Sam Greenlee’s Advise To Black Filmmakers: “If You Want To Be A Rich Ho, Move To Hollywood”
Here’s another addendum to my post on Anthony Mackie’s recent comments about blacks in Hollywood, which inspired scores of impassioned comments across the blogosphere… in the below clip (posted on this blog in the past), Sam Greenlee (The Spook Who Sat By The Door) speaks very candidly on the state of what we call “black cinema”:
A Middle East without borders?The nation state is ripe for change and people power offers new opportunities for mapping the future of the region.
Mohammed Khan Last Modified: 05 Mar 2011 15:00 GMT
Could the short-lived United Arab Republic serve as an example of cross-border union? [GALLO/GETTY]
The modern geography of the Middle East was carved out by British and French colonialists whose sole interest was in sharing the spoils of war between themselves and in maintaining their supremacy over the region in the early part of the 20th century.
The contours of the region, with its immaculately straight lines (see maps of Algeria, Libya, Egypt and Sudan) are much the same today as when they were first drawn up, despite decades of cross-border encroachment and conflict.
Never has an imported concept been so jealously guarded by ruling families and political elites in the Middle East as that of the nation state, together with the holy grail of international relations theory, state sovereignty.
The artificialness of the borders in question is not in doubt. Take a look at any map of the Middle East prior to the 1916 Sykes-Picot Agreement between Britain and France (when the division of the region was finalised with no consideration for the thoughts of the people that lived in it) and you will be hard pressed to find many physical boundaries between, say, Syria to the north-east and Morocco to the west.
What you may find, however, are free-flowing train routes spanning the region. A relic of the old Hejaz Railway, which connected Damascus to Medina, still stands (dilapidated) in the centre of the Syrian capital. It once transported pilgrims to the Muslim holy city in modern-day Saudi Arabia without the need for cumbersome visas and frustrating bureaucrats. But that was obviously some time ago.
Trial and error
Over the course of recent history, Arab leaders have attempted to foster closer unity in the Arab world whether in the form of the 22-member Arab League - "to safeguard the independence and sovereignty [of Arab states]" - or the six-state Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) - as a political, economic and security union in response to the Islamic revolution in Iran.However, the sanctity of the state itself, and its borders, has been absolute within these blocs.
Possibly the greatest experiment in cross-border union, one which admittedly lasted barely three years, began in 1958, when under a wave of Nasserism sweeping the region, Egypt and Syria (and for a very short period, Iraq) established the United Arab Republic (UAR).
Gamal Abdel-Nasser's demagoguery and penchant for power, however, and the subsequent economic tumult felt in Syria, soon saw an end to that project in 1961.
Theoretically, Egypt and Syria became one, as part of the UAR. Under a single leadership (with devolved power), the UAR was supposed to foster a spirit of togetherness and spur other countries in the region to join up and expand the union.
That the project failed was in no way a reflection of the Egyptian and Syrian peoples' desire to forge a single alliance. Together with the then Yemen Arab Republic, the formation of a United Arab States was also mooted.
That was the last we heard of a pan-Arab national project.
Arguably, the 1990s and the 2000s were the decades of cross-border post-nationalism, especially with the rise of Islamic movements as major political actors whose ideology was premised on Islamic ideals that transcended national borders.
Analyse closely the manifestos of some of these movements, however, and also consider their specific origins, and it soon becomes clear that their political ambitions were, and are, ingrained firmly in the states in which they emerged.
As such, the Islamic Salvation Front was a dominant actor in Algeria and Algeria alone, while the Muslim Brotherhood's focus is on political reformation in Egypt. The Brotherhood's offshoots are similarly specifically state-centric.
These movements may well have ideological underpinnings that aim to replicate the glory days of the early Caliphates or the Ottoman Empire, but realism has dictated that they focus their energies within specific national confines. This is unlikely to change anytime soon.
All for one
Given this recent history, then, is the idea of a borderless Middle East still viable? It may well be when you consider that the globalised nature of the world, in its present form, has thrown up possibilities in the region that would have been inconceivable barely a few years back.More precisely, the political convulsions that the region is undergoing right now have revealed glaringly the extent to which the problems and, potentially, the solutions to the Arab world's ills are remarkably similar. The political, economic and social suffocation that the people of Tunisia and Egypt have endured, before popular revolutions swept the countries' dictators from power, were near identical. The political, economic and social ailments suffered in Libya, Algeria, Bahrain, Yemen and now Oman are of the same vein.
Obviously, the causes of political unrest across these states are much more nuanced and cannot be reduced to generalisations. However, the future, unsurprisingly, is with the youth, the very demographic that is taking the lead in battling corruption and autocracy and one that is communicating, encouraging and helping others across borders in the spirit and language of togetherness.
Sure, this does not by itself denote that borders are now irrelevant. What it does suggest, however, is that political and economic issues and opportunities cannot be dealt with simply within the confines of borders any longer. The pent-up frustrations of the Arab youth, the economic inequalities, the demands for better representation extend across the entire region. A single voice is emerging in search of a single value: Freedom.
A single political authority is certainly not about to emerge out of the current political turmoil. But such an authority is not necessary. An appropriate governance model for the Arab world to emulate would be that of the European Union (EU). The 27-nation political and economic union is borderless in the sense that its people can live, work and travel in member countries without much hindrance.
Sovereignty is still paramount in the EU but the federalisation of political and economic power is to the benefit of hundreds of millions of Europeans. Granted, the recent economic and financial crisis has called into question the viability of the EU, or more specifically, the single European currency, but the political will remains resolute in defence of the union.
We can probably find a plethora of reasons why a real political and economic union would not work in the Arab world. Take a look at the GCC, for example, a bloc of around 40 million people: After a decade of trying, it is still unable to form a currency union. How are we then to expect over 200 million people to agree on a federally-based political and economic union?
But, this would be to dismiss the thrust towards a common set of goals in the Arab world. Borders are increasingly irrelevant in this new equation. The means of mass communication, interdependency, pan-regional media, ease of access through improved infrastructure, the identification with a cause rather than a country, all suggest that the political awakening in the region may be conducive to a completely different set of political and economic realities.
The nation state as we know it, as it was imposed on the region by colonial powers, is ripe for change. The unleashing of people power has now opened up new possibilities for mapping the Arab world's future. While protesters across the region have been waving their respective national flags, the cause for which they are fighting and risking their lives extends well beyond their immediate borders.
Mohammed Khan is a political analyst based in the UAE.
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial policy.
Source:Al Jazeera
We Don’t Have to Ask Permission:
DIY Filmmaking with Ava DuVernay
Posted by · 03.08.2011
See it. Then buy it.I met Ava DuVernay a few years back in Philly at the Black Lily Film & Music Festival. I was there hawking copies of The Message. Ava was screening her first documentary feature This is the Life. She stopped by my small table. We chatted and she mentioned her film was also about hip-hop. Word? She was one of few people who purchased a copy of my book. So naturally, I remembered her.
Fast forward. To say DuVernay has been busy this past year is an understatement that warrants head jerks. In addition to running a successful film PR business, she’s directed three films including BET’s My Mic Sounds Nice and the 2010 Essence Music Festival.
This Friday, I Will Follow, her first narrative feature which she wrote, produced, directed, oh and self-financed, will be released in AMC theaters. She’s releasing the film through an initiative that she cofounded.
The African-American Film Festival Releasing Movement (AFFRM) is a theatrical distribution collective dedicated to black independent cinema. The collective will theatrically release quality independent African-American films through simultaneous limited engagements in select cities. The inaugural presenting black film organizations are Urbanworld Film Festival with Imagenation in New York, Pan-African Film Festival in Los Angeles, ReelBlack in Philadelphia, BronzeLens Film Festival in Atlanta and Langston Hughes African-American Film Festival in Seattle. If you’re in any of these cities, be sure to see I Will Follow during its run.
Proceeds from the releases go back to the festival organizations to help sustain them and their preservation of black films year round. AFFRM will release two films a year.
I Will Follow stars Salli Richardson-Whitfield as a woman who must close one chapter of her life in order to move onto the next. Reviews for the film have celebrated the movie’s quiet power—refreshing storytelling in an over-the-top blockbuster era. About the film, Roger Ebert said, “”I Will Follow” is one of the best films I’ve seen about coming to terms with the death of loved one.…it isn’t sentimental, it isn’t superficial. It is very deeply true.”
I had an opportunity to chat with the smart, funny, and down-to-earth DuVernay about film publicity, distribution, and why you can (and should) embrace DIY (do it yourself).
What was your first introduction into film?
I’ve been working as a film publicist since 1995. I went immediately into the studio system, then went to a big agency and really loved it. When I was in the studio system, I worked on six films a year if that. At the agency, it was more like six films a month. It was much more fast-paced and I loved the energy and vibe. I opened my own agency in 1999 and worked on Scary Movie. Here was this film with a black director that was satire and a spoof. People didn’t know what it was. I was 27 years old and trying to build campaigns around films that were niche and mainstream. That became my specialty. I went on to work with television and film projects like Girlfriends, Lincoln Heights, Cop Out, and Invictus.At what point did you want to start making films?
In 2006 or so, I started getting interested in filmmaking. It became my own kind of hobby. I was always around great directors and became interested in what they were doing.I made my first feature This is the Life about a group of people I grew up with. It’s a small, handmade documentary that didn’t cost a lot of money to make. I knew that no one was picking it up and putting it in theaters. Maybe we’d get of DVD deal or sell it off to cable.
Those were your options.
Instead of selling the DVD rights, I did it myself—packaged and distributed it. I made more money than the deals that I was offered. Companies take your DVD rights for 20 years. We made back our money in one year doing it on our own. We sold it to small hip-hop and record stores. Then we got it on Netflix and iTunes. We did get a Showtime deal that I orchestrated.I want to stay in the self-distribution realm. I see my non-black counterparts embracing the DIY movement. I don’t see too many black filmmakers doing it.
Why do you think that is?
They may not know it’s possible. It may be a matter of education. I see the studio stuff, the black indie world and I see the white indie DIY world. Black and Latino filmmakers haven’t embraced it at the same pace. Filmmakers who deal with specific communities are trying to create these communities. We have niche communities ready for the taking. We can literally tap into large audiences who love black romances or just love black film period.At what point did you feel there was a need for AFFRM?
Right after I finished the This is the Life run in August 2009, I had long list of notes in my Blackberry. I had just successfully self-distributed my documentary, put it in theaters, got it on Showtime, on DVD, and festivals and was thinking of the next film.I started shooting I Will Follow in November 2010. I just looked at my bank account and that was the budget. And I knew I was going to self-distribute it. But then I thought, why would I do this with just my film? Can we do something that will sustain itself and would support other filmmakers? It became bigger than my film. We should create something for other filmmakers to tap into. And after five years, we could have released ten films. It’s really kind of groundbreaking and outside of the studio system. We don’t have to ask permission.
We can embrace DIT—do it together. We can join with robust film festivals and organizations to put a film out together on the same day in our particular market. We can get our people out for a couple of weeks to support this film, just as small studios like Magnolia do. I can secure national publicity; a lot of indie films don’t get that. Then it goes to DVD.
How are films selected?
They’re curated by the festivals. There are no better people to select the films then those who get tons of submissions and watch hundreds of films. They see everything and can say, “This is special; this is a filmmaker we want to support.”
How can others support AFFRM?
We’re a small team of five people. Anyone out there who can lend their creative talents to the process, I invite them to contact us and let us know what they can help with.But we really need people to come and see the films. If people don’t come, companies won’t want to support us; filmmakers won’t want to be a part of AFFRM. Please come. This isn’t an ego stroke for me. Come and participate.
You’ve promoted big budget films and independent films like your first one, This is the Life. Are there promotional activities that work for both types of films?
The campaign I ran for Dreamgirls was different simply because of economics. We secured national publicity—high level reviews, magazine features. I married that with advertising, promotions, and street teams. It’s a wall of noise hitting you. All paid for.For I Will Follow, we don’t have that kind of money. We don’t have a lot of money to buy ads or put out street teams. We have been able to secure publicity which helped to get companies wanting to donate spots. A black owned company has agreed to give us a gang of ads and editorial because they loved the idea of AFFRM, and love black film. They appreciate our images and wanted to invest in this movement. That’s what we need—that kind of support to match our black creatives. We have to bring audiences and creatives together, but the business needs to come into play too—business people who have assets. It takes a village.
How do you run your publicity business and make films at the same time?
I got a team that works on the DVA Media + Marketing, and I have teams for the films. I have one central person, Tilane Jones, who acts as a liaison between both and helps to keep everything running. Last year, we did a lot less films on the agency side. We worked on Invictus and Cop Out and I started directing My Mic Sounds Nice while cutting I Will Follow. We did the Essence Music Festival film and publicized three titles for Warner Brothers.I work to make my films and to self-finance them. They’ll have small budgets—the price of small cars. It’s really low-budget filmmaking. A lot of people are doing it well. I don’t know if we’re doing it well, but we’re trying.
And you’re doing.
My goal is to make one movie a year. I made three movies last year. Because I am in the industry, I sat in those rooms. I know the system really well—what it requires, what it takes from you. I prefer independence and being my own boss. I haven’t worked for anyone since 1999—it’s just what I prefer. I’ve pitched studios. If a studio came to me with a great project, I’d probably consider it; I just don’t prefer it.I’m about getting a little bit of money, making a picture, and getting it out to people. To me, there’s no romance in saying that it took seven years to make a film. That’s not sexy to me. I’m trying to get to another way—scratch out a path that allows me to be able to do it without asking permission.
Felicia Pride (@feliciapride) is the founder and chief content officer of BackList. She wrote the production notes for I Will Follow.
Want more resources, tools, and opportunities to help you further develop, grow, and sustain your creative life? Join the CREATE Co-op today. Membership is free!
Mo’ Goodness
+Get involved, lend your talents to the AFFRM movement.
+Check to see if I Will Follow is playing in a theater near you.
+Watch the trailer for I Will Followvia thebacklist.net
Ava DuVernay at a screening of her film “I Will Follow,” which will be the first to benefit from a campaign to widen the distribution of black-themed films.
LOS ANGELES — Ava DuVernay, the filmmaker and publicist, imagines a time when black-theme pictures will flourish in places where African-American film festivals have already found eager viewers.
Fifty such cities would be an ideal black-film circuit, Ms. DuVernay said. In March she will start with five.
“I Will Follow,” which was written and directed by Ms. DuVernay and stars Salli Richardson-Whitfield (“I Am Legend,” “Black Dynamite”) as a woman sorting through memories of a dead aunt, is set to become the first film from the newly formed African-American Film Festival Releasing Movement.
The plan is to put black-theme movies in commercial theaters, initially from the independent film program recently begun by the AMC theater chain, for a two-week run supported by social networks, mailing lists and other buzz-building services at the disposal of allied ethnic film festivals.
The films will not be part of normal festival programs, but will screen in all cities simultaneously with promotional backing from the festival organizations, which will share in revenue. The inaugural group of backers is expected to include the Urbanworld Film Festival in New York, the Pan African Film Festival in Los Angeles, the ReelBlack Film Series in Philadelphia, the BronzeLens Film Festival in Atlanta and the Langston Hughes African American Film Festival in Seattle.
A second film, and three more cities — Chicago, Boston and Nashville — are expected to follow in August.
And if Ms. DuVernay is correct in her belief that African-American viewers want more movies than they are getting from conventional distributors, the movement will eventually reach about four dozen cities where black-oriented festivals have been gaining strength, even as black film languishes in the studio world.
Speaking over espresso and hot chocolate at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills last week, Ms. DuVernay, 38, who helped market studio films like “Dreamgirls” and “Invictus,” described the new alliance, which she organized, as being less a business than a “call to action.”
Those who make specifically black-theme movies, she said, should realize that “no one is ever going to care about their film except the people it’s made for, which is, black folks.”
According to a 2009 survey of moviegoing compiled for the Motion Picture Association of America, African-Americans, about 12 percent of the North American population, accounted for only 11 percent of ticket sales and less than 9 percent of frequent moviegoers. (By contrast, Hispanics, who make up 15 percent of the population, bought 21 percent of tickets, according to the study.)
By some accounts, that is because the black film world is shrinking.
Stacy Spikes, a former Miramax Films executive who is the founder and chief executive of the Urbanworld festival, is one of several executives who said the distribution of black-theme films began to evaporate in the last five years. That happened, he said, as New Line Cinema, Warner Independent Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and other companies that had specialized in midbudget comedies and dramas shrank or disappeared.
“There’s a breakdown in distribution, especially at the indie level, for things like this,” Mr. Spikes said of films whose primary audience is black.
Films in a long-running Tyler Perry series have continued to do well — Mr. Perry’s “Why Did I Get Married Too?” brought in $60 million in domestic ticket sales for Lionsgate last year, and was the best-performing black-theme film of 2010. For the most part, though, movies by black filmmakers with a largely black cast barely registered at the box office.
As recently as 2002, the success of “Barbershop,” which cost a little more than $10 million to make and took in nearly $76 million at the domestic box office for MGM, seemed to point toward a resurgence in black-theme films. Chris McGurk, who was then vice chairman of MGM, even tried to position the studio as a gathering point for black filmmakers.
But the strategy faltered, Mr. McGurk said, as costs rose, and black-theme films, which generally underperform in foreign markets, outgrew their niche. “The economics of that business really only work if you’re able to produce them for $10 million or less,” he explained.
Told of Ms. DuVernay’s new alliance, Mr. McGurk, who is now the chief executive of Cinedigm Digital Cinema Corporation, said, “They’re doing the right thing.” Low budgets and precise marketing, he said, are critical to reviving the genre.
Others warn that great passion and a festival network cannot match the power of a well-heeled studio distribution mechanism. And Ms. DuVernay acknowledges that her alliance can do little more than get a picture on screens; turning a profit will depend on what happens to a film at additional theaters and in home entertainment markets after its brief introduction.
Still, Mr. Spikes said, filmmakers and studios could learn something from glad-handing politicians, who have long used networking and physical presence to build support. Films distributed by the new alliance, he said, will be backed by directors and stars who are willing “to go on the road and do that heavy-lifting” with festival-style appearances at screenings.
As opportunity diminished in feature films, Mr. Spikes noted, black actors and filmmakers — like more than a few white counterparts — have turned increasingly to television. He cited Regina King, who plays the detective Lydia Adams on “Southland,” as someone who was once better known for her work in feature films like “Boyz N the Hood,” “Poetic Justice” and “How Stella Got Her Groove Back.”
Yet this year’s Sundance Film Festival has a strong run of work by black filmmakers, including “Pariah,” about the struggles of a Bronx teenager, from the writer and director Dee Rees, and “Gun Hill Road,” another Bronx tale, written and directed by Rashaad Ernesto Green.
John Cooper, the Sundance festival’s director, said his programmers had not consciously reached for black-centered films but came up with a bumper crop anyway. “It’s almost natural selection,” Mr. Cooper said. He noted, however, that almost all of those films arrived without distributors.
When Sundance gets under way in Park City, Utah, on Jan. 20, Ms. DuVernay said she would be there to introduce her alliance with a couple of filmmaker dinners. And she applauds Mr. Cooper for having put the spotlight on at least a dozen black-theme pictures at this year’s event.
“I’m calling it Blackdance,” she said.
Gulf spill sickness wrecking livesNearly a year after the oil disaster began, Gulf Coast residents are sick, and dying from BP's toxic chemicals.
Dahr Jamail Last Modified: 09 Mar 2011 15:42 GMT
National and State Parks along the Gulf Coast have posted health warnings along the coast [Erika Blumenfeld/AJE] "I have critically high levels of chemicals in my body," 33-year-old Steven Aguinaga of Hazlehurst, Mississippi told Al Jazeera. "Yesterday I went to see another doctor to get my blood test results and the nurse said she didn't know how I even got there."
Aguinaga and his close friend Merrick Vallian went swimming at Fort Walton Beach, Florida, in July 2010.
"I swam underwater, then found I had orange slick stuff all over me," Aguinaga said. "At that time I had no knowledge of what dispersants were, but within a few hours, we were drained of energy and not feeling good. I've been extremely sick ever since."
BP's oil disaster last summer gushed at least 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, causing the largest accidental marine oil spill in history - and the largest environmental disaster in US history. Compounding the problem, BP has admitted to using at least 1.9 million gallons toxic dispersants, including one chemical that has been banned in the UK.
According to chemist Bob Naman, these chemicals create an even more toxic substance when mixed with crude oil. Naman, who works at the Analytical Chemical Testing Lab in Mobile, Alabama, has been carrying out studies to search for the chemical markers of the dispersants BP used to both sink and break up its oil.
Poly-aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from this toxic mix are making people sick, Naman said. PAHs contain compounds that have been identified as carcinogenic, mutagenic, and teratogenic.
"The dispersants are being added to the water and are causing chemical compounds to become water soluble, which is then given off into the air, so it is coming down as rain, in addition to being in the water and beaches of these areas of the Gulf," Naman told Al Jazeera.
"I'm scared of what I'm finding. These cyclic compounds intermingle with the Corexit [dispersants] and generate other cyclic compounds that aren't good. Many have double bonds, and many are on the EPA's danger list. This is an unprecedented environmental catastrophe."
Click for more coverage of the BP Oil Spill, including the other segments of the 8-part series, Fatal Fallout.
Aguinaga's health has been in dramatic decline.
"I have terrible chest pain, at times I can’t seem to get enough oxygen, and I'm constantly tired with pains all over my body," Aguinaga explained, "At times I'm pissing blood, vomiting dark brown stuff, and every pore of my body is dispensing water."
And Aguinaga's friend Vallian is now dead.
"After we got back from our vacation in Florida, Merrick went to work for a company contracted by BP to clean up oil in Grand Isle, Louisiana," Aguinaga said of his 33-year-old physically fit friend.
"Aside from some gloves, BP provided no personal protection for them. He worked for them for two weeks and then died on August 23. He had just got his first paycheck, and it was in his wallet, uncashed, when he died."
National health crisis
Many of the chemicals present in the oil and dispersants are known to cause headaches, nausea, vomiting, kidney damage, altered renal function, and irritation of the digestive tract. They have also caused lung damage, burning pain in the nose and throat, coughing, pulmonary edema, cancer, lack of muscle coordination, dizziness, confusion, irritation of the skin, eyes, nose, and throat, difficulty breathing, delayed reaction time and memory difficulties.
Further health problems include stomach discomfort, liver and kidney damage, unconsciousness, tiredness/lethargy, irritation of the upper respiratory tract, hematological disorders, and death. Pathways of exposure to the chemicals are inhalation, ingestion, skin, and eye contact.
Al Jazeera has talked with scores of sick people across the Gulf Coast who attribute their illnesses to chemicals from BP's oil disaster.
Paul Doom, 22, from Navarre, Florida, was training in preparation to join the US Marines, until he became extremely ill from swimming in the Gulf of Mexico.
"I stopped swimming in July because I started having severe headaches that wouldn’t go away," Doom told Al Jazeera. "But each time I went to the doctor they dismissed it."
In October, Doom began to have internal bleeding, but this too was dismissed by doctors. In November, when it worsened, he was given pain medications in the Emergency Room and was told it would pass. Less then three weeks after that, Doom collapsed with a seizure.
"Since then, I've had two blood tests for Volatile Organic Compounds [VOC's] which are in BP's oil and dispersants, and they both came back with alarmingly high levels," he said.
Children playing in the surf at Orange Beach, Alabama, despite independent scientists' warnings of toxins in the water, air, and seafood [Erika Blumenfeld/AJE] Since the onset of his symptoms, Doom has been dealing with ongoing internal bleeding, nose bleeds, bleeding from his ears, blood in his stool, headaches, severe diarrhea, two to five seizures per day, paralysis in his left leg and arm, and failing vision.
"A toxicologist that interpreted my blood VOC results told me they didn't know how I was alive," Doom explained. "My Hexane was off the charts, and I have 2 and 3 Methylpentane, Iso-octane, Ethylbenze, and mp-Xylene."
Wilma Subra, a MacArthur Fellow and chemist in Louisiana, has been testing the blood of BP cleanup workers and residents in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. Subra tested Doom's blood and found high amounts of several VOC's.
"Ethylbenzene, mp-Xylene and Hexane are volatile organic chemicals that are present in the BP crude oil," Subra told Al Jazeera. "We're finding these in excess of the 95th percentile, which is the average for the entire nation. Sometimes we're finding amounts 5 to 10 times in excess of the 95th percentile."
Subra explained that there has been long enough exposure so as to create chronic impacts, that include "Liver damage, kidney damage, and damage to the nervous system. So the presence of these chemicals in the blood indicates exposure."
Testing by Subra has also revealed the chemicals are present "in coastal soil sediment, wetlands, and in crab, oyster and mussel tissues."
Staggering toll
Since January, at least 67 dead dolphins have washed ashore along the Gulf Coast, an event the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration declared as "an unusual mortality event". In the whole of 2010, 89 dolphin deaths were reported for the same area.
In January, a Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute chemist and colleagues reported that the toxic chemical dispersants BP used to sink its crude oil remained in the deep ocean in an oil and gas-laden plume that had still not degraded.
Also in January, Louisiana Senator AG Crowe wrote a letter to President Barack Obama expressing his deep concern about the toxic dispersants BP used, and according to Senator Crowe, continues to use along the Gulf Coast.
"Mr President, my concern is that this toxic and damaging chemical is still being used and it will compound the long-term damage to our state, our citizens, our eco-system, our economy, our seafood industry, our wildlife and our culture," the letter read.
"We will not be fooled in to believing that the oil and the toxins are gone. Because the toxic dispersants have been, and are still being used today, the oil is being forced downward in to the water columns and then carried endlessly around and about by the Gulf currents adversely affecting our environment."
Subra, the MacArthur Fellow, is alarmed by what she is finding in the people whose blood she is testing.
"Severe symptoms, lots of respiratory and cardiovascular problems, and skin lesions," she explained. "There is a lot of internal bleeding, and the chemicals cause this by disrupting the integrity of the red blood cells."
Subra said: "We’re seeing the chemicals in different classes of people. Cleanup workers employed by BP, clean-up workers no longer employed, and we’re seeing it in community members who come in contact with the crude by fishing or recreating in the Gulf."
Al Jazeera asked Subra what she thought the local, state and federal governments should be doing about the ongoing chemical exposures.
Tar mats remain along large swaths of coastal Louisiana [Erika Blumenfeld/AJE] "There is a lack of concern by the government agencies and the [oil] industry." She said, “There is a leaning towards wanting to say it's all fixed and let's move on, when it's not. The crude oil is continuing to come on shore in tar mats, balls, and strings."
Subra continued: "So the exposure continues. There is still a large amount of crude in the marshes and buried on the beaches. As long as that pathway is there for exposure, these problems will continue quite a long time into the future."
A bunch of guinea pigs
Jo Billups is an environmental activist who has taken it upon herself to assist in the funding, along with her friend Michelle Nix, in the blood testing being carried out by Subra.
Working with the Louisiana Environmental Action Network and several doctors along the Gulf Coast, Billups and Nix have been holding workshops and helping sick people get their blood tested and find medical assistance.
"We have sick people from Apalachicola, Florida, to Grand Isle, Louisiana, and it's not stopping and that's what's disturbing," Billups said. "The levels we are seeing are not dropping, and we're seeing new chemicals now. We gave some of our blood test results to [EPA head] Lisa Jackson. They know what is going on, and they are not doing anything about it."
"The saddest part is the children," Billups added. "We’re seeing young children with extremely high levels of chemicals. We're altering our DNA and our bodies forever, We're a bunch of guinea pigs."
Jennifer Rexford, from Panama City, Florida, was an oil clean-up worker for BP.
"We were taken to clean up oil and tar balls with inadequate equipment," Rexford told Al Jazeera. "We regularly got oil all over us."
Rexford now has a staph infection that covers much of her body that she attributes to the chemicals in BP's oil she was cleaning up.
"Everyone I know of that I worked with are now having kidney problems, along with lots of other illnesses," Rexford, who has been to the hospital four times trying to find a solution to her infection, said. "My neighbor has a rash all over her body, and another clean-up worker I know found a lump in her breast a month ago. So when I started calling my co-workers, I realized that we’re all sick."
BP cleanup workers regularly are not provided with the proper protective equipment for cleaning up hazardous material such as crude oil [Erika Blumenfeld/AJE] Paul Doom has been to 18 hospitals and seen 129 doctors.
"I have documentation and images showing lesions in my brain," he said. "Lesions that are the same as lesions on the brains of marine life from the Exxon Valdez spill from marine necropsies. This is a life and death situation and a race against time."
Doom said the water and food along the Gulf Coast are not safe, and he is angry at the Obama administration.
"I would ask them why have they allowed this to happen," he said, "How can you live with yourself knowing you allowed this to happen and continue?"
Aguinaga feels betrayed as well.
"I feel stabbed in the back by my own country," he said, "I feel we are being dictated to by a foreign power. Maybe our president is not strong enough to stand up against them. I know money buys people, but they couldn't offer me enough money for the loss of my friend, and the stuff we’re going through."
Aguinaga's prognosis for the future of Gulf Coast residents?
"We’re all lab rats and we didn’t even know it. We’re waiting to see how it’s going to turn out."
Source:Al Jazeera
Analysis: Think $100 U.S. oil is bad? It's really much worse
http://www.reuters.com" class="provider-logo ult-section">
Reuters – A gas nozzle is used to pump petrol at a station in New York February 22, 2011. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
- http://news.yahoo.com/video/business-15749628/24466767" class="media media1">
Play Video http://news.yahoo.com/video/business-15749628/24466767">Energy & Oil Video:Talking Numbers CNBC
- http://news.yahoo.com/video/business-15749628/24466701" class="media media1">
Play Video http://news.yahoo.com/video/business-15749628/24466701">Energy & Oil Video:Solving the Energy Puzzle CNBC
- http://news.yahoo.com/video/business-15749628/24465743" class="media media1">
Play Video http://news.yahoo.com/video/business-15749628/24465743">Energy & Oil Video:Exxon CEO on Oil Speculation CNBC
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Americans worried about the pain of $100 U.S. oil should worry a lot more.
Although $100 oil is the headline in U.S. newspapers, most refineries that supply fuel to service stations are paying the equivalent of a much higher price -- and those costs are already being felt when consumers fill up their vehicles.
The cause is an unprecedented disconnect between the most visible price of oil -- crude oil futures contracts on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) -- and the real cost of physical barrels pumped from the Gulf of Mexico, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere.
This gap is caused by oil traders' growing realization that inventories at the small Oklahoma town of Cushing -- the delivery point for the NYMEX contract -- will likely be awash with crude for months to come due to booming production from Canada and shale oil producing states such as North Dakota.
Because the U.S. pipeline system was designed to import oil from the coast to the interior, not vice versa, there's no way to move the extra northern crude to the southern refiners, in places such as Houston and Port Arthur, Texas, which are paying much higher rates for crude from far abroad.
Refiners on the West, Gulf and East coasts -- who produce or import nearly 85 percent of America's fuel -- are therefore forced to pay a premium of $15 to $20 relative to the current futures price of $100 a barrel to keep their plants fed, and pump prices are reflecting that premium.
U.S. oil futures, also called West Texas Intermediate (WTI) after a kind of oil produced in Texas, are no longer the reliable yardstick for the world price and a clear signal of demand for high quality oil from the world's biggest consumer that they once were. They have instead become more of an indicator of the degree of oversupply in the heart of the North American continent.
The most visible evidence of this disparity can be seen in the price of ICE Brent crude futures, the European benchmark; it has risen 21 percent this year, while WTI futures have gained only 15 percent. Normally trading at parity to WTI, Brent surged last week to a record premium of $17.
Although that spread has contracted sharply over the past few days, trading on Wednesday at about $10, the correction has brought its own set of problems. On Monday, for example, the two contracts moved sharply in opposite directions, sowing confusion about whether oil costs had gone up or down.
The result is that WTI, the light sweet crude that Americans have long associated with "the" price of oil, has become a dangerously inaccurate indicator.
And that has major implications for consumers and companies given that at $100 a barrel many economists see limited risk to the U.S. economy but at $120 serious headwinds become evident.
"The hike to something which is between $110 and $120 a barrel is something which may affect (growth) if it lasts too long," said International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn, during a visit to Panama last week.
It was, though, unclear whether he was talking Brent or WTI.
WHY IS WTI DISCONNECTED FROM OTHER MARKETS?
The massive gap in prices is caused by a major shift in the way the United States imports crude. There's simply too much oil landlocked in the middle of the country -- not a bad thing for a nation eager for more supply security.
While still dependent upon imports to meet more than half its oil consumption, the U.S. market is struggling to absorb the fast-growing share arriving by pipeline instead of by sea.
In addition to the well-documented boom in Canadian oil sands output, domestic production is also finally growing anew -- not in the traditional oil patches of Texas and the Gulf of Mexico, but from North Dakota shale formations that were once written off as too costly to tap.
Instead of flowing all the way to the Gulf or East Coast, where it is needed most, that new oil is increasingly piling up in Cushing, Oklahoma, a small town of less than 10,000 famous for little apart from being America's pipeline crossroads.
That means that despite the tantalizing prospect of cut-price crude, most U.S. refineries cannot buy WTI or other Midwestern crudes -- there aren't enough railcars, road tankers or barges to get around the bottleneck today, and a permanent solution depends on building new high-capacity pipelines.
Instead on the coasts, refiners are paying the going international price of oil -- even if that means paying $10 more for types of oil, such as Brent, that are almost identical in quality to the WTI equivalents that are filling storage tanks in Cushing.
"They are both light sweet crudes and both yield lots of gasoline and diesel. If you were to take it strictly from the (refined product) yield, the price difference would be a dollar or $1.50 tops," said Peter Beutel, president of Cameron Hanover, a firm in New Canaan, Connecticut, that provides energy hedging advice.
WHY ARE US GASOLINE PRICES HIGH?
The same logistical and benchmark issues don't affect gasoline, however, and prices have risen more swiftly as one glance at the pump can tell you.
When U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures broke $100 a barrel in February 2008, the national average retail price rose to $3.18 per gallon by the end of the month.
Three years later WTI futures are again just above $100 a barrel but retail prices are now topping $3.50 a gallon.
Indeed, gasoline prices in the United States posted their second-biggest increase ever in a two-week period, according to the Lundberg Survey of about 2,500 gas stations released on Sunday.
The benchmark NYMEX gasoline price is set in New York Harbor, linking it more closely with the globally traded market than WTI crude, which is set in Cushing.
The few refiners that have access to the cheaper crude oil in the U.S. Midwest are under no obligation to pass on those savings to customers. Instead they are reaping windfall profits because the market price for gasoline and diesel is being set by the more costly crude most refiners have to use.
Gasoline in New York or Houston isn't much cheaper than it is in Illinois and other parts of the Midwest as it is much more easily transportable than crude.
For consumers, there may be worse to come even if crude oil prices start to stabilize. There's often a lag time of weeks or months before oil contracts reach the global spot market price.
(Reporting by Robert Campbell, editing by Jonathan Leff and Martin Howell)
Women's Rights Are Human Rights
By Kalamu ya Salaam
My position, succinctly stated, is simply this: any discussion of the issue of human rights should include a discussion of women's rights.
The reason for my statement, while complex in its subtleties, is simple in its substance. Simply said, women are human beings.
Our struggle for human rights must be grounded in a rejection of the oppression of any identifiable segment or stratum of human societies, regardless of the criterion of differentiation or discrimination, e.g. race, class or sex.
Based on my study and analysis of my own experiences and environment, as well as study and analysis of the experiences and environments of other peoples, in other places and other periods of time, I draw the conclusion that the issue of women's rights has and continues to be a central concern of millions of women who daily suffer the degradations and deprivations of sexual chauvinism in its institutionalized and individual forms. The suffering of women in general, third world women in particular, and especially the suffering of the Afrikan-american woman, hurts me in ways too numerous to delineate. Yet beyond the personal pain, there is a social reality which must be recognized, namely, that sexism is a means, used by our enemies, to help maintain our subjugation as a people.
Perhaps some are wondering why should an Afrikan-american man be concerned with an issue like women's rights, an issue which is often erroneously identified with "bored, middle class white women" who are tired of staying home. My response to that question is a query of my own: is there any reason why I shouldn't be concerned with women's rights, after all am I not born of woman, aren't we all born of woman?
I am concerned about the issue of women's rights because I understand that women's rights is a political issue and I am a political person. I understand that the oppression and exploitation of women is an integral aspect of every reactionary social system which ever existed and I am struggling to be a progressive. I understand that women, like land, are primary to life, and I am a living being.
I am concerned about the issue of women's rights because I am striving to be a revolutionary, and without the eradication of sexism there will be no true and thorough going revolution.
At this moment in history, asserting a position which I feel is my revolutionary responsibility to put forward, I hear the echoes of our heritage urging me to be firm. I hear Frederick Douglas, who also spoke out strongly in support of women's rights. Douglas was vilified and shunned by former friends who could not understand his concern for the rights of women. I hear Douglas being called an "hermaphrodite" and other terms which questioned his sexuality because of his stand on sexism. But in the spirit of Frederick Douglas, I do declare that I too should rather be called "hermaphrodite" and other names because of my support for women's rights, than have women continually referred to as "bitch," and "broad" in everyday ameican speech.
There are those who argue that raising the issue of women's liberation is divisive of Black unity. They argue that, in reality, the women's movement drives a "wedge" between Black women and Black men in our social relationships. They argue that the promotion of women in the work force cuts down on the employment opportunities for men and effectively throws Black men out of work. They argue that Black women don't want to be lesbians and live with other women but rather that they want to be united with Black men in peace and harmony. Some even argue that women should not work outside of the home is one of the most important tasks of nation-building or socialization. These are some of the arguments sincerely and seriously raised against our full and active involvement in the struggle for women's rights.
But the profound truth of the matter is that all of these arguments deny women the option to exercise their rights, to control their lives in whatever manner they see fit. Full rights for women does not ipso facto mean that women will all have to conform to some mythical "liberated norm." It means, instead, that women will decide for themselves their social lifestyles and social relationships.
Women's liberation has not driven a wedge between women and men. Firstly, women do not control this society. This society is controlled by a ruthless, racist, sexist, and capitalist patriarchy. if we would look past the propaganda pushed in the establishment press, we should clearly recognize whose hand is on the hammer attempting to beat us into submission, we would see who actually wields the wedge of division . To divide and conquer has always been a tactic of a minority who are oppressing and exploiting a majority.
Secondly, issues such as "women's lib is denying or stopping Black men from getting jobs" is not true. We must understand that women do not do most of the hiring and firing in America. Women do not run the major or minor corporations. With very few exceptions, it is a man or some group of men, and usually white, who make those kinds of decisions.
We are all for the unity of our women with our men, but not if that unity is to be male superior / female inferior. The emotional crux of most of the arguments against women's liberation is, when mouthed by men, actually a fear of independent women, a hatred of independent women, an ideological opposition to any women being independent of man's control. When espoused by women, most of these arguments simply amount to the attempts by an insecure woman, whose sense of self is that of an inferior entity, to maintain the certainties of a slavery she "thinks' she understands and to one degree or another has learned to cope with, rather than face a challenging liberation which she finds difficult to envision.
Cabral has noted that within the context of liberation struggle, the emancipation of women is a difficult issue. ". . . during the fight the important thing is the political role of women . . . It is all a part of the process of transformation, of change in the material conditions of the existence of our people, but also in the minds of the women, because sometimes the greatest difficulty is not only in the men but in the women too."1
In all of the contemporary national liberation movements in the Third World, whether in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Oceania or the Caribbean, great attention is always paid to the eradication of sexism and the development of women. Why is this the case?
Is sexism a universal constant? Is it true, as we have been taught, that beginning with Adam and Eve there has been a battle of the sexes going on, that one sex has , is and, in a all probability, will continue to try to dominate the other sex? Do we really believe these fairy tales, these rationalizations? Do we really believe that men and women are "naturally" antagonistic to each other?
Sexism is not a biological necessity, it is rather the reflection of reactionary ideas, particularly "bourgeois individualism." In a bourgeois society, private ownership is the basic goal of most endeavors, whether it is to own land and material wealth, hence private property; or to own labor and industry, hence private enterprise in the form of capitalism; or to ultimately own other human beings, hence slavery and sexism. Couple this type of thinking with the belief that the individual is supreme, and what will result will be a society peopled by selfish and self-centered human beings who have no true concern for those around them or those who will follow them.
The roots of modern day sexism are to be found in "prehistoric" Europe and the trunk of sexism is a patriarchy watered by capitalism and imperialism. Understand that sexism is the systematic oppression and / or exploitation of a group of people based on the criterion of sex. In america today, and everywhere else where capitalism and imperialism have gone unchecked, unchallenged and unchanged, sexism is deeply entrenched into the social fabric. Indeed, in self-proclaimed socialist societies, also, remnants of sexism remain to be rooted out.
We do not have the time to analyze in detail my assertion that the roots of modern day sexism are found in prehistoric Europe. However, the statement, I am sure, is too provocative to most of us to be accepted simply at face value. So for purposes of brevity I cite a reference. The reference is The Cultural Unity of Black Africa, by Cheikh Anta Diop, published in America by Third World Press.2
Diop's book traces and analyzes the development of patriarchy and matriarchy, the class characteristics and clashes of the two social systems, the merging of the two, and the domination of patriarchy over matriarchy. At the risk of oversimplifying a complex topic, we summarize Diop's findings to include the positing of a two cradle concept. These two cradles are Aryan and African, northern and southern, patriarchal and matriarchal. According to Diop's analysis, which contests that of other social scientists, including Marx and Engles, matriarchy is not universal.. The history of human development in its progressive movement did not go from matriarchy to patriarchy, for in fact, there never was a matriarchy in Europe. "As far as we can go back into the Indo-European past, even so far back as the Eurasian steppes, there is only to be found the patrilineal genos with the system of consanguinity which at the present day still characterized their descendants."
What is matriarchy? Is matriarchy the domination of women over men? Is matriarchy amazonism? Is matriarchy lesbianism? Is matriarchy strong women and weak men? No. Matriarchy is a social system within which blood relationships are traced through the maternal line and within which women enjoy equal political and economic rights.
Why should a wife and child assume the husband/father's name? Traditionally this was done for the purposes of the protection of property rights, namely, the identification of property and the succession of property.
Today, we continue using this patriarchal form of naming allegedly in order to identify the parents of children and vice versa. How unscientific to trace parentage via the father, when there is no known conclusive proof of male parentage. How much more scientific and simple it is to trace parentage via the mother, because regardless of whether the actual father of the child is known or unknown, the mother of the child is identified conclusively by the fact of giving birth to that child.
In a patriarchal society, the concern is not with identifying parents but rather with identifying property, hence children born so-called "out of wedlock." This is just one small example of the pervasiveness and perverseness of the patriarchal social system. However, let us return to our central concern. Regardless of the roots of sexism, it should be clear that sexism is a real and reactionary way of life that must be eradicated.
Today, women continue to get less pay for equal work, and lack equal access to both educational and employment opportunities. Today, women continue to be regarded as the sexual toys of powerful men, men whose social relationships with women are controlled more by the heads of their penises than the heads on their shoulders, men whose main modes of reasoning conditions them to think that they can either buy or take a woman's body. Today, rape continues to be one of the most common and unreported crimes in America. Today, childcare continues to be virtually nonexistent and/or exorbitantly priced.
One sure sign of sexism is the objectification of women's bodies, the turning of women into commodities to be bought, sold, bartered for or stolen. The gains in women's rights, just as the gains in civil rights for African-Americans, are seemingly becoming little more than paper formalities and highly touted token adjustments.
African-American women are still the most exploited stratum of american society. In fact, throughout the world, the lower class woman of color is on the bottom of nearly every society within which she is found.
Virtually every indicator of social inequality proves this to be the case,, whether we are discusiing employment or illness, educational development or access to leadership and decison-making positions.
In conclusion, I urge that we open our eyes to the reality of sexism and fight it. I urge everyone, particularly men, to speak out against sexism and support the struggles of women to defend and develop themselves. I urge greater attention to be paid to the social and material conditions which lead to an reinforce sexism, a deeper and more accurate analysis needs to be done, and resolute and uncompromising action needs to be taken.
The denial of any human right is always based in the political repression of one group by another group. Sexism does not exist because women are "unclean during their monthly periods," nor because women are weaker than men, nor because "god' was unhappy with the behavior of women. Sexism exists because men have organized themselves to oppress and exploit women.
Sexism will be eradicated only through organized resistance and struggle. Women's rights will be won only when we consciously overturn all vestiges of patriarchy and "bourgeois" right. No person has the right to either own, oppress, enslave, or exploit another person. Sexism is not a right--it is a wrong.
We must stand for what is right and fight against what is wrong.
My attempt has not been to analyze in detail the denial of human rights for women, rather I had a more modest goal in mid. I seek to place on the agenda of human rights the question of women's rights as a top priority item.
I hope that this topic has shown "Pandora's box" to be a myth created by men who want to keep "women, coloreds, and other inferiors" hidden in the dank caves of injustice and reaction as a top priority item.
I hope that I have broadened the view on what human rights is, and indeed, on who human beings are. It is so easy in america to forget that women are human beings, to forget that women have rights. Hopefully, this presentation will stir up opposition to sexism, will bring women and men out of their shells of self-denial and isolation, and into the light of truth and justice.
It will not be easy to win rights for women, just as it will not be easy to defeat South Africa, just as it will not be easy to stop nuclear power, to clean up the environment, to end economic exploitation, to plan and control the economy, or to win national liberation for African-Americans. But it can be done. Sexism can be smashed.
My hope is that from this day forward we will not hesitate to stand for women's rights, to place it on any and every agenda of progressive social development. Know that when you stand for women's rights you stand beside the most courageous and progressive people who have ever lived. You stand next to men and women who are not afraid of the future because they are willing to struggle in the present to correct historical wrongs.
A great woman by the name of Sojourner Truth once gave a brilliant speech which included the famous phrase "ain't I a woman!" This is continuance of that woman's work. In the spirit of Sojourner Truth, I urge you to join in the struggle for women's rights, whether you are woman or man. If Sojourner were here today she would challenge you in the same way. Sojourner is not here, but her spirit is. Although I ain't a woman, I say without hesitation that women's rights are human rights. I am committed to and call for the smashing of sexism and the securing of women's rights. I am committed to and call for the smashing of sexism and the securing women's rights. I believe that we will win women's rights.
1Cabral, Amilcar. "Return to the Source." Monthly Review, 1973, p. 85.
2Diop, Cheikh A. The Cultural Unity of Africa. (Chicago: Third World Press, 1959), p. 45
"Women's Rights Are Human Rights" was first presented at an international Human Rights Conference that was held during November 1978 at Xavier University in New Orleans; later, it was published in BLACK SCHOLAR (Vol.10, Nos. 6,7).
This essay is contained in the book: Our Women Keep Our Skies From Falling
Cover Drawing by Douglass Redd copyright July 1980 By Kalamu ya Salaam
Watch Naomie Harris In “White Teeth,” Based On The Novel By Zadie Smith
A 4-part 2002 BBC production… each part an hour long. Here’s episode 1 (Watch the other 3 via Hulu, HERE):
Call for submissions: 2011 Robert Watson Poetry Award
Spring Garden Press and storySouth invite submissions for the 2011 Robert Watson Poetry Award chapbook competition. Submissions must be received during the month of April. The winning manuscript will be announced in October 2011 and will be awarded with $500 and the publication of a beautifully designed, letterpress-printed, limited-edition chapbook. The edition is limited to 500 copies, twenty-five of which are reserved for the author and the remainder of which will be offered for sale through Spring Garden Press.
Submission guidelines
Please submit a collection of poems not exceeding 24 pages—including title page, dedication, epigraph, brief bio, and acknowledgments. Each page may contain a maximum of 30 lines of copy, including stanza spacing. The cover page should contain the manuscript title, author's name, address, phone number, and email address. The author's name should not appear on any of the poems. Please provide a table of contents.
NOTE: Poems may have appeared in journals or anthologies but not as part of a book-length collection.
There is a $15 entry fee.
Submitting
To enter the contest, use the Spring Garden Press Submission Manager.
Small print
Contest manuscripts are screened by the editors of Spring Garden Press as well as qualified readers appointed by the Press. The final selection is made by a poet of distinguished achievement, who remains anonymous until the winner is announced in October.
Spring Garden Press subscribes to the principles laid out in the Contest Code of Ethics adopted by the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses (CLMP):
CLMP’s community of independent literary publishers believes that ethical contests serve our shared goal: to connect writers and readers by publishing exceptional writing. We believe that intent to act ethically, clarity of guidelines, and transparency of process form the foundation of an ethical contest. To that end, we agree to:
1. conduct our contests as ethically as possible and to address any unethical behavior on the part of our readers, judges, or editors;
2. to provide clear and specific contest guidelines—defining conflict of interest for all parties involved; and
3. to make the mechanics of our selection process available to the public.
This Code recognizes that different contest models produce different results, but that each model can be run ethically. We have adopted this Code to reinforce our integrity and dedication as a publishing community and to ensure that our contests contribute to a vibrant literary heritage.
For more information:
The 2011 Sylvia K. Burack Writing Award competition is now open
Published: September 20, 2010
The Sylvia K. Burack Writing Award is a writing contest for high school students in grades 11 and 12 in the U.S. and Canada. The award is made in memory of Sylvia K. Burack, longtime editor and publisher of The Writer magazine. Burack was known for her dedication to helping writers and editors.
Contest
Submit a previously unpublished 600- to 800-word personal essay in English on the following topic: "Select a work of fiction, poem or play that has influenced you. Discuss the work and explain how it affected you." No song lyrics.Eligibility
You must be a student in grade 11 or 12 attending a U.S. or Canadian high school at the time you submit the essay. The winner will be asked to provide proof of enrollment in grade 11 or 12 in a U.S. or Canadian high school. Employees of The Writer, Kalmbach Publishing Co. and Gotham Writers' Workshop and their families are not eligible to participate.Prizes
Judges
• $500
• Publication in The Writer magazine and on WriterMag.com
• A one-year subscription to The Writer
• A copy of the Gotham Writers' Workshop anthology Fiction Gallery
The Writer editorsDeadline
March 31, 2011Entry submission
For more information and to enter the contest, please see writingclasses.com/burack.Contest partner
Gotham Writers' WorkshopResources
To see an article about writing personal essays and examples of winning essays from previous Burack competitions, click here.Questions? Contact us at burack@WriterMag.com.
