SUNDAY
hello world, this turned into an interesting post (for this post you
need to put on some cassandra wilson cause this a magic carpet ride)
in the course of it i hainted martin luther king
getting very comfortable calling hoodoo ancestors haints and enjoyiing the process of gradually discovering them like im doing
think ima work it into rest (sorry ec)
im been using this riff where jubilation highjohn drape himself in 101 talismans when he is about to do performancework in the novel,
its become a trope but its 101 just because i liked the poetry of it - one hundred and one talismans
but what i should do is call on 101 hoodoo haints in the lyrical riffs - the hoodoo pantheon of rickydoc - drop an invocation into the text whenever i see narrative opp to do so
do it raw now, clean it up later - narrative opps that reflect whatever attributes i want to give the haint
was thinking about it cause i hainted martin luther king while writing this post
im getting very comfortable calling my hoodoo ancestors haints
hainting them as the process of transforming them into tribal deities/guides/etc
how would i define that loafication process, that orishafication process,the sanctification process, in which tribal ancestors are annointed, want something very hoodoo, haintifying, haintification maybe
am i deifying them, that dont quite work for a highmagician to construct a process of deification
its beneath me - in the holy narrative im attempting to create, how do i want these tribal haints to function
deities
or something more
gotta be something more
why then do i feel the need to make it a holy narrative
because its more culturally binding, more effective mythwork
but i dont ever want to encourage subjecting humanity to the rule of deities
i think i see deities as instruments of humanity being greater than it is, as guides not masters
at the same time i acknowledge that most folk need deities
or someting along this line, i will have to figure it out later
this dont sound like one i will be able to answer off the cuff
what happen was i working on this presentation for the
educational opportunties center syracuse
cultivating success
my 1st straight up motivational speaker gig
hate to charge them but i aint doing it for free no more
they teach folk struggling, working folk trying to get back in school, immigrants, refugees
im talking to the teachers, consultants, administrators at their annual thingee
talking about teaching as a sacred calling
about teaching folk whove been left behind to catch up
about the challenges of that in the 21st century -
talking about teaching as handling fragile souls and how you get
weary in those social work jobs but you know you doing what
nobody else can . . . (blah de blah de - o you know the routine
my basic riffs shaped to the moment
ima rock the house and get paid, not a lot,
just enuf to feel good about it
that mean i got to shine
conch, anklebells, bluesharp and kalimba
they gon get the throw down - the full monty
trying to think of a performance haint to call on
somebody who know how to put on a hoodoo show
maybe marie leveau
apparently she knew how to put on a show, w/the snake and all
or maybe martin, because thats the kind of show
i really want to put on, on the realside, thats who i emulate
as a performance speaker
i want the martin luther king effect
21st century stylee, hoodoo stylee
im the name of martin luther
thats who im going to call on for performance work henceforth
shame about his daughter dying recently
shame about the family not holding up the torch
but i guess it bes that way sometime
folk got the right to walk their own path
have to remember that w/my nephews, my crew
my daddy didnt push me, he let me make my own decisions
take the consequences of faulty ones
one decision ive never regretted was to hold the torch up high
imogunla alakoye once ask me, who most changed the african american condition
martin or malcom, and imogunla was a malcolm acolyte, even looked like him
but we both agreed it was martin
that say a lot to folk who lived thru the pre civilrights south
i was trying to explain it to a ghanian partner of mine the other evening
who was shall we say not appreciating nonviolence as a strategy and talking a lot of i woulda this and i woulda that and i tried to explain the pre civilrights south situation and why it was the strategic posture appropriate to the moment and the courage it took
and i tried to explain the difference the struggle made in our lives
how the struggle caused us to say we just wasnt gon take this kinda treatment no more
and i was so inarticulate but he felt what i was trying to say
you folk who went through that with me you know what im talking about
i know you feel me
and you folk wasnt there
you feeling it too - i know you do
recently picked up a book walking down jericho road about the memphis garbargeworkers strike that
brought martin to mason temple that rainy night in 68, when he say he been to the mountain top
say he aint fearing no man - may not get there with you
but we as a people will get to the promised land - i seen it he say
thats the hoodoo haint im calling on for performance work henceforth
in the name of the king do i do this
in struggle
rdoc
SATURDAY
hello world
trying to post but not really feeling it
bush giving up a lot of material but truth be told
bushs antics have begun to bore me
his recent comment about the deadlines causing more casualties
same old bush trying to blame otherfolk for the consequences of his policies
we all know why we taking casualties in iraq
bush de classifying years old report on al quaeda in iraq
samo samo - amazing that he thinks we will still fall for this selective intell trick
even folk used to believe him tired of it, he keeps trying the same old techs
the same old slogans
goodling immunized testimony blaming everybody but herself
samo samo - the republican rightwing has just tired me out
darfur samo samo haiti samo samo, im tired
im weary in my bones im weary
this morning i followed a google inquiry to rootsblog posts from 3 years ago
and it was kinda depressing - most of it does not stand the test of time
and i have written a lot of wordage for this thing and still average 50 hits a day
i read about folk w/100s and 1000s of hits a day and there is arthur, still chugging along -
the little engine that could
ive tried being more topical, but topical often bores me
you want straight news best to get it elsewhere
if im going to be putting the time in i have to deal with whats important to me
which often im sure becomes repetitive because it reflects my obsessions
its like im thinking out loud, working thru concepts impo to me as a thinker
a visionary and ideological orchestrator
im fond of that concept you notice, ideological orchestration - got it from toni cade bambara basically
she once at a writers conference john o did at howard referred to writers as cultural workers
the term spoke to me - she called them cultural workers because of her left marxist thing
but ive always been comfortable with the great man/woman theory of history - if you get my drift
so i translated that as cultural orchestrators, befitting a players sensibility who considers everybody, including the powerful to be played - to be placed on the board of destiny - the visionary artist is a manifestation of the individual as historical force - the left i come out of isnt comfortable with that
this comes out of the aesthetic of the griotic literary school of which i am a member - we consider ourselves cultural custodians, shaping the culture through our works
over the years this strategic posture evolved into ideological orchestrators - ideological players like myself
in contention trying to shape the way the world thinks - thereby shaping the future, the destiny of humanity
- the longest most comprehensive game, the one that swallows all others, is the one that wins
that is most influential in the shape of things to come
i think ideological orchestration but often use cultural orchestration because its more digestible to folk
but other writers get deals and make money off thoughts not nearly as pertinent or profound
(at least i think they pertinent and profound, sometimes i wonder if im just delusional)
they get listened to and get respect, me im just out here wailing away for my 50 a day
i console myself w/awareness that visionaries often dont get play during their lifetime
but i do often wonder about this blog and the time investiture, wonder if its worth it
i got to assume it is, i have over the years come to trust my creative obsessions
like when i became obsessed with learning bluesharp
and blew and blew and blew and it felt like a diversion then but i couldnt help myself
and now it (and kalimba) have become integral parts of my identity as a literary bluesman
a performance poet and ritual prophet/sorceror
these obsessions feel like they a waste of time when you caught up in them
but i assume that all this blog wordage will be historically significant somehow someway
one hopes one prays
because i dont seem to have a choice in this, every couple of days i sit down no
matter what and just write about something anything, whatever come to my head
while im sitting there
these blogs dont work unless you get obsessive about it and i tend to
the obsessive, its my artistic temperament, my big projects - novels and holybooks
wouldnt get done if i wasnt obsessive about it
but sometimes it works against me and i hit the wall - repeatedly
just bam bam bam bam bam
ohwell, i got to assume that when the roll is called my name will be there
got to assume it will all work out and the generations will appreciate what ive done
got a little taste of the blues i believe
sorry ec, just dont feel like roaring today
lets do a couple of comments flowers and get outta here
maybe reflect on some ticklish situations in which im not quite following the progressive partyline
lebanon: what can they do, cant enter the camps and cant let fatah a islam keep growing, got to ignore palestinian complaints but i hope they work hard at minimizing collateral damage (dead civilians)
dustup between congressional black congress and fox news in one corner - obama, clinton, edwards
et al in the other - theyve all have refused to participate in a presidential debate cbc set up w/fox in september
im with the candidates, cant support fox news efforts to fake folk out when they use their power so blatantly against our interests as a people - somehow they will context this to their agenda of discrediting us
i hear the fox been giving the cbc various sorts of bribes and other pr moves, but their substance is poison - far as im concerned them cbc folk need to straighen up and fly right - or left as the case may be
immigration: conflicted about being supplanted by hispanics but have to come out in favor of compassionate immigration policies because of our historical alliance and because it also affects folk from africa and the caribbean - just hate that blackfolk falling further into the cracks but that aint the fault of hispanics is it
we basically got to do it like the jews did it - small numbers, big game, global backup
got to turn the whole race into players
advice to barack and hillary under attack from republicans for recent vote against funding: ignore them
dont let them get you all defensive about what you know is right - shaping the dialogue is an old repub trick
samesame ex president carter, i admire that man, he speak his mind when he know he right - did it with israel (that took courage), did it with bush (just speak the truth)
hated they forced him to backup w/that silly tradition of presidential courtesy, his allegiance should be to america, to a world afflicted with bushitis - speak truth to the people man and let the chips fall
something i have to constantly remind myself
in the name of jimmy carter
and toni cade bambara
im outta here, taking my blues to
the sacred desk and clock some pages
thats always good for what ails me
my love to you all
rickydoc flowers
hanging in there
we just got to keep on keepin on...but you already know that. write through the downs...it gets us to the ups...
hugs,
lab
Posted by: Lesley-Ann Brown | May 30, 2007 at 05:49 AM