THURSDAY MORNING: 7:58 am
clocking pages...
WEDNESDAY MORNING
hello all
been back a couple of days, feeling backed up, need to clock
pages, got a lot of reportage on palf to get thru so i can do some
more substantive analysis, some speculation, some longgame on palf mission
then things been happening back in the world i need to comment on:
obamas move to the center - classic electoral strategy and predictable, no news, sobering but predictable
recent developments in zimbabwe - talks most likely a stall, mugabes team afraid to let him leave, have pullled a virtual coup
but im feeling pressed, got a month before schoolhouse takes it all
got about a 4th of my draft done, got to find another gear
and i got to find it quick, woodshed time for rickydoc
so let me hit my criticals, get this reportage/catchup out the way
palf: basically a success, fulfilled the mission, just a longlist of compromises, missteps
and logistical nightmares, but we fulfilled the mission, felt like a play from my theater days
everything goes wrong
but the show do go on
big problems turned out to be lodging and transportation
problems with all the places we stayed, got to find a home
nyu ghana seriously came thru for us, couldnt have done it w/o them
but we need more space, toting folk from spot to spot became prohibitive
didnt have enuf room at the afia beach and folk lodged at the niagra plus had
serious grievance, services just collapsed and some of them bailed
we switched readings from niagra to tonis jazz club at the chelsea hotel in labone
sweet african american sister doing a jazz singer thing in accra - living her dream
daily readings/panels by faculty, guests and students became a critical mass happening
interesting works, words and visions, i didnt make them all, by this time im buried
in an overflow workshop, if you conscientious it take an investment of a couple
of hours or so to break a story down for workshop purposes, it can take an investment
of many many hours if its a complex work, these workshop gigs you doing daily prep
because it was an unscheduled workshop i didnt get works beforehand so im crunching
novelwork falls by the wayside that week, bummer
still workshops are my thing, thats what i do
picked up a couple of new students in the tradition
im always in the market for new regulators
1st, the students who got in the workshop chose me to work with
some knew me, some got stuck with me, but anytime somebody choose me, i make sure
they get their moneys worth, i make sure they never regret they bet on arthur flowers
thats just part of who i am
thats how i roll
2nd, the bulk of my workshop were polished wouldbe professionals, thats the kind of folk
i like working with, folk who got a shot, who committed to the game, got a shot
us travelers always looking for students
comes with the territory
but its a scripted dance, its not like you got discretionary time to give new students
got too many as it is, but if they make the effort, if they climb the mountain and
kinda demand to work with you, insist you the one they need to reach the promiseland, get
them to the next step in their development, that always works
if you see the potential in them and detect that willingness to make the commitment
so you know you not wasting your time/investment on this one
well then you tickled to be passing it on like it was passed on to you
that becomes part of your literary legacy
thats the way we roll
in the line of o killens
so ghana 08 i added 4, 5 maybe 10, new regulators to
my little destinic army, to the line of o killens - thats cool
out of that 2 maybe 3 will hang, maybe even 4
(i assume i get better at this as i...mature)
between workshop and lonewolf ways i missed a lot, missed
readings and panels, missed davidmills book donation runs
would liked to have made some of those
okay, move on rick, is this essential enough to justify time spent
lets hit those highnotes and get on out of here
what do i need to deal with when i do have the time (joke)
the camaraderie developed among participants, which was deep
evolving working dynamics of palf principals
gender, cultural and personal dynamics among participants
stroking sensitive ghanian literary egos
bonnie and the beadwork
kofi, helen and the afia village beach hotel
trad dinner at home of bonnies archeologist friend ben and his wife, justine
meeting folk from ghanian literary community, martina, kobina and them
hope and the nigerians and the bus from lagos
big willie and the south african contingent and experience with south african commissioners
some of the more entertaining personalities among the participants (have to be delicate there)
hanging out with new ren running buddies malaika adero and jacqui johnson
did performance with tyehimba jess on bluesharp: how brer rabbit introduce brer alligator to trouble
daily taxi expenses & oxford streets black africa, a young painter w/parables (i bought 3 of his works)
okay, i know there a lot more but let me run thru kokrobiety institute right quick
interesting place, sustainability is its thing, renee nesbitt its resident visionary, conversation w/her
exposed a performance poet and oldschool radical (panthers, algeria, et al) in a new groove
living her sustainability institute dream (ghana seem to be fertile ground for africanamericans w/a dream)
but too many palf, we overloaded it, they spread us out, folk didnt care for the outside accommodations
main compound cramped folk in little cabanas that would have held 1 easy but held 2 sometime 3, some had communal toilets/shower and the hot water was spotty, damn near campground conditions and a little more regimented than a bunch of writers wanted (for instance that 730 am drumroll for breakfast)
but it was a very engaging little place, right on the ocean, on a rocky mini promenade, good food
very laidback kind of place with meditative nooks, wi fi and interesting sustainability projects
bonnie found herself a little slice of heaven in a homegrown beadmaking factory out back
did a little week apprenticeship with a master that she would have paid good money for
because of overflow, some of us got moved into an isolated house further on down the road but folk
really objected to that house, a big soulless vacation home with in one case 6 people to a room, and the women didnt feel secure isolated from everybody like that
after a lot of drama ended up with me, niq mhlongo and ron grovender in the whole house and me w/a 2nd floor oceanfront balcony
literary heaven
woke up w/the sun and wrote sitting on that balcony
to oceanfront accompaniment
other than student conferences (they had to catch me 1st), lunch and dinner, i disappeared into the far house for the rest of the retreat and it was good,
clocking pages under under ocean front conditions -
thats when im at my best
okay, speaking of pages, only got a 4th of my new draft done and about 30 days before
schoolhouse takes it all, i got to focus and this might be all the reportage i got to give
much less more substantive commentary/
speculation on the mission of palf
martina kept asking why the pan african writers association (pawa) wasnt in the house, told her i didnt
know, wasnt privy to those negotiations, probably turf issues, been running up on those w/established
african/africanamerican literary organizations, got to show more political grace, got to establish working
relationships w/them all, allliance is after all power and pawas mission similar to our own
fellow travelers who believe in the power of literature and consider
each and every writer unto self an army
cultural nationalists trying to empower/save the blackworld
through its literary voices and visionaries - way john o taught me
empower, organize, institutionalize, provide infrastructural space for their development
help them be the cultural forces they capable of being - the forces we need them to be
if you believe in the potential of literature/writers to be historic/cultural/destinic force
then you will understand our commitment to this mission
literary influence is a very nuanced power, but with the proper
nurturance it can be one of the most powerful on the
hoodoo board of destiny
organizing writers (and hoodoos) only
thing im willing to give up writing time for
cause thats the way john killens rolled
got john o on my mind it seems, my boy keith gilyard just sent me his john killens manuscript, keith been working that book long as i been working mine and he moving into closure too, 500 pages of john killens scholarship, the story of babajohn killens, the great griot master of brooklyn, a story that has yet to be told, it was john o installed that commitment to building literary infrastructures in me, im gon read that text this weekend, im honored keith ask me to and hopefully it will inspire me for this last sprint, if keith let me ima do a post on it
when i get some time (joke) i will do a better
and more graceful job of expressing all this
but as for right now
got to get back in my groove
one point before i go, we sat down with the folk from kwani
about a joint palf/kwani conference to timbuktu in 2010
not only timbuktu but kwani too
kwani was and is the inspiration for what we do
kwani is what we want to be when we grow up
to go to timbuktu w/kwani would be a dream come true
stay tuned, if we pull that one off thats gon
be special, be there or be square
im outta here
all my love
rdoc
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