rootwork the rootsblog: a cyberhoodoo webspace

comparison of obama/clinton congressional records: kenyan fines and redistributions

SATURDAY 10 AM

hello world, i got this comparison of hillary and obamas voting records
over the syracuse black grad students email, i cant testify as to the veracity of it

will have to look into the claims of it when i get a chance
whats really impressive is the weight of the two lists, one is just

stroking constituents, the other is real work, contrasts so strong hard to believe nobody else has used it if its real

gotta check them out - i will park it here til then:

================

Senator Clinton, who has served only one full term - 6yrs. - and another year campaigning, has managed to author and pass into law - 20 - twenty pieces of legislation in her first six years.

These bills can be found on the website of the Library of Congress
www.thomas.loc.gov <http://www.thomas.loc.gov/> , but to save you
trouble, I' ll post them here for you.

1. Establish the Kate Mullany National Historic Site.
2. Support the goals and ideals of Better Hearing and Speech Month.
3. Recognize the Ellis Island Medal of Honor.
4. Name courthouse after Thurgood Marshall.
5. Name courthouse after James L. Watson.
6. Name post office after Jonn A. O'Shea.
7. Designate Aug. 7, 2003, as National Purple Heart Recognition Day.
8. Support the goals and ideals of National Purple Heart Recognition Day.
9. Honor the life and legacy of Alexander Hamilton on the bicentennial of his death.
10. Congratulate the Syracuse Univ. Orange Men's Lacrosse Team on winning the championship.
11. Congratulate the Le Moyne College Dolphins Men's Lacrosse Team on winning the championship.
12. Establish the 225th Anniversary of the American Revolution Commemorative Program.
13. Name post office after Sergeant Riayan A. Tejeda.
14. Honor Shirley Chisholm for her service to the nation and express condolences on her death.
15. Honor John J. Downing, Brian Fahey, and Harry Ford, firefighters who lost their lives on duty.

Only five of Clinton 's bills are, more substantive.

16. Extend period of unemployment assistance to victims of 9/11.
17. Pay for city projects in response to 9/11
18. Assist landmine victims in other countries.
19. Assist family caregivers in accessing affordable respite care.
20. Designate part of the National Forest System in Puerto Rico as protected in
     the wilderness preservation system.

There you have it, the fact's straight from the Senate Record.

Now, I would post those of Obama's, but the list is too substantive, so I'll mainly categorize. During the first - 8 - eight years of his elected service he sponsored over 820 bills. He introduced

233 regarding healthcare reform,
125 on poverty and public assistance,
112 crime fighting bills,
  97 economic bills,
  60 human rights and anti-discrimination bills,
  21 ethics reform bills,
  15 gun control,
    6 veterans affairs and many others.

His first year in the U.S. Senate, he authored 152 bills and co-sponsored another 427.  These inculded:

The Coburn-Obama Government Transparency Act of 2006 - became law, 
The Lugar-Obama Nuclear Non-proliferation and Conventional Weapons Threat Reduction Act, - became law, 
The Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act, passed the Senate, 
The 2007 Government Ethics Bill, - became law, 
The Protection Against Excessive Executive Compensation Bill, In committee,

and many more. 

In all, since entering the U.S. Senate, Senator Obama has written 890 bills and co-sponsored another 1096.  An impressive record, for someone who supposedly has no record according to some who would prefer that this comparison not be made public.

He's not just a talker.
He's a doer. 

===============

i cant testify, gotta check the figures
but it sound good dont it

in struggle
rdoc

SATURDAY

hello world, lets see, some quickies

spincycles: last week the clintons were saying they had to take texas and ohio to stay in the race
now they saying if the O man doesnt take all 4 states it means democratic voters reconsidering

this means of course that they, double digit leads a couple weeks ago, are afraid
of losing now, and the clinton spin machine in full force,

to be effective spin machines should be intermittent and plausible - the clinton machine is fulltime and blatant

rejecting & denouncing: hispanic leader supporting clinton in texas said hispanics wont vote for obama
because he black and hispanics dont like blacks - clinton asked if she would reject and denounce,

at 1st said she wasnt responsible for attitude of supporters - gently reminded of her demand that
obama reject and denounce farrakhan, campaign later sent out a 'reject and denounce" notice

yesterday mccain pressured to "reject and denounce" anticatholic antigay supporter
gon be a lot of rejecting and denouncing going on this year

kenya: seems the us, under pressure for valuing stability over democracy in africa, put some serious
pressure on kibaki -  rice was sent with message that the time for resolution was 'yesterday'

guess thats it, maybe more later

still buried in applications -  need to tell folk who do funnyfonts, smallfonts,
crampedmargins, etc that making an app harder to read is not a good strategy

we get so many great apps that good and even great works dont get much play
the hard to read get none - when you marching thru 300 good applicants all you doing is

looking for reasons to say no

justice: kenyan elders of the tribe that asked obama to don their robes
have said hillary owes them cattle for offending them by signifying

on the O man in their cultural garb
maybe bush will loan her some

hangloose
rdoc

FRIDAY

hello world, a couple of quickies and its back to these applications
i got so much id like to speak on but who got the time - its hard to believe

all the writing time ive invested in this blog over the last 4 years or so and still dont get but about 100 hits a day - i must be living wrong

but ima writer with a platform that allows me to say what i want to say how i want to say it and can only hope that history will be more interested in what i had to say than my contemporaries were

and also it allows me to work thru conceptual issues that eventually show up in my fiction, and it forces me to ground my spacey longgame tendencies in daily analysis - which is good

its all good, whatever is is

and it doesnt matter, i write because i must - and i trust that the gods of literature would not have laid this obsession upon me if it were not going to pay off somehow someday

so, where was i, right, quickies:

one: recent report on prison population say america has higher percentage of
folk incarcerated than any other nation - a big percentage of them nonviolent

drug users, article say getting tough on crime is getting tough on taxpayers - this is
one of the issues that is going to face obama when and if he becomes president

we are going to expect a lot from him as 1st black president

i almost feel sorry for him, hes going to be pulled in every direction and likely wont
be able to satisfy anybody - in particular me - which is really unfortunate

two: snl catching flak about whiteguy theyve chosen to play obama putting on
blackface and doing his minstrel show skits - no commentary necessary

read this time magazine article say obama should not try to hammer folk
who use his middle name, because that just gives them a weapon to use

against him in the shadows, he should embrace his name as part of

his all things to all people, assert that he has nothing to hide, in his name
or the picture of him in somali robes, otherwise he will spend a lot of energy

putting out brushfires and being ridiculed for it

three: obama catching flak from republicans trying to discredit him before
he can focus on them, hillary gon have to stop distracting him soon -

this primary is a done deal

was reading where the black politicians of cleveland were under pressure
to retract their previous support of hilllary - one said when he tried

to convince his constituents to support hillary at one of his community
meetings some of them started crying - he said he couldnt take it

four: shailja patel, kenyan poet iand activist has provocative
piece on whether violence in kenya was actually ethnic cleansing

its responding to a challenging comment that she got busy

she raises some good points on its politically contrived nature
but what ethnic cleansing is not contrived and orchestrated by

politicians making points - it was maybe not designed as ethnic cleansing
but ethnic cleansing or ethnic redistribution maybe, is what it became

one interesting point she makes is that asian americans in la considered
the los angeles riots an ethnic conflict - that was news to me

one of her more moving points is when she speaks of all the folk
who have reached across the ethnic divide to help and secure

their neighbors under attack, but that is probably the case with
all those ethnic conflicts - its an article worth reading

its clear that the election unleashed longstanding tensions that will have
to be addressed by politicians who love kenya over their own

aggrandizement, i can only hope and pray this is so
we african american get real sentimental about africa

tend to claim whichever country we most familiar with
as our african home away from home

i claim kenya and i pray
for her everynight

in struggle
rdoc

an african prayer: binya piece on kenya election: no country for old hatreds

hello world, havent been much commenting on kenyan situation
you like to think that your words have potential of influence

and i dont see any potential for influence on kenyan tragedy, least not by me
the following binya post is part of an effort by kenyan writers to shape

the cultural energies that have been released, much
like this kenyan priest trying to stop rioters

and this relentless process of ethnic cleansing going on
one hopes the two politicians see the light and work something out

odinga was robbed but unleashing tribal passions is a genie thats hard
to stick back in the bottle - times like this the old hoodoo man

wish he was a true magus of storybook power, able to exert power and influence
and change things - rootwork

if there is one spot on the continent i can call my african home
its kenya - got to see what i can do

probably all i can do is promote the efforts of kwani
and kenyan writers to shapeshift this thing

this i got off the kwani blog, binyas piece
that was in the nytimes recently

the tensions between tribalism and nationalism have been an issue in most
african countries - pray that kenya comes out of this a stronger country

and while you at it pray
for a united africa too

-------------------------   

NO COUNTRY FOR OLD HATREDS

BY BINYAVANGA WAINAINA

This thing called Kenya is a strange animal. In the 1960s, the bright young nationalists who took over the country when we got independence from the British believed that their first job was to eradicate “tribalism.” What they really meant, in a way, was that they wanted to eradicate the nations that made up Kenya. It was assumed that the process would end with the birth of a brand-new being: the Kenyan.

Compared with other African nations, Kenya has had significant success with this experiment. But it has not been without its contradictions, though they had never really turned lethal until now.

Our Kenyan identity, so deliberately formed in the test tube of nationalist effort, has over the years been undermined, subtly and not so subtly, by our leaders — men who appealed to our histories and loyalties to win our votes.

You see, the burning houses and the bloody attacks here do not reflect primordial hatreds. They reflect the manipulation of identity for political gain.

So what was different about this election? What brought Kenya’s equilibrium to an end?

Five years ago, we voted for a broad and nationally representative government. Inside this vehicle were the country’s major tribes: the Luo, the Luhya, the Kikuyu, many Kalenjin — all the people now killing one another.

We wanted this arrangement to quickly introduce a new and more inclusive Constitution, deal firmly with corruption and start a process of defining the nation in terms that include everybody.

Tragically, President Mwai Kibaki instead steered a course away from the coalition and cultivated the support of his Kikuyu community. He did a good job rebuilding the civil service and managing the economy, but he did it within a framework that was not sustainable.

When it came time to conduct our most recent election, Raila Odinga had built a movement on the back of President Kibaki’s betrayal of the spirit of 2002. His political party, the Orange Democratic Movement, was the big ethnic tent similar to the one that had first brought President Kibaki to office.

On the day we cast our vote, we thought that our optimism and desire for an inclusive and broad government would prevail. Instead, three days later — after reports that votes were being “cooked” in Kikuyu strongholds, after skirmishes in the room where the results were being announced, after the news media were ejected — Mr. Kibaki was announced the winner and a haphazard swearing-in took place. And Kenya exploded.

Mr. Odinga and President Kibaki are not really ethnic leaders, but in the days since the disputed election they have stoked tribal paranoia and used it to cement electoral loyalty.

Mr. Odinga and his fellow party leaders are now determined to avenge the wrong they believe they have suffered. Sadly, this leadership now appears to believe that the violence spreading across the country might be a valuable bargaining chip.

My further suspicion is that Mr. Odinga wants to sell to Kenyans and the world a sort of Ukrainian “people’s revolution” — where protesters take to the streets and change the order of things, and are seen to be throwing happy pink petals on television, so America can say, ah, the people have spoken.

But rather than matters leading to a popular but peaceful uprising against a flawed election, we are likelier to suffer an escalation of retaliations and a descent to that special machete place that nations rarely recover from.

Yet all is not lost. Nations are built on crises like this. If there is such a thing as Kenya, it should be gathering energy right now. Two leaders can sit down, form a power-sharing agreement and put together a system to handle elections and transition. A Constitution that names and recognizes the tribal nations within our nation, that decentralizes some power and that includes us all in the process is possible.

For 40 years we have been dancing around each other, a gaseous nation circling and tightening. The moment is now to make a solid thing called Kenya.

--------------------------------   

Binyavanga Wainaina, a writer in residence at Union College in Schenectady, N.Y., is the founding editor of Kwani?. This piece first appeared as an Op-Ed contribution in the New York Times, January 6th, 2008. Genocide Watch have a PDF version

singing in the choir

hello world

back in nairobi and can do a real posting

wrote the bulk of this a couple of days ago

redid it this morning on the roof of the stonehouse

and just now posting it

oh ive been seriously out of the loop

lamu is like going back in time about 200 years

been reading day old kenyan dailys; standard, nation, whatever i

can get my hands on, so i have a rough idea of whats going on in the world

i know ethiopia and the somilian interim government routed islamists but between
somalian distrust of ethiopia, keeping the warlords in  check and a budding
islamic insurgency the interim government gon have to get serious w/the quickness

(hint: 1st step of magnanimous victor: coopt moderates) - else pray for somalia

i know that the palestinians fighting each other – bummer

and a tickled israel been offering abbas guns (instead of land)

i know folk still dying in darfur while islamic and african

countries coddle sudans bashir – bummer

i know that bushs new idea in iraq consists of sending

in more troops against the advice of the generals (when

has he ever listened to the generals) - bummer

i see they bout to hang saddam - and add kangeroo trials
to torture and other degredations of us policy in iraq

those black masked executioners look like they came
straight from the beheading videos - whose idea was that

somebody explain to me again how we came to be dying in support
of an extremist shiite neotheocracy and why we cant leave

hate to see kofi go (bummer) but i suspect he needs a rest and maybe he

can be less circumspect now – i suspect he got a lot to say (redemption)

and i heard the godfather of soul closed down his act

(i can see him throwing off his cape and coming back for one more show)

thats about all i know of blackworld global significance while i been gone

which is very frustrating for an internet junkie like me

who generally checks google.news every 20 minutes or so

to make sure i know whats going on - when its going on

the old rootdoctor like to see, old rootdoctor like to know

keep my finger on the hoodoo pulse

but lamu is a magical place, very otherworldly

which for a magical realism writer is a good space

and i been working hard, moving slow working hard

thats all i ask of the literary gods, give me the hours and i will accept what i get

many of the faculty went off on a 2 day dhow adventure among the islands

but mr literary workaholic could not see 24 hours of woodshed time unspent

they came back w/all these tales of adventure and i hate i missed it

but i think i would explode if i couldnt work on my novel for 24 woodshed hours –

just fucking explode – im way too desperate for that

went on the boatrides last year and after about 30 minutes of exhilaration

i file them under more of the same

there was a faculty reading last night, jeff allen read the prologue

to his new book, song of the shank, powerful stuff

reminded me of something aishah rahman once told me when as a young cub

i once mentioned to her that i wanted to be the greatest novelist ever lived

she said no art, thats not what you want

she said what you want to do is sing your song the best you can sing it

that way she said, you can appreciate other folk singing theirs

one of the most important insights ive ever been given as a writer

right up there with john o killens once telling me ‘art, you a brilliant writer

but with a little compassion you could be profound’

singing my own song has kept me from being jealous of my

friends works and styles and successes like georges recent mcarthur

its kept me from trying to write like folk i admire (marquez, wideman, chamoiseau)

and concentrate on making my own style sing (flowers)

and its going to keep me from gnawing off a leg cause i dont write

like jeff (allen) does, cause that was some powerful stuff he read last night

a passage that covers some of the same historical ground rest covering

also we talked about his pan african literary forum idea – he is really fired up about it

dont know if jeff fully aware of the work it will entail
or just so fired up probably doesnt care

while the old gray organizer shuddering at the
commitment and op cost

and if im contemplating helping jeff do his thing, i can no longer justify

not putting the time in it will take to take new ren to higher ground

the pan african lit forum is a great idea thats going to eat prodigious noveltime

i been approaching new ren writers guild the way john o approached his workshop

john killens concentrated on helping folk write good novels

(which can entail up to 10 years of guidance)

may not get the play the literary rah rah folk get

but johns o killens as literary visionary is a story yet to be told

oh well, one does what one must - when one must

which reminds me i need to do my end of the year griotic report fairly soon,

got that why bother sense of frustration on me though

its not like anybody actually cares if i do it or not, except maybe me

maybe one or two others - we talking a whole weekend of hard work

pretty much for naught – like so many of my weekends – all work no glory

i had such potential when i started out

where did it all go – now my future seems to be all past

cant really cry about it cause on the real side

i been blessed – beyond my wildest dreams i been blessed

but this particular novel continues to abuse me, just read it thru and so

much of it still unacceptably weak - i wonder sometime if it will ever work

got to ignore all the doubts and just plow on, no matter how i feel about it

just dig in everyday i can and slog thru – soon as the suns up

last day in lamu and im composing this on the roof of the stone house

waiting for enuf sunlight to get some work done

lights go out every night, been coming back on about 3

(ive been told rich expats on other end of island suck it up at will)

been an aggravation workwise but i have learned to live with it

i use the laptop till the battery go, go to bed early, wake up when

lights come on at 3 and commence to crunching it

but no lights this morning at all and waiting on the sun to write by is a bummer

cant work when i want to work wont work

everybody else having fun, i dont do fun, aint interested in fun,

i just want to work, world aint real unless ive done my days novelwork –

and waiting on the sun to rise to be able to work just do not get it

not by a longgame it dont

might as well gone on the boatride i cant work

and thinking i might have to pass on jeffs initiative

aint got time to be signing on to somebodys else vision

got visions of my own need tending

but i really like what jeff has in mind

the potential is limitless, a pan african literary infrastructure

only reason i been considering it is because its jeff that asked me

one of the few folk in the establishment i consider friend

also tempting literary in crowd and gatekeeper points
which appeal to the once upon a time  power freak in me

but my response to lack of respect in literary circles is to pretty much

ignore them - concentrate on getting my work done and bet on historys judgement

ive gotten this far without pandering, why start now

best to stay focused - rest for the weary - the longgame

jeff can afford to do this, jeff has already made his bones w/rails
if he dies tomorrow his historical rep is assured, mine is not

still got to make my bones w/rest - before its checkout time

else aint gon be no rest for the weary

been back and forth w/it but im liable to go ahead and sign up
a running buddy has asked me to participate in good game

what can i do

fortunately me and jeff good w/the mutual respect rituals

you the man   no no, you the man   no i insist, you the man

cause two weeks in somebodys elses world

is two weeks enough for me

suns up
and im outta here

my love to you all

rickydoc flowers

mganga maua

wouldbe prophet

of the hoodoo way

one more lap for the long distance runner: in the name of o killens

WEDNESDAY

hello world
on lamu and kickng back

working hard on rest for the weary
moving frustratingly slow but moving

had resolved to disavow last post
was going to stock that idea w/all
the other good ones

cause i just cant afford the loss of noveltime

its rest for the weary, do or die
strictly the longgame
maintain new ren; everything else can wait

jeff got the bug about doing a pan african literary forum thing
this congregation of african writers has fired him up

and hes got all these ideas blubbling up
i can either sign up or pass and i hate to pass on an
idea whose time has come

i fear it wont set well w/sls
hate to lose that connection

have really enjoyed myself on lamu
its like ive gone back 200 years

and again theyve set me off by myself
they know i like my privacy, i like my room enuf
that i enjoy holing up writing  /  when we got power that is

ive passed on all the social activity and just holed up w/rest for the weary
other than conferences w/folk its just been me and this novel

which is the way it should be

im outta here, computer time is tight
will check back in when i get back to nairobi

hangtough
rdoc

hello world
heading for lamu today

sitting here in nairobi listening to some bobby blue bland

and reading this helluva story the last trip by sefi atta

(debut novel: everything good will come – have to hunt it down)

in chirumenga 8 - a literary magazine published out of south africa

by ntone, south african brother i been hanging with

i have met so many strong african writers this trip, its been an experience

this kwani movement never ceases to amaze me

reading chirumenga and the boldness of the work in it

make me humble, i mean bold, make me think of all that huffty puffty

i was talking a couple of days ago about speaking truth to the people

behind little minor personal like a gig

make me wonder all over again if im ready for primetime

make me wonder if my 2^nd string status isnt warranted after all

man i dont want to get all into that literary organizing it would entail

i just want to concentrate on doing my novel - my poor neglected novel

but i interviewed ntone, fierce young brother who is also a helluva dj that

know how to rock the house, and when i asked him why chirumenga

he spoke on providing a platform for others and

i could just hear john o killens talking about providing an

infrastructure that nurtured progressive young black writers

and i thought about pendas comment awhile back about young writers having

the patience and discipline it took to move work from mediocre to

good to great – and how much john o killens struggled to provide a space for that

sacred space, holyground

and i realized im gon have to do that

ima have to do that

i look at what binya has done with kwani

how the harlem writers guild publishing books now

and i know newren gon have to make that move

i know so many works deserve to be published

and with print on demand its kinda doable

and new ren members got the skilz and resources to make it happen

and i know john o killens would want me to do this – 21^st century stylee

i been thinking about a online magazine for years now

and i absolutely love the graphics quality to chirumenga

got the organizing skilz to pull it off w/relative ease

but all i can think of is the loss of noveltime it would entail

my poor neglected novel

been trying to avoid these types of major organizing commitments

spent all last year shedding them, but seeing what binya doing with kwani

seeing what ntone has done with chirumenga

and this impressive brother, hope, from nigeria w/black orpheus
and this impressive sister, khadija from britain w/sable

and so many others from all over the african world

that ive met this week

and me and jeff allen pondering a move

in west africa

when ntone said he wanted to provide a platform for others

that really resonated with me (and the power aspect speak to me too you know)

i asked him what pieces satisfied him most and he spoke on

binyas piece coming home and how he is proud that he is the first

one to print it and look what has come from it - the caine prize,

the kwani movement - and now this publishers collective (he waved his

hand to encompass all the african writers on the patio) and who knows what . . .

and im thinking how i got to keep john o killens legacy

alive and all the things i need to do with new ren and . . .

all it will require is me allotting the time and i guess

i got to go ahead and do it

but god im so afraid its going to kill noveltime

no, scratch that, know it will kill noveltime

maybe what i will do is schedule this move

for the fall of next year

that will give me this semester and my summer

woodshed to put this puppy to bed,

i will have to be all the more systematically ruthless about getting my noveltime in

and my holybook time and my shorts/nonfiction time etc etc et fucking cetra

in the meantime lay out business plan type stuff, strategic plan stuff,

nonprofit status, funding sources, cajoling folk, refining the vision

and so forth and so on - tires me out just thinking about it

i think i would call it: in the line of o killens

or something like that, something that honors john o killens legacy

i guess the next step is to get in touch with my folk

see who will sign up - for one more campaign

(they havent digested my last initiative yet and here i come asking for more -

best i have the plan fully laid out and even in play before i approach folk – help

convince them im serious about it - serious about the follow thru)

got a chance to hangout with my boy muki garang last night –

hiphop impresario and warriorpoet - we went to my favorite ethiopian

here, habesah restaurant over near the yaya center

muki young talent w/a vision and the precisely

kind of folk i would like to get works from

life is such a struggle

so many projects, so little time

im outta here, plane to lamu in a few

maybe i can get a couple of novelhours in . . .

my love

to you all

rickydoc rootdoctor

mganga maua

mganga maua: at the source

MONDAY

hello world

well mr out of the loop
finally figuring it out

man i hate being uninformed, i been stumbling around blind
the hoodooman suppose to know the secrets

seems to be tension between kwani
and sls these days

different visions
different goals

kwani trying to build a national (and even continental) literary infrastructure
sls trying to build a literary seminar program

sometime the twain does not meet

which is unfortunate because binya and misha
been a good team

when misha met binya back in 2002, kwani was just a dream
but kwani has since grown into an independent force (with mishas help)

and feel like they got things to do that dont necessarily
have anything to do with what sls doing

little thing with the kenyan/american writers
perhaps a little deeper than first perceived

all the kenyans ended up in jeff allens class
rather than mixed into the three fiction classes

i sent my own protégée there, told her to take advantage
of the opp to work with him – if you getting my drift

i hope sls and kwani work it out cause both sides butter my bread
and its the kwani connection that makes sls kenya special

not to my advantage to go too deep into it here
but the old hoodooman cant act like he dont see the game

i pride myself on my vision
and when i do speak (rootsblog) i speak in words of power

also i notice i got assigned nonfiction instead of fiction this year
whilst fiction was given to the ‘name’ writers

teaching it been a revelation actually
many of the same rules apply but whereas fiction
hides behind the facade of art

nonfiction right in your face
you be telling your business and cant claim the 5th

with art you can plead the 5th, thats not me
thats art

also my workshop full of fellow teachers and academics
who know the craft as well as i do

ive gained as much as ive given in that workshop
a gathering of very powerful women that see things i dont see

often im sitting there with my mouth open
catching flies

ive learned a lot and been participant in some moving
and illuminating discussions

so nonfiction it is, another skill set to learn
i have however been the griot showboat, scheduled back to back

blew away a mucky muck party of nairobi elite yesterday and threw down
at muki garangs wapi gathering – hitting at house of american embassy official tomorrow

not altogether comfortable with that –

(been hinted i shouldnt get too political, ie dont go after bush, iraq, etc, as i tend to do - that wasn’t necessary  -  met the cultural attaché at the muckymuck party, he came up to me after my reading and congratulated me, told me about the invite – like i would turn around and embarrass him in his own house - time and place for everything)

been hitting everyday, feel more like a song and dance man than a literary man
comes w/the territory of being considered second string i guess

that dont set well w/me but what can i do

except do my assigned workshop duty with my customary determination to excel
and if its song and dance that keeps me coming back then song and dance it is

cause i really like coming to kenya everyyear, and if i gotta do nonfiction i gotta do nonfiction  -  i appreciate sls/kwani ‘making space’ for me, trying to work w/me

misha has told me i can come everytime and i see in this assignment to nonfiction
where he is trying to make that work in spite of the fact that my name dont pull

and i love him for that
him and binya enjoy me dazzling kenyans in their name as much as i do

thats why they keep putting me in these amazing venues, and arrange for
backup bands, last time it was senta lein, this time a classic guitar player

and the sets have pulled out new heights from me as worker in the oral tradition
folk here treat me what one woman called me and ive adopted – mganga mua

witchdoctor flowers
in swahili

and i really appreciate being part of this gathering of continental african writers
not only did kwani gather together african writers from all over the continent this year

they took steps to establish a coalition (funded - soros/ford) of literary magazines from across the continent (and elsewhere) that deal w/african literature

oh yeah, good game is afoot and my finger is on the hoodoo pulse, i love it
guess i will just keep my eyes open, pay my dues, see how it all plays out

may not be apparent but i been trying to restrain myself on this post
feel like too much truth might cost me my gig

but this what i do and i take what i do seriously, whether the world do or not
and if i gotta take a punch for it ive taken them before

aint gon never be scared to speak truth to the people
might as well be the nonentity the literary establishment play me for

its cause i do take my words serious that ive gained a berth on the sls faculty
and the kwani family - teaching nonfiction

if im lucky nobody will notice i been telling folk business
one of the advantages of flying beneath the radar

this just been more impetus to get my novel done – next ball up in my ceaseless search for literary respect – that novel solve all your problems

in the meantime do what you can to make it work out for everybody –
kwani/binya, sls/misha

and me

im outta here
rickydoc trickmaster - mganga muau

FRIDAY

hello world

im having a wonderful time
ive met so many african writers

last time i met wonderful young students
this time binya has brought in african writers
from all over the continent

will have to get the names right before
i start trying to naming folk

but its been wonderful

ive had to abandon my international man of mystery act
and throw down with the thrown down cause everybody so cool

and i have so enjoyed hanging out with a diasporic african literary crew

had a little logistic problem yesterday

for all kinds of innoculous reasons the workshops were
split up all americans and all kenyans and folk didnt like
that not one bit - neither the kenyans or the westerners

whats the point of being here if its like that
and folk felt like it was apartheid of a sort

hopefully that will be addressed today
cause that dog wont hunt

also have met and remet so many cool east indian folk
that ive become aware of a provincial attitude regarding the

east african black/asian thing

never really thought about it before coming here
but its an interesting dynamic

african americans tend think african means black
and that everybody else is an interloper

we do racewar 24/7

oh we have learned how to put the face up
we know how to function in multicultural environments

but its always about race advantage with us
we born in struggle

and every once in awhile we get brought up short
and have to back it up and remember to deal w/folk as individuals

ohwell, live and learn

also have been given a new title
sister other day called me mganga maua

the magician flowers she said
in swahili - i like that - i like that a lot

later

rickydoc flowers
mganga maua

THURSDAY

hello world

heron hotel in nairobi again
same room as last time i believe

lot of repeat this year, many of same faculty as last time
doreen baingana and mike vasquez here

good to see binya and yvonne and
the irrepressible tony mochama
tom and misha

a lot of new folk this time, including jeff allen
a fellow traveler whose work i respect

met editor of sable magazine in britain and an east indian
performance poet born in nairobi and living in oakland

met a young senegalese writer and a whole slew
of american and canadian students – have to get back to
you with the names of the new folk, you know how that is

quite a few outside students this time
about 50 of them whereas in past its been about 5

so thats a different dynamic and makes it easier to skip
the touristy activities, who will notice im not there

last time i was here i got a lot of work done on the rooftops of lamu
(wonder if my one eared rooftop cat still there, we hung tough last time)

i hope to get work done both weeks this time

fortunately im chronically broke and cant afford
to go excursioning with everybody anyway

first time thats worked in my favor

spending my time working on rest for the weary
and preparing for my workshop, crunching it

teaching nonfiction instead of fiction this time, thats gon be interesting
cause its not my forte i have to be seriously prepared

cause rickydoc flowers dont believe in being slack
you know that – got to give these folk something they can use

make sure they dont regret signing up to work w/flowers
god help me i do like to shine

the actual workshops start friday
lot of kenyan literary activities planned starting friday too i think

it was the kenyan component that made it for me last year
meeting young kenyan writers like boke and chris and lucy

satisfying the hunger for outside connections for them
the access to kenyas literary world for us

working on getting boke into syracuse next semester
one of my syracuse folk, chelsea fetzer, rolled in yesterday

i enjoyed introducing her to jeff allen, he so quiet and humble
to be so good at what he do

a good role model for a young turk like chelsea
whereas im all bark and no bite

me and jeff caught the 46 bus to habesah restaurant for ethiopian yesterday
i caught it that morning first to make sure i remembered right

and that the restaurant was still there

i like ethiopian done right and i am proud of my ability to catch the bus around town
i dress down and call myself blending in, that usually works in black countries

but here it doesnt seem to work, i can see folk looking at me curiously as i
get around whereas like in jamaica if i dont open my mouth im good to go

might be the dreads and the beard giving me away
which generally work as an international ticket in the blackworld

ras, ras – i hear it everywhere i go in the blackworld
and i know they got a contingent of brodren and sistren here

but kenyans seem to know im not african no matter how quiet i am
i would really like to claim kenya as a blackworld home away from home

you know when you know how to get around
could make it on your own if you had to

had a really nice conversation yesterday with a journalist for the nation,
brother name pala, who asked me about ‘this thing you call literary hoodoo’

when i explained it as an african religious retention in the americas
and my own interest in east african traditions, in particular prophetic divination

we got into a very rewarding conversation about literary hoodoo
and legendary east african diviners

he was very proud of east africa as the birthplace of humanity
and i told him i was too

i think on that note ima close down shop
this posting feels uninspired to me

think i will wait and write when i have something to say
ive found thats always best

all my love yall

rickydoc trickmaster
at the source

kwani? kommentary: sls kenya: rastaman freeman: keeping the faith

hello world

just got my last kwani - sls kenya post ate
pissed me off when you paying
the kind of bob im paying for computer time

ima do a quick version and im outta here
only one set of computers in town and thats at the postoffice
100 bob a card

on lamu, island in the indian ocean off kenya
its like ive gone back in time about 2 centuries

little islamic coasttown, tight little mazed streets
people hanging out on their roofs and balconies to
catch the sea breeze you dont catch in the mazes below

im living separate from everybody else on the roof
of somebodys house, didnt realize it till i came down
stairs and this guy was brushing his teeth in the courtyard below

we stood there staring at each other in still life surprise
before we nodded good morning and went on about our business . .

my carnivore reading went well
working with this band called sent-a-lain
and we took the roof off the sucker

jumped off the stage (havent done that in years - its a wonder
my trick knee didnt give out on me)
and went out amongst the audience using my longtailed
rattle to remove conditions and all

started dancing and prancing behind the bandwork
doing my shamans dance

and i been doing this thing lately when i do shine where i use
when the shark trying to get shine to stop swimming to
comment on politics of the day

had the shark offer shine some personalized social security accounts
some fema trailers and some ocean front propety down in cuba

shark said dont pay no attention to all those reports about torture shine
you know i wouldnt do that shine, you know i wouldnt hurt you shine

then i commence to commenting on kenyan politics, scandals i been reading about
the shark offer shine a big mess of tribal patronage in the expanded cabinet
offered him some police jobs (big bribery thing) and his your own breathalyzer shine,
your own bank account (police corruption again)

oh i was on a roll

then i preached and prophesized my firstborn mythwork (it was east africa afterall)
and spoke truth to the people (at least my truth)

instead of my customary general audience act w/its healing theme
i did my hoodoo prophet act which i only do when i got a downhome audience
deeprooted in the tradition

and sometime you do your act and the magic dont come down
this time the magic came down, in large part because of sentalein
we didnt even rehearse or nothing - but they took me to higherground

they were fronted by this incredible blind guitarist michel onigaro
my boy oneko on drums and two other brothers
ima hit with them again - swear by all thats holy i am

and i threw divination while i was hitting the highpoints like
stand up you mighty race and
i have had visions, ive seen the promised land

if you would reclaim your legacy as gods holy instrument
you must stand on higherground

i been pondering public divination ever since i read a book
on the prophets of east africa that said the difference between a diviner
in these cultures and a diviner/prophet was that the diviners readings
were private readings for personal issues

while the diviner/prophets readings
were also public readings concerning tribal issues
and as you may or may not know, i aspire to the prophetic

was at one point inspired to give binya one of the
highjohn roots from my divination pouch

told them what highjohn means to us
the hopebringer, the burdenbearer, the battlefighter, the jackpot winner
an ultimate force, a mighty power

said he might be in mississippi when the lash falls on a slave in the sudan
but before the blood is dry on the back the conqueror is there
whispering hold on - our day is coming

told them the old folk say the conqueror got blackfolk out of slavery
by tricking old massa - that afterwards the soul of the conqueror went into
the highjohn root - to return whenever  blackfolk in need

even the space contributed, i wont even try to describe the carnivore
but i got posters, kwani reading featuring yours truly - a good time was had by all

so then we came to lamu, a airkenya commuter flight and a dhow
and its like we are in another world

and im living on somebodys roof with very archaic facilities, its deep
and at night everybody is on roofs and balconies catching those sea breezes
its like the rooftops of lamu are another city on top of the one below

i slept on the roof last night, theres a bed out there with a mosquito net
this roof cat has adopted me and we sat there watching our world
and stars like you wouldnt believe

my little group back in naroibi decided to call themselves
the page

i dont know what got into me making all those commitments
but ima try to get them through - feel like they depending on me
i made a lot of promises - babajohn o killens kind of promises

tripping me out that im the only african american writer again
specially since its such a special moment with this kwani thing

and there is a hunger for that connection
both among the young kenyan writers and
regular folk - at least here on lamu

since i been here folk calling out to me
when they see me walking down the street
cause of my dreads mostly - burning spear they call me

this morning i was talking to this brother running solidarity mack
(he was trying to sell me something)
but after the deal he was still full of solidarity and talking about how
african americans are 'fighting for all of us'

he said, there you are strong, here we are still weak, you are fighting for us all

and i kept trying to tell him that we struggling there too, and i wouldnt exactly call us strong
but he was insistent, no you are strong and you are fighting for us all

and all his buddies came up pleased to see an african american brother touristing
talking about how they have to maintain and how inspired they are by our struggle
though i think they would have been even more inspired if i had been from kingston
cause it was the dreads more than anything else that spoke to them

burning spear is obviously iconic with them cause when i walk down the street
folk point me out and whisper burning spear burning spear

its a friendly town
tight little town with folk all up in your space like that i guess they have to be
interesting dynamic w/the african/islamic - tourist/cosmopolite character

folk still wary but they smile, nod greetings, try to be helpful
whereas in nairobi folk got that urban armor on
look at you with that sharp urban wariness or like you fresh meat

the blackfolk of lamu obviously feeling a little pressured
cause they got that blackworld solidarity thing happening

aint nothing like it - resonates in my africanamerican soul
when blackfolk on the twisty little streets of lamu call out
to me as i walk by - smile when they see me

give me that little nod all blackfolk understand

like this young guy keep riding by on one of those lamu donkeys
when he see me he raise he fist and yell rastaman freeman

somewhat embarassed
i fist him back and go respect respect

and i hear him yelling at my back
rastaman freeman

i try my brother
i try
             
my love to you all

may the gods be good to us all
in the coming year

rickydoc flowers

wouldbe prophet of
the hoodoo way

awaken the sleeper
protect the weak
guide the strong

kwani? kommentary:sls kenya: working at the crossroads

tropichello world
sorry i been tardy with my postings

been running hard
got so much to say one wonders where to start

okay, kwani?

last time i was here they were just putting it together
didnt have the first issue out, it was still a dream

this time, kwani? has become a powerful and sometimes controversial force
kwani? 3 just came out, and its extraordinary what theyve done
all sorts of cutting edge fiction and nonfiction

including works by folk like billy khora that use all kinds
of fictional and film techniques in journalism and you have
to read it to really understand the delightful thing hes done

and there are dazzling literary moments all thru the work

now for the juicy parts - its has become such a powerful force
in kenyan literature that folks are taking potshots at it and
binyavanga, the editor and nurturer of the movement it represents

binyavanga is a most interesting brother, im very biased in his favor
so dont expect me to be objective

he reminds me of myself during the new ren days
but is is far more powerful a force than i ever was
i envy him his power - and the future in front of him

a big man, big presence, you can tell when hes in the room
a fierce artistic intellect whose interests and conversations
will leap from the role of ngugi in kenyan literature to parasites in the sudan
to the influence of crises on african nationalism to the integrity of artistic spaces and all about the conceptual universe and all fiercely done

his commitment of nurturing a kenyan literary infrastructure is unassailable
though obviously folk are doing it

he and tony mochama got into a big to do over dinner the other evening
over a debate thats been going on in the literary section of local newspaper, the standard
where somebody (i will have to get the name from my tapes) attacked kwani?
and binyavanga

tony is an editor of the page and binya was attacking the page
as debasing the kenyan literary conversation

his arguments as always were pristine in their quality
but the intensity of the attack showed the depths of the hurt he was feeling

and tony was squirming cause he could feel the fire of binyas hurt
but tony is an irrepressible wildman at heart, one of those mad trickster types
whose wild flights of eccentricity contain moments of mad brilliance
and they mostly ace boon coons getting a little exercise

apparently some folk had called binya the 'high priest of kwani culture'
(sometimes phrased 'high priest of the kwani cult') and the table was laughing at him
calling him pope binya the 1st and he was spouting fire

the table was full of young kenyan literary talent, binya and tony, paraselo and june
and billy and others and the conversation was fiercely and exhilaratingly literary

and they are fiercer than literary dialogues in the states
cause they feel more is at stake,
if they fail they feel that literature will die again in kenya

apparently after ngugi there was a big lull in literary energy
and ngugi is still this huge force in kenyan literature and everything seems to be
ag and bg, before ngugi and after ngugi and everything is judged by its relation to ngugi

now that theyve generated all this literary energy and getting play from the world for it
(they won the caine prize for african literature twice in a row, first binya, then yvonne)

met this brother joshua who has a dream of a theatre for the deaf
told him i would try to publicize it for him (promises promises)
it was such a sincere little dream, i did an interview of him that i will podcast

it was my conversation w/joshua that made me conscious of why
i was really here, moved me out of literary tourist mode into observer/recorder mode

and then their relationship with summer literary seminars - kenya has really played out well for them and sls
sls is the work of mikhail iossel
mikhail is a russian writer who set up the summer literary seminars in russia every summer

hes married to a kenyan, vika, and travels here often, decided he would try to
set one up in kenya

he just happened to meet binya in a bar, the first time they were just interacting
that was in 2002, he asked some african american writers to be faculty and had
some students and the very week we were supposed to come to mombasa
it got bombed and all the writers bailed but me - no way i wasnt going to africa

my first time too, me and bonnie, we had a wonderful time
our first introduction to the kwani crew, the magazine was still just a dream then
they were working on the 1st issue

wasnt but a few students, all american and after daily workshops
we spent a lot of time touristing kenya - animal parks, navisha, riftvalley, etc
which was cool, and we were in the middle of downtown nairobi which was intense
spent last 3 or 4 days on beaches of mombasa which was also cool after intensity of nairobi

but it was a radically different experience this time
this time there were only 3 american students and this time kwani had become a force and
there were something like 70 kenyan writers involved and
the days were filled with panel discussions/workshops about kenyan literature and issues
it was an incredible experience

interesting the alliance between kwani and sls
mikhail has been a vehicle of international exposure for binya and kwani
and binya/kwani have provided an incalculable literary substance
to mikhails dream of a sls kenyan component

the kwani movement is a serious literary movement whose influence
will be incalculable as only powerful literary movements can be
and mikhail likes being part of literary energy - he feeds off it

what has made this time so special is interacting with the young literary aspirants
they are very hungry for connections that can help them break into the industry
into the global literary family

and a couple of them have come at me hard
help me with my work
what can you do for me
can you help me get published

help me master the word
or performance

some of the ones ive met whove come at me so hard ima take them under my wing

like christopher, wouldbe novelist whose idea of african american lit stops at richard wright
i got to bring him up to date

muki garang, performance poet, from the southern sudan, calling for revolution in the southern sudan, fan of sekou and def poetry jam, jamming the stage

binta, softspoken would be novelist, wondering how to get into a masters in writing, im supposed to send her info on mfa programs, while i work with her on her stories so shes ready for primetime when we send her on the application process

another softspoken young sister (found out later her name is lucy) that i didnt realize was coming at me for help because she was so self effacing about it, once i realized that the men and the women came at me differently, the young brothers would come forthright, im such a such, i do such and such, can you help me, whereas the young sisters are much shyer and self effacing and ask for help in a more indirect manner that i didnt recognize at first and found myself not giving them as much attention but im clear now

when she did performance poetry at paa ya paa is when i got my understanding

and of course the mighty and incomperable grandmaster

okay this is going on and on
ima go through and edit it down

i know other folk who have tried to give chronicles of literary activities and
they are almost inevitably windy
everything thats important to me aint in important to you

got a lot more i want to say

want to speak on my fellow faculty, tom and mike and fionna and john, really interesting folk

and doreen baingana, earlier i put doreen w/the kenyan writers, noticed it and decided to leave her there cause i figure uganda is kinda enuf and her affinity w/the kenyan literary experience is stronger even than the africanamerican affinity i so prize but actually she is from uganda (based in dc) and tropical fish, her first book of shorts, won the awp award, im really looking forward to reading them

and there is red sarah the poet, cool vicki and pat - there is a certain bonding that happens at these things, folk become family of sorts

and i need to speak on being the only african american writer involved
in something that should intrigue african american writers

folk missing out on an interesting experience and i feel honored to be
the observer on this one

got to tell you about my boy oneko, a kindred spirit
dreadlocked drummerman, and michel onigaro, blind guitar player

we both supposed to perform at this big nightclub tuesday
i asked them if they would hit with me on one of my pieces

(note: i expected a little acoustic drum thing happening, turned
out they were a real band,sent-a-lain, they took me to higher ground)

my griotic performances have been going on real big here
they like that traditional storyteller thing in my work

i been inquiring about the local highgods so i know whose territory this is
who to call on tuesday,  ngai of the kikuyu, nayasi of the luo, nkai of the massi
nyasaye of the luo,  nyasa of the kissi, mungu of the coastal tribes

and ima try something new on them, my piece that i been working on, de geas of rickydoc
i got this point where ima stop, layout my divination circle and divine right there and then
we will see if i lose my nerve or otherwise blow it, but right now thats what im feeling

specially where i expect oneko and michael to be taking me

okay, one more point and im out of here

went to this artists colony paa ya paa yesterday
met the founders, two most wonderful folk

first the colony itself is an extraordinary nature compound

the owner is this dignified elder brother, who came in macking
your excellency he addressed me, surely you would rather be outside (in the parklike areas)

the bus driver had parked in it and he came out going
this bus is not part of nature, it must be moved

he was fascinating everybody, i said hes a mack,
and had to explain what a mack was
a master of the word i told them

im the last bushman in kenya he said mischievously
turns out his wife is american, sister, philla, from chicago
one of those classic elder artistic black women
and just as gracious as she could be

when i did oscars signifying monkey
we bonded immediately
turns out she and her performance group, ensemble bush back
had done the same version some years before
she was shocked to hear that oscar brown had died

they have artist residencies, said i could come anytime i want
got the 411 on them later from other folk
turns out their story was even more fascinating that i assumed it would be

okay im out of here
will edit this later

you know my philosophy
get it out on my head and onpaper/online
i will clean it up later

as you know im always trying to be attuned to the significant
tryhing to determine what is most significant about this moment, this experience

i think for me at the moment the important thing is to follow thru
on my offers to help these kids
cause you know i dont have time for it but i told them i would

what im going to do i think is try to establish an online workshop with them
maybe some sort of connection to the new ren workshop
so that folk in brooklyn critique the nairobi works and vice versa

get them up to speed - then start trying to funnel them into mfa programs
in the states - just more frustrations is what this is going to be
but i will probably be able to nurture some of them through

ima make time - i believe john o would approve

this kwani/sls kenyan experience has been just as magical
as the first one, but for radically different reasons
im as excited about being part of kwani culture as mikhail is

i recognize a crossroads when i see one
im standing on holyground

im outta here
found an ethiopian place last night

i love ethiopian food and last night somebody mentioned ethiopian
and i was like, damn thats right, ethiopia is next door, they probably
got plenty ethiopian restaurants here, best i get on that

later

rdoc