MLK BIRTHDAY STILL
hello world, finally a statement by wyclef jean
my position at this point, i will continue to support
jean and yele, my suggestion is that he hire serious professionals
to take care of yele business now that he in the big leagues, the spotlight
is on him, he has to step up his game,
glad he finally spoke up - a luta continua
rdoc
i feel pretty damn good,
i been clocking pages
after 10 years of struggle on faith its finally pulling together, its looking good
no telling how i feel when i look at it again in a month or so but we will save that bridge for when we cross it
after 10 years on faith i been afraid
afraid i didnt have a big novel in me
that i wasnt in the final analysis the great writer ive always aspired to be
i tell my students, fears and doubts they never go away, -but i dont let the fear cripple me, i ignore it
ive reached the point now where i dont care if it works, i just want it d o n e done
on that note best i get back to work
have decided ima do a minimal daily 3 no matter how desperate the semester get
im too close to slack off now, that mean i got to be ruthless with my time and my discipline
that mean if it isnt obligatory dont expect to see me, even then it might be a mirage, my traveling spirit
i had another photo for this post then remembered the one w/turtle hit by car and mended
outfitted with wheels - it felt appropriate, not matter what you got to keep going
i been in the zone, im clocking pages and manifesting, aint nothing gon
stop this party rock that aint no act of god
all my love
rdoc
have put the novel down and in a schoolhouse grind, (well i might try to sneak a quick 3 hour shift in today, depending on how many apps i clock)
reading apps is kinda discouraging, all these kids wanting to get a shot at the dream and i have to tell some 450 young dreamers no i cant help you, i read their little
why i want to be a writer essays and i can feel it in my bones, we get so many good folk we have to say no to young writers who are better than we are, its a brutal process
but out of it we choose our little 6 and its a magical moment putting together that new class - to get a certain energy out of all those disparate styles,
im really pulling for wyclef jean to come thru for haiti, to show himself the cultural custodian i would him be
in the final analysis i believe thats the only thing that will flip that script, haitians taking responsiblity for their
own destiny
speaking of which i am too tickled watching harold ford trying to be liberal so he can run for senate in newyork, say he always been prochoice, but notice too he said he would have voted against health bill
as a black memphian, a transplated newyorker and a blackdog progressive this is like a big joke to me
i know the ford family, part of my memphis world, would love to be able to vote a homeboy into newyork play
but the thought of harold ford representing newyork frightens me, one democratic lieberman is enuf
to have one representing newyork would be a travesty, and to have him be a black ford from memphis
no, i cant handle that - id like to support you homeboy but thats a no can do
need to take this show back to tennessee
according to the caption on this photo, hekalu is swahili for temple, you will see that again in my work, mark my word
got it from this exhibit in memphis, soul soldier, about black soldiers in vietnam, reading about it
brought back the day, we were already black militants when we got there, got what we called 'blackinized'
brother me brother blood brother black - me and you brother, against the world
i tried to bring that solidarity back to the world with me and its responsible in a large degree for my commitment to this day
ive committed my life to the struggle, ive made mistakes, ive often zigged when i should have zagged but by oguns beard
ima ive and die a warrior
in the name of the conqueror
rdoc
ohwell, i knew there was the possibility, smoking gun say yele is a farce,
say they been funny with the money since they been in existence
you hope its not so, you want to give the brother benefit of the doubt
or hope that he rises to the occasion - but you always got to be alert for being hustled on
the black hand side, say it aint so jean
i will hold out hope until i hear what he has to say, i do so want him to be legit
trying to manifest the cultural custodianship i ascribe to committed artists
but its always best to know whats going on
i see where the obama admin has suspended deportation of illegal alien haitians
and given them a work permit, its a start - perhaps obama has read shailjas 10 point action plan
me, i ran up on a recalcitrant passage, been spinning my wheels a couple of days now,
will give it today, what dont get done today dont get done, ive put off life obligations to point
where im feeling harried now, i can hear schoolhouse wolves at the door
am nervous that the disaster response folk having trouble getting help to haitians in
those critical 1st days, ima put strategics aside for the moment, ima pray for haiti
also i notice that aristide say he want to return to haiti in its hour of need,
what exactly is stopping him, exactly what is the story with aristide
would his return at this point be a benfit or a liability, the shadow might know, i certainly dont
all my love
rdoc
hello world, well my endofyear mini woodshed is coming to a close, i did pretty good,
always could have done better, there were whole weeks i didnt write, could have clocked more pages if i had been more disciplined but i did pretty good
one more day to work on this section i been working on then i got to pivot
get thru these apps, prepare for class, im behind now, i have squeezed it as much as it can be squooze
now its schoolhouse catchup time, full court press
got this haitian 10 point action plan from shailja patel, i thought it was an impressive effort
to leverage the moment, transform tragedy into strength
i been trying to ensure my response to this tragedy is a significant one
that if i am going to be engaged hopefully my engagement might
make a difference (i assure you i am cognizant of the immensity of that ambition)
yet and still must i worship at the altar of significance
immediate concerns are humanitarian, other than donations i dont have much say there
the global disaster response sector has been engaged and is generally an effective immediate response mechanism
one hopes they are able to master to challenging logistics
one hopes that disaster capitalism doesnt leave haiti in the shape its been in, or worse
one fervently hopes that this moment can be leveraged for a true difference
in haitis destiny and quality of life
okay so this is shailjas list, then im thinking maybe refine it to my own taste
determine what the handles of the 10 points are and maybe make some moves
but who got time for all that, i just dont have time for a campaign of that magnitude
but what i will maybe do is lay out the strategics of it, just to see
as always you looking for maximal impact, minimum effort - rootwork
looking for those leverage points that affect true change within the constraints of your ability to project power
o, before i go there, i received this email from the organizing for america folk
obamas organizing organization, which i have joined and am an inactive member
again, just to see mostly, so they sent me this thing where they have setup all these meetings in central newyork
and it was a very impressive little bit of organizing, and i was thinking obama might be slacking on the policy moves, by my way of thinking
but he making some very powerful moves under the radar, got to keep my eye on this, keep my finger on this pulse, just in case something going on i havent been aware of, the hoodooman like to be the one that see
so anyway shailjas 10 point haitian action plan:
1) Grants, not loans.
2) Keep corporations and corporatist policies OUT. Stop disaster capitalism in its tracks.
3) Cancel ALL Haiti's debt to the Inter-American Development Bank.
4) Let Aristide return to Haiti.
5) Lift the ban on Aristide's Fanmi Lavalas political party.
6) Rip up the neoliberal pre-earthquake Clinton-Obama program for Haiti: tourism, sweatshops, privatization, deregulation.
7) Do not allow US military or UN "peacekeepers" to point guns at desperate Haitians.
8) Allow all Haitians in the US to work, and remit money home.
9) Release all 30,000 Haitians held in US jails for deportation, and grant them Temporary Protected Status.
10) Demand that France start repaying the $21 billion it extorted from
Haiti in 1825, to "compensate" France for loss of Haiti as a slave
colony.
-------------------
i am impressed with shailja, i enjoy seeing her do her thing, she be on it, she sincere about being a force
now what bother me about this plan of course is that it is focused externally when i always think its souls got to be
transformed primary and all this other stuff is secondary, but this stuff got more handles than working haitian souls, and dont but a few folk per generation handle souls
but in destinic situations like this its the people that have to be
transformed, thats what im trying to do with
african american struggle,
transform the culture, transform the people, transform our generations
otherwise no strategy works, not as long as we are a weak culture, as weak as we are now
that goes double for haiti
so i would have to get some soul work into that 10 point action plan somehow, which entails longgame
which would probably be worked thru illumination of voodoo tradition, like im trying to do hoodoo
but i aint got time for that either, illuminating hoodoo taking everything i got, empowering
africanamerican culture is task enough
working voodoo and the other afrospiritual practices only in sense of establishing hoodoo as the prophetic member
of the afrospiritual family, ie the one with the dispensation to defy tradition and establish new and improved practice - providing sanctioned guidance....
okay, let me not get into this, i dont have time to lay all this out
i got to clock some pages, last couple of days been wading thru narrative mud
ima give it one more day, if i could finish this section i will be happy
my last day to woodshed, cant waste it here
all my love
rdoc
maximal impact, minimum effort - rootwork:
or in management consultant speak: picking the low hanging fruit
or even, get some small, early wins to build buy in at the outset
in order to get that desilofication and debottlenecking thing happening
Great blog. Keep on keeping on.
masterymistery at cosmic rapture
Posted by: mastery mistery | January 15, 2010 at 09:03 AM