Eric Harland (D), Reuben Rogers (B), Jason Moran (P), and the great Charles Lloyd perform "A Requiem for Master Collette" in honor of the late great Buddy Collette (8/6/1921-9/19/2010). The camera cut me off around the 10 minute mark just after Moran's piano solo and during Roger's turn on bass....
Submissions now being accepted for new poetry anthology
We are now accepting submissions for a new poetry anthology to be published in 2011.
Theme: Given our noisy marketplace of beliefs, how or where can the sacred be found?
Guest Editor: Martha Serpas
Reading period: November 2010 thru April 2011. Publication date: December 2011.
Eligibility: Poets who have a connection with the states of Texas or Louisiana, by birth, residency and/or employment, are eligible to submit their poetry for consideration.
Submission Guidelines: Submit up to 3 poems, totaling no more than 5 pages, with no identifying information on the poem. Provide 3 copies of each poem. Previously published work may be submitted with acknowledgments. Please print out and complete this form, and include it with your poems. SASE is optional. Poems will not be returned.Rights: All rights will return to the poet upon publication.
To submit, please fill out and print this submission form, and send with poems and optional SASE to the address on the form.
Manzanita - Volume 7
A contest for our new collection: A Taste of Literary Elegance: Wine, Cheese, and Chocolate Submit your poetry, prose, art, and/or photography today! Entries should incorporate wine, cheese, and/or chocolate in an elegant way. The fee is $10 for two entries. Offering $900 in prizes, as well as inclusion in this collection. *** Submissions will close on Mar. 31, 2011 *** Submit work electronically to mrosemanza@jps.net by 11:30 PM on Mar.31. Entry fees must be postmarked by the this deadline. Make out the check to Manzanita Writers Press, PO Box 632, San Andreas, CA 95249. For questions, please email queries: mrosemanza@jps.net Guidelines for Submission General Instructions Payment and Prizes General Submission Requirements Example: Contest-Poetry-Bard, Jason-Foothill Lament Poetry Submissions: Requirements Prose Submissions: Requirements Short Fiction / Nonfiction Submissions: Requirements Art and Photography Submissions: Requirements Rights Statement Copy and paste the following Rights Statement in the body of your email submission document: I certify that I am the sole copyright holder of the work described in the body of this e-mail or attached to this e-mail. Previously published work has attributions attached. By submitting the work to Manzanita Writers Press, I grant the press rights to publish the work in the forthcoming anthology, A Literary Taste of Elegance - fine writing with wine, cheese, and chocolate, and in an archives or collection online for viewing on a web site, or in ebook or other format. In addition, I grant permission for my work to be shown for promotional purposes. I also grant Manzanita Writers Press the right to match my work with artwork or photography according to editor decisions. If the work accepted and published in this collection is subsequently published in another forum or venue, we will be credited as well with publication attributions. Writer / Artist Notification
The next volume of Manzanita will be out in 2012. No submissions are being accepted at this time. Submission guidelines will be posted soon.
Whispering Angel books is currently accepting submissions for our latest anthology and for our manuscript contest.
Anthology Submissions
Whispering Angel Books is now accepting submissions for its next anthology. The deadline is March 15, 2011.
Nurturing Paws will focus on the physical, emotional, and spiritual healing power that animals have on our lives. Each piece should be uplifting, inspirational and based on a true event. Stories about all animals are accepted; they do not have to have paws.
Submissions Requirements:
Short stories, personal essays or poems. Please title your piece.
Typed, written in English, and less than 1,500 words.
Submissions for our anthologies are accepted by email only and will not be returned. They can be attached as a Microsoft Word document or included in the body of the email. Stories and essays should be double-spaced. Poetry may be single spaced.
Multiple submissions will be accepted.
Previously published material is accepted if you have retained your rights or have written permission from the previous publisher.
There is no fee to submit your work and no obligation to purchase any books. If your work is selected, you will receive one free copy as compensation. You will retain all rights to your work, but you will need to sign a release for publication.
Manuscript Contest
Have you written an uplifting and inspirational book manuscript?
Whispering Angel Books is now accepting submissions for its first manuscript contest. Entries should be powerful and life-affirming stories, poems, or essays demonstrating the resilience of the human spirit over adversity. It is open to any subject matter.
The winner will receive a standard publishing contract with Whispering Angel Books and 30 copies of their book at no charge to them. The winning manuscript will be available for sale on the Whispering Angel Books website and through online booksellers, including Amazon.com. The author will receive royalties from any subsequent online sales.
There is a non-refundable $25 reading fee. By submitting your manuscript, entry form and fee, the author agrees to be bound to our terms and conditions. Manuscript submissions are accepted only by mail. Please do not use the anthology submission link above to email your manuscript. The file will be deleted.
Submissions Requirements:
Your manuscript must be:
- A single, non-fiction biographical or autobiographical story OR a collection of poetry or personal essays;
- Minimum length of 50 pages, no maximum;
- Previously unpublished as a manuscript (individual poems/essays may have been published);
- Original work written by one author;
- Written in English, typed, submitted on 8.5x11” paper, paginated, and bound by brass fasteners (brads), spiral or comb binding, or binder clip;
- Double-spaced. Poems may be single-spaced;
- Mailed with your entry form and payment or PayPal payment confirmation;
- Postmarked by June 1, 2011 and mailed to:
Whispering Angel Books
2416 W. Victory Blvd #234
Burbank, CA 91506Payments by credit or debit card are accepted via PayPal. Please include the name of your manuscript in the text field. A copy of your payment confirmation will ensure your payment is properly credited to your manuscript. To pay via PayPal, type in your manuscript title below and click the Buy Now button to continue.
Payments by check or money order are also accepted. Do not send cash. Please make your check or money order payable to Whispering Angel Books and mail with your manuscript.
If you wish to confirm receipt of your manuscript, please include a self-addressed, stamped postcard with your name and manuscript title.
IMPORTANT: Do not mail your only copy. Photocopies or copies from letter-quality printers are acceptable. Manuscripts not chosen for publication will be shredded after the contest. We assume no responsibility for lost or damaged manuscripts.
Multiple and simultaneous submissions are accepted. Please notify us immediately if your manuscript is accepted elsewhere. Contact us if you have any questions.
__________________________
Who doesn’t love a good protest sign? I love them! They’re my favorite thing about protests! That and all the protesting! Sometimes I make signs even when I don’t have anything to protest. Anyway, enough about me. Here are but a few of the great signs spotted during the ongoing protests in Egypt. Which one is your favorite?
Click through to see more signs!
Submitted by: Unknown
By Sophia Azeb
Egyptians once led the Arab world in terms of literature, music and film, but Hosni Mubarak’s regime significantly hampered the will and pride of the people in their own culture. This sense of disempowerment had ultimately been exemplified by the relative lack of active struggle against Mubarak–something Nawal el Saadawi mentions here.
Since January 25th, however, Egyptians–once referred to as apathetic by outside observers now awed by the revolution–are utilizing culture, primarily music and dance, to sustain their revolution and inspire one another to stay strong.
A few days ago, I heard Abdel Halim Hafez’s “El Watan el Akbar” (The Greatest Nation) piped through the speakers in Meydan Tahrir while watching Al Jazeera. Abdel Halim, commonly referred to as “The Son of the Revolution,” is adored by Egyptians of all ages. This song, a celebration of Nasser’s Egypt and anthem of pan-Arab independence, opens with the main chorus: “My country, my beloved/ The greatest nation/Its triumphs fills its existence/ Each day its glories grow/ My nation grows and is liberated.”
Egyptian-born singer Dalida’s, “Halwa Ya Baladi” (My Beautiful Country) inspired an impromptu dance in Meydan Tahrir, the sort of which have become a lifeline to Egyptians like me, who are watching the revolution with great pride, hope and anxiety from outside Egypt. It is no longer a song I associate only with the victories of the Egyptian national football team, previously the only occasions in which Egyptians felt able to take pride in their nation.
Still, with all the patriotic anthems produced by the immortal and beloved artists of Nasser-era Egypt, anti-Mubarak protest chants have inspired the everyday people on the streets of Egypt to make their own music. One such song has gone viral (this video provides an English translation) – I’ve heard it sung at solidarity rallies in both New York City and Toronto since the revolution began.
A young boy, inspired by the Hosni’s gone mad! songs, beautifully shares his own version with a crowd in Meydan Tahrir. Any fan of the classic Egyptian singers and actors– Um Kulthum, Abdel Halim Hafez, Omar Sharif and the like – is likely to laugh or cry (or both) at this child’s heartfelt imitation of 1950’s-era Egyptian ‘gestures of love’. He is also clearly familiar with the old political comedies from the 1970’s that my generation grew up with. Likewise, the sheer joy of the audience following this woman’s protest song is delightful.
Of course, the song most important, most inspiring, and most trasured by Egyptians in Egypt and around the world in this moment? Our national anthem.
* Sophia Azeb is a graduate student and instructor in African & African American Studies at SUNY-Buffalo. You can follow her on Twitter.
__________________________
ALJAZEERA
| By Al Jazeera Staff in | on February 7th, 2011. |
"When you don't see anything but a black scene for 12 days you keep praying that those outside still remember you. Thanks everyone #Jan25
04:00am Making the rounds on Facebook and Twitter is this Egypt tribute music video by Amir Sulaiman,Omar Offendum,The Narcicyst, Ayah, and Freeway, with lyrics like:
"I heard them say the revolution won't be televised. Al Jazeera proved them wrong, Twitter has them paralysed."
3:35am Since Wael Ghonim's release from Egyptian custody and emotional TV interview on DreamTV, thousands of supporters have joined a new Facebook page created in his honour. Its called: We authorise Wael Ghoneim to speak on behalf of the Egyptian revolution. 1:52am For all the latest on Ghonim click here: Blogger's release 'reignites' Egypt
12:08am Wael Ghonim, head of Google's Middle East operations, has been released by Egyptian securityforces. He spoke to Mona al Shazly on DreamTV about his ordeal.
I am not a hero. I only used the keyboard, the real heroes are the ones on the ground. Those I can't name. This is the season where people use the word traitor against each other. I wasn't abused, I was jailed, kidnapped.
I met some really intellectual people in jail, they actually thought that we were traitors, working for others. If I was a traitor I would have stayed by the swimming pool in my house in the UAE. What are called the "Facebook youth" went out in their tens of thousands on January 25th, talk to them. This is the era where people who have good intentions are considered traitors.
Here is part Two of Dream TV interview with Wael Ghonim
Here is part One of Dream TV interview with Wael Ghonim"I tricked my employer so I could attend the protests in Egypt. I am not a traitor. I don't need anything from anyone."I am not a hero. I only used the keyboard; the real heroes are the ones on the ground. Those I can't name. This is the season where people use the word traitor against each other. I wasn't abused, I was jailed, kidnapped. I met some really intellectual people in jail, they actually thought that we were traitors, working for others. "If I was a traitor I would have stayed by the swimming pool in my house in the UAE. "What are called the "facebook youth" went out in their tens of thousands on January 25th, talk to them. This is the era where people who have good intentions are considered traitors."My wife was going to divorce me because I didn't spend time with her, and now they call me a traitor. I spent all my time on the computer working for my country. I wasn't optimistic on the 25th but now I can't believe it. Thanks to everyone who tried to get me out of jail. It's haram [sinful, not right] for my father to lose his sight in one eye and now is at risk of losing it in the other. I kept thinking "are people thinking of me?" I was wondering if my family knew where I was, my wife, dad, mother."I am proud of what I did. This is not the time to settle scores. Although I have people I want to settle scores with myself. This is not the time to split the pie and enforce ideologies. The secret to the success of the facebook page was use of surveys."I met with the minister of interior today. He sat like any other citizen. He spoke to me like an equal. I respected that. The youth on the streets made Dr Hossam Badrawi [General Secretary of NDP] drive me to my house today. "They transfered me to state security; it's a kidnapping. On Thursday night, at 1am I was with a friend, a colleague from work. I was taking a taxi, suddenly four people surrounded the car, I yelled "Help me, help me". I was blindfolded then taken away. I will say this as it is: nothing justifies kidnapping, you can arrest me by the law, I am not a drug dealer or terrorist."Inside I met people who loved Egypt [State Security people] but their methods and mine are not the same. I pay these guys' salaries from my taxes, I have the right to ask the ministers where my money is going, this is our country."I believe that if things get better those (good state security people he met) will serve Egypt well. Don't stand in our way, we are going to serve Egypt. I saw a film director get slapped, they told him "You will die here". Why?"Now they want to have an agreement with me when they are in a position of weakness. I am not a hero, I am a normal person. What happened to me was a crime but I still thank those who tried to got me out. I am an educated person, I have a family. Badrawi told me we took all the bad people out from the NDP. I told him I don't want to see the logo of the NDP ever again. "The NDP got this country to where it is. You can create a new party. It looks like I might be kidnapped again after this."There were 300 fake registrations on my facebook page, all negative comments, about how we were allegedly being paid. I was the admin of the page but others paid for it. We are dreamers. "There was no Muslim Brotherhood presence in organising these protests, it was all spontaneous, voluntary. Even when the Muslim Brotherhood decided to take part it was their choice to do so. This belongs to the Egyptian youth."Please everyone, enough rumours. Enough."I told the interior minister - I was upset - I told him I will go in the car with Hossam Badrawi but without an NDP logo. I told them we don't want any NDP logo on the streets. I cried when I heard that there are people who died, officers and protesters, this is my country."I was chatting with Ahmad Maher of the 6th of April Youth Movement about the January 25 protests but he didn't know who I was. My wife is an American, I can apply for US citizenship but I didn't, not even the lottery. Many people want to leave though. We have to restore dignity to all Egyptians. We have to end corruption. No more theft. Egyptians are good people. We are a beautiful people. Please everybody, this is not a time to settle scores, this is a time to build our country."I can't claim I know what happened when I was inside. I didn't know anything until one day before I left. The interrogators wanted to know if outsiders were involved. I convinced them this was a purely Egyptian movement. "The treatment was very good, they knew I was a good Egyptian. I was blindfolded for 12 days, I didn't see their faces. They wanted details, information. 'Are the people who planned this outsiders?' We didn't do anything wrong, this was an appeal."I wrote an appeal to the president of Egypt on Jan 25. I told the minister of interior we have two problems: 1- We don't talk to each other, this must be solved, 2- There is no trust. I told the interior minister if I stripped naked and told people that I was beaten even without marks they would believe me. The Egyptian State TV channels didn't portray the truth, that is why people watch the private channels now."There were several men in the room with me and the minister of interior. I asked him if I can speak about this, he said as you wish. Everyone asked me 'How did you do this?' The interior minister told me he was only a minister for eight days. I was told that people died, one day before I was released," Ghonim said."I want to say to every mother and every father that lost his child, I am sorry, but this is not our fault. I swear to God, this is not our fault. It is the fault of everyone who was holding on to power greedily and would not let it go. I want to leave." 12:00am We continue our live blogging for February 8 here, as protests enter the 15th day in Egypt.>via: http://blogs.aljazeera.net/middle-east/2011/02/07/live-blog-feb-8-egypt-protests
The Best of Young Spanish-Language Novelists
was published in Winter 2010.
Buy this issue
Browse all back issues
Granta Magazine Events 2011
For each issue we hold a series of events, featuring our writers and editors discussing the pieces in the issue and the ideas around them. They are also chances to meet fellow subscribers and readers, and enjoy being part of the Granta community. All events are public and do not require an RSVP, unless otherwise stated. Coming up...
***
Granta 114: Aliens
USA and Canada
24 February, 7 p.m.– Aliens Launch Party in Chicago
With Chris Dennis and Nami Mun. Hosted by Granta contributor Stuart Dybek.Barbara’s Bookstore at UIC, 1218 South Halsted St., Chicago, IL 6060724 February, 7 p.m. – Aliens Launch Party in Brooklyn
Julie Otsuka and Binyavanga Wainaina discuss their work at this launch event for our digital art project, ‘Am I An Alien?’.The Brooklyn Art Library, 103A N. 3rd St., Brooklyn, NY 11211DATE TBC, 7 p.m. – Aliens Launch Party in Toronto
With Madeleine Thien.Type Books, 883 Queen St. West, Toronto, M6J 1E925 February, 6.30 p.m. – Alien Voices: Identity and Writing
With Julie Otsuka and Binyavanga Wainaina.The New School, Wollman Hall, 65 W. 11th St., 5th Floor, New York, NY 1001127 February, all-day event – Aliens in Salinas
During John Steinbeck’s birthday celebrations, the NSC hosts an Aliens photobooth. Visitors are welcome to submit their response to the statement, ‘Am I An Alien?’.National Steinbeck Center, One Main St., Salinas, CA 9390128 February, 7 p.m. – Aliens Launch Party in New York City
With Julie Otsuka and Binyavanga Wainaina.McNally Jackson Books, 52 Prince St., New York City, NY 10012UK
14 February, 7 p.m. – Aliens on Paradise Row
A discussion with photographers Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin, with a dramatized reading of Nami Mun’s story ‘The Anniversary’ by Olivia Grant.Paradise Row Gallery, 74 Newman St., London W1T 3EL15 February, 6.30 p.m. – The Participant and the Observer
Deputy Editor Ellah Allfrey in conversation with Mark Gevisser and Dinaw Mengestu. The event will be introduced by Richard Dowden, the Director of the Royal African Society. In association with the Royal African Society.Brunei Suite SOAS, London WC1H 0XG16 February, 6.30 p.m. – London, That Strange Place
Join Mark Gevisser, Philip Oltermann and others for an intimate discussion of immigrants’ experiences of London and to explore the art installations at the museum. With a tasting of artisanal Polish spirits hosted by Vestal Vodka and East End nibbles. In support of 19 Princelet Street – The Museum of Immigration and Diversity. £10 recommended donation. £15 donation includes a copy of Granta 114.This event is open to subscribers to Granta's free monthly newsletter and to the magazine only. Sign up to the newsletter in the right hand column of this web page (above the ads on this page). Email svogel@granta.com to secure your tickets. There are only 40 tickets available.
19 Princelet Street, London E1 6QH17 February, 6.30 p.m. – Aliens Launch Party in London
Readings and discussion with Granta 114 contributors.Daunt Books, 83 Marylebone High St., London W1U 4QW18 February, 7.45 p.m. – Aliens at Polari
Join Mark Gevisser for Paul Burston’s literary salon. With Christopher Fowler, Rebecca Chance, Oliver Fritz, Paul Harding and Lois Walden.Southbank Centre, London SE1 8XX. Be sure to buy advance tickets for this event here.3 March, 6.30 p.m. – Walking and Writing
Join Robert MacFarlane in conversation with Raja Shehadeh about his latest book and their shared passion for walking.Cambridge Wordfest, McCrum Lecture Theatre, Cambridge. Visit http://adctheatre.com for tickets. This Cambridge Wordfest event is sponsored by Granta.Paris
24 February, 7 p.m. – Aliens Launch Party in Paris
Mark Gevisser and Dinaw Mengestu discuss their work.Village Voice Bookshop, 6 Rue Princesse, 75006 Paris***
Granta 113: Best of Young Spanish-Language Novelists
USA
18 February, 6 p.m. A Reading with Carlos Yushimito
Brown University graduate student and Granta Best Young Spanish-language Novelist Carlos Yushimito reads from his fiction.Brown Bookstore, 244 Thayer Street, Providence, RI 0291210 February, 6.15 p.m. Cuando sea grande publicaré en Granta: A Spanish Writing Round Table
Two round table discussions in Spanish about creative writing will be held with Andrés Barba, Federico Falco, Rodrigo Hasbún, Carlos Labbé, Javier Montes, Elvira Navarro and Carlos Yushimito. The round tables will be introduced by editor John Freeman and moderated by writer and former director of NYC´s Instituto Cervantes, Antonio Muñoz Molina and author Lina Meruane. Interpreter: Mario Michelena. Hosted by the King Juan Carlos Center, the MFA in Creative Writing in Spanish at New York University and the Consulate General of Spain in New York.King Juan Carlos Center, NYU, 53 Washington Square South, Between Thompson and Sullivan Streets, NYC 10012. Picture ID required at the door. A reception will follow and copies of Granta 113 will be available for sale. Please email kjc.info@nyu.edu to RSVP.Event in planning
Boston, MA Reading with Ilan Stavans and Carlos Yushimito at Porter Square Books (To be rescheduled. The February 10th event was cancelled due to a blizzard.)
Winter of Discontent
For those of us who have grown up in dictatorship, the protests that have ignited throughout the Arab world feel like the fulfillment of a great promise. This promise was made to our parents and grandparents, to all those who fought for independence: that we would have the right to decide our future. Instead, our leaders delivered us into a world of silence and fear and told us that we must watch what we say and watch what we do. Our institutions were undermined or dismantled, our political parties were stifled or co-opted, their members disappeared or neutralized. And whenever we looked to the West for help, its presidents and prime ministers spoke with forked tongues, one moment lecturing us on democracy and another offering support to our dictators.
5 comments
The young man who started this winter of discontent was Mohamed Bouazizi, a 26-year-old fruit vendor in Tunisia. He could afford neither the required cart license nor the bribes the police demanded whenever they saw him. The police harassed him until, in his despair, he set himself on fire in front of the government office in Sidi Bouzid. Is it any wonder that the unemployed college graduates took to the streets to demand change, or that professionals and trade unions joined the protests? After all, Bouazizi was not part of any political party, he was not brandishing a sign, he was not even asking for democratic reforms; he was simply trying to make a living. And if he could end up like this, so could all of them. Tunisia is full of Mohamed Bouazizis.
As it turned out, the entire Arab world is full of Mohamed Bouazizis. In Egypt, his name was Khaled Said, and he was a 28-year-old businessman. Last June, Said was sitting in a cybercafe in Alexandria when the police came in and demanded everyone’s papers. He asked the officers why, and soon after he lay dead, his face smashed against the staircase of a nearby building, his cries for help unanswered because any attempt to meddle in a police matter would automatically result in arrest and torture. Over the following weeks, young Egyptians staged protests demanding justice for this man, protests that were repressed by President Mubarak’s police thugs.
We'll be skipping decades of war and strife by simply getting out of the way of the Arab peoples and allowing them to take their freedom. The "forked tongue" that Laila mentions is all-too-true, and all-too-failed as a policy.
kmancanadaBut the Tunisians’ ouster of President Ben Ali galvanized the Egyptian youth, whose uprising on January 25 was the release, at long last, of the fear and silence that had been bottled up for so long. Year after year, they had heard American presidents deliver hypocritical lectures on democracy while giving $1.3 billion in military aid to Mubarak, their torturer in chief. The tear-gas canisters, the guns and bullets, the communication systems and police trucks—all the tools of repression that young Egyptians face—were quite likely bought with American aid. After three decades of empty promises, the young people realized that Mubarak was not going to reform, that what happened to Khaled Said could happen to each one of them, and that the time for change had finally come.
In their struggle for self-determination, the people of Egypt undoubtedly know they have the support of other Arab citizens. But they also know that the Obama administration is watching these events with a distinct lack of enthusiasm. In an interview with PBS, the vice president called Mubarak an “ally” and refused to characterize him as a dictator. And the president said that the United States “will continue to stand up for the rights of the Egyptian people” while also being “committed to working with [Egypt’s] government.” What Obama failed to acknowledge was that these two sides were no longer bridgeable and, of the two, it was the regime that had to go.
For the moment, it seems that Obama has chosen to side with the regime. The sudden appointment of former intelligence head Omar Suleiman as vice president and of air force chief Ahmed Shafik as prime minister looks like a behind-the-scenes compromise to replace Mubarak with Mubarak Lite. This “new” regime would probably continue to participate in rendition programs, maintain the siege on Gaza and generally do what is expected of an “ally” who is also not a "dictator." In order to get support for these two men, some politicians and pundits are pushing a narrative that, without Mubarak or Mubarak Lite, Egypt will be run by a band of religious fanatics who might threaten the Camp David Accords and start a regional conflict. CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, for instance, bluntly asked one of his guests whether Al Qaeda might exploit the Egyptian uprising.
But it is useful to remember that Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri is the product of the most pro-American regime the Arab world has ever known—that of Anwar el-Sadat. A pro-American dictator is not a guarantee of protection from extremism; more often than not, his tyranny creates the very radicalism he was supposed to stop. The future of Egypt looks uncertain. What is certain is that siding with a repressive regime against the Egyptian people, especially against young Egyptians, will turn these fears of extremism into a reality.
It is also important to remember that the uprising in Egypt is led by broad secular forces, and not by any established political parties. The Muslim Brotherhood did not instigate these protests, nor did the smaller opposition groups. The people who are tearing down the pictures of Mubarak from the walls of Egypt want real change. So the Obama administration must decide whether it is willing to work with a new generation of independent-minded Arabs or whether it will cede this role to other world powers. But either way, it must accept, once and for all, that the future of Egypt is in the hands of the Egyptian people.
Nelson George
About this project
I moved into Fort Greene, Brooklyn on Brooklyn Day 1985. I was already an established music critic/historian, but moving into this area in downtown Brooklyn would change my life just as would scores of other young black and Hispanic artists. The area already had a rich artistic legacy of going back to when Richard Wright composed much of his landmark1940s novel Natiev Son in Fort Greene Park. In the 1970s, just as white flight was changing Fort Greene's ethic balance, jazz musicians like Betty Carter, Cecil Taylor, Slide Hampton and Bill Lee were buying brownstones in the neighborhood. I was lucky enough to move into the area in the wake of another wave of jazz musicians, all in their 20s, were moving in with Branford Marsalis and (briefly) brother Wynton, the most famous of the bunch. Turned out I was renting a duplex around the corner from Spike Lee, a wanna be filmmaker I'd met once through a friend. Spike's breakthrough film, She's Gotta Have It, not only put him on the map, but shown a spotlight on the community of young artists already there and made Fort Greene/Clinton Hill a magnet for emerging actors, musicians, visual artists and designers from all over the country. Rock star Vernon Reid, comedian Chris Rock, actress Rosie Perez, visual artists Lorna Simpson and poet/actor Saul Williams were just a few of the wave of talent that would be seduced by the beautiful brownstones and the feeling of artistic community. A vibrant spoken word scene would develop out of the Brooklyn Moon restaurant, while a group of female artists would form an influential avante garde theater group known as Rodeo Caldonia. I lived through all this, was inspired by it, watched my peers make great art and was saddened as both success and gentrification changed Fort Greene forever. With my directing partner Diane Paragas I'm making Brooklyn Boheme to capture the excitement and spirit of the brilliant artistic community I was so proud to be part of.
Project location: Brooklyn, NY
Nelson George
New York, NY
I am a author, filmmaker and cultural critic. I've written numerous books, including my memoir, city kid. Other books include Hip Hop America and The Death of Rhythm & Blues. I have written, produced and written many TV and film projects. I wrote and directed the HBO film, Life Support, which starred Queen Latifah, and produced the Chris Rock starring documentary Good Hair, both of which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. I also host travel videos forwww.BlackAtlas.com. My web site iswww.nelsondgeorge.net.
Diane Paragas is an award winning commercial and documentary director and producer. She has directed and produced for PBS, Bravo, MTV, BET, Discovery Channel on Peabody and Emmy-award winning programs. Her work has also been featured at MOMA and Tribeca Film festivals. She is also the owner and founder of Civilian Studios a Brooklyn based production company. Ms Paragas has also directs commercials for IAC, care.com and produced Blackatlas for American Airlines.
Thomas Chatterton Williams
Losing My Cool:
How a Father’s Love and 15,000 Books
Beat Hip-Hop Culture
Audio InterviewWeb Resources
Thomas Chatterton Williams' website
Penguin Group
Thomas Chatterton Williams tells his story in his new book
In a 2007 piece for the Washington Post Thomas Chatterton Williams wrote that, "... middle class blacks concerned with "keeping it real" are engaging in gratuitously self-destructive and violently masochistic behavior." Is hip-hop to blame or is it up to the parents? In his new book, "Losing My Cool" Williams discusses the detrimental aspects of hip-hop culture, the "cool pose” and the role his father played in getting him to lose his cool.
Guest:
Thomas Chatterton Williams, author of Losing My Cool: How a Father’s Love and 15,000 Books Beat Hip-Hop Culture
Book Review of “Losing My Cool: How A Father’s Love and 15,000 Books Beat Hip Hop Culture” by Thomas Chatterton Williams
31JUL
Earlier this week, my friend sent me a text and said “I found my new favorite writer. His name is Thomas Chatterton Williams. His book is so well written I want to throw it.” So immediately, upon such a wonderful review, I googled this brother’s name while on my phone driving (yes, I know what Oprah said, but when was the last time Oprah actually drove herself around on a regular basis) just to see who he was. I read his interview on Amazon underneath his premier book, a memoir entitled Losing My Cool: How A Father’s Love and 15,000 Books Beat Hip Hop Culture.
Thomas Chatterton Williams writes a memoir that is clearly dedicated to the livelihood of his father. He acknowledges his mixed race (his father black and his mother white), however he’s aware that his parents made the conscious decision to raise him and his five years elder brother as indeed black. His father was in possession of a earned Ph.D. and took it upon himself to give evening lessons with Thomas from an early age. It is at this early age, third grade, that we begin the journey with the author until his college graduation. Through a supreme command of the English language, one that I have not read in a long time, Williams navigates the dichotomy of his life at home with “Pappy” (his father) and how he has ingested hip hop as a culture.
Aside from his predilection toward basketball as he described, I was for the most part endeared to his life story through high school because it seemed identifiable. He grew up in a decent neighborhood, but his folks weren’t rich. Check. We’re only three years apart, so high school experiences were more than recognizable. Check. He was enthralled with the aesthetics of hip hop culture: the clothes, the language, the music and even the philosophies associated with it. Check. Granted me and him diverged on a social life, part of which I’m sure was from a lack of a religious influence that I certainly had, but still, his story made enough sense to me.
Then somewhere, when he made the transition from high school to college, the reader would notice a marked shift in the tone of the author. The educational history of Williams had him in all white Catholic elementary school, all black Catholic high school which landed him on the campus of Georgetown for college. It was at this juncture in the reading that it seemed that Williams shifted from racial uplift to some phantasmagoric form of racial self-hate. This self-hate has its genesis in this now seemingly and almost personified character of “hip hop” which I italicize because the hip hop that Williams writes about is not the hip hop I am familiar with.
“Hip Hop” for Williams is the enemy within the gates. Although Williams has walked, talked, dined with, had sex with, bragged about, fought with, and fought for, Williams fails to truly engage hip hop culture in the context of this book. While I certainly welcome an opposing view when it comes to the table of discussion, such an inability to dialogue with hip hop was more than a disappointment. The correlation of “hip hop” to the failures of his various characters in the book, from RaShawn to his ex-girlfriend Stacey or even to Ant was absolutely abysmal. He operated from stereotypes that did nothing but produce more stereotypes.
For Williams hip hop culture was not embodied in the classic black love movies, the premier being “Love Jones” or even “Love and Basketball” or even the more cult classic “Brown Sugar.” No, for Williams “hip hop” existed in the philosophies emoted by Biggie and Jay-Z whom he quoted song lyrics from the most and possibly in the gangsta movies such as “Menace II Society” and “Juice” which played up the drugs and the violence and the utter mistreatment of women. The indomitable irony is that “hip hop” (with the italics) was black life.
For the remainder of the book, he failed to encounter one single, solitary black African American (read: black person who’s descended from slaves in the United States) who was highlighted in a totally positive light. I felt the shift come as he spoke of Georgetown’s campus and I felt that if Williams had his “come to Jesus” moment while on the campus of Georgetown, I was not going to be able to take him seriously. And of course, this is how Williams describes the blacks on Georgetown campus as the following:
The black world at Georgetown was only a microcosm of the wider black world outside of the gates, I discovered, but it was a world all the same, and governed by its own rules and language, its own kings and queens, nobles and serfs. In many ways it was the negative of the surrounding white social order (a white order the likes of which I surely hadn’t seen before): at the top of the obsidian pyramid were the students who remained closest to the street or on whom the scent of show business was most detectable. In roughly descending order this black Brahmin caste comprised of (a) the men’s basketball team (especially those members who came from legitimate ghettos and who put the “athlete” in student-athlete) (b) the alpha females who hung out with, fought over, and fucked the men’s basketball team, (c) the blossoming R&B singer Amerie and some of her friends (once it became clear she had a recording contract), (d) certain members of the football team (you can’t name a single NFL player from Georgetown), (e) one of two members of the track team (track is almost never televised) and (f) the truly thugged out non-athletes for whom affirmative action was either a godsend or a Sisyphean curse.
At the bottom of the heap were those–mostly males–who didn’t rap or sing, who didn’t walk and talk like they slung crack rock, who didn’t have a wicked jump shot. Which is the same as saying, at the bottom of the pile were those of us who most resembled college students.”
It was after I read that, in the middle of a paragraph, I underlined ” college students” and wrote in the margins so college students can only fit a certain mold and for the duration of the second half of the book I became with the most insipid barrage of racial and cultural stereotypes that I had ever read in a long time.
Please understand, I’m not speaking in hyperbole. After the next couple of pages when Williams decided to venture into the Shaw neighborhood where Howard University was, he wrote most ignobly that
“…This was no longer the place Thurgood Marshall studied law; this was the place where Sean Combs became Puff Daddy…I used to get the same feeling going to Howard that I got on trips to Plainfield or Newark as a child: It was bad. You had the vague sense that you were doing something bad when you were there, and that could be exhilirating. I am sure there is still a serious side to Howard, but I did not see it…I saw a giant masquerade ball, a gangsta party where middle class college kids–the sons and daughters of doctors and lawyer from suburban enclaves outside Atlanta and Chicago (north side)–as if just to prove that they were not middle class, mingled and flirted witht he street and everyone got dressed up as thugs and hustlers and hoes. And this vision corresponded neatly with the images I saw on television and in the DC clubs, with the way my friends got down back in Jersey, witht he way the faux-thugs and athletes carried themselves at Georgetown. This was real.” [emphasis added]
Somewhere, in a place I’m sure Williams does not want to touch anytime soon, he’ll have to come to grips with his own warped point of view. Generally I shy away from making such bold declarations because they go against my own postmodern proclivities that I’ve blogged so heavily about in the past. However, in Williams case, I must make an exception.
I find it highly problematic that throughout the book Williams has no qualms about problematizing the entire hip hop culture with one broad brush as if to be totally ignorant of it nuances. I certainly do not make the claim that I am some hip hop expert, nor a stalwart hip hop apologist, but, I do believe that like any other culture, there are levels of immersion in which one is a part of a certain culture. Williams seems to be wholly ignorant, consciously or not, of the fact that all young blacks are not a part of the hip hop culture. Aside from completely dismissing Howard University as an institute of higher learning (and for me, taking a swipe at the institution of HBCUs as a whole and getting facts wrong about Howard students being from the North Side of Chicago when I’d be willing to bet a year’s salary that South Siders by far outnumber North Siders), Williams disdain for hip hop culture came off as a disdain for black American life.
I do not know if that was his intent, but it is certainly the tone his writing began to take once he began his collegiate life. Once he made the decision to be a philosophy major and got introduced to the likes of Hegel, Nietzsche and Heidegger, he began to rationalize away that which hip hop had deposited into him. Now, as me and The Critical Cleric had discussed, and as I said in my blog a few days prior, there are some definitely anti-intellectual strands of hip hop, however, to forsake the cultural wealth that is hip hop culture by a) looking through the lens of white, homogenous, western philosophy to critique and b) equating ALL of young black culture with all of the negative aspects of hip hop culture is the epitome of myopia that is systemic of unbridled elitism that does more damage to the race you claim is in need of a reclaiming of the “discipline and the spirit we have lost.”
For Williams, as he stated in the epilogue that “more than thirty years the black world has revolved around the inventors of hip hop values, and this has been a decisive step backwards.” But, this reeks of the conservative mindset that rests in the notions of personal agency and personal responsibility but do not at all address systemic issues at play. For the entire book, Williams appears to leave underdeveloped characters as memorials to failures in the black community as a direct result of hip hop. Let me be clear, while well-written, his book flops as a serious cultural critique of young black American life because of his insistence on operating from stereotypes on hip hop culture as a dominant paradigm.
Frankly, as a young black male who is a product of an HBCU, I vacillated between being personally insulted and angered by his aloofness of black culture. I think Williams suffers from an undiagnosed identity crisis. His struggle to maintain friends back home once he went away to college is a battle that many young adults face when going to college irrespective of race–how do you handle your friends back home, especially when you have begun to spend the semesters away at school and only a couple of weeks back home. It seems disingenuous that Williams discounted all of the American blacks at Georgetown for his ethnic African friends and now white friends. Perhaps simple on my part, but it seems to me that Williams had no problem engaging in unwarranted elitism just to prove a personal point about “hip hop”; it became a self-serving self-prophecy.
Again, while well written, I take with a grain of salt a black person who uses Martin Hedegger and Shelby Steele as a preeminent lens to critique meta-black culture and in turn the hip hop culture, while admitting that James Baldwin, Ernest J. Gaines and Edward P. Jones were just a name to him. And this grain of salt is so large that it will immediately give me hypertension. This western philosophy rooted in the rational thought process that promotes cogito ergo sumas the zenith of philosophical understanding at times fails radically when discussing the history of blacks here in this country. Williams offers a glimpse into race head on when his father and brother have a violent run-in with the local suburban cops, but still allows that incident to be one amongst the family and not at all an existence for hundreds if not thousands of other blacks across the country. While he allowed for the history of racism in this country to factor into how he felt about the situations, and even more so how his father’s run-ins with racism 1950s style affected him, he still relegated that experience to his father and no one else.
Williams failure to address institutional racism left the notions raised with regards to hip hop culture in a rhetorical vacuum. When he published his article in a newspaper about why black students decided to self-segregate themselves, thanks to Hedegger, he placed the sheer onus of blacks participating in the chess club or other groups such as the Skeptics Society without giving any nod to even the possibility of how they may have been treated in the past which lead them to create their own groups. Honestly, did he even actively try and recruit any black students to join the club. The premise of that argument was about as absurd as in 2008 whilst riding the Green Line in DC when our team leader, four days into my internship, asked me, the only black in the group and on a train where they were the only whites, as loud as conversationally possible “So can white people enroll up at Howard University?”
Williams projects an intellectual elitism that is hard to wade through. The intellectual elitism is not evident in his command of the English language, nor his ability to be aware of 19th and 20th century philosophers that helped shaped modern western society into the behemoth that it is today, but rather it is evident in his selection of point of view as the only enlightened one.
By all accounts, I cannot support that.
According to his memoirs, aside from his childhood friend Charles, Williams is criticizing from the Ivory Tower, and that’s never helped out the masses. The masses need to know that you’re in the trench with them and understand their struggle. Ivory Tower talk is fine for other residents of the Ivory Tower, because you can use all of your big words and not feel bad, but when one begins disseminating abstract thoughts about existentialism, let alone from “some dead white guy” the battle is already lost.
If you still choose to buy this book, don’t expect some breath of fresh air on behalf of a young black budding intellectual. It comes off as something classical from an era long gone by. If it wasn’t for knowing it was a memoir, it reads similar to Catcher In The Rye evidence of a post-World War II haze. I’m sure this due to his father born in 1937 and a full 53 years older than the author. I push this because this book comes off as refreshing and new for a certain segment of older blacks who choose to read it, and this book is sanitary and clean for white readers of all ages who I’m sure he’ll be endeared to.
Let me push it since I’m out there already.
This type of writing makes hip hop palatable to white readers. It reinforces every stereotype about black inner city youth. I’m sure when his white friends whom he’s encountered at Georgetown will read this, that everything they ever thought about hip hop culture merely gets reinforced–reinforced to the detriment of of hundreds of thousands of blacks across this country, let alone on a college campus. Williams paints a false image that in order to be smart and black in this country one unequivocally must look a certain way and think a certain way–and that way is heavily influenced by western and Eurocentric ideals of ontology and existentialism. To which I promptly and succinctly say, bullshit.
Nevertheless, I refuse to be a hater. This is still a young black man doing the damn thing. I may not at all agree with the thrust of what he said, but he still yet another voice at the table. And if nothing else, this is a young black man who values his father. A father who sacrificed for him and had enough of a vision to see something for his progeny and a testament to a black man who survived despite the odds.
However, I must conclude by noting that the Brobdingnagian irony is that his parents were intent on raising him as black, but with all non-black friends now, I wonder how does the rest of the world see him.
Keep it uppity and keep it truthfully radical, JLL
For further information on the author:
(three photos were taken from The Chatterton Review website that were in full and free display to the public, to give credit where credit is due)
Video: YolanDa Brown - Soulful Jazz from London
MOBO-AWARD winning saxophonist YolanDa Brown is widely regarded as the emerging “voice” of mainstream Jazz in the UK.
But Jazz is not her only talent. The 28 year old London born musician with Jamaican roots holds two Masters degrees and is studying for her PhD in Management Sience.
Brown's fusion of hip hop, gospel and contemporary R&B helped her win the Best Jazz category at the Music of Black Origin (Mobo) Awards in 2008 and 2009 and she has peformed at the London Jazz Festival and for the Russian president Dmitry Medvedev in St Petersburg, wrote the Haringey Independent
She said: "I started playing the piano at the age of 7 and have been through quite a few musical instruments since then, but I just fell in love with the sax and it's stuck. When I play it, it's like my own voice.YolanDa Brown performing Story Live at the O2
YolanDa Brown plays Fela Kuti Classic "Lady" Live at the O2 in LondonHer debut album is to be released later this year.
See official website at www.yolandabrown.co.uk
See the photostream of YolanDa Brown here
Send Message