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

Comments

["I don't think they like your real."]

Africans and their decendants have gross disfavor::::
There have been 14 species of large animals capable of domestication in the history of mankind. 13 were from Europe, Asia and northern Africa but none from the sub-Saharan African continent.
Africans suffered failed attempts to domesticate the elephant and zebra, the latter being an animal that had the utmost importance for it's applicability in transformation from a hunting/gathering to agrarian-based civilization.

They refuse to address black disfavor on a macro level. The Counsel/Management Team/ruling species (the gods) abuse black people so hard, from east African drought/famine to AIDS in Africa to female genital mutiliation, the crack epiemic and gang membership, black-on-black violence to mass incarceration of their young. They refuse to address the issue of the prison industrial complex and its wholesale warehousing of young black men.

Prior to civil rights blacks had their own press. Now some of their most successful businesses are ones that feed off the people, speading social poison and contibuting to the same value-distorting superficiality that they experience in the media, accomplished by creating a perception of social value in a $500 hair style.

They've employed so many tactics to hurt black people. Never doubt your gross disfavor.
- Misogyny
- Female genital mutilation
- Materialism/superficiality
- Masculinization of women
- Gang violence.
- They put the LAForum/Hollywood Park in Inglewood for a reason and employ tactics like this throughout the country.
- There is a high frequency of liquor stores throughout inner-city neighborhoods. Also, in white neighborhoods drugs are relegated to high schools and degenerate circles. In the inner city drugs are readily available on the street FOR A REASON:::so every adult can have availability to drugs.
- The gods originally used jazz to create a self-perception of "cool" and "hip" in the black community and the over-confidence has grown.
- "Black power" envoked the anger of the gods. The gods have little tolerance for disfavored people which explains the sorry state of black people post-civil rights. They have utilized clones throughout human history. Don't let them disceive you with that tactic:::The black community is in disarray, the young are segmented and divided and too many respectable blacks are dumped into worshiping Jesus as a diety. Black people in the United States and in the motherland have disturbing problems.
When the grossly disfavored are not humble it incurs the wrath of the gods, as blacks have experienced in the last few decades with the crack epidemic and gang violence/drive-by shootings.
Know modesty and humility.

They sent young blacks clues NOT to fall prey to this materialistic culture of hip-hop::::
-$200 hockey jersey hanging in your closet you don't wear anymore::Deceived into patronizing a sport that is almost completely devoid of black people.
-You didn't learn from that lesson and you bought a $5000 grill. You celebrate that it makes you look like monsters.
-You regularly drop up to $500 on hair styling
-The gods punish you with abject materialism:::::they created a perceived value in replacing items of clothing as soon as they get even a smudge of dirt on them.
-You display pride in your materialism by leaving the price tags on your hats. You are the butt of jokes - you look like Minnie Pearl from Hee-Haw!!!! She may be their source for this idea.
-You surround yourselves with products from professional sports teams, a male-dominated activity, and consider gawdy jewelry stylish because the gods use their media to sell it. Much like hockey I doubt there are many black people behind the scenes throughout the media.

Hip hop is a cancer on the people.
I understand people point to decades past and claim "music of the youth" but the truth is the gods also used music from those eras to hurt the youthl:::::classic rock was DESIGNED SPECIFICALLY TO HURT (WHITE) PEOPLE!!!! And it did hurt many many disfavored. Just as hip hop is doing.
Popular music is bad for everybody.
Hip hop is particularly bad for it promotes specific anti-social behavior:::::
1. Misogyny - The misogonistic lyrics hurts people very badly for women are the favored gender, the decent among us. African female genital mutilation illustrates a legacy of misogyny.
As the women go so goes society.
Mysogyny has been hurting black America VERY BADLY for decades now.
2. Masculinizes the women - cursing, casual sex, quick to anger, violent.
3. Makes violence socially acceptable.
Understand hip hop is something they inflict ON YOU!!! They direct the media to plant the seed which is used to distort your value system. Black people have been suffering from this same tactic for decades now.
Understand humility and modesty. Try to see the big picture:::::Black people's lack of humility is severely punished by the gods, as are all grossly disfavored who subscribe to this misperception of empowerment.
The gods are antient and powerful and angry and they love to hurt disfavored people who think they are great. Disfavored blacks have been misled into thinking they are great instead of recognizing their gross disfavor. Now they are corrupted and are doing things that hurt themselves and their community very badly.

You have a problem with the word "nigger". It's imperitive that you get over it.
The word "nigger" is a tool the gods use to incite black people, and the result gives them a detrimental sense of empowerment, one that contributes to their disfavor.
The gods continue to utilize this tool strategically from time to time as they integrate it into incidents they decide to publicize.

They will strategically pick and chose incidents to publicize. For example they chose to publicize the shooting in New York in 2006 because it is a situation they could use/would act as an inciter.
The 2006 incendet in Oakland where the woman threw her children off a balcony was NOT an inciting incident. Actually it is a issue that might compel some to seek which perhaps may result in progress, so we didn't hear of it after the initial story.
The don't want black people finding the path.

This message illustrating the path may be the disfavored's last clue. All clues before have been more covert but this one is quite obvious indeed, which says time is running out.