rootwork the rootsblog: a cyberhoodoo webspace

rough days on a quick cycle: sarah palin and the okeydoke, again: gustav as katrinas revenge

TUESDAY

ima let barack take the highroad on this one, ima ask some questions
about palin and her flatearth conservatism

hopefully all these revelations will give folk pause about mccain and palin

mccain because he made a questionable choice w/questionable vetting: it raise the question his tendency to snap judgments,

do we want that in a president, in these trying times

and it highlight his age, what if he dies in office, what if he start drifting - is palin really truly somebody we want 1 heartbeat away from presidency, what does this choice say about mccains sincerity

hopefully it will stall palins rollout as rightwing flatearth supermom

we been blessed with a string of revelations that make her look petty, small time and perhaps duplicitous - this what i mean by wilting under the glare - we all got secrets to hide

she already been caught in lies to nowhere and peculiar
rightwing associations (alaska succession? to what?)

1st its clear we havent yet been told the whole truth, clear we being played
there are so many holes in this account media will worry at it till the truth come out

the death of a thousand cuts - this is a good thing - victory in the next few
days depends on which side defines her in the public sphere

did mccain actually vet this person
if so i judge it to have been incompetent

for 8 years now this been the gang
that couldnt govern straight

if she wasnt vetted it was reckless
if she was it was incompetent

instead of presidential stature we getting jerry springer drama

look like ms flatearth supermom sacrificed
her daughters privacy on the altar of ambition

according to her own rules of the road
her mama should have just said no

rdoc

MONDAY

hello world, this palin move got folk concerned, it will be awhile before

we can determine how effective it will be, hard to stomach all the republican ads

talking about how bad they feel about hillary when their positions have been so

resolutely anti women, and anti hillary, i remember once reading an article said

democratic 1st ladies often accused of being too uppity (michelle) whereas repubicans

like their 1st ladies 2 be silent 2 step behind helpmeet (cindy) the okeydoke been

used to get blackfolk to vote against their interest w/folk like clarence thomas

and to get regular folk to vote against their interest by stirring up social

resentments and now they are using it to get women to vote against theirs

i would say that its not going to work but it so often does, i never for one moment

considered clarence thomas black but a lot of blackfolk did, we will just have to

wait and see how many democratic and independent women fall for the okeydoke

big difference between a warrior for the cause like hillary clinton

and somebody like palin but it will all be determined by how well palin

pulls the okeydoke off and how well we point the okeydoke out and as you

know dear regulators the republicans are past masters of the okeydoke

was thinking about that harriet tubman in the shawl photo, and hunted it down

for you, there is a likeness on the surface but when you look at those faces

one is the resolute face of struggle, the other looks like the face of defeat

put them together like that you see the difference, kinda like hillary and palin

also the difference in colored folk these days, they used to make colored folk strong

but then again perhaps it is not fair to compare anybody to the conductor

or maybe because it is katrina and hard to look at katrina as anything but the hammer

speaking of katrina, look like gustav is going to rain on the republican convention

this reminds folk of bush and katrina, which is a good thing

and maybe even that when katrina hit, bush was at mccains birthday party, remember

wary of looking clueless again, they trying to transform the convention into a telethon - okeydoke

kinda like gustav is katrinas revenge on the republicans

hopefully its just for show and wont leave a swath of damage/heartbreak behind

our prayers are w/the folk hammered in the caribbean

may the gods of the delta look out for us all

all my love

rdoc

FRIDAY

good lord the news cycle moves quick these days
i dont think i got anything to say about palin just yet

its all in how she is defined in the next few weeks
is she perceived as a good gamble or a slim reed

the democrats are hindered in attacking her cause shes a woman
like the republicans are hindered in attacking barack - check

good and bad points in her far right conservatism
bad point is she will energize their base,

bold choice on mccains part unless she wilt under the spotlight
a lot depend on how many democratic women decide any woman will do

on the good side this pick draw attention to the age gamble, mccain
is 72, is this somebody folk comfortable being a heartbeat away

which will get folk thinking about mccain himself

what if mccain start drifting, we cant have
somebody up in the oval office drifting -

far as im concerned he already drifting but lets
not go there okay, however you look at it

mccain a bigger gamble than obama ever was
if we are tactically deft, this pick will raise these issues

for the moment its knocked team obama off its game
be interesting to watch them work back, expect

mccain to be asked if this shamelessly political
pick is what he mean by 'country first'

and as for folk wondering if hillary will be an enthusiastic campaigner - after telling obama
no other woman you can bet she is not going to be supplanted by no beauty queen conservative

without a fight

im gone, i had a rough day today too
family issues and no pages, and i need

to check on my cousin, see if him and
his family got out of new orleans yet

i believe this woman was protesting
katrinas anniversary, reminds me of

that harriet tubmam in the white shawl shot
i suspect she know that, also reminds me that

whether obama win or lose
the struggle continue

pray for new orleans

may the gods of the delta
watch over you

im gone

rdoc

dnc08: obama, the big bopper and the sisterhood of the traveling pantsuits: looking good and ready to rumble

THURSDAY 7:40 est

not only the anniversary of the i have a dream speech, but also the 3rd anniversary of katrina
we pray that new orleans sidestep gustav - a political talking point we would rather do without

meanwhile, not only did boy obama pull off a great speech
with just the right blend of silk and aggression

but that whole bit with the stadium was longgame
designed to build a colorado machine for election day

which put colorado in play

adding something like 40,000 potential volunteers to their database, god i
love longgame - when a player be thinking ahead

barack the best player we have sent forth

its those team obama campaign skilz
that are going to make the difference

he a political animal

ralph ellison said it back in 1958 "i would like to see a qualified negro as president of the united states, but i suspect that even if this were today possible, the necessities of the office would shape his actions far more than his racial identity"

this gon to be so interesting, im just as tickled
as i can be. i love interesting times

another phase of struggle to live thru,
one more campaign, lets roll

me and barack cool you know, im on his mailing list you know
they send me these faux personal messages that amuse me

but what the hell, ima send him a couple of dollars
he deserve to get paid for that one

ima pass this thing on, send them a couple of bucks
and you will be on a first name basis w/barack too

trust me, it dont take a lot
tell him i sent you

way to go obama, looking good

rdoc

=================

Arthur --

This night could not have happened 40 years ago -- or even 4 years ago.

And it could not have happened without you.

You believed, against the odds, that change was possible. I felt your passion here tonight, and I know it was shared by millions of Americans who are building this movement all across the country.

Tonight is your night. But tonight is just the beginning.

The general election is going to be faster and tougher than anything we've faced so far. And our opponents will do everything they can to tear us down.

I need your support more than ever.

Make a donation of $25 or more right now:

https://donate.barackobama.com/thebeginning

Our party is united. Our purpose is clear. And our goal is in sight.

Thank you for everything you've done,

Barack 

WEDNESDAY 9:30

hello world, sitting here watching the big bopper
doing what he do, still at the top of his game

doing what he spose to, making
obamas case like the trooper he is

a professional thru and thru

wondered how he would follow hillarys star turn
he did a policy thing that was very effective

very clinton, the big bopper is
back and not a moment too soon

it was kinda cute watching her watch him, him watching her
yesterday, proud of their partners game, ima sucker for that

i never for one moment doubted them

what?  dont matter what i said in previous posts
who you gon believe, me or your lying eyes

rdoc

WEDNESDAY

hello world, i have to say my girl hillary nailed it last night
no matter what lingering resentments she may have

she came thru with that speech, she set that bar mighty high
for boy obama, and for the big dog tonight

made me wish barack could have chosen her for vice at least
but it would have been problematic, she wouldna made a good sidekick

maybe he can choose her

for vice in 2012, then she will be 68 2016 which would be
kinda late but i would like to give her a shot at it

i only hope obama can come thru as strong thur as hillary did last night
or folk are going to be showing more buyers remorse than they have already

that was the hillary i used to love
that was the hillary i could love again

im still trying to maintain analytical distance on this thing
i do not want to become a true believer because politicans are

fundamentally questionable people

but between hillary and montanas gov brian schweitzer
it was a real good night for us black dog democrats

starting w/kennedy thru michelle to hillary lastnight i been emotional, eyes damp
i think its a matter of just how important this election is, its beyond barack

its beyond hillary, a point she made well and one
barack needs to keep in mind

hillary raised the bar on him, again, and he gon have to step up his game, again - folk keep
saying barack not ready, but a lot of that is just cover for a charge of being uppity

the real question is can he grow into the role

weve had young contenders before, clinton himself was one, jfk etc, some of the
best weve had, i obviously think/hope/pray he can, and a lot will be riding

on this speech, i hope falling to underdog has focused him
cleaned away some of that premature hubris

trying to see if i got anything else to say
i guess not, not at the moment, 1st class yesterday

im still in trauma,

all my love

rdoc

gameplans and spaceplans: obama the underdog and getting off the planet

SUNDAY

hello world, interesting phase, because of impending time constraint gave up
redpenning and decided to do online cleanup and moving well, working strong

had too many structural revisions to redpen
redpen is for when all the pieces are in place - i thought they were

i tried to move to redpen phase prematurely and it cost me about 2 weeks
now im working well but watching the clock - always something

re the election i think joe biden was a good choice, a safe choice, brings a lot
to the table and no democratic constituency can legitimately object to joe biden

and if god forbid something should happen to obama
joe biden i believe would make a good president

me, i been listening to give me freedom by steven james taylor
oldschool blues, some powerful lyrics in that song:

ive seen trouble, ive seen sin
ive seen evil in the heart of a man

ive seen anger in the eyes of a saint
ive seen sorrow at the side of a grave

and so forth along these lines

one line says ive seen darkness fall
from the edge of a song

something about this song really touches me, i cant listen
to it often but when i do it moves me, makes me feel

i think because as a literary voice i want to be deep

instead of the pollyanna i am, i want to have seen it all
and capture it in my work, i want to plumb the depths

and the heights of the human condition and instead
ima feel good writer, to whom the act of reading (and writing)

is ultimately one of transcendence and i have to struggle for
depth and literary complexity within that immutable framework

but my frustration here remind me of advice
a buddy gave me when i was a young cub:

dont waste your time envying other writers, art

sing your own song the best you can sing it, that
way you can appreciate other folk singing theirs

i am what i am - i just have to
make my stylee work for me

and you

hopefully you dont have to have lived a life of trauma to be deep
hopefully perception and sensibility will be sufficient, hopefully

soul is enuf, and
sincerity

all my love

rdoc

FRIDAY

hello world, shoulda been working all summer like im working today, ohwell
hope boy obama get his game together, i saw him cracking on mccains

not knowing how many houses he has and it was weak, he got to get
ruthless on mccain, start hitting him on his many vulnerabilities and

stop playing defense or he gon go down like dukakis, kerry, gore et al
honor intact and leaving us looking at the unthinkable, president mccain

where is the honor in that

all good to be honorable but when the going get rough the politicans
take the gloves off, worked for hillary, its working for mccain, time enuf

for obama to be honorable after he win, until then
unleash that inner chicago pol, get down and dirty

if you not capable of down and dirty when down and dirty
called for you dont need to be president no way

also all these war mongers intent on tackling russia need to
check the neocon provocation that has gotten us to this point

i am not a russia booster, russia aint hardly on my strategic screen but commonsense
say cant keep pushing russia around like its a banana republic, just how far are we gon

back georgias plays, it kinda dont make no sense when
you back up off all those wardrums bush folk be beating

how many times we gon walk down this path

i gotta go, been a good day already (12:09pm) clocking a 6 easy, might even get a 9

you know i didnt get any 12 hour shifts this woodshed, thats deep,
never found the zone, this was a really weak woodshed

will have to compensate by pushing it
thru the school year - a luta continua

get me a 9 today and i will have some discretionary time, at some point
im going to go thru the summers posts and cut out all the fat, all the twisting

and turning it took me to get to some point or the other, all the excess and the
unguarded moments, they gotta go - feel like im violating the essence of the blog

but im starting to think of this as a historical document and you
dear regulators, have had the dubious honor of watching me sweat

i might dance in the moment but what i leave
for history i want to be tight and right

oh and regarding whether barack and michelle
should do the first bump at the convention

do it, do it
for me

rdoc

THURSDAY

hello world, still struggling w/the text, this literary life aint for the fainthearted, buddy of
mine once said if it was easy everybody would go down the street and get some

well i was unhappy w/obama over his weak space plan

everybody know me know i think one planet is not enuf, accidents happen, planets die - i believe we got to get off the planet, spread out, increase the odds of human survival

and evolution

i believe it is our destiny to be a star faring peoples

i was gon jack obama up on it but look like
obama got real problems to worry about

polls say he faltering

i been trying to maintain analytical distance on obama

i find myself disengaging cause i want to avoid getting caught up with the highs and lows and obama act like he dont need my help

but catch him right i bet obama do the nod

other day i pass a brother i give the nod he dont nod back
that always throw me, i expect the nod from black men i dont know

that sign of the brotherhood, black men rising, there is an art to it, its got to be cold and wary, one player to another, the slightest nod of the head, the briefest eye contact

i often feel out of step with my times, in the multiethnic postracial 21st century
ima race man, always have been, always will

im comfortable in multiculti realities, pride myself a cosmopolitan
but when you dig down deep every breath i take about saving the race

committed southern black bougie w/an oldschool sense of responsibility
i was born to be a race man, i come from a custodial line

i am a man was the iconic picketsign of the garbage workers strike of 68
the one that brought king to memphis, me and george hunt both wore them

takes me back to vietnam, same era, when me and you
brother was a survival thing - we called it blackinization

me and you brother
against the world

i dont defend every brother come under assault, folk like oj and rj
disappoint me and i will let you go down - if anything i hold black men

to a higher standard than i would hold anybody else
times too hard to be fucking around

but it dont take a lot to bring out the
brother me brother blood brother black

kilpatrick in detroit for instance, feel like they trying
to humiliate him, i want to defend him but detroit folk

really upset w/him so i will stay neutral on that one

now boy obama act like he dont need my help and that
triangulation he doing been cutting my enthusiasm

but i cant help but try to cover his back

falling to underdog might be just what
obama need - focus him and us too

rdoc

finishing the phase: a call to the crazies and gambling with americas soul

FRIDAY

hello world, this been a real weak work week, i suspect
it was a shutdown week anyway

they arent as effective when you dont schedule
them, when you still spinning your wheels

might need to officially take the weekend off
instead of trying to fight it - i hate time outs

who got time for time out

i do approve of barack letting hillary do her thing at the convention
this venom in the democratic party need some healing

myself i wouldna done it but im a different kind of guy and
obama showing me something - obama elevating my game

i judge this move to be highroad

and yall know what i think about the highroad
i think everything blackfolk do ought to be highroad

strong move under the circumstances and in keeping w/his political persona
magnanimous is always good when you can afford it and i believe he can

course this might be wishful thinking on my part
conjuration trying to make it so

and i suspect some hillary folk will not be satisfied but all you can do
is conduct yourself with honor and be highroad when you can

point to obama

if bill and hillary on their best behavior in denver
it will be points all around

im gone

rdoc

THURSDAY

hello world, i just read over my backpost for last couple of weeks
and the quality of my wolftickets continue to astound me

somebody once told me i have delusions of granduer
i told her no, i have a god complex

there is a difference

what astound me is how much of it ive been exposing thru this blog

macking like i got readership instead of
talking to myself (& future generations?)

sometime this amuse me
sometime it dont

got this extended post i want to do on the xhosa cattlekilling
how nongqawuse got the historical blame

for the role her uncle mhalakazai the seer played in convincing
the xhosa to kil their cattle and destroy their crops

the tragedy it can be when prophecy go bad
a major thread in rest for the weary

an extended meditation on the
nature of prophecy

but i think ima let this suffice
feeling the need to chill w/the posting

im gone

rdoc

WEDNESDAY

hello world

so this guy timothy dale johnson shot bill gwatney, arkansas democratic chair, folk kinda stunned
especially if you look at it in context of guy shot up the liberal church couple of weeks ago

johnson may have been on a personal but hard not to
go political when chair of the ark demos get shot in his office

im trying to restrain my tendency to assume its a rightwing crazy
driven to distraction by the hate politics of the right

that angry headset they try to put americans in
their reckless willingness to gamble w/americas soul

the comments on this wash post article
show how poisonous the climate has become

liberal/progressives sound just as angry as the right these days
tired of losing out to dangerously unethical politics and afraid of the world its conjured

that call to crazies at home and abroad
that the rightwing thrive on

i have said before my concern is that if not for the excess of the bush admin,they would still be going strong

hoodoo has traditionally been concerned with the spiritual health of the community, however expansive your
definition of community be - that responsibilty, once localized, has to be universalized in the 21st century

accordingly my traditional hoodoo concern with the health of the african american soul and destiny
has become a custodial responsibiilty for the health of americas soul - and in my greater moments

the global soul
and destiny

it is in that context i have been deeply concerned about the state of americas soul
the trajectory of american destiny - the state of the world

in obama i see a chance to flip the script
true, obama is a gamble, but mccain is not

mccain just more of the republican same
im tired this america we got now

all that hoorah over obama when he went abroad
thats just the world saying enuf already

no matter how the story turn out on this ark shooting - that angry hate politics
the rightwing thrive on, thats played out, i bet america

weary of that, i hope i pray
a change gon come

let me take a minute here, put a
little sam cooke on...

my apologies to the family for using this tragedy politically
but gwatney a liberal southern democrat - they dont come

no tougher than that, he understand
the struggle continue - if anything its even

more impo today, whole
world counting on us

im outta here, clocking hours but very few pages
slogging thru narrative mud - thats life

in the literary lane

all my love

rdoc

TUESDAY

hello world

so i lasted maybe 3 days w/o commentary, bes like that w/us junkies - everybody else commenting
on that atlantic monthly article on hillarys campaign mistakes, ol boy rickydoc want to get a lick in too

that circular firing squad she call a staff still taking shots at each other and article got hold of all these emails -

point that cause me to comment is that penn wanted hillary to run a much more negative campaign than she did,

say she should claim american and make case that obama isnt a 'real' american

kinda like those blackfolk say they dont support obama cause
he not historical american black, personally i think thats cold

you can expect mccain to run many of the strategics laid out by penn, boy obama best inoculate himself w/the quickness

to hillarys credit she refused to step over her own bright lines, i got to give her credit for that

reading those penn emails was an education in political strategy, many of his strategics spot on, it was the execution that faltered

other point article makes is that hillary lost basically cause of poor managerial skilz, turns out she wasnt ready to lead on day one after all

this the kind of info should have been held under lock and key for awhile
all that inside information on hillarys political positioning/persona is TMI

and will complicate her political future - instead of feeling the sincerity
folk will know they being played - its all strategy

i suspect an insiders look at obamas strategic positioning
would be just as sobering

im outta here,

been clocking hours, not many pages but im putting the hours in - thats all i can
do, this been a rough phase, too much raw manuscript, i hate raw manuscript

ima hang tough a couple more days, try to finish this phase, if it wasnt critical
id skip over it but i cant, i can only go thru it - problem is i feel a collapse coming on

sometime you push and you push and you can feel the body faltering, and you know your
efficiency falling but desperation keep pushing you until the body just say no mas

then you lay there like a zombie for a couple of days in total collapse -
i just hope i can finish this phase before i go down -

impending collapse alway put me in mind of that scene in amadeus where
he worked himself to death - that scene give me chills

thing to do is take a couple of days off before you collapse
but who got that kind of lee way, got to keep on pushing

when god say stop
thats when i stop

til then no rest for the weary

all my love

rdoc

work that evolve with time rather than decline: the timeless kind

hello world

bernie mac, issac hayes, a little while back barbara ann teer of the national black theater company
it was one of those strange love-ins the national black theater used to put on

let me know the power of communal performance,

they used to do this lovefest theater thing, it was damn near a cult, they would all be dressed in white outfits and trying to transform the audience

be walking about being beatific and asking folk to love each other and talk to each other and reach out and player that i am i was the last one to hold out, sneering profusely at all this public affection but eventually start feeling it and introducing

myself to folk and hugging folk and letting it all hang out, and when i left, they were on a 2nd floor walkup on 125th street then, i left on a cloud of good cheer that lasted until i opened the door downstairs

and was on 125th street and was hit with a cold dose of reality and stood there stunned that the old hoodooman could have been so affected, o it was deep - but since then ive understood communal performance and what its capable of

then a buddy of mine, ihsan bracey, been deathly sick, string of strokes got him on his back,
but he just finish, published this year, a novel he been working on x years, my prayers are w/him

but i know he glad he got that novel done
i know he is

w/these long distance projects its like a constant negotiation with god
let me finish this one god and i will be satisfied

sometime im bold and confident with this blog
start telling you things i probably should keep to myself

then suddenly selfconscious i start drawing back, try to move back into my more customary low profile
partly cause my low readership frustrate me, i keep asking myself, why are you doing this flowers

why do you take such pains to do this well
why are you exposing so much of yourself for so little gain

appears im in a drawback mode now - let me
make a few comments and get on out of here:

folk have rightly been jacking up ms tinker down in memphis for her
sleazy campaign against rep cohen last week -

but the question of that statue in forrest park a valid one to raise, i forget sometime his
body there too - nathan bedford forrest and his statue need to go

cohen want to make points, forget the congressional apology, jokes we got enuf of, you want to do something for your constituents, get forrest and that cursed statue out of black memphis,

move it out to east memphis where it belong
since i was a child, forrest and his statue been an affront to black memphis

apparently same folk who been objecting to moving forrest and that statue dont plan for
central memphis to be black much longer no way - forrest still got to go

what else - the au has suspended the folk run that bloodless coup in mauritania,
au talk mighty tough on little mauritania, what about jacking up mugabe, plenty blood there

what else - found this interesting article on tavis smiley and obama, tavis been trying to jack obama and
getting spanked for it by the black community - rightfully so

wasnt for the excess of bush and republican fatigue et al, obama wouldnt have a
chance in hell, and i think even with all the democratic advantages this year

this one gon be a squeaker, i think obama could very easily lose this one, i believe we need to focus
if he actually does get to be president be plenty time (and op) to jack him up then

till then jealous prima donnas and the hard black left need to chill
need to grow the fuck up and be quick about it

what else - im not really into this: you may have noticed im
in a bad mood here, lord i got to get some pages done

finished keith gilyards john o manuscript, got that off my plate, it was profound reading my mentors life
phases of him i never knew - keith say that john o got up about 6, worked until 12, took a break

got back on about 2, worked till 6 - now thats what i call a real man
talked about how john o started getting desperate about 55 - i feel you john

you know that at some point you will not be as sharp a writer as you once were
and you dont know when that point will come, you will still be writing

but you will be writing trash, and wont realize it, could be doing it now

last couple of days this novel been whupping me all about my head and shoulders, dear regulators
feel like im slogging thru narrative mud

and im feeling that fear, what if my best work is already behind me, o god
what if im just spinning my wheels like ellisons junetenth and dont

really have a masterpiece in me, playing this fakeout on folk until i die one day, or get took out by a
stroke, still talking about its coming, its coming, im almost there, this summer for sure

i am so tired of this phase, i was still in my prime when i started this novel
and lately im starting to feel a little beat up here

i just cannot fuck around, i got to get this novel done

got a couple major projects begging for attention, cant touch them
until i get this novel done

i want to do this hoodoo holybook right, but you know as powerful a project as that could be
that dont scare me like this novel do, i can do that in my sleep, all i got to do is put the hours in

and if i fail i just fail - but i wont
whatever i come up with will be cool

i could pull that off even if i do lose my sharps, that kind of work you
dont really have to be there for it, that kind of work you just channeling

but this novel, this novel i care about, i die without this novel done it will break my heart
if my mind or my craft go before this novel get done it will break my heart,

just break my little literary heart, then all
the haters will have been proven right

he just didnt have it in him,

o hell no -  folk need to get out of my way
cause rickydoc bout to get another gear

dont know if next year will be given to me, o i assume it will
but i cant bet my legacy on it, this novel got to be done and it

got   to    be   done   now

then i think of the hours i spend wandering the net and writing this blog and im like
cant afford that rick, got to focus boy, stop talking about that novel

and put those hours into writing it - specially when my blog readership so low
i just cannot justify the time i spend on this blog

but what can i say, im a news junkie, every morning i spend a hour or so systemically checking out
whats happening in the world and sometimes im moved to comment, thats another half hour

i tend to give it more time during the summer woodshed cause i just got more time to give
during the schoolyear i tend to be more disciplined about it, but in all cases i wait until im

moved to write ie got to write and i dont do just topical, i do hoodoo speculation because when i
read over what ive done years later as i do occasionally to see whats standing the test of time

and ensure that future work designed to evolve with time rather than decline
its the topical get dated quick, its the hoodoo speculation that be timeless

the literary speculation
the personal speculation
strategic speculation

but then again its all relative, you try to design your words so they will grow with time
be more useful to future generations than less, you try to design words that time will empower, that time...

okay flowers, tripping again, started this post feeling all humble and contrite about
recent wolf ticketing and worked myself into a wolfticket state of mind anyway

that triumphalism that so often wander into my work, based on what i do not know (how long you gon
hold reality at bay) - trying to be humble today, got no wolftickets for sale today, just

want to get me a little novelwork done today
god help me thats all

i tell my students all the time, doubts and anxieties, they never go away
you just ignore them, like the times you feel like you the greatest writer ever lived

ignore that too
just keep working

i tell you dear regulators, a 9 hour workday would be good for the soul
i of course will take a 6 but a sweet little 9 would feel mighty fine

and a blog hiatus, no blogging
for a week, lets see how that play

im outta here

all my love

rdoc

sending out my traveling spirit: zombie me & obama the antichrist: how low can you go

SATURDAY

i dont really like making comentary on serious social issues w/no answers
but this one kinda got up on me, recent buzz about an article  in the atlantic monthy

about how memphis crime followed the dispersion of project folk to the exburbs
this rosin person has caused a stir following research from univ of memphis profs

because this about poor black folk in memphis this is of particular interest to me
the well being of black memphis is the old hoodoomans particular responsibility

my daddy took care of their bodies, i take care of their souls

i been hearing accounts of this from folk and actually thought to comment on this before

got family living in the newly black parts of south east memphis - striving poor, folk who have carved out a precarious hold on security pressed by the increased criminal element and concerned about the security of the little communities they have forged

then when i was at the recent class reunion, some players in city government circles
were talking about how the powers that be (black and white) were clearing poor people out of the

city proper because they were reclaiming that prime land, what with the long commutes
and the price of gas and all - also talked about how crime spiked in the relocations

then last time i was in memphis i went by lemoyne gardens and didnt recognize it, it has been transformed into a little gentrified community instead of the public housing its been all my life

so anyway this rosin writes a rather sensationalist piece in the atlantic monthly about the
dispersal of crime through housing relocation policies and its sparked a dialogue

this rebuttal from housing scholars question her conclusions, say she offers no proof
just sensationalist narrative that is likely to have impact beyond whats warranted

me i dont know what to say, like i say i got a couple of dogs in that fight
my liberal instincts are inclined to pay the social (and personal) tax

of trying to help poor people escape poverty, buddy of mine once called it the black tax

but i am also concerned w/the security and viability of black neighborhoods in memphis
in particular the ones my family and loved ones live in these days, often in fear

lost a family member last year to gun violence

but then memphis always been a violent city, an overgrown river town
and as i know so well, it is also a culture of hustle and flow dysfunction

i know a lot of those little knuckleheads

hanging out, being cool, thugging it, preying on their neighbors
on the the great majority of folk in these communities thats trying

often forging viable commuities in spite of it all

the rebuttal article makes a good case that its not the dispersion of the poor
that has caused memphis violent crime to spike, its the increase in poverty

truth be told its probably a nuanced mixture of the two and the
sensationalist tone of atlantic monthly article is unfortunate

it does not contribute to a measured response

this one of those battles you just cant win but you know you got to fight
you will never rid the world of poverty and dysfunction but if you can just decrease it some

you got to count that as the good fight

this dispersal of the poor is writ large in the dispersal
of black new orleans after katrina - that was a crime

you tinker with ameliorative social policies but
its the tribal soul i got to work on this one

got to forge a different kind of people
thats a long and complicated process

speaking of which, way i move my hoodoo cosmology forward on this blog is note when i say something interesting, articulate some interesting concept, i look at it, worry at it some, see where it take me

the concept in that last post that interest me is sending out my traveling spirit to represent me
in dept meeting, a zombie me, while true consciousness back in my lair getting work done

this what i do anyway but now i have a concept for it, now i can Work it,
development experiments that test it as a consciousness instrument

make this traveling spirit concept work i will have an extra me to represent in the world while
the real me getting Work done no matter where the body is (too bad i dont have but 1 body)

i like calling it the zombie me - i think thats cute
i like putting new licks on old hoodoo - 21st century stylee

im outta here, clocked pages yesterday
suitable to my level of desperation

might make that deadline
after all

all my love

rdoc

FRIDAY  5:47 am

hello world

using imagery from the left behind series, the mccain campaign has put out an internet ad labeling obama
the antichrist - they dont come out and say it but if you familiar with the series the imagery does

just a little humor say mccain campaign, (and i thought that turban during the primaries was a low blow)
kinda scary that folk would go that far - good move on their part actually, not only drags obama off the

mountaintop but it might energize a key constituency that been holding back and i mean
really energize them - damned impressive piece of youtube viral ad work

problem is a serious effort to label this a last days election
risk unleashing forces that can get seriously out of hand

these republicans do not mind gambling with americas soul - im thinking
pre emptive wars, torture, politicized government and the imperial presidency

now this

systematically trying to label a political opponent the antichrist is the nuclear option
sorched earth tactics that take american politics into uncharted ground

how do you step back once youve opened that apocalyptic box
for a certain americans that make it an entirely different sort of struggle,

this take the republican strategy of demonizing democrats to a
new and improved low, this a call to the crazies

got to be real careful about this election - this election stirring the pot
on one side got mccain calling obama the antichrist

on the other hillary talking about unleashing "greek drama" on the
convention, catharsis she say - say it would be good for the soul

only in world clinton would greek drama
be considered good for the soul

hopefully this just a bargaining position on her part
but this election just get curiouser and curiouser

between mccains antichrist and hillarys greek drama
just might get ugly

cuidado obama
cuidado america

im gone, 10 days before 1st dept meeting of fall semester
where o where did my summer woodshed go - accra apparently

im not going to make my deadline
i dont have a chance in hell

okay new plan,

- revise idea of what an acceptable draft is, finish threads im working on now, call it a draft
- move moneydraft deadline to end of the year
- stonewall school thru 1st week of class, that gives me almost a month more woodshed
- send traveling spirit to dept meetings, zombie me, a smiling facade

i can still make this work, a little superhuman effort i can make this work
not likely but when did i ever let that stop me from trying

i apologize for putting all this literary minutiae on those of you not interested in it
but for those of you trying to do a novel i call myself doing an ongoing tutorial

having trouble getting that novel done, do what i do
struggle everyday to get some production, no matter what

make room in your daily life to get some work done, or sit around
talking about how you cant, in which case i have no time for you

constantly be refining and assessing your daily production
so over the years you getting more bang for your daily buck

be ruthlessly focused on product - making Works - be constantly
open to growth - and above all patience, above all

but you know dear regulators, between mccains antichrist politic and
having to face realization this wont be the moneydraft, again, god help me

old boy rickyoc got the blues
trickmaster has got the blues

in struggle

rdoc

the compassion of o killens: books and webwork: books are forever, the web i dont know

WEDNESDAY� 548 AM

hello world, got this quote from the comments section
of a washpost article on swiftboaters for truths latest salvo

against obama, as always the comments were the best part
and this was from a christian 'right' voter, i thought it was encouraging:

"I have voted republican my whole life. I am a christian and I voted for them not because I agreed with all their platforms, but because I believed they held the high moral ground. Alas, I was wrong. To pedal some aspects of what would be considered good christian principles, while at the same time raping the poor via corporate greed is incredibly hypocritical. They tell the poor to 'go get a job' while blocking legislation until they get money for corporate welfare, they make speeches about compassion while sanctioning torture, they act entirely for their own well being and completely ignore, no, not ignore, they demonize and then ridicule those who they trample on. I find their ways to be the essence of Un-Christ like behavior. The only place mercy or compassion now have in the republican party is the doormat, and I will have nothing further to do with them. So, now I am forced to vote democrat for the first time in my life. Though I may not agree with the whole platform, at least the terms mercy and compassion have a place there. I apologize to every American for ever having supported them."

sometime i am concerned we will lose this election anyway
i think about how i thought there was no way that bush

would be elected last time and lo and behold it was
if there is one thing the recent revelations of politics in the justice dept tell you

its is that the republicans are capable of stealing this election too
they have no respect for the checks and balances of a democracy

its like they from another planet, and there will always be folk susceptible to this type
of campaigning, folk who will just not be able to vote for obama cause its just like that

and i got old black radical buddies eager to jack obama up and i tell them wait
till we win this one 1st, this aint as much a given as folk seem to think

and sometime boy obama be triangulating so hard
im not quite sure what hes for today

but im very clear on what im against, on what i hope
will make the difference for enuf thinking americans

and thats 8 more years of republican misrule
problem with the republicans is that they dont believe in government

they believe a strong government is the problem
so when things happen that you need a strong government for

like wars and natural disasters (katrina et al) they come up terminally short
things like economic meltdowns and all, terminally short, too busy protecting

the fat cats to worry about the people, except when they trying to fool them yet again
what really worries me in terms of americas soul is that if not for the excess of the

bush administration the rightwing would still be ascendant - now thats really scary
okay, this kinda a wasted post, feel like im talking to the choir here when

the people got to be reached represented
by the guy wrote comment above

i can find common ground with this guy, mercy and compassion
sometime come hard to me too, and im a treehugger, a battered

bleeding heart so covered in callous i sometime
forget to look out for my fellow man and woman

have to remind myself sometime, the
compassion of o killens, flowers

in everything you do

a luta continua
life, love and literature

word by trickmaster
and all my love too

rdoc

SUNDAY I GUESS?

hello world

i cannot justify the time i spend on this blog
its not like a lot but any is too much when you as much

under the gun as me

schoolhouse coming and ive not finished my draft, if anything ive
dug myself into a deeper hole with pages and pages

of new manuscript, which got to be cleaned, woe is me
i cant see how im going to make my deadline, i just cant

but im not gon give up on it, whatever it drive me to do is good and superhuman desperation is good for production,

but i dont see it, i just dont see it, got to focus, fiind me another gear

pray to god

that i find the zone and a miracle happen
got to do it harder, stronger, smarter, all i can do

and what to do w/this blog to make it worth the time i spend on it
its not like i want to spend time on this blog, i just do it cause ima news

junkie and it gives me a place to digest what i be seeing on my webwanderings
it give me product/words and an immediate satisfaction the novel count in decades

but i got to always strive to make it worthy of my time
which for me mean making it contribute to product

books

which is interesting contexting fear of the web displacing print

its like stuff aint real these days til it go online, get it online and you feel like
its been put in a public sphere that wasnt available before, hope it go viral

the goal always is planting your words so they last for generations
so they are significant to future generations, in the past its been getting them

in a book thats always been the goal, now its a book and the web, and sometime i wonder which is
more significant, i generate a lot of words on the web but i think of them finding a destinic home

in books, does this represent a fundamental verity in the literary/ideological dynamic
of the 21st century, or is this just archaic thinking on my part

until further notice i have to assume archaic thinking
but in my heart words arent real until they have been

calcified in a book, books will exist no matter what
hard to erase a book

from human consciousness

though not impossible happens all the time - if your words
are not valued/monitored by players and/or academics

but the web, the web really dicey
webstuff disappear all the time

websites go down, computers crash
people steal words wholesale online

o the literary life

i will continue to work with both hands
but dinosaur that i am, its book i believe in

in my literary soul where i live and dream
books are forever

love, life and lit

rdoc