rootwork the rootsblog: a cyberhoodoo webspace

on the hoodoo book of flowers and the passing of lady comes calling

FRIDAY

hello world, got a taste of the blues today, cat died, car died, family issues in the delta and almost
lost my most treasured protege, sometime it dont pay to get out of bed

so anyway this morning followed a rootsblog link to some brother call
himself rawdag, fellow writer w/rootsblog in his links, will give him a link

from his site, i followed link to site called the black accountability network, which
say its working to hold black leadership, opinion makers, public officials and institutions accountable - 

im down with that

wandering thru these folks links i realize its a whole lot of black blogs, in
particular of the younger generation, i aint been keeping up with,

if i get me a little work done this weekend, ima try to upgrade my links, in
the meantime i love this logo of the black accountability folk, they call it
the watchdog - now thats what im talking about

a real thanksgiving prayer: black commentator article on thanksgiving say the land of the free
was founded on genocide and slavery, and includes a thanksgiving prayer

given by william bradford, former governor of plymouth, who chronicled the 1621 feast that became
thanksgiving, after 1637 attack designed to finish off the pequots (foxwood casino) once and for all:

"Those that escaped the fire were slain with the sword; some hewed to pieces, others run through with their rapiers, so that they were quickly dispatched and very few escaped. It was conceived they thus destroyed about 400 at this time. It was a fearful sight to see them thus frying in the fire...horrible was the stink and scent thereof, but the victory seemed a sweet sacrifice, and they gave the prayers thereof to God, who had wrought so wonderfully for them, thus to enclose their enemies in their hands, and give them so speedy a victory over so proud and insulting an enemy."

a luta continua
rdoc

THURSDAY

hesitant to leave this weeks post until i work on that holybook segment - but like that
shark in the water i got to move on - do what i can this weekend and move on

my literary companion, the indomitable calico, lady comes calling, died yesterday
been w/me a quarter of my life, used to just sit on the desk while i wrote - ima miss her so much

conflict down in memphis over civil rights museum - old lorraine hotel where king was shot -
memphis holyground - local activists want to wrest control from corporate board

and change the focus to an activist operation over exclusively museum - i can relate, its
kinda musty as it is now, and deke pope, one of the activists,  is an old comrade in struggle,

and i been pleased to see martin luther king III
trying to live up to his daddys name recently

problem is that black members of that board, folk like maxine smith and ben hooks, are the old lions of the struggle in memphis and family friends, damn near surrogate parents and my earliest mentors in struggle - its hard for me to take sides against them, and as a  memphis bougie insider i know that there are some personal issues with instigator d army bailey on this one

also though it is not the institution i woud like it to be, it is an institution when so many
of this sort die out, im hesitant to fix what aint broke

bottomline: i too would like the influence of the chairman of the board
conservative memphis business tycoon pitt hyde, reduced

institutions like the civil rights museum have to have corporate support
but not necessarily corporate control

and i too would like it to be somehow a more
activist organization, 21st century stylee - bottomline

bonnie took that lady in the window picture, bonnie and lady were really close,
bonnie took better care of her than i did, she pampered that kitty something awful

and lady returned the love, allowed bonnie liberties she never allowed me
they were good for each other, they were good to each other

we decided to have her cremated, scatter her ashes out back,
maybe take some to the delta, drop them in the mississippi

my little familiar is gone - all my love lady
we had a good run

rdoc

TUESDAY

hello world, rest beating me all about the head and shoulders, let me give you some quickies
lets background this one 2nd lining w/the wild magnolias

aids on the congressional plantation: dc got highest aids rate in nation, blacks 87% of aids cases - and the beat goes on

prognosis: all kinds of ameliorative policy/organizing issues got to be addressed , such as dc being only us city w/federally mandated ban against needle distribution

but the only one that will truly flip this trick will be behavioral changes on our part: guess im blaming the victim right

sudan; newly arrived teacher at british private school in khartoum allows class 0f 7 year olds to name teddybear muhammad w/predictable results, arrested and threatened with x many lashes: didnt she get the memo - what planet she been on

dick cheney hospitalized with an irregular heartbeat: that dick cheneys heartbeat is irregular aint news, whats news is that he got a heart: i thought he was some kind of vampire clone or something

annapolis: bush et al say they will start real negotiations on dec 12th, with intent of cutting a deal by the end of next year (ie end of bush presidency): the real deal: getting the arabs to play along on iran and iraq for the rest of bushs term: watch and see  - as the palestinians get strung along; again; bottomline: bush dont care bout no palestinians

sean taylor brought a machete to a gunfight, thats when you need a pistol, when somebody breaking into your home, i agree w/gil scot heron on this one: when other folk give up theirs i will give up mine



MONDAY

hello world, the arabs are in at annapolis, guess they figure got to be in it to win it
invoking the spirit poster from chester higgins exhibit at schomberg

recently read article by ofari hutchinson on black - hispanic
tensions cause me to think on it, he laid out the problem

but didnt make any suggestions about addressing it - apparently he just
put a book out on issue, i assume the book more pro active

give those of us who still believe in that oldschool alliance something to work with
another one i read couple of days ago but couldnt find again made comment that

its a class issue, that as folk from either race move from the scrabbling
for survival they tend to be more tolerant of each other

also said that hispanic hostility more from 2nd generation than immigrant generation
which you would think worked against class thesis but dude was convincing

im feeling a little humble about my hoodoo thing today

went monitoring hoodoo sites the other day and it was all folkmagic
and as you know dear regulators i am so uninterested in folk magic

i am really out of step with my hoodoo colleagues on this one
traditionally hoodoo is pretty much defined by folk magic

then i went by this site where this well known hoodoo is selling a radiotronic machines or
something like this and i wont call names and that aint really what its called i dont think

which is cool because i dont want to get engaged in no war w/a sorceror of his stature

but it look like a farce to me, a cigar box with glittery stuff on it that he claim
you use to 'dial' up spirits and i wonder if he really believe this or do he know its a beat

he too knowledgeable not to be aware this a classic spiritual hustle

and because he is so knowledgeable and im so out of step with hoodoo today
i feel like im the one need to step back and forgo this commentary

but at the same time feel like i got to speak truth to the people and give true commentary
on hoodoo today - got to establish myself as the spot where folk know they can come hear

the hoodoo truth of things - the hard truths make other folk tremble - this the holyground
thats what make me historical - thats my power

my geas is that i speak truth as i see it
and this is a geas i cannot break

then i was thinking, take a cigarbox, put some spiritual stuff on it and sell it for $150
that aint much different than what i would do as an artist, we call them spirit boxes too

and i would sell it for much more than $150 by calling it art and my position, much like his,
would be if you dont want it, if you dont believe in its efficacy, dont buy it - no problem

o what a twisted web we weave
i need to get some work done

my love to you all

rdoc

SUNDAY

hello world, weak week workwise, a lot of downtime,
thats not good, restful but not good

and im not really feeling the hoodoo book of flowers
just not the time for it yet i guess, but i will wait

until the 2 weeks are out before i judge it, problem now
is if im not getting novelwork done, aint nothing else getting done

and i understand the process, trying to take the endgame to
higherground mean stuff bubbling in the internal computer and

just not ready to manifest yet, i need to chill and concentrate
on taking care of various critical life issues but at the same time

you have to remain focused and frustrated if you want to break thru
to higher creative ground, no focus no grace

what i got to do is fix my prophetic sequence, the primary sequence
of the text, how do i have him manifest the prophetic

what i have to do is note how im attempting to manifest the contemporary prophetic
in the realworld and translate that to my fictional storyteller character

so primarily im doing it in my Work (my novels/my nonfiction) working out the cosmology
attempting to manifest a contemporary prophetic mode by:

trying to develop an afrospiritual cosmology
trying to build facilitating institutions
trying to influence afrospiritual practitioners
trying to develop a new school of hoodoo
trying to develop a custodial school of afroam literature
trying to develop an illuminative way
trying to transform the tribal soul and destiny
trying to build a myth of myself as a hoodoo prophet
trying to change the global perception/position of blackfolk
trying to make a contribution to the destiny and welfare of all humanity
trying to be a powerful artist and craftsman, write good novels and historically significant works
trying to be a powerful magician, metaphysican and ideological orchestrator
trying to understand and maximize the web as ideological instrument

(i got so many initiatives in play that it dont bother me when one or two collapse, as they often do - aint
like i aint got plenty else to do, i just pick up the pieces, put them back in play and keep on pushing)

okay, those are the general trends, how precisely do they manifest day to day
and how to translate that into a fictionally viable sequence for a storyteller (instead of writer)

also my realworld magic is very prosaic, in fiction i get to play with that and make it
dramatic and magical - got to remember that as i work out this prophetic sequence

1st thing to do probably is to go into it, extract the prophetic sequences and see what i got already
i got passages that allude to all these but they arent coherent, they kinda whatever i threw in at that

moment, i got to systematically break that down and make it viable, lets give it a week rick
see how it flows, more like a week and a weekend, cause i got to go back to schoolhouse tomorrow

more or less,

end of year woodshed is on rick, everything else got to be
ruthlessly backburnered, nobody said it was gon be easy

in the name of the conqueror
rdoc

SATURDAY

hello nanakwame (love that name) thanks for the love
always good to get some love, feel like folk care

you must be talking about katrina omogun
thats my girl

okay world, im on it, dug in with rest for the weary- finished futurescenario, decided need to
pre-redpen last 3rd of novel, its weak, needs work, cant have a weak endgame, endgame

is my specialty

(and that of the conqueror -  yesterday i restrung the beadbandolier i wear under my clothes during performance, originaly a yoruba belt it kept breaking during performance so lastnight i restrung it on nylongwire thread, decided to afroamericanize it, so i added a redblackgreen&gold 9 bead sequence, put some highjohn on it and added a malachite and brass sequence im going to give to the conqueror as attribute)

as you see i got a little discretionary time
when im working good is when i got discretionary time

i always give a little to rootsblog cause this my little public dialogue
and i try to keep it fed, a post every couple of days is obligatory

writers that aspire to greatness its important to generate words
for historys sake, who knows what will take

so im thinking the best use of discretionary time is holybook, problem w/doing holybook
online is that putting raw holybook up is really embarrassing

really really embarrassing, here you are suppose to be showing wisdom and its weak
craft, its weak conceptually, spiritually, politically, knowledgeably, everything

but i know that if i leave it up a couple of weeks, letting embarrassment drive me to
work on it every couple of days, i will eventually have a pretty nice little product

so with that little literary caveat let me pick up the legba toss:  0:0
im not going to worry about setting up background, go to the hoodoo book of flowers

category if you want background, (you know what i should do is go into that category
myself and revise that sequence of repetitive posts into a coherent presentation

i should do that with all the important ones, part of what i like about network (blogwork) is that
you can revise initial posts to reflect developments, not only does it clean up text, it gives

it a prophetic modality

forgive this phase dear regulators, 1st will pull up last hbof post, then go into offline notes and just dump everything that might be in the legba 0:0 toss and start cleaning it up, will give myself 2 weeks

before i judge the quality of it (premature judgment would leave to abandonment pf project)

just gon pull it in right now, work on it later
right now got novelwork to do

(consider doing legba and the conqueror at the sametime:)

0:0: legba toss: all bets off
9:9: the conqueror: conquers all obstacles: grace

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0:0:  legba gift
in the name of the trickster

crossroads: where every move changes things
when destiny lies in the choice of the moment

1) progression: it is in the beginning that the paths are laid

beginnings are always hard, preparation a must
the moment is auspicious, seize the day

2) storyline:

bluesman at the crossroads, got a deal to strike, my soul for the craft
want to play this guitar like nobody else ever played

told he could come to the crossroads at midnight, strike a deal w/the devil
dont know what to expect, dont know what the devil look like, just know he

in the market for soul, know he got to keep his wits about him cause he in
the realm of the trickster

late night at the crossroads, cars drive slowly by, curious looks
that note the guitar strung across his back and cross themselves

then he show, a bent over two head man, you the devil ask the bluesman
and legba laugh, thats what the christians say, are you a christian, if not call

me legba, god of the crossroads, i am in th market for souls
can you make me a bluesman, and legba smile again, i can give you talent

but aint nobody make a bluesman but a bluesmans heart
(okay im running out of steam on this one, finish it later)

3)  lifework:

initiation: awareness, understanding life as illumination, the 1st step of a lifelong journey
family:  two families, family you come from, the one you begin, better integration is the call
health:  health is an all abiding concern, renewed attention to the ital lifestyle is this toss
love:
community:  when 9 of my folk gather a community has been established, or needs to be

4)  the tradition

the divine in its many names and permutations, illumination of the african way of god -
the call of the divine is in this throw

5)  magic

making real into the world that which was not, the 1st step of magical is magical imagery, that which is to be manifested must first be conceived - the power of the magician, the power of the artist, the power of ideas

magical meditation is the power to build images in the mind and feed them power until they are real in the world - feats of magic: making real that which was not require thorough preparation and sanctification

preparation is called for here, sanctify yourself

6   illumination

life as a constant quest for illumination
the first step of illumination is to see, to open your eyes

7)  prophecy

to step on the prophetic path, the anointment
you have been chosen

8)  destinywork and the longgame

the roots of the african way of god in the americas were laid when , african captives were dispersed and not allowed to practice their religions - where allowed african religions were fused with catholicism because it had room for the african gods in the catholic saints

in the united states, where african culture/religion was more severly repressed, african religion lost its divine nature and became magical - hoodoo

the african american slave community under mortal siege denied its priests, turned to its sorcerors - most every major slave rebellion included african holymen jamaica's macandal, brazil's ganga zumba, hait's boukman, gullah jacks and nat turners, inspiring the slaves to battle by claiming to protect from bullets and harm, by claiming those who died in the cause would be instantly transported back to guinee

since this afrospiritual practitioners have taken care of the tribal soul and destiny

responsibility is the call here and destiny lies in the moment -
this is not about you, the generations are calling you

9)  the geas of rickydoc

listen firstborn to the geas of rickydoc
and i will give you a mission greater than your adversity

i will give you responsibility for humanitys destiny
you have been chosen

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9:9: THE CONQUEROR
in the name of the conqueror

endgame: strong endgames should be opened ended
preparation for the next phase, manifstations of grace

1) progression: grace

2) storyline:

The Legend of Highjohn the Conqueror
(The Way Zora Neale Tell It.  Jackie Torrance on the riff)

For a longtime Highjohn de Conqueror was just the name of a plant that grew wild in the marshland.  It was dug and dried and carried in the hand or worn about the neck to ward off haints, disease and nightmares.  The power root.  Break any obstacle.  Cause any problem to fall.  After awhile that plant became so powerful it began to walk like a natural man.

Now Highjohn the human kept out of the sight of folk.  Live Legba child in the swamp somewhere.  But whenever you in trouble you whisper his name and you can feel the Conqueror as he pass you in the breeze, listen good you hear him whisper in the trees. 

Zora claim the Conqueror must walk on the wind, cause he move so fast.  Say maybe he in Mississippi when the lash fall on a slave in the Sudan, but before the blood dry on the back the Conqueror is there.  Beating the unbeatable and superior to the whole mess a sorrow.  Claim this our day.  Claim to know the way.

Zora say its the Conquerors voice come through clearest on Sunday morning.  Say its the Conqueror whose worksong sustain you in the field.  Say wherever the work the hardest the Conqueror is there.  Lifting the hoe higher than anybody else and still have time to wipe the sweat from your brow.  To give you a cool drink of water. 

Zora say he apple pie sweet and  breh rabbit quick.  The cool breeze on a hot summer night and the wetness of a sweet summer rain.  He the hopebringer.  The burden bearer.  The battlefighter.  The jackpot winner.  He a mighty power.  An ultimate force.   When you whisper my name that bee dont sting.  That sqeeter dont bite.  That snake dont strike. 

Zora claim the conqueror help the slaves get free by tricking old massa.  Say after the slaves was free, the soul of the conqueror went into the Highjohn de Conquer root.  Waiting to return whenever there a need.  Say you call him and he be there before you finish saying his name.  Highjohn de Conqueror. The Mighty Conqueroo.

Thats what Zora Neale say.  Ask her yourself if you dont believe me.

3)  lifework:
    initiation:
    family: 
    health: 
    love:
    community:

4)  the tradition

5)  magic

6   illumination

7)  prophecy

8)  destinywork and the longgame

9)  the geas of rickydoc

--------------------------
_______________

okay, i can see already this aint gon work
just dont have the time it need put into it

every hour i put into this thats a hour that come out of rest for the weary
thats a no can do - i just got to be patient rick, holybook soon come, soon com

got to trust god gon give me the time
i need to make that happen too

my love to you all
rickydoc flowers

doing what i can

 

players, victims and going for the gold: playing to win

WEDNESDAY

 hello world, weak workday yesterday: bummer

while searching for my quickie links i went by chickenbones and black agenda report
old comrades who have basically excommunicated me for not following the party line

that kinda hurt but i was glad to see they still kicking it - chickenbones an unprecedented repository  (it was rudy of chickenbones once told me i should include images with online work)

and glen ford over at black agenda report be dropping serious knowledge - unfortunately glen dont much respect what i do  - both of them kinda rigid

i still think we got to move past the old verities of struggle in the 21st century
and i think transafricas global positioning is reflective of that

it do distress me im so often out of step with old comrades in struggle
but ima artist, spose to be a pathmaker, forge new ways of seeing

and willing to take punches for what i consider the truth of it all, for
consideration of strategic nuance over radical rote -

as a hoodoo and would be tribal shaman, i got 3 warrior clans i have to monitor and guide
got my community activists, my bougie activists, my radical activists

cant afford to dis or dismiss either one of them
all three of them have roles to play and its my job to understand

those roles and coordinate them, harmonize them, and im actually pretty
good at what i do, dont nobody do it like the hoodooman do

but i got to finish my novel, do my holybook, so the generations
understand the destinic nuance of what im trying to say/do

got to make my contribution
build facilitating institutions

otherwise both politics and the literary
i been buked and scorned for naught

in struggle
rickydoc trickmaster

wouldbe prophet of
the hoodoo way

TUESDAY

hello world, working hard, which means rootsblog get time for some quickies

holyground: wooded area back of my sisters house, somebody cut a tree and left a shrine for me
when im home in the delta, i go out there and raise the sun up every morning:

darfur: status quo: not good: tensions between southern sudan and north growing: also not good

somalia: humanitarian crises in wake of fighting between transitional gov/ethiops and islamists/assorted opportunists breeding internal refugees fleeing mogadishu

transitional government must reach out to disaffected if it is to survive: prospects weak

south africa: tension between mbeki and zuma threatening to split anc: neither option appealing, both of them have baggage

the us election: obama pulling even with hillary in iowa:
im ambivalent about possibility of black president

i suppose its a good thing, but its such a morally ambiguous job i just dont know
just to be competitive obama gon have to get down and dirty: jury still out on this one

katrina/neworleans: for the first time in generations, neworleans recently elected white majority city
council, probably majority republican too to go along w/new republican governor, hard to believe bush/fema

policies werent designed first to abandon blackfolk to storm, then disperse them (and democrats) since
thats whats happened, but i wont go there, dont want to be called a conspiracy theorist: bummer

could have used a black president then i guess, but i cant help but think a black president would
be as useful as the black general being used to front africom:

adjuncts: was reading where some universities are up to 70% adjunct, as an ex adjunct
at medger evers (a position me and elizabeth nunez boldly dubbed the killens chair)

i can testify that adjunct labor is slave labor, thats a rough way to make a living, and hard
on students - when you getting paid by classroom hour you just cant justify too much facetime

with students, got to trek to your other institutions, class prep time suffers too, according to
this report so does graduation rates - adjuncts organizing into unions, schools being pressured to

add more tenure tracks - free the adjunct 1000s

us middle east conference joke and a farce, more anti iran conference than pro palestinian: israel
insincere, bush/rice insincere, abbas desperate to even consider it and the saudis et al reluctant

to play the fool even to check iran/hamas/hezbollah 'shiite' axis: this is a joke: a farce

haiti: progress under preval: but we still got so very far to go: crossing our fingers
(btw: kudos to wyclef jean while im at it: boy been doing what he can: warriorkind)

the struggle: while searching for cosby  links, found lot of dialogue on self determination/responsibility for
our own empowerment - glen ford on bar makes some points on not being sidegamed, not a problem when
you working w/both hands -

at least reparations seem to be off the table - thats a blessing
its the great gitting up morning and its: looking good

and on that note, back to work

rest for the weary: been working my futurescenario scene for about a month now
takes place on a university planet far into the future: university de sankore of palmares

finish it today, i can get started on the redpen tomorrow: 1st redpen always the roughest
because so many sections have to be extensively rewritten, subsequent redpens are

easier because all you doing then is cleaning up the text and putting the poetry on it
thats when it becomes fun, when one word/one phrase can add layers of meaning to the text,

that i can do during the spring semester, then a whole summer of polish/refinement and
i will have a moneydraft for sure: im so excited: its all on this 2 month redpen

new plan gives me a new 2 months end of year woodshed instead of customary 1
an indication of just how desperate i am, squeezing noveltime howsomever i can

best i get busy: my love to you all
rickydoc flowers: in it to win it

MONDAY EVENING

hello world, i have recovered from that little manic bout of confidence
still going to go for the draft but no longer consider it a given

spent whole day struggling with the same page, this gon be rough
but i have never missed a deadline, except one time an act of god

and that dont count

and even if i, heaven forbid,  miss it, i will get some serious
production just from the effort - this a win win

pray for me
rdoc

MONDAY AFTERNOON

hello world, threw the shells today, my little homemade
divination chain, the mojo told me go for it

thanksgiving break and i been clocking pages
got another 7 days and im feeling strong

you know what ive decide, im going for the draft
got a week here, then 2 more school weeks, lets say i

get ruthless about those two weeks, which mean
schoolhouse get backburnered, thats gon cost me

but then i hit the ground running 2nd week in december

2 more weeks before i head for the delta, talking crunch city,
im talking zone - im talking 9 & 12 hour days - talking about separating the writers from the dilettantes

then a week or so in the delta and im generally disciplined in the delta
i generally get my work done in the delta, im strong in the delta

another two weeks in january before i simply have to focus on schoolhouse
thats like almost two months of woodshed, on a redpen, with a little

superhuman effort i can do a full redpen in 2 months by god, even a hardcore
redpen, im going for the gold yall, gon do me a end of the year draft

touch it up over the spring semester, full woodshed summer and im good to go
rickydoc on a sungun, 360% - in the line of o killens

rickydoc flowers
babagriot of the hoodoo way

                                          

MONDAY

hello world, i like to think of myself as a fearless artist, when i find myself asking
am i afraid to say that, i say it if for no other reason than i dont play that

and im always whining about no respect and no readership
but thats all the penalty you pay here in the united states,

you dont get no play and have to scuffle some
then i read about really fearless artists,

when the penalty for offense is jail, matters of life and death -
like these two zimbabwean theater brothers

anthony tongani and silvanos mudzvova,
arrested after their mugabe satire, the final push,

ran in zimbabwe - first night takedown, didnt stop no show though, soon as they were released
they back on stage -brother mudzvova say since media been silenced its all on the artists now:

"Artists, like everybody else, fear for their lives". say Mudzvova,  "But the moment you have that fear, you won't
get anywhere. People are saying, 'If you guys have that fear, where are we going to get the correct information?'

i tell my fledglings all the time

want to be a true artist, got to be fearless, willing to speak truth to power
truth to the people, even when they dont want to hear it, truth to yourself

like the lyrics from the artists prayer -  this profession aint no hiding place -
artists like this do me proud, reinforce my own courage, my own determination

to be true voice

a luta continua
rdoc

SATURDAY

going to continue working on last post: or maybe not

maybe start working on the second movement: each movement has to
be broken down into 9 internal movements

but wanted to address comment by bill cosby addressing black educators in nashville

"You're so quiet," he said to them at one point. "I bet I could get all
of you to stand up and clench your fist if I blamed the white man."

i got issues with some of what bill be putting down
but at the same time i got respect for what he trying to do

and that he willing to get out there and take his licks
for his position, he could have just chilled with the dollars like

most of those celebrities doing, but he in the arena, thats all i ask
him and danny glover two sides of the same coin

cause you got to work w/both hands and
there is more than enuf struggle to go around

glovers brand of activism gon speak to some folk, cos to others, only way we gon be a whole race of
activists is w/respect for folks whose programs might be different but still viable

caue we got to be on it, all of us, all classes, on every level of the game, and
everybody aint gon struggle the same -

cos aint figured out yet that the black middleclass been just as complicit as
the black poor, and the black elite aint even in the game

but he dead on about wasting our time crying about how bad folk treat us

that march folk had this weekend at the justice department, walking
around it biblic 7 times, thats so oldschool, thats so tired

trying to get the justice department to prosecute hate crimes

well thats a good cause and all but its pretty much a waste of time and energy w/this
admnistration, we got to get more strategic about our game in the 21st century

marches and protests and all that, those are loser strategies, folk who aint
got no strategic options, all they can do is whine and beg, that aint longgame,

newsflash: the powers that be figured out how to counter/neutralize that move 30 years ago
that tactic aint hardly a nuisance to power, and the justice department is in much worse shape

than that limited agenda address, and also coming at it that way make it
just a black issue, we have to bring more pressure down on folk by broadening

our agenda so that we gain allies in pressure and bring pressure where it will
make a real difference, the politicization of the justice dept would have been

a better agenda, one they more vulnerable to at this strategic/tactical point and time
got to step up our game

got to be serious about getting our work done, about our organizing
about taking care of business, the only way our condition will change

is when we, by our behavior and actions, make the reality of
black inferiority a false one

and i aint talking about no individualism, im saying struggle is both individual
and collective, im saying we got to work with both hands

in the words of this brothers article on it all:   "Never has it been clearer - despite the legitimate social
justice claims blacks continue to have - that black progress going forward will have to be made almost
exclusively through the efforts of black Americans alone."

i say this so much better in rest for the weary
so much got to be said, so much work to be done

the hoodooman do not accept the continuation of this condition
i will train my people to the game if its the last thing i do

swear fore god and on the sweat and blood of our ancestors
by all their hopes and dreams that live on in me i will

on that note let me work on the 2nd movement
i need 9 internal movements for the longgame

the longgame

game and the longgame  (on the nature of game and longgame as destinywork: shaping generations)
game and countergame  (countering game being run on you)
game and sidegame (avoiding being distracted by sidegame and diversionary game)
the hoodoo board of destiny  (on the nature of the hoodoo board of destiny)
mounting the board  (how to become a true player)
playing the board  (strategies and tactics: how to play the board)

okay these categories not working, and im feeling
pressure to get todays novelwork done

you know what im thinking is that i cant spend time on this limited project
i need to give that time to the hoodoo book of flowers, aka the great

black book of generations - need to give whatever discretionary time i can beg borrow or find
to my holybook, maybe make instructions to the cadre one of the movements in it

im outta here

my love to you all
whatever i got i will give to you

my positions aint always correct, or viable, i know that
but ima keep swinging, win or lose, right or wrong ima try

to do my part
god, i love you so

rdoc

instructions to the cadre: initial thoughts

hello world, i once as a young player wrote a piece called instructions to the cadre
man i was young, what on earth did i think i had to say

over the years it got away from me and i dont think anybody paid attention to that one either, but i was thinking the other day ima try that again

what made me come to that was i met this young brother with talent and game
young brother freelon, did a reading together couple of days ago
boy had chops and game, i was impressed

thinking about giving him a copy of mojo rising
which i wrote basically for young talent

maybe a copy of rgh sius the craft of power

which was the work that open my eyes and made me a player
then i was thinking how he might not be moved by either

id be just embarrassing myself trying to take a fledgling under
wing didnt come to me asking for guidance

young players have to come to you, you cant go to them, that dont work - you note them, keep an eye on them, help them, guide them when you can, just be cool

recently gathered up some young talent here in syracuse, jeannie, patricia, tiffany - po tential
and ive reached that stage in life where passing it on as important as getting your own work done

trying to keep babajohn o killens legacy alive, which remind me i got to
get back in the saddle w/new ren workshop down in brooklyn

trekking down to the city tire me out these days
but what that got to do with the price of butter

i remember the master trekking to medger evers every saturday morning
for his workshop, surrounded by his flock of fledglings, pacing ourselves to

his little bitty old mans steps

i have given the craft of power to young players for years, gave one to ashwin couple of weeks ago
gave one to sheree a little while back, dont know that it moved either of them it like it moved me

way back when, made me a player, put me on the board - but then i thought thats something
i can do on rootsblog, do another instructions ot the cadre, designed to

introduce young players to the game, as always this just me trying to figure
out how best to use the time and investiture i put in on rootsblog wisely

and the net a unique instrument of distribution, be curious
to see how an ideolgoical initiative of this sort work on the net

so let me take a stab at that

probably going to run up on same problem i had with mojo rising
do i orient this toward young hoodoos or toward young players in general

probably everything i write is oriented most specifically toward young hoodoos in the game
trying to shape the generations of hoodoos who will come after me

but i want/need it to be useful to young players who arent in the tradition too
also my type of game is oriented toward ideological players, the longgame, shaping generations

ideological orchestration

which is kind of a rarified audience, and gets me back to
my same old problem of no readership (or respect)

ill just have to work that tension out as i let this thing develop
and accept that once again not that many folk will be interested in what i have to say

bes that way sometime
when you running visionary game

in the name of babajohn o killens, the great griot master of brooklyn

(i will be glad when keith gilyard finish his study of babajohn, babajohn deserve way more
respect than he get and my boy gilyard got this seminal work in play on him)

so anyway, first i need an outline, let me do 9 segments, a good hoodoo number
to start with, always got to start somewhere and ive found this a good strategy for starting works:

what about:

invocation
the game
preparation
immersion
positioning
paying dues
leadership
leverages
legacies

okay rick, that look like a decent layout for the moment, dont have anything for serenity rick, really
need serenity, always need serenity, some grace - guess these categories will be refined as i go along

next step would be to break each one of these down into 9 movements
dont know that i will go into all that at the moment, got to clock todays pages

get back to this today if i get some Work done
the thing to do is start with a rough layout of what will be covered

in the different movements and then keep opening them up
forgive me for letting you watch the process, this gon be ugly:

least till i get that first draft, at some point will transfer
it to rootswork.com, where more permanent work works better:

right now this just me trying to use this rootsblog time wisely
destinically speaking


invocation
notes:  setting the hook, inspiring young players to mount the board

and you young player
perhaps you are ready

to join the great game
to test your mettle, to be a force

in the name of the conqueror
and the legions of rickydoc

the longgame
notes: setting up the longgame and the board of destiny

ideological orchestration
shaping generations and the future of humanity

the longgest most comprehensive game wins . . . .
the one that subsumes all others

longgame on the hoodoo board of destiny
on which we are all played and players

if you play it well, everybody
in the world works for you

preparation
notes: prepare yourself to enter the arena, take a position on the board

to be true force

to be historical, destinical, to make a difference
you must first prepare yourself

after you have chosen your field of battle
you must gain the necessary skilz to be force in that field

you must gain the necessary qualities of mindm body and soul
to be force in that world

relocate if necessary, do whatever you have
to do to be force

apply yourself to this prepartion
before you step on the board

be prepared

immersion
notes: total discipline, total commitment to the game, totalwar
in context of a life of grace

positioning
notes: positioning yourself for ever growing power
constantly adjusting to both victories and defeats

paying dues
notes: paying dues, everybody got to pay dues, if you
want to win big, got to pay big - dont be whining about it

leadership
note: in the arena, taking your punches, building
institutions, shaping generations, being force

remember fledgling, ethics are a power
always best to have some

leverages
notes: leveraging power into pushbutton op that sustains itself and achieves quality of life
withdrawal for assessment, rerefreshment and reality checks, finessement, moving the board

legacies
notes: passing it on to the next generation and
all the generations to come

stategic notes:  fri 11/16

okay rick, as i start laying out the parameters of my movements
i wonder if this chronological development of game is viable

or whether i should approach this more themetically
whatever, ive given it all its gon get today

got to clock some pages

maybe do a little commentary later on when i feel
some psychological space - ie got todays Work done

my love to you all
rickydoc trickmaster

wouldbe prophet
of the hoodoo way

FRIDAY EVENING:

just read over what i got, corn factor kinda high
will have to decide if this something i can do on line

hate to let you see me sweating

rdoc

on the destiny of black people: chosen people scenarios and the longgame

MONDAY

hello world, listening to solomon burke today, works like mountaintop
just right for a hard working downhome groove - oldschool

rootsblog stats been falling cause of my spotty posting - ohwell
bes that way sometime, got to stay focused, rest for the weary gets it all

in the name of babagriot john o killens,
the great griot master of brooklyn

who not only taught me how to be a writer but
how to be a visionary

babajohn come to mind cause while wandering the net this
morning i read a Memphis columnist talking about how  classic

browneyesblue experiment illustrate the influence of self
perception on behavior and lifechoices

which make me think about why im trying to do this chosen people thing
in spite of all the problems that come with chosen people scenarios:

hitler and the jews, israelis and palestinians, boers and kaffirs
brahmins and untouchables,

the grand old south and the republican southern strategy
the list of chosen people scenarios gone bad goes on

so i feel real defensive about going this route for the black
generations  -  let me try to explain:

at one point as a young ideological orchestrator, trying to develop my political strategy for
blackfolks empowerment i decided that everything i had to say had been said before

harlem renaissance, civilrights, blackpower, martin, malcolm, marcus and ida b, literary thinkers like
ishmael, amiri and gaylejones,  langston, richwright and zora, etc etc ad infinitum

its not like blackfolk dont know what has to be done to get out of this trickbag, its the
execution thats been problematic, how do you transform an entire race of people

a necessity which basically lead to a decision to try to change blackfolks culture
and lifestyles souldeep, otherwise none of the strategies of empowerment

were enough to change the destinic dynamic,

politicalpower, education, blackcapitalism, radicalism, individual achievement and community
development, various activisms, etc etc etc,

none of them have worked to fundamentally change the condition of
blackfolk in this world, much less america

so what i decided some years ago was that just telling black people to act right
just wasnt sufficient when you are as behind and discouraged as we are

when your subservience is built into the social and psychological system

it would be hard to explain to folk who havent experienced it, the crippling sense
of inferiority that blackfolk have to contend with and how it cripples efforts

to heal the dysfunctional elements of black culture and lifestyles
both individually and collectively

for however many hundred years we been here, folk been exhorting blackfolk
to get it together, to be normal citizens instead of dysfunctional bottomfeeders

dont get me wrong, i accept racism and all as breeding grounds but i think it is only
by taking responsibility for our own destiny that we will be able to finesse racism and

turn the trick, that only we can really fix this and that we will
be abused and disrespected until we by our behavior

make that reality false,

and i believe you can be whatever you aspire to be, that you conduct
yourself as you aspire to be and over the years you become it

conduct yourself as you aspire to be and you shall
it is the essence of conjuration, for forcing reality to bend to your will

this is how ive become a writer, a conjuror and a wouldbe prophet (jury still out on that
one, i have not yet been able to pull that off to my satisfaction)

and racism - crying about racism is like a sailor cursing the sea because its wet

surely by now we have factored racism into our strategic posture
cause its not going anywhere - granted its better than its been but thats not saying much

every once in awhile something like the genetics guy or jenas nooses remind us
of where we really stand in this country

so based on principles of healing for hoodoo clients with particularly strong behavioral problems
where i dont try to just stop dysfunctional  behavior as much as i try to change that negative  energy to

productive energy, rather than just telling them to stop doing ingrained negative behavior
i believe in giving clients life affirming goals to achieve that re channel that energy

i have also found this a useful tech for my own attempts to keep growing in power
accentuating the positive, eliminating the negative and changing bad energy to good

and so often i saw where blackfolk latch onto the most most preposterous ideas/strategies
out of this desperate need to feel good about themselves, so i decided to use that energy too

i decided that only by giving blackpeople a mission greater than their adversity could i channel/
conjure the energy that it would take to get us out of a historical trickbag of this magnitude

i have to give them a vision they can believe in
a vision that will inspire them to superhuman effort

a vision that will illuminate them, make them greater than they are

this also has to be a vision that serves both my families, blackpeople and
all humanity - that inspires both of them to be greater than they are -

it must be a better way

so i came up with this firstborn thing, black culture as
guide and guardian of humanitys destiny

needless to say its made my literary life more complicated, make my Work that
much more perplexing to folk, such a particular vision mess w/my readership such as it is

my stature in literary circles is so marginal that i often wonder if
im just totally delusional to consider myself important as i do

of historical stature and significance
in spite of all evidence to the contrary

i cannot tell you how many times ive wished i was a normal writer, w/readership and
respect (and grants and prizes and books in print) ohwell, bes that way sometime

sometime i wish i never met, never heard, of babajohn o killens, the great griot master
of brooklyn  (this drawing of babajohn as long distance runner by babagriot tom feelings - respect)

so anyway, reason i chose this guide and guardian thing is because i needed

a vision that would ask of blackfolk their higher selves

and one that would by offering critical destinic service to humanity place blackfolk
in a position of power, soft power to be sure but the only kind worth having

illuminating power
the power of service

as a hoodoo sorceror and a lifelong student of power and magical charisma i know that power is a constant negotiation, people give me power because i use it in their service

and when folk decide im not serving them well, then that power is withdrawn - so for a blackfolk as powerful reality, i have to develop a culture that is one of service to humanity

now you may notice that this is a jewish destinic model, the jews at their best

a chosen people scenario - hopefully at its best

at its worst a chosen people scenario becomes a we better than other folk, in particular those who
subordinate to us, which if you really running this good is everybody

i have to avoid that destinic trap at all cost

id rather my people stay weak than become rogue force, as the jews have done in israel,
(i understand how yall got caught up in that trap but im sorry you havent been able to break free)

the black struggle, and in particular my own destinic scenario, is built on
a jewish diasporic model, we must learn from both their victories

and their stumbles,

so even though the success of this strategy is very speculative, i struggle
to build proscriptions against the chosen people syndrome into it

just in case i actually do transform my peoples souls
and their destiny

okay, ima work on all this later, try to flesh it out for you, work the nuances a
little better (rest for the weary all nuance 24 damn 7 - thats why its taking me so long)

this kind of stuff, where im working thru real issues, i dont mind investing rootsblog time in this
even if nobody else is interested, i feel that one day, when the judgments of our generations

efforts are made, its those of us who were working thru the real issues facing
our people at this historical point and time who will be influential

on future generations (and maybe get some respect denied me in my lifetime)

but ive invested about 30 minutes on this riff so far this morning
and thats about all im wiling to invest, i got to clock some pages

cant really blame the literary world i dont get no respect (or readership)
in the final analysis thats just a failure of craft, best i get back to work

if i clock enuf pages today, get some schoolwork off my plate
i will come back to this - big if

my love to you all
rdoc

hanging in there

clocking pages, spiritual guides and black on black crime

SATURDAY

clocking pages

FRIDAY

one thing in this world scare me more than president bush
thats president giuliani  -   can you imagine

hope obama and edwards dont cripple hillary
to point where giuliani slide

also i see where the head of the new africom command
is only 4 star black general, rather blatant dont you think

got to assume he aint been chose
cause he down

best i get some work done
giuliani scare me

rdoc

THURSDAY

hello world, hard to believe i havent posted in a week
no wonder my stats falling, but i kinda dont care

iching say superior personality has two ways of being influential in the world
influencing players at court or withdrawing to work on self as model of future

i translate this as a spiral of engagement in the arena
and withdrawal to assess, refresh, reconsider and get Work done

rest for the weary taking it all
rickydoc is out of the game

all my love
rdoc

THURSDAY

numbers falling, cause im posting so irregular
and w/iffy commentary i suspect

what can i do, life got me by the throat
novel aint happening, commentary dont interest me

im drifting,
blues got me or i got the blues

got to get ruthless
life and myself

couple of victories lately

young talent homegirl katori hall ask if she could use lyrics from
another good loving blues in her play, hoodoo love,

playing down in the city, interesting reviews - thats good
she say aglb inspired her, say she gon give me some props,

thats good too

blues foundation in memphis say ima be a recipient of their keeping blues alive award in feb
i was all excited till they told me i had to pay my own freight, still a little hometown rec always good 

inspiration to hang in there, straighten up.
what you whining about. man up. fly right

backburner schoolhouse and clock some
pages today, today i need some pages

in struggle
rdoc

FRIDAY

hello world, one of my hoodoo colleagues, snake 2g, give me
some names for my haints list in the commentary for haints post

open up another front
attribute him pathfinder

like spiritual guides category

got marcus
did not know of rasta shepherd athlyi rogrs

spiritual guides tentative
assess practice

for ethical spiritual leadership
i will not abide a thief of souls

make sure inhouse practice not cultic and
abusive

determine whats spiritual guidance and whats soul stealing

spiritual guides opens questions
for instance farrakhan

i still got beef about malcolm and lack of a sincere apology
i still got a beef about supporting sudans wars against blacks

dont know what kind of inhouse practice he got
trying to reward folk who have resisted the temptation

to take advantage of believers
to abuse the power

and what about atr houses, orisha list has
a listing of significant orisha elders in americas

take 9 of what seem to be the best flowers
glad this just 101, this list is out of control

that piece is called yellow dog - where the yellow railroad cross
the dog down near tutwiler miss where wc handy say he first

heard the blues

talking about holyground now
talking about the delta

and instead of memphis and neworleans by themselves

might do a 7 sisters of the south thing - memphis, neworleans
atlanta, birmingham, st louis, jacksonville, one more

okay, some commentary and im outta here

mukaseys real crime is supporting the bush/cheney imperial presidency, thats
whats really scary but demos dont feel like they can challenge him on it,

so they riding this frail waterboarding reed
thats scary too

meanwhile back at the ranch:

sudans rebels have displayed africas traditional response to
arab/islamic agression - infighting and lack of focus

i need to come up with a term for that historical condition
blackfolk fighting each other instead of the enemy

course in this case the 'arabs' are black too and
slaughter and rapine in the congo continue unabated,

more black on black crime

and dont know im going to see denzel in american gangster
dont know im down for glorifying gangsters and more

black on black crime

i refuse to participate if for no other
reason than respect for lucky dube

been listening to a group fertile ground
song called an artists prayer

say im proud to be part of the underground railroad
say this profession aint no hiding place on the battlefield

in struggle
long live dube

rdoc