THURSDAY
hello world, this aint exactly what i call crunching
when you doing more sitting there thinking than writing
trying to figure out how to bring my endgame to life
good dramatic endgame fiction rather than the rhetoric it is now
and i think im getting a feel for it, think one thread ima play w/is animal sacrifice
in african traditional systems, use his objection to that to bring his prophetic thing to life
that animal sacrifice might work if we were a culture that still killed our own food
but in 20th century afroamerica, animal sacrifice is an anachronism and representative of what has kept african peoples & cultures noncompetitive in global competition
use this w/secretsociety and mythwork theads to dramatize
his attempt to bring african traditional into the 21st century
a sacrifice thread
which is basically what he considers himself (best kept secret in afroam lit)
right now my endgame more rhetoric than good fiction but i
once had an ocha priest, covered in the blood of goats and roosters
tell me we needed to do human sacrifice to get out of this historical trickbag
we have found ourselves in, start talking about how the orisha told him this
i was appalled, dismissed it as an individual aberration, not cultural
upon reflection i might be able to use that as part of my prophetic endgame
wish i could use that but i think its a tad too sensationalist for my purposes
somthing about animal sacrific maybe but i dont believe that other will fly
right along in here when hoodoo trying to determine how much of atr religious
flavor to adopt - stay magical or become a more religious system
id say the majority of black hoodoos these days initiated into
one or more of the atr traditions
for a magical tradition based on the premise of anymethod anytime
a tradition that dont even necessarily follow the rules of magic, folk been trying to
subject hoodoo to religious dogma, the orisha/loa/etc
say do this, dont do that
or else
that dont necessarily fly w/me, dont fit w/my 21st century understanding of divinity, we know
too much about the formative dynamics of religion to be subject to archaic rules of ritual
wanna refine the transcendent, leave the dogma behind
i vote magical - or rather should i say the prophetic
humanitys relationship w/god too complex to leave to the religious
got an email from miriam de costa willis today
sent out to her memphis list, seems one of the old guard of memphis
d army bailey, has an article on black agenda report in which he
takes credit for the civil rights museum in memphis
in it it accuses much of memphis old guard, incl ben hooks
and maxine smith, as mercenaries and compradors
now you got to be part of the radical wing of bougie black memphis to know how much
this hurt - and miriam, mentor of the young politicals of my generration, our 1st model
of intellectual activism, is on the warpath - this is an unfortunate battle, d army
has declared war on my earliest mentors in the game
maxine, vasco, jesse, aw and them, if i got to choose sides i got to side w/miram and
maxine - got to go w/the oldschool - the racemen and racewomen
of my youth, the hooks, smiths, willises, turners and sugarmons
the delta clan flowers
kinda funny for somebody spose to be a class outlaw
to feel the call of allegiance for memphis oldschool
even more funny is that civil rights museum dont mean much to my generation, it
surprise me it mean so much to them, i mean its not like it does anything
my attittude on this one is who cares
ima stay out of this one, unfortunate d army took the lowroad
probably still bitter about being voted out as chair back in the day
i once got deposed as director of the harlem writers guild, still hurts
and theyve since tried to write me out of the hwg history, that hurt too
but i would never put hwg down
or my old comrades in struggle
i just give my heart to new ren now
and the folk who broke off to form it
supporting me, so i wouldnt be left out on a limb, now theyve
been written out of hwg history too (cept for dorisjean and tmac)
and its on me to make sure folk get their propers
and dont have to pay historically for backing me up
gotta make new ren real, gotta keep babajohn killens legacy alive
dont nobody carry that quite like i do
so instead of being director of 60 year old institution w/generations of struggle behind it
im director of a stumbling start up in constant danger of failure - ohwell - thats life
you take the blows, you make your adjustments
you keep on pushing - limping and lame, still game
but you dont turn on your old comrades
the struggle is bigger than that
a luta continua
in the name of the conqueror
rdoc
WEDNESDAY
hello world, really wanted to do some more work on last post
have to dig out my 101 talismans list, just dont feel like i have the time right now
did my outline yesterday and the problems were right there in my face, im back on
manuscript today and feel like i got a slim chance of finishing this draft after all
but man i got to be on it
i got to be focused
some quick commentary and im out of here
been a little conflicted about rootblogs tone lately
cause i been in a woodshed mode everything
been My World and not much commentary
not comfortable when i get too self referential like that
but my numbers have doubled in the last couple of months
whatever im doing yall must like it
ima stay with it awhile, see what happen
one thing i want to do is start giving some props to my syracuse mfa students
been here long enuf now that students starting to publish and manifest
interesting development, i got to start giving props
(and ride they formidable coattails)
thought about this cause phil lamarche just gave me copy of his new novel
american youth, and its reading good, im real proud of him
me and phil go back to when he was a undergrad and now here he is
a colleague with a strong new book out - just as tickled as i can be
and then i think about cherly strayeds novel, and salvador
and the legendary nina shope
and becky curtis book of shorts got nice nyt book review this sunday
and ellen litmans shorts coming out
and my boy parkers novel -ovenman - coming out in fall
and ockerts shorts out and christians pandas
and don pablol and god knows who im leaving out
syracuse been strong in the literary house lately and
getting good strong reviews too - serious position - and i need to
start giving some props
and strive to be ever more useful, a better reader of manuscripts
w/enhanced publishing networks and other such service
been turning out young writers a long time now, long enuf to know
most folk dont make the cut, never become real writers
and w/all these mfa programs turning out 100s and 1000s of wannabes
it become ever more difficult to break out of the pack
over the years most young writers give up
so you try to deduce what factors at play
what determine that optimal blend of craft and discipline
that pigheaded determination to be a good writer
and whatever it is you hope they got it when you send them out into the world, hope
they stay focused stay productive, hope they manifest - and when they do
when they beat the odds and do it, it warm the literary heart
been mostly george saunders work, this is the house that george built yall
i will put you some titles and links in here later
will also do up my 101 talismans later too
and got some commentary on conflict brewing between
ethiopia and eriteria, if that breaks thats going to be ugly - again
what with somalia and the ogaden
ethiopia biting off some mighty big chunks
personally i think that wont settle until
ethiopia has a seacoast - again
also i was reading on abebooks blog that a 5 vol set of hyatts
hoodoo rootwork conjuration and witchcraft just sold for $5000,
was just thinking i need to re read my own set, extract the historical
hoodoos in there for the 101 talismans, guess i will handle w/care
patience dear regulators, ima put you some links and all in later
but right now im feeling the need to clock pages
worked outline yesterday and back on manuscript today, now just plow
thru it rick, march thru these pages like sherman thru georgia
hopefully i will hit the zone and put this puppy to bed
richen it up later
started putting together reader for my literary blues class yesterday
couldnt help myself, starting to get nervous about class prep
supposed to be a theory class, like i know theory, but thats why i chose to
teach it, be interesting working out a theory of literary blues
and whats the point of
teaching if not to learn
the oral trad in african american lit (and you know i dont do nothing
aint designed to make rest for the weary a better novel)
so just as im reconcepting rests endgame, im being driven to focus on a theory of literary blues
and immersed in all these articles and books as i try to put together a reader
and already i can feel myself growing as a writer, already my craftmind
is perculating, this gon work itself into the re concept of rest for the wearys closure
how it handle its tropes
its literary vision
i wish it wasnt so,
id rather this novel not grow anymore and just be finished
i cannot afford distraction, not even growth, not at this point in
the game, i got to keep moving towards closure - do it rick, you can do this
if i stay focused, i expect at some point to fall into the zone, where real Work get done
and this novel will start speaking to me and make
itself known to me - showtime
if i stay focused
next 20 days gon be
a magic carpet ride
post got kinda lengthy didnt it, just wandering all over
the page, feeling spooky yall, feel a zone coming on
im outta here
rdoc
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