rootwork the rootsblog: a cyberhoodoo webspace

a new beginning

SATURDAY

big push has died the death, last 3rd has defeated me, still moving but its not moneydraft
going over these passages over and over but they just dont have that polished quality

so i will have to accept that this is just a draft, finish this last 3rd then hit it again
otherwise i will just be spinning my wheels, good thing is between schoolhouse, apps and evan

im still keeping up my production, well, at least im putting the hours in, i take what i can get

admire obama walking into the lions den (repub retreat), dont know what it will get him
but you got to admire his willingness to take it to wall

im out, ima give the morning to my work, evening to close down apps, sunday prepare for class
this week i got to give it all to schoolhouse, im already behind there

but im going to do my 3 hours a day no matter what, too close to slack off now

hope things settling down in haiti, stuff tends to fall of the scope

all my love

rdoc

 FRIDAY

got this from the daily show, the dnc possum: you cant hurt us anymore, we're already dead

i think that about wraps it up, repubs got the demos running scared, but i have been chastized

for not keeping the faith in my call for obama to elevate his game

i have pledged to lighten  up, to slide him some slack, to get back on the bandwagon

i am very conscious that my discouragement with obama reflects a good slice of the progressive electorate

but i need to encourage his 'populist' turn, though i am not altogether convinced that he is serious about it

slogging thru the mud w/novel now, not even a page a day, the last 3rd of a manuscript is always the roughest

thats why so many novels fall down in the endgame, that 1st 3rd youve redone it a million times

that 2nd 3rd a half miliion, but not only is the last 3rd the most unrewritten (is that a word) but its the one

where all the threads have to be tied, when the drama and the tension have to pick it up

also moving into closure on these apps, it becomes a mental toughness thing to keep wading thru these manuscripts

each one a new story, a new sensibility, another take on life, its joys and tribulations

we got a lot more apps this session, but more of them are untrained and not competitive, must the be economy

i could give advice to mfa applicants:

dont get too cute, too literary, with your i want to be a writer essay, sincerity always trumps cute

fancy heavyweight paper is overkill, one person sent theirs in on cardstock, dont become a joke

and the biggie - dont squeeze more than pagecount calls for with small fonts and half inch margins, dont
do anything that makes it a more difficult read when readers are looking for reasons to reject a piece

when you chosing 6 out of almost 500 applicants it becomes real easy to say no, any old excuse will do

we have to say no to folks whose work we actually like

got my own little affirmative action program going, i note black/minority apps that arent competitive but got potential and i contact them and tell them look, i will work with you a couple of years and bring you up to speed - then when you do this mfa app thing you will have a real shot

most of them dont take me on which is a good thing because i dont want to do it anyway and if you not serious no sense in wasting our time - a lot i dont catch because we split up the initial read, thats unfortunate but its all a big crap shoot anyway, the fickle gods of literature have to smile upon you

whats really rough is all the syracuse undergrads that ive encouraged to go for the mfa and the 1st place they apply is syracuse of course and there are so many of them i have to recluse myself from the intial read

if they make the initial cut then i can advocate, if they dont i have to still interact/encourage for the rest of the semester, and regret the loss of the ones i would have liked to keep working with - it can get rough

i make sure they apply to as many slots as they can handle financially, i love my little fledgings, hurts me
when they dont make the cut, i encourage them not to give up, thats the only thing fatal, giving up

what makes the app process so tough is i want to help them all, all 500 of them, become writers
(well not all of them, sometime i dont like the sensibility but you get the idea)

i read these i want to be a writer essays reeking of desperation, and it breaks my literary heart to tell them no, stepping on dreams is not my style

on that note, gotta go, gotta clock some pages, (page rather), gotta prepare for class, life is such a struggle, you never get time off, if you standing still feel like you falling behind

then haiti and such put you back in perspective, folk ask me how im doing i always answer im doing fine, all things considered -

cause my tribulations are always in my face,but sometime i have to take a minute to count my blessings - of which i have many

i had one this week, was suffering financially, end of my rope and going under, went by my office looking for a copy of dirty bird blues for my class and happen to see an envelope from my agent that i had not seen before, opened it and there was a substantial royalty check there, dated aug 13, 2009, just been sitting there all this time, waiting for me to get desperate enuf

the gods of literature have once again smiled upon me, i love this life

all my love

rdoc

THURSDAY

hello world, one of my old students, nina shope, has been sounding the warhorn for obama
exhorting us all to practice full court press electoral politics, which are the only kind worth

a damn, just voting really doesnt get it and i know this

we got into a facebook dialogue when i expressed my need for obama to show me something
more than what he been showing and she was saying how we need to man the barricades

or woman the barricades as the case may be

and i replied that as a writer i dont have that kind of time, not for full court press electoral politics

and i went oldschool on her, told her i had some advice for her as an old literary politico to a young one
i once read a book on writers lifetime production and the roadblocks for writers being productive over

the course of their lives and i think ive said this to you before, high on the list of blocks was politics
and i can testify that being politically active as a young turk has cost me a couple of novels probably

and looking back i regret that, but then again, my political nature makes me who i am and feeds my

current novel that i love so i guess it all works out

but i do caution young writers to strike the proper balances, i told her/fb that i consider getting my work
done as important as obama getting his work done and i realize that sounds like a classic self indulgent

writer speaking but i do, i strive with all my literary might to make my words as significant a contribution

to the human condition as anything else happening in the world today and i realize that its a gamble, that

my words may mean nothing but im striving to influence as many generations as possible, to shape and enhance the human condition thru my work and whats most important to me personally is getting my work done before i die

100 years from now having created my works will be more impo than being a cog in a political machine

anybody can do that, my work only i can do

and i realize objectively speaking that obamas work is likely more important but i have to believe in the value of my work to the human condition in order to devote my life to it as i have done

if i thought politics was more important than literature id be a politician, or maybe not, i fear that im not being convincing with this argument, but as a literary politico often accused over my political life of ivory towerism i have had to come to terms with valuing my work as a contribution

i told nina i believe in what she does and im glad there are young turks taking care of business like that
by all means throw down, but dont get lost

i also told her i love you nina for what you do, both on the page and off

this brings me to another impulse that i have not moved on, i really want to set up some page for syracuse mfa alums on facebook but i keep thinking it will just be another exercise in frustration

but it frustrates me that they dont all know each other like i know them, that parker dont know nina and nina dont know ashwin and aswhin dont know mikael and so forth

they really need to be crossfertilizing and manifesting as the literary mob that they are

i been thinking about this for sometime now, at some point im going to have to move on that

as a literary politico and ideological orchestrator you have to invest your time wisely

you always want maiximum impact for minimal effort, you want your moves to mean something

to somehow change the board

okay, im all twisted up here, ima move on

i am discouraged by obama but my support for him is still absolute

there is no choice here, he is the only horse we have to ride

all my love

rdoc

WEDNESDAY

hello world, nebula are often the brithplace of stars and the nucleus of plantary systems

thats what im hoping for obama, a new beginning

i have to admit i didnt listen to SOTU, obama frustrating me, he talk a good game
but his followthru been questionable, words dont get it no more, he got to show me

cant keep taking his base for granted and showing his enemies all the love

i still believe, im still pulling for him, just not willing to dance on that string no more

got to show me something, got to show some love

to the folk brung him to the dance

all my love

rdoc

haiti and prophecy, cultural custodianship and the longgame

IS IT STILL MONDAY

what can i say, im in an eric bibb state of mind

bibb one of the folk whose music keep me focused, keep me serious in the zone, in the tradition,
i listen to bibb and i draw power  -  dont ask me how that work, im not quite sure

im out

MONDAY

been thinking about eric bibb, went on youtube and found this take
on him doing one of my favorite bibb cuts

felt appropriate, dont let nobody drag your spirit down

i was thiking this morning embedding this how i like a multimedia approach to this blog, was thinking how i might do that multimedia approach to holybook too was thinking that i might had visuals, might do an audio version, might do video, might do this and that, im thiking a print/audio version of novel, little mind going full tilt on the side, focus rick, still working that fort pillow scene, im out rdoc

SUNDAY

im sitting here and im working on this novel and im thinking how this the last novel im going to do

i just dont have another one in me,

this the one ive always wanted to write and once its done im thru

after this will concentrate on my holybook, another decade long project probably

and shorts,

teaching in an mfa program incline me to want to play with that form some

and enjoy the immediate satisfaction finite stories entail

but then this morning im reading this article about the technological future of publishing (and writing?)
these speculations motivated by impending release of itablet and im thinking about

that multimedia mlk book that tara press about to release and
im thinking id love to do a multimedia version of this novel

once its done deal in print form, once i got that out the way,
jeff parker told me long time ago how to go about that

he say dont try to do it yourself, we dont have time to master constantly evolving media,
alliances with media professionals you respect is the way to go he suggested, 

maybe so some sampling off eric bibbs new album due out next month, cant wait, one of
my favorite bluesmen ever, one of the few folk im wiling to buy a new cd instead of digital

some questions arise, what distinquishes this from hypertext, which i have already tried and abandoned, other than letting some of the tech leak into my printwork, which i been thinking will make it resonant w/media trained future generations

but which might also be pertinent to eventual digital version of this novel, ima have to think it over but some
other time, its moot right now, got to stay focused, got to keep clocking pages while the clocking is good

working on my fort pillow attack scene, finish this one and i will feel like i have had a good strong weekend
and can full court press these apps, 1st week of schoolhouse and already behind

but im keeping my novel momentum and thats whats important - thats whats important
im standing too close to the blues not to keep my novel going, its the only thing keeping me sane

otherwise life nothing but trial and tribulation

its my novel that bring the joy

that sound kinda sad dont it, what can i say, it works for me

im out

rdoc

SATURDAY

i got the blues, wish i was at the jaipur literary festival, might have to go next year
whether they invite me or not, i was the hit of the festival last year and hoped that

would translate as a invite this year but it didnt, apparently they invited soyinka & gates instead

heathens, but not being there and doing apps instead is more than i can handle, i have got to get
some novelwork done this weekend, just to feel good about myself, just to keep the blues away

i figure when that tara press book comes out i might get some play again, we will see

after mass and that supreme court ruling, im thinking nov is going to be a battle of the turnout, im thinking against all that corporate money the supreme court just unleashed all we got are those young voters, those minority voters, all those new voters helped progressives bring obama in, somehow we got to get them motivated again, best get to organizing that now, lord knows i dont have the time, but i might try to get by one of those organizing for america meetings, maybe a couple, god i dont feel like mounting up, i just dont have the time or the energy

but these are critical times, obama, or palin and the tea baggers, time to step up

and im feeling like obama is finally getting the message with his new populist tone, cause if he dont step up
then there is no basis for us to organize those new voters on, his triangulations have discouraged me and ima political fiend

what really distress me is i believe it will get worse before it get better, but let me leave you on a calm note

i got one of these oldschool kalimbas but mine dont sound like this, not at all

FRIDAY

hello world, recently posted this on siren noirs hoodoo message board responding to agitated  discussion on david brooks recent article sayng haits troubles were cultural:

this work is cover from my 1st novel, by haitian artist enoche placide, cousin azaka he explained to me, the loa of agriculture, of growing things

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

"My decision to destroy the authority of the blacks in Saint Domingue (Haiti) is not so much based on considerations of commerce and money, as on the need to block forever the march of the blacks in the world." Napoleon Bonaparte

folk have tried to put haitis plight on a lot of causes
some say its because haiti lies on a fault and in the hurricane path
some say its because of the dictators that have ruled it so badly
some say its the fault of rapacious elites
or americas benign neglect & occupations

some say its because of frances punitive demands after liberation that kept it in debt until 1947 to tune of 90 billion francs

and some, the pat robertsons, say its because of pact w/devil (ie voodoo)
and now david brooks recent controversial suggestion that its cultural

i tend to agree that its cultural but obviously i draw different conclusions
cant blame any one reason for haits condition, its more complex than that

but for me its always cultural

ive said it before in this forum that if the voodoo tradition had its act
together then haiti wouldnt be in the shape its in

but then the same can be said for hoodoo and african american culture

i believe that cultures reflect their spiritual traditions
that a cultures spiritual tradition has the responsibility of

cultural custodianship

i believe the strength of that tradition is reflected in the quality of life
the people of that tradition live

that a strong healthy tradition produces a strong healthy society
a strong healthy culture, that its adherents live healthy productive lives

i believe that we as afrospiritual practitioners have not been taking care of
business, have not been the cultural custodians we have to be

if we are to get our people out of this historical trickbag

when you running destinic game, its always the culture that has to be shaped

as long as we are as weak as we are, no strategies will work
and our people will continue to be subject to the whims of others

tossed about by the winds of circumstance

thats where i agree with brooks even though his agenda is different

its always about changing the culture, specially when your culture is
as weak as our is, or haitis is for that matter

what point being a hoodoo
if you dont work the soul

if you dont work the roots of things

and thats our job, the soul workers

this is why i have pretty much invested my life and my power to an
attempt to elevate hoodoo as a tradition and take it out of that

folk magic focus, which was okay when we were a folk people but we
arent a folk people any more, this is the 21st century

im not saying abandon folk magic, but i am saying that folk magic
cant be our primary focus and for some our only focus

thats about a 100 years out of date, slaverytime hoodoo

i say that the cutting edge of hoodoo has moved into high magic
taking responsiblity for the human condition, for shaping reality

and the future of humanity

in particular the strength of the culture we represent
the community that we take care of spiritually

now i am a nationalist, my primary concern as a contemporary hoodoo
is saving black people, empowering black culture, saving the black generations

somebody got to do it and again, i think its the responsibility of the hoodoo
tradition

but i am also a humanist, and have tried to broaden my concerns
to reflect the multicultural nature of hoodoo today

one world and all that, and i want hoodoo to be one of the respected
spiritual/magical traditions of the world

i want everybody in the world to go hoodoo, which means it has to be
universalized beyond its nationalist roots

im having enuf trouble trying to convince folk to go high magic instead of folk,
folk dismiss me as not a real hoodoo because im not

interested in folk magic, so be it

but what i have come up with in terms of universalizing my take on hoodoo
is to preach a responsibility for community guidance, however you

define community, i believe that this has always been a hoodoo concern, its only
that in the old days your community was your

little neighborhood, in our globalized society today your community
is the whole world and all its generations

this the way i read it, this the way ima play it

i dont go around trying to convince folk of my take
cause i dont feel like being bothered

im just going to lay out my vision in my literary works
and let future generations decide

i am rickydoc trickmaster, a hoodoo lord of the delta
and a wouldbe prophet of the hoodoo way

when you trying to run prophetic game its future generations you trying to shape
- not your own

my apologies for getting on my soapbox on you
and the meandering nature of this post

felt the need to respond to brooks
after siren raised the issue

in the name of the conqueror

my love to you all

rdoc

wakeup calls suppose to be painful, a luta continua

 TUESDAY

between haiti and mass i dont even want to read the news today
which is amazing because im a news junkie

ohwell, nobody ever said wakeup calls werent painful, but i been in the struggle
long enuf to know you win some, you lose some, you keep on struggling -

haiti, the kennedy seat, i knew this year would be rough
but i didnt expect it to rough up so hard so soon -

how obama gon play the healthcare bill now, the old prognosticator got
no idea, all i know is aluta continua - the struggle continues

1st day at school yesterday, i almost hate to say i enjoyed seeing my students, my colleagues -
my fellow music junkie tony antoniadis, did me a major solid, again, hunted down a digital version

of the dells freedom means,

this album is responsible for a lot of the vision that has driven me all these years, my whole humanity got to get off the planet, spread out amongst the stars bit, my increase the survival of the species odds, evolve into the new frontier, came from this album:  the freedom means cut:

'we're children of the sun and we're heading home again / theres a long long journey ahead / we might as well begin / our true selves are out beyond the stars / time for us to try uniting / got to make a whole new scene / maybe then we'll understand / what freedom means

im listening to it now, good looking out tony, good looking out

just when i needed to be refocused on the longame, put these setbacks in perspective, i believe in humanity, i believe we do evolve, that we do strive to be greater than we are, and as my boy king

once said, the universe bends toward justice

i tell you, if you simply must work for a living, teaching is the way to go, i like helping young writers be

writers, sometimes im shocked they pay me so well for what i would gladly do for free

all my love

rdoc

so, hekalu mean temple, imagine that: another woodshed done, i did okay

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

 MLK BIRTHDAY

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

SUNDAY

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

SATURDAY

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

FRIDAY

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

rickydocs yearend prophecy: limber up, stretch it out, shields up - a rough year is upon us

THURSDAY

out and out drudgery, a brutal grind, forcing myself to just sit here at the sacred desk, hour after hour of painstaking drudgery

i love it, this what i live for

been thinking about how to be proactive about haiti, how to make a real difference, get some good
out of this tragedy and i dont think i have any handles there, and dont have time to really commit to it

thats why im taking this op to support wyclef jeans yele, he been systematically trying to flip that narrative

that tragedy that haiti been, cant fight every battle, sometime best you can do is support those that do

baba john taught me to always try to institutionalize my organizing efforts in afroam literature
it was his efforts to institutionalize african american lit made him the visionary he was

think ima text wyclef jean another $5, what the hell, YELE to 501501

you know what im thinking, speaking of institutionalization, i need to get in touch with my fellow hoodoos

of the hoodoo hand, i have withdrawn from that fray of late, concentrating on getting my novel done

figure i will pick up that thread again once ive laid out the vision, organizing hoodoos more frustrating than herding cats

but maybe i will contact them beginning of each year or something, maintain rick, maintain

thats one response, to tighten up your own cultural custodianship

i have always felt that if my fellow afrospirituals of voodoo were taking care of business that haiti wouldnt
be in the position its in, but i guess folk could say the same thing of hoodoo and african american culture

of struggle (and cultural custodianship) it seems, there is no end

im outta here, gotta clock these pages - all my love

rdoc



WEDNESDAY day

god help me im in the zone, everything i touch turns to narrative gold, not only
am i clocking pages but stylee doing new licks, performing new tricks

the impending doom of going back to work has focused the creative fire

WEDNESDAY morning

boy, when you think you got troubles, life puts it all in perspective

once again haiti has taken the hammer, how much can one people bear, surely haitis suffering has purpose, surely it is for a reason, some tempering, some preparation of some divine sort - in the meantime our prayers are with you, this too we will endure

prayers are good of course, but donations are even better

the big thing with donations is to make sure your compassion is well spent

these two look legit, text HAITI to 90999 to donate $10 to redcross haiti effort
text YELE to 501501 to donate $5 to wyclef jeans yele haiti effort

this is the link to haitian action networks efforts - they are a grass roots op
that has some credibility in the field, im assuming a donation here would be

used well

then there are of course the more mainstream legit ops, i am inclined to support wyclef jeans
operation because i have admired his commitment and his institutionalization efforts for haiti

it is times like this that we build independent institutions for, so they are ready when the hammer come

a state dept number for folk trying to check on their families in haiti is 1-888-407-4747

any other useful info i come across i will let you know

when this situation has been addressed black america needs to do some serious thinking

about what we can do to get proactive on haiti - whatever it is god got planned for haiti

need to be implemented, surely it has been tempered enough

all my love

rdoc

TUESDAY

hello world

old boy in a strange space, cherishing my last week before my schoolhouse grind begin

not even working hard, just kind of chilling along, reading trash, watching tv, guess im recharging my batteries or something

applications process is looming, got 450 apps so far, will start on that this weekend i guess
start grooving up for my africanamerican lit class, that class kinda special to me, its my opp

to dig into africanamerican lit, only time i get discretionary reading these days is when i assign it in class
- then i have to read it - and this is my chance to dig into what ive chosen as the formative works of my

literary tradition - mumbojumbo, corrigedora, the healing, texaco, mamaday, beloved, the cattlekilling, etc
these are works everytime i read them i get something new out of them, these are works i want to intertext

 these are the wisdom works of my culture - i love this class, didnt get many students
sign up for it but thats alright too, intimate class gives me more room to play

i knew when i chose it for this semester it wouldnt pull a lot, i also use it to explore the novel, the longwork
and shortstories are the coin of the mfa realm, but im moving into closure on my own novel and these are the

works that have fed me  -  this class for me, im the one needed this class - at this stage
in the game this the only thing im willing to give my time and consciousness to

something that will feed my own last lap, that will feed my own novel - space im in it should be an interesting class

i got about 4 more days before i have to focus

these paintings from that tribal artist (will have to get his name) that im doing that m l king piece for tara press with
it was my successful use of storyteller narrator in that convince me to finally work it into rest for the weary

so this is his depiction of rickydoc storyteller, i see he used that photo jaipur literary festival been using
i put it between his works so you can see how he interpreted it,

but i also see his effort to capture way folk gathered around me in that little half circle asking about the meaning of life,
i wonder if he was there or if he was just told, cause it actually did happen like that, all thru india - my head has yet to subside

sometime i challenge myself on that memory,

you try to be humble, and i been known to embellish an experience, thats what i do for a living, but these paintings remind me it actually did happen like that - i do my thing and folk start treating me like i was

some kind of literary guru, a spiritual force

it was deep because it so reflect what i actually think about my work, a side of my work western culture has yet to respond to

when i went there it was with full intent of further globalizing my mythwork, i knew i would be seeding believers and leaving mythwork behind - seeing it graphically depicted like this reassure me in the value of my longgame, no matter how much reality deny me i do know what i am about - im forging a way

boy got me looking like some kind of hindu deity, im eating this up with a spoon

good spiritwork always best kept low profile, otherwise you get caught up in something else, you get to taking souls and i consider taking souls an abomination of the power, i will not abide a thief of souls

when you running longgame, its future generations you trying to shape, not your own

but they tripping out over there in india, got that
spiritvision - see things other folk dont

okay, enuf me me me, what about a little commentary

that issue with reid, thats just repubs trying to get a little traction, reid been taking
care of business, i gave him a pass, im moving on

all my love

rdoc

WHAT DAY WAS THIS?

hello world

old boy been out of the loop

old boy gon stay out the loop

been woodshedding, and got some traction, have added this storyteller narrator voice to manuscript

that i expect some serious play out of, been wanting to do it for awhile, finally just went in and skimmed

through manuscript and everywhere i could add the voice i did and so its raw and rough now but by the time

im finished i hope it will be clean and powerful, if not i will extract it but you always take the narrative gamble is the way i see it

i did major research on fort pillow, black civilwar, civilwar memphis and bedfordforrest, hope its reflected in text - fiction research, you immerse yourself in chosen subject then you kinda forget about it and let

internal writer process it into usable narrative poetry, otherwise you got that stilted research feel in the text

and thats a no can do, specially in a text as discursive as this one, modeling ishs mumbojumbo and/or gayljones healing, have

struggled to develop a narrative style that will allow me to speak on whatever i please w/o breaking the narrative spell

that photo is from a lot behind my sisters house, up against what we shall call the lake, its always felt holy to me and i would go out and sit there for my morning meditations, my own little downhome stonehenge, its been there for years - now its gone, bummer, but i never expected it to be there this long anyway, i will maintain it in spirit, it reflects what im trying to do with my delta mythwork

my attempt to define the delta as a black holyground

have retired from politics, obama still my boy buffalo soldier, i still believe he got longgame, but i must admit

he has dampened my will to invest, so its back to work

he doing his thing, i got to do mine, i was hoping he would make a serious contribution but it look

like its still all on me

a luta continua

rdoc