rootwork the rootsblog: a cyberhoodoo webspace

mganga maua: wouldbe prophet of the hoodoo way

hello world
and all its generations

im grooving eric wainaina twende twende, a downtown
nairobi find

i ask the clerk who would appeal to a man what like the blues
she came thru

worked on the prophetic thread in rest for the weary on the
way home - the planetime, airport layovers, etc

got to figure out how to dramatize his prophetic mode
how lack of facetime w/god cause him to wonder about his prophetic credibily

want to run some riffs on god the universe/gods of humanity

on god the universes neutrality - i believe we on our own
you align yourself as much as possible w/the natural laws

you hope for the best you prepare for the worst

the universes equilibrium sometimes require
that planets die and shit happens

riff conjuration as finessing reality: bending it to your will
magic as making real that which was not - conjuration as godwork

okay, thats what i want the prophetic thread to manifest

also needs to manifest his cultural strategies of empowerment
of taking care of the tribal soul in the 21st century - his longgame

what i got to work with is an aspirant hoodoo prophet who
calls himself using magical mythwork to shape future realities

operates spiritworld as hoodoo prophet but afraid to publicaly declare himself so
does not want to be buked and scorned and prefers shadow to the spotlight

meets a woman he tries to impress by stepping up and going for the gold
getting old and feeling if not now when - gets buked and scorned

got a metaphysic attitude towards god: interesting phenomena
but lets not get carried away

adjust yourself to current understanding of god/the natural laws
and hope for the best - but that blind faith thing, that dont move him

the high magicians question: whats in it for me

my boy jubilation tucept highjohn, highmagician and wouldbe
prophet of the hoodoo way

is concerned that he has to his knowledge never actually
heard from god - which strike him as problematic for a wouldbe prophet

everything else he got - he got the vision, he got the strategy
he got the skilzs, the charisma, the fire in the belly, he got the power

but he aint got god

what kind of prophet is this
that aint a prophet thats a hustler

now if you think, as a good metaphysician should

that everything in existence is a manifestation of god the universe
well then you always getting messages from god

but actually communicate with god?

well surely thats an experience of a different and
recognizable magnitude

and how does one know if its actually god or
just your magical imagination running away w/you

again

youve studied the formative dynamics of various religions
you know how this god thing works in the human condition

blind faith and understanding dont mix well

you see what im saying - this might be esoteric to you
but for a wouldbe prophet & novelist thereof this is critical speculation

so in rest i got legba and oshun vying for his prophetic services
(love and power/trickeration)

i got him in contention w/traditionalists in hoodoo and various african systems
dancing on the cutting edge craftwise he loses professional standing and perplexes fanbase

basically he in contention w/everybody as he tries to bend reality to his will
most fundamentally a high magician: a hoodoo sorceror aspiring to prophecy

sorcerors and prophets use the same skilz
just one works for self and clients, the other for god

tribe and all humanity
folk think prophecy about foretelling the future

when its more about connecting social behavior w/destinic consequence
suggesting cultural strategies to finesse generational challenges

based on the deceptively simply claim god told me to

once prophetic authority is attributed by a population
the prophet is exempted from tribal constraint and given sayso

it is expected that you will forge new ground
build new paths of empowerment and illumination

you are allowed and expected to speak truths
folk beholding to various systems cannot

you are given the
propehtic dispensation

it takes awhile to establish prophetic authority, you got
to have the vision, the prophetic voice/skilzs, the charisma

got to have the power  (cant fake the power)
then you operate in the prophetic mode no matter what reality say

(conduct yourself as you aspire to be and you shall - this is
the essence of conjuration)

you create sacred texts designed to evolve with time, the prophets
true instrument - texts that will speak to all the generations

(cast your vision young hoodoo, as far as you can see - determine
the challenges the tribe will face - prepare the tribal soul to meet them)

you try in your life to exemplify the value of your practice -
you give good, timely strategic and spiritual advice

no matter what you are
consistent in this

over the years the few folk that do listen to you prosper
they are empowered, illuminated, healthy wealthy and wise

aligned with god the universe/god within
effective in the world/at peace within

you have provided a way

hopefully your contribution feeds the tribal soul
and enhances the human condition

hopefully at some point before you die
(or after if necessary - if its gotta be that way)

you are given prophetic dispensation by the culture
to say the unsayable - your voice/your words valued

to future generations unto eternity
visions they live by - dream by

mythmaker
master of the longgame

so the question is how do i dramatize that in rest for the weary
ive been focused on other components of storyline

prophetic thread just narrative placeholders now

but while trying to figure how best to use all the forced time of
intercontinental travel - planetime, airport layovers, etc
i decided to work prophetic thread and make it viable narration

have to have his failures as a wouldbe prophet break him, this failure
to have a more personal relationship with god has some potential

to move toward some subtle godsoul moment
for both highjohn and reader

without dying of literary corn
so this what i got to work with:

i got legba and oshun in contention for his services
i got him in contention with various cultural, spiritual and political traditionalists
i got him leaving his fanbase perplexed when he moves into prophetic mode
i got him feeling frustrated, buked, scorned and ignored
i got his conjurations of future realities through hoodoo mythwork
sorceric and prophetic mode actions and stories as storyteller

directed ponderings like current effort
(some of these others might strike you as familiar)

all within context of futurescenarios of an academic couple on an academic planet in far future
studying influence of old earth deltamyth on various stellar civilizations and ideologies

got to weave all that into a dynamic narrative mix
that provides reader w/subtle godmoment (among other things)

what i did was go through manuscript adding raw passages of the
prophetic dynamic wherever i saw a spot the manuscript could take one
- a worse mess of narrative porridge you never saw

but its the first step, just carve out raw narrative real estate
then go through trying to make them work - work it work it work it

ima spend this strange just got off the plane day in that zone,
squeeze monday too maybe, maybe one more week before i start
focusing on schoolhouse - cursed schoolhouse calling me

tick tock tick tock

working that would be a good end of year closeout
a sense of victory i didnt getting slogging thru passage on lamu

that was narrative/scene slogwork,.detailwork - this would be concept work
adding structural/literary/metaphorical layers - highwire stuff - this what i call fun

work that into a dynamic mix viable enough to be a true and rich narrative thread
and i will feel good about the year

i suspect this post too self referntial, too esoteric to be a viable post - i lose readers
when i get self referential and/or esoteric but this whats gon be on my head this week
- trying to work this god thing

god is difficult to do well in fiction,
the corn factor is fearsome and almost inevitable

anxious about this one, important i get this one right
what if i work it hard as i can and it still comes up short

anxieties like this pretty consistent and would be crippling if i let them but i dont,
i just accept them for what they are and keep on pushing no matter what

take an act of god to stop this show

i remember one time im crunching an end of year deadline
and i had it in my sights and i was deep in the zone and i knew wasnt
nothing stopping me from making that deadline

as part of that zonepush, i was working out heavy

then boom my gut popped and i had a hernia and the doctors told me
i had to get cut right away or it would pinch and there went my deadline

thats when i realized that sheer determination wasnt always sufficient
that there are forces out there greater than my will

as a young lion/sorceror this was a revelation to me
i thought i was exempt from the rules govern regular humans

as a prophetic lion in winter it no longer is
id like to get right with the god thing

bummer is that this adds months (if not years) to an already indeterminable project
but it is so integral to the novels vision i can not deny it time/attention

but i will be so glad when i get to point where this novel stops growing
where im just dotting Is and croossing Ts

i will never finish this novel if it keeps evolving
at some point its got to stabilize

god help me it does

when you gon give me a break partner

a service pin or something, im
really tired, im weary in my soul tired

bout 20 more years of this
and ima be ready to quit

hanging tough
rickydoc trickmaster

wouldbe prophet
of the hoodoo way

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

gunga tom: ray nagin and the selling of new orleans: $150,000 a pop

hello world

well gang, i suspect this wont be news to you

but ray nagin has sold us out

i got the word from the horses mouth

a participant in a recent meeting w/nagin

in which he laid out his plans for what he calls

bringing

new orleans

into the 21^st century

seems he envisions a

new orleans

w/o poor people

and instead of developing a fund to help them rebuild

has come up with a plan to offer them $150,000

to give up all rights of return and sign off their property

that he plans to not rebuild their areas until its too late

plans to put it off until they are rooted elsewhere

put if off until they lose hope

seem nagin has this vision of neworleans as an affluent

weekend tourist spot - neworleansland

with just enough poor folk to provide services

and a little bit of local color

i knew something was wrong cause so much of

new orleans

still laying fallow

serious effort would have seen some progress

what really makes me feel bad is that the community

decided to ignore its reservations about him

and voted him back in

would have done better w/mitch landrieu

between nagin and bush it doesnt look good, team

doesnt look good at all

new orleans

struggle alert: mount up yall: its showtime

my source tell me nagin really think he doing a good thing

think he ‘taking

new orleans

into the 21^st century

make me wonder about my own understanding

of what im doing in my own field of struggle

im big on ‘taking the black community into the 21^st century’

been called a handkerchief uncle tom for it too

makes me wonder if i too am walking blind

leading my people over a cliff

make me strive to be more aware of my own contradictions

my source say

new orleans

will never be

what it was before, say we have to face that

(let me make a plea here for authoritative sources of inside information,

yall need to keep the old hoodooman informed – god i love secrets)

my source say that there will be winners and losers

and right now the black community are the losers

say thats inevitable

say the question is how can we mitigate that loss

how can we finesse the hammer

my question as a delta hoodooman:

how do we retain

new orleans

status as a epicenter

of afrospiritual culture in

america

the blues, delta spiritwork, about turning adversity

into strength,  how are we gon bluework this one, gang

messed around and let the wolf into the henhouse

and you know we should have known better

nagin came in as a tool of

new orleans

fat cats

and now hes proving his worth

the trick got laid when new

orleans

fat cats

tried to get rid of him and run the place straightup

instead of through their colored cut out

guess he convinced them they dont have to

go through all that trouble – got it under control, boss

my mentor, john o killens used to say uncle tom

wasnt really as bad as folk make him out to be

babajohn say uncle tom was conceived as a hero

and has been maligned by history

was reading recently how a popular minstrel entertainment of the

period called uncle tom shows fixed that stereotype in popular culture

babajohn used to say gunga din was a better example of

race traitors being a better white man than the original

the old rootdoctor suggest a new name for race traitor

gunga tom - or even better - gunga nagin

in struggle

rickydoc trickmaster

wouldbe prophet

of the hoodoo way

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

de geas of rickydoc: i would you be a starfaring people

SUNDAY

hello world, im in a strange space right now
got my hoodoo on

its like im on the borderline, breakthrough
or breakdown

its the end of the year
semester ended w/a whimper

i ran out of steam

now trying to refocus into end of year noveltime
use the desperation to get a draft done, always the drafts

3 new threads need to be worked in:

narrative raps for staggerlee character
soultaker dynamic for jubilation highjohn
ida as replacement for slaveowners dead daughter

be nice to rough those into the manuscript before i leave
so i can print out a working copy to take w/me to kenya

i got to be ruthlessly focused on getting novelwork done
while im in kenya - cannot afford to waste end of year energy

a good time to do so, keep me focused
in literary gatherings i am often treated as a footnote

hoodoo mode, i am master here - lowprofile humility - the
observer, i see and am not seen - the conqueror in the cut

feed the mythology
and the gravitas

good novelwork will feed me - make me feel good

bob photo, look like some fantasy city built into the side of the mountain

those are hoodoos he told me, ive read about them, natural formations

fitting as i consider my identity as a hoodooman

bored w/folk magic
coin of the realm in hoodoo trade

tired of being on a prophetic limb,
begging and cajoling - 21st century yall, 

windwalker way

walking my own path
perfect my lick

manifest my vision in rest for the weary

iching say the superior personality manifest
in cycles of engagement and withdrawal

gamemaster engagement in the arena
and withdrawal for reflection and renewal

i suspect im in a period of reflection and renewal
a high productivity mode - this the groove til this novel done

ima desperate man

hangingtough
rdoc

WEDNESDAY

bionic negroes

police shooting up blackfolk all over these days
must be a new directive out or something

police in newyork city recently shot 3 unarmed
young brothers coming from a bachelors party

killing the groom on his wedding day with a barrage of 50 shots

in violation of department rules

undercover cops followed them from the bachelor party club to their car
and when they started to drive off approached them w/guns drawn

the young brothers that survived say they thought undercover cops were criminals
and when they hit the unmarked cop car trying to escape

the cops shot them 50 times

the cops say they thought the brothers had a gun and when no gun was found
the cops say the one with the gun musta leaped out of the car and ran away

the police been rousting and arresting folk who know the young brothers
in an attempt to scare up the runaway gunman

some wag said that must have been a bionic brother
leap out the car and outrun 50 bullets

go figure . . .

TUESDAY

o ye generations

bushs denial has moved from neurotic to psychotic
like nero or something, fiddling while the world burns

the one thing bush and i agree on though
space is the place

i dont go into my space thing too deep (except in rest for the weary)
because i dont want folk calling me a space cadet

space ranger maybe but never a cadet

i must admit i am tickled to read that nasa is planning
an outpost on the moon by 2024

a way station for further leaps
into the solar system(s)

now thats what im talking about
(and one of the reasons i love scifi)

i believe space is humanitys destiny
and i would like to get busy

one planet is not enough - accidents happen

we have to spread out
increase the odds of survival as a species

i want blackfolk and black culture
to be the cutting edge of that

i want to spread our generations
amongst the stars

i would black culture survive and evolve
an illuminated way

one of the definitive cultures
of humanitys future

strong enough
illuminated enough that all others aspire to it

and capable of carrying humanitys destiny among the stars

guiding humanity unto its ever greater self
unto eternity

i would blackfolk be at the forefront
of space exploration and colonization

i would blackfolk be a starfaring people

this is my vision
this is what i see

so say rickydoc
so shall it be

literary hoodoo and the sacred text: magic and magical realism in african american literature

MONDAY

done deal
magicalrrealism, newren workshop, radical activism
it was a busy weekend

just did radical activism presentation

nice crowd special moment - reminds me of a reading i once did
for FDCC at the ethical culture center in manhattan

they have this quote over the podium that really moved me
where the people meet to seek the highest that place is holyground

probably part of my holyground thing in rest for the weary
and thats what ive felt with these three engagements

african voices magical realism, newren workshop and
the su radical activist presentations

i enjoyed them all
i bitch and moan about these things taking up my time

but then its so  revitalizing to be engaged
with folk on issues that are dear to me

should have known african voices would be a family affair
saw old friends/colleagues and met some new ones

kudos to carolyn butts and crew for building a literary institution

also found out the title to bill fordes book
'death of an american capitalist'

had googled bill and didnt get but that one hit
and thats a travesty

bill was one of my mentors, we fell out behind harlem writers guild business
but still he was one of my 3 primary mentors,- john killens, fred hudson, bill forde

no way ima let bill forde fall by the historical wayside
he gave too much to the struggle for me to allow that

this the magical realism presentation i did for african voices
didnt get a chance to give it because it turned out to be a dialogue thing

nice to be able to park it here on rootsblog
got to do that mag thing with rootwork.com

some place where i can park other folks visions
a online meeting ground

where folk meet to seek the highest

im outta here
hangtough yall

rdoc

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

magic and magical realism in afroam literature

i am flowers of the delta clan flowers and the line of o killens

it pleased me to be asked to participate on this panel
by african voices, a literary institution i greatly admire

and to speak on speculative literature
which means a lot to me on a lot of levels

my own work is a peculiar magical realism
and my current novel, rest for the weary, even more so,

but my love for the speculative that goes beyond that
i also love scifi and fantasy - lit is what i do, scifi is what i read for fun

ive gotten some of my best literary licks from speculative work
my fascination with prophets and magicians, mythwork, holygrounds and the destiny
of all humanity come straight from scifi

what i like about speculative is that it breaks me free of reality
it is a manifestation of the magical function of literarature

speculative work gives you the freedom to dream
culturally it performs the same function

according to theophus smith in conjuring culture
african americans are a magical people for whom magical
interpretations of reality are still viable

that ability to build alternative realities
to envision new realities in which we are empowered

is a survival skill

speculative works allow african american culture to be magical
they allow african american culture to envision alternative realities
other than the one in which we are the despised of the earth

to envision alternative futures for the destiny of all humanity
to function as guide and guardian – you who walked first on two feet

the definition of speculative work is work that plays with reality, work that conjures
which is to an extent what all literature does

i consider myself a mythmaker
i make myth and myth makes tomorrow
as i define so shall it be

and the vehicles of my myths are my works
the more speculative the better

envisioning new realities, alternative realities
is what magical realism does

the act of magic is forcing reality to bend to your will
making real that which was not

magic plays with reality in the same way fiction does
you create the vision then you invest your power in it until its real in the world
samesame visionaries

magic empowers

magical realism allows me to break free of what is
and contemplate what could be

what gayle jones in the healing calls a spirit of imaginative wonder

the diff between magical realism and scif/fantasy
is that magical realism has to have the option of being real

the magical approach to life is when you can look at it one way and its scientific reality
look at it another way and it just might be magic

as toni does in beloved when beloved could easily be the returned ghost toni plays her to be
or for those who prefer rational explanation she could just as easily be the woman held captive in the cellar

i write magical realism
because i like the freedom and i like magic
and i like the enduring connection to reality
the maybe so possibility

i call what i do literary hoodoo
manifesting hoodoo through my work

my generation of writers was greatly influenced
by ishmael reed, mumbo jumbo changed so many
of us from good christians to literary magicians

using nommo: the power of the word as magic
the power to change reality

in particular through literature
one of the primary ideological powers

folk think of marquez and the latins when they think of magical realism
but youve got so many brands of magical realism
different types manifest in different literary cultures

the magical realism of rushdie is different from marguez or calvino
and different from that of toni morrison or john edgar wideman

the african american brand of magical realism is shaped by the griotic
and the hoodoo schools of african american literature

in the literary hoodoo school of afroam literature.
mystically inclined writers attempt to manifest hoodoo, the indigenous african american spiritual tradition, in their works and lives

it was chesnutt with the conjure womans tales first start systematically using hoodoo as literary ground,
zora neale that most facilitated hoodoo's evolution from a folk tradition to a literary one and

ishmael "just because you cant see d stones dont mean im not building" reed transformed hoodoo
from a magical system to a functioning 20th century afrospiritual ideology

literary hoodoo is literature as conjuration.
the artist as shaman - every book a spell, every draft a divination.

nommo: to state something so well that it makes it so
literary mythmakers, as i define so shall it be.

for instance, marcus garvey was highly influenced by ethiopia unbound by casely hayford, from which he took, among others, the phrase, one god! one aim! one destiny! in turn marcus garvey influenced thousands and thousands of blackfolk, thereby influencing the historical dynamics of his times and our destiny for the foreseeable future.

this happens to some degree everytime a reader (or even better another artist/intellectual) is touched by your work. literature opens minds and passes on ideas. literature allows folk to see themselves and their lives in a new perspective and opens audiences to new possibilities. what julie dash calls "rupturing their reality."

magical realism serves that african american hunger for alternative realities

mystically inclined black writers and intellectuals found affinity for hoodoo not only because it allows us to utilize a magical/metaphysical tradition buried deep in the black psyche and worldview but because it also allows us to perform the function of tribal shaman in a contemporary manifestation.

since humanities earliest days the sorceror shaman medicineworker witchdoctor prophet has been a tribal resource in times of trouble.  the shaman functions as an agent of the community, whether trying to bring rain, confound the tribe's enemies (within & without), or guide the tribe's future

or as in gloria naylors wrote in her meditation on the working of hands in mama day:  "the island got spit out from the mouth of god, and when it fell to the earth it brought along an army of stars. he tried to reach down and scoop them back up, and found himself shaking hands with the greatest conjure woman on earth. 'leave 'em here lord,' she said, 'i aint got nothing but these poor black hands to guide my people, but i can lead on with light.'"

gayl jones calls her redemption novel the healing.  the rather prosaic 3 line blueswork of corrigedora become the mature bluesreps of the healing, dialogue as narration, a toldtale of incantatory ambiguity.  "she really do some powerful healing, though. and she aint a root doctor neither. she don't need no root to heal. some people say that that is a superior form of healing when you don't need no root to heal. when you just healing people by knowing that they is healed."

the other contributing trope of african american magical realism is the griotic

there are those of us in afroam lit who feel that we are heirs to two literary traditions, the western written tradition and the african(/american) oral tradition and hope in the fusion to contribute to the evolution of both.

consciously griotic, africanamerican literature is passionately concerned with cultural custodianship.

as the voice of a culture that has since its inception felt itself under mortal siege, african american literature is fundamentally shamanistic and vitally concerned with communal health and empowerment

those of us who consider ourselves trained cultural custodians and masters of nommo, have consciously decided to contribute our lifeworks to the viability of that culture and to defend it against those who would destroy or cripple it. within or without.

its most revered figures have all been culturally engaged. creating the visions without which the people shall perish and serving in its mythic heart its ageold griotic function of keeping the culture alive and viable

one cares for the tribal soul by monitoring it through its cultural products, contributing what it needs to balance out its weaknesses and emphasize its strengths. minimizing the dysfunctional components and emphasizing the transformational. the battles over gangster rap and mercenary literature are battles for the control of cultural traits. of our destiny.

our fa

our understanding is that strong works contribute to a strong culture. that strong works are healing spells and committed writers are a manifestation of the african american survival instinct.

shield and spear.

august wilson recounts what he considers his moment of artistic revelation, when in the fall of 1965 he put on an old 78 rpm, nobody in town can bake a sweet jellyroll like mine by bessie smith and says it was a "resurrection and a redemption", says the "universe stuttered and everything fell into a new place," says it was "the beginning of my consciousness that i was representative of a culture and the carrier of some very valuable antecedents . . . i saw the blues as a cultural response of a nonliterate people whose history and culture were rooted in the oral tradition. the response was to a world that was not of their making, in which the idea of themselves as a people of imminent worth that belied their recent history was constantly assaulted. it was a world that did not recognize their gods, their manners, their mores. it despised their ethos and refused to even recognize humanity. in such an environment the blues was a flag bearer of definition . . . . a spiritual conduit that gave spontaneous expression to the spirit that was locked in combat and devising new strategies for engaging life and enlarging itself. it was a true and articulate literature that was in the forefront of the development of both character and consciousness. i turned my ear, my heart and whatever analytical tools i possessed to embrace this world. i elevated it, rightly or wrongly, to biblical status."

for this school of african american writers magical realism is a griotic code serving a people in danger of losing their souls and championing cultural imperatives pertinent to our survival under actively hostile conditions.

we call that working in the tradition, litericizing afroam folkloric tropes, including magic

these writers have chosen works based in the tradition as a more authentic expression of the african american literary sensibility and their own evolving artistic visions.

consciously attempting to forge a uniquely african american narrative language based on the oral tradition and its musical notes such as blues, jazz and hiphop. litericizing africanamerican folk language and enhancing its functionality as an instrument of emotional/cultural/literary expression and 21st century thought and development.

as much music and orally based as it is on conventional literary forms and searching for that little extra beat that defines black literature and black art as fundamentally as it defines black music.

beats like audience participation, improvisation, orality and functionality, the sacred and functional quality of art or the explorations of afroam culture manifested in the narrative structure of naylor or wideman

beats like magic

what toni refers to in rootedness after explaining how she uses the earth as an afrocentric chorus responding to the action in tar baby "those are ways in which i try to incorporate, into that traditional genre the novel, unorthodox novelistic characteristics-so that it is, in my view, black, because it uses the characteristics of black art. . . . i don't regard black literature as simply books written by black people, or simply as literature written about black people, or simply as literature that uses a certain mode of language in which you just sort of drop g's. there is something very special and very identifiable about it and it is my struggle to find that elusive but identifiable style in my books."

african american griotic practitioners are cultural custodians attempting to develop a heightened narrative language that serves as both literary and sacred language; as both text (personal and cultural expression) and text (cultural template).

an attempt to ensure the 21st century viability of african american culture. forging a narrative instrument worthy of 21st century nuance, an instrument of literary, political and spiritual redemption.

the primary trope of afroam lit is and always shall be struggle.

the ongoing struggle for survival and empowerment that blackfolk have waged since we came to this land and that has more than anything shaped us as a people.

consequently afroam literature is working literature. conjurational lit and at its best visionary. as such it continues to address the critical issues that concern us as artists and as a people.

mix in the commercialization and canonization of african american literature, bring to a boil and extract the sacred text: a cultural template that shapes a cultures evolution and provides a cultural vision. an evolutionary inclination shaped by significant works of art and thought.

in a 1973 new york times book review of sula, toni's first novel, the reviewer call herself warning toni not to be too colored, said if toni doesnt restrict herself to colored topics she might make something of herself one day. that she might then "transcend that early and unintentionally limiting classification 'black woman writer'."          

well, i guess toni showed them. our culture at its best has been one of the most influential in the world.  i consequently speculate the attempt to develop a uniquely african american literary text will be one of the definitive components of 21st century literature and thought. a sacred text and text of our ongoing struggle to survive and prosper as a people and a culture. our destiny. our fa.

or as ishmael reed wrote in conjure, "may the best church win, shake hands now and come out conjuring."  or in the words of bluesman keb' mo'. "i been to the crossroads and aint no devil down there.”

magical realism is a manifestation of the visionary trope in african american li
tthis is a sacred calling this thing we do

writers are creators. kuumba. gods assistants on the planet. demoja. creation. shalabango. to make real that which was not. to conjure.

‘o life!’ said the druidic james joyce, ‘i go to encounter for the millionth time the reality of experience and to forge in the smithy of my soul the uncreated conscience of my race.’

there are moments when you have placed yourself so precisely in the historical continuums center of balance that you are aware of being a godforce, a focal point of reality and illusion, a nexus of generational possibility, conjuring reality into being through the sheer force of your will your work and your game.

there are times when the magic come down on you

unleah yourself from what is and contemplate what could be
magical realism gives you the freedom to dream

new worlds, new paradigms, new realities
mythmakers all, as i define so shall it be

if you pull it off - you and your works will be studied and modeled in the hearts and aspirations of generations to come. to the extent that your works are relevant and significant to those generations, to that extent are you immortal.

that is all
this spell is done