information. These will be processed according to the data protection act 1998. We will never pass on any detail you provide in the course of entering this competition to a third party and we will never sell your data to anyone for marketing purposes. (10) By entering this competition you agree that we may contact you by e-mail or post via our newsletter with the results of the competition, the adjudicator’s reports and information on future competitions. You may unsubscribe from the newsletter at any time. (11) All entries must be received by midnight 15th October, 2011.
David Shields, the Judge for the inaugural Fish Short Memoir Contest famously said - It's all in the art, you get no credit for living. Isn't that the case? It is often said that everyone has a novel in them, even if it is only one. Not true. But everyone must have a memoir. Not an autobiography. Too many rules. Too much adherence to fact, to structure, to convention. A memoir gives licence - to interpret, to create, to fabricate, to make sense of a life, or part of that life. Go for it! Write a piece of your life, send it to Fish. Who knows, it might be published. David Shields might look at it and think that this life, this piece of writing, has something that needs to be said. Needs to be heard. Might be the start of something.
The Fish Short Memoir Contest is a new venture. A chance to get your memoir published in the 2012 Fish Anthology. The Anthology will be launched during the West Cork Literary Festival, Bantry in July 2012.
Please note: The 2011/12 Memoir Prize will open for entries 1st Aug 2011.
David Shields, author of "Reality Hunger" (will be selecting 10 memoirs to be published in the 2012 anthology.
The Fish Short Memoir Contest welcomes memoirs written in English, with a maximum of 4,000 words.
Publication in the Fish Anthology has been a stepping stone for many writers into successful writing careers. For a sample of these authors click Alumni.
To view our catalogue of anthologies click Fish Books.
No entry form is needed. Entry is mostly on-line, or by post if required.
You may enter as many times as you wish.
The competition is open to writers of any nationality writing in English.
There is no restriction on theme or style.
Maximum number of words is 4,000.
The winning memoirs must be available for the anthology and, therefore, must not have been published previously.
Fish holds publishing rights for one year after publication. Copyright then reverts to the author.
Notification of receipt of entry will normally be by email.
The judges' verdict is final.
No correspondence will be entered into once work has been submitted.
Memoirs cannot be altered or changed after they have been entered. Judging at all stages is anonymous. Names or addresses must not appear on the stories, but on a separate sheet if entering by post, or in the appropriate place if entering online.
The memoir competition is open to writers of any nationality writing in English.
Overall winners of the Fish Short Memoir Prize may enter again, but will not be eligible for the first prize
A writer who has had two memoirs in Fish Anthologies from the Short Memoir Prize, may not enter for three years. They may enter other Fish Prizes in that time. (This is designed to give opportunities to emerging writers)
You can enter online or by post. The cheaper option is to enter online.
Online Entries
To Enter online, simply submit your story(ies) through our online entry system on our website. Please do not send stories as email attachments.
MAKE SURE YOUR NAME IS NOT ON THE STORY. IT IS IMPORTANT THAT ALL SHORT-LISTING AND JUDGING IS DONE ANONYMOUSLY. YOUR STORY IS AUTOMATICALLY LINKED TO YOUR AUTHOR NAME IN THE SYSTEM.
If you have any difficulty submitting your story, post your problem at Feedback and Support.
Post to: Fish Memoir Prize, Durrus, Bantry, Co. Cork, Ireland.
Print on one side of the page only in reasonable sized type. The Fish Prize is judged anonymously, so please do not put your name or any contact details on any of the story pages. Include all contact details on a separate sheet. Receipt of entry will be by email. Stories will not be returned.
David Shields, the Judge for the inaugural Fish Short Memoir Contest famously said - It's all in the art, you get no credit for living. Isn't that the case? It is often said that everyone has a novel in them, even if it is only one. Not true. But everyone must have a memoir. Not an autobiography. Too many rules. Too much adherence to fact, to structure, to convention. A memoir gives licence - to interpret, to create, to fabricate, to make sense of a life, or part of that life. Go for it! Write a piece of your life, send it to Fish. Who knows, it might be published. David Shields might look at it and think that this life, this piece of writing, has something that needs to be said. Needs to be heard. Might be the start of something.
The Fish Short Memoir Contest is a new venture. A chance to get your memoir published in the 2012 Fish Anthology. The Anthology will be launched during the West Cork Literary Festival, Bantry in July 2012.
Please note: The 2011/12 Memoir Prize will open for entries 1st Aug 2011.
David Shields, author of "Reality Hunger" (will be selecting 10 memoirs to be published in the 2012 anthology.
The Fish Short Memoir Contest welcomes memoirs written in English, with a maximum of 4,000 words.
Publication in the Fish Anthology has been a stepping stone for many writers into successful writing careers. For a sample of these authors click Alumni.
To view our catalogue of anthologies click Fish Books.
No entry form is needed. Entry is mostly on-line, or by post if
required.
You may enter as many times as you wish.
The competition is open to writers of any nationality writing in English.
There is no restriction on theme or style.
Maximum number of words is 4,000.
The winning memoirs must be available for the anthology and, therefore,
must not have been published previously.
Fish holds publishing rights for one year after publication. Copyright then reverts to the author.
Notification of receipt of entry will normally be by email.
The judges' verdict is final.
No correspondence will be entered into once work has been submitted.
Memoirs cannot be altered or changed after they have been entered. Judging at all stages is anonymous. Names or addresses must not appear on the stories, but on a separate sheet if entering by post, or in the appropriate place if entering online.
The memoir competition is open to writers of any nationality writing in English.
Overall winners of the Fish Short Memoir Prize may enter again, but will not be eligible for the first prize
A writer who has had two memoirs in Fish Anthologies from the Short Memoir Prize, may not enter for three years. They may enter other Fish Prizes in that time. (This is designed to give opportunities to emerging writers)
You can enter online or by post. The cheaper option is to enter online.
Online Entries
To Enter online, simply submit your story(ies) through our online entry system on our website. Please
do not send stories as email attachments.
MAKE SURE YOUR NAME IS NOT ON THE STORY. IT IS IMPORTANT THAT ALL
SHORT-LISTING AND JUDGING IS DONE ANONYMOUSLY. YOUR STORY IS AUTOMATICALLY
LINKED TO YOUR AUTHOR NAME IN THE SYSTEM.
If you have any difficulty submitting your story, post your problem at Feedback and
Support.
Post to: Fish Memoir Prize, Durrus, Bantry, Co. Cork, Ireland.
Print on one side of the page only in reasonable sized type. The Fish Prize is judged anonymously, so please do not put your name or any contact details on any of the story pages. Include all contact details on a separate sheet. Receipt of entry will be by email. Stories will not be returned.
A submission is one original short story, written in English, up to 7,000 words.
The author's name should not appear on the manuscript.
Please include a separate cover page with story title and word count as well as the author’s name, address, phone, and email.
Pages must be numbered and single-spaced.
Simultaneous submissions accepted; please notify the Festival if your story is accepted elsewhere.
Unlimited entries per person are allowed. You must complete a separate entry payment and submission form for each entry.
Stories can be any theme or genre.
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Eligibility:
This contest is open only to writers who have not yet published a book of fiction. Published books include self-published books with ISBN numbers. Those who have published books in other genres besides fiction remain eligible.
Only previously unpublished stories will be accepted.
Stories that won this contest in previous years are ineligible; their authors remain eligible but must submit new work.
Stories submitted to this contest in previous years that did not place are eligible.
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Deadline:
The deadline for digital and mailed-in submissions is November 15, 2011 (postmark).
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I have rarely seen such a dope Hip Hop documentary as “Planet Rock: The Story of Hip Hop and the Crack Generation”! Last Monday VH1 broadcasted this incredible video about the rise of Crack and it’s influence on the American society and Hip Hop. Narrated by Ice-T starring Snoop, Too Short, RZA, Raekwon, B-Real, Rakim and the real Ricky Ross. A must see if you ask me! Big shout out to Supreme Cuisine for this one.
Hassane Zerrouky: How do you see what’s happening in the Arab world six months after the fall of Ben Ali in Tunisia and that of Hosni Mubarak in Egypt?
Samir Amin: Nothing will be the same as before - that is certain. That is because the uprising isn’t only about toppling the reigning dictators, but it is an enduring protest movement challenging, at the same time, both various dimensions of the internal social order, especially glaring inequalities in income distribution, and the international order, the place of Arab countries in the global economic order - in other words seeking an end to their submission to neoliberalism and the US and NATO diktats in the global political order. This movement, whose ambition is also to democratize society, demanding social justice and a new national and (I’d say) anti-imperialist social and economic policy, will therefore last for years - though to be sure it will have its ups and downs, advances and retreats - for it won’t be able to find its own solution in a matter of weeks or even months.
Are you surprised that the uprisings have been carried out, nay driven, by new players, particularly young people?
No. It’s very positive. New generations have been really politicized again. In Egypt, for example, the youth are very politicized. The youth have their own way, outside the traditional opposition parties which, in Egypt, are the parties belonging to the Marxist tradition. But their political awakening is not against those parties. I can tell you that, right now, there is deep, spontaneous sympathy between young people and the parties of the radical Marxist Left, that is to say the parties that come from the socialist and communist tradition.
You say that this is an enduring movement, but, if we take Egypt for example, isn’t there a risk that the revolution will be hijacked by conservative forces?
There are certainly many risks, including, in the short to medium term, the risk that a reactionary, Islamist alternative may prevail. That, by the way, is the US plan, unfortunately backed by Europe as well, at least as far as Egypt is concerned. The plan is to establish an alliance between the reactionary Egyptian forces and the Muslim Brotherhood; that is moreover an alliance supported by Washington’s allies in the region, led by Saudi Arabia - supported by even Israel. So, will it succeed? It is possible that it will work in the medium term, but it won’t provide any solution to the Egyptian people’s problems. So, the protest movement, the struggle, will continue and magnify. In addition, it should be noted that the Muslim Brothers themselves are in crisis.
This question is related to what you just said: what do you think of what’s happening in Syria, first of all, where the regime of Bashar al-Assad has just authorized a multi-party system, hoping to restore calm?
The Syrian situation is extremely complex. The Ba’ath regime, which enjoyed legitimacy for a long time, is no longer what it was at all: it has become more and more autocratic, increasingly a police state, and, at the same time, in substance, it has made a gigantic concession to economic liberalism. I don’t believe that this regime can transform itself into a democratic regime. Today, it is being forced to make concessions, which is a good thing, since a foreign intervention like what is done in Libya - fortunately that is not possible in the case of Syria - would be yet another catastrophe. Moreover, compared with Egypt and Tunisia, the weakness in Syria is that protest movements are very much a mixed bag. Many - though I don’t want to generalize - don’t even have any political program other than protest, making no link between the regime’s political dictatorship and its liberal economic policy choices.
Do you not fear an implosion in Syria given the risk of sectarian conflict between Sunnis on one hand and Alawis, Druzes, and Christians on the other hand?
There is that risk. Causing the states in the Middle East to implode is a US and Israeli plan. But that won’t be easy because the national sentiment is a powerful factor in Syria, which exists in all the movements challenging the regime today, despite ongoing disagreements among them.
What about Yemen, a US ally?
The United States supports the regime of Ali Abdullah Saleh. The reason is its fear of the Yemini people, especially people in southern Yemen. Southern Yemen once had a progressive Marxist regime, enjoying legitimacy and powerful popular support, forces for which are now actively involved in the social protest movement. Washington and its allies therefore fear a breakup of the country leading to the reestablishment of a progressive regime in South Yemen. That is why the Yemeni regime, with the American approval, is letting Al Qaeda - which is a tool extensively manipulated by the United States - occupy cities in the south, wishing to strike fear in the hearts of the progressive social strata, in order to make them accept Saleh’s hold on power.
Regarding the situation in Libya, where lies the risk of implosion?
The situation is tragic, very different from those of Egypt and Tunisia. Neither side in Libya is better than the other. The president of the Transitional National Council (TNC) - Mustafa Abdel-Jalil - is a very curious democrat: he was the judge who sentenced Bulgarian nurses to death before being promoted to the Minister of Justice by Gaddafi. The TNC is a bloc of ultra-reactionary forces. As for the United States, it’s not oil that they are after - they already have that. Their goal is to put Libya under their tutelage in order to establish Africom (US military command for Africa) - which is now based in Stuttgart in Germany, since the African countries, no matter what you think about them, have rejected their establishment in Africa - in the country. Concerning the risk of partition of Libya into two or three states, Washington may very well opt for the Iraqi formula, that is to say, the maintenance of formal unity under the Western military protection.
The sentences were the latest sign that the country’s Sunni monarchy would continue to deal severely with those involved in widespread protests this year, mostly held by members of its repressed Shiite majority. Much of that effort has been focused on the doctors and nurses who treated demonstrators.A court in Bahrain sentenced a protester to death on Thursday for killing a police officer in March, and it issued harsh prison terms to medical workers who treated protesters wounded during the months of unrest there this spring, according to the official Bahrain News Agency. The punishments drew strong criticism from rights groups.
The agency reported that eight people it identified as doctors who worked at a central hospital in the capital, Manama, received 15-year sentences. Other medical personnel at the hospital, the Salmaniya Medical Complex, Bahrain’s largest public hospital, were given terms of between 5 and 15 years.
At the height of the protests, security forces commandeered the Salmaniya hospital and arrested dozens of doctors and nurses. Rights activists have since accused the government of having made systematic efforts to deny medical services to wounded protesters. The international relief organization Doctors Without Borders stopped working in Bahrain last month after its offices were raided.
Reacting to the verdicts and punishments announced Thursday, Physicians for Human Rights, an advocacy group in Cambridge, Mass., called on the government of Bahrain to set them aside. “These are medical professionals who were treating patients during a period of civil unrest, as their ethical duty requires them to do,” the group’s chief policy officer, Hans Hogrefe, said in a statement on the group’s Web site. “To imprison them as part of a political struggle is unconscionable.”
The Bahrain News Agency, in describing the sentences handed down by a security court on Thursday, said the medical workers had taken over the hospital and used it as a base for antigovernment activity. They were convicted of possessing fuel bombs and light weapons, confiscating medical equipment, and “fabricating stories and lies.”
The medical professionals have said it was their duty to treat anyone who arrived at the hospital and have rejected accusations that treating protesters was akin to supporting their cause.
In the case of the officer’s death, the court said the convicted man, identified as Ali Yusuf Abdulwahab al-Taweel, had run down the officer with his car during antigovernment protests in Sitra, an oil hub just south of the capital, and was guilty of an act of terror. Another man, driving a second car, was sentenced to life in prison for his involvement.
Sitra, known for its activist Shiite population, was a stronghold of antigovernment activists at the height of the demonstrations.
The government of Bahrain, with help from Saudi Arabia, violently quashed the country’s peaceful protest movement in March. Despite the crackdown, demonstrations still occur regularly, especially in places like Sitra, where youths battle security forces after sundown. Graffiti clutters almost every wall there. “We will only kneel before God,” one slogan reads.
“The government has turned to using the law for repression,” said Mohammed al-Maskati, the head of the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights.
On Wednesday, the security court upheld life sentences for eight prominent political leaders, The Associated Press reported. Earlier in the week, the court sentenced 32 people, including at least two members of the Bahrain national handball team, to 15 years in prison for protesting illegally.
“They are sending a very negative message to the international community that Bahrain is not moving in the right direction in terms of respecting human rights,” Mr. Maskati said.
Human rights groups say that since the unrest began in the Persian Gulf kingdom of only about 525,000 citizens, 34 people have been killed, more than 1,400 have been arrested and as many as 3,600 people have been fired from their jobs. Four people also died in custody after torture, the rights groups say.
Anthony Shadid contributed reporting from Beirut, Lebanon.
Women and girls were reportedly tortured following a mass arrest, the Pentagon is selling weapons to the Bahrain government, heavy sentences were handed down to anti-government protesters, and more… here’s what you need to know:
The Bahraini courts handed down multiple verdicts Thursday - ranging from five years in prison to a death sentence - on cases stemming from anti-government protests earlier this year. One protester was sentenced to death, eight doctors were sentenced to 15 years, and other medical personnel were sentenced anywhere from five to 15 years in prison. The state-run Bahrain News Agency says the convicted were charged with possessing fuel bombs and light weapons, confiscating medical equipment and “fabricating stories and lies.” The UN Human Rights office condemned the sentences, saying they questioned the fairness of the trials based on the harsh verdicts. [Voice of America, New York Times]
38 women and seven girls were reportedly tortured or ill-treated following protests against Bahrain’s by-elections, according to Amnesty International. The women and girls were reportedly arrested at a shopping center in Manama. The women’s lawyers say they showed signs of abuse following their detainment. The Interior Ministry says no abuse took place. A government statement said the group was arrested for “racing through the mall, causing panic among families carrying out their weekend shopping”. 23 women and the seven girls were released Monday, but 15 remain in custody, according to the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights. Their trail is set for September 29. [AFP, Reuters]
Opposition party Al Wefaq and other Shi’ite-led groups are contesting the government’s figure for the recent by-election turnout. The Bahraini government claims 51 percent of voters participated in this week’s by-election, while Al Wefaq leader Sheik Ali Salman argues the figure is closer to 17 percent. Multiple Shi’ite-led groups called for a boycott of the by-elections in opposition with the government crackdown on anti-government protesters. [AP]
Iran, Bahrain ministers meet in New York for the first time since withdrawing their ambassadors. During the UN General Assembly Meeting Monday, foreign ministers from Iran and Bahrain spoke for the first time since Bahrain withdrew its ambassador from Iran for “blatant inteference” regarding Bahrain’s anti-government protests. Shortly thereafter, Iran withdrew its ambassador from Bahrain. [Voice of America]
Need to Know of the week: The Pentagon is set to sell $53 million worth of weapons to the Bahrain government. [Telegraph Blogs]
Must Read of the week: The Guardian’s interview with Dr. Ali al-Akri, who was charged earlier this year with crimes against the state for helping treat anti-government protesters. He says he awaits the day when he will be called to jail, adding, “It was the security forces who [stopped the ambulances] and that was proven during the trial. […] We witnessed the atrocities. And because we did not obey [the government] we are being punished.” [Guardian]
Quote of the week:“I lost my sense of time because of the torture … Immediately after I was taken [there was] the beating, the cursing, the kicking, the spitting; even I was electrocuted there at that unknown place… We were forced to [confess] on TV. Me and my colleagues were kept together in one hall and they threatened us with rape, they threatened us with our families and if you don’t just step in front of the camera and say I did this, this, this, this.” [Telegraph Blogs]
[Photos: Thousands of Shi’ite Bahrainis participate in an anti-government rally held by Bahrain’s main opposition party al-Wefaq, at Budaiya, September 30, Credit: Reuters; Bahraini anti-government protesters attend a rally organized by Al-Wefaq, in Quraya, Bahrain, Friday, Sept. 30. Credit: Hasan Jamali/AP; In this photo taken Saturday, Sept. 24, 2011, a Bahraini man covers his nose against tear gas as he passes through narrow, graffiti-covered streets in the Shiite village of Sanabis, Bahrain. The Arabic at left reads: “Our victory is coming,” and beneath a painted image, center, of the Pearl monument that became iconic for protesters reads: “We are coming” and “Our leaders are steadfast. Credit: Hasan Jamali/AP]
Malik RhasaanSupporting Occupy Wall Street, Occupy The Hood seeks to recruit, educate blacks and Latinos
Yes, at least two of us are total geeks (the other one is in denial).
Roger has won over 150 prizes and places, including 35 firsts, in international poetry competitions. Author of Fixing Things and No Laughing Matter, he was shortlisted for the Bloodaxe New Blood Book-length competition (1987). He was one of 10 shortlisted (out of 4,000 entries) for the Strokestown International Poetry Competition (2003), and one of 6 shortlisted for the Keele University Poetry Prize (2007). His poetry has received the Lake Aske Memorial Award (1982 & 1987), the Douglas Gibson Memorial Award (1986), the Sylvia Plath Award for Poems about Women (1986), the Hugh MacDiarmid Trophy (2003) and the first recipient of the Howard Sergeant Memorial Award for Services to Poetry in 1987. He was literary advisor to the Leek Arts Festival, for whom he organized an International Poetry Competition (1982-1992); the co-Editor (1985-1988) of Prospice, the international literary quarterly, issues 17-25 inclusive; and sole Editor of Envoi 1991-2006, (issues 101-145). He was also judge of the Sentinel Annual Poetry Competition 2010 which was won by Christian Ward. 
David Shields, the Judge for the inaugural Fish Short Memoir Contest famously said - It's all in the art, you get no credit for living. Isn't that the case? It is often said that everyone has a novel in them, even if it is only one. Not true. But everyone must have a memoir. Not an autobiography. Too many rules. Too much adherence to fact, to structure, to convention. A memoir gives licence - to interpret, to create, to fabricate, to make sense of a life, or part of that life. Go for it! Write a piece of your life, send it to Fish. Who knows, it might be published. David Shields might look at it and think that this life, this piece of writing, has something that needs to be said. Needs to be heard. Might be the start of something.
