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syracuse 2010 freshman convocation presentation: on destiny and stuff

hello world

did this presentation for the syracuse freshman convocation
behind shared reading of the kite runner

it was well received, standing ovation and all that
figured id post it, free wordage you see - todays post done

been nice being the man of the hour
if but for a moment

all weekend long parents been stopping me

say they more comfortable leaving their children now
they know im here

can you imagine that

the old outlaw has become a
parent reassurance figure

what a revolting development this is

been vaguely promising folk to look out
for their children

starting to feel like the class of 2-10
belongs to me, gotta look out for them

gotta get them all thru
every single one

bonnie say thats a lot for one man to carry

i told her im already trying to save all the
blackfolk in the world (everybody else too)

adding a 1000 or so freshman wont be
that big a load

im outta here
hanging tough and clocking pages

nothing like the 1st day of school
to focus the mind

rdoc

------------------------------------------------

i am flowers of the delta clan flowers and the line of o killens
may this gate be opened, may this work be done (conch)

like the rest of you i was told to read this book so we could discuss it
and my immediate response was - you must be kidding me

ima busy man, i got things to do, people to see, i do not have time for discretionary reading
somebody needs to tell me what is the point, somebody needs to explain to me what is the point

and im pretty sure im supposed to come up here and laud this novel
but they dont pay me to laud - they pay me to understand, they pay me to help you understand

so the first thing we will do is ignore the hype, we will ignore the glowing reviews
we will ignore fact that it was chosen by knowledgeable people in authority

and ask you     what did you think about the novel

as for myself, ah, it was okay, it was not the most challenging work ive ever read
its pretty much all on the surface, whatever he wants you to know he tells you                        

it doesnt have any women characters to speak of
and the wife is basically a set piece out of a wedding photo

and the sensationalism, whew, talk about purple, one reviewer called it breathless melodrama

im thinking the stoning scene, im thinking that b grade movie star villain practically twirling his mustache, im thinking the climax scene with the nephew

the author has not gone for the kind of nuanced exploration that would justify this intensity, the author has gone for cheap thrills, cheap literary effect, the sensationalist note to which he pitches his critical moments

the stoning scene for instance, couple of pages and its like, okay, i got this, dastardly taliban, hiss hiss, you get the feeling the author knew this would play well in the  marketplace of  the  west

would have been different if that scene had been integral to the plot but it was not
or if it had been integral to character in some way but it was not

passages like this give the appearance of engagement but is it sincere engagement designed to take you into deeper understanding – or is he just jerking your emotional chain

its very important that you know when your chain getting jerked

so the question here is what do you think,
not what the industry thinks, or what we think, or even what i think - what do you think

the first question to keep in mind when folk in authority ask you, no not ask, tell you, to do something is why - what is the agenda here, why have i been asked to do this - what is the point

then you decide if those agendas are compatible with your own
or do you wish to offer suggestions, amendments, caveats and revisions

for instance, syracuse mfa program would not have let that book out as is

any writers in this crew, any writers, any scribes in the house of life
you come on over to the english department, we’ll take care of you

but we would have been adamant about not basing the power of his work on sensationalism
and the advisability of viable female characters in his fiction

it would have been a different book – but not necessarily a better one
mfa program, we will teach you head, you bring your own heart

you want to listen to what we have to say, you want to be trained, you want to be informed
you want to get as much perspective as you can - then go for yourself, your judgment your call,

your style, your voice

this skeptical openness is what i want you to bring to this book
and any other book you are asked to read in the next 4 years

so - what is the agenda here - who chose this book and why

one - its accessible, little too early to be dropping james joyce on you
have you running for the hills – or home

two – somebody decided that in spite of its flaws it is a novel worth reading, i can see that

we talking head and heart now, craftwise, its a flawed work
but is it a successful novel - well, thats a far more complex question

whereas i found the sensationalist highpoints shall we say, unconvincing

moments of true voice and raw talent that came through in spite of the works lack of sophistication were worth the price of the ticket

the sensationalist moments were interesting as unsophisticated narrative strategy but as a reader they did not move me - but that master servant, pathan hazara dynamic for instance, now that i found fascinating

one - it explained some northern alliance, taliban dynamics that werent clear to me before
two - it felt like some antebellum master slave relationship

it made me as an african american very uncomfortable to be getting this masters view of the docile slave, very uncomfortable – but illuminating, gut sense illuminating

thats literature doing its thing

making connections and blowing your mind
expanding your world and taking you to higher ground

how many of you have been touched by some book youve read
how many of you have had your lives changed by books

if you have not, you have missed out on an extraordinary experience
but thats what you can expect many times over in the 4 years to come

there will be books that move you, there will be books that sear
your heart and soul, books that free your mind

and books that will bore you senseless

but all you need is one book that touches you
one that really moves you, one that transforms you
one thats capable of forging a brand new you

fiction opens you up to new worlds, new experiences, new understandings,
reading is like cheating on life,

you get access to experiences and lives beyond your own and if its done well
they are transformative - capable of influencing lives, civilizations and even human destiny

a good work is capable of transforming anyone anything it touches
a good work sensitizes us to the universal nature of experience

we can all recognize trying to impress a distant father
or the agony of schoolyard bullies
the crippling fear that keeps you from coming to the aid of a friend in need
or even a stranger

the challenge of a new neighborhood - but what about a new country, a new world
or the trauma of learning that our parents are   after all    only human

a good work makes the world smaller      or larger as the case may be
the really interesting points of this novel will be the ones you dont understand,

these are the ones you want to play with - these are the paths you want to follow
these are the ones will take you where you have not been

a good work breaks down barriers and helps us understand our world a little better
and 9/11 showed us just how small a world it can be

and i think, ultimately, thats why this work was chosen

its timely - it gives us insight into one of the pressing issues of our times
and better prepares us to deal with it as informed citizens of the world

informed citizens of the world
informed - capable of making a difference

which brings us to the other question of the moment

not only why was this work chosen
but why the communal reading - whats up with that

one, to give you a shared intellectual experience
obviously hoping for informed citizen dialogues such as the one we are having now

and in so doing hoping to make you aware of just what literature can do
how literature can serve the world - and you

we hope to make this moment a significant one in your intellectual evolution
we hope this experience will fill you with an awareness of and attunement to
the significant in your life

put you in that state of mind that is always asking
what is the most significant thing i can extract from this moment

from reading this work, from this shared experience, this convocation
from this . . .  . . very moment

what makes a moment significant?
a moment of fate, a moment of destiny, a moment of fa?

in the african american tradition we call that working at the crossroads
being aware of destiny in the moment

when life can go one way or the other, depending on the decision of the moment
depending on choices made

every decision that you make is one of potential significance in your life
everyaction everythought everyword - we hope reading this novel and the ensuing discussions

at this point and time in the/your world will be a definitive moment in your life,

and that of your cohort - the mighty mighty class of 2 thousand and 10.
2 10 is in the house   woof woof    woof

we hope this experience is but the first step in a journey of intellectual discovery
that you are about to take here at the cuse in the next four years

people generally arent aware of living history
they think of history as other times, other places, other people, other worlds

but as a young man i once found myself in vietnam and
one day i realized that im in the middle of history, im actually living history here
and since then ive been aware of myself as historical

and there is a certain responsibility in that awareness

a certain determination not to come up short
not to look bad in the judgment of the generations

you and this very moment are the history of the future
you are our destiny

but if you want to play the destiny game

you have to have the vision, you must be able to see - whats real and whats not
you must be able to see - beneath the surface of things
be able to see      thru the agendas those in authority would impose upon you

you must be able to trust yourself
and not be tossed about by the winds of circumstance and the whims of others

now let me wrap this up with a personal moment of significance
let me take this opportunity to run my agenda on you

in the class room i keep my value judgments to myself
youre more than welcome to reject this, tomorrow i go back into my professorial mode

but im not in the classroom today am i, today im on stage and today i get to
tell you what i really think, today i will tell you what i really want

i want you to be somebody
i want you to be a drummajor for righteousness and a force for good in the world

i want your life to have meaning and significance
i want your life to have point and purpose

i want you, if you can, if you ever see the opportunity
to make a contribution to the human condition

i, and every professor in this dome, in their deepest heart, hope to give you the tools that will enable that -
the tools that will make you informed citizens of the world        and trust you to make informed choices

comfortable with the complexities of life
comfortable with a world in which there are no answers, only questions

capable, if you so choose
of making a difference

i envy you you know - when you get my age your story is pretty much written
its pretty much a done deal, but you, youve only just begun to write your story - its your world

youve only just begun to dream

a friend of mine said recently that we, my generation, have really bungled it, we have
left you a world infinitely more complex and confusing than the one we received
from our elders

o these are some very challenging times but you know, thats what makes them interesting
and even fun - may your life be interesting, may your life be part of a better world

for you and i, we have been blessed
and there are certain responsibilities
that come with blessings of this sort

may you awaken the sleeper, protect the weak
and guide the strong

and the question i would like to leave with you this evening is
if you were to leave a legacy for future generations, what pray tell would that legacy be

if you were to write a novel what on earth would your novel say
if you were to live the life of your dreams, pray tell me, what would you do

folk like gandhi or marquez, carrie nation, einstein or benfranklin, zora neale, mandela, thoreau and harriet tubman - folk like your parents, your grandparents and your ancestral grands

they stand for something, they mean something to the world, to the generations - they mean something to you - they represent

a certain legacy if you will, a certain contribution to the human condition
or to your family, your neighborhood      or you

and you     what will your name mean to future generations
what will your name stand for

we hope that you will find power in this dialogue     in this moment

but what we most hope you get from the discussion of this work is a confidence
in your own judgment, your own agendas - may they be worthy - your judgment, your call,
your destiny, your world

there will be times in the next 4 years when you will get discouraged
there will be times when you will wonder - what on earth is the point

there will be times when you find youve lost your way

just settle down, take a deep breath
pick yourself up, dust yourself off, keep on pushing

the only thing fatal      is giving up

and if you need help dont be shamed to ask for it, thats why we’re here
and when the hard times come and they always do

i want you to remember what the old blues doctor said

every goodby    it aint gone - cause you sick    dont mean you dead
and lord know trouble    it dont last    it dont last always

just keep on keeping on      hold on you must be strong
you fight the battles friend     nobody else could win

when you come to the crossroads 2-10, always take the highroad
always strive to be greater than you are

one of the things that impressed me about the kite runner
is that it was not afraid to tackle the big questions

i expect no less of you

let every moment of your life be one of significance
and go proudly forth – informed citizens of the world

cause the cuse is in the house 2-10 – do us proud now

you are our legacy     and we’re depending on you
with all our heart and soul     we believe in you

that is all     this spell is done

raising the sun up in the morning

MONDAY

hello world, schoolhouse scheduling
keeping it tight, hitting and quitting

update: repub push for black votes

seems ohios blackwell had stock in diebold voting machines
are you surprised,
what about marylands steele calling george bush his 'homeboy"

homage for stepping off the reservation when he
called the republicans toxic okay but "homeboy"'

move over uncle tom, gunga din has arrived

meanwhile back on the ranch
french pride/insecurity

let the empty threat of italy taking lead in lebanon
force them to try to get back in front of the euro line

israeli policy of holding civilian population of lebanon
hostage bearing rotted fruit

unfortunate when folk get rewarded for warcrimes
as heinous as the ones they say they resisting

speaking of warcrimes

sudan resists un troops
we will send our own it says

same ones participated in initial crises

but progressive forces
can no longer depend on rebels
stinking of venality

or a us with crippled credibility
its all on kofi and the international community

i trust kofi to do the best he can
i trust him do it well, i trust his heart is right

nagin i dont know
this article says ray nagin is a newschool black leader for the 21st century

i will believe it when i see new orleans flourishing again

and not before - what exactly is he doing, waiting
on the federal government to deal w/it

whats new about that

gotta be bold man
gotta break out the box

or go sit on the sidelines
where you belong

im outta here
gotta clock my pages

in struggle
rdoc

SUNDAY

hello world

school starts tomorrow
and im tripping, got to come out
the woodshed - thats a real bummer

schoolhouse production schedule:
mon thru thurs to schoolhouse (and game maintenance)

fri, sat and sun:  rest for the weary
cant afford them but by god i will take them

mean i got to scuffle catch up scuffle up all week
im always tired, im always weary

didnt get clean draft this go round
goal now clean draft by end of year

which mean major effort to maintain production
while giving schoolhouse (and game maintenance) theirs

sometimes i squeeze a piece of monday
but monday is tuesday class prep day

and it aint in me to be slack in
front of my class, that wont fly

so much i have let go slack while i
been woodshedding

time to pay the freight, a bunch of catchup
ruthlessly taking care of bidness, ruthless scheduling

step by step and inch by inch, put all the balls
back in the air and put them in the air now

payiing those woodshed dues

but im so deep in the zone it has to be an official moment or i
wont manage the segue, i will instead linger half in half out - crippled

so be it, at the stroke of midnight then - de ol conjureman officially out the woodshed
focus flowers - god it was good, living the life and all, nothing but novelspell 24 - 7

ohwell, such is life - now i gotta take care of business
and gotta keep novel momentum no matter what

gotta double stroke it now

i shall savor these my last few hours of freedom
at the stroke of midnight then - rickydoc flowers, signing off

back in the world

THURSDAY

playing the race card

apparently new season of survivor: cook island
is going to separate the contestants by race

black, brown, yellow and white
(alphabetical order, better safe than sorry)

should be interesting to see how they script it
and how america responds, but i will never know

havent seen the show myself
and dont plan to

in struggle
rdoc

the haints of tuskegee come knocking at the door

my mind is absolutely closed
on the idea of experimenting on prisoners

who by definition lack consent

historically this has lead to major abuse
and not just by outlaw states like nazi germany

abuse of the helpless here is almost inevitable
and the honest among us know it

do we really trust the bush administration to protect prisoners
when they have shown such lack of concern for the rest of us

and an almost pathological aversion to regulation

remember the medicaid bill - they wont  even let the
government bargain prescription drug prices down

do we really trust bush and big pharma to experiment on these folk ethically

and i am not convinced by those who claim to want this because it will help
the prisoners health and welfare - spare me - more like the welfare of big pharma

and i am not convinced by those who claim to be concerned about
prisoners civil rights being violated if they are unable to volunteer

they dont have any other civil rights, why should they have this one

you want to be concerned about their civil rights, start with the
right to basic medical care - or maybe the right to vote

or the right not to be callously used as societys helpless guinea pigs
kinda like torture as policy, it doesnt pass the smell test

it stinks like rotting flesh

in struggle
rdoc

TUESDAY
raising the sun up in the morning

hello world, back from the delta

and caught up in that schoolhouse grind already
the semester has begun

home was deep as always, threw money on some family blazes
why is it getting older comes weighted w/more and more responsibility

been nice not having to make commentary on the world
nice taking a week or so off those responsibilities

though lord knows the world didnt take time off w/me

what would yall do w/o me to bring the sun up every morning
like shamans of old

ima little discouraged i believe with rootsblog
i read about blogs w/1000s of readers a day, i get about 50

im basically having a conversation w/myself up in here
but i must admit i enjoy the form

it allows me to act out my deepest fantasy
this vision i have of myself as historical

all i got to mack and trust the power of my mack
i do claim to be a mack daddy you know

in spite of my meagre readership

hopefully future generations will think more kindly of my efforts - but
sometime my faith get rocky and i wonder if that meagre readership mean something

and i look at that boy edward p jones
apparently he got another book out and its another good one

boy keep raising the bar while im spinning my wheels apparently
but i have to follow my passions you know

though sometimes it seems i

just talk talk talk and it doesnt seem to make a difference in the world
and thats what i want from this investment - to make a difference

wont have as much time for rootsblog once school starts
somethings got to give, and it wont be novel

speaking of frustration
had to rebuild my guardian bottletree in riverside park

most are hidden deep in the woods but this one is in plain view
on the riverbank - because i like neighborhood knowing its there

always appreciated nobody ever messed with it - and judging
from the beer bottles around it its become a gathering point of sorts

but this time somebody had broke all the bottles

the bottletree on the bank guards the city, the river and the hood
why would anybody want to let evil spirits in

hurt my hoodoo feelings something awful fierce,

took me a couple of days to get up the will (and bottles) to rebuild it -
a luta continua i suppose

considered leaving a curse on whoever touched my bottletree
but that aint my stylee, that was just frustration speaking

blessings are my thing

im outta here

in struggle
rickydoc flowers

of the delta clan flowers
and the line of o killens

white coups and the judgement of history: necon subversion and the line of o killens

FRIDAY

i can hear it now

politicizing the british bomb threat - only bush inc
can protect us, see we told you so - but the fact of the matter is

they have been as incompetent at homeland security
as they have been at hurricane security

and i notice lapdog lieberman is once again
parroting the company line

the more they push their little narrative
the more we got to push ours

yes, these are dangerous times and
slapdash neocon adventurism does not help

politicizing terror and using everything that happens to
push a neocon agenda whether it works or not does not help

they have taken our liberties and given us
incompetence in return - we can no longer afford

these bumblers,  we need a real team up
in here, folk who know what they doing

im gone, im delta bound

really, i got to go

its a long drive, but its like a meditation for me
been doing it for 30 years now

dropping down 81 to tenn and across I 40 to memphis
sunroof open, music blasting and pondering the ways of things

soon as i can i get over to the river
tend to my bottletrees

these days i tend to my nephews

theyve reached the age they need tending
and what hoodoo training i can lay on the sly

then i check in w/my daddy
always deep to see my own name on a grave

ask him how he doing
ask if he approves of how im conducting myself these days

i assume hes disappointed in me
i disapoint myself greatly

but my father
the wisest and greatest of men
my father understands

doing best i can

in love and struggle
rickydoc flowers

delta conjureman

THURSDAY

white coup: they say it couldnt happen here
but if it did how would you know

gotta go to the delta
family issues

but let me speak briefly on this conspiracy theory i ran across
the bush family/neocon white coup

their efforts to subvert america and conquer the middle east

three pieces
breathless one that says bush wants impose martial law
more convincing account of bush pushing israel to attack syria
and herschs newyorker piece on bush/cheney wanting to use tactical nukes on iran

in both cases the generals balked, israels on syria, ours on tactical nukes
general quoted in hersch:

“the system is starting to sense the end of the road, and they don’t want to be condemned by history. they want to be able to say, ‘we stood up.’ ” 

did america contract for this hooliganism

theory:
bush i set dynastic rule in play
bush 2 sees self as modern day alexander conquering middle east
bush 3 confounded by iraqi mess thats trapped bush 2

i am leery of conspiracy theories and will probably reject this one

a flaky conspiracy theory can be a diversion that leaves you
wandering in the wilderness

but you have to check them out
cause i hate not knowing whats really going on

hate making geopolitical analysis that later proves to be
naive and uninformed

i saw this great line somewhere this morning:
if you think you understand whats happening in lebanon you havent been properly briefed

hersch refers to iranian subversion by the revolutionary guards as a "white coup"
below the radar

bushs transgressive civil and human rights policies fit this description
they dont need to impose martial law, much too crude

subversion of this sort works much better in the shadows
if its done well, nobody notices until its too late

fact:
gop been trying to set up a one party state
been subverting fundamental american civilrights
would like to impose a theological governence on
the rest of us

fact:
have declared war without end
and losing it thru chickenhawk incompetence

call it what you like
i call it a threat

and if it werent for iraq

the american people would still be
letting bush get away w/murder

and fascism

call it what you like
i call it historical suicide

in struggle
rdoc

WEDNESDAY

 hello world, still out of it

was thinking about my sci fi just now
why i like sci fi like i do

because it breaks me out of my time based reality

because its informed speculation on human destiny and evolution

exploring alternate realities
the nature of the universe and its evolution
human transcendence

whatever

i want the endgame of rest for the weary
to go cosmic

take you dear reader to higher ground
put you in a transcendence state of mind

problem is doing that without being corny

transcendence generally make for corny literary
fiction but thats what i want - wanna go cosmic on you

go cosmic w/de magical and de literary sophistication
de tricksterman

wanna play with your head
your heart and your soul

so i gotta work it, gotta stone cold hoodoo it

oldschool hoodoo (according to webster): to hodooo: to hurt to harm
newschool (according to rickydoc): to hoodoo: to bring de magic down, to cause transcendence

my will be done

or my name aint
rickydoc conqueroo

WEDNESDAY

hello world

guess that collapse was more imminent than i thought
havent done a thing for two days now except lay in bed

not even reading trash scifi, just laying there

in this strange dreaming/daydreaming space, drifting in and out
and whats funny is that mostly im day/dreaming that im working

and i cant even begrudge it, i knew it was coming,
all i can do is lay there until i can function again

ive gotten some good ideas laying there so its not deadtime
in fact about to go the sacred desk now, see if i got a page or two in me

but i dont expect much, im on fumes now

until i can take a week or two off ima be
working on fumes - doing best i can

a week off is just not in the cards right now

this jpeg is a john o killens ink by tom feelings
tom sent it to me right before he died

babajohn as a long distance runner/warrior
what i call the longgame

i was so touched by the gesture, a tom feelings original
and an acknowledgment of my role as johns protegee

tom must have been clearing out his stock
in preparation for his impending graduation

this came right after i was left out of a harlem writers guild anthology in spite of the fact that i was once exec dir of the harlem writers guild

they tried to excommunicate me, jive turkeys cant excommunicate me
im the one keeping johns legacy alive - i know it, they know it

it meant so much to me to see
that tom knew it too

hanging tough
rickydoc trickmaster

wouldbe prophet of
the hoodoo way

newschool hoodoo and old: israel takes hostages: we killing 50 lebanese a day till the world gives us what we want

SUNDAY
clocking pages lord, yesterday was a good day
worked until i collapsed and my forehead hit the keyboard

thats the way i like it when im in the zone

jive turkeys indeed

interesting in light of that recent dog and pony
show renewing the voting rights act

that blackwell in ohio is at it again

running for gov and repressing voters
for the ohio republican party

part of a slew of voter repression
measures across the republican domain

in each case justified by a concern they say
for voter fraud

so they come up with all these programs
designed to wink wink keep poor folk from registering
traditionally been targeted as easy pickings

blackwell and gop point out ohio voter drive that registered
somebody called himself jive turkey

though jive turkey did not show up at the polls they
use this to justify voter fraud measures

of 9 million ohio votes in 2002 and 2004
only 4 were fradaulent

but they prefer redmeat to facts

they are election stealers
the lowest of the low

the age of bush has been a disaster
it will take generations to fix his messes

if they was to play fair he would have long since been gone
but they aint played fair in a long time

wake up america, its showtime

im pretty sure but not certain that blackwell is a colored man of some sort
but its clear and without a doubt that he is a jive turkey

in struggle
rdoc

rolling the dice in the middle east: part III

update on middleeast strategics

doesnt look good
primary actors just fanning the flames

bush administration disappointed in israel
thought you could take care of that partner

neither one of them expected hezbollah to put up a decent fight
now israel trying to regain its rep for invincibility

us/israel deflect international pressure
with fake un resolution process which
giving israel everything and lebanon nothing
except another israeli occupation, direct
or by proxy

this is a nonstarter
the killing will continue
as is intended

it is clear

bush and israel have decided once
again to roll the dice

an eerie replay of neocon delusion in iraq
youd think israel would know better

will france sign up as proxy cannon fodder
can israel afford to lose myth of invincibility

will their mortal insecurity cause them
to keep raising the stakes

this self destructive
cycle that can only end badly

consider a paradigm shift

i suppose you can always
as bush call it, stay the course

but only sincere generosity toward the palestinians
will address this condition

if the new killing field is a 
a bush/israel production w/supporting roles by hezbollah et al

how long before this act
plays on broadway

SATURDAY

let the force be w/you

this novel is killing me, i remember that last
scene in amadeus, where mozart is working himself to death

and that scene riveted me because i recognized it
as something im capable of doing in the final stages of a woodshed push

i drive body (mind and soul) till it collapses, then i rest just enuf to be
able to stand up again but im feeling impending breakdown

cause you know when youve
crossed the line and burning your seed corn

ima have to come up off it soon
spend a week or so getting right with my body mind and soul again

when i finish this novel ima just lay there for a month
reading trash scifi

aint answering phones, emails, nothing

reading sci fi is my cool out reading, like other folk watch tv i read scifi
and im almost shamed to tell you how much of my vision ive gotten from sci fi novels

got my focus on being a prophet  from dune
got my focus on the longgame from the book of man
got my focus on being a star traveling race from a deepness in the sky
got my focus on human transcendence from aristos

wonder where i got my destinywork concept from

most of these are works of my youth
picked up dune a couple years ago and it was unreadable

got racial responsibility from the destruction of black civilization
i remember bicycling down jamaica ave in queens

nickel and dime retail street and thinking o my poor people
and started crying, tears trickling from my eyes and making my vision fuzzy

ithe craft of power turned me into a player
that and a book called taking state power 

the iching and the sacred tarot by the brotherhood of light
deeply influenced my spiritualwork

an elementary school reading of and then we heard the thunder
and the cotillion by john o killens made me want to be a writer in the first place

when i was a kid you could count the known black writers on one hand

more recent literary influences: beloved, mamaday, the healing, cattekilling,

craftwise: one hundred years of solitude and texaco, glass bead game

special hoodoo mention:  ishmael reeds mumbo jumbo and conjure

my particlar brand of hoodoo
primary mission taking care of the tribal soul
shaping human destiny

the licks that make me different from every other hoodoo on the planet

fortunately hoodoo has always been an eclectic system
shaped to the peculiarities of the practitioner

any method, any time

is what hyatt called it, the propensity of hoodoo to break the rules of magic

with a patchwork quilt of procedure in search of what works - a refusal to be restricted by rules and traditions

a bastard tradition like the african american culture that sustains it

colleague of mine, djenra windwalker, say its new hoodoo and old hoodoo

say old hoodoo is what folk told the anthros and ethnos
and what most folk be doing is old hoodoo

stuck like folk who think the blues stopped w/muddy waters

while the culture constantly generating new licks they know nothing of
windwalkers position is let them have old hoodoo while we move on

but i cant do that, cant leave our sacred tradition laying by the side of the road

windwalker say i be telling secrets
and i agree the core should be withheld, it is after all an occult tradition

train the wrong person and next thing you know they have stripped it
of its cultural significance and marketing pablum

warmed over wicca

instead of the dance of discovery and years of training
they train anybody who pay them

one list im on started talking about whether a new orleans botonica was in the ghetto
the moderator of the list start talking about good a business location the ghetto was

because of how gullible 'those people' are and how he tricked one of them out of 1000s
of dollars and even after the trick was exposed they still believed in him

the very kind of folk i protect the community against
i cannot abide a thief of souls

i train somebody only after a long exploratory dance
and i hate to say this cause im already considered racist in some hoodoo circles
but if they not black they have to work harder at it

cause training generations in the care of the tribal soul
is my primary mission, both literary and hoodoo

generic i focus on destinywork

but my heart is about saving the black race
training its shamans, literary and magical

southern black bougie stylee
ima race man, its in the blood

i was brought up to save the race
like my mama and my daddy before me

dont know what new hoodoo is
but i know what it is not

it is not what folk where doing 100 years ago
or even now - poppa got a brand new bag

determined to shape the hoodoo future as i see fit
got to shape the public perception of it and walk the line

between telling secrets and holding them

okay, so much for all that, dont know where all this came from
windwalker probably thinks ive told too much as is

windwalker dont slide no slack

sat down to comment on maddog republicans
going all out for their boy joe

focus flowers focus:

delay and coulter and cheney and other repub attack dogs
have started a campaign to rescue joe lieberman

and failing that - convince him to forget running as an independent
and come on over to the dark side joe, where you belong

darth lieberman: republican senator from connecticut

may the force be w/you
rdoc

FRIDAY

not happy w/my manuscript, im discouraged and just going thru the motions now
dont know what else to do w/my life - making books is all i know to do

i have never understood people who abandon novels, i aint never abandoned a major project
i do however understand why hemingway put a gun in his mouth - if i couldnt do id rather die

mission accomplished: the west is losing this war, within and without

the bush admins democracy in the middle east project
is a shambles

civil war in iraq got folk remembering the days of saddam fondly
all out war in lebanon and gaza and nato taking casualties in afghanistan

iran on a political roll and americas middleast allies
afraid to identify w/george bushs policies

the world more afraid of american policies than jihadi ones
and now israel trying to find some idiots to be their proxy shock troops in lebanon

so the us and isreal holding the world hostage
strategically killing innocents till they get their way

o its just a big mess

democracy in middle east never was a real project
it was a clumsy pr rationale to justify invasion of iraq
one of a string of them, musical chairs, okay this one works

the american people will buy this one if we package it right

bush admin governing philsophy, packaging
frist calles minimum wage/estate tax bill the family prosperity act

bush and israel share myopic fascination with military deterrence
in a political war

the west is losing this war
which is unfortunate

problematic as the west can be
i man do not want to live in an islamic world

neither do i want to live in the world
our own fundamentalist dream

i man aint submitting to no body no god no thing
i man free

rdoc

THURSDAY

closing acts: shock and awe redux: part I

israel is now concerned that hezbollah is perceived
in the arab street as the winner of this war

israel is now looking for a closing act that will change this perception
by quote unquote 'searing the hearts and minds' of its enemies

as if declaring a policy of using civilians as hostages wasnt enuf
to sear the hearts and minds of its friends

in struggle
rdoc

redux: part II
6:58 in the morning: listening to dinah washington today
im in a dinah washington state of mind

did that piece above earlier this morning

started thinking about how ive moved from cautious
chiding of israel to full throated condemnation

and wondered if im being fair
then this morning im reading in the wash post
about israeli helicopters rocketing a bedouin family tent
in an onion field and the discrepancy

between the im a victim here mythwork 
and the ruthless reality just too blatant to ignore

israel has decided to kill innocents
as part of its strategic posture

and all that can be said in israels defense does not mitigate
the horror of that decision

i like to think of myself as historical but in truth
i dont have much power in the world (if any)

what little power i do have comes from my
ability to wield words of power

the word as instrument
to speak truth to the people

no matter how uncomfortable or inconvenient
no matter anybody listening or not

it is my geas,
my magic depends on it

as a hoodoo intellectual
attempting to alleviate the
human condition whenever i can

i am drawn to the crossroads moments
where destiny lies in the moment

with these words i try to

awaken the sleeper
protect the weak and give
guidance to the strong

i trust my sense of the significant

the middle east has become a crossroads moment in human destiny
and that means i claim it, this board belongs to me

this board belong to the conqueroo

it distress me to call israel out
but you just wrong, you so wrong it hurts

and the more i speak on it the less
sugarcoating its gon get

word by rickydoc trickmaster
woutdbe prophet of the hoodoo way

WEDNESDAY

its the president, stupid

a piece about presidents bushs cluelessness
dont want to call him stupid, that degrades the dialogue

lets call him clueless, its like he doesnt know whats
going on - and thats so dangerous in these dangerous times

its like he thinks in slogans and he gets programmed for
one whole week with that week slogans and it doesnt matter

what happens, for that week he responds to all things w/his little
weekly stock of slogans

each sunday his handlers program his new stock

it would be funny if it werent
so dangerous