rootwork the rootsblog: a cyberhoodoo webspace

palf 2008

WEDNESDAY

hello world, i have not been able to keep up
the internet connections spotty, time at a premium

so far its been good, we have pulled off every move
got everybody in and settled in various hotels
around accra

got the kenyan contingent in
got the south africans in
got the nigerians in
got folk from zimbabwe and ghana

at the opening ceremony we had some 100+ young writers from all over africa
and all the african americans and american writers, it was held at the dubois center

had tonis jazz band playing, had the catering, all pieces we had to pull together
the orientation went well the next day at the nyu center

the workshops got set up, had to set up way more than planned, got 5 fiction workshops
when we had only planned two but we had so many students we had to make do

ie i had to teach one, and other folk too who hadnt planned to do so

but now that im doing it im glad i am, its so interesting having this mix of african
and african american writers workshopping in a cross cultural exchange because

its clear that african literature has different aesthetics and we are both learning from
each other, for instance african lit often ends with that moral note that western lit disdains

in favor of the emotional resonance of some sort so we kinda crossworking it
and for the african americans who have come so many are interested in africa as

literary ground and its good to see what african literary folk think about our efforts
its been a really magical dynamic

and ghana of course is ghana, we are going to elmina saturday, you know thats gon
be deep,

binyavanga of kenyan just got in the other day (hes lost so much weight i barely recognize him)
and he was talking about how hes been reluctant to do elmina but that he was looking forward to

doing it with us, and i told him you know we gon be tripping man, you probably gon have to cool us out
he said thats exactly what he was looking forward to, experiencing it as we will

man i got so much to say and so little time to say it in

i will have to catch up with you later, im on a workshop break

all my love

rdoc

SUNDAY

hello world, in accra,

1st time in ghana, 1st time in west africa
i know its corny and subject to revision but i do

feel like ive come home in some way
staying at afia village, which is an ocean front find

took care of some business friday,met the nyu ghana folk, ama and christa
they been taking real good care of us, also victor and peter

yesterday me and jp trekked osu looking for a hotel for the south africans and
found a good one in the niagra plus in osu, which has a lot of character, which

is what we like about this afia village beach operation
its got character, folk are going to enjoy this

i been crunching pages to the soundtrack
of waves on the shore - aint nothing sweeter

had the nerve to storm last night w/thunder
and lightning and high waves outside

tomorrow got a long list of things to do, follow through on the south africans
some ngo status and banking matters, some issues with the web center ceremony

and with the nyu accomodations, etc so forth

went to the dubois center/grave, you know that moved me
this been a magical moment so far, but tomorrow back to the grindstone

got to contact ama aidoo and try to make it right for her, shes unhappy w/us

jeff ask me to call her tomorrow, as you can imagine
im trepeditious about that but call her i shall

something has happened to binya and arrangements have to be made
can have no conference without binya in the house, i hope its okay

been hearing from young ghanian writers interested in being part of it

kofi sent us a list of young talent, we are looking forward to meeting all this young talent
set up some kind of palf fellows thing like cave canen do, young writers of the african world

monday me and jp got to hit the ground running

friday went by dubois home/grave, woke up
this morning to the sound of the ocean and

clocked some hardcore pages
old boy is in a good space

nothing but grace
nothing but grace

my love to you all

rdoc

THURSDAY

hello world, time to start a palf journal
pan african literary forum

a gathering of african writers from around the world
jeff allens vision, manifested on lamu

a kwani/sls seminar, me and him and all these african
writers from all over, it was a deep experience

jeff had an epiphany and here we are
asked me if i wanted a piece of it

i said damn right and it cost me my sls gig
which i really appreciated, a yearly trip to literary east africa

met the young turks of kenyan lit, binya, tony, muthoni, billy, parselo, yvonne, shalini, suhalia, muki, boke, chris, so many i cant possibly get them all

and all these writers from elsewhere, doreen from uganda, chimananda
from nigeria, hope from nigeria, ntoni from south africa, it was just too deep

so me and jeff trying to do one of our own
trying not to bump heads with kwani/sls we decided to have

it in different afroworld countries, now i say me and jeff
but i been more tagging along, its been jeff thats put the work in

that has the vision, i had this modest idea of what we were talking about
a reasonable idea, jeff had this vision of a topflight operation

before i knew it we were spending big bucks, and the ocncept kept growing
until it was the biggest baddest thing ever with a budget of 150,000

by this time mohammed n. ali had come aboard, jeff had invited him
to be the 3rd board member, mohammed was ghanian and gets good

respect in the field, major addition to the vision
pulled off the big win bringing nyu in on it

nyu offered us use of their ghanian campus
and gave us some funds to make it happen

jeff sent out a bunch of letters to successful writers asking
them to sponsor students, we got some returns on that

folk like....
but thats it, between the in kind services donated by the new school
which mostly consist of paying jp, our administrator and providing office space

again, criticals, its been money out of jeffs pocket and credit
the sponsorships which allowed us to bring over some students
and the nyu donations

we have basically made this happen for about 30,000, but it is going to
be seriously bare bones, we are going to have to ask folk to pay for everything

jeff had this huge vision, with 100s of folk invited and it broke his heart
to have to cut back on it, me and mohammed were pulling the longfaces and

saying the money is not here, we have to cut back, and jeff seriously believiing
the money would show and the money just didnt show, we were rank amateurs at

this nonprofit funding so anyway maybe three weeks before its supposed to happen
jeff finally draws back and has to get in touch wth all these folk saying sorry i just

cant make it hapen, and weve left some bad vibes behind us
we gon try to make it right next year - best we can do

between what jeff putting out, mohammed putting out in terms
of setting up the ghanian ground game and jp doing with the administration

i often feel like the weak link in this chain, i been doing the irs process mostly, im
secretary, mohammed is treasuer, jeff is exec, putting together board, etc

so thats where things stand, leaving for ghana tomorrow, its going to be
embarrassingly barebones but we expect it to be a seminal moment

in pan african literature regardless, it will be the quality of the dialouge
that makes it so, how do i orchestrate that, seminal dialogue

asked about doing a panel on a pan african literary vision in the 21st century
but it got lost in the mix - and i didnt push it cause it would just

be more work, perhaps i can do some interviews

that address that issue for myself, what are the questions
literature in the 21st century, its role, its evolution, its dynanic, its direction
pan african literature in the 21st century
what is the definition of pan africanism in the 21st century
taking into consideration the contexts of pan african literarure in the 21st century
which means what are the burning questions facing africa, facing the pan african world, facing the world

what role does literature
what role does pan african literature play in that

which means i have to catch up on my reading
most of these folk who will be there i dont know their work

and dont have the time to get on it now, cause i aint doing nothing but novelwork
(and some book of flowers when i get terminally bored with rest fo the weary

whatever,

so anyway dear regulators, for the next 3 weeks is going to be palf
observations and speculations

whenever i can guerilla up a
computer connection

all my love

rdoc

mackdaddys mackmommas of the world unite

MONDAY 4:57 am

good strong day yesterday, not as much as id like of course -  to fix my endgame entail fixing
threads deep into the novel, so i spent yesterday generating raw text all thru the manuscript

text that now got to be worked and Worked and...
x many rewrites before it will be decent manuscript

so basically the harder i work the more i fall behind
you see the problem w/that - but such is the literary life

michelle obama recently went politicing among the feminists
i think they gon find her a kindred spirit once they give her a chance

in the commentary to 1st article, one commenter responded to a clintonite threat to support mccain cause of obamas 'lack of experience':

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

Well, I have to agree with you. Barack Obama does not have anywhere near the "experience" of John McCain. In fact, he has NO experience in:

1. Voting to ban federal insurance plans from covering either abortion OR contraception.

2. Voting against requiring insurance companies to cover contraception AND breast reconstruction after mastectomy.

3. Voting to ban federal funding for any family planning clinic that even DISCUSSES abortion with clients (under ANY circumstances including to save the woman's life) OR that dispenses any form of contraception other than advice to use the rhythm method.

4. Voting to ban federal funds for sex education programs in schools that teach about ANY method of preventing disease or birth other than total abstinence.

5. Voting against work supports for poor women trying to get off welfare (work supports are federal subsidies for child care and insurance that can be used by poor women who enter the work force)

6. Voting against universal health care in any form.

Nope, Obama has no experience in doing any of those things. But he DOES have "experience" voting exactly the other way...which is why he has a 100% rating from Planned Parenthood Federation (and McCain has a ZERO rating.)

And you say you supported Hillary Clinton? WHY? You seem to be against everything she stood for.

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

i cant testify to the validity of the claims but it sound pretty damning
once folk focus on mccains archaic domestic policy, his militaristic foreign policy

his support of the imperial presidency

i believe they will begin to question his rep as a moderate
i can only hope mccain continue to pander his base

both him and barack gon be trying to move to the center
but i believe barack got more wiggle room,

his base love him (and michelle)
mccain base just barely tolerate him

so, im out of here, got to meet the beast  - again
two days solid work, lets go for three

all my love and a
luta continua too

rdoc

SUNDAY

hello world, old boy clocking pages
well clocking paragraphs, i take what i can get

i bow before the great god momentum
i see zimbabwes tsvangirai bowing too

withdrawing from election, mugabe has made it clear that he will not allow another defeat

my prayers are w/the people of zimbabwe, may
you be delivered from overgrown revolutionaries

tsvangarai move trying to force african leaders to step up
dont hold your breath - dont try this at home

so, boston artist yazmany arboleda set up an
exhibit in a storefront across from nytimes

called it: the assassination of hillary clinton, the assassination of barack obama

say he referring to media assassination of their characters
look to me like he doing a little character assassinating himself

set up a 2 day exhibit right across from nytimes, obviously playing for sensationalist coverage

i hate to contribute to his viral marketing program but such life on the web

nyc closed it down 30 minutes after it went up

artist say his constitutional rights to express himself through his art have been violated
some of his more provocative work i decided not to post, a little too rough for my sensibility

what do you think:

a luta continua

rdoc

SATURDAY

hello world, somebody will have to explain to me how to download songs off myspace,
i push the button and nothing happen, i suspect by download they just mean listen

i went by BAR the other day, see what glen ford saying
he getting kinda shrill about obamas fathers day game

kinda sad to see glen so out of the loop, so doctrinaire he
dont see the potential in the moment

so anyway in the commentary (always my favorite)
this mack responded with following poem

brother name onwuku

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

*U* must have had yo Dad at home???
written by OnWuKU Mawulolo , June 18, 2008

Dat Boy Barack told the Truth...

It Hurt & Sounded Ugly

But It was the TRUTH

I WAS NOT INSULTED

I WAS CHEERING!!

My Father was not there & it was a terrible growing up without him...

Mr Ford, The Foundation of Civilization is the Family Unit*

Fathers Coming Home & Being Fathers is the FIRST ORDER of the DAY!!

& I love my Step children,
but it was not right that I had to raise so many...

Yes, the Right Wingnutts Will Use his statements to serve their agenda, this is true & to be expected.

But that does not change the Reality of OUR Plight
& what WE must Do to BETTER OURSELVES

As for all those hoops & barriers & obstacles & extra curricular expectations to meet your August Standards of "True & Authentic Black Electablity"...

& the rest of the Dark Devious Diabolical "Damion" Dastardly Deeds *U* assail upon Brother Barack Hussein Obama*

A lot of your overall analysis of the "Enemies" Schemes & observations of the Brotha's missteps are correct...

I simply disagree with your assigning it as a malignancy of his character. I see naivety & Political maneuvering.

If he played it your way...
WE wouldn't be having this conversation.*

Beloved;

Do yo thang Baby*

Itz gonna all come out in the wash

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

not only did i appreciate what he had to say, i like the way he said it
me and this boy on the same wavelength

political couplets and all, i recognize in him a fellow mack, a fellow traveler
in the african american griotic society

so i followed his link to his myspace site and what a struggle experience

boy stone macking and i see the multimedia potential in using myspace
to manifest your vision

but i just dont have time to learn myspace graphics right now
maybe when i get this novel finished, speaking of which

i clocked some paragraphs yesterday, a luta continua indeed

all my love

rickydoc rootdoctor

wouldbe prophet
of the hoodoo way

maintain: a luta continua

FRIDAY

hello world, foot still bad, tried walking on it yesterday, no fun
still havent gotten back into the saddle work wise, bummer

and just what is what is the deal with blackfolk and r kelly
might need to be some soul searching going on there

south africa going thru (more) soulsearch behind anc youth league leader malemas recent call at big rally to "take up arms and kill" for zuma if coming court case

does not go zumas way, zuma spoke after him and did not reject and
rebuke - south africans protesting that they live by rule of law now

zuma has been forced to denounce, that was the word i was looking for

but you get sense its not sincere, his theme song is still 'machine gun'

revolutionaries unable to make the transition to democratic
struggle are the mold from which mugabe is cut w/his

threat to go to war if he lose the election next week
how silly he say that a voters x replace the gun

a luta continua

for those who dont know, a luta continua is portuguese for
the struggle continues

it was the slogan of the angolan revolutionaries when they won their
colonial war, they said now the real struggle begins

a luta continua

it became the slogan of my political generation
back when i myself was a headstrong young turk

full of unrexamined rhetoric, probably why im kinda hard
on the hard black left now, it was a struggle breaking free

of that absolutist headset and still is, constantly trying to grow up
as a force, be more effective, more flexible

while maintaining struggle (ie not selling out) or something
along these lines, its a real fundamental understanding

all committed professionals go thru but i will
have to phrase it better

suffice it to say that being true and effective lifelong force
in the struggle is important to me

a luta continua

rdoc




THURSDAY 2:20 am

okay, another day gone, didnt do a lick of work yesterday,
palf took it all, okay, lets try it again...

i hear michelle did good on the view yesterday
say she got what fox called the 'terrorist fist bump'

from the young campaign staff, its the new
high five she say,

you can tell she dont know what she doing cause of that thumb up like that but still its kinda cute

i think of it as the rasta respect fist and i like using it cause it mean you dont have to shake hands w/folk and get germs - im funny that way

respect respect

i hear the mississippi acting up and flooding
i grew up on the banks of the mississippi

or rather on the bluff, black south memphis is high above
the miss and not subject to its whims and

sitting at the mouth of the delta like it do memphis is
like the guardian at the gate

during the war it was called the city of sanctuary
cause it got captured early and became a union garrison

slaves get to memphis and they were home free

memphis still think of itself as the guardian at the gate
city of sanctuary and defender of the delta

and when the mississippi start to acting up
the ol delta conjureman get concerned

i once wrote a flood scene in another good loving blues that
embarrass me now that ive actually lived thru a flood

nothing like what i imagined it would be
hope i dont have to intervene on the one

traveling down river now

in struggle

rdoc




WEDNESDAY  5:05 am

hello world, no work yesterday - foot getting better (thank god)
us diabetics got to be real careful w/foot wounds

but still no work

been about 4 days now, anybody know
me know thats unacceptable, check back

w/you later today, i got to crunch some pages
paragraphs, words, something, tired of being

stuck on this last 20 pages, focus rick
step by step, inch by inch, word by word

focus




TUESDAY 3:45 am

hello world, in depth analysis and commentary on BAR
regarding influence of obamas community organizing background

 in his campaign dynamics, probably a little too in depth, i ended up scanning it

a little too insular maybe but still fascinating information, as always

its the commentary that got interesting, one back and forth w/author talked about how obama is a politician in final regard and electing him is just

the first step, got to try to keep him as honest as possible once he in
though i myself wouldnt trust the hard left to be judge of that (think rev wright)

i suggest rickydoc for that task

obamas recent bit on black fatherhood not really addressed to black fathers
but to independents & clinton democrats who would like to make such statements themselves

slick move on obamas part -  see the advantages of a blackman in authority, i can say this
rickydoc approve of slick moves,

as a missing black father myself i accept the rebuke as sincere
i judge this pander to be benign

dont know about hiring patty doyle, otherways of sending that no way VP message
to the clintonites w/o riling them up (if thats possible), also i notice

clinton working her heart out for the nominee is on hold i guess
but ima give her benefit of the doubt, id need a little R&R too after that battle

bush notes:
- army supervisor of kbr in iraq says he was fired when he challenged billions in kbr billings
- senate panel says torture policies started at highest levels of administration no matter what they say
- judge says admin doesnt have to account for millions of missing emails regarding war

but all this isnt really news is it, just more bush admin governing stylee that mccain mean to maintain
probably better use of my time getting a little work done

sometime you do these posts and you feel like youve said something essential
and sometime you feel like you just spinning your wheels, today i feel like im spinning

wheels, im outta here

i miss being part of the hoodoo world, been off the hoodoo
grid since my computer crashed back in january

buried in this novel and thats
where im gon stay til its done

but i be wondering whats going on, dont
like being out of the hoodoo loop

also got this plan to organize black writers from memphis
but ima have to put that on hold too

finish this novel, get some respect, make my vision clear
it will make everything easier, folk think

community organizing is challenging
try organizing writers and hoodoos why dont you

but as a literary hoodooman thats my turf and i believe
two of the most powerful pieces on the board

get the writers and the hoodoos organized and i will
be satiified that was a nice little contribution

to have made to the struggle
speaking of which, i gotta go

gotta clock some pages before i get on
that PALF plane to ghana in 10 days

wont be able to print out so it will be all redpen
for that i want a clean manuscript, a new draft

still struggling w/that last 20 pages
can you believe that

gon lose my whole summer messing
around with 20 pages -

that aint gon fly
all my love

rdoc

MONDAY

hello world, got a taste of the blues
so ima keep this tight and right

chad and sudan have gotten into a two step, each one supporting each others rebels, both militaristic

repressive governments, both islamic, but chad seem
to be more africanist than sudan and fewer africanist issues

chad got drawn in supporting

darfurs rebels, whose activities of late have riddled their credibility

speaking of credibility mugabes repressive policies have become farce in their intensity, he has ruthlessly attacked his population

in order to intimidate them and human rights observers before election on 27th
say he defending the revolution against british colonialism - well

intensity of intimidation ensures no chance of opposition winning this election, you
got to admire their courage, their determination, and hope they prevail anyway

of course history tells us they are likely to be no different if they were
in power, but one does what one can, what is is

meanwhile back at the ranch

other day obama say if mccain bring a knife he gon bring a gun
mccains campaign jumped right on it, make sure everybody heard that

that black man said gun

(chill down big o - dont scare the whitefolk - wait till you get
in before you get to bush talking)

clinton delegate to national convention say
she is now supporting mccain, so be it

after some confusion, she was expelled from state delegation
cause we aint got time for that, you wanna go, go - rest

of us saddling up, folk who jump ship now will regret it later

mccain dismissal of supreme court decision on detainees is indicative
of that authoritarian vision of usa that bush/cheney exemplify

mccain has expressed intent to gut roe wade et al and
approved/abetted an expansion of executive authority

most of us find excessive
is that what you want

bet mugabe, mccain and bush/cheney got a lot in common
and whoever told mugabe that little hitler mustache was cool i wonder

or is that charlie chaplin, whatever, he gotta go
mcbush too  -  and so do rickydoc

aint done no pages last couple of days, stepped on a nail
and been laid up, feeling sorry for myself

look like i got the blues today, trial and
tribulation wear you down sometime

im tired im weary

sometime the hammer stun you, you get hit 3, 4 times
before you get your feet back under you

a luta continua

rdoc

 

on the nature of magic: flash fictions, the albino killings and conjuric interventions

FRIDAY

ran across an account of witch killings in kenya and commentary by local healer"

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

"Others are skeptical the slain women were witches. At the top of a hill outside Kisii, Joseph Omache practices his craft. Omache is a shaman, or traditional healer. He throws bones and communes with ancestors to help heal physical and spiritual ailments.

"It is very painful when somebody kills another person in the name of witchcraft," he says. "Why couldn't they come to me so that I can perform my herbal potion to identify the real witch so that I can go ahead now to trap him and then we can see what to do?"

Omache says that in his 10 years of studies and decades of practicing, he has never come across a witch.

"These are vendettas. It is not that people really bewitched somebody," he says, adding he believes that "witch hunts are really about people expressing hatred and coming up with an excuse to hurt someone."

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

these the type of healers highjohn need to recruit for
his worldwide afrospiritual protection society

or is that rickydoc trying to do that
wonder if brother omache got email

all my love

mganga maua




THURSDAY

man i am so deep in the zone, i tell folk if you see me its just
a mirage, just walk on by - still working that last 20 pages or so

what can i say, fixing endgame
entail fixing a lot of preceding text

that albino scene worked out pretty well actually
gon to do a series of hoodoo interventions

in sudan, haiti, brazil, somalia et al
basically enlisting afrospiritual practitioners in his vision of

blackworld destiny (and that of all humanity)

folk unhappy w/fox news referring to michelle obama
as obamas baby mama, fox do step out of line dont it

ran across this alternet review of book
the family:the secret fundamentalism at the heart of american power:

an account of a religious right secret society in the highest levels of american politics et al, the
elite of the rightwing ascendancy, inclu some folk you would not think would be involved in it

founded by some guy who preached that christanity had gone astray with all
this concern with the poor and the downtrodden, that it should concern itself

only with the powerful, and so it has, through an array of
techs like congressional power i meant prayer breakfasts, et al

that have nursed the rightwing ascendancy
book say the threat of the right wing is not what they will do

but what they have done

seem to be viable investigative reporting
instead of just raw conspiracy theory

as wouldbe founder of a hoodoo secret society,
such works fascinate me

must reading for a man who like to think
he know true power from the illusion of it

rdoc

MONDAY

enjoyed doing that last post about the guy in the bus station
that kind of observational characterwork narration

good training for the fiction eye
think im going to do more of those

got this sequence i want to work into rest where he is doing his
fantasyworld storyteller thing and supposed to have these visions

of himself as a classic hoodoo w/mythical powers and how he
would address all these blackworld issues as this mythical dr strange

kind of shaman, what if i was really a magician like in the stories
gandalf the grey and the like

so i been thinking lately have him start off visioning it, but as novel progresses
write them as if they were actually happening, him in his fantasyworld, his novel, something

i will figure it out as i do it, so anyway i see this article in the sunday times about albinos being
killed in tanzania for body parts because its believed albino bodyparts are magical

okay, so one of my missions is to bring african magic into the 21st century
to extract the weaknesses, samesame african religion

so killing albinos for magical body parts i consider to be problematic

the nyt times article here
more information here

make me shame to call myself an afrospiritual magican

so i have this vision of me showing up, when something like that bout to go down
and show those suckers some real dr strange kinda magic, where i not only stop it

but illuminate and transform in the doing

i see myself intervening down in haiti, (if the voodoos were on the case in
haiti it wouldnt be in the shape it is in now)

i see myself intervening in the sudan, in the congo,
in kenya during their recent tribulation, south africa

and all over the united states
put a new definition on

conjureman

so anyway im going to write more flashfiction observations like i did yesterday
just do the raw here but sometimes working them as passages in rest for the weary

let me do a quick raw text of this albino thing
i will clean it up later

--------------------------
samuel mluge works works his way through his rice fields with a quickness that is wasteful and finally stops, that is all he will be able to do today

the rice is stubborn today and he is covered with a carapace of sweat that calms new sores rubbed raw by the long sleeves he must wear to protect his albino skin from the tanzanian sun

he imagines his wife looking down the road wondering, hoping, praying,

it would be cruel to concern her so and her world is cruel enuf without his assistance

and so with reluctance he gathers his tools and starts back to the house. - the sun has begun to drop behind the horizon and barely repressing his fear he hurries through lengthening shadows.  he imagines his wife at the sturdy door looking for him and hurries even beyond his own fears

when he sees his compound she is there in the door as he imagined she would be, her pale skin spectral in the dusk.  what on earth posses him to marry another albino.

but that was before the rumors started, before the killings began, before his albino skin became more precious to others than it ever was for him

now he must protect not only himself but his wife and his 5 fair skinned children.
husband she will say in that voice she knows irritates him, why do you stay out every evening

till the day and the neighbors are gone

the horizon is indeed empty, they have considered moving to the city but this land is all they own and it is only at night that they are left isolated - in the night that used to belong to them

barely sun down they would take the children and visit friends and sometime just walk here there it didnt matter and while the children slept they sit outside and converse about anything and everything , a story shared with the few folk in passing, often friends would gather just because it was known they would be there

samuel is rueful as he pulls thick bars across the 4 windows, they had cost money he could afford but now the windows are barred and the door is sturdy and it was worth it, this peace of mind

pays for itself but still every car that passes they wait and wonder and so they are

instantly alert when one does not pass and instead pulls to a stop outside
and they are two statues staring at each other in the dark

pales skins ghostlike impression, waiting for the voices that have begun to mark their
days, look, albinos, that skin will make one rich, i am told their genitals will bring a man luck

some claim for luck better the eye
both are good, but one will do

I did not know we had some so close by, where do they live i wonder

a tentative knock on the door, much too tentative, they do not answer.
hello in there, we know you are there, we have come for you

the knock becomes insistent, better but still no answer
the children are awake now but as still as quiet as their parents

you will anger us the voice
on the other side says

ive checked said another, the windows are
barred, is there no other way in

no no, i told you, we must go through this door, you in there, we will let you
live if you give us three of your children

from one statue a stifled laugh she cannot hold, it amuses her
that this life this skin could ever be considered lucky

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

okay, i dont know about this

that ghouls bargaining outside the door i once saw that in an
achebe story - it was kinda chilling

then ima have the hoodooman show up
king of the magicians

like gandalf or dr strange, paul maudib, w/that storybook magic
on the black hand side

not only stop this tragedy but some how transform and illuminate
the moment, the participants, the culture, the tradition

this is a fantasy i sometime have, gon work it is rest
but i dont know about writing it out online

i dont mind giving up nonfiction online, cause ima 21st century literaryman
and i understand you got to give it up if you want to establish an online literary persona

but its too easy to steal online, you just highlight and copy, hell thats how i get a lot of
my online material, its the cost of doing business

as long as you moving forward, growing, working your material into book form
you still ahead of the game and evolving from the give and take

but fiction, i dont think im willing to give up fiction like that - maybe i will
do just enuf to start the passage - refine, enrich and manifest in the text

we will see

what im doing here is using my more prosaic realworld magical tools to address that blood ritual problem
in afrospiritual practice, cause im gon nip that shit, rickydoc do not approve and im gon extract

the bullshit out of afrospiritual traditions, i swear fore god and all thats holy i am
from ritual killings to animal sacrifice its all part of the same continuum and

that shit gon cease
on rickydocs shift

in the conquerors name

rickydoc trickmaster

wouldbe prophet of
the hoodoo way

thats magic
enuf for me

of hillary clinton and the nomination of barack obama

SUNDAY

speech notwithstanding, as to whether hillary plays spoiler
or champion is still out, we shall see

but today i had to go to the city right, for a palf meeting
cant do a day trip to city from syra by train, timing wont allow it

didnt feel like driving so i took the bus, now the bus is my least favorite
mode of long distance travel, its too well lets say democratic

folk right up on you you know, so i put on my do not fuck with me persona
and im real antisocial, try to take some reading some work catch up on some sleep

so im sitting there waiting on the bus and watching larry king on the overhead
talking about the election, white guy comes up to me, looks a little beat up

like he lost a couple of rounds, without really looking me says what
do you think, obama or . . . .

at 1st im a little shocked somebody trying ot start a conversation with me but
before he even finish i say - now you know im an obama man

we still not quite looking at each other, maintaining our space and im my
old antisocial self and already movng off from him when he says i just

dont know, im torn between him and mccain, he just doesnt have the experience -
and im already blowing him off cause thats my standard op but i find myself lingering and

thinking this guy is really trying and reaching out and trying and i need to be
representing (what would obama do) but im already moving off so i say over my

shoulder and kinda friendly - i hear you but i think he can grow into the role

and im thinking afterwards that i at least should have established eye contract
maybe held a little conversation with him about why i think obama is cool

on the real side

and maybe just have been a little friendlier in general
actually caught his eye maybe

so we on the bus now, the both of us, only 4 people on the bus
and every once in awhile our eyes will catch and i

decide when i get off this bus ima say something like
takeccare of yourself man

as i breeze on by, and he will be surpiseed,
mutter something of the sort

and just maybe a little eye contact
and im gone

instead he got off in binghamton, got his bags from
the side of the bus , im sitting right over the baggage

but he didnt look up

all my love

rdoc

SATURDAY

hello all, i have been wanting for sometime now
to ponder on what barack obama means to the struggle

every once in awhile i go over to black agenda report to see what they saying
and they just ranting and raving and not really dealing with what this

mean to the struggle, this really does change things and somehow
im not sure how, but it is a major crossroads that we have to figure

out how to best leverage, and what does it mean to african
american culture and destiny, i got to figure out where the leverages are

where the root is to be worked, i wa reading an article in the washpost
this morning and this blackguy said: its like hes our savior or something

something is happening and i dont know what it means to the black community
in such a way that we can make maximum strategic use out of it

i got to ponder this, do some serious thinking about it
but not today, finally got a groove on last night w/rest

last 20 pages of the endgame, longhanding it
i got to stay focused right now

if thoughts come to me today on this i will
get back to you

all my love

rdoc

ps: that was quick, saw article in washpost this moring by jabari asim
that took a mushy stab at it, may use that as one of my jump off points

later, i got to clock pages

9:21 am and im behind schedule

im looking for the zone

rdoc




THURSDAY MORNING

the rnc just put out their 1st attack add using hillary clintons words against obama
only to be expected, more clinton baggage, fortunately its come out so quick so blatant

its likely to just make democrats mad...

NOTE 6/6: IN THE INTEREST OF UNITY IMA TAKE THIS VIDEO DOWN
HILLARYS DOWNFALL TOO

its hard though, just read an article mention clinton campaigns
efforts to drive a wedge between blacks and jews by using the

race cards she used so effectively with her good white folk
its gon be hard, i will work with her, but i will never i dont

believe have any affection for her

i once saw her having a good time in the west indian labor day parade
in brooklyn, back when she was cool w/blackfolk, back when we were

cool with her, ohwell, let me go see what i can find out about this
effort to split blacks and jews, like she did blacks and hispanics

like she did blacks and whites - that hillary played
the race card rather viciously is not really news is it

she tried to leave us isolated and defenseless
vulnerable - and she got so many blackfolk to help her

still cant get over that

its gon be hard - i fear she will say she gon help
him win and be up to her old tricks, gaming on 2012

we shall see, i really want to get beyond this interlude
i want to be cool w/hillarys folk, w/the feminists

i would like to forget just how rough this primary got
i would like to forgive and be forgiven for stepping over the line

hey what do you think about that toles cartoon
i have a dream indeed

rdoc




WEDNESDAY EVENING

way to go boy obama, you the man
now the real battle began

hillary still doing her thing, refused to concede last night
still playing that politics of resentment and demanding to be

given the vice presidential slot,
obama be a fool to offer it to her

he cant trust her
not to undermine him

as if she were the nominee
with her own agenda

and hilllary as vice president (w/bill)
another 8 years of clinton drama

an anxiety, a distraction the president dont need

she and her supporters keep saying he/the media did her dirty
but the truth was is that he outplayed and outgamed her

time mag article about his seminal campaign strategies
wsj article about her teams mistakes
washpost article about how his teams delegate strategy

hillary teams ignored caucuses, didnt budget past supertuesday because they expected a
coronation, and tried on voice after voice until they finally hit on great white hope and the

politics of gender and racial resentment,

not much difference between hillarys appeal to white resentment
and rev wrights appeal to black resentment

hillarys supporters might be susceptible to demagoguery but the superdelegates
are a more sophisticated lot, one of their roles is likely to cut out demagogues

dont nobody want to go there

and while she has taken every opp to highlight his weaknesses so she can say hes unelectable
he has consistently refused to swiftboat her own negatives, of which she has many, perhaps more

than anybody in politics today, but he refused to play 
what bill chucklingly called a contact sport,

one of her prominent supporters, hillary rosen wrote on the Huffington Post:

"She had an opportunity to soar and unite...Instead she left her supporters empty, Obama’s angry, and party leaders trashing her. She said she was stepping back to think about her options. She is waiting to figure out how she would “use” her 18 million voters.

But not my vote. I will enthusiastically support Barack Obama’s campaign. Because I am not a bargaining chip. I am a Democrat."

now she want obama to beg and genuflect, but he cant do that, wouldnt be presidential and
if he give her that power now she will never give it back,

he has to be graceful and reach out but not pander, not to the clintons,
she has proven to be as delusional about believing her own spin as bush has

gon bogart the president, what kind of relationship thats gon be - better to take
the heat from her supporters now than endure clinton drama for 4 - 8 years

and if we lose her supporters we lose them,
want to make it right for them, but not at the

price they asking

we in the fight of our generation
against the rightwing ascendancy

and all it has wrought

for those of us who care, its showtime
gon tell our grandchildren i was there

went by black agenda report, see
what the hard black left was saying

look like they sitting this one out
im not surprised

they got their role to play too
but electoral politics aint it

im outta here, i need
to clock some pages

obama been taking care of business
best so rickydoc

pray for me would you

(and while you at it, pray for obama,
america and all the world)

rickydoc flowers

all my love

full disclosure:i was gon link that hillary downfall video in spite of it being in
terribly bad taste but you tube took it down - bummer  -  it was wickedly funny

of heros and families: my love to you all

TUESDAY MORNING  7:43 am

broke thru last night, clocking pages - finally

rdoc

MONDAY

the drum say hillary conceding tomorrow, say she
gon ask obama to help her w/campaign debt and

provide cover for black politicians that supported her and
catching heat from constiuents & primary challengers

i still fear the subversive
but so far so good

glad this campaign i over, its cheapened everybody
its cheapened bill and hillary and their legacy

its exposed a deep strain of racism and a gender divide
both of these aggravated by hillary clintons strategies

its turned the media into a personal destruction gotcha squad
and its tarnished the all the glowing expectation obama and

the democratic partys mission of taking america back
from bush and the rightwing ascendency but i guess that

to be expected, that was a tower as gloria lynne once
sang too tall to be strong - so much of how this plays out

both politically and historically, will depend on how
hillary plays out her endgame

and on how obama, mccain, media, powers that be
and the american people play it out

when we detemine just what kind
of america do we want to be

still trying to get some work done
didnt clock a page all day

try again tomorrow, rick
me and gloria lynne

all my love

rdoc

SUNDAY

okay, lets see, still trying to get my groove on
ima try to give you a couple of quickies

but i cant think of nothing i feel worth talking about
i guess thats it, im kinda bummed out

took a couple of punches today
ol boy got the blues

you know what i watched last night, beowulf
i could have done without the 3 D bit

but the story, all that hero stuff, that
spoke to me on a level i got to work into rest

what drives a man or woman
to be a hero, to try to be a hero

to have to be a hero

what does heroism consist of in our time
or any time, what is the price that must

be paid

is obama a hero
is hillary

what about bush or osama, there are folk that consider them heros are there not
what is it about heroship thats unconditional, what is it about it that is not

i got to explore this more consciously
in rest for the weary

cause thats what i want to be
w/all my heart and soul i want to be a hero

i want to be a champion

my little volvo died today
bummer, i got no wheels

hard to be a hero
w/o wheels

best i clock some pages
like a hero should

rickydoc trickmaster

wouldbe prophet
of the hoodoo way

SATURDAY

hello world, sorry i been out of the loop
want to thank omi and rya for commentary

 

yall made me feel warm and toasty
guess yall heard bo diddley died, another man done gone
done graduated - him and his little homemade box gueetars

i had a wonderful time in memphis

though family drained me, emotionally & financially
it was good being able to help

and i had a 2 for 1 reunion, i went to carver
before i transferred to hamilton in the 10th grade

and so there i am at the hamilton reunion when one
of my childhood friends from carver came up to me

turns out they were having their reunion right next door
in same hotel, i went over and saw all my childhood friends

i grew up with, it was an incredible moment for me
it was so full, my heart is full just thinking about it

i dont have much to say i guess, just trying to get back into my production groove
feel like anything i got to say about the clintons redundant at this point

yall know where i stand, guess we will just wait and see what the next clinton move will be
i keep thinking its got to have peaked and then she take it somewhere else unbelievable

im just going with the punches now and hope it doesnt kill the party/moment
what can she be thinking, doesnt she care about her legacy, i guess she just

so caught up in it she cant think clearly at this point, she and her supporters lost
guess i would have felt as caught up if obama had lost

but at least he would have lost clean, hillary been fighting dirty for awhile now
question now is will she support him for nov or will her support be subversive

cripple him now, run again in 2012 instead of 2016 and assume/hope democrats
will forgive and forget - well nobody forgave or forgot nader

at this point im betting subversive but im open/hoping to being proved wrong
part of her problem is that folk dont want bill back in the whitehouse

ima stay away from that vanity fair article, provocative though it is - whats deep
is that once i would have defended him (and hillary) now i believe every word

but you know im not really feeling politics today, magically speaking i
have three faces, three masks -  the poet the sorceror and the hordesman

the hordesman is when i got to be really really ruthless, when its about
gathering the horde and flinging in into battle, nothing but strategics

the sorceror is this cosmic, magical personality, the conjuror - it
cares but it is distant and removed, it is also a strategic personality

the poet on the other hand is when sensitivity is called for, openess,
emotion and vulnerability - 

you have to be very careful the right face/mask is assigned
to any given task,

today im feeling the poet in ascendance
today im  feeling warm and toasty and family

feel like all of you family, every single one of you, today im
feeling love for everybody (incl clinton, mccain & even bush)

feeling cosmic today
feeling human today

its all family today
its all good

all my love

rdoc